Dallas Letter 12/26/16

Hello again,

   

This week has been full of tracting since it has been raining here a lot for southern California. God always seems to watch out for us because right after a very rude basher we knocked on a door that the person was not interested but wanted to give us cookies. There is always small tender mercies everyday but we have to look for them. Of coarse the biggest tender mercy was talking to you guys!!! Even though it was only 40 minutes, it was the best part of Christmas. Thank you for being the amazing people you are in my life. 

   

The main thing I learned this week is that many people can see one's inner light. That is why the Savior ask of us to shine bright and be example of the believers. Many people we talked to were so surprised that we were willing to walk in the cold rain to talk to them about Christ and His light. I have loved every shining moment I can tell everyone of what Christ has done for me. I love you guys and wish you a HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Love 

Sister Ogden

1) March Field Air Field Museum Hanger where we do restoration of planes!

2) Us in the rain with planes

3-4) There is a famous place in Riverside called the Mission Inn which we were able to visit before going to our Christmas Devotional with President.

5) Riverside mission symbol that is everywhere

6) Riverside has beautiful church buildings to look at 

7) Even though it may not be snowing here but at least we have Frozen! I have finally mastered selfies with Sister DiPietro because I would normally cut off part of her face in the pictures. 

8) What once was desert is now green

9) Sleep over by our Christmas tree!

10) Since Sis DiPietro didn't really receive a package from her family I was able to make her a Christmas package to open on Christmas day!

11) Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree. How lovely are your lights!

12) The gifts

13) Christmas Caroling after skype'ing with you!

Sorry for the many pictures but enjoy! Love YA!

Dallas Letter 12/19/16

Hello,

   

I am so excited for Christmas this year! It's been an honor to be able to serve almost a whole year to the Lord and to see many miracles. I read a scripture that touched my heart in sharing my testimony everyday which says "Nevertheless, ye are blessed, for the testimony which ye have borne is recorded in heaven for the angels to look upon; and they rejoice over you, and your sins are forgiven you" (DC 62:3). I hope that the testimonies I share not only help those here but also above. Maybe Grandpa is recording mine right now. A very wise member told me that "you will talk about home on your mission but you will talk about your mission for the rest of your life". 

   

I love you all and wish you a MERRY CHRISTMAS! See you then!

Love ya 

Sister Ogden

Dallas Letter 12/12/16

Hey,

  

This whole week has been an adventure of being a trainer. I forgot what it was like to be a new missionary which Sister DiPietro reminded me and even brought me back to memory lane. I made sure that my new Sister did not have any crazy experiences our first week like praying with a homeless man (old story). I have felt that I have learned so much in one week about how to rely on the Lord more but also to teach in a very different aspect then normal. Sister DiPietro is from Tewksbury Massachusetts and is convert of 4 yrs. I love her so much and I am glad to be her companion. 

   

I was able to decorate our apartment with many lights which was super fun. The only problem I had was that I could not get the St Nick lights to stay on the wall. If you look at our floor closely you can see a ton of glitter everywhere because of the many times it fell on me. 

   

Our mission is reading the Book of Mormon with the goal of coming to know the Savior. I learned in my reading last week that the Savior prays for us to Heavenly Father (3 Nephi 17: 17, 20-21). It touches my heart to know that the most perfect person is willing to take time to pray for me. As a missionary, I pray for my investigators and like the Savior, I feel joy when they act on that faith.

  

I love you and can't wait to see your beautiful faces in 13 days! (Christmas day video conference)

Love 

Sister Ogden    

Pictures

1, Me with my new Sister!

2, Both Sister Pielstick and I are training each others MTC companions when we were MTC companions! 

3, rated from my favorite to ones I didn't like (last two spit out)

4-6, Christmas decorations! 

Dallas Letter 12/5/16

Hello,

  

I have only a little time but I want to let you know that God answers prayers! Sister Nielson and I have witness many miracles in Valley View this whole transfer. We were able to find two families this last week and I am excited to continue to work with them. So this new transfer I will still be in my area but I will be training! I wont know my new companion until tomorrow when I go to pick her up in the mission office. I will still be an STL while training which will make this next transfer super fun and crazy. Here are some pictures of this week adventure!

Love you 

Sister Ogden   

Mission President Letter 12/4/16

Dear Brother and Sister Ogden,

Sister Dallas Mae Ogden has been given the new assignment to serve as Trainer of a newly arrived missionary. She has received this assignment because of her dedication and unselfish service and because of the confidence the Lord has in her. She is a fine missionary.

The position of Trainer is considered the most important assignment in the mission, for it is the Trainer who establishes the foundation for her companion's success and the ultimate success of the mission. We appreciate her willingness to be an exemplary missionary.

We thank you for your continued support and prayers for your missionary and the work in the California Riverside Mission.

Sincerely,

John H. Mullen, PresidentCalifornia Riverside Mission

Dallas Letter 11/28/16

Hello,

   

Happy Late Thanksgiving! I hope you were stuffed as much as I was! This week has flown by but full of fun stuff. Here is my week day by day:

Mon: We had Crossfit with President Mullen and the North half of the mission. I killed it with the running but was not the best at the push ups. As a zone we made shirts that said "just saving soles" which I thought was cute. 

Tues: Had interviews with President Mullen and he taught me so much with one scripture which says "But if ye will turn to the Lord with full purpose of heart, and put your trust in him, and serve him with all diligence of mind"(Mosiah 7: 33)

He told me that the word "turn" means daily  repentance, "trust" is to have faith, and "diligence" is to Endure to the End by being focused. We must do these three things if we want to be truly following Jesus Christ which is what we also ask of our investigators.

Wed: Sister Willis was able to come to my area for a day! Sister Willis and I were able to teach Jasmine and Nicole part of the Plan of Salvation because Nicole has lost a lot of family members since July. She was wondering if God was mad at her because of it.  By the time we left, you could see the peace on her face that she can see them again. They were our last door to knock on before we had to travel back to Canyon Crest. Jasmine and Nicole were an answer to our prayers! 

Thurs: As a zone we played a Turkey Bowl which I was able to make the first touchdown! Then I almost had two more but I am better with my feet then my hands. Then we had dinner with the Johnson's which was amazing but not as good as Mom's. Then we met as a zone at the stake center and played chair soccer the whole time. I was not able to win any of the rounds because everyone has the goal to get me out. You would think they thought I was good. 

Fri: We were able to teach Mike (an investigator) about baptism and put him on the baptismal date of January 15! Then while walking a group of kids totally shouted at me and said that I look like Mary Jane from Spiderman. It made me and Sister Nielson laugh hard because the normally I get the compliment that I look like Merida not a Marvel character. I love walking and meeting people like these kids.

Sat: I was able to go back to La Piedra to be with Sister Harris for the day! She has been only out for 5 weeks which was cool to see how much I have changed since I was trained. I totally miss being on bike and also biking in the rain. It down poured on us but I loved every moment of it! It just needed some lighting and thunder! Dinner was with the Davis Family which they didn't know I would be there which was a fun surprise. David and Ruben got the Priesthood! I am grateful that God allowed me to not only come back but to see how much they have changed! 

I love you guys so much and I want to say Thank You for all that you have done for me! 

Love Ya

Sister Ogden 

Ps. the picture of the guy is a great example of the type of people we sometimes meet

 

Dallas Ogden 11/21/16

Hello,

   

This week has been full of many things with being an STL and getting ready for the Christmas Season. I will have to go day by day so I won't forget anything:

MON: A member asked both Sister Nielson and I a question that I thought you guys would love to read. She asked "what have we learned so far on our missions?" and I said to Trust in the Lord. Missionary work is tough but with the Lord and His Atonement, I am able to do His work. Once we gave our answers she told us that we should always remember this so that we don't forget the truth we have been sharing for 18 months.

WED: I was on exchange with Sister Chandler and we had the opportunity to go to Riverside to see the new Christmas video called Light the World. I am so excited to share the video and ask to serve people.

 

FRI: I was able to go to Spanish land for an exchange with Sister Coffeen. For dinner I was able to eat Peruvian food from a member in their ward. It was super good!

Sat: I was on another exchange with Sister Crammer who gave me the experience of eating Helote (corn, mayo, cheese, chili, and butter). surprisingly good!

Love You 

Sister Ogden

Dallas Letter 11/14/16

Hello,

 

This week has been super crazy but I was able to learn about the Savior through it all. The main focus of our mission is to "come to know the Savior" based off of Elder Bednar's talk from last General Conference. Here are some of the ways I learned closer to my Savior this week:

•  The Lord is the perfect teacher on how to teach simply and be patient if the student does not get it. That could be the case for me as His student and for my investigators.
• To always have my missionary switch on like the Savior no matter how tired I may be.

Yesterday I was able to go back to Menifee for Eli Miller's baptism! Eli is the only one in his family that is not a member but has been coming to Sacrament for 10 years. When we started teaching him, he scared Sister Keith and I because he is very philosophical and is very stubborn. As time went on, he started to open up and finally accepted the baptismal date of Nov 13. I left for three weeks to come back to a totally different Eli. He and his wife called Sister Keith and I "fierce loins" at the baptism because we were willing to teach Eli.

Love 

Sister Ogden

Dallas Letter 11/7/16

Hello,

   

I love my new area in so many different ways. Here are some of the reasons:

1.  We do over 6 hours of service each week. My favorite service is at the March Field Air Museum because we get to do many weird jobs ! This week I got to sand a Airplane Tug!
2. Sister Nielson and I get to meet the most interesting people while walking. A little girl taught us how to dance in the weirdest way. 
3. The area is a good mix of city and country. Our ward being the closet to the mountains. 
4. The members are so excited to have Sister's in the ward which makes the work a lot easier. 

This week has been packed with meetings in Riverside for the new month/ transfer. The main thing I learned from those meetings is that God knows how I feel and inspire people to say things I need. Sister Mullen told us that God has chosen us [missionaries] and He will help us! I am grateful for His help because without it, it would be pointless to be out here. 

I went back to Menifee for Rueben's baptism and it gave me the opportunity to see the blessings of working hard with the Lord. Rueben is the last person to be baptized in the Davis family which was amazing to see all six of them sitting together. Then Rueben surprised me and Sister Keith by bearing his testimony about how he felt through out the process and that he wants to serve a mission. Once he said he wanted to serve, I cried. It is truly an honor to serve!

Love ya

Sister Ogden

Dallas Letter 10/31/16

Hello,

Sorry for the very short email last week. You were lucky that we were able to email because everything went wrong. The plan was that Sister Keith and I were to drive to Moreno Valley together so that I could move to my new area and she would spend the night before she gets her new Stripling Warrior (new missionary).Here are the many things that went wrong or crazy:

•  Woke to the tire light on and had to take it into the shop. They found a nail side ways which they could not fix until the next day.
• Called the AP's about the situation and they made a plan that the the Hermana's (Spanish Missionaries) would come from Morneo Valley to pick me up and leave one of the Hermana's with Sister Keith over night.
• The Hermana's were super late and it was pouring rain while we loaded my luggage. 
• Right when everything was going to be okay our car was not turning on. It took us an hour before we found out that the sister was using the wrong car keys. 

So that was our crazy Transfer Monday! Luckily the rest of the week was not as crazy. Moreno Valley is surrounded my mountains and it's very "Moreno" (brown). Mom you would love it here because of the many rocks you could take home. The area is very middle class. We were able to open new apartments which are super nice. The only problem with opening a new apartment is that instead of unpacking your luggage, you are putting together beds and desks for three days. 

Sister Nielson is from West Valley Utah and came out with me. It was funny that we are now companions because when they first told me who would be my new companion it was Sister Nielson not Sister Keith. I guess our district leader was following the spirit of prophecy.

This week we were able to find 7 new investigators which is amazing! Most of them were found walking in sunshine and rain but I think it was our faith to find that allowed us to do this. Like how we tell our investigators, faith is an action and when we have faith on the Savior it motivates us to follow Him. It's my faith that motivates me to find those that God has prepared. 

Love

Sister Ogden