Dear Family,
As insinuated by the subject line, we taught 20 LESSONS last week! The description by Mom of her efforts with family history are pretty similar to mine with teaching twenty lessons. I have wanted to and tried to teach twenty lessons in a week for my whole mission, but now that the Lord has commanded it and we have tried to do it because it is what He wants for us, He has made it possible. We hope to continue this pattern. So far we are on our way with 7 lessons. Last week at this time I think we had four. We taught four lessons a day for the last three days of the week, and that added up with the eight we already had to hit twenty with the last lesson the last hour of Sunday night. It was dramatic, and we had to depend on the Lord, but He prepared the way because He commanded and we strove to obey. I wish you the best in finding a family name to take to the Temple by the end of the year, and hope you do not ever give up, even at the last minute.
In fact, I have a story to share. We went to a place to teach a lesson, and nobody was there. Since we had planned to teach a lesson during that time and we needed the lesson to hit four that day, we went to a previously chosen place to look for someone to teach. I tried to talk to everyone I thought the Lord could have placed in my path, including older men, young people, a Nigerian man in front of a store and some construction workers. None of these would let us teach them. When we had five minutes before our next plan began, I wanted to give up but decided to walk up a sidewalk one more time. We passed by an old man on a bench and were passing by a young man on another bench when Elder Froberg contacted him and asked if we could teach him about our Church. He said yes. We taught him for half an hour and have set up with him to play basketball this week. His name is Julian Maria. We also have a young investigator, Juan Jose, pronounced HWAN hoSAY, from the Dominican Republic. He has been to Church twice, General Conference and Stake conference. That adds up to four times, with three of those being in a row. We want to invite him to be baptized tomorrow, so please pray for him.
Thank you very much for your notes on General Conference. It was really great to read about what Elder Holland and the others said. I am very excited to read the full versions of their talks and those of the other authorities. The pictures I am sending are from different times in the past. The one that ends in 912 is the one I took when Elder Knorr and I first saw each other back in May or June. 916 is my new watch the night that I bought it. The other two were from General Conference. 955 is of the Sanchez family who used to live in Alcazar de San Juan, who now live in Madrid. They still feed the missionaries often and should be on their way to being sealed in the Temple. Their son has grown a lot in the last year. The last one is of Elder Knorr and me at Conference on Sunday. I will tell you about the chess piece that I am holding when I get home. That day we recorded us singing several hymns on my tape recorder. A young man joined us for one song and Elder Padrones joined us for the last one. I think you will only be getting one more package from me, with that tape in it. It still is not full, but we will see how far I can get it today. We plan to relax once groceries are bought and the apartment is clean.
That is about all I have for today. Thank you very much for your love and support. I know that the Lord will bless you for your sacrifices.
Love,
Elder Jonathan David Ogden
P.S. A very happy birthday to my wonderful Grandma Louder. I look forward to visiting when I get back.
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