Good afternoon to all~<3
We've had a blast this week. I'll talk a little bit about the logistics of how things worked. President mentioned in a talk a while back that when he was a missionary they had had a 100-hour week of proselyting, and that idea stuck with me until our focus this month on discipleship in our mission. As we talked with President, he didn't want us to give out any commitments about this, but said that we could do to same thing, and if others wanted to do so, they could this week as well. We got up every day at 5:30, and were out by 6:30, skipping studies, and meals, and email, and everything. We were back by 9:30 at night, but if we had a lesson, we could be out until 10. It was a blast, and the mission just exploded. We had more new investigators, lessons, and other numbers in our mission than I ever thought were possible, and as a mission had twice our average number of contacts. Elder Perry and I were on exchanges twice this week, and it was fun to get around and see everyone working so hard. In our companionship we talked with 1350 people, had almost twice as many lessons as we've ever had, and just saw incredible, incredible miracles every day. As we've talked with people as the week has come to a close, a lot of companionships are saying that now every other week will be pale in comparison, because we won't have as much time to be out there where we're most comfortable, on the streets, sharing what means the most to us. For meals we went into convenience stores and found people who were eating and sat with them, or just asked people if they would eat with us. We had people buy us slushies, soda, and meals, as well as people try to pretend we're not there, try to get us sick, several people pretend to not speak any Korean or English because they could only speak Chinese (got 'em), had some older men reject the message but then soften their hearts as we shared Alma 7 and had their story of their family members dying come out ("나에게 딱 맞는 거예요") {"It's perfect for me"}, had a scooter bike coming at us at full speed stop us to shake our hand and talk, and just have stories for days. We met some of the most interesting people I ever have, and just experienced it all.
This week was difficult. Not in ways that I thought it would be. The days went quickly, and we were not over exhausted physically. In fact, I have never felt less hungry, less tired, and more driven, for which I am grateful, but psychologically and emotionally I met a lot of people this week that just seemed to hone in on my weak points and pound. I'm grateful for that. I feel that for maybe the first time on my mission I really felt Godly sorrow for others' choices, and particularly sadness for the misunderstanding and misinformation that leads people away from us before they will open their heart. I want, like Alma, to "go forth and speak with the trump of God, with a voice to shake the earth..."
But "I know that good and evil have come before all men; he that knoweth not good from evil is blameless; but he that knoweth good and evil, to him it is given according to his desires, whether he desireth good or evil, life or death, joy or remorse of conscience.
Now, seeing that I know these things, why should I desire more than to perform the work to which I have been called?
Why should I desire that I were an angel, that I could speak unto all the ends of the earth?
For behold, the Lord doth grant unto all nations, of their own nation and tongue, to teach his word, yea, in wisdom, all that he seeth fit that they should have; therefore we see that the Lord doth counsel in wisdom, according to that which is just and true."
We know that we do not have all of the skills or knowledge that we need, but we do have the desire to improve and serve with everything that we have. I have realized this week that there is just too much to do in missionary work, and in life, and sometimes, we're just not going to have enough Korean, or eloquence, or whatever, and we come up short. Sometimes people walk away because of that, or won't meet us again, but I have felt that when we truly do everything we can, in humility and obedience trying to do the will of the Lord, we don't have to be perfect, we just need to bear our testimony and give people as much of a choice as they let us give. Perfectionism is a battle with which I have struggled with my whole life, but I feel like I am starting to be able to better prioritize and put my strength where it needs to be. Ether 12 gave me great strength this week as it seemed to answer exactly my questions about imperfect faith, weaknesses, and the importance of doing your best even when others don't accept those efforts.
I'm grateful this week for the opportunity to try to act a little bit more like Jesus with everybody that we met. I've never faced as much rejection and negativity, but it doesn't seem like anything when we look at the huge, huge miracles that we saw in abundance every day, from referrals to people coming and chasing us down after brushing by us before, to chains of people prepared and not that lead us when we talk with everyone to the one who needs us. We met people from dozens of countries and who spoke many languages. There were a couple times that we had serious language barriers It was an incredible week, and one that I will always remember. I'm not sure why, but this week really changed who I am as a missionary, and I think that I will always be a better missionary more able to work hard and testify for the rest of my mission experience. After a long lesson on the street outside the church yesterday, I just looked down the street at Sindang dong, with lots of people, lots of cars, lots of lights, and realized that there we were, just sharing the most important message in the world.
I had two main prayers this week; to always have the strength to open my mouth, and to know what to say when I did, and those prayers were answered as I felt more strength than my own with us this week. I was grateful that we were still able to maintain about a 4.5:1 contact to phone number ratio, and a 20ish:1 contact to return appointment ratio, so I hope that we and the whole mission will have lots of people to meet with in the upcoming weeks and that we will be able to continue to see miracles from this time. We tried lots of different things this week, and some worked, and some didn't, from a different kind of subway proselyting to setting up a table outside a nearby high school. We just had a blast, and only spent about 3 hours in the office all week, which was awe-some. This week is what missionary work should be, what I imagined it would be. This upcoming week will be busy in a different way as we catch up with what needs to be done, plan transfers, and have four conferences, but it will be difficult and rewarding in its own way, I hope. As I sit here writing missionaries are sending in pictures for making a slide show/movie this week, and one elder has sent in about 40 pictures, but one sister has him beat with 30 emails coming to almost 200 pictures ㅎ ㅎ We're not including them all.
Some selected quotes:
"That's your last name, really? I'm sorry, man."
"Don't try to convert me, I'm been Calvinist for 6 generations."
"Surfing seriously harms you and others around you."
"His phone ring in class, teacher say [hand motion], he back phone one month later."
"How long does it take to get to Guro?" "Uh, 33 years."
"I'm in conversation with friend, so I will finish conversation with you."
And, from a t-shirt, and my closing thought for this week,
"I AM SMILE TO BE WHO I AM."
All of my love, and always grateful for you,
Elder South
Thank you much to the Wengels for lots of love and a wonderful card from Grandma South, which means a lot. That is very thoughtful. Also a big thanks to the Catmulls and my family for a wonderful package which got here later in the week and was a great boost to us- I haven't even thought of macadamia nuts in two years
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