THANKYOU SO MUCH

I CANT THANK ALL OF YOU ENOUGH WHO MADE THE SERVICE PROJECT IN THE PHILIPPINES HAPPEN. I WILL WRITE IN DETAIL WHAT HAPPENED SOON FOR NOW HERE IS A PIC OF THE NEW DESK AND A PIC WITH THE PRINCIPLE AND THE TEACHER! THANK YOU THANK YOU

I'm going back to HELP!

This May I am going back to the Philippines to give back! Ever since I got home I have wanted to go back and do something for those wonderful Filipinos who have so little. I'm going back with two mission buddies on May 2nd and we are planning on staying the whole month! We really want to do a humanitarian project. We looked on-line and found a lot of different places that need volunteers but they wanted way to much and were going to make us jump through all sorts of different loop wholes. We decided to do a little fundraiser of our own. We thought of hundreds of different things but came up with a service project that we know will last through many years. We are planning on buying and assembling school desks for the children. While on the little island of Mindoro I had the chance to go into one of the public schools. The desks were horrible. Some had nails poking through, others had no back. I even saw a student sitting using one of his legs to hold up the desk with just three legs. The students that don't have a desk top write on the dirt ground. We are working with the teacher who is a member and hope to supply the small school with desks. We roughly figure that one desk is 15 dollars. We obviously can't do this alone. Luckily we have Friends and family that might be willing to help. I know that you haven't seen these things first hand and you would have to go off my experience but I know you guys have it in you to buy a desk for very needy children! If possible, and don't feel obligated.... we would love if you could donate just 15$ that is one desk that will last a long time! You can send the money to my house in Richfield, or give me a call. My address is 235 S. 600 W. Richfield Ut 84701. Again... Dont feel like you have to but OH man it would help! Changing a life is possible! We just have to do something.Thanks for you HELP!


This is one of the rooms we will be helping! If you look close you can see the bad condition of the desks

YouTube - Street Children of the Philippines

YouTube - Street Children of the Philippines WATCH THIS!

The word!

I work at Los Hermonos as a server! You should come in and leave me a fat tip! I love it there! SUPER FUN!

SCHOOL! UVU! HOMEWORK BLAAHH! Great school!

Stoneee!!!

I love this kid and I love having Mike and Dianna so close! If it wernt for them I would have starved to death by now!

EFY continues and SO do THE AMAZING experiences.

Week four!

WEEK FIVE!

Week Six!

I cant believe how awesome my Job is! I cant imagine me doing anything more perfect for me. The best thing is… Its not for me… Its for these Youth. I have had some honestly come in, openly not believing in God, victims of abuse, less actives, and a lot don’t even have testimonies of Christ and His Atonement. I get the Awesome chance to work with them one on one as they go through the awesome week long program of EFY. CHANGE… happens every week to these youth. Its almost unbelievable how much they really do change. Testimony is always built and a for real friendship.

What are the chances?

This last week at EFY my cousin Brooke Weenig was in my Efy group! WHAT THE RANDOM!? The chances of us being put together are so small, but by some divine way it happened. I still can’t believe it happened. Neither of us knew that we were going to be at EFY! When I saw her on Monday it took a minute for it to register. Brooke is such an amazing girl. I was seriously blown away by her amazing personality. I herd other councilors that didn’t know we are cousins make comments about her bright happy personality. All the boys in my group had a crush on her and cant wait to take her out. During the dance she would go to the side and talk to and encourage all those that weren’t dancing. I have been doing this all summer now and I have never had such an amazing participant as Brooke was. YOU could fell her spirit! I learned so much from her. We had a great spiritual week together and made so many memories that we can share the rest of forever.

EFY!!

WEEK THREE

WEEK TWO

WEEK ONE


Life is so amazing! I love it! The last three weeks I have been working/playing as a counselor at EFY BYU! WOW! You all know that I loved my mission; the feeling of service, watching peoples lifes change, and the closeness to the Savior, are some of the reasons why I loved it so much. Well, EFY has brought back those feelings. OH MAN I love it! We are all aware of the ever declining standers of the world, and of course the impact of that on the youth is twice as strong. Honestly these kids come in on Monday a little iffy and leave on Saturday “STEADY AND SURE.” The EFY program is set up so well. It is a life changing event for the Youth. Each week I'm given around 10 boys and spend 24/ 7 with them. They love listening to my Tagalog and mission stories. They have all left with an added excitement to serve their own mission. Our relationship by the end of the week is so strong we usually leave with a couple of tears shed. I miss them all so much! Of course the teacher always learns more then the student so obviously I'm on a spiritual HIGH HIGH HIGH!

HaHaHaHaHaHaHa

I was just walking along the street the other day and I saw this! Guess who WON!

4-Wheeling with the Parentals

I got a flat! And we just happend to be in the middel of no where!

BRYAN'S TRIP TO S.L.C

I had been home from my mission about a month when I received a message on my answering machine from one of my old investigators in the Philippines, Bryan Borela. The message left cold chills all over my body. Bryan was a super strong Catholic who wasn't really looking for anything else until he met his girlfriend, Nana, who is a strong member! She turned him over to us and we started teaching. He had tons of deep doctrinal questions that sometimes I didn't even know the answers too. Of course the spirit was there to help us know exactly what to say and how to handle his situation. He started reading and studding the Book Of Mormon which naturally brought more questions. His girlfriend Nana would attend all his lessons and with her strong testimony we had some really powerful lessons. I will never forget when we taught Bryan the Plan Of Salvation, it all made since and he really felt the spirit. With prayer, my companion and I excitedly planed to extend a baptismal date to Bryan. Our next lesson is when we would extend that life changing date, but before we could even bring it up he dropped the news.... He was leaving to work in New York for four months. Not knowing what would happen over those next four months we didn't extend the baptismal date. We finished the lesson then said our good-byes. It was hard knowing that some one so close and that had made so much progress was leaving our teaching pool with out baptism. I would most likely be transferred when he got back to the Philippines so we exchanged numbers and as corny as it may sound said good bye with a lump in my throat. We continued to pray for Bryan even though he was thousands of miles away. I transferred from that area as did my companion, and then eventually the big huge transfer back to America. Oh man, was that ever a hard transfer. About a year latter from Bryan's move I was now home spending time with my sister Mindy in Arizona. My parents called with the exciting news. They put the phone up to the answering machine and pushed play. It was Bryan's voice and he said, “ Hey Elder Ogden this is Bryan from the Philippines. I'm just calling to let you know that I returned to the Philippines and was baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I just wanted to call and thank you.” he went on to say he had since come back to America for the second time and left his phone number so I could call him back! With my mouth wide open and my heart betting fast I wrote down his number. A great feeling of accomplishment numbed my body. This last Monday Bryan flew into Salt Lake City where Marc Price (my mission companion), Ashley Goodwin ( my Friend) and I waited with signs to welcome him to Utah. We had an amazing day touring temple square. A Filipina missionary was our tour guide and she made sure we didn't miss a single attraction. Through out the day people asked how I knew Bryan. Once again the feeling of accomplishment swept across me as I replied, “ I was his missionary.” He told us all the exciting news that he will be marring his long time girlfriend Nana in the temple this coming February, (that will be one year exactly from the day he was baptized.) We stayed at my companions house that night spoiling Bryan with the new Wii games and showing him how great of a state Utah really is. We don't always get to see the end of every story and we get frustrated or mad! We lay out that big question WHY, But I know Heavenly Father can see the end of every story. He will finish it His way and in His time. I took him back to the airport on Tuesday and once again said good-bye with a lump in my throat, but this time knowing I would for sure see him again!

I'm Famous!

I Got interviewed by a guy making a documentary about conference !

178th General Conference

MY MISSSION REUNION

I went to my mission reunion this last week and had a blast! It was good to see every one and speak a littel Tagalog! These are some of my companions and a couple i served with.

ARIZONA road trip!

I finally have something to put on my BLOG! HIP HIP hurray! Dolly and I went on a road trip to Arizona to visit Mindy and fam. Ya ya, I know, i can't find any one else to go on a road trip with other then a DOG! We had a lot of fun though! We went to the zoo and rented this bike type thing (WAY AWESOME.) We laughed so hard as we drove this thing around the zoo! I am sure the zoo really enjoyed us doing that..... We gave the zoo guests something else to stare at! With mine and Mindys long legs, our none stop laugh, and this crazy bike type thing, we made one interesting zoo exhibit. We pulled up to the rhinoceroses cage, and before we could get of the bike every one had stopped looking at the rhinos and turned around to stare at us! We were more popular then the animals! I think I saw one tourist looking lady even snap a photo of us. It was so fun! I miss the Paces and cant wait to go back to Arizona!

The Philippines.... The Best Two Years!

Make a slideshow - it's easy!

There she Stands

The Manila Philippines Temple

This is me and my companion swiming.....SHHH! Dont tell!

Make a slideshow - it's easy!

God Bless America....I'm Home!

I'm Home! Where am I coming from?...THE PHILIPPINES! Where i served the best two years of my life. YA YA, we hear that a lot, but I'm serious when I say THOSE WHERE THE BEST TWO YEARS OF MY LIFE! I grew so much. Some say I grew taller, but most growth happened in a little thing I call My testimony. It grew to the size of the Philippines sea. I fond my self as i lost my self in the work of our Heavenly Father, as I testified of Christ he re-testified to me, The Spirit was the lead, I came to a sure and real understanding of the Gospel, my Life's questions were answered, and hundreds of liefs where changed. But no ones life was changed more then mine. I return now with thousands of memories. Memories I hold so close, but memories i will share the rest of my life. No one knows but our God how much my mission really means to me. Yes I'm home, and the little black badge is packed away, but i will never forget doing the thing I love, for the people i love, in the place I love. The sunsets sadly now in that phase of my life but an exciting new phase begins.