Miracles and Mogwa -- October 19, 2014

Good day to all! It is cool and rainy today, but we are in the midst of a beautiful fall. We will cut email a bit short today on account of a trip up to the DMZ later in the week, which will be an all day occurrence. We're excited! Apparently it's a beautiful, beautiful time of the year to go up.

 

Chinese Quince:
the only species in the genus Pseudocydonia

We've had a fun week, working just as hard as we can. Last Monday was Elder Harrison's last P-day, so I wanted to do something memorable so I wouldn't be '"that companion" that just sat around the last week. It was a bit of trouble and some confusion to get to the royal tombs, but we did arrive on an absolutely perfect fall day, to find that they were closed. Memorable I hope it was. That night we met our ward mission leader and ate pho deliciously. The following day we had samgyetang, young chicken broth, with one of our investigators, and ate at a member's home that night. Our travels also led us to buy mogwa, Chinese quince, whatever that is, which sounds weird out of context, but it seemed necessary at the time.

 

Transfers the following day went well, and I said my goodbyes to Elder Harrison. He's been a wonderful companion from whom I learned a lot- I was very grateful to have served with him. He and a couple other homebound elders stopped by our house later that day in preparation to go hiking, thus prolonging our farewell. I am now with Elder Killpack, a tall, handsome, hardworking, wonderful elder from Utah. We've had a lot of fun this week, and have seen some real miracles already. We met someone on Wednesday while waiting for chicken that we met on Thursday,- and who committed to baptism on Friday for next month. The lessons went very well, but he wouldn't give us his number, not having a cell phone and being hesitant about his home number. We were worried, with no way to contact him in a big city- he doesn't live in our area, just works here, and he didn't show up to our next appointment. We were really disappointed, after waiting for twenty minutes, and went on. Later, as we went back a way we didn't usually go back on, and talked with people, slowing us down even though we were in a rush, I felt a tap on my shoulder and turned around to see him, Brother Jeong, with his signature turtleneck. We set another appointment, and we are not sure where everything will go, but it seems that God's hand is in our meeting, and he is very prepared. He received a copy of the Book of Mormon at age 9, and had read it more than once by the time that we met him. Another investigator also committed to be baptized later that night.

 

We were able to do our service at the community center this week again, always a rewarding experience, and met a very fun, very old man later that day. (난 수학 잘 하지). As we were walking in the park to find a place to sit, he turned to another older man, who was somewhat intoxicated, and told him to come talk with us too. We asked him if he knew him, (아는 사람이세요?) and he responded that he did not (아니, 모르는 사람이야). Ah, it's funnier in Korean.

 

In any regard, it's been a great week, we've seen a lot of miracles and met lots of prepared people, and we're looking forward to moving forward.

 

Earlier this week we had a bunch of lessons lined up for that day, and I wasn't really sure how to use personal study time to prepare for everything, so I just read for the whole time from the Book of Mormon. It was incredible as that day what I learned and read during that time fit perfectly with what people needed. I've been reading through the Book of Mormon much more quickly recently, as I've focused on it during personal study, and it's been a huge blessing.

 

Love to all in every stage of life. Love to family and friends in school and decisions and everything. Good luck in college applications, Caleb~

 

Elder South

 

Also, I learned that 무침, which I wasn't sure how to translate last week, is the noun form of the verb to combine bean sprouts together with added ingredients and seasonings, so, there we are. Korean for the win, I guess.

 

Change Comes Slowly -- October 5, 2014

Internet photos from Children's Grand Park: Dancing Elephants

Good morning on a beautiful fall day! We are going today to Children's Grand Park, which is a beautiful place just unlike anything I've seen in America. If we can just find a soccer ball, we'll be in business. Due to an unfortunate train of events, we're also out of a football, so we'll have to look around. I hope that all are doing well, right in the midst of work and teaching and studying and midterms and applications and all. Life is a lot more simple out here in Seoul, for us anyway. We're doing our best to work as hard as we can in every way that we can.

 

Last week was packed with meetings and exchanges and stake sports activities, and a couple of dinner appointments on top of everything left us with less time for everything that we wanted to do, meaning that we were able to far meet less people this week than we would have hoped and ending up teaching 15 less discussions than last week.

And Dancing People. Quite the Merry-Go-Round

In spite of being busy, though, we saw some people take some big strides with cutting down smoking and alcohol, accepting baptismal date commitments, solidifying friendships among church members, coming to church, and setting up regular meetings. We had a fun week, the stake activity was long but fun for us and friends and the ward, and we are looking forward very much to next week.

 

It's been a rewarding week, and we're very grateful for the chance to be serving together and serving here. Elder Harrison is as strong as ever, and always a wonderful example. We had the opportunity to attend the temple last week as well, which is always a great privilege.

 

Well, we do need to leave early today once more, but I find myself with more time than I thought. Rather than draw on with other details or anything, I do want to say how much this experience has and is coming to mean to me. It's really hard to see change when you live with yourself everyday and you're never where you want to be, but I hope that change is coming and will come, that's really what I hope for for this time. It's quite a privilege to be doing this, here, with those that I am surrounded by. Life is just meaningful, and that's a blessing. I really do hope and pray for you all that challenges may be overcome and blessings may come. See miracles! Thanks for being good people. Keep being good.

 

I love you!

Elder South

 

Sorry for a distinct lack of pictures over the past months. It's not that I don't have them, so I'll need to look around for a cord somewhere. 

No Facebook Necessary -- September 29, 2014

Good evening! I hope that all goes well. It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood, as the saying goes. I must apologize in advance for what will be a very, very brief letter today, as we had a meeting in central Seoul which went quite a bit over and an appointment for which we need to leave in twenty minutes. Know that I love you and that I pray for you. I hope that all goes well. Eat lots of kimchi. Seriously, it's amazing.

We've had a fun week. We've worked just as hard as we possibly can, and I'm just having a great time. Every aspect of missionary work is seriously just so much fun. I was thinking the other day I really just straight up don't miss things that were in my life before. Music, TV, Facebook, whatever, eating on a budget and going to bed at 10:30 is WAY more fun. People aren't lining up to meet with us, but I know that as we do our part and magnify our calling in every way possible, things will work out, and blessings will come. I want to do good for other people, and seen or unseen, I know that those opportunities will come.

Elder Harrison and I are getting along well. I continue to learn from and love him. He hasn't missed a step in his missionary work even with his all-too-soon departure and constant egging on about such from just about everyone we see. He says he wants to be a missionary until the stake president takes his hands off his head, and is an incredible example of diligence and trusting in the Lord. He is kind and patient with me in my faults, and we will continue to enjoy our time together and work as hard as we can and then some.

We went to a traditional Korean home village, saw Seoul's time capsule, I went up to Uijeongbu and had a great time {Sam is traveling a lot in his duties as Zone Leader, we presume}, we learned some things during study, got better every day, and had some cheesecake ice cream. It was a fun week.

Korean is so much fun, and Korea is just the best. I have felt like I've been in a plateau for a while, so I bought a TOPIK book (a Korean proficiency test), took a practice test, got destroyed, and hopefully will now feel that urgency once more, looking up at the daunting wall of Korean feeling very much at the bottom of the ladder with a broken arm and a peg-leg. We'll keep trying to move forward in faith, because that's what matters.

Things get more fun every day. As rejection comes, and it does, QUITE rudely this week in fact, we throw back a smile at whatever the world throws at us and keep moving forward. As I begin to understand more deeply and can share more clearly with people, this is just the time of my life.

 'These are days never to be forgotten!"

All love and prayers

Elder South

Thankful interludes -- Chuseok 2014

From the editor: Sam has written quite a bit in recent weeks about Chuseok, the Korean national holiday of thanksgiving. The PR people in his mission have posted some photos of their mission-wide conference, where 212 missionaries met to sing, pray, eat and hear some instruction from their mission president about prayer. Here are some photos.

Sam is serving as a Zone Leader--meaning he's caring for around 30 other missionaries or so--in the northeast of Seoul just under the mountains. He hasn't put that in his letters, but we got a note from the mission office informing us it was so.

The Seoul Mission, all together. Sam is on the left side--about 8 missionaries in from the left, and about 5 rows from the top.

Sisters in the mission play on traditional Korean drums

Sacred singing, with President and Sister Christensen.
Looks to me like the Koreans are singing and the Americans
are squinting intently at their hymnbooks.

네 기를 지도하시리라: He shall direct thy paths -- September 22, 2014

Good day to all! Prayers from Seoul- it seems that it was a harder week for some, and it wasn't exactly the week we were hoping for either, but I am happy and know that everything will work out in the Lord's time and in His way. I hope that challenges of health, time, and fatigue are resolved as you continue to work hard, trust in the Lord, and rest some if at all possible. <3

It's been an action filled week of doing everything we possibly can. It's hard when we feel that we do do all that we possibly can, and people struggle to meet or keep commitments, but is is just an opportunity to reevaluate, improve how we do things, and think about our responsibilities and line up our desires more closely with those of God's. We did meet some wonderful people for the first time this week who have expressed that they would like to continue to meet, and some of our other friends who are doing well as together we seek to get closer to Christ.

I was able to go on an exchange to Dobong this past week, and we had a great time. We also did a street contacting activity with the district down there as we all strive to find more who will be willing to hear our message. I'll be heading up to Uijeongbu tomorrow for another exchange. The weather has been beautiful, the food wonderful, and the people as nice as ever. We met a very interesting English Frenchman this past week who converted to Islam about ten years ago, and talked concerning God and his love for us and subsequent communication.

I had to get my foreigner card renewed this morning, so we did that and met a wonderful, humble man from Senegal as we waited. We then went to Dongdaemun for Elder Harrison to pick up a stylin' 50 dollar suit, and then to a fun cultural village nearby with artifacts and traditional houses.

I gave a talk in church yesterday on light and how we can share what we know with our loved ones. We also attended a meeting with the stake presidency as we discussed how to improve convert retention in our wards, fellowship new investigators more effectively, and establish a ward mission plan and follow it through. The stake president is absolutely wonderful, and had some very wise counsel that we will seek to implement as we move forward.

Korean continues to progress, I hope. There's sure a lot I don't know! Earlier this week some missionaries called with a Chinese guy on the line, and we talked for more than twenty minutes, at which point he asked from what part of Northeastern China I was from. The next day, I called a wrong number, we talked for less than a minute, and he said, "you're not Korean, huh?" I don't know why it just doesn't quite click, frustrations, but we keep moving forward, knowing it's not about what we can do, or any ability of ours, but how closely we are willing to follow what God has asked us to do.

Much love and always prayers!

"Behold, He has brought [us] into His everlasting light, yea, into everlating salvation, and [we] are encircled about with the matchless bounty of his love. . . Therefore, let us glory, yea, we will glory in the Lord; yea, we will praise our God forever. Behold, who can glory too much in the Lord?"

, Elder South