Elder Ogden in Taipei: MEGA SHARKQUAKE JERRY!

Elder Ogden on a street in Hualien which is decorated for Chinese New Year

大家好!(da4jia1hao3-hello big family)-

So sorry, I guess I forgot to finish a story last week and it's not really an adequate excuse to email after p day is over, so hope that cliff hanger didn't kill you too much, haha. Yeah, so there was an earthquake (actually about 6 with aftershocks), and it was about a 5.8 at the biggest actually. It was a little scary at first but then it was actually just fun, the 7-11 jiggled like jelly but nothing really even fell down it was just an interesting experience as my first earthquake ever.

Also, later in the week as you probably know, on Wednesday night at 11:50 pm, there was a much bigger one (6.4 on the Richter scale but a level 7 because of the type of shaking), which was CRAZY. We're all fine obviously, but there were about 5 buildings in downtown Hualian that had their first floors collapse and the buildings were tipping dangerously. They're still trying to prop them up so they can take them apart safely. It feels so unreal to look that them. It doesn't even feel possible that I'm looking at an entire building hovering at about a 20-35 degree angle like that.

Damage from the earthquakes

When the earthquake first happened the four of us in our apartment were about to fall also when it started. At first, it was kinda small and we were like "oh nice another earthquake that's fun

" and then it just got worse and worse and as we tried to stand up the floor was literally sliding back and forth what felt like several feet at a time to the point where we could barely stand up. Our elementary-school-ingrained instincts kicked in as we just flung ourselves at the door jamb. When the shaking finally stopped, we flew around the house grabbing everything we thought we might need and booked it outside. Thankfully, our apartment never had any structural damage and somehow our mahjong game never even got messed up, haha, but after we had called President Jergensen, asked the other missionaries, the Bishop, our investigators, and everyone else we thought we should, we were told that an even bigger one could very well be one the way, and that it wasn't safe to be inside. So in spite of the fact that the natives went back inside after a bit (even though this was the biggest earthquake here in 20 years) we grabbed all the emergency supplies we could and set off on the streets to look for a more wide open area to regroup. We ended up getting a few hours of terrible sleep on a basketball court behind a police station until president told us he wanted us to go to the extremely well-built church with all of the other missionaries and "sleep until we woke up", which we did.

The mahjong came that was not disturbed and the clock that stopped working when the earthquake hit.

Sleeping on the basketball court behind the police station.

That was pretty much the extent of our earthquake adventure. At the time it was scary and exciting but looking back it just feels like a dream, until I see the refugees. A lot of people either lost their homes or had all of their stuff get thrown around and destroyed to the point where they can't even walk around in their house, not to mention the damage to utilities all over the city, so there are hundreds of refugees in a few shelters across the city that we've been able to do service for when we get the chance. It's actually crazy though because there's not a ton we've been able to do since there are SO many volunteers at all of the shelters, which is awesome to see.

In regard to the subject line, the elders took to calling the "superquake" that everyone was saying could be coming "MEGA SHARKQUAKE JERRY" in homage to the cinema classic of our time, "Sharknado" (it's some quality cinema by the way

), and honestly I don't know why we chose Jerry, we were very very exhausted if you can't tell haha. I also don't know what a sharkquake would even look like but I guess I can leave that to 大家's imagination. (大家 is pronounced "dah jah", which actually is just a way to say everyone pretty much).

Yesterday, we were able to go to one of the shelters with the members and Elder Nielsen did a magic show and missionaries and members performed some songs, and I got to play the cello too! It was a lot of fun and we met a lot of great people, it seemed to help brighten their day, which was nice.

Serving at an earthquake shelter.

Last P-day was good. We bought a lot of stuff, including a Bluetooth keyboard and a board for Chinese chess, so it was a solid day. An ATM ate Elder Nielsen's card so we had to call a security guard to get it out for us so that was exciting, I guess. That night we met with the sick dude from the 7-11 last week and he was way willing to read and pray and come to church.

Besides the earthquake and figuring out service and stuff this week, we had a pretty normal week. We saw the hand of the Lord in ending up in just the right place to help people and find people who have interest in the gospel in spite of all of the craziness, so it was a great week. We had some random dude ask us if we believed in karma and we told him kinda and explained a little bit, but he was already walking away as soon as we started talking. It was so strange, haha.

For my spiritual thought this week I don't have a ton of time, but I read "This Day" by President Eyring, and I loved this:

"For those who are discouraged by their circumstances and are therefore tempted to feel they cannot serve the Lord this day, I make you two promises. Hard as things seem today, they will be better in the next day if you choose to serve the Lord this day with your whole heart. Your circumstances may not be improved in all the ways which you desire. But you will have been given new strength to carry your burdens and new confidence that when your burdens become too heavy, the Lord, whom you have served, will carry what you cannot. He knows how. He prepared long ago. He suffered your infirmities and your sorrows when He was in the flesh so that He would know how to succor you."

And I know that's true!

I love you all! Have a great week!

Elder Joshua Ogden
Missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints
武長老
耶穌基督後期聖徒教會的傳教士