Everyone Has the Doge

Hey everyone!

This week was pretty good. I realized every Asian with a dog doesn't just have a dog, they have the DOGE (like three dog that's in all those memes. It's an Asian breed, so there's a ton here haha.) 

Note from Missionary Mom Des:  Here is some info about the meme Elder Ogden is talking about...Doge is an Internet meme that became popular in 2013. The meme typically consists of a picture of a Shiba Inu dog accompanied by multicolored text in Comic Sans font in the foreground. The text, representing a kind of internal monologue, is deliberately written in a form of broken English.

We also did some stuff.  Last Monday we played board games and had lunch with some missionaries in Tucheng. That night we visited some members and got their suggestions on other people we can visit. It was a little bad, because we forgot the first family said they would have food, so we bought dinner and were pretty full.  Then got there and realized they had bought a bunch of pizza  so that was fun. They kept telling us to eat and eat and we were like "really, we can't" it's ok, somehow we crammed most of it down. I felt super bad. Then, the next person had soda and 2 giant 包子-baozi (a bun stuffed with red bean or other things) all ready for us. I felt pretty sick that night haha.

This week we finally met with Freddy, our friend from English class who hadn't even had a chance to meet and had already joined a choir of members at temple square. He's awesome.  He and his wife are having a baby soon and he hopes the gospel can help him raise his family well. We had a good conversation and shared the Restoration (of the Gospel of Jesus Christ). He was curious how we can know a true Prophet, and we talked about how they will always testify of Jesus Christ, and how we can know through their fruits and by doing the doctrine, as well as praying for the confirmation of the Holy Ghost, then we can know if it's of God. We shared about the importance if the Book of Mormon, and he was willing to go read and ponder and pray himself.  He's a super nice guy, and speaks really good English, and his desire for truth is there. He said a really awesome prayer at the end. We're excited for him.

We had some great interviews with President Peterson this week. He gave me some suggestions on how we can further the member work in our area and be more unified as a companionship, which is what he's been focusing on with the whole mission recently. He is a very inspired man. Oh, and we already got transfer calls. Elder Young and I are both staying. Some pretty crazy stuff went down, a lot of whitewashing (where both missionaries in an area get moved and replaced with two that know nothing about the area), our zone leaders were just completely moved to another area in the zone and the elders from that area are moving to the zone leaders' former area in Tucheng, among other things that seem crazy to missionaries. We don't get a lot of stimulation so transfers are like the super bowl for us, haha.

I wanted to share a scripture in 2 Nephi 9 that I read this week, this is verse 50:

"Come, my brethren, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters; and he that hath no money, come buy and eat; yea, come buy wine and milk without money and without price." 

I love this scripture because it reminds us that the things that really matter in life are free. The gospel? Free. Love? (pure love that is) Free. Christ's grace? Also free. All we have to give is our heart. All we have to do is follow Him, and let Him change us into people who can feel more joy, conquer more challenges, and who don't need the things that money can buy to make them satisfied. And really that's the only way to be truly satisfied in the end. The only hard part is getting our priorities straight, when it comes down to it.

I love you all, thanks for all of the support and prayers and love I get from home! It helps more than even I know. Have a great week!

Elder 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