Elder Ogden in Taipei: Week ? (Insert Number Here)

P-Day at the beach

大家好！(dàjiā hǎo-hello big family)

So this week was really good, we saw miracles and I was able to feel like an instrument in the Lord's hands a little more than I have before, so it was a great time of growth and helping people learn about their Savior!

So I don't have a ton of time and there's so much to tell, but essentially this week we made finding people to teach and strengthening who we have our to priority (which isn't that different from other weeks but it was good to put added focus on that). We played around with a lot of different places and ways of finding and we ran into so many people willing to learn just putting in knocking time. I could scarcely believe it! The Lord has a work to do for sure in this little corner of the world and I'm excited to be a part of it!

We visited a family we found knocking who had said we could come back again. The wife especially was so interested in how we can already speak the Chinese we do after being here for this short amount of time. She was actually open and eager to learn what our church and the Savior has to offer her family, and how the Book of Mormon can help her know it's true. We're excited to continue to help them.

One day, I was just feeling tired and a little lazy and as we were getting up to leave a study session, in the back of my mind, I knew I had to talk to someone to achieve my Prior mentioned goal for the week. Being lame like I am, I kinda just hesitantly sat next to this guy sitting down and said hello. Then Elder Vincent, who was kinda in the same mood I was, asked him how he was doing. He then proceeded to open up in a way neither of us in our lack of faith or something expected, and we really connected with him. He was asking all the right questions about why we are out here and how we know our message is true and how it has helped us and everything, and he was uncharacteristically willing to MAKE time to meet with us! It was way awesome he's such a cool dude! That really taught me about the Lord really knowing His children and knowing better than me, and the importance of sticking to goals I set and promises I make to Him so He can trust us with people who are ready for His gospel. That was pretty humbling and a lesson I really needed right when I got it.

Studying

Also Jeven, the baptismal date from last week and the guy we were talking to when the first earthquake hit, is super awesome. We taught him with a member from our ward and they hit it off really well. Jeven is flying through the lessons and he has such a strong testimony. All he needs is a little deeper understanding and to actually get baptized! (Which is happening on the 31st of March actually!!😁) He's definitely more prepared by the Lord than anything we could have done haha.

Thursday we were in Taipei for a zone conference, which was really good. We looked at some stenographs and talked about how some people see them right off, some take longer, and some are not able to see it at all. That compares to our work in helping people recurve the witness and testimony we have, it had a TON of parallels as we talked about it and really opened my eyes to what our investigators feel and how I can better help them personally, it was really awesome. We also talked about not letting past statistics in our area affect our faith that the Lord has people for us to find and teach and bring unto Christ through baptism, and it was really cool to look inward at what I need to do to develop and show that faith and be better at helping the people the Lord trusts us with to progress.

On the way to Zone Conference

On Saturday, we went to explore a poorer area in the middle of our area and it is actually really cool. There's a lot of people who really need the happy message we're bringing. Hopefully we find people who are humble enough to accept it. Also, we got chased by some wild dogs and wrecked at basketball by some highschoolers, which was pretty sick I guess.

For my spiritual thought this week I wanted to share Mosiah 24:14: "And I will also ease the burdens which are put upon your shoulders, that even you cannot feel them upon your backs, even while you are in bondage; and this will I do that ye may stand as witnesses for me hereafter, and that ye may know of a surety that I, the Lord God, do visit my people in their afflictions."

I love this story of Alma and his people persevering in afflictions and being willing to rely on the Lord. I think it's so cool that the Lord says He wanted them to know of a surety and stand as witnesses thereafter (as in forever to all the world in the Book of Mormon) that the Lord visits His people in their afflictions. So it is with us. When we are beaten and weighed down with the burdens of life, maybe the Lord is allowing it so that we can learn to turn to Him in faith, and He's not going to just make your problems disappear but when he GIVES us the strength to conquer the challenges we have, our faith is unshaken, and we are way better off than we were before that trial. I've definitley seen that as I've had rough times on my mission, and I've seen people with much worse situations than me whom have seen that as well. I'm thankful for that knowlege because it's definitely going to help me for the rest of my life.

Have yourselves a great week! I love you all!

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士