BAPTISM IN GWANG JU

Hey Mother and Family!

 

Hey! Sounds like everyone is doing well. Happy Thanksgiving! Someone in our ward bought us a Turkey, so we will have our own little Thanksgiving in Korea! I'm glad that article helped with your talk, and I am sure that you and dad's talks were great! Haha, driving on ponds sounds like quite the fun. I guess there are some positives to having really really cold weather. Here it is not really cold by degree temperature (maybe 30s-40s) however it feels so cold. We can't decide if we are just wimps or if it was because of the really hot summer that we just had...well either way winter is on its way and we are excited to do the Lord's work!

 

This week was so wonderful!

On Saturday we had the baptismal service and it was so amazing! Their Seoul-serving missionary daughter came back and their entire family was there. Although their son is not a member, the entire family was so HAPPY. It was so amazing. The father was really worried about giving a testimony because he wasn't confident in himself and so he often made sure that there would be no testimony. We told him there wouldn't be. Well, the ward doesn't have the people give their testimonies, but they do have them give a little introduction of who they are. It was amazing, because when he did, he bore his testimony! It was so wonderful. They had the missionary daughter bear her testimony, and then one of their fellowshippers bear his testimony. It was so wonderful! At the baptsimal service we got the son's phone number and are excited to work with him as he realizes the change that has happened in his family. We also received a member referral right after the baptism for someone who wants to go to church! It was a wonderful day!

They were confirmed yesterday and received the Gift of the Holy Ghost and he was sustained to receive the Aaronic Priesthood. The family was so happy, and I was so excited to be able to be a part of it!

 

We had tons of meetings with new investigators this week. We have SO many that have a lot of potential, I am so excited to continue teaching them. One particular miracle that we saw this week:

      Last transfer Elder Evans and I went out (when it was thunderstorming that one day) and we looked for a potential investigator's home. Well, we couldn't find it, but we were able to call the investigator. The investigator requested that we let him talk to a Korean so we went to a nearby restaurant and had the owner talk to him. Then the owner, during business hours, took time to drive us to where we needed to go. To say thank you, Elder Evans and I returned the next day and ate at their restaurant. They had a church they attended and didn't seem too interested so we left it at that. This past week Elder Tolman and I returned. We ate with them and talked about them for awhile. When we shared a message about God they loved it. We gave them a Book of Mormon and he seemed really sincere when he said that he would read it. He took out a highlighter and highlighted the passages that we told him to read. We also told him that the center of our church was the family. When he heard that (his wife had gotten up and gone to the register) he looked up and said along the lines of "Honey, their church is centered on families" almost as if there was a possibility to join. I am so excited for them! They have a family with three children (two sons and one daughter). We are excited to continue to keep contact and hopefully to help them come into the church as a family!

 

We also called and met with an investigator that we met on the street at the end fo October who decided that he wanted to start attending church again. He is amazing. We met with him three times before church (which he missed because of word of wisdom...) and he is so ready to join a church. As we teach him and help understand more of what he is really becoming a part of, he will find the strength to follow Christ and change to become who he really wants to be!

 

Jake is wonderful. We met him on Tuesday with a member and we again tried to help him realize the importance of the Book of Mormon and of prayer. I am so excited to help him understand the Plan of Salvation and how he can choose to return to his Heavenly Father if he chooses to. We are trying to meet him twice a week which has been difficult, but this week hopefully that hope will become a reality!

 

The intellectual investigator did not meet with us last week but will this week. We are excited to help him see the light of the Gospel and how he can apply it in his life.

 

Recently we have also met a lot of people for the first time and talked about what the Gospel can bring them. We received another member referral from one of the young men at church who brought his friend. The young mens leader told us that he seems to be really receptive to the truth. We are excited to meet with him and to teach him more. We also met with an older lady who is having a pretty rough life. She is pretty destitute as far as things of the world, but we will hopefully be able to show both her and her husband that there is something of far far greater value than any material thing that you can possess and help them to come unto Christ and enjoy the blessings of the Gospel! And then we had one more appointment with an investigator yesterday who is wonderful. He has attended lots of churches over the years and so he really just needs to realize that this is the one. He felt the spirit strongly as we met and left absolutely beaming at the end of the lesson. Yep, lots of wonderful potential to help the daughters and sons to come to Christ and receive the gospel and the blessings therein!

 

This week went very well! Korea is well our area is great, and time is not real. I can't believe that transfer calls are next week?! I feel like time has passed way too fast, but at the same time, I have not been happier!

I love you all so much!

 

This week's thought is about patience and persistence. One could really define persistence as the quality of our patience. At the base of our patience is the strength of our desires and our faith/hopes. The more desire and the more faith and hope we have, the greater capacity we have for patience and the greater capacity we have for patience the greater quality of patience we can exercise, or we can exercise greater persistence. I had a good recent experience with both. A few weeks ago, our investigators decided that they didn't want to meet with us. We had worked sooo hard and talked to everyone and tried to get appointments, but nothing was happening. It was a little frustrating at first, and then I remember distinctly praying not for success, but for patience, for assurance. Elder Bednar's recent talk came to mind that the blessings of the Lord are often subtle, but significant. Such is the gift of patience and persistence. I felt a definite difference after I prayed and relied on the Lord. I just kept the hope up that every time I talked to someone, that one person could be one that could return to Heavenly Father. Although I wasn't blessed with immediate results or miracles, I was blessed with the capacity to endure well until the results of our labor produced their fruits. Always remember Who is at the head of all things and His attributes and His power.

 

I love you all and am so thankful for the updates! You are so wonderful! I hope you have a Happy Thanksgiving!!!!

Missionaries in Gwang Ju Fall 2013

Teaching Fall 2013

Hiking Near Gwang Ju Fall 2013

UPCOMING BAPTISM!

Hello Mother and family!

First of all, HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOTHER! I am sooo sorry about last week. {Mom's note:  The week of November 17th, Elder Strahl attempted to send a bunch of pictures home from Korea and crashed his e-mail because he tried to send too many at once!  So there was no letter that week...} I didn't realize what would happen and then it did, and I didn't get a chance to wish you a happy birthday, I'm so sorry. It looks like you had a lot of fun at Famous Dave's. (I have to tell you something though. I like Korean food better than American food now. I guess it was inevitable. We went to this food court on the 9th floor of the building across from the church which was a world food court (so it had all the different types of food from all around the world) and...I ended up with Korean food.) I am so glad that you went out and had a wonderful time for your birthday. I hope that it was really good and that you enjoyed it a lot. I hope you have a wonderful year!

 

So first, I need to update on last week (again I am so sorry that I was unable to send an email). Last week went well. We continued to meet with Jake (the member referral) and I had tacos for the first time in 5 months (we ate with the family that grew up in America). We met with one new investigator who did not understand our purpose and is not an investigator any more and we worked with the restaurant owners to help prepare them for baptism. I hope there won't be any gaps, tell me if there is.

First, the less good news. Samuel has pretty much stopped his communication with us all together. We still try, but I think he is really busy. There is still hope though, that he will come back. He felt the spirit strong and so there will always be that tie back to the church. Also, this week our investigators decided that they were a little to busy to meet with us. So, we had few investigator appointments, but they were good.

Ok, on to the great news. The restaurant owners had their baptismal interview on Sunday and are planning to be baptized on Saturday!!! They are so wonderful. During our lesson my companion explained to him that he had to stop smoking and drinking for the week in order to be baptized. Then he looked at him directly and said "No, forever." Oh, I cannot tell you the joy in my heart at that moment and also at the beginning when we first followed up. He looked at us with a smile in his eyes and told us that he had thrown away all of his cigarettes. I am so excited for them! They are a wondeful couple and are going to be such wonderful members. I am excited to see them go to the temple, especially with their missionary daughter (who got permission to come back for their baptism!). I am so so so excited!!!

Also, we met with the intellectual investigator and found some of his deeper needs. We are excited to approach those needs in a way that will hopefully help him understand the Atonement of Jesus Christ more in conjunction with agency and accountability. We are excited to help him.

With Jake this week, he said that he was too busy to meet, however he playfully sent us a text one morning saying that he got up, couldn't come to the soccer activity, but that "he had better read the Book of Mormon". I love him. I can see him serving a mission. We hope he has more time to study with us this week so that we can get him on the path to baptism; on the path to peace in this life and eternal happiness in the next!

I had the opportunity last week of giving my very first Priesthood blessing (in English). One of the recently returned missionaries in our ward is really struggling. He had a mighty change of heart on his mission, but never developed patterns of righteous habits in a life setting, such as reading and praying, etc. He asked for a blessing, and I was privileged to give it. The only thing that I can say is that God knows us, personally, individually, and that He is anxious to help us if we will let Him. The blessing was a really cool experience as well because one of our investigators was there to see it. The Spirit was there and he felt it. A wonderful experience.

To answer your questions, yes a soft baptismal commitment is asking the investigator that when they know these things are true will they be baptized. It is soft because there is no date.

Well, things this week were really great. It is pretty cold here (not temperature wise but feeling wise). It isn't below 32 degrees, but it feels soooo cold (humidity?). Anyways, it's great!

I had one really cool experience that I want to share, specifically to you and the family. This Saturday and Sunday we had Stake Conference. Surprisingly the First Presidency and the Quorum of the 12 decided to do Stake Conference (Sunday session) for Korea. However, the wonderful experience happened on Saturday. The Stake Choir sat not in the front on the stand, but on benches that had been placed sideways in the chapel. The song right before Stake President spoke was I believe in Christ. It was absolutely amazing. Then, the Stake President got up and he expressed his impressions to share a scripture about Christ and then tied that into missionary work. When the meeting ended I stood up and looked around. In that room were all the members from all of Gwangju. There were over 40 missionaries in the room. I looked around and saw all of the members that I loved and all the missionaries that I have come to love and I felt as if I was in the Celestial Kingdom. I loved everyone there and the room was just radiating with the Spirit. I cannot explain the feelings that I received as I looked at all those people who I loved so much. When I reflected on this experience later that night, it hit me who was missing: The people that I am teaching, the people that I will teach. I realized that I am teaching to bring people there. They need to be there, and I realized how much more full my joy would be if they would come and be there as well. I think I understood a little bit more about the next life and what it will be like. Also, as I was reflecting on the deep feelings that I had, I realized that I had felt those feelings there in that situation, how much more would I feel those feelings with those who I loved most. That would be you and the family. I realize now to an even greater depth than ever before how much I truly love you. I want you all to be there, every single one of you. I want you to be as happy and happier than we all were then. I want us to be together, forever and ever. I love you so much. I have the privilege of helping other families come to realize this same happiness and these blessings.

I hope that you have a wonderful week! I love you all so much.

DISTRICT PICTURE AT MTC CLASSROOM

PICTURE AT PROVO TEMPLE

PICTURES FROM MISSIONARY TRAINING CENTER!!!

KOREAN PRIMAY PROGRAM AND BAPTISM

Hello Mother and family,

 

Sounds like things are going very well in MN. Reid is great! I love that idea of missionary week for the youth. That takes a lot of faith--it's cool that they went to all that effort to promote the church at school. I am so glad that he was able to participate in such an experience. 

 

This past week went by very quickly, but very well. The last few days with my trainer were very good. We said goodbye to the restaurant owners and to the area where my companion had diligently served. He was truly a great trainer. My new companion arrived...his name is Elder Tolman and the rumors that he is a Christlike missionary were true! He is great and very solid. I am so excited to be serving with him and to work with the people in our area! It will be a great transfer!

 

There are now 8 missionaries serving in our ward (4 sisters, 4 elders) and Sister Naatjes was one of them assigned to our ward. She is basically in my position 3 months ago--what a great are to be a new missionary in! I don't really want to leave....

 

Our investigators are doing well and some have been dropped.

 

We had an intense lesson with Kong this past week that ended in him blankly telling to our faces that he would not read the Book of Mormon or pray, so we told him that we could not meat with him until he was willing to read the Book of Mormon and to pray. He was sad about not meeting anymore, but it's what had to be done. We had the member that was just baptized come into the lesson and bear his testimony, I bore him as straightforward and heartfelt a testimony that I could and so did Elder Evans. And still, even though he has told us at least 3 times that he has felt the spirit, he would not read or pray. So there ends that road until later. Luckily our Ward Mission leader was there afterward for comfort. He told us that he took 7 years of meeting with the missinaries before he became a member. So, hopefully down the road he will meet the missionaries again and this time be prepared to receive the Gospel.

 

We didn't meet with the intellectual investigatr. but this week we will and hopefully we will be able to talk to him in a way that will help him see that making a promise with Heavenly Father is really what he needs to do, not learn all of the details about the Priesthood line through the Catholic and other churches. We will meet and see if we can help him progress.

 

The restaurant owners are doing sooo well. Oh my goodness! This week they showed up 15 minutes early to church in Sunday clothes, absolutely all smiles because of the surprise that they new that they would give. We taught them a lesson in their restaurant for the first time in history! Oh I am so excited for them! The first week that I was here we shared the first spiritual message, and now they are preparing for baptism on November 23rd! They are so wonderful!!! We have a meeting with President this week with them, which will be absolutely wonderful! I am so excited for our President to meet such wonderful people!

 

Another miracle happened on Sunday. This week was the Primary Program (and if you think that American children are cute, well then you haven't met a baby Korean yet)! The program was so wonderful as I heard all of the little angels singing familiar primary songs in Korean. So amazing. And then I looked back at one part and Samuel was there in the back! I felt like I was in heaven. The restaurant owners were sitting at my right, we were watching the primary program, and Samuel, who I love so much came to church after 4 weeks of not coming to church and almost 2 months of not taking lessons. Afterwards he seemed to show some further interest in the church. I am so glad that he felt the Holy Ghost in our first lesson--I know that is what brought him back to church even after being so remote for so long. I cannot wait (that is an enormous understatement) to meet with him and to teach him more. He is amazing and will be a very strong member in the church, So excited.

 

We also had a call today from a member that we will have a meeting with a referral with the member tomorrow at 1:00pm. We hear that he has really great potential and are very excited to be able to meet with him and to also teach him. Although we don't have a lot of investigators right now, the investigators that we have are wonderful!!!

 

Yesterday we had a baptism! The person who is baptized is a friend and a wonderful person (he came into our lesson with Kong and bore his testimony). What I didn't tell you about that testimony is that while he was giving it (this is 마준오 mah-june-oh) Elder Paskett (the missionary who taught him) and I could not stop smiling because he basically acted as if he was a 10 year old member. The baptism was wonderful and I am so impressed at the faith of this new investigator. He has already referred 5 people to the missionaries and is going to refer his aunt who lives where Elder Evans went. He is 33 and looks like he's 20. He has a light in his eyes that is undeniable to anyone who sees it.

 

And next week...the sisters have a baptism! So things are getting going in the area and we are super excited for the upcoming transfer for all of the investigators that the Lord has in mind for the area of 충장 (btw, if I don't add a pronounciation key just make something up and go with it!!!)

 

This week I have been studying the Sermon on the Mount quite a lot. I love it! To me, it seems as if it sums up all of this life in one interconnected relationship between us and God, and how our interaction with others in this life affects the relationship that we have with God and vice versa. Ultimately, however, it really boils down to two people: the natural man and the Lord. No man can serve two masters, so we must choose, everyday, every moment, every hour, whether we want to wear the mast of the carnal man inside of us or the mask of the saint. Remember that throughout this life...eventually the mask that you wear most will becme your true face. Remember this!

I love you.

2nd Transfer

Hello Mother and family!!!

First...transfer information. So, we just received (literally) our transfer information. My companion is transferring south and becoming District Leader, and I am getting a new companion that is the same "age" in the mission as my companion. My new companion trained a Korean last transfers so he will be very good at Korean and will be able to teach me a lot about missionary work and about Korean! I am super excited, but at the same time super sad about getting a new companion. Elder Evans taught me so much and helped me in so many ways. The rest of the people in our house are staying the same. My new companion's name is Elder Tolman.

 The baptismal comments you shared with me are true and resemble a discussion we had with one of our investigators this week. This week we had a beautifully spiritual lesson with Kong. He has studied the Bible so much that although he has a completely mixed up perception of a lot of things, he "gets it". He understands the eternal perspective. So, we sat down with him and told him: look, this is salvation. This is what you have to do to qualify for salvation, and then taught him the principles of the Gospel. He was really intimidated at the idea of a covenant, because he was afraid that he would break it and then be at a loss. Then, we explained to him the sacrament. The two key verses for that lesson were 2 Nephi 2:24 and verse 27. Basically all things have been done through the wisdom of God-this is how you do it. And...it's time to make the choice. What are you willing to do for salvation? I loved that lesson because Elder Evans and I literally told him, "we are representatives of Jesus Christ that help people to make promises with Him". It felt good to just be so blank with someone who understood and actually cared about his relationship with God and his salvation. We went hiking with him the next day and he was great. He asked us after the hike if we could study with him, and we unfortunately couldn't because of other things we had to attend to, but overall he is doing well!

On a completely opposite note, a tragic accident happened and one of the other Elders' investigators passed away in a car accident. It was all of the sudden. We got a call in the morning, they rushed off to the hospital and he passed away. That brought everything down to earth Later, because of another complicated situation, I ended up going on splits with the other Elder to visit the casket and offer condolances. Well, that was an interesting experience. I had only seen him once, and as soon as we got there, they took us to his casket and told us to pray. So we did. I realized very acutely the reason why I am doing what I am doing. He went on from this life and into the next. As I prayed, I knew that he was being taken care of in the next life. He had received some of the lessons, so I am sure that he will receive the Gospel in the spirit world. That was a crazy happening that really impressed on me the reality of everything that I am doing and the importance of it above anything else, which can pass away with you...

On a brighter note, we started the formal lessons with our investigators! They met with us at the church and we went through the first lesson twice (because the wife could not come during the week--then we taught them both on Sunday) They are doing so well. I don't know what will happen because Elder Evans is transferring and they were not very happy about that possibility. So...I am praying that they will still completely accept everything and be baptized on the date planned. They will, I know they will in my heart. Also, they got permission to have their daughter who is on a mission in Seoul-South to come for their baptism. I am so excited for this wonderful event! Oh, it is going to be so wonderful...!!!

Our intellectual investigator is missing the boat...again. We taught about baptism and he got caught up on the Priesthood. He wanted to know the exact history and everything for all the different churches...all about the bare facts, etc. He's a little hard hearted, my new companion and I will work on that.

Our studying investigator is still studying, but supposedly this is the week that he will be able to meet with us!

On a great note, we met a wonderful person yesterday. His name is 김태원 (Kim-Tay-Won) and he came up to us and asked us what we were doing. Well, that was music to our ears. We talked to him and bore our testimonies of the peace and happiness that we received, and then he asked "well what peace and what happiness?". In my mind, I basically had a "well I thought you'd never ask" moment. It was great. I opened the Book of Mormon and asked him to read 2 Nephi 26:24, one of my favorite verses. It says: 24 He doeth not ^aanything save it be for the benefit of the world; for he ^bloveth the world, even that he layeth down his own life that he may draw ^call men unto him. Wherefore, he commandeth none that they shall not partake of his salvation."   I then told him that I could feel the love and help of Jesus Christ every moment as I shared the Gospel with people and that was why I was in Korea--to share with everyone the wonderful feelings that I have received through Jesus Christ. I could tell that he felt something. He agreed to meet with us later and I am excited to see his progress in the Gospel. 

That is the thought for this week. Bear testimony! It is what you have that no one else has--it brings the spirit fastest, both to you and to whoever is receiving it. 

I love you all! I sent some pictures, I think they are MTC only, because I can't see the pictures. 

A WONDERFUL WEEK!

Hello Mother and Family!

My week was so wonderful. We had a great time with all of our investigators and we received some good potential investigators as well

First, the big miracle. This week was the week to set the baptismal date with the restaurant owners. We went in to the meeting knowing that they were really prepared and could be baptized in two or three weeks. He was so awesome. We went in, he took his calendar book, plopped it down on the table and then we talked about when he thought he would be ready. He responded with November 23, 2013. I can't tell you my excitement for him and for his wife. They have changed so  much in the past few weeks and the visible light that has entered into their life iis always inspiring. The next words out of his mouth inspired and surprised my companion and I. He said, My birthday is on the 25th of November. I want my baptism to be close to that day because it is a spiritual rebirth!" I can't tell you how big I smiled inside. He gets it. Also,, ,we were talking to him after the date was set and he started to show us the correspondence between Hanja (Chinese characters) and Hangul (Korean alphabet). He decided that he would find out what the meaning of our names was, and then make us new names that reflected those meanings. I am so excited. What does this have to do with a miracle? Well, how he learned the Hanja is the miracle. He mentioned that he was able to learn all of the Hanja through his job before the restaurant. It just so happens that this was genealogy! He knows all the Hanja for every name pretty much possible! We mentioned to Bishop a couple months ago that he could call a Family history history specialist and he didn't...and now we know why! There is so much that he can do for the church and his talents will come in very handily in his "new life". We are so excited for him, and a little bit wary of transfers which will happen in a few weeks with the prospect of being transferred out of the area, but we both realize that the Lord will send us where is absolutely best for both us and for our investigators. Great experience. Oh, if I could describe the difference in their lives in the past few weeks I would, but it is one of those things that you have to experience.

Kong is still unique. Apparently he received a calling through the Holy Ghost while he was studying the Bible to go to India and to set up a peace movement there. And, on top of that he says that he can't pray until he does. Holy Cow we wrestled with this until finally he told us that after he studied the Bible for a really long time he found a secret about prayer that if we study long enough we can find too. From his beliefs about man and our relationship to God, we have an idea what the secret is, but it is still such a strange situation. We are working with him to get him to pray which is absolutely vital for any further success. He is great though and always provides us some entertainment. He showed up for a little bit of General Conference which was great!

The intellectual investigator we finally helped draw the connection that knowledge is only good as it gets us closer to God and that the only way that we can really get closer to God is through making covenants (i.e. the Baptismal covenant) and so now we will try to start preparing him for such. We are excited to meet with him and talk very directly and boldly with him about what he needs to do to prepare for baptism.

11!!!

THis past week has been really great and full of surprises and miracles. I loved General conference (SOOOO GOOOD!!!) And I will tell you from my inspiration from General conference that your thought about covenants was spot on and helped me to realize a little bit better how my inspiration will directly affect my missionary work. Well the work goes forward!

I don't have much time to email (you all individually emailed at the same time (which was great!!!)) but here is the simple message in my mind. Covenants allow us to return to Heavenly Father. Make them. Keep them. And you will be ok.. I promise.

Have a great week! I love you all soo much!!

UPS AND DOWNS IN KOREA!

This week had some great ups and some low downs. 

On the upside, the restaurant owners are pretty much for sure going to get baptized. They have changed SO much the past few weeks. They are so much happier and there is a new light in their faces. Ever since they made the decision to come to church they have literally been radiating with light. The other day my companion and I went to the their restaurant and they ate with us (which is a HUGE step in Korean culture). So yep, they also told my companion that they wanted to get baptized before he leaves. We are excited because if they do so, they will be able to go to the temple with their daughter when she returns from her mission! They came to church again and had a great time.

On the downside, the investigator that had a baptismal date told us that he didn't want to be baptized anymore. (That one sunk deep). Well, at least his reason was that he didn't feel prepared (and he wasn't) but we are still sad. He didn't show up to church either. We will not give up! He is precious and we will do everything we can to help him back to the fold.

We also met a lot with a hilarious investigator named Kong. He is so funny, but sometimes frustrating. He is the one that went into the wilderness to study the Bible. Anyways, he is funny, but thick-headed sometimes. He says he has to go to India to pray...haha. So we are steadily trying to help him realize that he doesn't need to be perfectly obedient (which he thinks he does) in order to pray. Yep, he is always an interesting one to teach. But we love him, he is so funny. We are going farming with Bishop's less-active parents next p-day, and we invited him (because he loves nature) and he made the comment "I love farm sports" and then explained that basketball was a city sport and harvesting grain was a farm sport. He is great. He has true desire to find the truth and we will help him to find it. We are excited to teach him! Yep all he needs is a divine answer and he'll soon want to join the Church, however he must pray to do that. So, although he has pointed out that the theme of our past two lessons has been prayer, we are going to talk about it until he starts to do it. Like I said though, he is great.

Our other investigator needs help understanding that spiritual knowledge is more important than regular knowledge. He wants to learn about everything but says that if he wants to feel the spirit he can go pray with other churches; well, we will try to help him realized that he can receive a personal witness that our church is true and then from there I know he will commit more to do what we want him to.

This past week, holy cow, we have been guided way beyond our own knowledge. I think that pretty much everyday there has been some sort of unforeseen breakdown in our plans and backup plans, so we have to go by the spirit, and this week has been one of the best weeks of the mission, I feel. We will continue to work with Samuel (the one who used to have a baptismal date) and our other investigators. We are excited to get them progressing and eventually to make promises to God!

This week I have come to realize how truly many promptings we get every single day, if we listen to them. If we do, then we will have a feeling of firm peace because we have done what the Lord wants us to do and thus whatever has happened has been according to His will. I have learned that it does absolutely no good to push off the promptings, but just to do it. Just follow and act. Then just see what happens. And if nothing does, then there is some reason beyond your understanding that may become apparent to you later...or not. But still trust it. Just trust it. There is no better feeling than realizing that you have been led by the Lord to specific areas doing specific things for specific people. I had that experience many times this week. 그냥 해라! Just do it! 

저는 제 가족을 너무 사랑해요! I love my family a lot!!!

LOTS OF TEACHING!!!

Hello Mother and Family!

This week was a little empty at first, but then ended full!

We have a new program through the mission president that is focusing on a lot more teaching, member referrals, and, of course, baptisms. So, we go to work. We talked and taught a lot on the streets and found some hopeful potentials. One of the people that we ran into is studying to become a 格荤丛 (moke-saw-neem) or in other words a minister for another church. He said that he studied the Bible and prayed for three hours a day, and had been very curious recently about the church. We spent about 35 minutes on the street explaining what we believed and we left him a Book of Mormon and got his phone number. However, the really exciting thing is that there is a High Counselor in our ward who was studying to become a 格荤丛 who met missionaries, converted to the Gospel and is now strong in the church (and owns a chicken restaurant). Well, we are excited to get these two together and the fruits that will hopefully result. 

However, the greatest thing ever happened on Sunday. We had confirmed with one of our investigators that he would come to church that Sunday, and were excited for him to come. He's usually late, so we are anxiously watching the door of the chapel to see when he will come, and then...in walks our other two investigators (the restaurant owners)! I cannot explain how amazing this is. We didn't ask them to come to church (there's an iceberg of circumstances behind this) they came of their own free will! The lesson in Gospel principles was about Eternal marriage and they stayed for more than just sacrament meeting for the first time ever! I love them so much. Oh, I cannot wait to go visit them and continue to help them to prepare to enter the church. 

The behind story (of the week not the entire background) is that we took a member with us to their restaurant (a younger member who had known their daughter before she had served a mission). Korean culture a lot of times just tells it how it is. So, this member goes on to tell them that he knew of rumors going around the Seoul mission asking whether her parents were baptized yet, if they had a baptismal date, etc. He then went on to explain that if the parents got baptized now, then they would be able to, a year from now when their daughter returns, go to the temple and be sealed together for eternity. He then explained very simply that the first step is baptism. Then my companion and I shared Alma 37:6-7 about small and simple things, bore very simple, but very pure testimony, and it was amazing! We told him small steps by small steps, he could do it! We then had to leave. He took us to the church for a meeting that we had with the Stake President...and you could tell that he was beaming inside. 

Then, at church, he was so full of light, the whole time, it was great! Plus, one of the sacrament speakers spoke about prayer (which is something that he needs to start doing more) and then there was also a General Authority (area 70 I think) who also spoke and spoke very well albeit directly. Anyways, I am so excited for them! So excited. 

So, on top of that, my companion and I devised a clever way to get the ward to do missionary work and to get this couple introduced to the ward. We decided that because they own a restaurant, we would take a different member with us each time to eat until we have gone through the whole ward. But it gets better: we decided that when we invited ward members, we would tell them that we were going to refer them to our investigators (instead of them referring people to us) to show them how to do member missionary work without thinking that they have to ask someone to come to church. Anyways, we are excited about that. So excited for them!

Our other investigator did end up showing up, although he has been pretty distracted lately. He is working on an idea for a competition for IT Technology that has to do with allowing different kinds of wireless technology to be able to communicate. So he's been really busy lately, and now can't meet during the week, and is only coming to Sacrament meeting (at least he is coming). We are going to try and have a meal with some of the families in the ward to help him feel more comfortable and try to get in more teaching so that he realizes how important this really is. He's so awesome, though, and the fact that he is even coming to church and reading the Book of Mormon is amazing. We're excited to help him figure out exactly how much Christ can help him in his daily life.

So, also on Sunday we had a random meeting with an investigator that showed up after church. He came in and we had our after Sunday Services meal (with the General Authority) and then talked with him. He had time to meet then, so we met with him right after church. Oh boy, he had some exotic ideas. Apparently he went out to the countryside and spent a very long time (at least 6 months) just to study the Bible. He did so without the guidance of anyone and has come up with some very interesting ideas (with a very clear connection to Korean culture). So, we talked with him about some things, realized that he was engrained in his ways, continued to talk about other things, and finally found his need that we could address (it took awhile). His need was to learn how to find the truth for himself and how to recognize it as truth. Once we realized this, we helped him realize that God has given us the Book of Mormon to help interpret the Bible more correctly and that he could pray about the Book of Mormon and learn its truthfulness for himself (if he prays...he has "his own style"). We bore testimony of the Book of Mormon and he committed to read it 5 minutes every day and to pray about it. He said he would, and we have a follow-up appointment on Wednesday to see where he is going with it. Really, the meeting went as well as it could of. With the Spirit's help, we were able to slowly help him go from set in his ways and ideas to slowly realizing that there is more, and that we are guides to help him discover this new light for himself. I will never cease to be amazed when I watch the Spirit work on people, it is truly amazing.

He said two things that I thought were interesting. First, he commented about how missionaries are always full of light (we straightforwardly told him...because it's true) and then he also commented that missionaries always say the same things. They testify of the Book of Mormon, of Joseph Smith, and tell people to pray (praying was really the theme of that meeting). We responded that God doesn't change, truth doesn't change...and it's true! He has so much potential. We asked him why he was studying with us and why he had studied so much and he gave us an analogy. He told us that engineers, or doctors spend pretty much the first half of their lives learning about how to do what they are doing so that later in life they can do the right thing in the right way. Basically he wants to become as perfect as he can, so he is studying so hard so that he can choose the right path and do it in the right way. He has all the desire and just has tons of obstacles from his own thoughts and misinterpretations. However, my companion and I know, that ones he comes to a knowledge of the truth, he will be devoted and completely loyal to it, which is why we are excited to continue to teach him. 

That was all the excitement on Sunday! It was great. I am excited to work with these investigators and to continue to help them progress towards that which will make them happiest. 

Thank you for the spiritual thought! I like it a lot. It reminds me of something that our mission president told us. He wrote JOY on the chalkboard and then said, Jesus first, others second (with companion coming first), and you last. JOY. I liked that. Notice that Christ before He suffered for the sins of all others submitted His will to the Father. When we submit our will to Jesus Christ and to the Father we will naturally serve others. Christ said "If ye love me, keep my commandments". He also then commanded us to "love thy neighbor as thy self". So, if we truly ally ourselves to Jesus Christ then we must inherently ally ourselves to others, and through allying ourselves to others, we will inherently show that we love Jesus Christ. For me, this has in part helped me understand a little tiny bit more of what Christ was saying in the Intercessory Prayer when He prayed that we could all be One (with Him and the Father). Thank you for your love and your support! I feel external support every single day of my mission and I know that it comes from the prayers and hopes of all those at home! You are wonderful! Have a great week!

William

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THANKSGIVING TRAINING

Hello Mother and Family!

This week went by very quickly, but went by very well. This week we had a lot of training because, as I mentioned, Korea shuts down for 3 days during the Korean Thanksgiving. When we talked to people in-between going and coming to the church, most of them were from other places, mostly from Seoul. There were still some very good opportunities to share the Gospel!

For the Thanksgiving day, (our P-day) we decided to hike up a mountain and look out over Gwang Ju (the same one as before). It was a beautiful day and it was great to do our personal and companionship studies on top of the mountain. So peaceful and just beautiful. We came down and then had a Zone activity at the church which was fun, and then went to Bishop's house to eat dinner. The dinner that we had was the absolutely most amazing food that I have yet had while staying in Korea. So good!

Training was basically repetition, repetition, repetition. We spent 4 hours a day working on teaching the lessons in roleplays, discussing how to improve our teaching, and working on other teaching skills. It was a drilling of teaching, but I learned so much! It was great also to have interviews with President Shin and to be able to spend a lot of time with him and learn from him. 

The mission is starting a new program that will make the missionaries stretch, which is great. We talked about it and how we would accomplish it and now it is happening. It is very exciting and very different from the "old mission" as missionaries now call it. The "old mission" was a mission based on talking to as many people as possible, and finding investigators through missionary efforts and teaching, etc. However, the new mission is focused on member missionary work (big surprise...member missionary work is amazing). We now are focusing more on receiving referrals than on talking to lots of random people. This is great! The only investigator that I have seen really progress and really accept and believe the lessons is also the only investigator that we have received as a member referral. It is definitely inspired and I am excited to work towards the standards of the program.

I had a really great experience this past week with the Spirit. I was talking to a person on the bus as we were traveling home one day from contacting a former investigator. He was from Pusan, but was in Gwang Ju, his home town, for the holidays. We started talking and I asked him about what he was doing in school, what his plans for the holidays were, etc. He asked me why I was learning Korean, and I told him that I was learning Korean to share that which has made me happiest. Then I told him that I was a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. I told him that we teach about Jesus Christ and that we teach people how to find more happiness in life. He told me that he was Christian and that he attended two different churches-one in Pusan and one in Gwang Ju (depending on where he was living). I asked him why he attended his particular churches and he told me that he went to his church because of his friends in college. He said that he was happy. (In the back of my mind the line from PMG surfaced that says that concerns are often more social than doctrinal...a good reminder) I then asked him what he thought about Jesus Christ. He responded that Christ was a good person. Then, kind of bashfully, he said that to be honest, he didn't really know that much about Jesus Christ, except that He was a good person. So, then I simply said, You should learn more about Jesus Christ. Then I bore my testimony simply, saying, I know that Jesus Christ is my Redeemer. I know that He loves me. Whether I am at school, in the United States, or here in Korea, I can always feel the love that Jesus Christ has for me. Well, he then looked at me with a little bit of a change in his countenance and said "I can feel it". This took me a little aback, but then I responded with "You're feeling a good feeling aren't you?" He told me he was. I then clearly stated "this feeling is the Holy Ghost. Through this feeling God can guide us and lead us". I then asked him if he always wanted to feel this good feeling. He responded with a "of course...why are you asking" sort of remark, and then I explained to him that when I go to church every Sunday, I feel this same feeling. I told him that we teach people how to always feel this good feeling. Well, then his bus stop came, so I told him that when he goes back to Pusan he should look up our Church and go. He left, and will hopefully look up the church and find greater happiness than he could think possible. To have this experience reminded me of the power of the Holy Ghost it was a great experience and I hope to be able to have many more similar experiences in the future.

I cannot explain how much happiness I receive in being able to tell people that God either exists or He doesn't. I know that He exists and we can teach you how to come to know for yourself that He exists. I cannot express the happiness that I get when I can share the love of Heavenly Father, as a representative of Jesus Christ, with His faithful members of the church who are trying so hard to find people to bring into the fold. It is a wonderful work of unparalleled truth.

This week goes back to normal, so there will be more opportunities to teach the investigators that we have. I am excited to teach them with the new training that we have received and to help them progress.

The point has been made very clear in our mission that the members do not help the missionaries, but that the missionaries help the members. Yesterday a member of the Stake Presidency asked our ward how many missionaries it had. Someone responded with "6". That answer was refuted with "100". It is true. He then asked how many "teaching-assistants" (he even said that part in English) the ward had. Then came the correct answer of "6". As a missionary, I have seen so clearly the power that members have in missionary work. The members that help also receive great blessings, I have seen that as well. 

Here's a little inspiration for member missionary work. It is the example of Nephi. When considering referring people that you know for the missionaries to teach, remember Nephi's struggle to get the plates. At first he received the commandment (as members have) and immediately committed to obey, even though he did not really know how or why. Then he went and evaluated the situation, which turned out to seem a little bit hopeless (at least in the eyes of Laman and Lemuel who did not know very many things concerning God). But Nephi perseveres. Through another attempt that very well could have been prompted by the Spirit, Nephi yet again fails. At this point, I think many people would turn back. They would say the Lord commanded, the situation is hopeless, I worked hard, seemed to get some inspiration and it didn't work out. However, Nephi persists because of the original commandment. He knows there will be a way and that he will just have to search until he finds it. Then comes verse 6 in chapter 4 which states he was led by the spirit without a knowledge of what he would do. Sometimes we don't know what to do except to keep pressing forward. Then as he acts without knowledge, step by step, he comes to realize how the Lord has delivered Laban into his hands, receives further instruction from the Lord and then obtains the record that blesses tons of people. That is the power of obedience, of faith, of perseverance, of diligence. For member referrals the same applies. If at first you don't succeed, try, try again. You may not be working to obtain brass plates, but the people that you help with then help others, their ancestors, their descendents, their friends and neighbors, which will have, as did Nephi's effort, an impact on many more people than a single individual or family. 

Time is now at an end. I love you all so much, it sounds like things are going so very well in United States. I hope that you have a great and wonderful time. 

William

THANKSGIVING IN KOREA

Hello family/mother!!!

 

This week went by very quickly and next week will go by even faster. This week is Korea's Thanksgiving holiday, and the country literally shuts down for three full days. Because of the proselyting opportunity taken away, we will be training with the mission president and learning Korean/other lesson enhancing techniques during that time period. I am actualy very excited!

 

First, I will have you know, that, as usual, mothers are right. Yesterday the ward needed a piano player, so I accompanied both sacrament meeting and the primary (Korean children are the best!!) (Random story. We were talking about who there is in our lives that we can help. One of the questions was about how many people you can help. All of the primary children are saying/yelling "Everyone!" Then, one of the boys pops up and says "83". It was so funny, my companion and I cracked up about it later...) Anyways, yep, those piano lessons paid off, and I was able to share it with the people that I am serving on my mission.

 

This week was a little bit difficult as far as results are concerned. I've never been closer to my companion (we're pretty much brothers) and we haven't worked harder, but just haven't been finding investigators. This week being the Thanksgiving Holiday, their won't be much opportunity for finding people, so we will basically start with our progressing investigators after the holiday. This past week there were some highlights and some low points.

 

Our investigator who is progressing towards baptism is progressing very well. He is reading and keeping his commitments, which is good. We had a very good lesson with him and will continue to teach him. He came to church and enjoyed it. He is getting very busy with school, so the fact that he is giving so much of his time to the church shows that he really does care about the message that we have to share and the feeling that he gets when he comes.

 

The restaurant owners, on the other hand, have had a little bit of a turn around. We went over to their restaurant on Friday and they basically said that they understand that reading their scriptures and saying their prayers is not a difficult thing, but they said that they just don't have the desire to do it . That was pretty devastating, because he basically told us that he had given up.

But, my companion and I have plans to help get his desire going to see what the scriptures and prayer can really do for them. We will visit again today and hopefully help them realize the value of the scritpures and of prayer in a way that will help them desire and want to read the scriptures and pray.

 

Let's see. This week we helped with a very cool service project which was feeding the elderly at a park in Gwang Ju. It went very well and it was really exciting to serve the people of Korea. They really are wonderful and it was great to be able to serve and help them.

 

Last week (short letter) we had a lot of meetings. We had a zone tour and we had a training meeting. The Zone tour was presided over by Elder Whiting and was absolutely wonderful. I realize how zoned in you can get to the work of missionary work and miss the whole foundation supporting everything. It was one of the greatest meetings that I have ever attended. We were very well edified and enlightened and taught concerning the mission, other things regarding our work, and the reality of Heavenly Father's plan for us. It was great.

 

Everything is going absolutely wonderful. The weather is beautiful and people are happy. This next transfer is going to be very exciting!

 

This week I have learned some very important lessons. The message that I want to share today, that has been impressed to me is the peace that we receive from our covenants, specifically when we renew them. On Sunday, I was filled with peace through the sacrament. I cannot describe how thankful I am for the wonderful sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ. No matter what you have felt, or have gone through, He has been through it. We all have our Christ-similar journies in life. We all have our joyful times of our "ministry" and we all have our times in Gethsemane. Well, it humbles me to realize that each of our individual Gethsemanes--the absolute worst times of our lives--when all--all billions of them--are added together; that was Christ's Gethsemane. He knows and He wants to help. Alma 7:7, 10-16 is very clear about the Atonement. It is the most important thing. It can help us with all our pains and afflictions. He performed the Atonement to blot out our transgressions. We can be born again through the Atonement by repenting and being baptized. As we do so, we enter into a covenant to obey Him for the rest of our lives. In return for this obedience, He gives us eternal life. Christ gave everything for us; and these verses shows what we can give to Him.

 

I hope you have a wonderful week. Happy Chew-suk (추석) aka. Thanksgiving! Remember what you are thankful for!

William

STAYING IN GWANG JU

Hey mom and family!!!

Everything is going very well, however some crazy things happened this P-day which unfortunately has left this week a little short. I will have to double report next week...so sorry, nothing in my control.

Things are so great here, I'm not changing at all with the transfer call. None of us are in our ward which is really bizarre. However, our mission president told us himself that he had been up since 12am seeking revelation for the transfer stuff, so I know that it is right, plus I've gotten my own confirmation so everything is well. I am very excited to continue working with this ward. I will update you with all the happenings that have been going on next week. 

To be short. We had a very spiritually intense lesson with the restaurant owners (with a daughter on a mission) and we are going to have to push Samuel's baptism date back (because of a national holiday and frequency of meeting) to October 19th ish. Our other investigators are going well. This week we had a ton of scheduled meetings, but we still got so many potential investigators. Although we met few people, they certainly were quality!

Got to go. Important thought is Ether 12:4. Our faith can become firm and steadfast (Mosiah 5:15/Alma 57:26-27...etc) as we realize what it is that lies ahead of us. Through that vision we will not only have the motivation to do what we know is right, but we will desire it. Continue strong, lay up for yourselves treasure in heaven, where moth and rust cannot corrupt! 

Best of luck and wishes!

William

Week #5 in Korea!

This week was absolutely wonderful.

First off, there was a HUGE thunderstorm on Thursday that was so amazing. Luckily (coincidence?) it happened through our dinner time, which was cool, because we sat out on the balcony and watched lightning strike the apartments around us. It was super intense, but very refreshing. After dinner we went out, got soaked, and met a new investigator that we will continue to be meeting with. He is an interesting person, but definitely needs the Gospel of Jesus Christ in his life (everyone does!). The miracle with this story is that we were in a completely wrong area looking for the address (I would comment about the address system in Korea, but you would get lost (pun most certainly intended)) and could not find it...in a thunderstorm...with limited time available to meet with him. Well, as it went, we called him a couple times, and could not find his place, so we ended up going to a local restaurant and asking them to talk to him so that we could understand more clearly where we needed to go (language barrier...). So, we do so, and of course, being in Korea (people just love to help) the restaurant owner, during open working hours, takes us in his van to the address where we would be meeting the investigator. What wonderful people!!! Well, as it turns out, we decided to go eat there the next day to say thank you, and now we have some new investigators. They are not completely interested in the Gospel, but with enough interactions with missionaries, they soon will be (like the couple that we are teaching now--was efforts of many missionaries before). Yep, that was a great night, although I was soaked from the knees down to the bone. Hey, great things happen when you do the Lord's work despite external circumstances.

So much else happened throughout this past week. So much that I wish that I could tell you all about it, but there isn't time. With all the crazy weather, it is now a lot cooler in Korea, which is a nice break from the killer heat. It is a very warm, yet refreshing temperature outside now, and we have to use blanket when we sleep or we will be cold! 

We talked to a lot of people this past week. The man on the moped met with us at a restaurant and we talked for a little while about many different things. It seems that he was at church in the other area mainly for the social aspect of things and for the relationship with members/missionaries. We are working on getting him to church, but for now he has little interest and doesn't really see a need to go to church. However, there is a seed planted and we have to find out how to nourish it. 

The owners of the restaurant were busy this week, so there was not much of an opportunity to visit with them much about the gospel. We stepped in for maybe ten minutes and talked to the mother for a little bit, but there was no formal lesson. We found out that her eyesight is not good enough to read the Book of Mormon and that it hurts her eyes to read, so we are going to navigate that barrier through getting her the Book of Mormon audio on her phone. (which then inspired us to get it on everyone that we are teaching's phone--so much easier access!) They didn't come to church again and the situation has gotten a little bit more complicated. We found out that they have been covering up their daughter's affiliation with the church from their family; saying that she is in America on some sort of other business. We also found out that we cannot teach them at their home because they live with their parents (in Korea the older adults oftentimes just live with their kids and their kids take care of them). We will find a way to teach them and bring them to Christ because we know that they really do want it, we just have to help them see how much they really want it....if that makes sense. Sad week there, but this week will hopefully produce better fruits.

Another of our investigators came across completely differently than we ever knew. This was only my second time meeting with him and he seems to be one of those investigators that understands everything intellectually, but is not willing to keep commitments. That is what we thought. And then, on Tuesday, we learned that he actually doesn't attend church because he commutes to Seoul for his job. We found out that he even called the church in Seoul to find out when they met to see if he could go up there, but the church service ends at the time that he stops working. He really has a ton of faith, but if something doesn't change, then he won't be able to progress. We are trying to figure how to best help him--this lesson he came in kind of down and a little sad--but then,  I watched beaming as the spirit slowly worked on him and at the end of the lesson he left all smiles. It was wonderful to see the change in his countenance. We realized that Monday and Tuesdays are like his weekends, and that he takes the precious time to meet with us every week. He pretty much only gets the Spirit when he meets with us, so for now it is kind of like church for him. We will help him as best we can through the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Next, there is someone very special that I need to mention. His name is Samuel. He was a referral from a member who teaches English here in Gwang Ju and has recently returned from his mission in England. We had a meeting with him and it went absolutely wonderful. He is so prepared and ready to accept the Gospel. We set a baptismal date with him for September 22! At church the next day my companion and I noted that we could not even tell that he was an investigator. He came to testimony meeting and as he heard the testimonies he sat there and nodded through the whole thing. He is so great and so prepared! I am so excited to continue to teach him. He will be a strong member of the church and contribute greatly to the ward that we are currently serving in! I have a feeling he is the first of many...

This week I have had the absolute thrill of realizing the reality and the magnitude of what I am doing here in Korea. I have the wonderful opportunity and privilege to tell people on the streets that "Jesus Christ's originally established church has again been restored". I absolutely love spreading that great news to everyone that I meet, wherever I am. I have truly felt that I am a mouthpiece of the Lord as I spread His message to my fellow men. 

Remember this as a thought throughout the week--it is in Lehi's dream and it is an interesting pattern that I think illustrates missionary work very nicely. Lehi goes and partakes of the fruit of the tree of life. Then, it says that as soon as he had partaken, he looked around to spy his family, so that they could also partake. This takes on a different meaning when the word family is put into context as our "eternal family" or everyone. Next he goes on and says that he looks for specific people. That is something that we must also do. If we just look at missionary work as missionary work, then we will never have the opportunity for a specific missionary opportunity. We must be looking for the specific opportunity in order for it to come to fruition. He sees Nephi, Sam, and Sariah. He identifies them and sees where they are. Then, he beckons to them--he invites them to come to the tree of life. Sam, Nephi, and Sariah come and then they partake as well. Then, Lehi looks for Laman and Lemuel, sees them, also beckons to them, but they do not hearken and do not partake of the tree of life. There are many important lessons in this section of the dream. After looking for specific people, then we must beckon to them. This does not mean that we force it on them, but that we show them the opportunity and give them a clear way to exercise their agency. Then, they have their agency as both halves of the family had, to choose whether or not to partake of the fruit. Remember, you have partaken of the fruit already! You have the joy, and now you can look, specifically invite, and give others the opportunity to enjoy what you have! We can do this until our entire family has been invited and have chosen their ways, whether to partake or not to partake. In the end, always remember that there is no limit to the fruit on the tree. There is no limit. The Atonement of Jesus Christ has no limits--it is for everyone and for eternity. So invite! 

I wish you the best of the week! Do good things, do your best in everything, love the Lord, and look for opportunities to share the amazing gospel. We have been reminded this week by our president that missionaries are "helpers". It is the members that should lead and guide this work and that is the way that it is headed in my ward in Korea! Have a wonderful week, I love you all, and am so excited for all of the things that you are doing, accomplishing and experiencing!

With lots of love,

William Strahl

Gwang-Ju Week #4

This past week was a week that went by very fast. This week we focused a lot on member work--visiting the members. We met with a few members who were absolutely incredible! Overall, it was a pretty great week. The work is going a little bit slow right now, but it will pick up.

Right now I am in Gwang Ju, which from what I understand has more than 10 million people in it. It is huge. It is built around a mountain range that we hiked this morning to do personal and companion study as a P-day activity. It was 910m tall (about 2800ft) and had a wonderful view. Let's just say that the city extended from the middle of the horizon (which was where the mountain range stopped existing) and stretched all the way to the edge of sight, and as far as you can see. It is soooo big. You can't even understand how amazing it is. Our mission president is awesome. To him, there is Gwang Ju, and then the rest of the mission. He is really focusing on Gwang Ju right now and getting it going as far as missionary work. His dream in the Gwang Ju Temple! We are excited to be apart of his work (and also His work).

This week we met with the owners of the restaurant, but we were on a time constraint, had a little misunderstanding, and so were then not able to teach them. That was sad. They also had a funeral to attend, so they were not able to go to church, which was absolutely sad as well, but we are over it and working hard to get them to church this next week!

Many of our other investigators have lost interest or not had a really sincere desire this past week. They seem like church is just another part of life, like another class they take, and they are satisfied with the classes that they are already taking in the school of life. However, we are trying to show them that church is something that supports all the rest of the classes and makes the entire school so much better. It is so hard for someone to understand that!

This week we worked really hard, but did not see a lot of results. We worked through dinner times that we could have taken in order to get in everything that we wanted to do. The lesson of this week is how insignificant our efforts are in comparison to God on the whole. We can think that we contribute a lot to the work, but really, it is God who allows everything to happen. That is not an excuse to slack off, but a motivation to work harder because the harder you work the more God will open those opportunities that He can for you to help His children into the church.

I want to comment about the couple that we visited last night to build Jong. They were an amazing couple. Amazing. Celestial couple. We walked in, talked about his previous Job as a calligrapher (he was 70 and she was 66) and then I motioned that I could play the piano and in no time we were singing all of our favorite hymns. It was beautiful and amazing! He then pulled out a harmonica and played Sweet hour of Prayer on the Harmonica to our surprise and thrill. It was awesome. Then with his guitar, my companion played a soft melody that was great. In Korea you don't visit people without getting food, so we had a little dessert, gave them a spiritual message, and then left. It was amazing and perfect. We talked to them about trusting in God and asked about their experiences with trusting in God. We learned that this man had become the Branch president of the Gwangju Branch only 6 months after he was baptized. From there he continued in leaderships positions until he was President of Gwangju stake. His wife commented that when he was Stake President he was always at church and she was always at home taking care of the children. She said that it was really hard, but at the same time, she had seen how much the Lord had blessed him. She then humbly, so Korean by the way, that Heavenly Father had not blessed her with any sort of responsibilities such as being Relief society or something like that. We quickly responded that her support for her husband with their small children was the greatest responsibility and a great blessing to him. They are the greatest couple. They know how to live life. They love each other so much and they are so happy. We talked to our sisters who told us that they have companionship study every morning for an hour! What great examples! After having a rather down week, it was a wonderful way to end the week. There are such wonderful people all over the world!!!!

Hmmm, we had dinner with a missionary who had recently gotten back from Seoul and a member from our ward. They were awesome, and when we were there the missionary spirit was raging. It was great--we were sharing experiences and miracles that we had seen (right before we had arrived through a series of "random" events we had found many people who had literally come up to us and asked us about the church (we didn't have to initiate--they did!)) and we also so one of our less-actives that we had been working with, which was amazing and really great because I love him sooo much. Yep, wonderful experience and really helped me realize the great importance of this work!

I think you will be excited to hear that we have a meal appointment set up today with the moped man, which is great! We don't know exactly how much gospel interest he has, but we will find out!

The man  that we met that I talked about last time hasn't been responding to our calls. We know that he needed that conversation at that time; however, and so if any thing, we have prepared him for later interactions with the Church and with missionaries. He is a great man and will hopefully put his life into order with his family.

This week we also met with a lawyer, who took us into his really nice office for a chat. He was more interested in our foreigner status and practicing his english than the Gospel, but we were able to actually teach him a ton about what we believe. He is part of the Roman Catholic church and is actually the chairman of their organization to build a new building, so we will see where that goes. Pretty much the only thing that he knows is that Utah youth do not live the same as other American youth. We explained to him a lot about the church and invited him to be baptized, which he said would not work (with his position and his father, and family tradition in the religion), so we will probably visit him one other time to check his interest in the Gospel, and then move on. But, it was an interesting visit--he was one of the people that approached us on the street before the meal appointment with the members.

I can honestly say that every single day of my mission I have either seen a personal or a companionship miracle from the Lord. It is an amazing work and He blesses us so much for it. It is also a really hard work. It is a straining combination of intellect, emotion, spiritual, social, and physical that is constantly exerted. There is no end. It is also the most joyful work. The other day I was talking to a Hakseng, or a school student on a bus. When I told him that I wanted him to be happy, I made the greatest friend in the world. He wasn't interested in Religion, but I taught him about who God was, and that we can pray and told him try out prayer sometime and see if God would help him. Seriously, when I got off that bus I was one friend up in the world. I would have done anything for him, and I really think that he would do anything for me. It was such a great feeling to have made such a special bond in such a short time. I guess the cost of the greatest joy is the greatest efforts...who would guess?

This past week I also saw a miracle as I went on a split with the other missionary who came in the same time as me on Wednesday. We were at the church for our second investigator lesson which we had invited a member to, and our investigator did not show up. Unfortunately that happens sometimes. We had a member there an everything, it really was too bad. But then...another one of our investigators just walked into the church, and without a scheduled appointment we were able to teach him a lesson with an awsome member present. It was a great miracle that shows that God honors our efforts and will reward our intents. We actually had a really awesome day together as we worked really hard. What a great experience...haha, neither of us can really understand that much.

Alright...time to go! Love you so much, keep up the good work...and share the message!

STILL HOT IN KOREA! WEEK 3

Things in Korea this past week were wonderful, busy, and hot. According to one of the members of our ward, the hottest part of all of Asia is Korea right now--especially the part where I am serving. So, I get to enjoy the heat a little bit more, and then it will start to cool off in another week. Honestly, it hasn't bothered me really at all. I don't mind it one bit.

 

Korean is getting better and better with each passing week that we have. I am able to understand more and more with every single week that passes by, and I am able to speak more every day. The challenge now is being able to express what I feel through the language which is a really hard thing to do. But, with time and with experience, I know that I will be able to do it.

 

This past week our investigators did ok. We actually met two new  investigators who seem to have a lot of potential, so that is really exciting. One of them we found on the old records who had previously met missionaries, and the other one we found on the street--through a miraculous way. Oh, so there a HUGE push for missionary work in our mission right now. To give you a taste, the mission president set a goal for every ward to have 10 baptisms a month for the next 6 months. Previous to this announcement, the expectation was 17 for the entire mission. So, we go to work, and the Lord will provide when we have done all that we can do.

 

To the great story! Yesterday we had a wonderful finding experience. My companion and I were deciding which member to visit to develop Jong so that we could build a relationship with the members and we decided on this one guy that apparently had never talked to the missionaries until the week that all the greenies came. My companion talked to him at church and their conversation drifted to spaghetti. After we decided to go see him, we thought that we would bring him some food (which really builds relationships in Korea). When we went to look in the cupboard, it just so happened that one of the missionaries in our apartment had gotten some boxed spaghetti and tomato paste from his mother and had not cooked it yet. It was perfect! We planned the two members that we were going to visit and then left to start the day. The first member was the Patriarch of the Stake, the Chook boke saw neem. Recently the Stake president has told us to do more kopjoggy, or sudden visits to members, so we called when we got to his apartment, and he was not there. So, we decided to knock some of the apartments around him and then go back for dinner. After dinner we left to go a little bit out of our area to the north (a 30 minute ish bus ride). When we arrived we spent about 15 mintues until we found the second member's house. We were super excited to talk to him and to give him the spaghetti that we had for him. When we got to his home, he wasn't there. He didn't have a phone, and there was no way to know where he went, or when he would be coming back. So, it was what it was. We decided that we were up there for some reason so we decided to go find some apartments to knock before we made the trek home. As we were going back we ran into a man who had incredible interest and faith. We talked to him for a solid hour about our church and about how it could help him with his drinking problem (he was a little tipsy when we talked to him). He said he would attend the churchee (when they try to speak in English that is how they say church--haha!) and that he would find out more about the Book of Mormon (in Korean it is Mormon Gyong). Anyways, he arranged to meet with us again. I have never yet met someone who has had such real intent and needed the gospel in his life at this time than this person. We have very high hopes for him, and will call him today to confirm that appointment. We traveled back on the bus, and realized that all those disappointments throughout the day were really God's way of leading us to the one. It reminds me of the wonderful words of the song Dear to the Heart of the Shepherd. I love the words to that hymn. If you want a desire to do missionary work read the words to that hymn.

 

Korea is a little different than America. Here we are leading the pioneering of the LatterDay Saint Church in many areas. People have never heard of our church. We are introducing our message to them and most just say that they have never heard of it (probably 80-90%). It is a great opportunity to help others have what I have found to be the greatest and most rewarding pattern of life and constituent firmness established by the truths contained therein. Things in Korea are changing a lot. You can see the difference in the generations and in the younger culture. Remember that having a living prophet and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles provides a source of constancy in a world of change.

 

Let's see. Sunday was a sad day because the couple that we met with did not attend church. That was really sad. However, we continue to have very high hopes for them, and the Lord does also. I have felt incredible peace and assurances in their restaurant while we have been teaching them. They are in God's hands and His plans for them will eventually lead them back to Him. I am trying to find our role in HIs plan for them in order to help them most. They really are the most wonderful people though. Truly amazing.

 

For those in Corvallis, I just heard at lunch from another elder about Eric Sung, where he's at and how he's doing. He goes to some school that is apparently...amazing. At least when the other members heard that he attended, they were intimidated by him. He's 16 or 17 now and comes out to church whenever he receives special permission from his school to go. I am super excited when I will hopefully have the opportunity to serve in his area and to get to know him more (I hope to learn more Korean before then). So yep, he's doing well!

 

Oh, so on Thursday we had a ward picnic, which was...amazing. We went down to the coast and first had a wonderful experience digging for clams, which was super cool--an apparently super valuable. In one hour of time, we dug about $40 worth. That's a pretty good rate. We then went to the beach where it was about 90 F out and just absolutely gorgeous. I imagine almost like a Pacific Island sort of beach. There were tree covered mountain islands...one of the families took a lot of pictures, and so those will come soon. It was great. I looked across the Ocean, and I think I saw the United States! (haha....over Japan and Hawaii...and over 3000 miles of ocean)

 

The man on the moped called us back once and we are still trying to contact him to set up an appointment with him. We will see what happens. The old man that we are teaching understood us (after a lot of prayer and help from God) and we were able to get him a little bit excited about church. He left on a trip though for pretty much the rest of the month, so we told him to read the Book of Mormon on the road and to ponder its meaning and to pray a lot. We call him to check up on him.

 

As for kind of weird stuff that I have done, this week (actually today), we literally took Octopi, cooked them and then just ate them. Tasted like squishy jello (texture wise) fish. It was interesting. Yep, oh, and we talked to one person on the street about this one church in Korea that supposedly infiltrates other churches and then leads them away to their church. He decided that since there were so many Christian churches in Korea and theiy are all pretty crazy, that he would be Bulkyo (Buddhist) so that he could be "religious" without actually attending a church. We oftentimes get very strange looks from people around who have not seen that many foreigners around. At home one day we put banana pancake batter in the rice cooker and make banana bread for breakfast the next morning. Great times.

 

Thought for this week is the the Lord is in control. Period. You can do all that you can do, but if you don't have His help, you will not succeed, at least not in the long run, and never in the eternal run. I have learned that very apparently during my mission so far. You do as much as you can do, and then the Lord will supply His help in order to make up for what you cannot do. Everything good that happens to us is a tender mercy of the Lord. The other day I found a coin on the road at a bus stop. That made it so I had exactly the fair required (the rest of my bills were too high to use at all). Little things like that help a lot. There was a day where I was getting a little bit down because of the language, and every single time that I started to get into a negative mode, the Lord would send someone and they would buy us something to drink. Little things like that which help me and others. The tender mercies of the Lord are everywhere.

 

So, if you want something to change in your life, especially concering yourself, then do everything you can to improve it, and when all is said and done, rely on the Lord to help make up the difference. That is key and will help you all the time in your lives.

 

I am so excited (I don't think you know how excited) for you in MInnesota! Keep up enjoying everything there is.  Have a great week. I will update you with things (and hopefully have picnic pictures soon to send to you). Have a wonderful week.

 

Elder Strahl