Elder Ogden in Taipei: Acting No Hypocrisy and No Deception

Hey everyone!

This week was pretty busy, and I feel really good about how it went even though there was some stress and we didn't quite accomplish our goals.

This Wednesday we had an all-day mission conference with Elder Evans, the area president. He's awesome. We talked a lot about finding [people to talk to] on the street, and Elder Evans said something to the effect of "If it's clear they don't want to talk to you, don't try and force it, go find someone who WILL talk to you!" I think that's really important in Taipei, because everyone's tempo is so fast, and it's really hard to get people to stop and talk to you, but I have realized that just simply walking up to them and saying "Hi, how are you?" with a smile on our face really does bring miracles in that it makes people stop. Sometimes they don't, and it's clearly because they are really in a hurry or because they know exactly who they are and they've already decided they are not interested, in which case it's better to move on anyway. But, the humble and kind really do stop and listen, and that's when the spirit can enter in. We, as a mission, have a new goal of talking to and extending invitations to learn the gospel to 20 people per companionship per day. I think the hardest thing is finding 20 people every day who are willing to have a good conversation with all the other important stuff [we need to do]. But at least the important thing is starting to happen, which is that this is becoming a habit of boldly and lovingly bringing our conversations to Christ. Elder Yang is getting more and more comfortable with talking to everyone on the street, which didn't really happen to me for what I feel like was too long of a time at the beginning of my mission.

This week we saw a big miracle in that the child of a returning member that we're preparing for baptism named 哲漢 juh-hahn passed his baptismal interview. He's insanely shy, has barely said a word to us since I met him, but we've seen a change in that now when we visit with them he's having more and more light in his eyes and we can tell he's really absorbing what we're teaching him. He'll nod and type answers out on his phone for us. We were worried how he was going to do the baptismal interview and not just have his mom answering for him, but when he went in there apparently he was answering in full sentences and didn't seem timid at all to Elder Brown. What a great miracle. His mom has also said that they've been seeing changes in their family since she decided to let the church back into her life. The non-member dad likes us a lot. He has given us each 3 tickets for free meals at a very expensive steak restaurant, which he insisted on us accepting! We're trying to find a way to start teaching him with his busy work schedule, and also to meet their older son that's a little rebellious. I have a lot of faith in their family. They are in real-estate and are helping the bishop start to look for places to have a chapel here!

[At the all-day mission conference] Elder Evans also talked about the gospel of Christ and the importance of becoming true disciples with no hypocrisy, and he shared the following scriptures from 2 Nephi 31:

"10 And he said unto the children of men: Follow thou me. Wherefore, my beloved brethren, can we follow Jesus save we shall be willing to keep the commandments of the Father...

13 Wherefore, my beloved brethren, I know that if ye shall follow the Son, with full purpose of heart, acting no hypocrisy and no deception before God, but with real intent, repenting of your sins, witnessing unto the Father that ye are willing to take upon you the name of Christ, by baptism—yea, by following your Lord and your Savior down into the water, according to his word, behold, then shall ye receive the Holy Ghost; yea, then cometh the baptism of fire and of the Holy Ghost; and then can ye speak with the tongue of angels, and shout praises unto the Holy One of Israel."

We talked about how important it is to act with no hypocrisy or deception. The first step is simply following Jesus Christ, doing what He would do, doing the work in His way, because if it's done by any other way then it's not of Him. We talked about how Christ didn't beat around the bush. He showed love and compassion and concern for everyone and He testified with power and authority and invited to repent. That's what we're working on doing with 20 people every day in between our time spent with members and the people we're teaching, and it's becoming more and more exciting I feel like. I have definitely learned that the most important thing I will get out of my mission though is what it looks like to be a true disciple of Christ, and to love everyone as He did.

I hope everyone who reads this can look at them selves as well and evaluate whether we all really are "follow (ing) the son...(with) no hypocrisy and no deception before God".

I love you all, have a great week!

Sincerely,

Elder Ogden

Pictures from last P-day (Monday, March 18th) at the National Palace Museum

The top picture and info is about a rock, a meat-shaped rock.
The bottom picture and info is the Jadeite Cabbage.
Elder Ogden was excited to see both of these at the National Palace Museum.
Both of them were on loan to other museums...lol.
"Biggest let-down of my life."