February 5, 2015 (Week 7)

February 5, 2015

More fun in class

Week 7 has come and gone and I don't remember half of it, haha Days just blend now that we are so close to leaving this spiritual prison. but on the plus side, we got 10 more native Koreans who came in on Monday, so it's been fun getting to know them. They are all going to Seoul or Seoul South, so we will be with them most of time. They brought some Korean ramen, and oh man, they were the best things I've had in 7 weeks, besides homemade pumpkin cookies :)


Friday was pretty routine, except for TRC we skyped with native Koreans for the first time. We talked with Hyueng (?) about The Book of Mormon and restoration. Turns out he lived in Korea, and now lives across the street from our teacher. That was disappointing to hear we weren't talking to native Koreans, but it was still a good experience.

Saturday was pretty fun. It started out with us getting a sack breakfast and waiting in line for it for 20 minutes. Elder Cazier threw a little fit over how its not worth it to wait in line, etc. A couple people called him out for complaining so much. We still mention it, because it was so funny to watch. He threw his breakfast against the wall and said he would rather starve than eat this... We all offered to eat it for him. That has been my MTC experience with him in a nutshell. We got sidetracked during additional study in the morning, so we got on the church maps and looked at the street view of the Seoul Temple, then "walked" around Seoul. That was fun, but now I'm super excited to go there. We have been counting down the days now that we are down to like 11 days now. Crazy how time flies.  I got some packages from Joleen again, and from you guys. That was awesome to get, thanks for that again.  For class we learned how to bear testimony, which is useful now for actually being able to say things from the heart.  For night class we have a rough investigator who still doesn't know if he wants baptism,. But Elder Cazier kept trying to force it. That was frustrating, especially because every time I tried to steer it back, I would freeze up and not be able to say anything. That's my biggest problem right now is just freezing up in the middle of lessons.

Sunday was Fast Sunday, so not much happened in the morning. I took a 30 minute shower, because I could for the first time here, then went off to meetings, then mission conference. I sat by Hayden, which was the last time I saw him before he shipped out the next day. Best of luck to him. Mission conference was alright, one speaker would be great, the next, not so much.  Regular devotionals are Tuesday and Sunday nights from 7-8. The speakers could be anyone from apostle to BYU VP of some area. Every other hymn though is "Called to Serve", which gets old really fast. They need to mix it up some more, haha.   Testimony meeting in Sacrament started out with actual testimonies, but slowly turned into just people introducing themselves. It was kinda sad to watch the spirit slowly go away. Night devotional wasn't anything special.

Monday I got Dear Elders from Brad and dad, which was awesome. Thank you dad for the multiple letters, and thank you mom and Brad for the letters you sent. They brought a smile to my face. By the way, do whatever with the ties mom, see if Riley wants them.   At night we were supposed to teach a less active member, but I couldn't even talk about prayer during a role play.  That almost put me over the edge. I wanted to just walk out of class and away from everyone. After the lesson I just sat there and read hymns to myself. I love hymns and the lyrics, if you actually pay attention to them. Korean hymns make sense a little bit here and there, but for the most part I'm still lost on them. They don't sound too much different, but then again, I can't really read the lyrics, haha.

Tuesday was pretty regular, except I got better at talking during lessons. The Lord has blessed me and I've been able to be better at saying what I want to say, and help steer the conversation when it gets off course. Night devotional was more talks on commandment and obedience. Not gonna lie, it's getting kinda old. It's like there is nothing else to the gospel. I've heard maybe one talk on the Atonement, none on The Book of Mormon or restoration it seems like.

The next day was pretty fun. We directed traffic again, and danced during it to have fun during it. It was fun to see families start laughing and pointing at me. I guess one of the new Korean elders said that us dancing helped him to calm down and realize it would be cool here. I got some letters after that from mom and dad, which were sweet to get. Never underestimate the power of writing. So when someone says write the missionaries, do it. It's freaking sweet.  For class nowadays we have been just reviewing over simple things, like forms we will hear, but they aren't vital to us being able to speak. It's been kinda a nice break to just review and polish our simple Korean.

Today has just been temple, gym and laundry so far, we will have to see what the night brings.

Take it easy and have a good week,

--nesnetrom redle

"Finding" 7-11's with the church meeting house locator

Turns out they have 7-11s in Korea.. who would of guessed? That was my big find while "strolling" in Seoul, haha.