You Don't Speak Korean. Neither Do I!

Hello everyone! I'm really sad right now because the keyboard I'm using's Korean doesn't work.  So I won't get to type anything in Korean.... But that's ok because most of you don't speak Korean. Neither do I haha!

This week has been super awesome! From our exchange we had three lessons planned throughout the week! 2 of them worked out and the third guy punked us.  On Tuesday we taught this man named Lee Sunghwan.  He called us and cancelled because his friend told him we were a cult.  But then he called back and said we can meet! We taught him the first lesson. It went well and he said he will pray and read the Book of Mormon.  When we followed up he said if he got his answer he would meet us again.  But we called on Saturday and he said he didn't get an answer and didn't really want to meet so Elder Barnett was like ok next time you see missionaries introduce yourself. Probably could have done more but I'm not sure this man was super prepared yet.  

The next meeting was on Wednesday.  It was a High School student named Kim Sungjae.  We had our meeting at the church.  He was super awesome! He just liked what we had to say.  And then halfway through the lesson I realized.  I have to invite this kid to be baptized.  So I did and he accepted a baptismal date for the 19th of March! But here's the catch... He lives in Masan! An hour away in a different area. He came all that way just to meet us.  So our lucky Zone Leaders just got a super awesome new investigator with a baptismal date and they just called, they are scheduled to meet him next Saturday. 

 

I was so close again but a baptism just slipped my fingers.... But I know that there is someone in Miryang that I need to find.  Someone just like Kim Sungjae here that I can teach and baptize! And I'll find him through my hard work and faith.  

One thing I'd like to share is to always smile and be happy! I can't tell these people that I've become happy because of Christ if I'm not looking happy.  The only people that talked past the point of we are missionaries serving here are the ones that I smiled and was happy. As we are being examples of our religion and showing people that light of Christ we will be able to touch other people for good and can work great miracles! 

I'm so excited to get back to work for another week of straight street contacting to find new people to teach! 

Have a great week everyone! I pray that the Lord will bless all of you in whatever you are going through! He loves you all!

From A Letter to His Dad:

What.  I might bear my testimony on that in sacrament meeting next week.... That is insane!! (REGARDING THE BYU VICTORY OVER GONZAGA)  I'm sorry about your infection, that's never fun. 

I have some super exciting news.  I ate Lasagna at my branch presidents house!! His wife had us over for dinner on Sunday and they fed us Lasagna!!! It wasn't the same as moms but it wasn't bad! (BRAD'S FAVORITE FOOD)

I don't know if I've told you this yet but I have the same calling in my branch as you do in O5 ward! I'm in the young men's presidency! I teach usually every other week! I now understand how young men's teachers feel when teaching young men that won't pay attention... But they're great! We only have three young men and our only priest is moving to Gimhae in 2 or 3 weeks.

I love ya appa! Have a good week! 

Elder Geddes

New Transfer!!

Hello everyone! Today is the start of my 4th transfer in Korea! I'm so excited for this transfer because I've been told around this time you
might start understanding what people say! Me and Elder Barnett are going to be staying together in Miryang! Which is crazy! It's his first time being in an area for a third transfer, and I'm the only person besides his trainer that he's had as a companion for a second transfer! That must mean that this transfers gunna be a special one!

So this week we got to meet with our investigator Koo Minjoon! We played badminton with him and one of the ward members.  We've been trying to build a relationship with him so that we can start figuring out his needs and where he's at and how we can help him progress towards baptism.  He said that he likes coming to church because there's good jeong or a good feel.  So that's good.  We'll build on that to help him realize the Holy Ghost and find out that the church is true for himself.

This week I went on exchanges with the assistant to the district leader (our district leaders companion) Elder Haskell, he came to Korea same time as me. He came to Miryang for it.  We spent all day our street jundoing! We were able to get 15 people's contacts.  Which was a new record in one day for both of us and from that we had 3 appointments scheduled for this week! It should be fun, finally getting to teach some people!

This week I've been trying to write lesson outlines for the Restoration lessons, and we've been practice teaching it because we are meeting with people this week and will have to use it.  And as we were practicing I started telling the Joseph Smith story, it was my first time doing it in Korean, which is sad cuz I've been here awhile.  But as I was doing that I really felt the spirit witness to me that what I was saying is true.  Especially when I recited Joseph's First Vision. Even though it wasn't a real lesson it was a powerful experience for me to testify (to my Snorlax doll) of the Prophet Joseph Smith and the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  And I know that what I said was true.  Joseph Smith saw God, and he restored this church through revelation from God.  I know that the LDS Church is God's true Church on the earth and I'm so grateful that I can share this message every day.

Have a good week everyone! Remember to always be an example of the believers, in word, in deed, in thought.  (1 Timothy 4:12) Remember who you are! 

Us and my favorite branch member Jang Younggi

Us with some of our branch members

 A cool palace we see everyday (Yeongnamru)

A bridge we like to jundo on everyday

Us being weird in the house

HERE'S ANOTHER WEEKLY EMAIL

Hey everyone! I decided to give up on naming these emails. This week was super great! We're finally starting to see the fruits of our labors! We have had a bunch of people that we would schedule appointments with but because of school we got punked.  Over all this transfer we have met and had one meeting out of the eight meetings with potential investigators that we have had. To give you an idea of how sad this was, it was almost as bad as my buddy Elder Hawkins 3-point shooting percentage back in America lol I hope he reads this ;)

But this week we picked up a new investigator and have four people that we're are really hopeful will decide to meet again! The new investigator is Kim Jungbek.  We think that he is homeless.  We met him when he was digging through the trash to find a cigarette.  It's super sad.  But he is a nice guy.  He accepted a Book of Mormon and a return appointment but he punked us the first time.  Then we saw him that night on the street and he said it's hard because he lives on the opposite end of Miryang, so we set up an appointment in between his home and the church.  He said he's been reading the Book of Mormon.  We taught him the Plan of Salvation and invited him to pray an read the pamphlet we gave him because our Korean is bad so he'll understand better.  And when we saw him the next day he said that he did and he understands!

Also we actually picked up two new investigators but one is 15 and when he asked his parents if he could keep meeting with the missionaries she yelled at him and said no.  And since we can't teach him without permission from his parents we had to drop him.  But he was super good! He kept our commitment to read from 3 Nephi 11 and pray! I'm super sad.  Pray that he will have another opportunity later on. Freaking Buddhist mothers am I right?

On Saturday there was a Changwon stake road show.  Our branch put on a play and insisted that we be the main characters. So me and Elder Barnett ended up getting permission from President Barrow to go, even though we thought it was a waste of time because we had no investigators going.  And we showed up to practice one last time before traveling there and performing.  When we got to the church we found a member there with one of his friends! And what makes it even better is that the man holding the apartment number sign in the play didn't show up so this man got a part in the play!  He is a super nice guy, he can't read tho, and he's a little slow.  But he showed up to church the next day and the Branch President commited him to live the word of wisdom and prepare for baptism! So this week we will begin teaching him! I'm so excited to finally get to teach.

The Lord really does bless us as we are working hard to do all that we can.  I know that. 

Also in my personal studies this week I was preparing for a sacrament meeting talk on Elder Renlund's talk from general conference called Repentance: a joyful choice.  And it made me think of Alma 36 where Alma says that he was redeemed from the bitterness of hell even though he was the vilest of sinners.  I invite all of you to read that talk and to study Alma 36.  Repentance really is a happy choice.  Knowing that everyday I can become better and be forgiven of my mistakes and have my infirmities strengthened is a real comfort to me.  I know this church is true and that through it we can become better than we were.  I love this opportunity to serve with all my heart for 2 years and all of the blessings that it's bringing in my life.  

I hope that your week becomes! Love you all!

Answers to our questions:

It's not warming up but I can deal with the cold.  One night this week I wore two pairs of tights.  Both my sweaters, and my jacket and rainfly thing.  It was still cold until I got to work.  

I give a talk every once in a while.  Me and Elder Barnett are like youngmen advisers but the young mens president is hit and miss so we teach young mens.

The hot dogs with the cheese? They're incredible.  One of the best things I've ever eaten.

I walk. Everywhere.  Unless it's outside of Miryang.  Then I take the bus that goes between any city in Korea. The bus system iin Korea is great but we don't ride the city bus here cuz it's not worth the money.

I think women work, but since I don't talk to them I'm not sure. I heard grandparents raise the kids a lot.

The kids don't do afterschool things.  Except for going to their academy where they learn English or math.  They are in school from 8am-midnight.

A NEW SKILL....WE ARE SO PROUD.....

RICE BURGER - rice filled with tuna, kimchi and mayonnaise.  He says it's great!

Mission Tour and Lots of Miracles!

Sorry the Korean keyboard function isn't working now so I'll just say hello in English. Hello! This week was great! We've been working super hard all transfer to find people and have been having little success.  Until this week! Things are looking up in Miryang for me and Elder Barnett!

A typical day looks like this.  Wake up. Prepare. Street jundo till 9. Study. Eat. Street Jundo/companion/language study from 10:30-6. Then Street Jundo till 9. Then go home. So ya, we usually have one lesson with Yoo Ir in prison that lasts fifteen minutes once a week, and that's the only investigator we meet. But... Next week we have three appointments scheduled to teach new people and more people that seem interested that we are following up with!

This week we had Mission tour with Elder Choi of the Quorum of the 70.  He is super awesome! He served as a mission president in Seattle! It rains everyday there so he would tell the missionaries to look up, and drink some of the rain and it will align you with Gods will and motivate you, and that was a requirement that he gave his missionaries.  He said that we need to make sure we are aligned with Gods will. Not just as missionaries, but when we return home as well.  He also said that he made missionaries sing all the time and ponder the words of the hymns.  So this week I really focused on one of my favorite hymns. I Stand all Amazed.  It is amazing how much the Savior loves us.  He loves us so much that he suffered and died for us.  Never forget that.  My comitment for you is to read the words of that song.  Don't just skim through.  Really ponder the meaning and think of Christ and I promise you that you will feel his love! 

Now for the miracles! After mission tour we had a meeting with a member who is kind of an interesting dude, he's super quiet.  But anyways, he punked us.  And we thought: crap, there's no people on this end of Miryang, this just killed our plans.  But we started jundoing and I talked to this haraboji (grandpa) and he stole my Plan of Salvation pamph. And told us he has interest in our church and we can meet him and tell him more! And if we hadn't been punked by the member we wouldn't have met this guy! The Lord really does have a plan.  Nothing is a coincidence.  That's why we must align with his will, for stuff like this to happen and for other miracles to occur in our everyday lives.

The next day we met a high school student.  He remembered meeting missionaries 2 month ago and told us we have his number but never called him.  And we did have it! Anyways, it turns out that his harmoni (grandma) is a member and she lives in Seoul.  He also said anytime we are in Susan (which is like twice a week!) we can text him and teach him more.  The really neat thing was that he told us he's kind of like afraid of changing.  But after we bore sincere testimony of the Book of Mormon and the church he accepted the invitation to read the Book, which he said he had but later texted and said his brother threw it away so he wants a new one! He was super awesome! He also spoke almost perfect english so that was nice.

And then lastly our Investigator Koo Minjoon came to church this week! It was my first time seeing him! He said he's free in the mornings from 7-10 and guess what. Because of our schedule so are we!!! So we will meet him this week! Also a random guy that the sisters met showed up at church.  He seems to like me.  He's a little weird but he's super funny and nice.  He is coming to family home evening and the Stake Road Show next week! 

So many good things are happening.  And I know it's because we are doing what the Lord wants and working hard! If we follow him we will be blessed, I know that without a doubt.  

Have a good week everyone. I love ya all! But more importantly the Lord loves you!

Cheddar Filled, Sugar Coated Corn Dog

High Tech, Multi Function Toilet

Buddhist Monk Training College

Typical Entrance to a Confucian school

세해 복 받으세요!

Happy New Years everyone! This Week was 설날 in Korea, it's a big new year celebration! They all go to different cities and spend time with their families and eat 떡국 (rice cake soup). So because of this there were a bunch of families out, and also a lot of people not from Miryang.  So it was a little different trying to jundo than it usually is.  We did lots of stickerboard jundo with the sisters to try to have good conversations about the Plan of Salvation with families, but it seemed like all the people who accepted us and seemed interested were from out of town.... But it was still a fun experience and we were able to teach people that they can live with their families forever!

This week we had the special missionary worldwide broadcast!  So we all gathered at the church in Masan. And watched it.  They talked a lot about our purpose as missionaries and how to fulfill our purpose.  I really liked the emphasis on repentance, I can do better at teaching repentance and "declaring nothing save repentance unto this people."  Also along with the broadcast came a change to our missionary schedule! It's designed to give more agency to missionaries so that we can learn how to more righteously use our agency. 

That being said the Korea Busan Mission Schedule looks like this:

6-6:30 Wake up, Pray

6:30-7:30 Exercise, Eat, Prepare for day.

7:30-9 Proselyte

9-9:30 Plan for the day

9:30-10:30 Personal Study

10:30-6 Proselyte, 30min companion study(60min if you have a lesson that day), 1hour Language study, 30min lunch, 60 min dinner.

6-9 Proselyte

9 return home

9-10:30 Call people, write in journal, prep for bed, go to bed at the same time as your comp.

It's super exciting! We get to choose at what time we do our companion and language study, and get the extra 1.5 hour in the morning to talk to people before they go to work or school! I'm excited to see the blessings that can come as we follow the schedule and use our agency.

The man we were so hopeful about the we met in Soosan on Wednesday actually ended up dropping us right there... So we had a lot of extra proselyting time in Soosan! Around 3 hours! We ended up meeting this student who said we can meet again and talk, so tomorrow we are heading back there to meet him! We're pumped! 

Last night we had a really neat experience.  We had dinner with our Branch President and his family.  They are super awesome.  He's so funny. He kept showing me how to eat the food, like I didn't know how to eat Korean style already, haha but it was soooo good! Then after that we had 3 hours to jundo since we don't have a lot of people to teach right now. So we jundo'd for about 2.5 hours and then decided to head home and talk to everyone we see.  But in Miryang there's no people after 8 so we didn't see anyone.  We ended up getting to our neighborhood 20 minutes early.  So we decided to burn time by walking down this street that there's never any people on.  And on that street there was one man, and we said hi and talked but he didn't seem interested.  So we gave him our card and said call us later, and he looked at the card and said, I use to go to this church 20 years ago! Let me give you my number and I'll come to church! It was a miracle that we saw this guy! We walked down a street that really is a dumb street to walk down.  And God placed this man in our path that seems prepared to learn the gospel! After all the hard work we have been doing trying to invite people to come unto Christ and not having much success it's a real blessing that we finally were able to see a miracle like this!  I know that God loves us, and he knows who is prepared to recieve the gospel.  He will lead us to them if we are being obedient and working our hardest.  

Well that was a long one.  Thanks for getting to this point in my letter.  I love you all! Have a happy New Year and remember the Lord loves you and will bless you if you ask! "his arm is extended still" -Isaiah, and Nephi

Korean Big Mac

McDelivery Bike

Colton's Dream Car

Service at the horse corral

Traditional New Year's Rice Cake Soup