Happy Christmas! And a baptism. [December 22]

"Blessed be the name of our God; let us sing to his praise, yea, let us give thanks to his holy name, for he doth work righteousness forever. Therefore, let us glory, yea, we will glory in the Lord; yea, we will rejoice, for our joy is full; yea, we will praise our God forever. Behold, who can glory too much in the Lord?" Alma 26 [from the Book of Mormon]

 

Elder Sam South and Sa Gae, with many friends. Koreans almost
universally make "peace" signs in their photos. Can you find it?

What a glorious time it is as we prepare for Christmas, to think about all that the Savior has done for us and how absolutely central His sacrifice was to all that we are. Thank you for your support and your prayers this past week. I felt them, but more importantly, Sa Gae felt them, and was baptized and confirmed this past Sunday after church. It was really a special experience for us, and a wonderful thing for him, and the outpouring of love and support from the branch was fabulous. The water was a little bit colder than we wanted, but it was a very happy time. I had the chance to perform the service, and I had to do it twice because I was so nervous about remembering the prayer in Chinese that I forgot to begin with his name the first time. You live and you learn, I guess, and you smile.

 

Sung Il, who we have been trying to meet with for quite a while, showed up yesterday, a straight up miracle. He came after the baptism, and anxiously asked if it was too late for him to be baptized that day, and said that he really wanted to be baptized. We set a date for him for the fifth of January, and are so excited for him. He is wonderful.

 

We moved into our new apartment this past Tuesday [in Imun Dong], and it's great! Carrying boxes with weights and books from our old place was an endeavor, but we got there. We took all the new stuff in: refrigerator, desks, etc., set up, ended up teaching part of Dongdaemun's English class, and mostly finished unloading. It was quite a day. One Wednesday, we finished up moving, stocked the apartment with whatever odds and ends, and taught Jackie. He is very logical, and really seemed to see that church will be a good thing for him. He is progressing well. That evening, the sisters and we went with Sa Gae to the restaurant he works at, which is a fancy seafood place. It's not something I would have sought out, but it was very good, and we got a great discount because Sa Gae works there. We went and grabbed ice cream afterwards. This was the day that Sa Gae said that he wanted to be baptized, which was super cool!

 

Dong Won's baptismal service is planned for this Saturday. He is struggling to quit smoking, but I know that he can do it! Betty also said on Tuesday that she wanted to be baptized, and she will be baptized this next Sunday. She didn't have any idea who God was a few weeks ago, and it is incredible now to see her conviction.

 

Our new apartment is wonderful, and our new roommates are a lot of fun. I knew Elder Mumford, from Washington, a bit from playing soccer with him a few weeks back, and he's a great guy. He's fun and works very hard. Elder Osborne, from North Texas, is really funny, and this is his first area, so we're trying to help him adjust and set a good example!

 

Elders Grimshaw and South with Sa Gae and Betty

We met with Seong Jin on Thursday, and he is progressing well. Sang Jo, who I forgot to mention last week committed to baptism on the 19th of January, has taken big steps, but will just not come to church, so we are trying really hard to think about how we can help him with that. We also met George on the subway Thursday, a super cool guy from Bulgaria who we really want to meet again. He was kind of eyeing us as we got on the subway, and when were on, he turned to Elder Grimshaw, and said... something. After staring blankly for a few moments, we realized he was speaking Russian, and responded in English after quickly exhausting our supply of Russian. (i.e. Hello, you look like a cucumber today. Goodbye.)  He is fascinating, and taught us a bit of Bulgarian. Zdrasti!

 

We met Sa Gae again on Friday with the sisters, just to confirm his desire and go through how everything would work at the service. I'm sure he must have been really nervous too, and in his testimony at the service he said that he had been, but I was terrified all the way until the service that something would go wrong or we would forget something important, but it all worked out okay. He had his interview Saturday, and we had a quick but scrumptious meal at the church of bap beogeo and peach Fanta, and headed off to Yeongdeungpo, in the South mission, with Sa Gae, Betty, and the sisters. There was a Messiah concert that we were able to go to, and it was very good. I thought so, anyway. Sa Gae was a good sport, Betty had no qualms straight up saying it was boring, and the attrition rate at intermission was remarkable. If the words were difficult to understand for us English speakers, though, being familiar with the piece and type of performance, then that is understandable. We had a great time, grabbed ice cream afterwards, which seems to be kind of the thing with that crew, and headed back to our area. It was fun to see some friends from the mission across the river!

 

Sundays are just my favorite days. Hyeon Ho, one of Dong Won's friends, came to church, and he is amazing! he hasn't been to church since elementary school, but really wants to learn about our church because he wants to have a good setting for his wife and daughter at home. We are going to see if we can teach them as a family, which would be wonderful. Jin Su also showed up to church, and we had a great lesson with him. He showed sincere interest in how he can come to know God better, and we look forward to meeting with him more now that finals are done. Unfortunately, though, he will head back to his hometown near Busan in the South of the country for about a month during winter break.

 

All my love, and merry Christmas!

 

Elder South