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.