December 5, 2016 (Week 103)

December 5, 2016

This week not much happened still.

Elders Roe and Mortensen

Tuesday we met Lee again, but we really couldn't even call it a lesson.  He and Elder Jung talked about military, teas, life, languages, etc.  We didn't even pray, discuss religion, and didn't give a commitment at all.   There needs to be a purpose to us meeting..  

Wednesday we went and came back from zone meeting.  Pretty trippy realizing I won't have another one.  There I also got my travel plans. Flying 8000+ miles... Yipeee.  Should make for a great flight home.  After that was English class.

Thursday we met a less-active, but he went to the donut shop, and just talked with the workers there for a good while, then when we wanted to have a lesson, he said that he needed to go home and sleep... Great... 0/2 on lessons this week..

Friday we had a meal with a member, then weekly planning, that goes nowhere... love it when my comp worries about pictures, how much time he has left, and how tired he is, more than doing missionary work..

Seoul Overlook

Saturday we had a Christmas planning meeting, then English class... After that we had dinner, and a member bought us some ice cream, that was nice.

Sunday we got Bay Gyoung Whan to come to church! That was sweet. We set up an appointment, so there is hope for him! After that, we had choir practice, then street proseltying.

 Well, I know I'm almost done, but doesn't feel like it, but still pretty trippy.

-Elder Mortensen

November 28, 2016 (Week 102)

November 28, 2016

Well...

Ward Activity

Monday was my last haircut in Korea!!! (Also for the next 6 months haha :). I've missed longer hair.)  After that, the other elders wanted ties so went down there, nothing too exciting.  After was streetboarding.
Tuesday we had lunch with Melvin, an English class student. He's a 60 year-old guy that loves the missionaries.  So we went out to Ashley's "American style buffet" and ate all Korean food. I'm not sure how it's American, but eh, it's good food.  After that did a lot of street proseltying in the freezing cold. (It got cold fast here) nothing too special, just a lot of busy cold people.  Then we handed out English class flyers, and got cancelled on 10 minutes before we were supposed to meet the person... good night... Just another thing to add to my life.
Wednesday we had district meeting, nothing too special. After that we had English class! Yes, my favorite!  The people themselves aren't bad, but the class/teaching portion is the worst...
Thursday we went and visited members who came to family night to say thanks, then we went streetboarding. Nothing too special still.
Friday we planned, then I went with Elder Roe on exchanges. It was a fun time. He's such a chill guy to talk with. We street proselyted, then ate pizza (We both regretted it. We had soo much pizza here.) Then we met Lee. He met the missionaries right before I came here. We met him on the street again. We had a nice chat, chatted about a lot of random stuff.  But he said he was down with learning about the church, so, hey, I'll take it! We'll see how far he goes, but there's a little bit of hope here!
Saturday. We had the weirdest baptismal service ever. I'll have to explain in person. (Ask about Yoon Jee Hyun).  After that was English class, and street walking.

More from the Lantern Festival

Sunday we had church, where Kim Tae Young came.  He's 24 years-old, needless to say that the members loved him.  They all have his name memorized, asking how they can help, what lesson we are doing with him.  If only they showed this much care with everybody we bring. but yeah, it was a good time with him coming! After was Ward Council. Not much after that...

Well, take care, hope you all enjoyed Thanksgiving,  I enjoyed a normal Thursday haha :)  Have fun!

-Elder Mortensen

PS. Mormon 9 is worth reading. gotta a lot of good stuff.

November 21, 2016 (Week 101)

November 21, 2016

Well, this one will be quick.

Go Young Ook and Elder Mortensen

Tuesday walked....
Wednesday PJ Rogers came and spoke to us. That went for quite a while.  We came back, held English class. Yipee.  I love teaching 6 people that aren't the best at English by myself.  It's wonderful, I love it.
Thursday we had service.  There I fried shrimp, and whole fishes (literally the whole fish. ) It was a pretty fun time.  After, we met Own Say Hoe 온새호.  He is a less active, has been so for the past 5 years.  We randomly met while streetboarding.   So we went and sat with him.  We had a weird chat. It went from how he found the church to teaching me ways to flip people off in Korea, then back to if he reads the Book of Mormon or prays, to telling Elder Jung random slang that Elder Jung's never heard of.  It was very weird, all-over-the-place conversation, but it boiled down to the fact that since he works construction, doesn't have a family, and doesn't really have a close friend in the church, he quit coming. Poor guy. But it was a fun chat.  Hopefully we can help him
Friday we met Go Young Ook, my friend from Gangneung. He is studying in Seoul, so we've met up once or twice. Had a good chat with him.  Glad to see a happy/familiar face right now. After meeting and eating with him, we went and got rejected some more on the street.
Saturday we had MCM, then English class... More of the same old.  Then went and got stood up by yet another person.  Honestly, that was my breaking point.  After he stood us up, I just kinda checked out for the night. I'm so tired of getting nothing more than a handshake "I'm busy" and people running away.  Or people acting as if we don't even exist, we're just not even there.  So we just walked over to the river and took a minute to clear the mind.   That's one thing Elder Jung is good for, a good friend for these kind of things...
Sunday we had church, which resulted in us going to pick up a member that got lost (85 years old, lives alone, has a memory issue). So we ran to the police station, walked with her back to the church just in time to hear the talks.  After that we went and got rejected some more on the street, then prepared for family night. We had a big ward potluck/Thanksgiving night.  Weirdest Thanksgiving you'll ever see... Fried sweet potatoes, sushi, kim pap, curry, and chicken.  But hey, it was fun.  We got about 20-23 members out, from a 60 member ward. Pretty good turn out, especially when the entire bishopric didn't show up.  We had dinner, a little Thanksgiving activity, then played games "pig pig" and "spoons".  Pretty fun games.

Elder "Mo"

Well, that was my week.  Nothing much at all happening right now.

Love you all,
Elder Mortensen

November 14, 2016 (Week 100)

November 14, 2016

Well, this week..

At the Seoul Tower

Monday wasn't too special, played Settlers of Catan, chilled at home.   That night we did streetboarding, and I got wrecked. I couldn't find a friendly face in the world besides the last five minutes of it.  Good night, this world is way too busy.
Tuesday was a lot of walking around, not doing much, but at night we met Bay Gyoung Whan. We met him with a member too! We started to finish up lesson 5, but then got side tracked about weird doubts he has... He believes the Book of Esther is trash, since it doesn't mention anything religious really (pretty true, but a fun read)... Also, in Jeremiah's time, there were a lot of false prophets, how did Nephi know for sure he was a real prophet?  If Nephi's name is Hebrew, what does his name mean? etc. We tried to discuss those, but kinda hard to explain on the spot. Then he said he doesn't have a white shirt/suit to wear to church, so he couldn't be baptized.  Then it was "I dunno if I can commit to come to church every week yet.  So that's where we are at right now, trying to get him comfortable/willing to come to church..
Wednesday we had zone meeting, probably my last one... weird... after that we had English class. Almost done!! I'm so tired of teaching English to 40-50 year olds with no gospel interest.
Thursday we had service, then as we were changing back to missionary clothes, our appointment for that day called and said he was waiting for us, 3 hours earlier than expected. So we hurried there and had a nice chat with him. Han Wang Dong, nice little 70 year old man. We had nice chat and will meet next week, and see where he goes from there.   That night visited a member, then street proselyted.
Friday we met Bay Gyoung Whan with bishop. It came back to the fact that he can't commit yet, so his date dropped, and just kinda waiting for him to find his conviction.  That sucked to hear.  After was just meeting to plan holiday activities, then proselyting. We visited another member, because it was Pepero Day... (imagine in America a Snickers day... go out, buy a bunch of Snickers, and just hand them out to people... weird holiday) but an excuse to visit members.
Saturday was English class, and Stake Conference.  It was a pretty good session, talked about finding joy in life.

Temple with Elder Lowe

Sunday was Stake Conference again, then ward lunch at bishops house.  Then after that was MCM, then 2 hours later.  After we had a meal with the Digmas... Oh man, I felt like I was in America, two member meals in a day!  Good day though.

Well, love you all
-Elder Mortensen

November 7, 2016 (Week 99)

November 7, 2016

Ok, this week...

Monday we went and found another market to check out. I found some chopsticks, a cool sweater, but nothing too special today

Elders Mortensen and Hall

Tuesday was freezing cold.  Man, it got cold fast!  We all almost died.  Anyway, we didn't do much during the day, but at night Bay Gyoung Whan and Sheen Sung Hee said that they could meet.  So we met both of them!  That was cool... Sheen: He says he felt happy at his baptism, was happy when he repented, but nowadays doesn't really care. Pretty frustrating, seeing he had good experiences, but then doesn't care.   Bay: We taught the rest of the commandments, and the only hard thing is just church for him, due to school work. But, he is doing good.
Wednesday  I picked up Elder Jung. It's been super fun with him.  He doesn't really care to learn English from me, so we just talk in Korean the whole time. It's kinda funny, the first couple days he was surprised that I was good at Korean for not having a Korean companion yet.  But, it's been fun with him.  He is super fun to talk with, brings a new life into the house.  He doesn't really care to speak much English.  He does talk with Elder Roe in English, but not really with me. It's kinda funny though, since being on the mission, he's picked up "what the heck" and "dang it" and "flip man".  He says it all the time, it's pretty funny... Wednesday night was English class... Not to sound trunky (ready to go home) But... only 10 more classes!!!!  Happy day!!
Thursday we did a lot of street proselyting, nothing really worth noting...
Friday we went down to Bay's college, where we ate lunch with him and his classmate.  Bay talks a lot about meeting us, about the church, feels like it's a good church to join, pretty fun meal.  The friend only had a foreigner interest it seemed, but maybe there is hope. We came back, did weekly planning, then we visited a member. It was a bit awkward. We hopped in the elevator with their non-member daughter.  It's a weird situation when you go to the same floor.  So, she went in first, then we were talking for a minute, then the mom came out. So we went in, and the father comes out, sees Elder Jung, and goes on a bit of a rant about how the president should make missionaries stay for at least 6 months in an area... Kinda strange when he really doesn't care about missionary work.   Then just got up and started eating with out talking with us. It was a pretty weird visit.

English Translation At It's Finest

Saturday was a lot of English class, and street proselyting. We had ramen with a less-active, that was fun.
Sunday Bay Gyoung Whan came to church.  That was sweet!  Plus, the ward talked with him, which was good.  Keep praying for him, please!   After that,  street work... yay.

Well, take care!
-Elder Mortensen

October 31, 2016 (Week 98)

October 31, 2016

This week...

At Home in Do Bong

A lot of decorating.. not even kidding.  I think we had to go to the church everyday this week for a couple hours for it. Especially the haunted house we made.  We would hang up sheets, then they would fall down.  So we're hang them up, and they fell down.  So spent a ton of time on that, but it turned out well.  About 40-50 people came between both wards, pretty good. We did a lot of mini games stuff, and most people liked the haunted house we made.  If you really care to know about it, ask me later, too hard to explain over email.

Besides that...
I went on exchange with Elder Roe.  He is super chill, fun time talking with him.  We just walked around, decorated, and did streetboarding. It was a good day for that..

We did the music night.  From our entire stake, only about 40-50 came,  and most of them had a part in the presentation, so not that good at all.  But, afterward we had a meal with the 2nd counselor because Elder Lowe is leaving.  It was a really good meal with them. They're a nice family.

Elders Mortensen and Lowe,
Second Counselor and Family

Transfers... I'm staying/dying in Do Bong!! Dying with Elder Jung Young Hoon.   Sick, my one Korean companion!  We've done a lot of stuff with him already, so we both know each other. It should be fun.  Elder Lowe is going south, right next to the river. It was an interesting two transfers with him.

Not much else happened this week, take care!

October 24, 2016 (Week 97)

October 24, 2016

Well, how short can we make this email??

Elder Mortensen
(Courtesy Sister Stancliffe)

Monday was more halloween prep, since we combined with another ward for the party. So some missionaries came over so that we could plan with them what to do. We did that, practiced singing a little, (we still suck) then had a regular work day.
Tuesday was temple P-Day. We went there, enjoyed the temple for a while, then enjoyed a pizza buffet (Why is this not popular in America yet?) Then we went to the War Museum with Elder Lowe, Elder Carmen (from our MTC group) and his companion. It was pretty fun, but three times there makes it not quite as cool.. We did that then came back and streetboarded the night away...
Wednesday we rode to Young Dong Po (Seoul South Mission) and had a combined mission conference... with... Elder Bednar... Yup, that was pretty sick.  He assigned us four talks to read in preparation for the meeting (Ask in Faith, Converted unto the Lord, That They May Always Retain a Remission of Sins, and Seek Learning by Faith; all of them have a very similar trend). He talked a ton about how we are to act, not be acted upon. Example: Instead of praying at church "bless those who didn't come this week to come next week", pray "bless us as we go to their houses and visit them, that we may be able to bring them back to church." See the difference? One is throwing it all to God and going home, whereas the other, we decide to actually do something about it. Pretty great conference, he was a lot more open and free than you would imagine from General Conference.   Plus, got to see my Seoul South people again.  They are all doing good, still cool friends.  After that was a smashed-full train ride back to English class... yippee...
Thursday we had service, then we went and made some halloween invitations to give to members, so we went around and visited them, and talked with people.
Friday was pretty much the same. We streetboard, then visited members.
Saturday we visited members, had English class, then got stood up by a kid, so we tried to talk with people.
Sunday we had church, ward council (little in missionary work would happen unless missionaries came there...) That went on a while, then we had to figure out what we needed still for the party, then we had dinner and spent some time outside.

That's pretty much my week. Nothing too special, but it was fun seeing my friends from Seoul South mission and realizing we are almost done...shoot... but, the Elder Bednar conference was great.

Love you all,

Elders Brantley, Mortensen,
Herron and Whitlock
(Thanks, Sister Stancliffe

Elder Mortensen

2 Nephi 10:23---The gospel doesn't get simpler than this. (Therefore, cheer up your hearts, and remember that ye are free to act for yourselves—to choose the way of everlasting death or the way of eternal life.)