END OF LIFE COMFORT

Hey mom and others,

Yes, our Sri Lankan investigator is still scheduled to get baptized on the 8th of March. He is amazing. Shines light. We have the interview on Saturday and then he will get baptized on Sunday. He is awesome!

Yeah, they [the family from the last letter] have some reservations, but they certainly are progressing very well (even if they don't say it :) ) They are the greatest family, and we are so excited to work with them and to help them into the Gospel...even if it is a little bit of a slower road!

This past week, we were only able to meet with the English teacher, and the Sri Lankan (His name is Shashika). 

The English teacher took us out to eat with his family :) So we were able to meet his wife and his son, that he has talked a lot about. His wife was really nice and the son LOVED us. By the end of the dinner he said that he wanted us to come to their home :) He is 11 and is so cute. We are hoping to help them into the Gospel by degrees!

Shashika went well. We taught with our ward mission leader and had to teach simply because English is his 2nd language, but it went well and he has the desire to make a promise with God through baptism.

Glad that things in Minnesota are doing well . I got the Birthday card from the ward relief society (or part)...Thanks! I really enjoyed it!

Investigators like the one close to death are in a tricky situation. He is really depressed all of the time, and his depression makes him try not to think about death, (which is the source of the depression) which, if not confronted or dealt with will just make him stall out his life in a depressed state. We are trying to help him realize the hope of the Gospel, but facing death makes him even more depressed, and so he doesn't respond as well as we hoped. We will try to help him read the scriptures and feel the spirit.

Thanks for the thought! 

This past week, I read again the verse in Alma 28:14: The great reason for sorrow is death and destruction and the great reason for joy is the light of Christ unto life. I know that that verse contains a precious truth. All of our sorrow and pain (of the heart) are in someway related to the death, or destruction, of some thing or relationship...etc., and on the flip side, all true joy has some connection to the light of Christ unto life. Joy that continues throughout life and does not receive much effect from the ebbs and flows of life. 

FAMILY IN MOKPO

Hey mother!

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 prayeth unto God,except he shall do it with real intent it profiteth him nothing.

 7 For behold, it is not counted unto him for righteousness." 

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 approaching God in prayer, you will come to know Him and draw ever nearer to Him.Your desires will become more like His."

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

INVESTIGATORS IN MOKPO

Hey mom and family-

The work is going well in Mokpo. We are working hard and relying on the Lord to help His children come to Him. So far we have not gotten any referrals, and we are teaching a few investigators right now. 

First, we are teaching a man that has a heart condition that has been determined as fatal within a short period of time (the time is not designated...he used the phrase "just around the corner"). We met with him last week and committed him to take the lessons from the missionaries again he accepted, and so today we will see if stays true to his word.

Second, we have two students that are learning English with us and about the church. Their main interest is English and so we will try to spur their interest in the Gospel and help them to come unto Christ.

There is also a man who teaches English at a local academy who once knew a member in our church and thereby began to be interested in the Gospel. He is pretty great, and has invited us to meet with his family, but fell through on Sunday.

Third, there is a last year middle school student that we met a few days ago after talking to him on the street. He is a great kid and showed us the background of his phone - a picture of Jesus. He is a great kid that attends church all by himself. He seems to be a little more of a thinker than most middle school aged kids and so we are hoping to help him to come to Jesus Christ.

Fourth, there is a Sri Lankan that we are teaching and his friend. We were not able to meet with them last week, but will be able to in the future.

There are some other potential investigators in the area, but so far, those are the only investigators that I have been able to meet with.

I am really glad that everything is going well in Minnesota! I hope that things continue to go well there! Hope your talk on music goes really well!!! 

This past week I thought a lot about the spirit, and the way that the spirit communicates to us. The spirit helps us know God's will for us in His plan to help us be as happy as possible in this life. The Spirit is a feeling that leads us to thinks that are good and to believe in Christ with greater desire and hope.

I hope this week that you can strive to feel the spirit more acutely in your own lives!!!

Have a wonderful week this next week!!!

By the way, next week, we will not have time to email because of the holiday in Korea.

Sorry.

Have a wonderful week!!!!

Elder William Strahl

FIRST WEEK IN MOKPO AND UPDATE ON SOME KOREAN FRIENDS

Hey!!!

Ok, so Mokpo is on the sea, and it is not a huge city, but I would say there is about 500,000 or so people that live here...and...6 missionaries, and 1 ward of about 60 people.

Gwangju has more members than Mokpo but is also bigger. The weather is a little bit different; because it is by the beach it is a little bit more humid down here...

The house is great, I get to live with a Korean for the first time on my mission!

The restaurant owners from my first area are doing well. Before I left, I talked to the daughter about the family and the mother does read scriptures with her daughter once in awhile, and I saw the son at church a few times here and there. I heard that the father (who didn't come back because of smoking) has been able to reduce his smoking.

The last that I heard from Eric he is done with High School, and was allowed to visit stake conference and the temple. Right now it should be vacation for him before his first year of college, which he will probably do before his mission.

Yeah...pictures. I do have some, but not of Mokpo yet. Things are really busy. Glad that everyone in the family is doing well!! Sounds like God is blessing us well!!!

As far as an update of the mission...

This is my last area, and I have 4 months here until the return trip to America.

This last area is really great. I have some relatives of people that lived in the previous wards that I have served in, so getting to know the members has been a relatively quick and simple thing. I don't have anything super exciting because I recently just moved here. sorry. ready to start my last area and work forward to the end! yep...that's about it.

Wow. Going back to America is going to be really weird. Right now Korea is in the 1960s but technologically in the 21st century. [I had told him about the Church's latest news conference about nondiscrimination]

Well, the things the prophets always say is that the world is getting further and further away from the church, and I have definitely seen that as I have served as a missionary. I never knew how important the Gospel was until I started to share it and go into the homes of those who don't have it. Frankly speaking, people who don't have the Gospel have nothing that they can really rely on (because everything else is either fake, or changes). But, the Gospel provides us with true principles that allow us to be happy in this life and happy forever. I know that the Gospel will help us in our quest to become like Jesus Christ and return to our Heavenly Father.

I love you all so very much!!!!

I hope that everything is going well in Minnesota! (Melissa mentioned how surprised she was that it has already been a year and a half!!!)

Love you all so much!!!

Have a wonderful week!!!

Elder William Strahl

GETTING TRANSFERRED TO MOKPO

Wow!!! Sounds like a great week!!!

 Sounds like the family is doing well all over the United States!!!

This past week was... interesting.

A lot of our investigators were unable to meet this week, but my companion and I continued to work through and do the Lord's work.

So, our investigator who had the baptismal date got a girlfriend...a very very very sketchy...met through the computer girlfriend...and so we talked to him for an hour about the Law of Chastity...and it never went in. He has had no confidence in his life, so getting a girlfriend is important to him...and he will do anything that she wants...we tried a lot to help him, but he is pretty stubborn about it. On top of that, he now has to work to get money to go on dates and stuff, so he won't be able to come to church for awhile...so he is... struggling.  But we still love him. We had a birthday party for him with the missionaries and it was his first ever birthday celebration (he's 26)...he asked us to come over today and talk to his mom...we will see how that goes...

*Korean culture: kids stay at home until they are married and then they leave the house (about age 28-31) 

We also met with an English academy teacher, who is doing well.

So transfer calls, JUST came, and I am going to Mokpo. It's on the coast (which means warmer...!) and there's a nice house. The missionary work is a little lacking...but that is what work is for!!!

Anyways, I love you all so much/.

My last companion taught me so much about everything...!

He is ...in every way, strategic, manipulative, and crazy smart. 

The thing that I learned most this transfer is simply how important and valuable experience is. It is what shapes who we are, and how we see the world in which we live in.

Read Helaman 5:12 and substitute family in for the pronouns. That is true. I know it is. 

I love you all soo very much!!!!!

Elder Strahl

4 DAYS WARM, 3 DAYS COLD

Hey mother and Family!

This week went by well!!!

Sounds like everyone in the family is doing well, and not too cold in Minnesota...!!! Here in Korea there is a joke that there are 4 days warm, then 3 days cold. It is very true!  Here it pretty warm for 4 days (in the 50s) and then pretty cold for 3 days (20s-30s). It is quite fun. The humidity here is what makes it feel so cold.

This week the investigator that was supposed to get baptized this Friday had to postpone his baptism. His struggling with lots of different things right now, but the core of the entire thing is really his family relationship. I talked to him extensively about why baptism is so important for us and our families and he eventually decided that it would be good if his entire family could come to church. So, we will be meeting his parents in the near future. Pray for us! They need the Gospel in their lives!!!

The family that was supposed to drive us punked (which is actually a Korean word meaning they didn't show up...it might be in English also???) anyways, that was sad, but we visited their home, so we can contact them later and help them to the Gospel!!!

The other family came again to church and we were able to have a lesson with them (they don't have a lot of Gospel interest, but they do have English interest) in English with the famous movie star that goes to our ward. It was good and their kids are literally the CUTEST things that I have ever seen. They are great!

The high school kid had to go with his parents somewhere and so he was unable to come to church yesterday. He's doing well and will come when he has time.

The investigator who lived in Utah with the LDS family went with us to the movie star's house for lunch. He is doing great, he is learning and wanting to know more about our religion. He is also working on referring his friends to us. He said that he would come to church (for the first time!) this Sunday. Hopefully he follows through!!!

Those are the investigators that we have that have good potential for progression to baptism. 

This past week I reflected a lot on the relationship that we as humans have with God. There is the direct relationship through prayer and scripture study and the indirect relationship through our relationships with others. The key teaching of the scriptures is that God comes first, before any other person. Which is why prayer, scripture reading, and going to Church are so vital for spiritual growth. If we do those things, then the relationships we have with others will take care of themselves!!!

Remember that prayer is direct communication with our Heavenly Father. If you pray as if everything that you prayed for would be granted, then you will be more careful in the words and attitude that you have. He lives and He loves us. Each and every one of us. I know that is true!!!

I love you all so much!

Have a wonderful week and I wish you success in all that you do!!!

Elder William Strahl

COMPASSION AND LOSING ONESELF

Hey mother and family!!!

Ok, time for a legit email... :)

Sounds like the family is all doing really well in the various places of the United States they are in.

The last two weeks have been a little bit hectic. One of investigators has had a baptismal date for 1/23 and so we have been working to help him get prepared, but he is getting buffeted by Satan. He is really struggling with commitment to the commandments and baptism by his date. We will help him and try to help him overcome the things that are holding him back. He is on a very fine plane right now--aka he can go one way or the other way...

We had a member bring a family to church that we were able to sit by and will be able to start to teach. They have THE CUTEST kids EVER. Their english names are David and Jenny and they are soooo adorable. We are excited to work with them and help them to come to Christ as a family!

We also met another family last night. They are wonderful, the husband told us that he hasn't attended church, but when he saw us, he felt something different, and so he agreed to drive us to church and attend on Sunday with his wife and daughter (she is mentally handicapped).! That is exciting.

We had our high school investigator come to church yesterday as well. He is doing well. He is quiet, but we hope that he liked church and that he will continue to come.

We have met a lot of new people the last little bit, including another member (same member) referral. Member referrals are the best:)

We have met our friend, Min,  and he is a very unstable person. He just doesn't have the confidence to give up the world and try to start coming to church which is sad. But we are helping him to see that church and belief in God is the best way to happiness.

This week went by well. I thought a lot about charity. Compassion is what helps us give to people without being tainted by the pride of giving just to give, or to give for our own benefit. 

There is a fine line in the balance of progression and pride. If we progress through prideful motivations, we cannot have charity, if we give up all prideful notions, and act without the thought of progression for ourselves, then we can have charity, which in all reality is the most valuable and lasting progression. All summed up in the scripture "He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his lifefor my sake shall find it."

Quite the balance... but I know that as we work out of a sincere love and compassion for people that we can learn things that we could never learn if we are focused on our own progression and obtainment. I love you all!!!

Elder William Strahl