February 5, 2017

There was a Korean holiday a few weeks ago that is pretty big that celebrates the Lunar New Year, called Solar. Anyway, one of our English students invited us to eat with his family, which would be like inviting someone to Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner! It was awesome!

This is Elder S from Burley, Idaho! He knows the Popes and Kaycee! It is his first transfer, and I saw him at Mission Tour, where a member of the Seventy came and spoke to us.

P-day hiking

My week:

Last Monday: We went hiking with our investigator and ward mission leader. We also had family night, which was super good, but we didn't have very many people because of the Lunar New Year.

My companion and I on a hike!

Tuesday:  We did the service project with the horses. We have found an awesome new investigator through it who serves a lot. We plan to meet him for lunch tomorrow! We also did jundo--street proselyting. That is the most common way to proselyte in Korea. Just stopping people on the street, talking with them, and inviting them to learn more! Kind of a crazy experience; we do it every day!

This is at our weekly service project. We go to a place where disabled children ride horses, and we walk next to them and lead the horses and keep them safe.

Wednesday:  We visited the Bishop at his restaurant, riding a city bus there and then talking about the ward and investigators. We also met with the investigator, Brother J.  Here is what I wrote about him to my mission president:  "Our investigator is doing great. He is reading the scriptures almost daily, praying, attending church. He is struggling right now with the word of wisdom, but we talked about faith, repentance, and the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and talked about hope through the Gospel. He is so great! His baptismal date is set for the 18th, so we prayed and fasted for him. We still have more lessons to teach, so I pray that things will go smoothly. He is such a good guy, very reliable. He came to our young single adult meeting, and there were some great things shared there. We will continue to contact him frequently, encourage and teach him."

Thursday:  We had Mission Tour, where Elder Choi Yoon Hwan came with his wife and spoke. They were super funny and nice! I learned a lot about how to be a better missionary--I want to be more faithful, hoping for miracles. They talked about singing while we work, and being joyful, which I really want to work on! They also talked about Preach My Gospel (PMG) being Perfect Marriage Guidance (PMG), haha! Starting after your mission with Chapter 9--Finding.  I then went on exchange with a Korean my age, who has been out a year and a half, that Allie knew in the MTC! He is an AWESOME missionary, and I learned a lot from him about being bold and confident when teaching.

Friday: We did planning and visited Brother P, a less active member. Such a good kind man! It turned out that he also loved swimming, so we talked a lot about swimming!

Saturday was English class, which is always fun. English class is good, but we prefer 30 30 because then they get more gospel learning, as well as more bold invitations--there is this one great, positive English student who I think would love the gospel, but I invited him to do 30 30 a few weeks ago and he pretty much said that he would call if he wanted to. Anyway, Saturday before English class we shared a message about prophets, and gave them a pass along card with a link to church websites, inviting them to learn about the living prophet. After English class was over, the man called and said he wants to start 30 30! So he is going to be an awesome new investigator.

Finally yesterday we went to normal Sacrament Meeting as well as a special young single adult meeting. We went with our investigator who is planning to be baptized in two weeks, so that was good for him to hear other young people's testimonies! Especially someone talked about how they were a recent convert--they talked about keeping commandments, including the word of wisdom--just what our investigator needed to hear.

Anyway, I love you all so much! I hope you are doing well. I pray for you and love you. I am so grateful to live with you all for eternity--that is the great gift of this Gospel and the reason I am here doing missionary work--to help others find that great joy.

Have a great week! Love you, bye!