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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