Elder Ogden in Taipei: Pieced Together

"Up the mountain"

Note from Missionary Mom Des:

Elder Ogden did not send a group email this week. Maybe he ran out of time or forgot to hit send, lol. Anyway, I took some bits and pieces from his emails to me, Mark, and his friend, Becca to give you an update of what he has been up to. :)

From mine and Mark's emails...
Funny Story: We were teaching this couple and they were so funny. We started trying to teach about the plan of salvation and he wouldn't believe there was any purpose to life other than making money, so that was fun.

He does want to change his smoking habit so he's willing to have an open mind and see how Christ can help him. What was really funny was how his wife started talking to me about how pretty I am because I'm white and how I should "Larry" (mission lingo for come back and marry someone from Taiwan haha) because she knows a white guy who came back and married someone from Taiwan and even though his wife is ugly (according to her) their children are still beautiful because their dad is white. I never really saw where the appeal in that situation was, so I just did what I always do when people tell me stuff like that, which is to laugh uncomfortably and say "Ooh maybe, we'll see!" and then change the subject haha. I mean there's nothing wrong with Taiwanese people, there are some wonderful people here, but I definitely would much rather live in Utah or somewhere near there, and the culture difference and language barrier would be way to much to handle in a marriage I think. So I think I'm pretty safe from that haha.

I'm definitely liking it here in this new area, it's very beautiful and relaxed and there's a breakfast shop that's actually even a step above your average breakfast shop in terms of quality and options, and along with good food they've got great drinks too all for the typical Taiwan cheap price, so that's a little slice of heaven for me, haha.

"From the apartment"

"Up the mountain"

From Becca's email...
Brother Xu's Baptism was so awesome! I was able to baptize him and the water heater wasn't working for some reason, so it was a little chilly, but it wasn't a problem. After he came up out of the water, we were too happy to notice! The spirit was super strong, he was very excited, and we all felt that Heavenly Father was so proud of him, so I couldn't have asked for anything more!

At Brother Xu's baptism :)

There's quite a few things I like here that I didn't have in Hualien. First of all there's this breakfast shop, and in Taiwan the vast majority of breakfast shops are equally magical (as in they're the exact same but at a wonderful level) but this one is different. They have a lot more options and they're all next level for the same price, and on top of that they have very very good drinks. It's basically the best place in Taiwan outside of the all you can eat Barbecue with Haagen Dazs ice cream, haha. In general it's a little easier to find variety in food here (although there's no curry place which is quite a tragedy), and for some reason people stand us up much less and come to church much easier. I can't compare it in many other aspects, but it's a pretty sweet place.

This week we were focusing on helping people understand what it really means that they are children of Heavenly Father, and we found this scripture in Romans 8:

"16 The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:
17 And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.
18 For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us."

I love this scripture so much, and it really is marvellous the understanding we have of our potential as sons and daughters, and especially verse 18 reminds us that what is waiting for us if we're faithful far outweighs the challenges we face on our road back to our Heavenly Father. I know that's true!