January 16, 2017

So, my week!

Monday I rode the subway here to Sangin! We rode a subway for a bit, then a train, then a subway again! My first impression of the new area:  HUGE! Daegu is a huge city, my area is a part of it.  Anyway, our house is like a two minute walk from the subway terminal, and the church is literally next to our house, which is super nice! Way useful. My new companion is Elder M from Boise, Idaho.  He is the oldest in his family, and just a great person. So patient, encouraging, positive, and hardworking. Something funny about Elder M--he has created a bit of a tradition with me and his last companion, haha. When I use the bathroom, he stands outside the door and starts singing some sort of Disney song in a jazzy voice, vibrato and all, haha!  One of these days I am going to set up a camera to get it... ;)

Here is my new companion, Elder M

Anyway, in Korea they have family night at the church almost every week on Mondays, so we went to family night. During family night, a call came from an unknown number.  I didn't know if I should take it, cause we were in the middle of something, but I decided to in case somebody was calling us back with interest or something.  The guy calling had seen our church (the church here is so BIG and BEAUTIFUL! But I wouldn't say great or spacious...;) ) and had never attended church before, but wanted to try it.  He saw the phone number inside the door and called, and he was actually standing outside of the church! So we welcomed him, gave him a quick tour, and he joined us for the rest of family night. We asked him if we could meet again to explain more about church before Sunday, and we ended up meeting Saturday night. We taught him about God, Jesus Christ, baptism, and then invited him to be baptized. He agreed, and then the topic got changed. I had a bit of a feeling that I should give him a baptismal date invitation, but the subject had changed.  A few minutes later, the feeling came back again, so I decided to act on it and invited him to be baptized February 4th so he could be confirmed the next day. He agreed!  Super awesome guy. He came like 20 minutes early to church, and sacrament went pretty well. There was a little weird stuff from one member in Sunday School, but the highlight was Elder's Quorum--there are a bunch of young mission/post mission age young men in the Elder's Quorum. There were like 6 of us in there, and they all were super good to encourage him, be his friend, and explain about the church more! They were awesome--this 20-year-old kid was like, "Yeah, and even though you can't always understand the scriptures, the thought isn't the important part--the feeling is important." And things like that. Anyway, the investigator is coming to family night again tonight, so we are excited.

Here I am with a bunch of Allie's MTC friends--I saw them all on transfer day!

Well I love this new area and I'm so excited to serve with the great people here! A couple other tender mercies that God showed through the same great man, a member of our mission presidency.  On Sunday, one of the brethren in the ward guided this little boy to me and told me to take care of him and guide him through church meetings. I sat with him and talked with him. I had no idea who he was, but he went off with the deacons for priesthood. After church, I saw him sitting and eating alone, so I walked over to him and we talked a bit.I got his number, and we are going to probably play ping pong or something together. Later I found out that he was the son of a less active we had visited last week! The guy was super friendly, apparently his kids had attended church a long time ago, but we told him that we'd love to teach them English or something, then this week their little son came to church all by himself! I was so grateful that the ward brother asked me to take care of him.

Then we visited the same ward brother today at his doctor's office! He is super cool. He speaks English pretty well, so he told us some different words in English and Korean--one being "test," as in a functionality test. That was a few hours ago. Well just now somebody called the church phone, and I answered and I wasn't sure exactly what the guy was talking about, but then he used the word we had just learned, and it all clicked!  Haha, blessings and a tender mercy!

Look closely--I am eating octopus!

Well, I love you all so much. Remember that God expects us to use our agency to follow Him, but He doesn't make us do it without help. He guides us and encourages us along the way. In fact, He carries us--we don't realize nealy His great influence in our lives. He wants us to turn to Him and remember His son--the sacrifice He performed for all of us that enables us to return to Him again. He knows us. He knows our strengths, and he puts us in situations where we can develop them and serve others. He knows our weaknesses, and puts us in situations where we can recognize them and overcome them through His Son. I am grateful for a God who knows me--He knows exactly how I will act, and He knows what I need to have in my life to help me to turn to him, to trust him, and love Him. He knows!

Believe in God; believe that he is, and that he created all things, both in heaven and in earth; believe that he has all wisdom, and all power, both in heaven and in earth; believe that man doth not comprehend all the things which the Lord can comprehend.  (Mosiah 4:9)

I hope and pray that we remember that, and rely on Him who knows all things.

Love,

Elder Beckett