Christmas in Gong Ju

Hello Mother and Family!

This week was a little bit laggish with a crazy schedule and the Christmas Party on Friday, but we still managed to teach some and find some!

 

Waterman was unable to meet last week, so we will meet with him on Wednesday of this week.

 

Ahhh, the high school students. We called them and they agreed to meet with us on Tuesday! We are excited to teach them more--especially about the Plan of Salvation and what Heavenly Father really wants for us, and how we can qualify to receive it!

 

The bus contact is amazing! He didn't come to church which was a little bit of a disappointment, but when we called him during the week he talked about how he had read a little bit of the Book of Mormon and had prayed a little bit. He also said that he wanted to learn more! So, we are excited to work with him and help him to come to know God and Jesus Christ in his life. Right now he has been pretty busy, so hopefully he will have a break from school so that we can meet with him more. He seems really receptive to the spirit which is really great!

 

The English investigator is slowly slowly progressing. He shared with his friend that he was going to the churchee to learn Englishee, so we asked him to continue to share the Gospel and introduce his friends to us. He is really slow in learning because he wants to learn everything in English as well as in Korean, which we will discuss with him the next meeting that we have with him. He is great!

 

The other potential investigator didn't have any real sincere desire, more just a little curious and wondering about things and we haven't been able to contact him for some time, which is unfortunate, but is how things go sometimes.

 

Also, I had a really good conversation with Eric at church and he said that he wanted to introduce us to 2 or 3 of his friends at school to teach them about the Gospel. He also asked us some really good questions about how to share the Gospel and how to deal with certain situations. He's amazing. He's feeling the desire to serve a mission and it is so inexpressibly precious and wonderful to have the opportunity to see him and to talk with him. The Lord has Eric in His sight, as well as each and every one of us individuals.

 

Also, at the Christmas Party I had a good talk with my last companion about my previous investigators! They are doing very well and at least one of them, if he is able to make it to church will hopefully be baptized this coming Sunday. I don't know if he came or not, but I am so excited for him! (He is the breakdancer that hadn't been to church in awhile and wanted to come to church again).

   The other investigator that we met for every day solid who was older is also doing well. He said that he should get baptized as well! I am so excited for them! They are the best!

 

Ahhh....Buddhism. Yep, it's not super common in America, but here in Korea, especially in the conservative areas, I would say about 30-40% of people are Buddhist (that is not a calculated percentage, but a mere estimate). Buddhism is a very philosophical religion. Some Buddhists believe in God and others do not. They believe in cycles and reincarnation. Specifically, they have Buddhist temples where the people go to worship. At the Temple the receive some sort of a new name and then they bow before the Buddha in the front, some scripture from the Buddhist text is read and then they use a hammer like thing on a bell or something that makes a musical ticking. People that I talk to that are Buddhist say that they are very peaceful when the go to the temple and they worship. However, most Buddhists that I talk to mention that the peace doesn't really follow them into the outside world. When they go to the temple they are peaceful, but when they leave it normally leaves as well. That's about all that I know. 

 

This week at the Christmas party we watched Home Alone and then had a Christmas Program (which was really good). We also watched Elder Nelson's talk from the Christmas Broadcast from the First Presidency. Elder Nelson taught about the peace that comes from Jesus Christ. Peace that can always be with us, in all our stages in life and in everything that we do and in our daily lives (of course within worthy places and living). I felt that peace that day throughout the program and have felt in so many times in the past 6 months that I can say that there is nothing that can counterfeit that true and continuing peace. There is nothing that can defeat it, except our own choices and our own neglect. Elder Cook gave a talk in the Conference before I left (April 2013) about personal peace. It very good! Peace comes through centering our lives around the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. He has shown us the way and through obeying Him we can receive that peace that transcends all else.

 

Merry Christmas! Ps. in the package is a scripture chain that you can read as a family. Just be warned that it will take probably half an hour...so choose when you want to read it. I was assigned the topic of keeping a Godly Perspective on missionary work and made the chain for that purpose! I hope you enjoy the gifts!!!! I love you so much!