Mokpo is great. It is pretty warm here, except for the brisk ocean breeze that is always blowing here..
So, in Mokpo right now, some pretty exciting things are going on.
We have a Sri Lankan investigator that wants to get baptized in March on the 8th (a tentative date). His name is Shashika. He is working for Hyundai building boats here. He has a desire to follow Jesus Christ and to help his Sri Lankan friends accept Jesus Christ.
We also have a very exciting family that we are in the process of working with. The entire district is involved, so things have been going pretty well.
This family is great...the mother reminds me of Mrs. Mercado (Thielen) as a Korean, and is just as expressive. She and her husband both grew up in the same church...which was by definition a cult church. They were living in a church like community where they worked and labored for the church...which in the end was just supporting the leader. Anyways, she spent 20 years in this church and finally, with her husband (who was also a part of it) escaped, and was completely ostracized by her friends and family...everyone. They now run a coffee shop in Mokpo. They have one child. She is really curious about the church, but is a little bit afraid of getting too deep or too far into anything religious...she is afraid to find out that something that appears so good has an evil heart. She likes Mormon Messages as well as the Liahona and a lot of the other things that the church produces. Her husband also has a little religion interest as well as english interest, and thinks that the Gospel is interesting. We met the son for the first time this weekend and his parents have kept him out of religion because of their experience. But, the son wonders a lot about the soul. We taught him the plan of Salvation and he thought that it all made sense until the "after the spirit world" part. Without a religious background, the Bible doesn't really have too much of a pull on him, so showing him the degrees of glory in the Bible was not effective. He is a great kid with a great personality! If these three would join the ward, it would be so great. They are wonderful people and could contribute a lot to the forward progression of the church. She has already referred two of her friends to the missionaries and has plans to show people mormon messages that help families and couples, etc. They are great! Our ward missionary leader in a missionary coordination meeting was about to refer her to the missionaries, but my companion and the missionary that was here before me, had already met her just the week before. We are working hard to help them come to church and come to Christ!
We are also teaching an English academy teacher as well as the person close to death, along with few other fairly new investigators. We are working to bring them to Christ through the covenant of baptism!
I love you all so much!
This past week I had the opportunity to reflect on prayer. It says in Moroni that if our prayers are not with real intent, then God does not receive them. "for if he offereth a gift, or
Thus, it is important that we pray, with "real intent" which of course we all know is key in the last chapter of Moroni with his promise. Real Intent is key for the quality of our prayers. Real intent...has been communicated to me very clearly through learning a language. There are words, and then there is the intent behind the words. Thus, what are the intentions behind the words that we use when we pray? Are they real? Are they sincere? Truly, without 1% of insincerity, or simply what we "should desire" and not what we "really desire". I know that God will answer any prayer said with "real intent". He is God and His plan is different than ours, so the answer may not be in the way or at the time that we expect it, but He will answer it based on His Omniscience and His Omnipotence. I know that is true. I know that if anyone prays to know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God with real intent to find out if it is His word or not, God will answer the humble seeker through the power of the Holy Ghost which "carrieth it unto the hearts of men". Evaluate your prayers and exercise that wondrous gift called "agency" and make your prayers more sincere. I know that if you do so, the promise that is in True to the Faith will be realized in your life. "As you make a habit of approa
I love you all so much and wish you the best back there in Minnesota!!!
Love you soooo much!
Have a wonderful week!
Elder William Strahl
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