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| Hiking on P-Day |
Last Monday we went and ate some food, then played some board games at home and just kinda chilled. Pretty good time to just relax. After p-day, we went and visited Goose, Elder Saunders recent convert. His uncle died in the military (his officer shot him in the heart, he didn't know there was a real bullet, thought it was a fake...). So a couple of Sundays ago he was doing pretty bad. We visited him and reviewed the afterlife and Kingdoms of Glory with him. He is doing better, but we ended up spending over 1 1/2 hours with him... I didn't want to tell him to leave, but I hate killing more time than is allowed. Oh well, glad he is doing good.
Tuesday I skipped in the journal to get caught up to date (for the most part) so I can't really remember what happened, haha. We did a lot of jundo, got punked by a couple people, then later visited a recently reactivated member, although he attends in the Pusan mission, as his family lives there, but he works up here. He loves Elder Saunders, mainly because he's known him for so long (Elder Saunders got to Gireum area when I got to Korea... he is staying and training next transfer too ).... Since he didn't know me, we didn't really talk. That started me feeling like I want to stay in some places for a while, and actually have a relationship with the members. In Preach My Gospel it says to contact investigators daily... that's a bit much for me, but I feel like that's so you actually have a relationship with the person. That he just isn't another investigator, but an actual person that you want to help. But, guess I'll have to start fresh in Shin Chon, since I'm moving...
Wednesday we lived at the church. We did studies, then went to zone meeting. That was pretty good. talked about becoming more spiritual, and learning to recognize the spirit more. Pretty good stuff, feeling like that will help me a lot. After we met with a college student. He lived in Alabama for like 7 years, so he is pretty great at English. We talked with him, but he kept getting side tracked on other things. So we spent the whole hour trying to get him directed back to gospel, but he's too caught up in other things, and says he doesn't read... so who knows, maybe later he'll make time for us. Since he came from the U.S. culture to Korea, he is considered somewhat of an outcast. He sees how robotic the Korean culture seems to be, and how the people are all told to just fit in line (clothes, hair, lifestyle etc. ) Everybody seems the same, he feels. He hates that part. That was fun. Later, we picked up some pizza, came back to the church, ate for 20 minutes, and taught Angel, our recent convert. He is still doing good. Then we had English class... about fell asleep again, it can be so boring. Teaching 50 year old people who don't care at all about the gospel.... lame.
Thursday I went with Elder Eagar on a mini exchange. We just did studies, then worked together until 6:00-ish. Pretty good time. I love just talking with others. That seems to help most of my issues. He talked about how I'm just hitting the growing pains of my mission. Everybody goes through them, but you'll come out happy on the other side. Definitely true. The mission is great, but hard right now. I feel like I don't know enough Korean to be truly involved, but old enough to the point where I should be involved. Frustrating. Later, after getting with Elder Saunders again, we visited a less-active. Man, he had a nice home... he had 3 pianos, a huge flat screen, lived in the nicest apartments, and it was super huge. Freakin' rich guy. Super nice, used to be in the bishopric, ward mission leader, young mens leader, but lately he didn't believe in leaders, and is expecting a Joseph Smith like answer to his prayers... kinda sad, but super nice guy. Hopefully Elder Saunders can meet with him more.
Friday we did planning and studies, then jundoed. No good contacts for like 5 hours that night... not much to report there, except I'm learning a lot from stuff like that. Hard to explain over email.
Saturday we studied, then jundoed. Met a couple cool people. We met with Bek Joon Sang. He feels like he needs to know EVERYTHING about the gospel and our church before he makes his decision. He says he is making progress, but I honestly don't see it. It's probably a good thing I'm not meeting with him anymore, because I just wanted to shake him and tell him he doesn't need to know every small detail. He's worried about how many wards there are, and not whether The Book of Mormon is true.... I get a little fiery with him everytime we meet. We had English class after, then jundoed for a little bit before dinner. Then jundoed after. This jundo was a lot better. We met some super cool people, including Johnny. He is like 50, and super cool. He lived in Seattle for a couple years, and has been working here. Like the kid we met, he notices how everybody here isn't really happy . They may pretend, but they truly aren't happy. They all seem to fake it. He is super tired of the busy-ness here, and wants to just live in the mountains. He has a buddy in the states who is a Mormon, and loved his example. He noticed that we have something different and totally saw how the gospel could fit into his life. That was cool. Then got our transfer calls..... Everyone is staying here except me. I'm moving to 신촌 (Shin Chon) pronounced "sheen chone". That's where the temple is, and a lot of cool hang out spots. It's pretty much the heart of Seoul. The neighboring place, (Sin Dong/ sheen dong) has all the famous places, but Shin Chon is close. It should be a fun time. I'm kinda sad to leave here though. this transfer has been good to me. My house mates are super fun, the people we are working with are cool, and the area just flipped for me.
Sunday we had church, said goodbye to some people, then headed out. Played around with my wheels on my suitcase, switched some around, so hopefully they will work better. Packed up most of my stuff, while Elder Saunders studied. Then we jundoed for a little bit, and headed over to meet a less-active. We went with him to an orchestra thing that was going on that night. Holy smokes, I'll take Riley's driving over his. He was driving 30 kilos under the speed limit, drifting lanes, trying to find the place on his phone, making u-turns all over the place... a 20 minute drive turned into an hour drive. The orchestra wasn't bad, but not the best use of time. I love music though, even classical stuff. The drive back was 10 times worse...
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| Rasicst dog... barks only at us white folk. |
Love you all,
-Elder Mortensen
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