Last Week and This Week

English Class

So I realized I typed an email up last week but forgot to send it so here you go:

Hello everyone!

This week went a lot better both because I wasn't sick and because I'm used to things here by now. Here are a few highlights:

First of all, I was able to baptize Brother Xu on Saturday! That was an amazing experience, we all felt the spirit testify to us that the step he has taken made his Heavenly Father very proud, both at the baptism and at his confirmation yesterday. Such an awesome experience.  Also, a miracle investigator whom we were worried was too hung up on certain things to be willing to continue to learn showed up and discovered she was very good friends with a member and said she had a really special experience there, so that was great.

We also went on exchanges with the zone leaders and it was a lot of fun to see Xinzhu city and help their investigators out a little bit. They've got some awesome people with concerns that really made me think. I learned a lot from that. Also one of our zone leaders was Elder Vincent's trainer, so it was fun to hear about my last companion's training experiences.

We taught Alexander again and he is really committed to finally quitting smoking and being able to be baptized after all this time. His testimony and faith are already so solid, I really think he can achieve his goal and we're excited for him.

This week I was studying and thinking a lot about what makes baptism so special, especially as we have it through the restored gospel, and I came across this verse in D&C 84:20: 

"Therefore, in the ordinances thereof, the power of godliness is manifest.”

As I was helping Brother Xu accept baptism and thinking about these things, it really does amaze me to feel the spirit testify to me of the power that is manifest in the ordinances of the Gospel. I'm grateful that today we are able to receive the blessings of the priesthood authority and power of God as passed from Jesus Christ Himself through His apostles, through Joseph Smith, all the way down to us today. I saw the power of a fresh new start in Brother Xu as he took this step, and I experienced it for myself as I renewed this promise for myself through partaking of the sacrament. Sometimes I too easily forget the magnitude of these things that we get to do, but seeing someone start their journey in this gospel, with all its struggles and blessings, reminded me of how grateful I am for it. I wouldn't wish for anything else.

I love you guys, have a great week!

And this week:

Hello Everyone!

Last P-day, we got our week off to a pretty great start.  We rode up to Brother Xu's family's house in the mountains to hike to a waterfall and then make curry at his cabin. It was very hot and sticky, but it was a great experience and the mountains were beautiful as always. It is very easy to see bugs I would definitely not want to find in my house, but outside they're cool to look at. I posted a picture of a spider at the cabin that an elder swatted off of it's net with a badminton racket and then trapped and killed it. Fun stuff. 

During the week we saw some great things.  Alexander, the guy who approached us in the park, has been improving at his daily cigarette count and he reads and prays like 3 times a day.  He just eats it up.  He's a beast. He's just a happy guy in general and he's only gotten happier since we started meeting him so teaching him is awesome. Prayers for him to have help in quitting his addiction would be much appreciated, and also he lost his dog which he was pretty bummed about so if you could pray that he can find his dog I think he'd appreciate that too!

One day we had just been stood up by an investigator and were trying to figure out what to do, and I looked at the map and found a less active member right next to the house of the guy who had missed our lesson. We prayed and both felt like we needed to go back to the guys house and check out the less active member while we were at it. The guy wasn't there and it turned out that the map had misplaced the dot for the less active member and he was down the road. Accordingly, we set off in search of that member, and as we were riding I faintly heard someone shouting "Hello!"  Even though I had the feeling that if it was someone calling out to us, from the sound of it, it was some kid who wanted to speak snarky phrases at us in broken English and then snicker at us with his friends and stare at me like I'm an animal in a zoo (we actually get that a surprising amount, it'd be kind of annoying, but it's mostly just funny).  I still felt like I should turn around and see what it was. Turns out, it was exactly what I thought it was going to be, so after the 13-year olds ran off, I was a little annoyed and confused as to why I had felt so strongly that I should turn around, but then I turned to continue biking and there was a guy standing right in front of me grinning from ear to ear. He asked if I was Elder Hong and like a ding dong I was like "Uh, no, he's behind me," and we all started talking.  I realized he was a former investigator we had called earlier and set up to meet on Saturday! He was so excited to meet and kept checking and rechecking he had the time and place right and that we remembered, and he started talking about the challenges he's had physically and how he's had several experiences where he should have died but was totally fine.  Because of that, he feels like God still has work for him to do here. He's super sincere and has a ton of faith and our lesson with him on Saturday went super well too. That was definitely a miracle of being in the right place at the right time, and helped us prepare well to know how to help him on Saturday.

This week was not easy when it came to spreading the gospel, but it was still a good week, and we had some people progress still which was great. Honestly my testimony was strengthened a ton of the power of the Book of Mormon and the spirit, because without fail when someone had a question or didn't understand something, the book had an answer. The difference between someone overcoming their concern or understanding what we were teaching or even seeing some benefit in their lives from meeting with us depended on whether or not they went and read the book and prayed. 

That Book has brought so much clarity and peace into my life, and it does the same for every earnest seeker who reads it and brings their problems and concerns before the source of all truth, our Heavenly Father. There is no substitute, and even though Satan is very real and does everything he can to persuade us to not read it, to learn what it really has to offer, and to draw closer to our Savior, there is absolutely no substitute. I know this book is true, that it brings a real power into my life and into the lives who read it with a real desire to find truth, and that it is proof that God loves us yesterday, today, and forever, and no matter what we go through in this life whether it be because of other people's bad choices or our own or even because of things that can't be controlled, what our Heavenly Father is anxious to give us is far greater than the unfair and undesirable things that come as a result of living a mortal life. 

If there is one thing I would wish for anyone who reads this to do, it's to read the Book of Mormon and speak to our Heavenly Father in prayer every single day. No matter how busy you are, no matter how little or how much time you can spare, it is worth it.

I love you guys, 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士

(All bolded and underlined parts were done by Missionary Mom Des.  Sometimes I like to highlight Elder Ogden's suggestions because I know it helps me remember the basics and helps me to be better a better person.)

PS from Elder Ogden's letter to his mom...

Funny story:  Last night we helped a lady clean out her really gross kitchen and she was talking to Elder Hong in Taiwanese the whole time so I didn't pick up very much.  I did understand when we were about to leave and she acted like she saw me for the first time and started gawking at me for a little, and then proceeded to rub my arm hair and my head like I was a rare creature and chatter about how interesting my white skin is (plus Asian people don't have arm hair so they think it's so fascinating haha). Fun times 

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