Dec. 30, 2012

This past week was a little hectic for us, my companion Elder Han went home because of health problems and I now have a new companion named Elder Wedam. He is in his second transfer right now and has a strong desire to serve so we're excited to start working together. Last week was Christmas and a whole bunch of other stuff so we didn't really do too much to be honest. Elder Han was sick all day Wednesday so we didn't leave the house. But on Friday I finally got a phone again! Elder Han lost it a couple weeks ago and it has been inconvenient not having one, but now that I finally have one again I can contact people so I'm way excited!

Dec. 16, 2012

So this past week was ok for us. Bad news is that I probably won't be with my greenie Elder Han for much longer because he has a pre-existing foot condition (his foot was run over by a truck when he was little and because of it it's now flat and hurts when he walks for an extended period of time) that will probably send him home shortly. We've been on the phone with our mission president and his Stake president and it seems like he'll be going hom sometime within the next little bit. I'm sad to see him go because he's been a great companion and he's only been out for a couple weeks now, but he said that he just needs to get surgery on his foot so that it won't affect him later in his life. I hope we can at least finish out the transfer as companions, but he could go home as soon as this week I guess... Other than that things are going ok, we met a new investigator last week named Im Yoon Oo and he's pretty cool. He lives around our church area and has grown up seeing missionaries on the street quite frequently. He really liked how the missionaries were never forceful or rude like some of the other churches missionaries in Korea. Anyways, he's doing well and we're hoping to continue meeting him over the next little bit. We had our mission Christmas party as well last week which turned out to be pretty fun, it was really nice to see other missionaries around the mission and hanging out with them for the day. It was a bummer when we had to return to our different areas, but I guess it is what it is haha. This next week we've got a few appointments set so we're hoping to see come of our other investigators progress and hopefully come out to church!

Dec. 9, 2012

So last week on Thursday I went to the mission office and picked up my first greenie! His name is Han Jin Hyoung and he is from Seoul. He is 23 years old and has already done his required military service. He's super excited to be out on a mission so we're looking forward to spending the next little bit together here in Suwon. This past week was pretty good for us as well, our investigators are doing well and progressing so that's always a good sign I guess. What sucked about this past week was that it got really really freaking cold. We didn't have some appointments some days so we just had to walk outside and talk to people which kind of sucked because it was freezing cold. It also snowed a lot which sucked as well, but apparently the weather is only going to last this week so hopefully we'll be a little warmer this next week! This next week is also our mission Christmas party which we're excited to attend, I get to see some missionaries I served around in the past which I'm really excited for.

Dec. 2, 2012

So today we got trasnfer calls and I'm sad to say that I won't be serving with my companion Elder Bricco for another transfer. I'll be training a new missionary this next transfer so I'm looking forward to it I guess. I have no idea if he is Korean or American yet, but I'll find out on Thursday when I go and pick him up! It's really weird because a little over a year ago I was getting picked up by my trainer and now I get the chance to pick up my greenie. Aside from that though this past week was pretty good for us. We met a lot with a kid named Lee Hwan Hwi and he is really cool. We played soccer with him a couple times and he got along really well with our members that we played with. His mom is really concerned about him because he just kind of does whatever he wants and sometimes doesn't come home for long periods of time. We talked to her and she asked us to set up appointments to meet him through her because he'll meet us whether or not their family has other plans or not so we did that for soccer on Saturday and she was really appreciative. We were able to introduce our youth program as well and she seems like she has a fair amount of interest for her son so we're hoping something good comes out of it! Finding recently has gone down a little bit, but hopefully this week we'll be able to find some new investigators!

Nov. 25, 2012

So this past week was pretty hectic for us. A friend and fellow missionary in my district went home for personal reasons and we all miss him a lot. He was super funny and awesome so we are missing him right now for sure. We were fortunate to spend some time with him and his companion this past week before he left so that was good. The weather here is getting colder for sure. It's always really deceiving because it's sunny and looks nice outside, but when I leave the house it's a lot colder and then the weather just drops a couple degrees randomly throughout the day so that's never fun. We weren't able to meet some of our investigators last week but we were able to meet Brother Choi and he is still progressing well. He is almost done with 1 Nephi right now and likes the story and everything, right now we're just trying to get him to pray about it by himself and come to know that it is true. He's willing to pray for us when we meet so we're going to commit him to start praying on his own so he can know for himself that it is true. That was pretty much the only cool thing that happened with our investigators. This past week our stake celebrated the 50th anniversary of missionaries being in Korea so we had a service project as a stake where we walked along a river and picked up trash. It was nice to get out in the community with our members and help, plus we got to wear the awesome neon green vests with the Mormon helping hands logo thing. Turns out a lot of people noticed and were really appreciative, so we're hoping this helps out the image of our church in our community. It's a blessing to serve here and I love every second of it, thanks always for your support and love!

Nov. 18, 2012

This past week was a little slower for us here in Suwon because a lot of our regular appointments fell through so we weren't able to have the regular amount of appointments that we normally have. The good thing was that we were able to meet with a few new investigators and they seem to have some fairly decent gospel interest, so I'll let you know how they progress over the next few weeks! This week was also Stake Conference and Elder Ringwood of the Seventy (the same guy who visited our mission) came and gave a talk and it was pretty good. One of the speakers before him talked FOREVER...so I think it cut some of his time out which was unfortunate, but he still gave a good talk. This week is looking busier for us so hopefully things pick up!

Nov. 12, 2012

This past week our mission was visited by Elder Michael Ringwood of the Seventy and we were able to learn a lot of good things from him which was really nice. This is the second time on my mission where a general authority has come to our mission and each experience has been a special one. Our investigators are also doing good, right now we have 2 Chinese investigators that we are meeting with and both are way awesome. They are both really good at Korean so that is how we teach them, but there are some hard church words for them to understand and that is where we run into a little bit of trouble. My favorite investigator Choi Sung Yong is doing really good as well. He is reading out of the BOM by himself almost everyday and is liking the story and content so far which is really good. He has not been able to come out to church yet although he wants to because his restaurant is busy and he has had to work more Sundays than usual recently. Hopefully maybe we will see him out this Sunday at Stake Conference. Coincidently, Elder Ringwood will be attending our Stake Conference here in Suwon so it will be fun to see him again this week.

Nov. 4, 2012

This past week was a good one for us, we were able to pick up 2 new investigators that seem to have some potential. One is actually from China and has been living in Korea for 2 years and he has some English and Gospel interest which is always good to see. He right now is in his mid 20's and works for some computer hardware company. The other one is 44 years old and wants to learn English and talk about our Church a little bit which is really awesome. Our main investigator that we have now is named Choi Seong Yong and he is really awesome. He saw an English flier at the university near his parents' restaurant and called us to meet. Anyways, right now he is reading the Book of Mormon by himself and seems to have some decent church interest. He works either Saturday or Sunday each week so he said that when he's free on Sunday he wants to come to church so hopefully he'll come out this week! His parents own a Chinese restaurant and he invited us over this past week and we were able to eat there together which was really fun. 

October 28, 2012

So this past week I transferred from Jeonju to Suwon, the area I was
serving in last winter, and needless to say I was very sad to leave
Jeonju. I said goodbye to the members and ate dinner with my recent
convert Brother Kang. For the first time ever he didn't feed us
something gross so it was so awesome! We went to a famous meat
restaurant and it was really good. It was pig meat instead of dog meat
so I was so relieved. It was still sad to leave him behind, but I know
that he will continue to do great as a member of the church. Things
here in Suwon are going good though. We had a Halloween party on
Saturday and it was really fun to see members from the Shingal ward
(where I served last year) at the party as well. We were able to pick
up a new investigator last week and he seems to have some potential.
The members in Shinpung (my new ward) are really good, they are a bit
older but they are all really solid and want to help with missionary
work. This Saturday we are going with our members to give away Book of
Mormons at a park so we're excited to do that with them. Right now
we're just focusing on finding some new investigators because we don't
have very many, but we're hoping to pick up some more this next week!

October 21, 2012

So today we got transfer calls and I'm leaving Jeonju unfortunately. I'm being transferred up to Suwon, the area I was in last winter. Last year I served in Suwon Stake in Singal ward, and this time I will be serving in Shinpeung ward. I'm really looking forward to the opportunity, I will be serving with an Elder named Elder Bricco, he has been in Korea for a few months and will be starting his 3rd transfer with me and I'm looking forward to it. This week I'll be spending time saying goodbye to members here in Jeonju which will be sad, but I've moved so much that it's not too much of a deal.

October 14, 2012

This past week was a spiritually uplifting week for us thanks to a wonderful broadcast of general conference. General conference is always a special time for us as missionaries because we are able to take a break from missionary work and receive tons of spiritual guidance. We had a couple of our investigators come out to the Sunday morning session of conference and we weren't with them during the broadcast because we were watching it in English, but I think that they liked it. They do have problems sleeping during sacrament meeting, so I'm hoping that they didn't just sleep, but who knows, I'll give them the benefit of the doubt. This past week I hit 1 year in country which is pretty hard to comprehend, it seems as if it was just a few short months ago I was coming to country, now I'm walked these streets for a year. The weather is getting colder as well which kind of sucks, it's back to suit weather for us which I'm excited about because I won't sweat after walking outside for a few short minutes. Most of our investigators were pretty busy this past week due to other plans so we weren't able to meet with some of them, but all in all they are doing pretty good I guess. 

October 2, 2012

This past week for us was a pretty decent week for us here in Jeonju Korea, we didn't have too many appointments with investigators, but we were able to keep busy. On Monday we had family home evening at the church with our recent convert Brother Kang and a couple of the other ward members and our investigator came out too which was great to see. On Thursday we did some service for a member out in the countryside that we've been working with for a while now, he's less active so we try to help him out as much as possible. Anyways the main highlight of last week was that there was a national holiday called Chuseok, which is pretty much Korean Thanksgiving. It was from Saturday to Monday, the actual holiday being on Sunday. Because of Chuseok missionary work last week was pretty slow because a lot of people go to their hometowns during Chuseok so the streets were pretty much empty and all our investigators were with their family. On Saturday we went hiking with another less active member and his friend which was pretty fun, we got fed all 3 days of Chuseok which was also pretty awesome. Brother Kang brought his wife and daughter out to church which was way awesome, his wife is super busy with work so it was the first time that I had ever met her. She seemed to like the whole experience and she's so happy with the man that her husband has become since becoming a member of our church. He is still progressing well and all he wants is his family to feel the same happiness that he has experienced which is really special to see.

September 23, 2012

This past week was pretty good, but not too much happened. We are continually meeting with our investigators and some are progressing more that others. Right now we just need to find some more investigators to teach because the ones we have right now really aren't going anywhere. We've been working with a less active member for the past couple of months and he was finally able to come out to church this past week which was really good. He was baptized in Oregon while he was living there so none of the members here know him and most of them thought that he was an investigator, but in reality he was just a member. He's been really busy recently with his internship and other things so he hasn't been able to attend church, but he said that now that his internship is over he'll be able to come out to church on Sunday and he said that next week he'll try bringing his friend so we're hoping to turn him into an investigator. Brother Kang is still doing really great, he is attending institute every week at the Stake Center and doing all the homework that comes with it and is just soaking up the gospel like a sponge. It's really amazing to see, he always wants to help and has such a pure heart. He went to the temple this past week again with our ward members and did baptisms for the dead and said that he really enjoyed the experience. It's been 4 weeks since he's been baptized and he's already visited the temple twice, received the priesthood, and is going to institute weekly. He's definitely a miracle that I will never forget.

September 16, 2012

So this past week I said goodbye to my old companion Elder Hardcastle and got my new companion Elder Eaves. He's from Utah in the Layton area and he's only got a few transfers left as a missionary. We get along really well and we're excited to serve together in Jeonju. This is the first time I've had a new companion in the same area because I usually just always transfer, so that's definitely a nice change. While Elder Hardcastle was still here we spent a lot of time saying goodbye to members and investigators so that's pretty much all that happened in the beginning part of the week. I was privileged to eat dog soup again this past week from Brother Kang, but this time it was a little worse that usual and I ended up throwing up after the meal because I didn't want it in my system anymore. Other than that not too much happened in the later part of the week, we're continuing to meet with our investigators and we have one named Kim Jin Sor who's progressing slowly. He's got a part time job on Sunday which prevents him from coming to church, but he reads out the Book of Mormon when we ask him which is awesome. Last night after church we went out to the countryside to a place called Gimje to eat dinner with our less active member who loves us and it was really fun. They all got really really drunk and they requested that we danced like Gangnam style (a really famous song in Korea and apparently in America as well). Anyways, we did that and they erupted and loved it and one guy was sooooo drunk that he asked for my autograph, so that was really funny. He was drunk before dinner, then he drank another bottle of Soju and was just completely hammered.

September 9, 2012

Well this past week was kind of fun for us here in Korea. Last week we ate at a couple of the members' houses because my companion is going home this week so that was really fun to do. We also helped one of our less active members with his English study group which he holds every week and a couple of the members of the study group said that they would come to the church today for family home evening, so we hope to see some of them out there. We started the new member lessons with Brother Kang Gir Gu and they are going well. We are taking them really slowly and making sure that he understands everything perfectly before we move on which is pretty easy because he already understands and accepts everything we tell him. He actually helped us with a couple of lessons last week and they went really well because he has such a passion for sharing the gospel that it just oozes from him when we have sit down lessons. His faith is really strong right now and he has such a strong desire to share the gospel and it's happy message to everyone so we're super happy to have him as a member of our ward. This past week we had one investigator come out to church and his name is Mr. Jung. He is maybe 70ish and this was his second time out to church which was really good. He really likes missionaries and English and is willing to come out to church so that is definitely a good start, we're hoping that he starts to read the Book of Mormon as the next step in his conversion process. Today we actually got transfer calls and for the first time ever I'll be in an are for more than 2 transfers, since my companion is going home and he is the zone leader, a new zone leader will come in an replace him. My new companion's name is Elder Eaves and he is actually the district leader in the other district in our zone so he and I have a good relationship and I'm really excited to serve with him in this ward. He's super pumped too so we're excited to see a lot of success together here in Jungang ward!

September 2, 2012

This past week was a good bounce back week for us. We were able to find a couple new investigators to meet and Kang Gir Gu was confirmed on Sunday. There was a typhoon that hit Korea last week and stuff blew around everywhere and some trees cracked in half, but we were safe and our house was safe as well. We weren't allowed to go outside which kind of sucked, but we just made calls at home. I was actually on a split that day with a couple of Korean Elders which was really fun. One of our new investigators turned out to be a friend of our Bishop's son, so we were able to meet with them together and it seems like he has quite a bit of church interest.

August 26, 2012

This last week was a really special week for us because it was the first time in almost a year that the Elders in our ward have seen a baptism! Brother Kang Gir Gu was baptized this Sunday and his service was really awesome. His daughter came down and attended it and she seemed to like it so we're hoping that she will meet with missionaries in the near future and be baptized as well. Our ward members were super supportive though, our ward mission leader got everything set up for the baptism and baptized Brother Kang and his request. Our ward mission leader really helped with Brother Kang a lot, He drove him 2 hours up to our mission office and 2 hours back one day so that Brother Kang could confess his sins to our mission president. It was really special and he was so appreciative. The day before Brother Kang's baptism on Saturday, he went with our members to the Seoul Temple and although he couldn't go in and perform and ordinances, our members took turns waiting with him outside while the other members did endowment sessions. One of our members took a picture with him and gave him a framed copy of them at the temple as a baptismal gift which was really special. He's going to make such a great member of our ward and the members are so excited to receive him. Other than that not too much happened this week, we met with our investigators and met a couple new people, but nothing too special happened. Right now we're on the hunt for new investigators because the one with the most potential just got baptized. 

August 19, 2012

This last week was really cool for us here in Jeonju! Our ward had a picnic on Wednesday which was really fun, we were able to spend time with our members and get to know them more which was really good. It was really sad though because they went to a water park sort of place so we weren't allowed to play with them in the water which made us all really sad. Our investigator Kang Gir Gu came out and he enjoyed his time out there as well. He's such a funny guy, we went over to his house again this past week for dinner and we ate dog soup together with some of our members. He purposely invites us over for dinner when his kids are home from their busy schedules so that we can meet with them and share the gospel with them. He's such an awesome guy and we love him so much. We also had a sports conference thing out in Jeong Eup on Saturday and we played sports as a stake and he was on the sideline the entire time cheering for our ward. It's not really fun to teach lessons with him anymore because he knows everything and it's like meeting with a member! He is getting baptized this Sunday and he can't wait. His daughter will also be in attendance this Sunday so we're excited to see her again. We met a new investigator last week named Jo Jae Hyun and he came out to church on Sunday. We set a baptismal date with him for the 30th of next month so we're hoping that he gets to that point as well. Our zone is notorious for being one of the worst performing zones just because it is more countryside and there are not a lot of members in each ward, but this past week our zone led our mission in investigators out to church and investigators is a baptismal date so that was really awesome to see! We're all working really hard and seeing success from it. I appreciate all your prayers and hope you are all well!

August 13, 2012

This past week we were able to set some new baptismal dates for September so we're really excited about that! A couple of the dates were with people we've been meeting for a while so it was exciting for them to accept a date for sure! One of them unfortunately is moving to Iksan today, so we're going to refer him to the Elders there and they will continue to meet with him. Another one that we set was with a man named Kim Yu Cheol and he's really awesome. He's really into fitness and stuff like that so he's pretty ripped, but he's in the hospital right now because he had surgery to fix his ACL. He's super awesome though and accepts everything we say, so we committed him to a date and now we're working from here. Kang Gil Gu is doing really good as well, his date was moved back a week so that his daughter can attend so we're really excited for that, there's no doubt in my mind that his whole family will be members by the end of this year. He finished reading the Book of Mormon last week as well, it took him less than a month to do so and he's already started reading it again, this time more in depth so that he can understand it better. He's just pushing right along and I'm pretty sure that there is nothing we can do to stop him progression. He's so excited to be baptized and we're excited to see him become a member. Unfortunately a couple of investigators dropped last week, so we're focused on finding this next week, we have a couple of appointments set up so we're hoping to find more people like Kang Gil Gu on the streets!

August 5, 2012

This past week was super good for us. We are able to meet with our investigators pretty much at anytime during the week so we usually meet every 2 days or so so we've been really busy with appointments at the church and stuff like that which is really nice because it's really hot outside. It's usually close to 100F everyday and Korean people are saying that it's the hottest it's been in 100 years, but they say that pretty much every year so I don't know whether or not I believe it. Either way though it's super hot so having appointments at the church rock because we can just sit inside an air conditioned room and have back to back to back appointments. This week I had a really interesting couple of events. The first one was one of our baptismal dates dropping in a really funny manner. We met him on the street as we were heading to another appointment so we decided to talk with him and catch up with him for a little bit because last time we had met him he was super drunk and begged us to baptize him. Anyways, he kept asking us when he could be baptized and he seemed like he really wanted to be baptized. We explained to him though that he needed to stop drinking in order to be baptized and he just like thought for a second, and then said "well, I guess I won't be baptized then!" It was pretty funny, we knew that he didn't have a whole ton of potential to start out with, so we're just planning on meeting with him and helping him quit drinking. Anyways, after meeting him on the street we headed over to Kang Gir Gu's house (bearded man who is absolutely golden) and we ate traditional Korean food with him. We had something called Bo Shin Tang, which translated to English is Dog soup. He fed us a huge bowl of it and put extra dog meat in it and it was pretty gnarly. If I'm 100% honest with myself, it wasn't that bad. If he wouldn't have told us that it was dog I could have eaten it no problem, but just the thought of eating dog and there were really big chunks of fat and stuff like that so it was kind of hardish to eat. But before eating I prayed that it wouldn't taste too bad and it didn't, so I was able to finish the entire huge bowl of it. I forgave him though because he brought his daughter to church on Sunday and we were able to meet with her so since he's super super awesome, I forgave him for feeding us dog.

July 29, 2012

This past week was super good for us, but also really really busy as well. The week started off with an AP split where both APs came to our area and we made it a 4 man area for 2 days, which meant that we needed to find double the work. Luckily we had a lot of potential investigators that we were able to meet with and we met with our regular ones as well so it went really well. On Tuesday night Elder Choi of the Seventy had a little fireside at the Stake Center so we attended that with a few of our investigators and it was really good. He answered their questions and our investigators seemed to like it. We saw a lot of success this was week with Kang Gir Gu, we taught him faith and repentance this past week and he said that there are some things that he wants to confess to proper priesthood authority so he is going with our member this Friday to our mission office to meet with our mission president which we are really excited for. He has such a sincere desire to come closer to God and share the gospel with all those around him. He's bringing his daughter to church this next week so we're really excited to meet her. We had a lot of new investigators this past week and 2 of them were able to come out to church yesterday. They are boyfriend and girlfriend and they seem to really like our church. They are both 20 and are really nice, so we're excited to continue meeting with them. Last night we had a really funny experience with one of our investigators with a baptismal date. He works construction and because it was really hot yesterday he went out drinking at night, then came and met us. He was really drunk and told us that he wanted to be baptized right then. He was like "Don't doubt me! I believe this, hurry up and baptize me!" It was really funny, then he started scribbling stuff on the board and he said "This is neither English, nor Korean." Anyways, he's doing well though, I was just glad that he had such a strong desire to be baptized, his date is on the 9th of September so we promised him that we would baptize him on that date instead of last night. 
On Saturday my less active member in Mokpo came to Jeonju and visited me which was really fun. We had dinner together and then he sat in on our lesson at night which was really fun. He is going up to Seoul for vacation for a little bit so he decided on his way up to stop by and see me so I was really happy to see him.

July 22, 2012

This week we saw a lot of miracles here in Jeonju. In the beginning of
the week I went on a split with an Elder who is serving in Gunsan
right now and it was really fun to be with him. He's a greenie right
now so that made it even more fun of an experience. Our investigators
are also all doing really well, they are keeping their commitments and
progressing which is pretty much all we can ask for. The bearded
miracle we saw last week is still going super super strong, he's
reading right now in Mosiah and is loving every page he reads! All 3
of our progressing investigators came to a baptism this Saturday and
all enjoyed their time there, especially Kang Gil Gu (the bearded
man). One lady shared her testimony there and he was so touched by it
that he was crying. He also is reading in the Gospel Principles book
right now and read how when Jesus was getting the nails driven through
his hands he said "Father, forgive them for they know not what they
do." He was so moved by it that he cried and was so amazed. We sang
hymn number 180 at the baptism and he said that the words in that hymn
describe exactly how he feels right now. I would quote it, but I have
no idea what exactly it says, all I know is that it was really cool
when I read the words this morning in English. All 3 of our
progressing investigators also came to church, and Kang Gil Gu is
fitting in really well with our members. He's truly a remarkable man
and we're excited for his baptism on 8/19. In Korea right now they are
doing an YSA Basketball tournament and our Stake got 3rd place, Suwon
Stake (where I used to serve) ended up winning the tournament and they
will go to Japan and play some Japanese stakes up there which is
really cool.

July 15, 2012

This week was really good for us here in Jeonju. The first half of the
week kind of went by really slowly because we didn't have any
appointments or anything like that, but it really picked up towards
the end of the week. We ran into a older guy on the street with a huge
asian beard (thin enough to see his chin skin still, but it goes down
to his chest area) on Wednesday and he was really nice. We explained
who we are and what we are doing, gave him a copy of the Book of
Mormon, and set an appointment to meet him on Friday. Anyways, when we
met him 2 days later he had already read up to 1 Nephi 18! He had
decided to read the Book of Mormon that day so he read for 2 hours
before our appointment and read 18 chapters. He said that it was
really interesting and he loves the story (who wouldn't right?).
Anyways, he told us that he had been thinking a lot about God the day
we first met him so it was really a miracle that we stopped and talked
a little about our church. Anyways, we invited him to be baptized and
he accepted a baptismal date for the 19th of next month and he kind of
self invited himself to church as well which was awesome. We picked
him up on Sunday with a member and he greeted us outside his apartment
Book of Mormon and Bible in hand wearing a suit! He seemed to like all
the meeting although church was really weird this week. We sung weird
hymns (one's I've never sung before) and in Gospel Principles they
talked about Eternal Marriage and how we can become like Gods with our
wives (really deep for somebody who's coming for the first time). He
accepted it pretty well which was a huge miracle because if he accepts
some of the deeper doctrines he will have no trouble accepting the
simple parts of the gospel. We also saw another miracle in one of our
investigators calling us again after spending 2 weeks in a psych ward.
He suffers from paranoia schizophrenia (sounds a lot worse than it
actually is) but he said that he's all cured now (we hope). He was
completely normal before though, he understood everything well but he
was just paranoid about certain things all the time because he would
always watch CNN. Anyways, when I first came to this area he told us
he was going to "Italy" aka Pysch Ward, and that he'd be back in 2
weeks. We weren't sure if he would meet with us after that, but he
called us yesterday and we set up another time to meet with him so
we're really excited for that!

July 8, 2012

So this week was a good week for us here in Jeonju, we were able to
see our fair share of miracles I guess. We were able to meet with 3
new investigators and we were able to set a baptismal date with one of
them for the 5th of August. We're really hoping that he will end up
getting baptized because he loves drinking alcohol, but not just beer
and stuff like that, he likes hard alcohol, particularly a hard Korean
alcohol called Soju. He's about 23 years old and we met him to help
him learn English. He's moving to Australia next month to learn
English and he said that he'll be there for 3 to 5 years, so hopefully
by the time he gets back he'll be almost fluent. Last week we also had
Zone Leader Council and it was good, we discussed ways to help our
area and zone and this week on Wednesday my companion and I have to
give a training on it for combined district meeting. We're focusing
right now on getting member referrals as well as working with less
active members. We were able to get a couple referrals last week from
some of the youth in our ward so we're hoping to meet with them in the
near future. We're really trying to involve basketball in our
missinoary work and it seems to be going well. We play on Saturdays
and our ward members usually bring their friends so we're hoping to
see some success out of that.

July 2, 2012

This week in Jeonju we saw a lot of cool things happen. First, we had one of our investigators named Kim Yong Gi come out to a choir meeting on Saturday and church the next day on Sunday. in Gospel Principles class we learned about the Plan of Salvation and  eternal families and he said that he had never heard any of that stuff at any other church and he seemed to like it so we plan on teaching him more about it later. We did a lot of street contacting this week and set up a lot of appointments to meet with new people, but unfortunately most of them punked and didn't show up which was kind of lame, but we've got more potential investigators on the way that we're excited to meet. Right now we are working with the other Elders in this city to play basketball each week and meet people through it because everyone likes to play sports. Right now we're also working with a less active family and he and his wife and daughter came out to the choir meeting on Saturday and Church on Sunday which was super awesome to see! We hope that they continually progress, as well as all of our investigators. 

June 24, 2012

This week was pretty good here for me in Korea. Last week I spent a lot of time in Mokpo saying goodbye to members and some of our investigators, and then on Thursday I hopped on a train and came to Jeonju. My new companion's name is Elder Hardcastle and he's really awesome! He has 2 transfers left as a missionary so he's just trying to make the most out of it right now. We're working really hard in this area because the work here is a lot harder compared to other areas in our mission. It's notorious for bad members and no one really wanting to help with missionary work, but right now we're trying to change that so we're hoping all goes well. We have a few investigators here right now that we're working with and we have a lot of potential to get a lot more. My time here has been short so I haven't met all of our investigators yet, but as I meet with them more I'll let you know more about them. 

June 17, 2012

Well first off, we had transfer calls last night and I'm getting transferred again. This time I'm going to go to the Jeonju Zone and I'll be serving in the Jungang ward which is in Jeonju city. My new companion's name is Elder Hardcastle and I served around him while I was in Suwon Zone so I'm excited that I get to be his companion. He is almost done with his mission and has 2 transfers left so I'm hoping that I get to stay there for a little bit of time. That's the main exciting part of the news here, this past week we met with our less active members a lot and got some lessons in with them so we're hoping that they start coming out to church again real soon. One that we've been meeting with is named Kim Seung Nam and he was a miracle find, anyways he loves spending time with missionaries so this past week we did lunch and went bowling with him which was really fun. Our one progressing investigator's name is Yoon Sung Won and he right now is still trying to overcome his alcoholism through the Church's Addiction Recovery Program. He's been doing well in it so we're just trying to help him get through it.

June 10, 2012

This week was a kind of slower one for us. We had a lot of meal appointments with our members which was really good. On Monday we ate with our Bishop's wife because the Bishop was still at work and we gave them Step 1 of our member-missionary work program. The program is supposed to help show members how they can do missionary work in small ways and we're hoping to see some success out of it with our ward members. On Tuesday we ate dinner with one of our less-active members who loves missionaries. His name is Kim Seung Nam and he was baptized maybe 6 years ago. Anyways, we ate with him on Tuesday and Wednesday which was really good, we were able to share a message with him and we're hoping that he starts coming out to church soon. We've been meeting with another semi-less active guy named Kim Jong Chur and he is reall funny. He's 60 and he lived in New York for 10 years during the 80's so we occasionally visit him and speak English with him. He came out to church this Sunday though which was really awesome. We visited a couple of our investigators as well who have been in the hospital (the one from North Korea who's son has brain problems) and they were happy to see us. Her Husband (super less active member) to be (they didn't get married this week because her son has to stay in the hospital so it was cancelled) told us that we needed to baptize them while we were still here so that was reassuring to hear. We also have been continuously meeting with our alcoholic investigator and he's kind of on pause mode right now so we're figuring out a way to get him going again.

June 3, 2012

This past week was pretty hectic for us, we were in and out of hospitals all week visiting one of our members who started crapping blood because of stress at work. He had surgery this past week and now he's finally home which is good. He speaks English with an Irish accent because he learned from his Irish room mate up in Seoul, so it's fun to speak English with him. The other person we visited this week was one of our new investigators who has had so many trials in their lives. The son is 12 but ever since he was 4 he has been in and out of hospitals because there is something wrong with his brain which makes all functions of his life kind of slow motion. The mom has cancer right now and is traveling back and forth from Seoul each week for treatments. They are originally from North Korea, they then emigrated to China where they spent 8 years. They really wanted to go to the U.S. for healthcare, but they couldn't because it was like a 2 year wait so they opted to come to South Korea instead where they are now receiving medical care. She is dating a less active member of ours right now and we met them on the street last week while proselyting. She and him are actually getting married this weekend at our church building so we'll be having a service for them. They are really sweet and I can't help but feel sorry for them because of all their hardships, but I know that the gospel will make them happier so we're excited to begin teaching them.

May 13, 2012

This week was a pretty fun week for us in Mokpo. Neither of us were going anywhere so we didn't have to worry about packing or anything like that this week which was great. On Tuesday we had a combined district meeting in Gwangju. It is always fun to have combined district meetings because we are able to see other missionaries in the zone. Other than that this week was kind of slow for us, we met with our investigator named Sun a couple times which was really fun. We are getting to know him better and he is opening up more to us which has been really cool to see. We taught him about the Plan of Salvation last week with a large emphasis on the atonement and it went really well. We also went out to Gwangju again on Saturday for a Stake Choir tournament thing. It was fun, our choir wasn't really all that good, but it was still fun to go with our ward. This Saturday we will also be having a mission tour which is kind of exciting, the whole southern part of our mission will be meeting together and we will meet with Don R. Clarke of the Seventy. It will be my first mission tour and I'm looking forward to it. 

April 29, 2012

This week was an awesome week for us. We found a new investigator named Sun (that is his English name, we still don't know his Korean name). He has all sorts of questions about our church and has a genuine desire to learn. My companion met him on the bus a couple of weeks ago and began talking to him. He is really good at English and teaches English down here in Mokpo. He is an alcoholic, but really wants to stop drinking so we're trying to help him through it. He has been looking all over the internet about our church and we just answer all his questions and concerns and he seems to be understanding more now. He asked us how we can believe that Joseph Smith truly did restore the church and not make any of it up and we responded that it is through the Book of Mormon that we know these things. We had a great lesson on the Book of Mormon being convincing evidence that the true church was restored to the earth because if the Book of Mormon is true (and it is) then all other aspects of our church must be true. We gave him a copy and we hope he begins to read out of it. We also had 3 baptisms this week which was so special for the family. The mom used to hate churches, but through the example of the members here in Mokpo gained a desire to learn about our church and she recognized it as truth so she was baptized with her two sons. I had the privilege to baptize her two sons and it was a lot different because I've never done it before. I've always been on the receiving end so to baptize someone was a really special experience, especially when you say the baptismal prayer in Korean! We're excited for their further progression in the church and we're hoping that the ward will fellowship them well.

April 22, 2012

This week was a pretty good one for us here in Mokpo. We unfortunately had to move our investigator's baptismal date to next Sunday 4/29 because the mother had to go up to Seoul this past Saturday. They'll have their interview tomorrow and with no unforeseen complications they'll be baptized on Sunday. They are such an awesome family, it's a mother and her two sons and they've really progressed since first meeting the missionaries. We also saw some other success with a young man named Kim Ta Bin. He is 14 years old and we met him on the street last week and were able to get his phone number so we called him and met him and we were able to set a baptismal date with him for the 27th of May. We're kind of concerned though because he hasn't been responding to calls recently so we think his parents saw the Book of Mormon that we gave him and told him not to meet with us anymore. We're hoping for the best right now though.

April 8, 2012

We met with our investigator with a baptismal date. Her name is Lee Gyu Ok and she is so ready to be baptized. We taught her about the word of wisdom and she loves drinking coffee so she knew it would be hard, but she committed to live it so we're super excited. We met her again last night though with her two sons and taught them the plan of salvation and the gospel of Jesus Christ and they accepted it pretty well. They are 9 and 11, so they're really young right now and will rely on the testimony of their mother so we're not too worried about them, mostly the mom. She cut back her coffee drinking significantly to only 1 cup a day last week so we were so proud of her, she's really making an effort to change and she came out to General Conference yesterday so it was really good. We watched conference as a zone down in Gwangju on Saturday because they weren't showing it at our church building on Saturday so we watched it there. Conference is always a wonderful time of year and it was so much more special to watch it as a missionary. I hope that you got an opportunity to watch all the sessions of General Conference as well. They do it a little differently in my ward here in Mokpo, they only watched Sunday morning session together which was a little different, but at least they were able to hear the prophet's words. We were able to watch all the sessions in English which was awesome because I would have no idea what they were saying if it was in Korean. 

April 1, 2012

The first half of the week I said goodbyes to some of the members and investigators out in Chungju and we ended up eating dinner with our favorite members of the ward. They took us out to eat the Korean version of bacon called Samgyupsar, and it was so delicious. On Wednesday we went down to Cheongju (where the rest of my district is serving at) and we ate dinner together as a district because it was our District Leader's last day as a missionary. We then spent the night in my greenie house as part of my travel plans and then the next day I took a series of trains and buses to get all the way down to Mokpo. The area here is absolutely beautiful, it is not too hot and not too cold right now and it is spring time so all the trees and flowers are blooming. We are right on the coast of the ocean so it is really awesome. We spent the last couple of days getting to know the area more since my companion Elder Wixom has only been here for 1 transfer and our area is huge. We've been walking around and talking to people so it's been good. The area here is doing really well, we have 3 baptismal dates for the 21st of this month, so we're looking forward to it. We have General conference this weekend as well due to the delay, so I'm excited to watch it this weekend.

Mar. 25, 2012

Last week, we were able to meet with a couple of our investigators, but none of them really made any steps towards coming unto Christ unfortunately. We saw a really cool miracle though while we were looking for former investigators. We knocked on the door of one man and he was like really angry and yelled through the door asking who we were, we responded that we were looking for him and that we were missionaries from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He was then really quiet and then came to the door and invited us into his house. We were kind of puzzled, but we accepted and went into his house. We talked with him for a little bit and he seemed really lonely. He told us that he's been really lonely recently and that he was so thankful that we came and visited him. He asked us to say a prayer with him so we all knelt down and prayed and at the end he was crying which was really special. We got his number so we're hoping that we can meet him in the future, but right now his health isn't the best so it is kind of hard to meet with him. Today we received our transfer calls and I'm getting transferred again! This is my 4th area in 5 transfers. My new companion's name is Elder Wixom and he was companions with my last companion Elder Williams for 2 transfers so I have heard nothing but good about him so I'm excited. I'll be going to the very southern tip of our mission to Mokpo, so now I will have been in the very northern tip of our mission and the very southern tip as well.

Mar. 11, 2012

This past week was a pretty good for us. I went on a split with my District leader after district meeting on Tuesday and he gave me some good advice and tips on what I can do and how to be a better missionary so I really appreciated his advice. Other than the split our week was a little slower, we did see a lot of success on the weekend in one of our Eternal Investigators accepting a baptismal date for 4/1!! We're really excited about that. We taught him about the blessings we can receive from going to the temple, but how we need to be baptized first before enjoying those blessings and he accepted it and said yes so we were really happy. As of right now the date is kind of subject to change because he wants to do it with his family, but it was the first time he has said yes to baptism so that was a big step forward for him so we are ecstatic. That was pretty much it though, we're still working with our other investigators to get them progressing so we hope to see some more miracles this next week.

Mar. 4, 2012

This week was a kind of slower week for us, we had Zone Conference on Tuesday so it was really fun to get together with missionaries that I have served around and have a nice sort of relaxing day filled with training and food. Other than that though nothing really happened this week, we met with our investigators and unfortunately we haven't really seen any progression with them so far, but we're continuing to work with them and try and get them closer Christ. One kind of cool thing that I didn't realize is that one of our investigators is pretty famous. I had heard from my comp before that he was famous and he was a Beatles prodigy, but I kind of dismissed it because I had never seen his Youtube videos or anything but when I was talking with my trainer he was so shocked to hear that we were teaching that kid. His name is Hero and since he was 3 he's been playing guitar and singing and apparently he's pretty famous in America. Anyways, we're teaching him and he's a really nice kid. You should all look up his Youtube video if you haven't yet, I'll be sure to get a picture with him this week as a reminder that I met somebody famous!!! We also had Stake Conference this week and Gary E. Stephenson from the Area Presidency came and spoke so it was nice because I could actually understand his talk. Usually I just sit there and catch words and phrases, but it was nice to actually understand a full talk.

Feb. 26, 2012

This past week was pretty slow for us. We spent a lot of time looking for less actives and trying to contact formers with some gospel interest, but we didn't see a whole lot of success, but we did get 1 new investigator out of it! She was an investigator a while back and she almost got baptized, but her husband was really against the church and didn't let her so she kind of just fell away a little bit. Fortunately we were able to meet with her and she still does have a lot of interest, but we are trying to meet the husband as well and get rid of his negative feelings against the Church. We met with a lot of our investigators and none of them really progressed which was sad, but there is hope with a few so I hope that there will be some good news in my next entry. We did see a miracle while we were knocking on doors last night though. We talked to a man and he actually invited us into his house and we were able to talk about the Book of Mormon with him and about the restoration which was really good. He is a Christian and doesn't like how the Preachers just preach for money, so he liked how at our church we don't have people like that. My new companion is not really the best at Korean either so I usually have to teach our lessons and share messages with familes and at first it was really different, but I'm enjoying it now because it gives me an opportunity to do missionary work the way I like to do it and also it helps a lot with my Korean language ability!

Feb. 19, 2012

So transfers happened this past week so I said goodbye to a lot of my members in my old ward and headed out for Chungju. On Wednesday night I stayed in my Greenie House with my trainer because of my weird travel plans, and then on Thursday I met my new companion Elder Paxman and took a bus to my new area. The new area is in the countryside and a lot of our investigators have a whole bunch of English interest and not much gospel interest, so my goal is to get some of them dropped. In this area we serve in 2 cities, so we rotate which church we go to each week. This week we went out to Jecheon city and attended the branch there and it was pretty crazy. There were about 45 members there, and about 30 of those were children under the age of 10 so it was pretty wild during sacrament meeting. The members out there are really nice though and one member brought her sister-in-law which was really good. It doesn't seem like she has a whole lot of interest yet, but we plan on meeting with her and beginning the lessons which will be good.

Feb. 13, 2012

Last week was a slower week for us, our Mission President came out for our district meeting on Tuesday and we visited some of our investigators with him as well as one less active member which was really good. This week was also my birthday, but unfortunately I got sick so that was not really fun. On Sunday though we had a confirmation and he seemed really happy to be taking this giant step in his life, we always worry about his future activity in the church, but as of right now he is doing great. Today we got transfer calls and I'm going to an area called Chungju, it is in the same district as my greenie area and i went on a split out there during my greenie transfer. My new companion's name is Elder Paxman so it will be fun serving with him.

 

Feb. 5, 2012

Things have been looking up here, like I said we had our baptism yesterday.He was kind of an eternal investigator and he finally got baptized which was super awesome. That was the main highlight of last week and we will hopefully have 2 more next week, but our investigator who is supposed to bet baptized next week thought that her date was at the end of this month, so when we told her about next week it kind of took her by surprise. She is super golden though and is really prepared so we'll see what happens I guess.  I'm understanding more and sometimes when I talk with members I'm surprised with how much Korean comes out of my mouth. It really is a miracle. I understand more what is going around me, but I still kind of stutter when I speak. 

Jan. 29, 2012

This week was a little bit disappointing. Our investigator that was supposed to get baptized didn't because he had to suddenly work on Sunday and I don't know when he was going to inform us because when we called on Friday to see if we could me, he said that he couldn't come to church due to work. He tried really hard to get it off, but unfortunately he couldn't so no baptism yet. It is rescheduled for next week so hopefully he doesn't have to work or anything. That was a little disappointing but all my disappointment went away when we met our most golden investigator and her daughter on Saturday. Each teaching appointment just makes me so happy because she is progressing so fast and knows everything is true. Last week we gave her a map of the Plan of Salvation and taught it to her, so this week we asked her to briefly take us through the Plan of Salvation and she did it better than I could. I was really shocked and really happy. We taught her about the Word of Wisdom which is hard for her because she likes to drink coffee and tea, but her response to our commitment to keep the Word of Wisdom was "I have to keep it, so I'll try my best." She and her daughter came to church on Sunday as well and they both love attending each week.

Jan. 25, 2012

This past week was kind of a slower week again for us, my companion was sick during the beginning part of the week so we took it easy for a couple days so that he could recooperate. On Wednesday we played soccer with our youth in the morning which was really fun. One of the youth brought a friend so we were able to talk to him for a little bit which was really goood, hopefully we'll be able to pick him up as an investigator some time in the near future. One of our investigators had his baptismal interview last week and aced it so he'll be getting baptized this Sunday so that is really exciting for us. We met one of our really golden investigators as well this past Saturday and taught her and her daughter and they are remarkable, they understand everything we teach them and recognize it as truth which is really outstanding. She brought her husband to church on Sunday and that was the first time we have ever seen him and he is also really nice, he said that he has been wanting to come out to church with them every week, but since he has had to work he hasn't been able to come out. Hopefully time opens up where we can meet him too but the mother and daughter have a date for February 12, so hopefully we can meet the husband often and have him baptized on the same date as his wife and daughter. Chinese New Year was on Monday here and in turn everything was closed for a couple of days. We've just been cleaning our apartment these past few days because we have cleaning checks tomorrow and since I don't think anyone has cleaned this apartment in a year it's really nasty in some areas.

Jan. 15, 2012

So this week was a little slow, our investigators were mostly out of town and couldn't meet this week which was unfortunate, but we did have 2 of our investigators come to church on Sunday which was really good. We taught one of our investigators on Thursday and to our surprise she was not nearly as ready to receive a baptismal date as we thought she was. We found out that she still doesn't really know if God exists, so we're going to have to start back on the basics with her. 

Jan. 8, 2012

This past week was super awesome! We got 3 baptismal dates last week so that is really awesome! The first one we got was from an eternal investigator named Yu Je Geun. Anyways, we never thought that we would be able to give him a baptismal date because he just never thought that he would be able to be baptized because he was afraid that he wasn't good enough. We ended up teaching him with the Stake President and he bore really powerful testimony to him and answered all his concerns and questions and in the end we were able to give him a baptismal date which was really cool! The next two dates were from a member referral and it is a mother and daughter. This was the first time that we were able to meet them due to scheduling conflicts, but she had come to church 3 times before then so she knew a little bit about our church already. Anyways, we commited her to a soft baptismal date and asked her and her daughter to prepare for that day and she said yes so hopefully we'll see 3 baptisms this transfer! That was the main highlight of last week though, we are working hard and our members are great so hopefully we'll keep seeing success!

Jan. 2, 2012

Transfer calls were today and fortunately, I'm not going anywhere and neither is my companion, so we're both pretty happy about that. This past week we didn't have a lot of chances to meet with our investigators due to scheduling conflicts, but 2 came out to Church on Sunday which was really good. The lesson was on baptism as well and our investigators are starting to understand more the importance of baptism which is really good. We also picked up a new investigator this past week, he was a referral from a previous investigator and right now he is investigating a couple of churches. He and his wife are actually U.S. Citizens and speak pretty good English because they lived in LA for around 20 or so years (I think), but he expressed a lot of interest. It was kind of weird though because after we gave him a brief outline of the gospel, he was like "I want to introduce something to you guys as well." We were a little puzzled, but agreed to listen and he comes out with this toothbrush and toothpaste and starts talking about it (he works for a cosmetics/soap/beauty care company) and he was like trying to sell us on his toothpaste and toothbrush and the whole time I was just thinking "Why on earth would I ever use this stuff? Korean dental hygiene is horrible!" But we agreed to try it out (I still haven't) and report to him. That was pretty funny though. Another cool thing was we went and cleaned the Church building on Saturday and afterwards we went out to the ocean to eat seafood. The ward had a lot of money to spend and since it was the last day of the year they needed to spend it, so they wanted to eat fresh sea food so we drove 1 and a half hours to the coast, spent 2 hours eating, then came back. My companion hates seafood as well so that was pretty funny. They had all sorts of things there, they had raw octopus, fish, oysters, and clams and other things. It was all really good. The octopus was just barely killed and cut up so when they brought it out the tentacles and stuff were moving and sometimes the tentacles would get stuck to the chopsticks because of the suction cup things. It was awesome and tasted really good. My companion hated it though.