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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