Hello everyone,
So the past couple weeks were pretty crazy. Two Thursdays ago we had transfers, which went smoothly. It was kinda annoying to have to sit in the mission office from the time Elder Young got his new companion at 9 to when mine got [to the mission office] at like 1:00 from his last area in 新竹"sheen-joo". But it was nice to study and talk to the elders in the mission office I'm good friends with, and meet the new trainees that just got in. There's one from Italy and one from the Philippines, they're pretty cool. Elder Young's new area is in 新埔"Sheen-poo" (yes it's a funny name. Not as funny as 頂埔"ding-poo", but it's up there. Chinese is the best). He's actually still in the same zone, so I still see him all the time. My new companion is from Taiwan and his name is elder Yang 楊. It's the same surname that Elder Young uses, so it's easy for the members to remember.
Elder Yang's first few days were a little hard because we didn't have his bike so we had to walk, which normally wouldn't be a problem because we can concentrate most of our efforts in the area around our house and be fine because there's a lot of people that walk around and most of the members live there. But, it was raining constantly (and it was cold rain) and no one wanted to be outside. So where we couldn't get members or friends set up, it was kind of a depressing few days of trying to talk to the few people who were out and about and calling through some people who met with missionaries before.
At the end of that, my phone broke on Sunday, which was pretty annoying.
However, things turned around that evening when we had some great lessons, including a meeting with a referral who's had some challenges in her life and really needs some light in her life.
On Monday, we bought a new phone and got some things ready. This week President realized that we could be talking to more people and that the method for contacting we've been using for a while was taking too long and not really having the effect it was designed for. So, he asked us to start reaching for higher goals and working with members even more. In between these appointments we have with members, we need to be urgently talking to everyone on the street, with the idea of working with 2-3 members every day and inviting 20 new people per day to come unto Christ. When we contact people now, instead of trying to have a lengthier conversation where we get to know them and try to find a connection in their life to the gospel, (which wasn't always super straightforward and took a lot of time) now what were doing is stopping people and starting a pleasant conversation. We show love and that we actually care about them, and then go straight into sharing what we're here for, why it means so much to us, what we know it can bring them, and inviting them to meet for a short time at a later day to learn more. The ones that really have interest say yes, and we don't spend a ton of time bugging the ones that don't. So that's been a really interesting flip, and it's gone a lot better, we've seen a lot of miracles.
Well, I just want to share my testimony that this gospel is true, that it brings so much light and joy into the lives of those who are willing to give it a shot. Jesus Christ lives, and He calls servants to guide His church today.
I love you all, have a great week!
-Elder Ogden
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