Only in the wind--March 23, 2015

Whew. Another week. It just goes by so quickly. Preparation day is a little bit like the eye of the storm- everyday, we're just... busy. Really busy. It's good as not being busy as a missionary would be a huge cause to worry, and it's only in the wind that the roots grow strong.

I hope that all is going well with teaching, and learning, and working, and studying, and planning, and dreaming. One thing about being a missionary is that's it a pretty simple life- simple, but never monotonous. As a companionship we're getting along well, and it's certainly a huge privilege to be able to work more closely to President and Sister Christensen. We had a leadership training meeting this week with people from all over the mission, and another meeting this week, and transfer calls are this week, already. It really goes so fast.

We talked this week at the meeting about, among other things, consecration. President Christensen, of course, shows a stunning example of this both in what he has given up {leaving his medical practice at home for three years}, but also in how he uses his time and efforts here. Always to serve and to love, and I hope that through his and others' examples I to can learn to always "cheerfully do all things that lie in [my] power" as we seek to "waste and wear out our lives" for the Lord. It's a miracle that as we do what we can and seek to give Him all, He changes our desires so that there is nothing so enjoyable or fulfilling as heading outside for 9 hours to talk to people about Jesus Christ.

I served with Elder Rosenberg {former companion} one day this week on exchanges, and Hohyeon Lee, who Caleb will remember well, another. He is doing very well, and says to say hi.

In limited time, some fun events from the past week include having two Chinese investigators at church. Sister Deng {the other Chinese-speaking missionary in the mission} goes home this transfer, and my Chinese has gotten a little rusty, so it's going to be hard, but it's going to be fun. It helps me to remember that although the farther we get in our missions the easier it can be to rely on our own skills and experience, the more important is is every day to rely more and more on the Lord in every situation.

Seeing people asleep on the subway in funny positions is one of life's simple joys.

The service missionaries that visited our ward when I was in Ilsan came again to Sindang yesterday {the ones who showed the bizarre videos about service}. We watched the same videos- a small bear getting mauled by a cougar (which played directly after one of our investigators came in), a five minute video of flying geese with inspirational quotes set to the music of what seems to be Gladiator or something along those lines, and a study about cursing at and complimenting onions. Just as before, there was lots of confusion, and translating the obscure point about baby bears that began the presentation into Chinese was beyond me.

I had the opportunity to meet with a couple of young missionaries this week for the language progress program evaluation, which is always a privilege. They really do so well, sometimes Korean just gets a little bit mixed up. Yesterday's top sentence was: "Everyone looks for trials. Through this message you can make them last."

There was an article in the Liahona {church magazine} this month about some missionaries that sang a hymn with an investigator family, and it was just what they needed. As I was thinking about that, we met an older brother on the street yesterday and invited him to come right then and rest and talk in the church. We went and sat in the chapel, and started off singing the hymn that he opened to after showing interest in the hymnbooks there; "Be Still, My Soul."

Be still, my soul: Thy God doth undertake
To guide the future as he has the past.
Thy hope, thy confidence let nothing shake;
All now mysterious shall be bright at last.
Be still, my soul: The waves and winds still know
His voice who ruled them while he dwelt below.

It was just what he needed, and it showed. It was just what I needed, to, to see once more that God guides this work, and that angels will never stop ministering on this earth as long as there is faith. So keep the faith. My prayers always,

Elder South

Delicious strawberry milk? March 16, 2015

"죄송한데 딸기 우유 맛있어요?"

"Sorry, but is that strawberry milk delicious?" -Elder Perry's opening line as he squeezes in next to someone on a bus this week.

안녕아세요~^^ {annyeong-aseyo = hello}

My hope that all is well. Sorry that spring break is over. 힘쇼 and stick it out until the end {maybe: "show power?"}! We've had a fascinating week as always, with piles of adventures and heaps of gratitude for being here. I wish there were some documentaries on missionary work in Korea- it's just the best life. Anywhere's good, I'm sure, but Korea must be the best.

Some stories from this past week include the temperature dropping last Monday very suddenly very low, with a lot of wind picking up quickly, leaving us kind of unprepared for our block of time on the street. Nonetheless, you gotta push through, and we met one man that we talked with for a while, who then decided he wasn't interested and went on his way. We kept contacting, and on the way home in a different part of our area we felt that we should stop at one building. The guy on the top floor was very unwelcoming, the family on the second floor politely declined learning more, and the door on the first floor opened up to the SAME MAN that we had talked to on the street an hour or so earlier. We weren't able to get in then, but we now know where he lives, and hopefully will be able to drop by later.

{Sam is one of only a couple of missionaries in the whole mission who speaks Chinese, so apparently anytime a missionary meets a Chinese speaker who is willing to talk, they call Sam}  We get calls sometimes from people throughout the mission, hastily explaining that they just met a Chinese person and to set up an appointment or whatever, then proceed to hand the phone over to the grandmother whose door who they had just knocked on, or whoever it is that they had met. I've had some of the most interesting conversations this way and developed the most unlikely friendships. Usually these people end up being Chinese, but sometimes the missionaries are wrong and just everybody is very confused.

A menu from Dos Mas tex-mex grill (from the internet)

I went on exchanges to Dongdaemun this week, which was my first area, and it was great to be back. It's a very fun area, and we had a great time. We got burritos at Dos Mas, the best burrito place that I've found in Korea, and worked hard. An older grandmother who looked familiar approached me on the street and asked an English question. I asked her where she had learned English, and she said that she learned it from Elder Nam {that means Elder South} in Imun. I then remembered where I had met her, in English class a couple times back in Imun, but as much as I tried, I couldn't get across that I was Elder Nam. Anyway, it was a fun experience- every place that I've served in so far has changed me, and it's always fun to remember those times.

Sindang {where he is now} is just an absolute blast to street contact in. We ended up accidentally at City Hall this week as we got sidetracked trying to visit a less active member, and met people from Australia, India, and just about everywhere else. I met a guy from Montpelier, France, working as a photographer in Beijing, so we definitely had things to talk about {I assume since Sam speaks French and Chinese}. We also met a group of three Chinese people, one of whom is a producer of "The Voice of China," a huge tv channel in China, one fluent English speaker who did some of the voiceovers for the "Meet the Mormons" video, and one studying bioengineering at MIT. All super cool, and were so grateful to give them a Book of Mormon and have us send over their information. We ended up somehow later on in a place that was probably 50 percent Chinese people, and it was just so much fun, in spite of everything that I've forgotten.

It was pi day this week- yes, we were doing our daily planning at 3.14.15 9:26:53... yes, we did celebrate. {great for Sam to remember other important things!}

The weather is beautiful today, and it's looking like it will be for this week, at least! What a blessing. We're just having a blast, it's such a fun time.Lots of things to laugh about, from cute kids to ridiculous missionary evasion tactics. I'm just grateful to be here. It's a complicated world, and the Gospel makes things a lot simpler.

"O world of spring and autumn, birth and dying

The endless cycle of idea and action,
Endless invention, endless experiment,
Brings knowledge of motion, but not of stillness;
Knowledge of speech, but not of silence;
Knowledge of words, and ignorance of the Word.
All our knowledge brings us nearer to our ignorance,
All our ignorance brings us nearer to death,
But nearness to death no nearer to God.
Where is the Life we have lost in living?
Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge?
Where is the knowledge we have lost in information?
The cycles of Heaven in twenty centuries
Bring us farther from God and nearer to the Dust."

-T.S. Eliot

"This solution requires you to walk by faith in a world governed by sight. You must see with the eye of faith eternal, unseen, spiritual verities, whereas the masses of mankind depend solely on temporal things, which can be known only through the physical senses." {from a speech by LDS leader James E. Faust}

I love you all and pray for you. Enjoy the onset of spring. All my love from Seoul-

E South

Sam by the Sea--March 9, 2015

안녕하세요 (Hallo),

Dalk Kalbi

It's been a full week! It can be at times a bit stuffed with things to do, and sometimes we just want to forget about any other responsibilities and get out there and work. Well, this week, we went about as far from the office as you can get. We had MLC {Mission Leadership Conference} on Tuesday, with all the preparation and worrying that that entails, and hurried to pack and throw everything that we would need in the car so that we could get out of Seoul as fast as possible. It turned out that the beautiful sunshine of Monday had turned into cold rain in Seoul and heavy snow and fog once we got out of the city, but we made it to Taebaek at about 10pm safely and prepared for the next day. Wow, Taebaek! It was great. Beautiful and clear and very country, although it was windy and 10 degrees below. We saw lots of miracles! We found plenty of people to talk to, set more appointments than we usually do in Seoul, and met some very kind people. People seemed to be less busy, understandably, and we were able to talk with people for much longer than I am used to, so in that regard it was a lot of fun. We met a group of people from China that seemed to be kind of rude as we introduced ourselves in Korean and they just walked by, but as they were farther away we yelled out and asked if they were Chinese and had a great conversation. We also met a visiting family from India, and talked to a fruit seller that gave us each a persimmon. We met a less active member who is definitely a Korean grandfather, but who reads Chinese literature in the library all day every day, and has a very heavy Southern twang... somehow {since Taebaek is in the north.}. We had country-famous Taebaek dalkkalbi and made great friends with the owner. {Dalk Kalbi is spicy grilled chicken with vegetables}

Driving up to Kangneung ended up being a bit of a crazy drive with a lot of big trucks, and we passed many "사고 많은 곳"- places with lots of accidents. {사고 많은 곳 translates with google as "many places to buy." I assume that means markets, and maybe people get in accidents there? not sure what this means.} We stopped a bit past Donghae since my feet were falling asleep, and grabbed some air at what turned out to be a beautiful ocean lookout point. It really was very pretty out there- something just seemed to be different. I don't know if there is just some constant city noise or what, but it just seemed to be quiet and a little bit closer to the source. We found lots of people and lots of fun in Kangneung. We had a good exchange with the missionaries there, and the elders have a huge house out there- since everyone was coming in for the conference 8 slept there our first night there, and 11 comfortably the next. The conference went well- it's a lot easier to work with 40 people than 200 {as at our Seoul conferences} and the missionaries seemed to enjoy it. We watched "Meet the Mormons," which I had never seen before, and I loved it. Very inspirational- it made me want to do big things, break barriers, and help people. It talked about the idea that "God is the author of diversity," which I liked. I had the traditional ddeokguk- the rice cake soup that makes you one year older at the new year.

More than anything else in Kangwon Do, we just found good, hard work, in which there is more satisfaction than in anything you can do as a missionary.

On Saturday we started out in Kangneung, made the 4 and a half hour drive back (long due to the traffic), ate pasta with sweet potatoes, and went to an appointment with Sonideocksu, the digital artist who studied feminism in Germany for 10 years. We went with the sisters to introduce her over to them, and it ended up being a pretty crazy appointment. Her friends that we didn't know took pictures of us meeting that she later sent to us, we discussed the Relief Society for a solid half hour {Relief Society is the LDS women's organization}, and she got up and showed how she used to chase people down that didn't want to talk to her and give them massages so that they would want to talk with her, demonstrating on me- all over chamomile tea. On the way back we met a group of hikers who were Buddhist but liked us, so one of them played "Amazing Grace," "Auld Lang Syne," and the Arirang on his traditional mountain flute. We then talked to a guy for an hour sitting outside a cafe who said that he would believe in God the day after he got a billion dollars about faith and acting, and ended up really far from our home because we stayed to talk with a guy on the bus that went the wrong way at a crossroads. We got home, ate cereal and blueberry muffins, and planned for the next day. We're reading the Book of Mormon every night as a house from 10:15-10:25, and it's been nice to get organized before bed. On Sunday we had more sweet potatoes (Gogooma) at a member's house, and we've been figuring out that they go well with every meal- grilled, fried, or raw.

We're loving life and just trying to squeeze every moment we have out of this experience- it goes by too fast. We're trying to figure out what will happen to the mission in the next few transfers- our complement (maximum number of missionaries) is now about 230, but we'll be at 156 in a few transfers, which means that almost no new missionaries are coming in and a lot of areas need to be consolidated. It's a great time to be a missionary, and all of my love always-

E South

Sunshine and Basil--March 2, 2015

{Sam's English seems to be getting rusty :-} }

Good afternoon! Happy March. It comes quick! Fastly flow the grains of time. The weather is great here today! Snow and cold yesterday and it looks like the same, but today sunshine and soul. We'll miss the cold soon enough, I'm sure.

I've resigned myself to the fact that there will always be too many stories and not enough time to begin to pack a week into an email, but I'll always do my best. We're having a lot of fun. I'm starting I think finally to understand responsibilities and roles a bit more, but there is always so much more to learn, and ways to do things better. What a great group of people to be working with. President and Sister Christensen are fantastic, the missionaries are wonderful, the work is moving along, and things are great! The mission got almost 15,000 contacts this week- working hard!

Seoul Tower, from Google Images

This week was the first of March, which isn't a big deal in the states, but it's Independence Day in Korea celebrating liberation from Japan, so there were huge crowds and tons of security at Gwanghwamun yesterday in spite of the inclement weather. The President made her way there to make a speech, and there was drumming and dancing all day long. It is a lot of fun to be so close to everything- Gwanghwamun is at most 10 minutes away, and we have a great view of Seoul Tower as soon as we step outside.

We're having fun proselyting and teaching- Brother Sin should be baptized this month on the 22nd; please keep him in your prayers! He's quit alcohol completely and is working on smoking. There is definitely a lot to do, but it's so good to be able to get out and just talk with people. It's the best thing.

MLC {mission leadership conference} is tomorrow, and we still need to finish preparing, and after that we'll be going out to Kangwon-Do until Saturday. I'm pretty excited, I've never been out there before! We'll go to Taebaek and then Kangneung, on the East side of the country, about 4 hours away. It looks like it will be pretty cold, but it should be beautiful. We'll do some exchanges and then have the same conference that we had here last week for the missionaries out there. Hopefully no fire alarms this time.

We went again to try taking the driver's test again this week. We got there at 8:23, and there was a spot open, so I ran over to the other building in time for the 8:30 test time. With a 77/100, a solid C+, I didn't nail it, but got over 70, and that's what matters. I tried to strike up a lively conversation to prevent too much focus on the driving, but on the first left turn as we were talking, the instructor said "We can talk, that's fine, but you've got to focus on the test. You're not in neutral." She saw right through me. Every time you stop the car, you need to put it in neutral, and I think I forgot a solid 6ish times, at -3 points a pop. ("'We're stopped, does that mean nothing to you?") I told her I would put a sticker on the dashboard. When I changed lanes, I would look back to check the blind spot, but that's also different here. She was confused, and kept saying to just check the mirrors. Anyway, all's well that ends with a Korean driver's license, and I'm legal here until December 2025.

We made a sample video this week with missionaries showing what they learned from the Book of Mormon, and President showed it at a social media expo that several hundred people showed up to, I guess. There's a lot of great push in Korea right now for missionary work through social media means. We'll finish it up and mail it out- the image of the church in Korea is beyond terrible online, and so we're trying to combat lots of negative image by putting as much positive as we can out there, and the more people that look at it, the higher up we are on the search list.

We ate this week at the Lusvardi family's home- a wonderful, fun family with adorable children. Lots of good things to say about dad, a wonderful reminder that little acts of service can have far reaching consequences. After delicious cookies and salad and tomato-basil pizza, we're certainly grateful!

Yesterday, both a Taiwanese young man and a Mongolian family that said they would be able to make it to church were not able to come, but a group of four soldiers from Utah stopped by, and it was fun to translate. We talked about relying always on God, and I learned how to say "altruistic." Unfortunately, there's a lot of words a lot easier than that that I still don't know.

We met a woman on the street yesterday sorting garbage whose husband is passed away living with 3 young daughters. She just has a hard life and seemed like she needed help. We weren't able to do a ton yesterday, but we look forward to keep meeting with her. There are a lot of hard things in this world, but sure a lot of peace and comfort from knowing that Christ is there for us. It's the best job in the world to be able to talk about that all day, every day.

I love you all and hope that you have a wonderful next week. All my love from Seoul-

Elder South