Elder Ogden in Taipei: Story Time

{Note from Missionary Mom Des: This week's post is from Elder Ogden's email to me. He must not have had time to do a recording/group email so I hope he doesn't mind me sharing these stories and thoughts from my email.}

Elder Ogden and Elder Brady

Let me tell you a couple of stories.

First, there's our friend Linda, who is awesome. She's the lady I talked about last week who is going through rough times. She has cancer. She wasn't really in contact with us during the whole week and didn't seem to be reading the Book of Mormon like we committed her to. When we invited her to the baptism that took place on Saturday and the dinner afterwards, she said she would think about it. Then she showed up! We got there to find her talking and having a good time with some members!

She was asking a lot of questions during the service, and we took her around the chapel (along with another nice old guy we just met in a 7-11 who actually showed up) and she was asking questions about all the paintings and everything. She really wanted to know everything. We invited her to church the next day, and she said she'd think about it. Then, she showed up at church, was attentive during sacrament, participated and shared great thoughts during gospel principles (it was the Law of Chastity we were glad she didn't have any concerns about it, on the contrary she thought it was great) and said she learned a lot from Relief Society. We talked to her after and she said she doesn't know what it is, maybe she's just looking for something to cling onto as she prepares to leave this world, or maybe Christ is calling her to come to know Him (I think it's the latter) but every time she leaves the decision whether or not to come until the last minute and relies on her feelings, she always feels like she should come.

She said on Saturday night she was tossing and turning and really sick. She didn't sleep until 5 am the next morning when she took some pills [to help her sleep]. She said if she woke up in time, she would come to church. Well, she did! She was expecting to be dozing off but actually didn't feel tired at all during the whole thing! She's still unsure about converting and everything, but she definitely feels an urge to understand. So yeah, she's super prepared. Now we just need to get her husband to stop being way shy and closed off to any religion so they can be baptized together and become a dang eternal family gosh dang it. {Note from Missionary Mom Des...Watch your language, Elder. Lol.}

Also, there was the time we were riding around in one area trying to talk to people and we didn't have much else to do. I remembered that a less active recent convert who has had a lot of problems and reached out to us for help but hadn't responded to any attempts to contact him for the past month, lived near there. I just had a thought "Man, we need to find that guy." So I got his address from Elder Steffen and we went over there and stood outside his house. His dad hates us so I wanted to make sure our friend was there and would be the one to answer the door. I called his phone even though he had never answered before, and he picked up immediately!

He was like "Wei?(that's what they say answering the phone)."

"Ni hao, it's been too long since we talked, this is Elder Ogden."

"Yeah, I know."

"Well, the Spirit told us to find you, what's up?"

"Well, the Spirit was right. I have a big problem and I need your help."

So long story short, he bought this thing that was supposed to bring good luck but it advertised having some spirits trapped in it and also like human flesh inside and stuff. He said he was feeling really, really uncomfortable ever since he bought it. We were like "uhhhh" and then we called President [Peterson], said a prayer, and gave him a blessing and then went and buried the thing in the park with pruning shears (he couldn't find a shovel). So that was eventful haha. It felt pretty not-right holding it, but I didn't feel like there was anything actually malicious hanging around it other than the fear Satan was using it to create in our friend's mind. He has a long way to go to come back to the fold, but it's clear the Lord's not giving up on him.

Well, those were a couple of highlights from my week. I felt pretty down at times because Satan was trying to get me to compare the outward results of our efforts with the other Elders and make me feel like I don't have the potential to find someone who's actually going to be baptized. But, I'm feeling better after this weekend and I'm fighting that thought process super hard. Satan's the literal worst.

Anyway, I love you, I hope you have a great week!

-Elder Ogden