TRADITIONS OF THE FATHERS!!!

This week we had a pretty good week with our investigators. By the way, the coldest it was in Korea this week was 40 degrees! Spring is here!

First, we met with our English investigator of course! He is doing really well. We have come up with better ways to teach to his learning style and to help him to learn the Gospel. He is great. He loves us a lot and said that he would receive baptism after a little while. He is slowly progressing...but progressing nonetheless.

The Gwangju investigator was unable to meet last week but he is going to meet with us today! He likes us a lot though! He sent us a picture of his grandmother's house in Gwangju to show us where he was! The house actually had grass, so it was a little nicer! (Seeing grass...real grass...was interesting!)

Eric is doing so well. We don't know much about how his friends are doing, but he blesses the sacrament yesterday and is just such a light to everyone! He's so great!

We met the politician again and he had a friend there, so we were able to teach both of them which went pretty well. She was Catholic but understood our message very clearly. She lives in Taejeon, so we will probably refer her to the elders there.

We also met a new family (2 sons) that want to learn English. They are fine with us teaching about the Gospel so we will meet them once a week on Sundays to teach them english and to teach them the lessons. They don't have any particular Gospel interest, but with the Spirit that will hopefully change. It is exciting to have a potential family to help into the kingdom of God. I can see them being very successful and great members.

Hahaha....I had to laugh to myself a little bit about the Buddhist question because literally 50-60% of the people that we meet are Buddhist. Buddhist is a Chinese religion but Korea is basically an offshoot of China. Really, 70% of the Korean language comes from chinese characters. The religion of Korea before missionaries came in the late 1800s early 1900s was Buddhism. Many people say they are Buddhist "through tradition" and one person even told us that Buddhism was the basis of Korean culture. People here have heard about God and about churches, but they don't think about them at all, or know anything about them. Anyways, Buddhist people are normally set in the ways of the "traditions of their fathers" and so it is very difficult to find and teach Buddhists unless they have a pre-existing curiosity in God. Yep, just like the Nephites of old, I am trying to convince people of the false traditions of their fathers...but, that is why we have the Book of Mormon, which God clearly explains in Doctrine and Covenants: "And for this very ^apurpose are these ^bplates ^cpreserved, which contain these records—that the ^dpromises of the Lord might be fulfilled, which he made to his ^epeople;  20 And that the ^aLamanites might come to the knowledge of their fathers, and that they might know the ^bpromises of the Lord, and that they may ^cbelieve the gospel and ^drely upon the merits of Jesus Christ, and be ^eglorified through faith in his name, and that through their repentance they might be saved. Amen."
I love you all so much. I really enjoyed your thoughts about charity. The thought that came to my mind was that through such letting go of ourselves, we become one. Charity is the pure love of Christ and was greatest made manifest in the Atonement which is the act which allows us to be one with Christ and God. (I am Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who was ^acrucified for the sins of the world, even as many as will ^bbelieve on my name, that they may become the ^csons of God, even ^done in ^eme as I am ^fone in the Father, as the Father is one in me, that we may be one. D&C 35:4) (also Now let us Rejoice verse 2)

Thank you for everything! I love you all so much! I hope that you enjoy the pictures! Have a wonderful week!

HOW ARE YOU?

We have been doing well in Korea.

The English teacher has been unable to meet this past week. We took him by a gift and hopefully we will be able to meet him more this coming week!

The every day invitation turned out to be an "every other day" invitation, but he is doing so well. We are so excited to teach him. When we talked to him about his dad he said that right now is not the right time and then intimated that his father would attend after he started attending (which he promised to start attending in June...but we are working to help him realize that he can go now). He understands really well!

The politician is doing well. He went to the Phillipines this week, so we weren't able to meet. But, by the grace of God we met him on the street and were able to talk and set up another appointment!

Jason continues to elude; although we called him and saw him another time (by the grace of God) and he seems to want to meet us later. He has a lot of potential, so we are hoping to meet him later and help him in his journey to find the way to God.

We met two more investigators this week!

The first called the sisters off of an English advertisement and was a former investigator from 2010. He is a great person and has the general Korean culture dream (to own Tony Stark's car in Ironman and make enough money for his wife to spend a lot of it...) He believes in "himself" or whatever he thinks is good, and seems to be willing to try to believe in God. We are excited for him!

The other person is a true miracle. We had him referred from Gwangju...and he lived in the area that I last served in! He has so much Gospel interest it really makes our other investigators pale in comparison. We met him first at a dinner appointment where we talked to him a little bit more about Joseph Smith and the Book Of Mormon. Taught him how to pray and he prayed in teh restaurant on the spot. After we ate he asked if he could go to the church! We took him to the sacrament meeting room and (because Koreans love to sing) we sang with him Joseph SMith's first vision (which we had recently just talked about) as well as some other good hymns. He felt the spirit and had his troubled heart (because of friends) calmed down. He is really excited to meet us again and we are planning on taking him to a FHE with two of the greatest families in the ward this week! Super excited.

This past week we had stake conference. At stake conference, the Area Seventy and one of the Quorum of the Seventy spoke to us. It was good, to say the least. The Seventy was Japanese, so it was translated from Japanese to Korean at the pulpit, which was great. The messages were really good.

Particularly, the Area Seventy spoke about Elder Packer and his son. Elder Packer's son got into a car accident which caused the car to smoke and flame. Elder Packer said that his son called him and told him about the car. Elder Packer then responded, that's ok. But how are you? Again his son tells him about the wrecked car. Again Elder Packer responded "But how are you?" He then explained that one of the reasons that Elder Packer's son called him was to hear his father's voice and be comforted. His son sought his voice. He then told another story similar in nature of someone at a hospital. The underlying message was seeking our Heavenly Father's voice. When things are maybe not as they should be, we should seek our Heavenly Father's voice. In like manner, Heavenly Father's greatest concern is not the things that are going on, but us. We are His children and He cares for us. His purpose is to enable us to become like Him.

The Gospel Principles book states that God does not do anything that does not further us to become like Him (which makes sense because that is His purpose). That also includes doing the things that He does not do. Which goes to show the importance of agency. The things that He does not prevent because of the importance of agency in His plan. Also, thinking on the Plan of Salvation, God has done everything, absolutely everything for us in order for us to receive salvation. He has done His all to prepare the way, the question is whether or not we will do our all to travel the way.

I also came to the realization or was reminded of the fact that we need faith in God and Jesus Christ. For life eternal is to know God and Jesus Christ. Which points out the great tragedy of the great Apostasy, which at its heart corrupted the very central principle needed for eternal life-namely, the correct understanding of the nature and characteristics of God--namely, the very basis on which Jesus Christ Himself said that eternal life is based. The Restoration was needed!

I love you all so very much! You are a light to me even though I am not with you...I smile all the time when I think about you! I love you so much!

Have a wonderful week and enjoy the pictures!!!

CLEANSING AND SOAP!!

Hello Mother!!!

 It's great that you have an opportunity to clean the temple. When I was at BYU the most solid people in my ward were those who worked in the temple. That is a very sacred and wonderful privilege. You probably already know this, but the temple presidents can not move furniture at all (even to the slightest degree) in a temple. They have to get directions from President Monson! That is how sacred it is.

I love the comments by the return missionary. As I am reading the Book of Mormon in Korean there are soooo many things that have stood out to me that I have never noticed or connected before. Korean is a very structured language, so the language sorts all of the commas out that are in English. One quick example is in Jacob 2 (verse 2). I never realized that Jacob preached that sermon to the people inside of the temple. When I read it in Korean there was the preposition 안으로 which literally means to the inside (the internal). The English has the word "into". Something that I had never realized before. I have also learned a lot from the word choice that they use when describing certain English words. I love the scriptures so much!

This past week the Lord blessed us with some wonderful opportunites and some...faith building...experiences. Our investigator pool widened mercifully this past week. We met a former investigator who teaches at a local english academy who seems to have really great long term potential. We saw him on the street the other day and he told us to "proclaim the one true Gospel" with energy in his voice. He's really great and we are excited to continue to teach him the Gospel!

We also met again someone that we had met before who has lots of time to meet. The second time that we met him (28) and preparing for a test to become an administrator, he told us that he wanted to meet often, and later he texted us with a feeling of "Even if you came every day, that would be good!" So, we went the next day and taught him the first lesson, which he soaked up more than the discussion that we had previously. Right now he has lots of good desires, but he hasn't found the way to act according to what he knows (which hits all of us to a certain extent...) and so we told him that through the Book of Mormon and the church he could find that strength that he needs. He also told us that his father is looking for a religion right now, which prompts the potential of another investigator.

We met with the politician again and had a really good lesson with him. So good. We testified of simple truths (God is our Heavenly Father. We can communicate with Him through prayer) and the spirit was strong. He said that he's lived 60 years a certain way, but that he would try to come to know and believe God. So we will continue to teach him again...which is really exciting!

We had a miracle with Jason this week (the one who attended church last week). We were going to a nearby college to advertise our english program (the freshman came to school last week) and realized that we didn't have our stapler. So, we started walking across the street to a paper supplies store. Right before we got to the supplies store we saw the sisters, so we went over and talked to them. As we were talking, Jason rode past on his bike. He stopped and we had a really really good conversation with him. He said that he couldn't come to church, but also that he had already read through 1 Nephi 13! The irony of the whole situation is that I had taken my bag that didn't even have the advertisements in it. Before we had gone, my companion asked me if we had some, and I told him that we did (I didn't look down, but in my mind I had on the other bag) and so if any of those small things had not happened, we would not have met Jason. It was a great experience and both us and Jason walked away smiling!

This past week was the thirty year anniversary of the church in the city that I am serving in. So, there was a great celebration and a fireside. It was a great opportunity to see the difference in the ward through all the years, and also the similarities in the ward through time. I really really love this ward so much. They are so wonderful!

The English investigator came to church again and had a really fascinating time! In Elder's quorum there was a good discussion about the appropriate way to help your children know they need to repent (pretty much the old physical vs. other punishment). I thought it was funny that one of the people noted that from talking to American missionaries, one method of punishment was making their kids eat soap (which I have experienced...). I don't think they really undersood though, because when the other people heard that they thought it would kill the child. I don't think they quite understood that it isn't a lot and it isn't straight up eating, but anyways, I laughed a little inside. But that's beside the point. In Korea the pastors all tell people what to do and they do it. Well, our investigator was thoroughly impressed with the way the discussion went and the different sides all allowed to express their views and the final decision being placed in the decision of the person. He loved that! And then, during sacrament meeting (when he wasn't asking me questions about English...) he said at one point about the speaker's talk "we're in the same boat". He was very edified at church and I am really glad that he had a great experience. He told us that he came while his wife was sleeping...so he still has to tell his family that he actually does have Gospel interest, but he is very slowly progressing. He is the best. We love him so much.

We also received a referral from another area as well as one from the sisters, so it looks like we will have our work cut out for us this transfer. The Lord loves us and has blessed us with this wonderful opportunity!

Recently, I have been hit by the phrase "depths of humility". Specifically, as mentioned in one of my favorite scriptures (Mosiah 4:11). I have come to more fully understand that the depths of humility does not in any way nor means mean weakening--to any degree. Another one of my favorite scriptures, Mosiah 15:7 shows the depths of humility of Christ. At another part of the scriptures, D&C, comments about humility are thus "Learn of me, listen to my words, walk in the meekness of my spirit and you shall have peace in me." and "Let all things be done in humility, trusting in me, reviling not against revilers".The depths of humility is the point where we have given everything to the Lord. The point where the Lord is able to pour out His spirit and give us strength that "is not known among man". It is hard and sometimes it must be learned through experience, but when we rely on the Lord with an eye single to His glory, that is when we are able to what we desire, but only when it is the Lord's will...which molds and shapes us in our journey as we try to obtain the mind and will of Christ for us. Like Christ did. "I am Jesus Christ, I came by the will of the Father and I do His will." That is the depths of humility. "I am Elder Strahl, I came by the will of the Father (to Korea), and I do His will". Not my will, but thine be done. And if by His will, then by His power (Moroni 7:33).

I know this is the Lord's work! I love it! I know that God lives and knows each of us!

I love you so much! Have a wonderful week!

PICTURE FROM SCHOOL VISIT AT GONG JU!

Hi, Sister Strahl, How are you? ^^
Here's a photo of Will, his companion, Elder Wager and I at my school! They visited our school this morning!!! One of the English teacher in my school is a member of our church and she invited them so that they can talk about lives in America and tell the students what they are doing here in Korea.
I didn't get to be there in class as a student, but my schoolmates said they had a great time with them. Will really enjoyed it too. Apparently my schoolmates were really surprised when he told them that he and I used to go to same highschool. haha.
Will is so awesome! He's one of the greatest missionaries I've met. It's still pretty awkward when I speak Korean with him so we use English when we talk, but he's really good at Korean. And he helps me alot with questions I have about scriptures. He's amazing!

— with William Strahl.

PRESENTATION AT ERIC SUNG'S SCHOOL!!!!

Hello Mother and Family!

Sounds like the new Minnesota (as compared to the usual colloquial old...) home is doing great! Reid will do great things at BYU-I and I think that he will really like it! It's a very good school for him! Has he decided on a major? Yeah, Christian emailed me to brag, and I had an (yep, that's my brother) moment. Snow...haha. Spring comes pretty early in Korea. Pretty much March 1st is when people say that it is spring time and it is. It is usually in the high 50s every day with lots of sun (when there isn't black sand blowing in from China....)! Charlotte will adapt well and will do great things in Arizona. And, if you can switch jobs every six weeks (that's a transfer by the way) then I feel like there's not much that you can't do. She will be so prepared by the time she's done!

I do not know Sister Hangano, sorry. I will keep my ears peeled for her name.

Charlotte sent me a picture of the facebook post...and yeah, Eric is wonderful. There's a little bit more to the story, though. When I first came to the ward, Eric was sitting there [off by himself] doing his duty to God in English. As the weeks have passed and he has learned and continued to soak up the Gospel. Last week he was ordained a priest and yesterday he was able to bless the sacrament for the first time. He also bore his testimony to the ward.

   There was more to the presentation. First of all it was an English class. She called and asked if we would come and teach them a little about the pioneers and life of America, etc. My companion and I called the teacher and asker her if there was anything that we couldn't do or say. She said there wasn't. So, we brought a bag full of Book of Mormons and basically planned to teach the first lesson. (It's a private school of the smartest kids around). The presentations went so well. It was great because the teacher asked us to translate only the section of the first lesson (First Vision and after) into both Korean and English so that the students could not misunderstand. It was so wonderful to be able to tell it in both languages! We then talked about the migration and the persecution, the teacher had a wonderful Mormon tabernacle choir movie (Come Come ye Saints) which we showed, and then at the end we asked them Why? Why would the pioneers do this? And then we taught a little bit about the Book of Mormon and then took questions and by that time the 50 minutes were up. It went really well.

    The part that Eric didn't tell you was that 6 of the people that we taught (who were all his age) came up and asked for Book of Mormons which we readily gave out. I was talking to one of them and he told me that he was Eric's roommate. He said that he had seen Eric reading this book all the time. I can't tell you how big I smiled inside. Anyways, I told all of the classes to talk to Eric if they had any questions or wanted to more...and they did.

   In his testimony, Eric talked about the opportunity that he had to share the Gospel with his friends. In his testimony he said that he came to realize how wonderful of an opportunity it is to be able to share the Gospel to friends. I cannot tell you of the joy that this opportunity has given me in the past week. He was so happy to have the opportunity to talk to his friends about the church and why he attends. Also in this testimony he opened up to the ward and told them a little more about him. I love him so much.

On top of that, we had two investigators who came to church! One of them was the English investigator, who is slowly realizing that there is a lot more to this church than he originally thought. The members are working great with him because he has very complicated questions that although we can try to explain in Korean and English...don't quite get into his brain. He is very happy though, and the difference that I have seen in him is great. We also met Jason an 18 year-old kid this past week who said that he wanted more faith and that God had prepared a way for him. We met him, taught him the first lesson and he has been reading the Book of Mormon and came to church yesterday. We also found another Nepal person who seems very friendly and will hopefully work well with the other Nepali person that is very prepared for baptism.

Yep, I cannot say much more than Ammon about this as he did in Alma 26:11. "Yea, behold, I do not boast in my own strength, nor in my own wisdom, but behold, my joy is full, yea, my heart is brim with joy, and I will rejoice in my God!" I can't tell you of the opportunities that have "lined" up with Eric in the last little bit. Timing has been exact, and I definitely have a testimony as Einstein once said "God does not roll dice". The people that you know are in your life for a reason. There are people that you know that can have the joy of the Gospel. The Atonement is real. I also want to share another special verse. "Pray always, and I will pour out my spirit upon you, and great shall be your blessing--even more than if you should obtain the treasures of the earth and corruptibleness to the extent thereof." Praying grants blessings greater than anything that we can obtain on the earth. Do we treat it that way?

I love you all so much! Have a wonderful week in Minnesota!!!

With Love,

William