Note from Missionary Mom Des: Elder Ogden has some new responsibilities that are keeping him super busy. He thought that it would be easier for him to do an audio recording instead of writing out a group email this week, and he will probably do more audio recordings in the future. (Yay!) I have transcribed the audio recording for a couple of reasons...
- At the end of this mission, the plan is to have this blog put into book form. Kind of hard to put an audio file into a book. :)
- I know sometimes you are in a place where you can't listen to audio, but you can read the blog, so I wanted to have both options available for Elder Ogden's biggest fans. :)
I just want to add that it was such a fun surprise to wake up this morning and be able to hear Elder Ogden's voice! Makes my missionary mom heart so happy.
Transcription:
Hello everyone! Sorry it's super noisy. I'm on a bus right now. I just felt like making a recording for you guys because that's a lot faster than typing an email and it will probably be easier to get down my thoughts this way.
Right now we are on a bus going to Taoyuan to pick up some bikes that got shipped here for our new elders that came, two of which are brand new trainees. I'm training right now. It's pretty stressful. Hopefully my trainee survives the next 12 weeks.
This last week, I was with the zone leaders in Taoyuan for pretty much the whole week. It was a lot of fun. I learned a lot from them. They're great missionaries. I was with Elder Shope who was in Fenglin when I was in Hualien. That was a lot of fun to reminisce about the time that I first came on island.
Now, it's been a year since I entered the MTC--on Thursday. Thursday is my year mark. That's super crazy. I don't really know where the time went. It's just crazy to me to think about all of the experiences I've had the past year--all the changes I've undergone--all of the improvements I've done in my life, and the improvements I've seen in other people's lives as I've shared the gospel of Jesus Christ with them. It's super crazy to me to think that a year ago, I barely knew how to say, "I can speak a little bit of Chinese", in Chinese, and now, pretty much everything anyone says to me I can understand, and I can say almost anything I want to--within reason. I can't lecture someone on quantum physics or anything, but, it's amazing for me to see what the gift of tongues has done.
Anyway, this past week, I saw a lot of miracles, both in the zone leaders area and my area, even though I wasn't here (except for Wednesday night for English class). During this week, I just had a lot of great experiences. I was a lot of fun and on...Tuesday night, some members in Taoyuan took us to TGIFriday's, which was very expensive and I felt very bad, but it was very good. While we were there, I got a call from Elder Ling, who was with me in Hualien and is now the assistant to the President. (Well, now he's gone home, since transfers...) He called me and asked me if BaDe could take two more elders and I said that we could definitely use two more elders because we've been super busy this last transfer and we have a lot of people the Lord wants us to help and not enough time with just two elders. So, he was like, "Cool, ya. You'll be getting two more elders, and also, you're training."
And so, ya...Friday morning, I went to Taipei to pick up my new trainee. His name is Elder Brady. He's super awesome. He was living in Tooele, UT for the past couple of years. He's lived in Switzerland and like, I don't know where else...Moraco...he's lived all over the place. He's really cool. His Chinese is pretty good, especially for a trainee. He served in San Fransisco for the last 6 weeks while he was waiting for his visa. He's still a little jet-lagged and getting used to the climate, but he's starting to open up a lot more and talk a lot more to people. I think he's starting to enjoy it. Hopefully I, as a trainer, can give him what he deserves. This is my first time being even senior companion, much less being completely responsible for a brand new missionary in Taiwan. So, your prayers for me would be much appreciated.
Ya, that's pretty much my week...to close, I just want to thank everyone at home--my family members, my friends--for all the support I've gotten over this past year. It really means a lot. It really means a lot to me being here and experiencing all of the hardships that come with being a missionary in Taiwan, and all of the joys. I know I have so many people who love and support me and have sacrificed to help me get here. I'm excited for the coming year and excited for all of the experiences I'm going to have. I'm excited to hear about everyone else's experiences and continue to help people come unto Christ.
I know this message that I'm sharing is true, and it has more power than anything else to change people's lives and help them find happiness--find the most happiness--that they can have. [I know it's] the best thing for me, it's the best thing for you, and it's the best thing for our families. I love you all, and ya, that's my email this week. Hopefully I can think of more exciting stories next week. Have a good week! Bye bye.
Elder Ogden
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