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.