November 23, 2015 (Week 49)

November 23, 2015

Hows it going?
This week was a pretty quiet week.

Group Pic

Monday we played soccer in Nokbeon for P-Day, with 14 other missionaries. It was pretty fun. Teams of 4, first goal wins.  That got pretty intense, and my feet got wrecked.  I haven't exercised like that in forever.  For sure I'm going to do indoor soccer when I get back. That's probably the funnest sport out there, tied with outdoor soccer, haha (yes, there is a difference!) We did that, shopped, then headed out for the day. I went on splits with Elder Lujan, a greenie.  Greenies are funny. It's kinda fun to say "go talk with that grandpa" and they look at me surprised, then go do it. I can't believe I was like that at one time, haha.  After that, we met Ee Yoon Heng (이윤행)  이 is Lee in English but really pronounced Ee. (fun fact).   We talked about the restoration a little, but he got sidetracked on other stuff in the gospel.  He really likes learning about the church, not sure on the acting on the doctrine part. He's super nice and cool though. I can see him being a good member if he gets baptized.

Tuesday we had a kimchi fest! Us and 40 other missionaries went and made kimchi for a welfare center.  That was pretty fun. Luckily I didn't get judged hardcore again, but the grandmas would call us over then stuff a mouthful of kimchi in us.. man, that stuff is strong when fresh! Super tasty though. Got to say hi to a couple old Gireum buddies, like Elder Saunders. It's always fun to see him again.  He has been in Gireum since I got to K

orea (7 transfers, 9 months)... He is pretty well known in the mission for being there forever haha.  So we did that for a couple hours, ate lunch, then headed off.  We met Kim Dong Ho, our pastor buddy. We went through the Plan of Salvation, then we had English class to end the night.

Wednesday I was with Elder Jung Ui Gun.  He is the happiest, funniest Korean I've ever met.  We had a good time together.  We taught Lee Yoon Heng  again, and got through the whole first lesson. he accepted a soft baptismal commitment!  He is super cool and I really like him.  We also taught Jo Jin Suk.  He is really quiet guy, and the member we teach with and he went a bit off topic. We tried talking about the restoration, then the member went off on the Plan of Salvation, and talking about the DNA similarities of Korea, Japan, and China... members are good, but need to be reigned in a little bit... Jo is nice, but lives out of our mission, so we need to refer him over... bummer.  That night I was the only American, with 3 Koreans, and yet it was one of the funnest nights I've had this transfer.  They were all super funny, although I didn't catch a lot.  I know nothing about music, or movies or stuff like that... kinda keeps you out of the loop... but they helped a lot with my Korean.

Stadium

Thursday we jundoed, then had missionary ward leader meeting, then  jundo... pretty boring day..... not much happened.

Friday I went with Elder Bluhm (pronounced bloom).  We went to the American military base for a dinner invite... so I had chicken haystacks and root beer floats!  That was cool. Their third kid, loves sports... and is named Garrett!  That was pretty trippy.  He would give me play-by-plays for football games, haha.  Really nice family, although there were like10 kids over there... I keep trying to like kids, but they don't help their case, haha. That was a pretty fun night though.

Saturday we studied, ate lunch with a less active, then helped some guy with computer programming. Elder Bluhm loves that stuff, so he wants to help people, and start a computer class for people to come to. Man, I don't understand that stuff at all. Looks kinda cool, like one big puzzle, but I don't understand it at all, haha. Kinda fun to learn a little though.  We did that, then went to a music night, that a different area put on.  That was a fun time, a lot of missionaries there too. I got to say hi to them. They always just brighten my day, seeing old friends again.  Too bad a lot of my buddies are on the coast... but the ones here are cool too.

Sunday was alright. I decided to fast, and it was a great experience. I haven't had a good one in a while, but this really helped me feel peace.  It reminded me of Mosiah 24:14-15.  That was the highlight of my day...

Love you all,

-Elder Mortensen

November 16, 2015 (Week 48)

November 16, 2015

So this week,

Temple Visit

Monday we didn't do much, went to Dong De Moon so Elder Ashby could get some shirts.  I looked at some coats for winter, but didn't get anything... yet.  I picked up a pretty good coat in this house, so I'll use that until it doesn't work anymore.  After P-Day, we had a couple appointments canceled, so we walked around all night and did some calls.

Tuesday we went on a mini exchange with one of the APs. We taught Kim Dong Ho, and mainly it was just Kahng In Ho that taught most of it... us, nor the members really talked much. Good lesson though, Kim really liked it. Kinda hard though. Since he is a pastor, he can't really make it out to church... Catch 22 right now... He really likes reading the Book of Mormon though. We did some jundo with Kahng after, then he took off. That night was just English class. Pretty boring again.... teaching 60 year old guys who think they are already pro at English isn't that fun... especially when you are the only one teaching. Elder Ashby is helping all the white people learn Korean, so it's just me pretty much.

Wednesday I was with Elder Judd. He and Elder Han Jung Suk and the other people in our house. They both just moved in.  Elder Judd is fresh from America. He is from Syracuse Utah.  Elder Han lived in Draper for several years, so he's pretty much fluent in English, kinda nice. So we went on exchanges, which consisted of riding the subway to 4 different places to give members some treats, since it was PePeRo day. PePeRo is pretty much just a big candy company. So imagine a Hersey's day in America, where you go nuts with buying people Hershey's bars. So we did that, kinda took a lot of time, but was kinda fun.  We would stop by, and they would start laughing that we cared about PePeRo day, since nobody really celebrates it. Kinda fun to see them start laughing when we pulled out the PePeRo. (In America its usually called POCKY sticks, pretty good).  That night, we taught Lee Yoon Heng. He called us up, and wanted to meet. Turns out it was for a class interview thing, he wanted to interview us about our beliefs. So we kinda gave him a basic overview for his class, then agreed to meet, to actually teach, not just help his class out.  Nice guy though, he was really funny.

Thursday we finally had a meeting with a ward mission leader.  They finally called us one.  We met with him, and the first thing he said was "why are there no baptisms here?", which is weird, because the bishop told us the day before that members shouldn't ask that. He wants to focus on less-actives and retention, not just baptizing.  You wouldn't believe how many less actives there are.  Only 150 active members and about 500-ish less active... and about 80% of them have moved, changed their number, or nobody knows who they are... almost impossible to keep track of them. so yeah... kinda getting pulled two ways, not one way with bishop and ward mission leader... ought to be interesting... I would rather trust the bishop though.  Other than that, we didn't do much, just some jundo and calls.
Friday we just jundoed and did weekly planning.  We had dinner with other missionaries, and a member, that was kinda fun.

Korean War Memorial

Saturday, in the afternoon we met Jo Jin Suk, who called us and wanted to meet. We met him and had a good talk, that was a fun.  After that, we went back to the house, so we could make three batches of cookies for English, and our investigator.. so that killed a lot of time... later, running late to Lincoln and Ellie's.

Not a lot of time, but things are going okay. Kim and You are still meeting us, which is great!

Love ya,
Elder Mortensen

November 9, 2015 (Week 47)

November 9, 2015

This week....

Halloween Party

I spent Monday night through Wednesday in Nokbeon again!  That was fun.  I love it there. It's changed a lot since I've been there, but still felt like home. I got to talk with Elder Apigo a lot, and man, it's kinda weird being not the youngest. It's weird giving advice, and saying the same things that I hated hearing about the language, missionary
work.  He's a great guy though. He's one of those guys that you can't be sad around.  He just makes everyone happy.

Wednesday we got trained on working with members, which I'm starting to realize how important that really is. Members are like those people you meet, and then you see them everywhere.  This week we taught a couple lessons with members, and now I remember their names, and see them everywhere.  It also gives them a chance to know us, so that they will help us better. PJ Rogers came last week, and talked a lot on the culture of Korea. I can't explain much, but relationship is everything.  So much goes into that, and without it, members won't do much with us. It was a good training.  That night we met with Kim and You.  They are doing good.  We met them yesterday too. We have one more time of English/gospel, so if they don't want to, we may only meet them one more time. I really hope we can keep meeting. I feel like 60 minutes, with a member there, will help solve a lot of their issues, and concerns.  They still make excuses for not reading, or not coming to church. That's the most frustrating part.  Kim says "back in the past, a pastor only wanted money", "Sunday is my day of rest", "we want religious freedom for our kids so they don't fight if they join other religions"... Most of this just translates to "I'm just lazy"... really annoying. I wish he would just be straight with us.

Thursday we taught with a member couple, and they were great.  This guy, actually was a pastor, knew where they lived, they knew similar people, and hit it right off.  The husband got a little sidetracked, but it was all a good lesson.  The guy was like "oh, when you explain the Book of Mormon that way, I want to read it now", when the members explained what it was. I wonder how many people drop us, because they feel like they don't understand us, and we don't understand them. That night we met a Mongolian family that came all the way to here, just to be sealed in the temple. They knew some Korean which helped, but man, we are blessed in Utah. People travel COUNTRIES, not just 5 minutes, to get the blessings in the temple.  That really hit me.

Friday during planning, I kinda brought up how I feel Elder Ashby is really focused, but a little too much at times.  Since then, we have gotten along much better.  He still likes to do a lot on his own, (I'm kinda the same way) but we are getting better.

Saturday we taught Lincoln and Ellie, and met with a less active. Both were good meetings, although Lincoln and Ellie, man they are right there.... they are so ready for baptism, they are right there, but because of Lincoln's job, they are scared, and Lincoln can't even get baptized, since he is with the Chinese government.  I'm really hoping that we can get Ellie baptized soon, but I fear that because of Lincoln not being baptized, and his job, she will continue to hold out.

Monument

Sunday we went to church, talked with members there, then headed over to Kim and You and taught them.  Really hoping for them to keep meeting.  I get the feeling they are almost there too.

Well, love you all, there are the highlights,
-Elder Mortensen

November 2, 2015 (Week 46)

November 2, 2015

At the Border

Monday we had P-Day, which was going to Dong De Moon so Elder Sullivan could get some last things, and I tried to find a cheap coat.  No luck for me, but I'll keep looking around, maybe I'll just go without one, haha. Elder Skinner and I exchanged so that Elder Sullivan and Elder Bybee could go to the office for final interviews.  Se we jundoed and shopped, well mainly me since I'm the only one staying. We jundoed around and then met back up and we met Jung Jeen Kang.  He is 23, met him last week too. We took him to the church and discussed the restoration. We didn't get far, cause he would go off on random stuff.  Nice guy though, he says he is busy with a board game festival right now, so he is busy for a couple weeks... freaking life, why is Korea so busy?

Tuesday we did studies, then switched with Elder Bybee so Elder Skinner and Elder Sullivan could do language pass off.  That was okay, except me and Elder Bybee got separated for like 20-30 minutes though... He went off with one guy, and I talked with another for like 10 seconds, and Elder Bybee was gone.  He went down a street where it forked, so I didn't know where he went.  So I sat there for 20-ish minutes, when a guy came up in fluent English and asked if I was looking for my friend.  He said that my friend asked to borrow his phone, and told me where he was.  Man, that was a miracle. Elder Bybee was starting to get really nervous when I caught up with him.  After that, we jundoed and did some Halloween work.  The ward got involved and changed it up a lot.  So we got to work making stuff, helping get stuff done.  We then met Kim De Young, the recent convert. He is the bomb.  He helps us reach out to like 3 other less actives, willing to look up members, do us favors, everything.  He is the best.  So we started the fifth lesson, and talked with a less active on the phone. We had to end that to go meet a temple couple, who wanted to take us out for dinner.  So they took all 4 elders to a buffet. It was a pretty expensive place and I was impressed.  We talked with them, mainly Elders Sullivan and Bybee about their missions. Elder Bybee forgot about English class, so me and Elder Sullivan saved him and went and helped out there. I don't know how you forget about that, but yeah.... that took the rest of the day.

Wednesday I went with Elder Green all day! Elder Sullivan and Elder Greens companion went and played so Elder Green and I jundoed and talked all day.  He is doing good on the coast, makes it sound like the dreamland.... nothing much else happened

Thursday I got my new companion, Elder Ashby.  He was Elder Yetters MTC companion! They are super similar it is pretty scary.  Nice guy, works hard and fast. Kind of a rough transition from Elder Sullivan to him.

Captain America and Elder Mortensen
at the Ward Halloween Party

Friday we had the ward Halloween party.  That was pretty fun. We had 40-50 people show up, and we had a bunch of other activities.  I ran a bean bag toss stand, which was fun. I got to talk with some people, had a lot of candy, haha.

Saturday and Sunday were pretty normal days.  Nothing too new to report.

Sorry about short emails, love you all, take care!

-Elder Mortensen

October 26, 2015 (Week 45)

October 26, 2015

Quick email, partially because I forgot to write down what happened this week, haha.

Famous Red Pipe
Everybody Takes Selfies In

Monday we traveled clear up to Ui Jeung Bu to get Elders Bybee and Sullivan suits.  Some guy up there does custom suits for $150, so all the missionaries go up there... needless to say, I looked around and got a couple ideas for later on in the future, haha. That took up most of P-Day, at least an hour on the subway each way.  We met a guy that night, who talked really fast and quiet, in a crowded cafe, so I couldn't hear him too much.  We are meeting him again tonight, and hopefully this lesson will go over better. I hate those lessons where I can't add much, due to not being able to hear them...
Tuesday, I had interview with president. That went well, I got to chat with him for a little bit, asked him some questions. (No reason for 3 "dying" comps though, that's just my luck of the draw).  After that I went with Elder Skinner on an exchange.  That was weird. I'm the "youngest" elder in Shin Chon, but I kinda led the exchange.  We jundoed the entire day, and traveled a lot of places... that was long.
Wednesday, we had lunch as a district, then had district meeting.  The meeting was just all the senior companions sharing crazy spiritual experiences.  I'm still waiting for that for me. I've had a good time out here, but I feel like I haven't had any super spiritual experiences yet.  After that was yet more Halloween planning, then dinner and meeting Kim and You. They are doing good, reading the Book of Mormon. I'm not sure how much they want to act on the message, but they like learning.
Thursday, we had some jundo, then met for planning with the district that took way too long.  Way too much planning this week. We did streetboarding, then more planning... tired of planning. That night we had a meal with a member, pretty cool guy. He had a crazy experience on his mission, but I won't share it, because that's not my place.

Kim and You and Family

Friday, we met a couple less-actives, then met Patrick.  He showed up, we sat down to talk, then got a call that his aunt in China has cancer and a high chance of dying... so he left and flew back to China.... kinda crazy.  After was weekly planning.
Saturday we did a lot of unnecessary chores for other people and others wanted to plan more, so that took a lot of time.  That night we were with Lincoln and Ellie. The whole time was just dinner. We couldn't get in a lesson, because they just wanted to chat.
Sunday we went to church, Kim and You's house, and then family night at the Fillmore's. Pretty fun.

Sorry this is short!

Love you,
-Elder Mortensen

October 19, 2015 (Week 44)

October 19, 2015

Wow, this was an interesting week.... 

 

At the World Cup Stadium

Monday after email we went and had to take care of our big trash at our house... in Korea, in order to throw away a chair, or some beds, or couch, etc., anything big, you have to go to the citizen center (community center in US?) Basically it's in charge of the area where we live, Sinchon. We had to do that, since the other team couldn't figure it out to save the life of them... So we went there, got that all worked out, then went to the bank to pay for them taking our trash away... kind of a dumb system, but whatever. After that we went out and jundoed for a couple hours, before meeting JD. He is 31, and has an interesting dream. When we talked with him about his dream, he said "to be free of money".  He wants to be soo rich that he doesn't have to worry about money later on... Which was kinda funny in my opinion, because his whole life right now is focused on the obtaining of money. He's so busy chasing that money, just so he can be rid of its burden... interesting. But yeah, we couldn't do much, because he had another appointment a couple minutes later. 

 

Tuesday we had a lot of jundo time.  First time this transfer I think we have been empty.  So we jundoed around for the whole time, until dinner.  We ate pizza for the first time since being together, which was weird cause we ate there soooo much in Gireum. That was fun, though. We took the subway over to World Cup Stadium, since a less active lived out there.  Turns out, South Korea was hosting Jamaica that night!  The subway exit puts you inside the stadium park, so since we had still some dinner time, we took a quick look around. Pretty cool to see all the people, and the stadium. It's a huge stadium though.  It was crazy. So we toured that, then tried to visit a less active... he wasn't there, so we rode a bus back to the home, since it was a long trip to get out there. 

Wednesday we did studies, and then headed over to Sindang (pronounced sheen dong (as in ding dong)) for their district meeting. The whole was literally one role play... kinda weird... but yeah, we did that, just to come back and help plan a Halloween party... man, elders have no creativity. That needed some help. We did that until dinner, then headed over to Kim and You s house. They are doing good still! We got Kim to pray (finally!) and they read Alma 40, and had a ton of questions.  Both of them read and had good questions to discuss, it was pretty fun. Plus their kids aren't super awkward around us anymore. They bring out apples everytime.  Going over there is pretty fun now! It's better than 3 awkward lessons trying to explain what the Book of Mormon even is. The only downside is the trip. It is 45 minutes of just walking. The subway and bus take a round about way to get there, so walking is 6's either way.  That's the downside. 

Touring the Korean Border

Thursday we went to the DMZ!!! Since Elder Sullivan hasn't been yet, he set everything up for it. We got up, met a couple other missionaries, then headed as far north as we could. It took probably around 30 min, only because we caught the Fast Line. We got there, paid for a tour, then hopped on a bus.  We went to a subway stop where it is the last one before heading into North Korea. There wasn't much to see there, but kinda cool.  After that we headed over to the lookout place. There you could see through binoculars into North Korea. That was pretty cool. We could see a couple villages, and buildings.  They were pretty close too!  After that we went to a place called the 3rd Tunnel.  I guess  South Korea found 4 tunnels that North Korea dug to get into South Korea. This was the 3rd.  So we rode a tiny mine cart down about 200m, I think, then walked through a tiny tunnel a couple hundred more.  Pretty cool, except I smacked my head a couple times, since the tunnel was tiny.  After that we toured around and saw a lot of cool memorial things. Pretty fun tour.  The military couples here can get us into the JSA, but it's super hard to get that tour, I guess. I want to go once, and stand in the JSA building where you can be on North Korea ground technically.   After that we had a lesson/dinner with Bae Jung Mo.  He lived in France for a couple years, and he brought his friend, who lived in Canada.  So we ate and talked, and just as we were about to teach, they said they had to bail for a school project, since midterm season is upon us....... !@(#*$^ midterms sometimes..... half of our investigators are still out because of that.

Kimchi Festival

Friday we studied then went to Outback since it was Elders Sullivan and Bybee's 2 year mark of entering the MTC. That was pretty good, always a fun time eating out.  After that we jundoed a little, then headed over to World Cup Stadium again, since there was a kimchi making activity there. We, and 17 other companionship's, got to go to that, except the Korean elders. They wanted only foreigners... kinda sad...  We got all dressed up in apron, glove, hair net, then took a bunch of lettuce/cabbage thing, and smothered it in red sauce. Me and Elder Sullivan were on the end, and so we had these grandmas walk by, take some with their bare hands, or start to do it... ("I just saw 26 health violations... nope 27!" -Melman, Madagascar). Man, I've never been judged harsher... "Do it this way!", "Do it that way", "Flip it over", "Give me a piece"... Man, ("They are savages!" -Madagascar too).  But it was pretty fun. We all got a ton of kimchi too, which was kinda nice, although our house now smells of kimchi everywhere... after that we met an interesting Hong Kong guy, who asked a million questions, like "Why did Jesus wear a scarf?", "How many disciples were fisherman?", "How many John's are there?" Some were good too, though. We talked with him for about an hour, then had to go. We never saw him again... interesting lesson, though. 

Saturday we planned, taught English, then met Lincoln and Ellie.  They are doing good. Still struggling to make time to read and get an answer. They are always fun though.

Sunday we had a fireside with Mark A. Peterson.  He taught about how religion works in Korea, and how we can relate better with people. Pretty informational and a good time. 

Sorry, gotta cut there... Love you all, doing good here!

  -Elder Mortensen

D&C 128:22

October 12, 2015 (Week 43)

October 12, 2015

Elders Mortensen and Sullivan

Well, another week in the great Korea!
Typing this is in a suit... freak... suits can be super uncomfortable, especially when wearing them for a long time... anyway

Monday we went to a place called 인사동. (Een Sa Dong). It's a big tourist place, so Elder Sullivan could pick up some stuff for his family before he dies. I picked up a couple things too, like a sweet 10 dollar backpack. I figure I'll just do some college shopping while I'm here, haha. That was our whole p-day.  We shopped after, then on the way back to the house, we passed by the temple, and the temple missionaries called us over.  They had 4 college students (3 girls, 1 guy) who were looking at the temple, so they talked with them for a little bit.  We showed them the church and talked a little. Korean girls are weird.  As soon as we said, "yeah, we can speak Korean, they lost their mind. They were freaking out, then said "Wow, you are handsome".  Korean girls here are pretty straightforward, no wonder Elders don't talk with women on the street... but it was kinda cool that they just came to the temple to check it out.  After that and a little jundo, we headed over to Nokbeon, my greenie area. That's where the other zone leader is, So Elder Sullivan and him had to hook up to go to a zone leader meeting. I got to have chicken there... man, that brought back a ton of memories...
Tuesday I spent with Elder Apigo (ah pee go).  He is also a greenie, having been here for 3 weeks. Super funny guy. We did studies, which included a couple role plays, (that was weird. It felt like yesterday that I was doing it with Elder Whitlock).  After that, we headed out for jundo. It's kinda hard to be with a greenie... I wasn't sure how much he could do, wanted to do, or should do. I wanted to push him, but not too far. So I did almost all of the jundos, and man, that was tiring, but fun. After that we did some English flyering.  You pretty much stand at an intersection and hand out English flyers for about an hour... that was pretty fun. After that I went to go visit DK, a less-active me and Elder Whitlock met with a couple times.  It was kinda funny, I still remembered all the back streets and everything. DK wasn't there, but his mom was.  So we talked with her at their work place for about 20 minutes.  That was crazy, when I fully realized how much I could understand, now that I pushed myself to really concentrate. (It's like driving, if you are in shotgun, you kinda know what's going on, but you can zone out.  Driving you know and have to keep 100% on the road).  So now that I was the driver,  I could understand entire thoughts that people had, not just words.  Super cool. We had a good talk with her about The Book of Mormon, got her to commit to read and pray about it. Elder Apigo lost his mind over how good I sounded at Korean. I still admit that I have a ton to go on Korean, but not gonna lie, it felt kinda good to know that I could talk with people. We met another cool guy and had a good talk with him a couple minutes later. Same thing, surprisingly understood a lot.  That night we had English class.  Some of the members remembered who I was, which was cool. One of the recent converts came and took all the missionaries shoes and shined them. So now one pair of my shoes looks super good.  That was nice of him.  We spent another night in Nokbeon after that.
Wednesday we did studies, then went over to Shin Chone for zone meeting.  That was good, talked a lot on how to begin teaching, and teaching skills in general. Good training.  I got mail from the office...another comic letter from mom... holy smokes, how many comics do you cut out?  Every time we have a meeting, there are always more comics!  After zone training, we helped the bishop set up for General Conference then went and taught Kim Moon Kyum and You Me Wha.   Today was super awkward too.  Kim just half talks about how he can't understand  The Book of Mormon, and You can't read Korean, so she can't even start.  We finally got her a Ukranian Book of Mormon, so now she can get reading too. Their house is super far away, (about 40 minutes walking, and that's the fastest way) so that took up the whole night.
Thursday was just the worst day ever, due to the young investigators we have, and midterms coming up, we had 7 of our investigators pretty much all drop that day. One after another would just say that they are busy for the next couple weeks, not sure when they can meet again... and that's how 7 investigators, and 4 baptismal dates drop in a week. On top of that, we had all 4 of our appointments drop on the day, so Elder Sullivan and I were kinda done with the day. We jundoed around all day, and got rejected all day.  Met one or two people that half listened, but today was pretty rough.  That night during streetboarding, there was some hippie guy that had zero interest in the gospel, just that "truth is everywhere, you just gotta look inside" and "the world is too small, I don't have a home country, or a home".  Weird hippie stuff.  He and half the missionaries talked about that for a while, I don't know why.  Then a hardcore atheist came up and was mocking us for a while, so yeah, me and Elder Sullivan just went home and kinda died that night....

Friday was a lot better though. One, because it was moms birthday, and two, we had some sweet lessons today.  Personal and companion study were a little rough still.  A lot of questions just started flowing in my head, much like my awful fourth transfer, when I just kinda hated life.  So me and Elder Sullivan just talked about life most of comp study, then we had language study, and weekly planning.  That wasn't very fun, seeing how bare our teaching pool had just become... maybe God's trying to tell us that these people we should focus on or something... but after that we went and met Patrick. He read the Introduction, Witnesses, and Joseph Smith Testimony pages, and understood them pretty well. He had solid questions, which was proof he thought about it. Also said that he had prayed a couple times, which was sweet!  We discussed the Plan of Salvation, and he had a little bit of a belief in afterlife and what not, and man, Chinese culture can be a bit graphic. They have a belief similar to Dante's Inferno, where hell is just a bunch of layers. In China culture they have 18 layers, where each one gets more violent I guess... Patrick wouldn't even start to explain what happened, luckily.  But he liked the Plan, and agreed to read and pray and meet again. Super cool guy! We got a baptism date for him too!  After that we met with Kim and You.  This lesson was great. You read Moroni 1-8, and Kim read at least a summary of what The Book of Mormon teaches. You prays, and likes church, used to go with someone to the English ward on the other side of the river.  We discussed the plan of salvation with them, and they actually showed interest in it.  It was something they actually wondered about! It was the first time we had an actual discussion with them and both of them getting involved! So that was great!
Saturday we studied, then went to the church for 7 hours. Three sessions of conference, plus a couple minutes of break in between. During one of the breaks the temple missionaries brought us root beer which was sweet (Korea doesn't have root beer, they probably got it on the military base). So we watched conference,  Then went and met with Lincoln and Ellie.  They can be frustrating... they are super nice, feed us every week, their little kid is fluent at English and super funny. They love the church, and Ellie believes most of the church.  She is just getting caught up on getting an answer and reading The Book of Mormon. I guess in Chinese it's similar to Korean, in which it's kinda hard to read. If she could just do that, I feel like she would get baptized.  But they are super nice though.

Eating chicken. Elders
Sullivan, Jung, Mortensen and Apigo
in Nokbeon!

Sunday we had more conference, then at night we met a recent convert and talked with him.  Then Elder Sullivan and Elder Bybee went on splits to go teach, since Elder Skinner was feeling sick... so I just sat there the whole night making calls.  Pretty boring day, minus conference.

Alright conference rundown... Sabbath day, 3 new apostles, and conversion.  That was my biggest draw away. President Uchtdorf nailed both of his talks, and I liked Elder Lawerence and Elder Martinos as well. Elders Anderson and Bednar had some pretty sweet ones too.  Couple of powerful talks about women too.  Elder Holland was pretty blunt about that.  Poor President Monson, the way he was leaning on the pulpit the whole time... That was a bit sad. Maybe he will sit down next conference?  No idea, but that was just sad. But, conference was pretty sweet, hope you got a lot from it too.

Love you all, have fun,
-Elder Mortensen