Elder Ogden in Taipei: May Your Pig Things Be According to Your Wishes...?

At a "hot pot"

Hello everyone!

豬年快樂！豬事如意！(zhu-nian kuai-le, zhushi ruyi)

I hope everyone had a good week, above is a happy new years phrase to celebrate the year of the pig! The first four characters mean happy "pig year"(zhu-nian), and then the last four is a pun on a phrase meaning "may all things be according to your wishes", but using the character 豬, which means pig, instead of 諸, which basically means "all", and they are both pronounced "zhu (joo)" (notice how the right side of both characters is the same, that indicates that they're related somehow usually). So the phrase is pronounced the same, but when it's written out the pig character technically turns the meaning to "may your PIG things..." instead of "may ALL your things...". So yeah. A real knee slapper. Chinese puns are so funny.

This week went a lot better. We had exchanges with the zone leaders in TuCheng, which was a lot of fun, and we learned a lot about setting goals in the morning for talking to people and sticking to them. Then, in zone council on Thursday we learned about the importance of listening to the Spirit in all aspects of the work. Also during district council we did an activity where we were practicing deciding on things to "start, stop, and continue" in order to help our companionships be more unified. So we all randomly drew cards that had a character and the things they contribute well to the companionship and things that create tension. I was Kim Jong-un, and my pros were I eat all the food at member's houses my companion doesn't want to, and I'm a good leader. My cons were I made unrealistically big plans and never carry them out, and I think I'm better than everyone else. My fake companion was Donald Trump, and his Pros were that he is also good at inspiring people and another thing that I can't remember. The cons were that he has no filter when he talks with people and he's obsessed with fixing his hair

. We decided to set more realistic plans and to remember things we say that offend people and not say them again haha.

We learned some valuable things all in all and they worked! We've been seeing a lot more success talking to people on the way to our various activities since we've been focusing on hitting our goals that are split up throughout the day, and on listening to our feelings on who to talk to when there's a lot of people walking by.

Also this week, our friend Leo is getting excited for his baptism on 2/9! He's a sweet middle schooler who's very mature for his age. We were a little worried his mom would be opposed but she doesn't care at all. That was an answer to some prayers.

When we were on exchanges with the zone leaders we listened to an EFY talk Elder Brown had that a former BYU football player gave about how life is a football game. We have waited in the locker room for the whole game, all the way up until now, where the clock is stopped with 20 seconds left basically. We have finally gotten our "uniforms" (bodies) and are in the game, and the Lord is depending on us all to carry the team to the end zone against all odds. It is true, the clock is ticking down until the Savior comes again, and we have been saved until the last minute for a reason. We can't afford to skimp on our workouts (reading the scriptures, praying, and going to church), and we need to find our part in the playbook so we can lift those that need to be lifted and carry the team to the end zone! I know the Savior's team still always be the winning one (even if BYU isn't in literal terms