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!