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