April 11, 2016 (Week 69)

April 11, 2016

Hey,

(Former) Elder Jung?
and Elder Mortensen

Monday, we didn't do much. We ate at a buffet then toured around downtown, since the other elders are gone for conference. So, we watched Korean politics on the street corners. (They have a cheesy theme song playing, and a bunch of college students/ supporters dancing around the intersection... pretty funny to watch.) At the end of P-Day, when we went back to the house... We realized we didn't have keys on us, so we were locked out of our house. We went to the church, tried to use the ladder, but it was too short as we live on the 3rd floor. We finally called a locksmith to come and get it open. That took a while to get done... freak.
Tuesday we went around to visit members to try and get them thinking about friends and family that they can invite to a music night we have.  The only problem is that they weren't home. So yeah,  that was fun. We just went all over the city for that one. We then we met 고영욱.  He really didn't care to talk about gospel, wanted English practice and to hang out.  It's kinda frustrating. We're debating dropping him, or keep trying to work things out with him.
Wednesday we went and had zone meeting, then a skills workshop for a couple more hours. That meant we sat at the church for 6 hours almost. Then we had dinner then talked with some members. That was about all for that day.
Thursday we made papers for our member visits, then went around finishing that up. We came back and had English class, as fun as ever
Friday nothing special.
Saturday and Sunday were just conference. Really great talks. Elder Duncan, Elder Bednar, Elder Christofferson, Elder Holland, and Elder Renlund. Great talks. Poor President Monson though, he looked rough.   Sunday, Elder Dixon (died my first transfer here) and Elder Jung (died my second transfer) came to Gangneung and said hi. Elder Dixon is here with family touring around Korea for a couple weeks. (I might steal his itinerary for when I come back, haha.) That was good to see him. He's a good friend.   We all ate a loooooot of meat for dinner that night. It was a good weekend, good time with friends.

Chow Time

Well, love you all,
-Elder Mortensen

April 4, 2016 (Week 68)

April 4, 2016

Ok, what happened this week....

Random Corn Gift

Last P-Day we ended up eating chicken and playing some games. pretty boring, but plans got switched around, so we couldn't do much else. After, we had a chat with our ward mission leader about less-actives... and man... he has a hard time remember anybody,  less-actives, investigators. It's pretty hard getting anything from him.  He offers to help teach, but doesn't remember our investigators names!  Family night was after that.
Tuesday, we went and made/delivered Thank You notes to members for coming to the Easter party. We're trying to focus on working with them more. Hopefully by visiting them more often, we can get better relations with them.  After that and English class, we headed up to a little town north 주문진.  We wandered around looking for less-actives all day.  Not much happened with that. The layout here is a nightmare. We came back and met 고영욱.  He came looking distressed and talked about how his uncle has cancer, and that his research project got denied by the government.  Sad, but it humbled him enough to pray. That was cool. It's been hard getting him to see the need for  religion, and hopefully that will help out. (His uncle is doing good now, all went well with surgery)
Wednesday, we had a really boring district meeting..... so boring..... then we went around town again to talk with people and visiting some members.  That night we met the lady that we knocked on her door. We had dinner together at some burger place down by the sea.  Pretty good meal, she seems to have some potential too. (It took 14-ish phone calls to get everything worked out with no males coming to the diner too.) That was cool.

Chillin' on the Roof

Thursday, we went to find some less-actives that we know exist, then went up to the college to meet some people. We ran into 고영욱 and talked for a minute. That was cool, but nothing else really cool up there, just fun to be in a town full of college students.
Friday we planned, then did English class, then rode 3 buses, got told 4 different ways to go get to the lake, and eventually ended up riding our bikes 30 minutes both ways to get to the lake to visit some people. So frustrating having bus drivers telling us to cross the road to get the right bus, then hopping on, just to be told that it was wrong again... good night.
Saturday was just walking around some more, and Sunday was church then getting cancelled on by people... good times.

Well take care,
-Elder Mortensen

March 28, 2016 (Week 67)

March 28, 2016

Ok, this week....

Tandem Bike Ride

Monday we rode around the famous lake in our city, on tandem bikes! That was pretty sick! I got to sit in the back and play with the camera most of the time. That was pretty fun. We did that, then went and played on the beach for a little bit. We took some pretty cliche pics, just for the fun of it haha After, we met Kim Dohng Bum, and talked about the Plan of Salvation.  He won't commit to baptism, because he wants to work on Sundays... So, get him to quit smoking, drinking, and lottery, and pretty soon he won't have to work on Sunday! Pretty good lesson, sad that he won't commit just yet. Pretty fun day overall.
Tuesday we went, taught English class... lame....   Then we met 이수훈. He is a 15 year old kid, and it was really awkward.  He came late, and when he came, he said hi to us and this girl that was in the same intersection. Turns out his sister was waiting for him too. He acted really weird, so we couldn't figure out if 1) it was him and 2) what to do.  So we gave them a church tour, and then bought them ice cream and invited them to the Easter party and church.  The most awkward lesson of my life. They were really weird.  After we met Go Young Ook. He is our 29 year old buddy. Super cool, had a good lesson about the Plan of Salvation.
Wednesday, we had district meeting then I went on exchanges with Elder Kim She Hyun. Good guy, we didn't do much.  It was raining, we had to catch the other elders to give them their phone, he had to do district leader stuff, then we had movie night.  Once again, Kim Dohng Bum and his buddies came.. (They're more reliable than the members here... I love these guys!)
Thursday, we rode buses up to Sok Cho, then rode them back and had English class. Not much else happened that day.
Friday, we had planning, then English class, then we taught Go Young Ook again. This time he had a lot of English questions, and didn't seem too interested in gospel topics.  It seems like he does this for Korean practice for us, doesn't really personalize it. Love this guy, but he's a struggle as an investigator.
Saturday, we did Easter stuff. We prepped, taught English class, then prepped more, and actually did it. As the "assistant to the district leader" (since he lives an hour away in another area), I kinda do things down here.  I realized I hate talking to crowds and having to lead the show, but it went over well. We played water balloon games, then a bunch of Minute-To-Win-It games.  We had about 20 people come, 4 non-members (One sister brought her sister, and Kim brought his buddies :D) Super cool.

Playing at the beach

Sunday was church, then we rode a bus 40 minutes to meet Michael.  He lives in the middle of nowhere,  in his 50's, lived in the US for 20 years, so fluent still at English. We had a great talk with him. He seems pretty interested. Can't really explain him, but he is a REALLY interesting guy. That took

up most of our night.

Well, take care, happy Easter,
-Elder Mortensen

March 21, 2016 (Week 66)

March 21, 2016

One of the Natives?

Ok, quick email, my computer froze up for a little bit, so I don't have a lot of time left...

Things have been kinda slow lately, people have been busy, but we managed to meet 이상준 for the first time with Elder Hall... that was good.  Things are just kinda going right now...  

Monday- We made hockey sticks and played newspaper hockey for family night.  That was pretty fun.

Tuesday- We studied, then had English class, then we went back to the church to work on Easter invitations for our activity we have planned. We did that, ate chicken, then tried to clean the carpet, since we scuffed it up during family night. That took a little while to do.

Wednesday - I was with Elder Cazier on exchanges. We didn't do much, had tacos, talked with people, then had movie night. We had  Kim Dohng Bum come to that as well, that was pretty good.

Thursday - We rode buses to Elder Cazier's area, then rode it back, ate dinner, then had English class... what a lovely day.

Seamarq Hotel

Friday - We planned, taught English, then I went with Elder Ellingford to a couple of his appointments because of schedule conflicts. We taught at the SEAMARQ hotel (look it up... cheapest place is 5000 a night.) Super nice.

Saturday - We met Lee Sahng Joon for the first time in a couple weeks, he is doing good, didn't do much after that it seemed.

Sunday - We walked around.

Yeah, that's about all for my week,

-Elder Mortensen

Cleaning Scuff Marks