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Elder Ogden and Elder Vincent at the Kaorou (Taiwanese BBQ)

Hello everyone!

So Monday was solid, we went and ate way too much meat at Taiwanese Barbecue, and did some knocking.

On Tuesday, I had a great exchange with Elder Kleine, our district leader.  Pretty much everything fell through, so we had a lot of finding time and we talked a lot about his experiences and what he's learned out here, so that was definitely helpful. Then the last guy we talked to was really cool and was pretty willing to learn, so that was pretty chill I guess.

Wednesday an investigator mom (王姐妹-wáng jǐemèi or sister Wang) ended up having things last minute so she couldn't meet [with us], but she met Seth and Mikayla, the ward mission leader and his wife, and they hit it off pretty well.  She said she had a lot of questions for the next day so we were stoked anyway. The rest of the day was some good old finding on the way to visiting anyone we could, and planning for English class and a service activity on Saturday.  Then [we had an] actual English class and a nice lesson with Jeven about tithing. We teach advanced English class and it's a nice opportunity to do some service since Taiwanese people are usually too polite and independent to accept offers to serve in everyday circumstances haha.

Thursday was pretty crazy, we had a great lesson with sister Wang, got a setup with a cool guy, gave a book of Mormon to some people who were carrying a poster of Jesus down the street, went looking for a former [member] and were chased through a random aboriginal village by a pack of mangy dogs.  We also got fed soup by some drunk dudes.  [The soup had] pieces of chicken that probably should not be considered the edible parts. We also met with Big Bear, an investigator who's way cool, and a new guy named 陳-chén, who's really searching to know if God is truly there and what his relationship with Him is.  We also met a lady from the mainland named 歐-ōh at her rice porridge shop.  She was really nice and liked Jesus so she was down to hear a message about Him if we came back and ate there the next day.  So that was a pretty sweet deal haha. Overall I was pretty happy with the day.

Friday was pretty uneventful except we went and ate with 歐姐妹-Sister Oh.  It was some pretty good gruel-type stuff and we got to know her pretty well.  She's way cool and excited for a copy of the Book of Mormon.  I passed my test from the normal word set to the character language study set, so that was exciting.  It was super hard but it helped me know what I still need to work on. After that we had a free car wash activity with the members to let people see the chapel.  We had Mormon messages and movies and stuff playing in the lobby, some wintermelon tea and some quality car-washing materials, but in execution not very many people came so it kinda tanked sadly. There were a couple people who were super cool though so it was sort of worth it haha. I did meet one of the sisters' investigators who is getting baptized soon and it turns out it's the South African girl Elder Vincent and I contacted at a stoplight one of the first days he was here, so I was excited about that.  That experience kinda taught me you never know what influence you'll have on people's lives down the road.

Well as you can probably tell, this week was not the easiest week, which probably shouldn't come as a surprise for someone trying to teach Taiwanese people, in Chinese, about Jesus. But finding people who would talk to us and other aspects of missionary work just seemed abnormally difficult this week. Honestly, there are times in every aspect of life that aren't the funnest, and a mission is no exception. Although, I'm sure there are plenty of people who had a lot harder or more draining of a week than me, missionaries do have the benefit of not having to worry about finances or taking care of a family or an excess amount of physical exhaustion.  We're also kinda blissfully ignorant of a lot of the terrible things going on in the world, but loving the Lord and the people here as much as we do and still getting rejected over and over again because some people simply don't care to learn about a Savior who would improve their lives so much and bring them home to their Father in Heaven.  That's not an easy thing to experience every day.

However, this week I did learn a lot about the importance of patience in afflictions, of doing all you can from what you know is right, and having faith that the Lord will make sure everything turns out ok. In spite of the hard times we faced this week, we did see a lot of miracles and joy from testifying of Jesus Christ and of the Book of Mormon's power to help us come to know him. I do know what we teach is true, and I promise that no matter what problem we face in life, Jesus Christ and His teachings found in books like the Book of Mormon will carry us through, and if we have the Lord as our foundation in this way everything else will fall into place. I personally can attest to that. I love you all! Remember to read the Book and pray every day, our Heavenly Father is listening and He is proud of and loves your sincere efforts to follow His Son, no matter how effectual they seem! Have a great week!

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

 A beautiful place to get some studying done.

Rocks from a member's rock collection

A cool stone that is personalized with Elder Ogden's name and mission.

In Meilun