Merry Christmas!

大家好! 
(da4jia1 hao3-Hello big family)
聖誕節快樂!(sheng4dan4jie2 kuai4le4)-Merry Christmas! 
This week was full of work and good experiences, it's hard to know where to start!

Last Monday, we went to an American barbecue restaurant in Hualian, because the people who've been here for a while are starting to miss American food like that, and after eating it, I kind of am too.  It was way good. It was also kinda gui (expensive, and by that I mean my meal was about 14 American dollars haha), but everything else here is so cheap, and I've been pretty cautious with my money up to this point for fear of running out, so that combined with having come here a week into the month has left me with some wiggle room.

Elder Ogden is a foodie, if you haven't figured that out already...

That afternoon we rode up the mountain a bit and then hiked up even more, it was definitely nice to get it in the fresh air and walk a little bit, and admire the lush green of the mountains.



Tuesday we had the opportunity to go knocking, which is always actually pretty fun.  It's an interesting experience to talk to some of these people.  I even had a drunk guy walk up and steal the pamphlets from my shirt pocket and walk away, while I was on exchanges in Fenglin, so I mean he has the missionaries' number, maybe when he's sober he'll read them and want to learn more haha. Most of the people, at least in this part of Taiwan, are really nice regardless of what category or class or belief system they fall in, and they're all super giving and gracious when we do get invited to their homes, so it's a really fun culture to live in and experience. 

Anyway, we didn't have much success knocking, but we met a guy who hand engraves pictures of LDS temples into flat stones about like plates, along with other images, that was cool. That night we were calling people at a 7-11, and I got to talking to this guy.  He was really impressed with what we do and the sacrifices we make as missionaries.  He was interested to learn more about how Christ and scriptures can help him in his personal life, because he went to a Christian school growing up, but he always just kind of went through the motions of obligatory prayer and reading, so he liked our message about how those things can have a real meaning and help and relevance in our lives and in this often dark world, so that was a bit of a miracle.  

On Friday and Saturday, I was on exchanges in Fenglin, like I said earlier. Fenglin is a very special place (and there's only a tiny bit of sarcasm in that statement), it has an award for being the slowest city in Taiwan, and when you go there you see why. Everyone there is really chill and nice and LOVES to talk, but by now almost everyone in the main city and the villages close around have already been contacted by the missionaries, so starting conversations about the gospel gets a little difficult because a lot of people think they've heard it all.

In Fenglin

Fenglin is also a relatively poor area, with a lot of descendants of Aborigines that lived here before the Chinese came in long ago. It's really cool to talk to them about their culture, and I even got to hear a little of the Mouyu, or "mother language", of the tribe here, which sounds a lot like Polynesian languages and is way cool. While I was there we taught a lesson to a nice elderly Aborigine lady who's getting baptized next week, and I was able to share about how the Lord has given us all talents and abilities and he uses them to bless others through callings, and even when we think we can't do something, if He asks us to do it, He will make sure we're able, and we'll learn more than if it was easy.  I think it helped put her at ease at the prospect of getting a calling when she joins the church, so that was a good feeling. It's also a good feeling to see how the gospel has blessed this lady's life and brought light and happiness. By the world's standards she's not very well off, and she's had a lot of tragedy in her life, but the knowledge that she is the daughter of a Heavenly King, that He loves her, that she can return to live with Him and her family again, and that she can have the strength to endure the hardships of this life has made her one of the happiest people I've met here. 

This week we had a special Christmas zone conference with half of the mission in Taipei, and President and Sister Jergensen talked about the qualities that the various people in the Christmas story had, and "adding oil to our lamps" through study, going off of the parable of the ten virgins, so we can bring others light! It was really cool, we talked about all the symbolism behind oil in the scriptures and in the way olive oil is made, it's way awesome and I would encourage you all to study that for yourselves and think how oil relates to the Atonement and our own personal conversion!

And that brings me to my spiritual thought this week: after conference I really wanted to improve the effectiveness of my study, so I decided to make a checklist for my study times to make sure I use all the resources I have and apply them to my missionary work, and it's really helped me have that fuel to light my life and that of others, so I want to encourage all of you do make gospel study, and effective, focused, ponderous gospel study at that, a priority in your lives! 2 Nephi 26:23-24 says:
"For behold, my beloved brethren, I say unto you that the Lord God worketh not in darkness.
He doeth not anything save it be for the benefit of the world; for he loveth the world, even that he layeth down his own life that he may draw all men unto him. Wherefore, he commandeth none that they shall not partake of his salvation."
I think this scripture teaches us a lot of things, but one that stood out to me this week is that the Lord works in light. He had given us this gospel so we can have light and joy in an often dark world, and we can obtain that light by how else? Studying and living His gospel, and helping others to do so too! He has given us SO many tools to help us do that, and gospel library is just one example of the wealth of resources we have at our disposal now! All we have to do is use it!

There's a saying in Chinese that they use to mean "good luck", or "keep going", among other encouraging things we say in English, and it is simply "Jia1you2!", Which literally means "add oil"! 
加油你們！-jia1you2 you guys!

A night market

I think it's safe to say that Elder Ogden is obsessed with the peanut butter in Taiwan...