Welcome Home Elder Ogden

Bennett's Homecoming Report will be:

Sunday July 29th @ 11:00am

Highland Ward

2130 East 10000 South (Gyrfalcon Dr.)

Sandy, UT. 84092

Last week in the Field

Great week here in Palmer. It's been weird knowing that everything I do from here on out is a last for me on my mission. I had my last zone conference. It was really cool having my exit interview with the mission President.

It was also the summer solstice this week. It's incredible how bright it is around midnight. One of the names Alaska has is the land with the midnight sun. And it's so true. The sun is always out.

Elder Jarvis and I have been visiting a lot of potential families right now. We especially have been working with Vivian and her family. It's been amazing working with them.

Sorry for the short email. Crazy to think this is my last week in the field. I hope you'll have a solid week.

Elder Ogden

Here's a couple photos from last pday. We went on a quick hike with our investigators

Loving last parts of my Mission:

Solid week out here in Palmer!

Cool little miracle. We've been teaching a recent convert the new member lessons. She was baptized a few months ago. Her father was baptized just a year ago. It's been really cool to see their progression in the gospel. We've been at their house many times to teach Gillian, the daughter who was baptized, the new member lessons. On Friday night Gillian's sisters were asking about Mormon beliefs. Her sisters said that when they go to the Catholic church they don't feel anything. They also said they can see the difference in Gillian and their dad. They see how much happier they are since joining the church. The sisters decided to investigate and come to church. It was cool to see the sister's faces light up when were talking about the Holy Ghost because they realized they felt it when they were at church and when they talk about the gospel with the missionaries. We've got more lessons with them. I'm really confident they will be baptized soon.

I was able to go on exchanges with Elder Kunz from Anchorage. It was really cool serving with him for the day. We've served around each other for quite some time and have had many exchanges. It's cool to see the progress we both have made from our first exchange to our last. We worked hard tracting in the rain.

I'm loving these last parts of my mission. We've been receiving a good amount of referrals. It's been amazing meeting new people and teaching the message of the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ. I'm just gonna keep pushing along.

Have a great week. Sorry there's no photos this week.

Elder Ogden

Sharing the Gospel through Croquet & Parading:

Hey everyone. This week was super solid. Last Monday my comp and I joined another companionship to play croquet. This companionship tracted into this dude named Harry. At all times he has a croquet course set up. He invited the missionaries to stop by whenever to play so we thought we would join along. It was pretty legit especially since Harry cuts his grass with paths in between each croquet loop.

Cool little miracle this week. For my entire time in Palmer I've been trying to meet with this certain potential investigator. We would stop by a lot but could never actually sit down and talk with him. My companion and I eventually decided to stop trying. Well... a few weeks later his 12 year old son texts us out of the blue about their dog having puppies. We went over the next day to check out the puppies and see if maybe we could finally set something up. Of course the father wasn't there but we asked his son if he would like to know more about what we do as missionaries. To our surprise he said he took the book of Mormon that was given to his dad. He said he read nearly 100 pages already. I was shocked. We then talked about who the characters were and explained the story. Hopefully more good things will come from this.

On Saturday we were teaching Vivian her new member lessons and right as we began the lesson her mother asked us to help with the colony days parade. The parade is pretty much the biggest thing Palmer does. It was cool helping out. We walked in the parade handing out balloons and water bottles. It was good to have the church represented in the parade.

 The work is going great.

 Elder Ogden

 Here's some pics of P-day and the Parade

This week, I have included Bennett's "family email" above his "general email."  His Grandpa Ogden recently passed away and the funeral is this weekend.  We asked Bennett to send us a memory he had of Grandpa O. for a family gathering. The memories he shared were so sweet, I wanted to post them on his Blog for family and others to read. I've also taken the liberty of posting some picture. Thanks, Lisa

Memories of Grandpa O:

Here's a little memory thing I have of grandpa: I don't have one specific memory of Grandpa Ogden that stands out above the rest. There are certainly memories I will never forget. But to me Grandpa Ogden was a man of simple acts of kindness and wisdom.

Some of the simple memories that I love are... Exploring Southern Utah with Grandpa. From hiking to jeeping as well as spending time in Lake Powell and Alton. I love how the Ogden Family always seemed to be outside. Most of my favorite memories come form Lake Powell. I love the memory of Grandpa O. wearing his long sleeve shirt on hot summer days in Lake Powell. Haha.

I remember how he would relax in the house boat and use his binoculars to find trials and animals in the distance. Grandpa would also go on hikes with the grandkids so that we might catch frogs. I loved how on the last day in Lake Powell I would wake up on the top of the house boat to Grandpa driving the boat back to the dock. I love how he would be patient and play with the grandkids in the basement of their home.

I love knowing that he was a man who put The Lord first. I remember visiting Grandpa and Grandma as they were serving their mission. Anyways those are just a few simple memories that I love from Grandpa O. I'm sad that he's gone but know that I'll see him again.

Elder Ogden

General Email:

This week was stellar. I've really enjoyed my time serving with Elder Jarvis so far. We also are now living with another companionship. We've been following up with a lot of people from tracting. We've done a lot of finding in the past. We're hoping all the potential investigators will progress.

A couple weeks ago we helped a lady out with yard work. Her health situation doesn't allow her to do a whole lot so she asked if we would help out. We stopped by this week and taught her the restoration. It was neat answering all her questions as well as reading the scriptures with her.

Everything else is going great.

Have a solid week,
Elder Ogden

Here's a pic from p-day

"Findiarod"

Here's an update from the past couple of weeks. President Kearon from the Presidency of the Seventy visited the mission. It was really cool hearing from a General Authority. We met with him pretty much all day. Most of the missionaries were able to drive into Anchorage. Some missionaries video called in. It was a great time to have him visit. The mission is on an upward swing at the moment.

All the missionaries in the mission participated in an all day tract. We called it the "Finditarod." It was a huge day of finding. All the missionaries tracted from 9:30am to 9:30pm. We only took a 30 mins breaks for lunch and dinner. Elder Larsen and I saw a bunch of neat little miracles. We happened to tract on a street where three Pastors live. That was fun. It actually was really cool though.  We found a lot of people we hope to start teaching. As a mission we handed out 436 copies of the Book of Mormon. We set up 374 return appointments. We had 97 lessons on the spot. Super awesome!

MLC was super sick. I'll have a photo at the bottom.

Here's the big news. We had a baptism!!! Vivian was baptised on Saturday. This was a huge miracle. We had no idea how we were going to get a baptism this month. At the last moment, Vivian committed to being baptized this month. It was hectic getting everything ready but it was amazing. I'm so excited to continue helping her progress more and more in the gospel.

Transfer calls are in. I will be spending the rest of my mission in Palmer. I'm really excited. My new companion will be Elder Jarvis. I'm super stoked. He's an awesome missionary. I've been able to serve around him a little bit. We'll be in a companionship for four weeks then he will trio with other missionaries when I fly home.

 Have a great memorial day.

 Elder Ogden

 Pics at Vivian's baptism

MLC

Pictures say it All:

Bennett was too busy this week to write a letter!  He sent pictures of his busy week:

Missionaries drinking Smoothies:

Hey everyone. This past week was awesome! The highlight was calling home to the family. I'm bummed it's the last call home but excited to see them in a bit.

Our investigator Vivian is doing super well. It's always uplifting to teach her. She's progressing like non other. She started reading the Book of Mormon just a couple weeks ago. She's already read 80 pgs! We've been able to see a lot of mini miracles throughout the week. Here's just one: Elder Ryan and I were on exchanges and we went to contact this part member family and as we were knocking on the door, a truck pulled into the driveway and a lady got out we started talking to her. Turns out she is like a sister of one of the family members we were trying to contact and she's not a member. We asked if she had any religious beliefs and all that good stuff. She told us she believed in God but doesn't belong to a specific church. We shared a verse with her out of the BOM. ALMA 30:44 "...all things denote there is a God; yea, even the earth, and all things that are upon the face of it, yea, and its motion, yea, and also all the planets which move in their regular form do witness that there is a Supreme Creator." We then gave her a BOM and invited her to read it and pray about it and then got her Facebook and number. She said we could come back! We're gonna follow up this week.

 Have a great week.

 Elder Ogden

 Here's a photo of some smoothies:

Fortune Cookies hold the Truth:

Wha's up!

This week went by super fast out here. As we move into spring the weather has been awesome. I'm loving how much daylight we receive each day. I'm super stoked for summer with its midnight sun.

We've been seeing a bunch of miracles in Palmer. Just the other day we had a lesson with one of our investigators. In the lesson we asked if she prayed and asked God if the Book of Mormon is true. She did ask, and she got an answer! Super cool story. She didn't grow up religious at all so her knowledge about religion and the gospel is extremely limited. She told us she belived the Book of Mormon to be good and liked it. She just wasn't sure if it was absolutely true. She informed us that she asked God but wasn't sure how she was going to receive an answer. She was looking for any sign God would give her still not knowing what to expect. Her answer finally came through a fortune cookie. How cool is that! Apparently the fortune cookie said "you know what you believe, so believe in it with your all." She told us she undoubtedly took it as an answer.

Every Saturday the zone gets together and we tract in an area for the morning. A companionship tracted into a lady who's been feeling impressed to go to a church and start living the gospel. She immediately recognized the missionaries as an answer to her prayers. She even began to cry at the door step as the sisters shared a message about hope in Christ. We're excited to follow up with her and the other people found through tracting.

The work is amazing right now! It's not easy but it's the most rewarding thing ever. 

Elder Ogden

Here's some cool pics from a hike we did on Monday:

30 Investigators = 1 Baptism

This week was super busy.

Elder Laursen and I have been pushing for a lot finding. Our mission President showed us some statistics with baptisms. There is usually 30 investigators found before one baptism. As we've been tracting we've seen many small and simple miracles.

The family we've mostly been working with is Vivian and Ana. They're the family I mentioned in last week's email. The ones who previously met with missionaries until they moved and lost contact. Thanks to tracting, they made contact with missionaries again. Our lessons have been super spot on. The spirit has been incredible. At every lesson we bring a member family. So far they've hit it off with every member. We invited the two of them to be baptized. Ana originally told us she already has a church. She considers the Russian orthodox church to be the church for her just because she grew up going there. We're seeing small steps with her. She is now saying there might be a chance she converts. Vivian on the other hand is super elect. She said she would pray about it then get back to us. She always is excited to have us come over. She's been coming to church, going to YW's, talking to LDS friends about the church. She's even reading the Book of Mormon on her own time.

The work is moving forward! See ya.

Elder Ogden

Good weather = More tracking:

We recently followed up with a referral we received from some missionaries who tracted a young woman and her mother. She had previously met with missionaries while living in another city in Alaska. The missionaries said she moved to Palmer a little while ago. Thankfully the YSA missionaries tracted into them after they moved. This was a huge testimony to me that God does not forget his children. Even though this family moved and lost contact with missionaries. God directed the missionaries back into their lives. Elder Larsen and I had an amazing first lesson with them. The family enjoyed the member family we introduced them to. The members even invited the family over for dinner this Monday. We are planning on going over to teach the Plan of Salvation once they are finished eating. I'm really hopeful and belive they will progress towards baptism and lasting conversion. It's amazing to be serving in a ward where the members and missionaries labor together. 

We've been tracting quite a bit. The weather has allowed us to go tracting more often. It seems like everyone in Alaska is coming out of hibernation. We've noticed people are outside more and they also are a lot nicer when we go tracting at night. Have a great week.

Sorry there's no pictures this week.

Elder Ogden

"Answer to Prayers":

I had a great week out here in the AAM. Elder Laursen and I tracted into a guy and a girl last week. When we originally met the two of them we talked about the restoration and got them a copy of the Book of Mormon. We keep going to their house in the hopes of sitting down to teach them. It seems that every time we go over, a new person answers the door. It's been neat teaching every person in their family each time we stop by but we still want to sit down with at least someone. The most recent time we stopped by we spoke to a Lady named Summer. Summer was a super kind woman who opened up right as we shared our message. We spoke for an hour or so about God and the restoration of His Gospel. The coolest part is that as we were leaving she turned to us and said "ya know what; there's a reason I answered the door today and we spoke. This was an answer to my prayers." The whole thing was super stellar. We set up a time to give her and her family members a chapel tour. Hopefully she will be coming to church sometime soon.

We're also working with some other investigators. Our area has a lot of potential investigators at the moment. Hopefully all of them will progress towards something more than just being a name in our areabook.

 Have a great week.

 Elder Ogden

                   Pics of district meeting and P-day.   For P-day we drank a bunch of soda!

Heading back to High School:

This past week was awesome! I went on exchanges with a couple of Elders. It was THE BEST exchange I have ever had on my mission. I went to serve with Elder Hodges and Elder Poppleton. We were in a trio. The two of them have been out for a good while now so there was a lot of experience between the three of us. From the second we started the exchange to the when it ended, we were jam packed full of teaching lessons, giving blessings, and even finding.

Super cool miracle is that we went to a High School to teach a dude in Elder Poppleton's area. It was an awesome lesson. But the coolest part is that as were walking away from the lesson a random highschooler grabbed us and sat us down with his group of friends. He informed us he was a member and that his friends, who were not members, wanted to know more about the church. Right as we sat down the kid introduced us to his friends then immediately got up and left. So we were just left there wondering who all these kids were. Anyways we asked if any of them had questions. Some of them did and it was amazing answering the questions they had. It totally turned into a spiritual experience. We got all their Facebook info and added them as friends. We left them all with copies of the Book of Mormon.

The craziest part is that right as we stood up ANOTHER kid grabbed us. This time he was not a member but informed us that he is Lutheran and has been questioning his religion the past little while. He said he's started dating an LDS girl and feels that the LDS church is the true church. He showed us all the questions he's got typed up in his notes on his phone. It was so so cool seeing all these incredibly elect people all at once. We've continued to talk with some of them over Facebook chat. We even invited one to be baptized. He said he would if he finds out the church is true. How amazing! Technology is the best when used properly.

We're continuing to teach a man is Valdez over Facebook. The work is amazing right now! I'm super pumped to just give my all.

Also I met up with some converts of mine in the Fashion Ward. The Miller's are the best. It was an amazing experience seeing them still very active in the church.

Love ya all. Elder Ogden

THE EXCHANGE 

PDAY 

THE MILLERS

President Nelson is the Man:

Hey everyone. General conference was super super awesome. Elder Larsen and I had a solid week of hard work. We went on some exchanges. Our investigators are doing super good. We've been really focusing on baptisms with investigators.

First off, General conference was insane! President Nelson is the man! Elder Cook, President Nelson, Elder Uchtdorf, Elder Bednar, and a bunch of others were some of my favorites. I'm excited for the two new apostles- Elder Gong and Elder Soares. They are going to do a lot of good serving as Apostles. All the changes that have taken place are thrilling. High Priest and Elders Quroum combining feels really good.

President Nelson's talk on receiving personal revelation was an answer to my prayers. I'm excited to continue to study and ponder the talks given by the leaders of the church. All of the addresses were inspired.

We've been teaching some people out in Valdez over FaceTime. It's amazing to see how the work of the Lord moves forward to every corner of the earth. Even though there's no missionaries in Valdez. The people still have the chance to hear of the Gospel thanks to technology.

Hope you all have a great week.

Elder Ogden

Drive to Valdez:

Super solid week in Palmer. Elder Laursen and I have been putting in a lot of hard work. We were able to find two new investigators through tracting.

We got to drive the five hours to Valdez. Valdez is a super cool small community in Alaska. It's very similar to Petersburg. There are no missionaries there anymore due to there being so few people to teach. We drove down on Wednesday then drove back on Thursday. We didn't have enough time to take some good pics so I highly recommend hopping on Google to look up some sick pics of Valdez.

Valdez is absolutely gorgeous. It's pretty much a small fishing/oil/ ski community surrounded in a bowl of huge mountains. A long time ago a farm let bunnies out of their land. So now there's just a bunch of bunnies all over Valdez. It's super cool. Driving in to Valdez was super beautiful but also super sketch. There were 80 mph winds blowing against us as we passed through Thompson Pass.

Anyways sorry for the short email. But the mission has been great. I'm just working hard. Giving my all these last few months. 

Elder Ogden

P-Day Hike:

Super solid week out here in Palmer. I'm gonna have to make this email super short but just to give you an update. We put one of our investigators on date. We were super thrilled about her accepting to be baptized especially since it was the first lesson we had with her. The sad part is that her family is super Catholic. They heard about her decision and made her choose between the family and the Church. It's a big bummer because she believes 100% in the Book of Mormon. We're going to continue to work with her. Hopefully we can overcome the family issues.

We received word last night that one of our potential investigators wants to get baptized. She hasn't been able to take the lessons due to her being a foster child. Thankfully she talked to her legal guardian and received permission. We will start teaching her and plan the baptism asap.

The work is going great here. I'm loving my time in Palmer.

Here's some pics from a hike we climbed last pday:

The Law of the Harvest

Great week out here in Palmer. It's been a bit trippy being back in the same zone where I started my mission. I've been able to bump into a few ward members from my first area. I also got to see the Millers. They are converts from my first area. It was the best feeling in the world seeing them still active in the Church and serving in callings. I forgot to take a picture but I'll make sure to do so next time I see them.

We had zone conference and stake conference all in the same weekend. It was actually pretty chaotic having both the day after I got to the area but I'm super happy we had them early. The mission President has recently been emphasizing the Law of the Harvest. The Law of the Harvest is pretty much comparing the work a farmer puts into raising a full field of corn to missionary work. When harvest season comes around the farmer can expect a full field of corn. It's similar to missionary work, in the aspect of putting in all the things necessary to help investigators progress in the Gospel. Just as a farmer must fertilize, plow, plant seeds, provide water, etc. As missionaries we must tract, read the Book of Mormon with investigators, have daily contact, and so forth. All these things lead towards baptisms.

The work is awesome here in Palmer. I'm excited to be serving here. The ward members are super cool.

Have a great week.

Elder Ogden

Flood the Stake with B of M's

This week was absolutely incredible. Elder Birth and I have been able to find TWO elect investigators this week through tracting! We of course have followed up with them already. It's been awesome answering their questions and teachings short and simple gospel principles.

Kevin is one of them. He says he recently moved up here from Anchorage and has talked with missionaries in the past. He informed us on his beliefs. He comes from a Catholic background and attends church services there regularly. Even though he doesn't agree with everything the Catholic church teaches, he sees the imprtance of church so he attends there. He stated to us his desires of a great community, a stronger family, more truths from God, and to learn about our prophet. You can imagine how excited I was to tell him everything. From a strong community, to God revealing his word today. We kept the visit short. We informed him we would return again soon. He even wants to meet a member of our church. We hope to have a member come introduce themself next time we meet. This is so exciting!

Zone conference and Stake conference was this week. This week has seemed to be incredibly busy with meetings.

Elder Birth and I were invited to give a training to all the Bishops and Stake Presidency within the Stake. We invited them to continue to fulfill the stake vision. To flood the stake with the Book of Mormon. We talked about sharing and reading just one or a few verses with the people we give copies to. A lot of people can get scared by the B of M because of how many pages are in the book. The missionary department in SLC has been putting a huge emphasis on sharing and reading simple verses and chapters with nonmembers. We also talked a lot on following up and helping this vision not end with just handing out copies. It was awesome to see how the missionaries are working as one with the stake and ward members in fulfilling our purpose.

Every week seems to get better and better as well as faster and faster.

Elder Ogden

Knocking Doors is Pretty Fun:

Solid week up here in the AK.

We've been keeping busy with some tracting. A lot of the people we're teaching right now have been super busy. Some are on vacations. Others have been jam packed with working two jobs. So we've been able to meet some new people through our tracting efforts. I don't know why but once you get in the grove of knocking doors it actually becomes pretty fun. We certainly run into interesting people.

Daniel Haddox, our recent convert has been taking the new member lessons. He's nine years old and amazes me with how smart he is.

Elder Dunn, one of my previous companions, is now in our zone. It's been fun catching up with him and talking about good times when we served together in Petersburg a year ago. Crazy how fast time flies by.

Have a great day!

Elder Ogden

Moving Hay for Dogs:

Hey. This week was absolutely incredible. I don't have a whole lot of time so here's a quick update. 

The stake put on a talent show this past Saturday night. It was a great event for all the youth in the community. Members and nonmembers were there to participate and enjoy the show. All the missionaries in the zone were ushers. Great way to meet new people.

We've been taking advantage of the warm weather recently by spending as much time going door to door. We've been able to see some great success through our most recent tracting efforts.

All of the missionaries in the zone and all of the missionaries from the language zone helped with service this past week. We spent most of Thursday unloading and moving hay for the upcoming Iditarod. This was my first time helping out with the Iditarod. It's really neat to see how everyone in the community comes together for the love of dog sled racing.

Anyways that all from me. I hope you all have a great week.

Broom sticks are perfectly Balanced:

Solid week out here in Bear Mountain. Elder Birth and I have been busy with meeting new people and continuing to work with the investigators we currently have.

MLC was this past week. All the zone leaders serving outside of Anchorage get to spend the night at the mission home the night before the meeting. It's always fun seeing and catching up with some friends. It's pretty wild how serving in Alaska you never get to meet some missionaries or see friends for months. Some missionaries literally travel a few hundred miles to come particpate in meetings. MLC was inspiring as always.

As a zone we got together and tracted in an area on Saturday Morning. I always love doing these big tracting sessions. It's cool to have a bunch of missionaries come into an area and knock out a neighborhood.

Elder Birth blew my mind this past week. He showed me how most all broom sticks are perfectly balanced. I didn't believe him at first but then he showed me and I couldn't deny it. Maybe some of you already know about that but I didn't so I of course had to take a pic.

 Have a great week.

Elder Ogden

          

                

You always have your eyes peeled serving in Alaska. Moose can sneak up on ya at any time especially when you walk around a corner to knock on someone's door.

Forbidden "Mormon" Jobs??

A great first week of the transfer. Elder Birth is now my offical compaion. We've been keeping busy with part member and over age youth in the ward. Zane continues to amaze me every time we meet with him. Regional stake conference was this past Sunday.

On Wednesday I picked up Elder Birth, my new companion. He's a stud. We came out into the mission together so it's been fun catching up with him. He's from Salt Lake City and was in choir and theatre in high school. We dropped Elder Hunter off at the temple on Wednesday. It's been cool to kill two missionaries in a row. I get to see what it's like finishing a mission and learning from two great guys who know a lot about success.

Recently the mission has been working a lot with part member families and children over the age of eight who have not been baptized. It's kept us missionaries busy with stop bys. Its been cool to see the success from visiting these families. We're starting to teach a few little kids through these efforts. Hopefully we'll see some baptisms soon.

We had another outstanding lesson with Zane. We originally planned on sharing a formal first lesson with him but that changes as he came prepared with a list of questions. We spent a good two and a half hours just answering sincere questions he had written down in His notebook. There was a variety of questions from why do bad things happen to good people and are there any jobs a Mormon is not allowed to have. It's was a thrilling exercise answering those questions.

 Regional stake conference was on Sunday. We traveled to Anchorage to watch the broadcast. It was great hearing from Elder Christofferson and other general authorities.

 Have a great week

Saying goodbye to Elder Hunter

New companion: Elder Birth

Outlook over Eagle Ridge Valley

Meditating feels pretty good:

Super solid week out here in the AK, I'll just give a quick update.

Transfer calls are in. Elder Hunter will he returning home this week. With upcoming transfer I will be serving with Elder Birth. He's a really cool dude. I'm stoked to serve with him. We both came into the mission field in July so it's going to be a party serving with someone I came out with.

We had a lesson with Marty and Monica. We tracted into Monica a few weeks ago and have been in contact ever since. Her husband Marty just returned from a work trip, so we taught them the restoration together for the first time. It was thrilling answering the questions they had. It was definitely a lesson where the spirit was felt.

We're still working with Zane and Daniel and all the other investigators in the area. Due to busy schedules it's been challenging setting up times to meet. With the new transfer I'm looking forward to seeing some baptisms and helping people progress.

This past week we went back to a dude we tracted into. His name is Rich. Rich is a very spiritual man. He likes his yoga, meditation, etc. It's been cool talking with the man about all sorts of things. He's very open to hear what we have to say so we've been teaching him here and there. We even meditated with him for a good while. It was my first time meditating and I have to say it felt pretty good. He even gave us a painting of Jesus afterwards.

Sorry but I have no pictures.

Have a great week,

Elder Ogden

Amazing Chapel Tours:

This week I was able to go tracting on Alma street. We are currently teaching the most elect person ever! Elder Hunter and I have talked in sacrament meeting on missionary work.

This week I was in the Eagle River area. We did a lot of stop bys and a good amount of tracting. We even made it over to track Alma street. That was super cool. It was a really good experience serving with those Elders for a while. I've been really impressed to see all the new missionaries coming into the field recently. They are all studs. It feels like the missionaries and the mission just keep getting better and better as time move on.

A few weeks ago we tracted into a man named Zane. It was incredible being able to teach and testify of the Book of Mormon on his doorstep. A week later we gave him a chapel tour. In that chapel tour he felt the spirit so strong he even began to talk to his friends about the church. Then this past Saturday he brought his friend Robert to do a chapel tour. Not only was that amazing but throughout the entire tour they were both thrilled to hear the answers we gave to their questions. They even wrote down on paper all the principles we taught. Of course we invited them to church. As Zane attended church services he had his Book of Mormon in one hand and a paper with pen in the other. He took note of all the inspiring words he heard during church. It was motivating to me to witness a sincere truth seeker feel of the spirit. It was inspiring to see how much he treasures the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Elder Hunter and I spoke in church. It was really good to see how much Zane cherished the words spoken in church. I know I'm guilty of sometimes thinking about the upcoming week instead of having my mind focused on the talks. Seeing investigators come to church has taught me a great lesson on absorbing all the information the spirit is teaching through the speakers.

Transfer calls are this week. I'll let you know who my next companion is. It will be a bummer to say goodbye to Elder Hunter but he's served an honorable full time mission.

Have a great week,
Elder Ogden

A pic from MLC last week

The fisheye pics 

come from a sweet 

attachment my 

family sent me!

"Thrilling to be a Missionary"

Stellar week here in the AAM. The week flew by as it was jam packed with Zone Conference, MLC, and exchanges. We've found some new investigaotrs through tracting. We're hoping to start teaching two people up in Kotzebue.

Zone Conference and MLC was really inspiring. Right now as a mission we've been doing a lot of finding. It's been really good to see the push for finding more investigators. It can get really rough in the cold, dark winter days. As we've been following up with people we come across, our investigator pool has increased. We tracted into this one guy about a week ago. He is incredibly elect. We gave him a chapel tour. When he showed up to the tour he brought a pen, notebook, and the Book of Mormon we gave him. He asked all sorts of sincere questions. He's excited to meet with us again and even wants to come to church. I'm thinking he's going to get baptized soon. If it happens this will be the first person I baptize from tracting. Fingers crossed.

The week was busy with running back and forth between stop bys and lessons. It's thrilling to be a missionary right now. The work is only getting better and better each day.

Elder Ogden

              

 

 Here's some pics from doing service at a little ranch

Teal Loop Miracle:

An amazing way to end the year of 2017. The week was full of exchanges. I was able to see some incredible finding miracles. The work is only getting more exciting and thrilling as I get more into the mission.

This past week has been a bit hectic. Elder Hunter and I have been on exchanges for more than half of the week. It's been insane trying to figure things out. Even though we're companions it seems like were only together for just a few days. Sad thing is that it's going to stay like this for the rest of the transfer. It's been fun getting to know other Elders and seeing how we can all learn from each other. 

Here's a cool miracles story. When Elder Barney, my previous comp, was here we felt inspired to tract a road called Teal Loop. Well being too busy we simply forgot about Teal Loop and just continued on with the work we already had. It's been about six weeks since we put that street up on the board. While in the post office I overheard a man state that he lived on Teal Loop. Remembering that we needed to tract that street. We took it as a sign from God.

On Wednesday we finally were able to tract Teal Loop. With it being completely dark and no one answering I began to get discouraged but we pressed on, believing there was someone on the street that was ready for the gospel. Literally the last door we knocked on was the only person who talked to us. This man informed us that with the new year he's going to be going to a different church each week. We taught the restoration, gave him a BoM, set up another time to go back, and he wants to come to church. How amazing! It was incredible to see that sometimes it's after all you can do, you witness the miracle.

The next week is going to be great. We have zone conference, MLC, then exchanges for the rest of the week. Have a great new year!

Here's pic of exchanges. Members had this funny game we played.