Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also (Letter of 25 November 2013)

"Verily, verily, I say unto you, I give unto you to be the light of this people. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid. Behold, do men light a candle and put it under a bushel? Nay, but on a candlestick, and it giveth light to all that are in the house; Therefore let your light so shine before this people, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven."

 

Last week we had a combined mission conference with the Seoul South Mission south of the Han that I was unable to mention last week, and it was incredible! Elder David Evans, of the missionary council, spoke to us. It was a fantastic meeting, and he addressed many different topics. What struck me most was just how absolutely dependent this work is on love: as we recognize how incredibly much we are loved, and blessed, and try to share this love with all those that we meet, that is when we are both successful, but more importantly, happy and able to truly help others. 

There is a quote by Van Gogh, I believe, and it's killing me that I can't remember it, but it says essentially that "Those who love serve much, what is done in love is done well." As we truly care about those that we serve, we serve, study, and pray more diligently, and strive more and more to do what we can for them. Elder Evans also talked about being young, and inexperienced, which of course is immediately applicable to me and this companionship. We are certainly young, but we can still share what we know and testify of its truthfulness, letting our chance to serve be an exciting time rather than developing a psychological handicap. We are still missionaries, here for the same purpose, and as we do our very best and work hard, we will receive help to make up for our weaknesses. It was also great to see friends from the MTC- most of my district, and many others I knew, went to the Seoul South Mission.

Sam and a new friend

 

It has been an awesome week this past week! We were blessed to see several people accepting and responsive to the Spirit, and to teach more lessons than normal for us and to receive guidance as we did. It is such a privilege to see people progressing in the Gospel. I don't have any significant news or big events from this week, so I will discuss some of those with whom we met this past week.

 

Jackie is incredible. His English name may be somewhat out of the ordinary for someone of his gender and stature, but that phenomenon is not uncommon among those who are beginners at English here. He is incredibly receptive and intelligent, and we have been teaching English to him as well as the Gospel. He has met with missionaries a bit before, a few months ago, and I have no idea why he stopped, yet. My only thought so far is that there were, for a transfer or two, no English-speaking missionaries in Imun, so he was unable to continue learning English. In any case, we are happy to be meeting with him now.

 

J S, our fashion-designing friend, came to church yesterday, which was greeaatt. We were unable to be with him second hour, however, as we were teaching a lady from Thailand. It was a great lesson to experience, the Spirit was present and she accepted well as we watched the story of Joseph Smith in Thai (which sounds like Chinese, but way more wacky), but unfortunately, when we went to meet with J S the third hour, he had left after the second while we were teaching. That was too bad, but we hope to meet him this week.

 

K is from Australia, but his parents are both Chinese, and he speaks both English and Chinese fluently. He is super cool, studying dance and performing often, and our meeting was a lot of fun. He is very high energy, and we were all over the place, but he is earnestly seeking God and to know if religion is right for him.

 

We met a super cool couple from Sweden on the subway this past week, and I really hope that we can meet with them. They were tall, stylin', into K-pop, and Swedish, so we bonded pretty quickly. Jokes.

 

J H is a fifteen year old kid with a lot of Gospel interest. He wants to be baptized, but his mother opposes the church, another situation not rare here. He texted us this week saying that he had time, but right before we were about to meet we got a heartbreaking text about how he was coming out the door to meet, but his mother recognized that he was going to the church and so stopped him. He is wonderful, and so brave. He hides his Book of Mormon in the house so he doesn't get in trouble, and just wants to know more. We are praying and counseling to know how we can help him, but it is a tough situation.

 

D W, an older gentleman, also met with us this week. He has been struggling to quite smoking, and to bring his life into harmony with the example of Jesus Christ. He speaks no English, and we weren't able to have a member help us, but as we taught, it was amazing how things that we needed just seemed to come. He understood, and we understood, and there was just an incredible feeling in the room. He really wants to make these changes, and to receive the guidance of the Spirit. He agreed to be baptized on the 29th of December, and we will continue to work with and support him as he prepares. That would be about the coolest birthday gift ever.

 

I did translation a couple times this week. I've been doing it in district and zone meetings for Sister T into Chinese, and it's usually fun, and rough, but we get through it together. This week, though, we spoke of the parable of the wheat and the tares, as well as assorted other stories, and I was at about a complete loss, so we just talked about other, mostly related, topics. She was asking about a Chinese branch, and it is actually a real possibility, if several of our Chinese investigators continue to progress. Our companionships taught a Chinese guy together this week, and a couple are coming to church. It's nice to have someone who can actually speak Chinese, as opposed to my often less-than-successful attempts.

 

Sam, in the subway, with a Book of Mormon,
imitating the eating habits of his new friend (see above)

I also was asked to translate for T, a visiting Brazilian, yesterday at church. Fortunately, it was the primary program, so there was lots of singing, and more simple speaking, but when our Branch President addressed us it was game over. I figure, though, if you can pick out a few words a sentence, talk about that, and bear your testimony, the Spirit will help both of us feel what is being said. 

 

English class has grown considerably in size, although it is still quite small. It is a pleasure to teach, and both the sister missionaries and we have found some good potential people to teach from the class. The dessert party on Saturday was also a big success, with lots of friends and investigators showing up and having a great time.

 

I need to go soon, but I just want to share a bit of what I read this past week in my studies. Christ talks about his other sheep, which are not of this fold, and how there are more nations than one. God loves all of His children so much, and I know that that applies to His children here in Korea. We learn in the Bible, and in 3 Nephi 14;7-8, that if we ask, it shall be given, if we seek, we shall find, and if we knock, it shall be opened unto us. All of these are promised blessings contingent upon action on our part. As missionaries, our purpose is to invite others to take those steps that will yield that which God has promised. It is certainly sad when someone is not willing to make those choices. As they do, however, and those blessings come, it is a joy to see the blessings in their lives, and a sweet affirmation of the reality and loving nature of our God.

 

All the best, and 여러분을 사랑해요.

 

Elder South 

If We Build We Cannot Fall (Letter of 18 November 2013)

"And now, my sons, remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation . . . which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall." --Helaman 5:12

3 Nephi 5:13 says, "Behold, I am a disciple of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. I have been called of him to declare his word among his people, that they might have everlasting life." As we stay happy and continuously invite, we do find those with whom together we can grow closer to Jesus Christ. We seek at all times to "[strive] with unwearied diligence" to bring all to the truth (Helaman 15:6).

I have found great strength from the scriptures this week as I have continued to go in with questions and take more time to ponder on that which is written. The story of Samuel the Lamanite takes on new meaning coming from a missionary lens, as do most scriptures. In Helaman 13:2-3, it mentions that after preaching for many days, Samuel is rejected and becomes discouraged, about to return to his own land, but--he does not. He listens to the voice of the Lord, and prophesies that which is put into his heart. This is a joyous work, but there are certainly times that are hard. When people don't show up to a meeting, no one wants to hear what you have to say, or even pretend not to hear you, it can be hard to chin up and keep smiling bright, but we do, because that is what is expected of us as disciples of Jesus Christ. 

Last week, as I was unable to mention in the last update, ended with a game night at the church for investigators and members, and it was a real success. So much so, in fact, that we are planning a young adult dessert party for investigators and friends this coming Saturday. As those who are interested in the church are able to develop relationships with members, they really begin to feel welcome, and that crucial sense of belonging in an unfamiliar world. The Imun branch is incredible. I gave my 인사 말씀, or introductory words, in sacrament meeting last week, and was able to meet most of the members after church, as we stayed for bibimbap. It is a small branch, but the members are so strong, and really want to help us out. I'm really looking forward to our time here.

Because we did not have a lot of current investigators, we did a lot of 전도 (street contacting) this week, which is honestly just so much fun. We were able to meet a few people, though, and I will introduce some of our investigators.

C. is an older gentleman with primarily English interest, although he loves the Bible. As we went through the sermon on the mount with him, he got really excited: "I love these words!" We hope to establish a connection between the Bible and the Book of Mormon both as God's words as we meet him today, and will meet him consistently to teach English and talk about the Gospel.

We met I. this week, a twenty year old college student at a college in our area. He has met with missionaries before, and is actually fairly sour at the church. We were just about to go outside to meet him when we purposefully walked in the room, looked at us, cracked his hands, sat, and started firing off questions. It was a fun experience as we went though continuing revelation, prophets, and the Book of Mormon. The Spirit was definitely present as we talked, but he would not open up to its influence, which is always sad. We will continue to meet with him, and will really need to think and pray about how we can help him progress.

J., who committed to baptism last week, came to stake conference yesterday. We tried to teach him afterwards, but he was going to dinner at his girlfriend's family's house. Disappointing, but perhaps in the end having his girlfriend's family be members is even more beneficial. We will meet with him this week, and hopefully he can come to the dessert party this week.

As Elder C. was coming home Monday night, he met a Chinese guy, and put him on the phone. We talked for a couple minutes, and it turned out that he lived only a couple minutes from us, so we all went over to meet him right away. When we knocked on his door, he opened up and there were four people staying there, all Chinese, as well as a couple next door. We had a really fun talk, and they were from near Beijing, so we had some fun connections, and they spoke with my dearly beloved hard Beijing accent. We set an appointment for the following day, as they had to return on Thursday to China, and went back both then and Wednesday. We again spoke, came back on Wednesday as well, and really made friends with them. I am sad that they had to return, but I hope that we can stay in touch via email.

We met with some other great people, and have a few appointments for this week as well. We have been blessed this week to be able to double our current investigators, and hope to be able to do so again this week. We will continue to work hard and pray for guidance on how to help them progress. The Dongdaemun elders called D., the English teacher at Koryeo Dae that we have been meeting with, this past week. Elder Park spoke with him, and he was on a noisy bus, so he couldn't hear very well, and he's never met Elder Park, so he didn't realize who he was talking to. Elder C took the phone, put it on speaker, and asked D. what he was doing that Friday to confirm their appointment. D. said, "I don't know, I'm meeting in the morning with some Mormons to try to convince them the Book of Mormon's not the word of God." They called back a few minutes later when he was off the bus, and he didn't realize it was the same people, so that was pretty funny.

We met B. this past Thursday, and what an experience it was. He is from Chad, and his first language is French, but he speaks good English and incredible Korean. He is very trusting, humble, and reliant on God, wanting to know how he can follow Him. he told us of the racism that he has experienced at times due to his roots and the color of his skin. He said that many of his friends pretend to be from France because it is a "good" country, but not him. He wears a shirt with a map of Africa on it, and he is proud of who he is. He sees everyone, rich, poor, religious, not, as people, and as God's children. He said that he was laughed at or rejected sometimes, and he wanted to show that he was human, and strong, and worth something, so he learned Korean. Well. He looked up political words in the dictionary so that he could challenge ideas, and he speaks just amazing Korean now. People think too much about money, he thinks, and care more about that than intrinsic value and character. "I have only 3000 won in my account (about 3 dollars)," he said, "but here," pointing to his mind, "I am free."

"Peace is more important than everything," he said. "You must forgive. If I am angry, I cannot sleep with that in my heart." As we shared Joseph Smith's words describing the first vision with him, he was very touched. he said that he felt good, and that we will meet "again, and again, and again." I hope that we do. He offered a beautiful prayer in French, and went on his way.

We have several Chinese potential investigators that we are meeting soon, for which I am very excited. We have a really cool Chinese recent convert that is excited to help us teach, and that will be awesome.

In Dongdaemun, our ward mission leader was an American with flawless Korean. In Imun, we don't have English to fall back on. Our coordination meeting this week was a little bit over my head, but so much fun. In such a young companionship, I have a much increased responsibility and role, since we have no one with incredible language ability to bail us out.

We started English class in the area this week, and as such have not had huge attendance yet. We have a vision, though, of a fun class that can turn into an effective finding technique. As we did 전도 in the cold yesterday, and handed out English fliers, we got a few more good potentials for English class. When it's cold, that's when the money is made.

It's been a fun week as the work goes forward! We have the smallest area in the mission, but probably the most fun. We won't rest until everyone in Imun is coming to church with us.

All the best, and all my love,

남 장로

New friends -- and a surprise transfer

It has been a week of many blessings as we seek to serve with all of our heart, might, mind, and strength! This work is just, simply, fun. It is hard work, of course, but the relationships that we have been able to develop with people, and just the pleasure of talking to as many people as we can about that which we care so much about, is an absolute pleasure. No matter what the thermometer may read, every day the weather is perfect, the food is wonderful, and we have no excuses. As we work and trust, things just have been working out in ways that we cannot see how they will beforehand, before the trial of our faith. Not always is every issue solved, of course, but the hand of the Lord is easily apparent in people picking up their phone and scheduling an appointment, coming to church, being willing to talk with us, and even being able to understand and be understood. We have found people who want to learn more in ways that we never would expect, and I know that those are direct blessings from the Lord. 

Another more temporal blessing that I experienced this week was 호떡 (hoddeok), which I have been waiting to eat until the weather gets a bit colder. It is essentially a pancake/scone type thing with caramelized sugar and sometimes nuts in the middle. Resplendent.

 

As were were unable to locate cellos on time for the conference this week, we will not be playing now, but it sounds as if we will play at Christmas just for our mission. In other news, I saw another shirt this week that read, in vintage font, "Paris, Sweden." I will do all I can to acquire such an item. Although there is certainly some funny English that goes around at times, people are extremely fashion conscious here, which has been a lot of fun. We have several people that we have been meeting with that study fashion design, and there are a couple schools around our area that specialize in such.

 

R and D, two of our Chinese friends, met with us on Tuesday this week. It has been a challenge to teach them, certainly, both because of the language and also because they really have no base at all to draw from concerning religion, but so rewarding as well. We have relied on scripture verses and pictures to help teach, and have had to teach very simply, which is good practice for me, as I have a hard time boiling things down to the essence and explain them as I would to a child. We talked about prayer, and why it is important, and at the end of the lesson, R offered a beautiful prayer, her first one ever. It really brought the Spirit, and as she prayed, she expressed gratitude for God's love and for her learning more about Him. She said about the church that she "liked it there," and that she wanted to know more. Unfortunately, she and her friends are all returning to China on Thursday this week, after having finished their semester. I will be really sad to see them go. They have progressed so much in so little time, and will not have a chance to learn more or receive baptism when they return. I can only hope that they will continue to pray and to remember, and that one day, they will be able to receive that which they desire.

 

It was Brother B's birthday this past Wednesday, so we met with him in the morning. He leaves for military service in about two weeks, and we are really working with him to keep his desire for baptism strong, so that he, if he does so desire, will be able to be baptized before he leaves. He did commit to living the word of wisdom, which was a big step for him.

 

We we able to meet, too, with M early this week. A member, N, taught with us, and she is so strong. As we talked about the Restoration, and she bore her testimony of the Book of Mormon, it was real, meaningful, and powerful. It was a privilege to be in that lesson with her and M, who is so wonderful and so desirous to learn more concerning the Gospel. This morning, however, we received a text from him expressing sincere apology, saying that his parents oppose him coming to church and that he won't be able to anymore. We, of course, were devastated, and hope to visit his parents soon to speak with them and show them that we are normal people with good values. 

Many people in Korea see the church as 이단 (idan), or a cult, and are not willing to listen to what we have to say because all they can see is this idea. It happened before, with Brother N. There are lots of untruths on Naver, Korea's main internet search engine, concerning our church, and it makes it very difficult at times for people to accept our message or talk with us. I was talking with someone the other day for a while, and as he left, he began to write down his number, and halfway through asked what book I was carrying. As soon as he saw "Mormon," he dropped the pen, turned around, and walked away without a word, because of that reputation. There are those who are willing to listen, though, and I really hope that M will be able to keep coming to church.

 

IS is a professor in his thirties who is incredibly smart and learned all of his English from CNN broadcasts, so he speaks on a sophisticated level and uses hilarious and often misused idioms when he talks and writes. We talked with him about the Gospel of Jesus Christ this week, and he agree to be baptized in December, which will be a great thing for him. He will be a great support for the ward, and will benefit so much from the Gospel.

 

JS is a 20 year old studying fashion design in our area, and is the boyfriend of one of the members of our branch. We met him yesterday for the first time (for me, anyway, he's come to church twice before), and taught him during the third hour. We were able to teach with a couple of members, and as they testified and his understanding grew, the Spirit was again present in force. He committed to baptism on the 14th of December, and we will continue to teach him.

 

The biggest news of this past weeks is transfers. A trainer and a trainee are rarely split up halfway through training, but not much is normal about our mission right now, and I was surprised when President Christensen called and said that will now be serving in Imun, the area adjacent to Dongdaemun, with Elder Grimshaw, who has been in my house. He is only one transfer older than me, so we will be incredibly young, but we will work diligently, use all of our resources, and obey, trust and pray all the time, because we can't do this on our own.

 

I am super excited to be in Imun: it is a fun area, the branch is wonderful, if small, and we will work hard. I need to go for today, but I will speak more concerning Imun next week. Many thanks for your love and support.

 

With love,

 

Elder South

서울에서 사랑: "Love from Seoul" (Letter of 3 November 2013)

Alma 26:36- "...blessed be the name of God, who has been mindful of us, wanderers in a strange land."

We have certainly been busy this week! Whereas at first we were almost solely doing 전도--street contacting--we are beginning to teach more and more lessons, and it has been fun to have a chance to learn and develop teaching skills. More than that, though, it is rewarding beyond measure to see in a tangible way the difference that knowledge of the gospel of Jesus Christ and applying its principles helps people to have a different perspective about life and to work out lifelong questions.

 I have been thinking a lot about this week about patience, particularly with oneself. As I read concerning Alma and Ammon, and see older missionaries, it is unfortunately a tendency of mine to notice that I'm not quite--or even remotely--there. I know in whom I trust, and I know that the necessary skills to bless those that I need to help come unto Christ will come as I trust in Him, it's just easy at times to see many weaknesses and areas wherein I lack. It always be, I suppose, so we just need to do the best we can and take every opportunity as it arises, so that we can improve and be strengthened.

I had a few chances this past week to come to know President Christensen, our mission president, a bit better. Our district had interviews with him this past Wednesday, and then he came to our district meeting, and we also had a conference this past Thursday. He is really exactly right for this mission and for me, and I look forward to continuing to learn from his wisdom and experience: he sees things in a light that has already blessed me and allowed me to see with more perspective in several settings. I discussed weaknesses and patience for a while with him, and he really helped me to see things as they should be and realize that as long as we are faithfully and diligently taking every opportunity that is placed before us, we will continue to grow, and we will be helped in that moment with what we need. I was also reading in Alma, unfortunately I do no have the reference with me, but as Alma is talking, he says something to the effect of "O that I were an angel," that he might have great power to declare the word of God, however, he continues with "I am but a man, and do sin in my wish, for I ought to be content with what the Lord hath alloted me." Alma didn't have any great and powerful voice, but his consistent obedience and capitalizing on opportunities as he listened to the Spirit transformed him into the missionary that he became, and as we do the same, we will be the missionary that we need to be.

I spoke with Sister Christensen as I was waiting, and somehow got roped into a cello duet for the Seoul/Seoul South mission conference on the 16th. The other cellist will be a sister who attends Stanford, and seems by all accounts to be pretty amazing at the cello. They're going to find out really soon that I play cello, but I don't play cello. In all seriousness, it would be a lot of fun, but as it's coming up so soon, and she lives so far away, and neither of us actually have found a cello yet, we'll see how it pans out. I am looking forward to the conference, it will be great to see friends in the Seoul South mission.

We are headed out early today, so I will just talk about some of those we have been meeting with for a bit. In short, first, it's been a great week. We had a few days with cold showers, mosquitoes, and miracles- just what a mission should be.

Min Gyu, a senior in high school, met with us a couple of times this past week, and attended church with us yesterday. He is so much fun, always rocks a super puffy jacket, and is starting to make friends in the ward. He is progressing very quickly in the Gospel and has a sincere desire to come to know God. He committed to be baptized this past Wednesday for later this month, so we are very excited for him!

Brother Bok was unable to meet this week, as he was pretty ill, but we have been in touch and he is doing well. As he leaves for military service so soon, we really are hoping to meet with him a few more times in the near future.

We met with Ryan this week, who is from Saudi Arabia. Although he is not religious, he really wants to help people, and as we met, we talked a lot about how the Gospel can help bring you a sense of purpose and direction to your life, and know how to serve others as you follow the example of Jesus Christ, our Savior.

Da Shi and Da Le, our Chinese friends, planned to meet us on Saturday at the church, and we waited for them for a while. We ended up waiting for more than an hour, actually, and it was pretty hard. As I taught last time, I felt pretty disappointed and fairly responsible that they didn't show up, even though all we can do is invite. As we prayed for them, though, and thought about what to do next, they did show up, and brought two friends with them, who are both really cool and interested in what we have to say. I honestly have no idea why this group is meeting with us: we don't speak Chinese, and our lessons are pretty rough, but, thank goodness, it's not about the language of the mind, but the language of the Spirit, and we certainly have been blessed with some help as we try to communicate with them.

Thank you for your support and your love. Keep smiling, and drink strawberry milk at every opportunity. It's a thing here. 

I was extremely saddened to hear of the passing away of Dean Leslie Woodard, who was the Dean of Calhoun College this past year. She will always be remembered as a brilliantly intelligent, fun, loving woman, who genuinely desired to help me, and help me she did. Her insights and her advice helped me to mature, and realize that it's not a bad thing to take on the world, but you need to do it in the right way, and surrounded by those who care deeply for you. Please convey all of my respect and gratitude to the Yale community in this tragic time. My New Haven friends, I love you. As we all remember and sincerely respect the example of Dean Woodard, let's all be a little bit brighter and laugh a little bit more. Her poetry, her energy, and her love for her horses will be remembered, but above all that, her love for us and her tireless service on our behalf. Rest in the peace of God, Dean Woodard.

Dean Leslie Woodard
of Calhoun College

Much love,

Elder South

남 장로

Editors' Note (from Sam's Dad): 

The distinctive strength of Yale is community--sharing, struggling, building together. The heart of this community ethos is in the residential colleges--12 microsystems, somewhat like Harry Potter's "houses" and full of personality and purpose. When two Yale grads find each other anywhere in the world, the first question is certainly going to be "which college?" Both of Sam's parents, like Sam, are "Hounies"--graduates of Yale's smallest, most beautiful, and finest residential college, Calhoun (no bias there!).

Calhoun was long famous for the tire swing hanging from a large oak in the middle of the courtyard, which tree unfortunately had to be taken down recently due to age. But the real centers of each college--overseeing its own building, dining hall, and intramural teams--are the master and the dean. They are Yale faculty who live, with their families, in the college itself. The master oversees residential life, while the dean is the chief academic and personal adviser for each student. The dean is an invaluable support for every student. 

By all accounts, Dean Woodard was especially extraordinary, known for her good cheer, her love of students, and her ability to point them in the right direction--on top of her own fabulous career as a dancer and a writer. It is truly sad news to hear about Dean Woodard's passing, and a hard thing for Sam to experience without the support of his fellow Hounies. A brief article on her passing is here:

http://yaledailynews.com/blog/2013/10/15/calhoun-dean-leslie-woodard-dies-at-53/

Not My Will (27 October 2013)

안녕하시나이까? 잘지네시죠?

Old Man Autumn is longingly stirring the dregs of his cup, but every day the temperature drops, the wind picks up, and he gets closer and closer to taking a well-deserved rest until the next colorful and acorn-filled fall. We have been blessed with a beautiful fall, and I cannot believe how quickly the time is passing: this year as a whole, but particularly as a missionary. I have been out for three months now, and feel that I know about a corresponding three words in Korean.

Apparently they didn't see this sign ("It's real pie!") when they
went for pizza, because "No one say 'No' when you face
on a nice baked deli sandwich"!

I hope that you are well and happy. It has been a beautiful week in Seoul. Most people finished up midterms this week, which means that those we have been contacting and speaking with were finally able to start meeting. I hurriedly left off last week because we were going on exchanges, so that's where I'll pick up now. I went with Elder Kim, the zone leader in the zone next to ours, for a day. We first did pass-off, for the mission Korean program, and then went out to eat. We went to Pizza School, which has great, interesting pizza for very cheap. It was great, until we each ate about a whole pizza and realized how terrible we felt. We went to visit several less-active members, but no one was home, so we did street contacting and returned to make calls. I am starting to call more to set up appointments, which is so hard, but so exhilarating.

The following morning we left early to go to the temple, and were able to spend the morning there, which was wonderful. It was a beautiful day, and we got some fun pictures afterwards. We got letters (thank you!) and had lunch at a buffet. That evening we had English class, which I taught this week. Definitely a bit of pressure, but it is a lot of fun. The group just younger than us arrived in Korea on Tuesday as well, so we're no longer the youngest missionaries in Korea! ^^

Sam's district of seven missionaries,
at the Seoul LDS temple

On Wednesday morning I began with a study of Alma and Amulek, in Alma 13-15. Obviously one of the best examples of a missionary companionship in the scriptures, it was good to see some of the strategies that they used as they supported each other. As they struggle, and are afflicted, smitten, spit on, beat, and lose everything, they demonstrate miracles through incredible faith. If I have learned anything so far, it is that oftentimes, no witness comes until after the trial of our faith. When we go that one more block, talk to that one extra person after rejection after rejection, that is when we find someone who is prepared and searching for what we are sharing. As they suffered, it is an honor to be able to suffer or face rejection at times in the name of our Savior.

As I continue to search for ways to teach with more spiritual power, more and more things are starting to click. Just very simply, I was thinking this week about how we must devote ALL off our time and attention to the Lord and His work, and as we do, as we take up the cross, we will both have our weaknesses revealed to us and find the strength to overcome them. As we serve with everything that we have--heart, might, mind, strength, and anything that we have been blessed with--we will receive the Lord's help, and the promise that angels will be round about us to bear us up will be made manifest. If we're not so dead tired at the end of the day that we need angels to bear us up, I feel that we are not doing everything, or shortchanging the Lord by not relying solely on His mercy and goodness.

And what blogpost would be complete
without saluting a giant metallic octopus?

I have been thinking a lot, too, about desires, and how they shape what we become. The thought-action-becoming cycle is clearly manifest with regard to the Gospel. As our desires align with the Father's, we will put forth that effort, and work hard consistently. As we do so, we will experience true conversion as our will changes. One of the most striking attributes of Christ's character was his perfect alignment of His desires with the Father's, which led in turn to action and sanctification. We, too, need to be Christlike missionaries, not just do Christlike things. Who we are, it seems, is ultimately more important than what we do. I want to be as Helaman's young warriors, full of truth and soberness, faithful and happy but aware of the importance of our battle and true at all time and in all things.

There are many scriptural references concerning desire, and the story of King Lamoni's conversion and Ammon that I read later in the week is such a powerful one, but I will move on. Suffice it to say that Ammon is another absolutely incredible example of a missionary, and one that I will continue to study throughout the next few days. Later on on Wednesday, we met Baek and a couple of his friends as we stopped after dinner for an ice cream waffle (yuuum), and they were very interested and will meet with us soon. I also ran into Amadou again, our friend from Mali, who just sent an email, and hopefully we can meet up soon. We also met Khalil, a kind and very intelligent graduate student from Afghanistan. He said that his name means friend, so we could be friends, and he will come to church with us next week.

Sister "Gang" and Elder "Nam" :
Sam in Korea, Gangnam Style!

The next day we again taught Brother Bok, who goes into his two years of military service next month. We taught him the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and at the end of the lesson he agreed to be baptized next month! We met him the second day that we came here, and it has been so cool to see him and others progress, and our board and our planners begin to fill up. To see change in someone's life for the better is why we are here, and it is such a blessing to witness. That evening we went to our ward mission leader's home for dinner: '"Mexican food." He lives in more central Seoul. We got there a few minutes early, so we went out on his roof, and saw Namsan tower, which was very close, beautifully and colorfully lit up, with a nice view of Seoul. I am really starting to love Seoul more and more. It is beautiful, and definitely the place to be for me. Coming back, we met some people from France on the subway, and for most of the conversation, I was having a really hard time getting my words out, speaking some distasteful amalgam of French, Chinese, and Korean. It's rough, but it happens sometimes.

On Friday we had a lesson with Brother Nam, the Chinese guy who came to church last week with us. Everything was going great, and he was really liking the priniciples, but when we got to Joseph Smith, he just would not hear any of it. He switched his Korean to panmal, the lowest form of speech, which was really interesting, and shows how much the levels of speech mean in Korean. It was a bit frustrating and very sad, because the Spirit was there, and we just wanted to help him, but he simply would not listen. I was thinking that evening about smart missionary work, and talked a bit with Elder Clearwater about it. The spiritual element is so absolutely crucial in this work, but there are certainly logistical things to think about. 

I am trying to think about and study everything that goes into someone experiencing lasting conversion, essentially, to try to break it into phases, so that we can improve in every step and see where we are lacking substantially. We need to continually be more effective, evaluate and learn every day, and be sure to always be improving. We really are not here for all that long, and I need to make the most of it. I feel that English class could be much more effective at finding people to teach than it currently is. We don't have a ton of people come out, and class is not a ton of fun right now. We're working very hard on making it both enjoyable and beneficial for everyone that comes out at all levels, and we distributed a lot of fliers this week, with some results already. It's tough, but I feel like there is great potential.

On Saturday, I went to another area to help out a companionship with an activity that their branch was doing, which consisted of introducing our church with some of their members, who had set up displays. We had a couple of great lessons, and it was a lot of fun! Sunday, we found out that one of our ward members had gotten engaged, so we may be able to attend another wedding in December! Ashinto, a faithful Christian from India, came with us to church, and we were able to teach him second hour. We talked about the Book of Mormon, and the Spirit was really strong. As we continue to meet with him, I hope that he will be able to appreciate the fullness of the Gospel and the happiness that it brings. He said that it was God's plan for him to come to Korea to study, but he wasn't sure why. Maybe part of that was to come closer to His Son and His Gospel.

Sam at a wedding, using his chopsticks to great effect.
That's just the way he rolls.

That afternoon, one of the Chinese guys that we met a couple weeks ago called and said that he wanted to meet. We met him at the church, and he brought one of his friends. We sat down and began to talk and introduce what we do as best as we could, but it was tough because they only speak Chinese. I definitely struggled as we taught the first part of the Restoration, and my Chinese was absolutely terrible, but somehow, somehow, somehow, they understood. They asked great questions and were very interested, and at the end, one of them prayed, and it was so powerful. They asked, nervously, if they could bring a couple more friends next time, so hopefully our base of wonderful Chinese friends will continue to grow.

I feel like I have written so, so little of what has happened this past week, but it was a beautiful week. The hand of the Lord is always present as we attempt to do that which He has asked us. I love Him, I love this work, and I love all of you. Thank you for your love and support, and I wish you all the best.

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Note from the editor (aka Sam's mom):

When Sam writes about prophets and missionaries that are not in the Bible, he is referring to stories from the Book of Mormon. In the standard blue paperback edition of the Book of Mormon, you can find the stories he mentioned on the following pages:

Alma and Amulek (great missionaries who face really tough challenges): pp. 226-228 tells of how they meet and start to work together; pp. 237-246 some of their preaching and the persecution that follows.

Ammon and his conversion of King Lamoni (pp. 250-261) is a favorite Book of Mormon story among many of the youth of the church. Maybe it has to do with the gory images of cutting off arms, but I also have always loved Ammon's willingness to leave his home and preach to people in a foreign land who do not like him and his people. On p. 252, Ammon says, "Yea, I desire to dwell among this people for a time...[and] I will be thy servant." That's the ideal of Mormon missionary service.