For the Beauty of the Earth (20 October 2013)

Hello to all!

I hope that all goes well! I think about and pray for you, and I hope that you are smiling and aware of all the beauty of this world.

This past week has been incredibly rewarding. Nothing necessarily big or out of the ordinary happened, but each day is an adventure, and something beautiful to look forward to. We jump out of our beds each morning with enthusiasm and excitement for the miracles that we can see each day if we are obedient and work hard. This work is just so fulfilling--it's very difficult, I'm realizing that more and more--but the joy that it brings to all involved is more than worth every hard moment.

The story of this week was talking with ev-er-y-one. Midterms are ongoing, which means most people we meet don't have time to set up an appointment, but we have made a lot of good connections, and as midterms end this week, we should be able to meet with a lot more people in the near future.

The weather is still beautiful. Far too beautiful, we're very lucky. I'm sure the cold will come soon, but that will be beautiful too, I suppose, just in a different way.

We met people this week from Mali, Ethiopia, Australia, Sweden, France, Thailand, England, Denmark, and the Netherlands, just off the top of my head. There's not a ton of foreigners, but when we see one, it's fun to see from where they come.

One fun story is meeting the guy from Mali: we stopped him, and he didn't speak great English, but my companion talked to him for a while, and got his email address, as he didn't have a phone. As he was about to leave, I asked him if he spoke French, and he went off in a rapid torrent. It was so much fun to stand on a busy street in Seoul with Koreans speeding by speaking French to someone from Mali. He said that I'm the first person that he has met here who has spoken French, as abysmal as mine is, and he really opened up. I said that I would send him an email, and he started writing an address down. I said that I could just use the one that he gave to my companion, but he looked at him, laughed, and said that he gave him a fake one, and to take this card. My companions and I shared a good laugh about that after he left, and we look forward to meeting with him later if possible.

We went to a wedding this past Saturday, which is an extremely rare occurence for a missionary, but a member in our ward was getting married, so we went to a fancy venue in West Seoul, and it was a fun experience. Very sparkly--the place was really decked out--but you would expect nothing else. We enjoyed Korean gourmet food afterwards, including duck and other roast meats, a fruit like unto a lychee, and various salads and noodles, all of which were very good.

We met someone on the street this week, Brother Nam, whom we spoke to for a while, who had pretty good Korean, but then later said that he was from China. After talking for a bit, I learned that we actually have the same last name in Chinese, and that really meant a lot to him. Names and ages mean so much to relationships over here, which has been cool to see. He called on Saturday night and said that he wanted to come to church with us, and we had a great time! Hopefully we can continue to meet.

Well, time is short today. I'm actually going on exchanges with the zone leader from the next zone over, Elder Kim, who is super cool and hip. We will have a great time, although I am doing a Korean pass-off evaluation with him, so I am pretty nervous. We have a super young mission. It's probably true in a lot of areas, but something like ninety percent of the missionaries in Seoul have been out for less than a year, which is pretty crazy.

Well, thanks for your love and support. I wish you all the best this week.

God bless!

Elder South 

Chinatown (13 October 2013)

It is another beautiful fall day in Seoul, and I am so happy to be here. I hope that this finds you well and happy.

As I did a poor job last week, I will attempt to explain a bit better just the basics of where I am and who I am with. I am serving in Dongdaemun, which is a little bit east, but still solidly in Seoul. I'm not sure where it is in relation to everything, to be honest, but it is wonderful- I am just loving it. Seoul is a really fun city, and sharing what means so much to me is incredibly rewarding. Our house has seven people, so us and two other companionships, but it's plenty big. We sleep on what is called a yo, or a folding pad, so that saves a lot of space.

Early this week, I was speaking with an older gentleman who has spent time at Stanford and taught at NYU. I draw attention to the word speaking, because my comprehension was nothing to be proud of. After a while, he spoke the following to me in English, probably sensing my poor Korean, concerning his take on Yale grads:

"All Yale graduates are mafia. I was invited to the Clintons' inauguration party, and I went, and there were ten parties, and almost all of the people were Yale grads. That's how I know Yale graduates are mafia."

A fun experience, and an interesting commentary on the relative meritocracy vs. who-you-know of political systems? I don't know.

We had a siksa, or a meal appointment, with a ward member this week, whereat we had delicious kimchi, meat, onions, rice, and pepper paste lettuce wraps, and washed them down with not quite as delicious naengmyeon--cold noodles. Bibimpap, mixed rice and vegetables, has fast become my favorite food here, and kimbap places--cheap little restaurants--are a common stop. After general conference yesterday, some ward members made a massive bowl of bibimbap that I don't think I could have fit my arms around, although, somewhat regretfully, I refrained from trying.

Someone asked me this week what my miracle was that day, and I really liked that way of thinking. It certainly has been a week of miracles. Particularly powerful to me has been the astounding number of Chinese people that we have met, and their receptivity to the message. We met over a dozen people from China this week on the street, and many of them are meeting us later. Some of them speak only Chinese, so I will be working out of my Chinese Preach My Gospel this week, while simultaneously attempting to work on the Korean pass-off program. I love Korean, but I love Chinese as well, and it is more familiar and friendly to me at this point. I am blessed to have this opportunity.

Street contacting means hanging out at the shops!

I still know very little Korea, but I am certainly progressing at a much faster rate than in the MTC. Part of that is that we opened a new area and had no investigators, so we have been talking with everyone that we can, and doing lots of street contacting.

We have four solid investigators now, with a few more who will meet us after midterms this week. It is very rewarding to see the results of hard work and miracles, and my trainer is a huge blessing. 

We are working as hard as we can. We're beat each night, but we want no regrets- when I get on that plane home, I don't want to have wasted a minute of the Lord's time.

One focus this week has been teaching with more power as a missionary. One scripture that has helped me has been section 4 of the Doctrine and Covenants, where we learn that we need to serve the Lord with all of our heart, might, mind, and strength. How to do so, though, has been on my mind. Mosiah 4:27 helped me, saying that "it is expedient that [you] might be diligent, that thereby [you] might win the prize; therefore, all things must be done in order." This diligence, then, is maybe trust, desire, and a willingness to consecrate myself fully to the Lord: my thoughts, my desires, my energy, and my talents. That is ultimately our goal, I suppose. In Mosiah 7:33, it talks about how "if we will turn to the Lord with full purpose of heart, and put [our] trust in Him, and serve [Him] with all diligence of mind," we will be blessed and free.

I also studied Abinadi's story this week in Mosiah, and he is absolutely incredible. His declaration under extreme duress was "I will not recall my words . . . for they are true . . . O God, receive my soul." I know that I have mentioned this hymn several times previously, but his absolute commitment to God under such persecution reminded me of "Nearer, my God, to Thee," and how in all of our afflictions, opposition, and trials, we should never forget the Lord our God, and His Son who died for us.

We just saw General Conference this past weekend due to time differences, and it was amazing, as I hope it was for you. I wrote out some questions beforehand, and one of the speakers at the beginning of his talk asked one of them with one word variant, and went on to answer it, we was very cool. Conference was a very spiritually enlightening experience, and I was struck particularly by President Eyring's talk during the Sunday morning session. That whole session, though, was in the words of my companion, "unreal," and the arrangement of "O, Divine Redeemer" was breathtaking. Let us all ask the Lord to "hear my cry, hear my cry, receive me Lord in Thy mercy. Come and save me, O Lord. Help me, my Savior."

Much love, kimchi, and smiles,

South 장로

한국에 오신것을 환영해요! (letter of 6 October 2013)

[Editor's Apology: I know some of you have been waiting to hear about Sam's first weeks in Korea. I was in Belgium last week and unable to post his first letter at that time. Here it is, complete with some pictures he sent this week. -- Kristin (Sam's mom)]

Good day to all, wherever you may be! It is a beautiful day in Seoul! I am just so happy to be here, and feel so blessed for the opportunity.

There is, of course, an extraordinary amount that has happened this week, but I will attempt to talk through the basics of how I got to be sitting in Seoul with wonderful companions, trying to figure out how to use a computer in a language that is still quite foreign to me.

We left the MTC at 3:30 Monday morning for the airport, and took a bus up. It was pretty simple getting through everything, and both of my 51 pound suitcases were checked without any trouble. I don't know how I have so much at the start of this adventure! I guess that I picked up a lot of books in the MTC. [Editor's Note: Yup, he did! And that's even with having sent home a big box full of books as well!]

Neon-lit bus on the way from the airport to Seoul

Going through security at the airport, there was a woman with a Chinese passport that I struck up a conversation with. She is from Shanghai, and when she found out that I had never been, she insisted that I need to go visit. She was very cool, and spoke no English, so it was a fun challenge to try to communicate with her. As we went our separate ways, I sat down and found a Chinese pamphlet about the Restoration that I had decided at the last minute to throw in my suitcase, so I got it out and went and found her and talked for a while about it. It was so fun just to talk about the Gospel, and the first contact of the mission was Chinese!

We had a layover in Detroit, and then took off for Incheon! The plane ride was not bad: I wrote and talked, and tried to sleep, and it was fun. The food was surprisingly good. I sat next to a few Koreans, and we talked for a while about whatever I could. In my experience so far, Koreans are just so nice, friendly, warm, and fun to talk to! When we arrived in Incheon, we were feeling the weird "what time is it really" feeling, but we all got out, said our goodbyes to our friends in the Seoul South mission, and went our separate ways. Our bus was lighted with rainbow neon, and we drove to the temple, where there was a chapel where we had a meeting and met our mission president and his wife, the Christensens, and got ready for bed.

 

Sam at the Seoul temple

The next couple days were full of meetings, and street contacting in Gwanghwamun, an area in central Seoul. We also went to a very cool museum about King Sejong, who invented the Hangeul alphabet. I also had an interview with President Christensen, who is really cool. He is very intelligent and experienced. We talked for a while about environmental issues in Asia, the reputation of the Church online in Korea, and a few other things. He will be wonderful, and I'm blessed to have him to guide us. On Thursday, we got our campanions and started to work! I am actually with two companions for this transfer: Elder Suman, who has been out for nine weeks, and Elder Clearwater, who has been out for a year and a half. Both are wonderful! Elder Clearwater is absolutely fantastic: his Korean is superb, and he is a great example in every way. He was just released as an assistant to the President, and before that served in other leadership capacities. I have a lot to learn from him. Elder Suman is also great, and a lot of fun to work with.

 

If this is King Sejong, it looks like he was good with
both the alphabet and the sword. As, no doubt, is
the Elder Sam South standing in front of him.

We are in an area of Seoul called Dongdaemun, in central Seoul. It is a great area! Koryeo Dae, one of the nation's top universities, is in our area. We started off with no investigators, so we have been doing a lot of street contacting, which has been great Korean practice!

We did have one new investigator come to church yesterday, a man from China. He is so cool, and has been such a privilege to get to know. We've had a few lessons with him already, and will continue to meet with him.

Okay, well, I am out of time. I should have a bit longer next week; I'm still trying to figure everything out.

Everything is wonderful. The work is great, the food is delicious, and the people are incredible. I am loving it here. It is such a privilege to share what I love so much with such wonderful people. I love you all. Already some incredible things have happened, and we've had some fun stories that I will try to share next week.

All my love,

Elder South