"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
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,
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