Weekly Letter July 7, 2014

First things first: the baptism!

Last Saturday was our baptismal service for Ii S M(이성미), the Sister's investigator, found by Elders Westbrook and P when they were on splits. She was really golden! She chose me to baptize her, and it was such a special experience for me to baptize somebody for the first time in my life. We got there at noon, and we started the water in the font. Elder Westbrook got rid of a few webs, while I changed. What an experience, to put on the full white baptismal clothes for the first time! She got there, and we had the regular baptismal service -- there was a special musical number (all of us missionaries singing "I'm Trying to be Like Jesus"), a testimony from a member (the first counselor's wife), and then, oddly, they had Ii S M and I stand up in front of everybody and practice baptism again. That was a little awkward, but whatever. We got down to the font, I said the prayer (in Korean!) and dunked her. Unfortunately, we didn't have a hair band, so her hair came up the first time. No problem, I pulled her back up, re-recited the prayer, and baptized her. Funnily, after she came up the second time she crossed herself! Haha. She's actually really funny -- she speaks English, and she's basically fluent, so she'll make lots of jokes in English. After the baptism it was basically a party, and our wealthy bishop footed the whole thing. There was soooo much chicken! Our investigator M G Ir (민경일) came to the baptismal service, and he didn't feel weird or out of place or anything. He thought baptism was pretty cool! We've just barely started meeting with this fourteen year old kid (12 in American age; he's the same year as Christian!), and he's already so amazing. We fed each other duk (rice cake) (떡) and in Korea, that means you're really close! I actually offered Bishop a piece of food from my chopsticks, and his response was, "린 장로, 역시" (Of course/typical/you would, Elder Lynn!) He was realy pleased about that. Elder R jokes that if our adventures in Yeonsu were written, I'd just be "The Elder whom Bishop loved," playing off of John's writing style in the Gospel of John. Anyways, we played ping-pong with him after, and played a bit of piano together. He mentioned how fun it was playing piano with me afterwards. ^^ There were several less-active families we've been working with at the baptismal service, so that was really great to see, and virtually everybody interacted with little G Ir! The member missionary work was off the charts. It's so great. He had a test the next day, but he's definitely coming to church next week! He's so solid. Bishop kept saying that we've got to do this every week. I said that if the ward and missionaries work together, we'll be able to! We've become really integrated with bishop in the past few weeks, which is a huge change from when we asked to attend meetings, and he'd tell us to "G do real missionary work!" Apparently, our bishop's well-known for not being a big fan of the missionaries! It's incredible that, through our diligence and consecration, we've changed his mind. It's such a miracle, and a necessary one at that. God truly can do anything if we put in our effort.

The next day at church, we got another shout out over the pulpit! We'd ran into my favorite member's son, and it turns out his dad had been in a car accident, and sustained a minor injury. His dad's not a member, and has never liked the missionaries, but we went with Y J U (윤지운) to visit his dad, and it actually went pretty well. We visited his dad again at their home a few days later, and brought him a little plant! We talked some more, and he liked it. His son testified that Sunday about how his dad's never liked the missionaries, but now that they're making an effort, something's actually happening with him, which he didn't think was possible! After I testified,* his mom got up and said something similar.

*I felt like a missionary was supposed to get up that Sunday, so during fast and testimony meeting I bore my testimony! While I don't have any verbal prowess in Korean, I got up, and said, 
"I want to bear my testimony, but since I'm not good at Korean, it'll be simple (crowd laughs).

"I know this church is true. I know Joseph Smith was a prophet. Since I know that, Thomas S. Monson must be a prophet in this day and age.

"I also know that the Book of Mormon is true. If you ask how, I've learned it's true through prayer and study.
"By praying and studying, you can know if anything is true. Without prayer and study, you can't know.

"I love Yeonsu (연수). I hope all of you pray and study.

"I testify of these things in the holy name of Jesus Christ. Amen."
The members were definitely impressed; but that's not why I did it. I felt like it was necessary, and I think the members liked that the missionaries aren't above getting up to bear their testimony, even if it's simple. 
Later at church, a member of the bishopric announced that there were over 80 people at church! That means that the room was basically packed, and there was a significant number of people there. Most of those extra people were investigators, and less-actives we've been working with! Lately, I've really found that working with and retaining recent converts and less-actives is vital to the progress of the church, and more importantly, to the salvation of souls. These people are important. The gospel can cover any need, answer any question, so all you have to do is find their problem, and help them see how the gospel can fix it. Our investigator C I G (최인국) came to church, and he continues to ask questions and learn more. He actually came an hour early so he wouldn't sleep through it! We walked into the chapel, and he was just sitting there reading the Book of Mormon. I really hope that I'm not transferred, because we have two really solid investigators that I just love to pieces right now.

Something I forgot to mention from last week is that as we were practicing before church, our less-active who played the flute (H H S (하현숙)) suggested that I hadn't finished puberty yet, because of my voice. I won't lie, that hurt a bit. That's one thing about Korean culture: they are brutally honest. They'll say literally whatever's on their minds. For instance, Bishop was talking about maybe having a hamburger party, and we were all like, "Ah, good idea!" He looks over at me, and says "Elder Lynn can't have hamburgers. He needs to go on a diet." So, that was a bit rough, especially after a member told me a few days ago that it looked like I was losing weight. Ouch. Just the culture.

Elder Cl, who goes home this transfer, asked me to bear my testimony about the Book of Mormon at our last Zone Training, last Thursday (about the Book of Mormon). I wasn't really sure what I'd say until I stood up. I spoke what was on my mind, and ended up testifying that the Book of Mormon is real. It's a real record, of real people, who really taught, fought, and lived in America over a thousand years ago. They are real people! More than excellent sermons, the Book of Mormon tells the story of a real family and their descendants. It's incredible! We miss out on so much of the Book of Mormon if we don't let it come to life for us. It won't mean as much to us if we don't try to put ourselves in the places of the people in it. We have to try and imagine that we were there. We need to put ourselves in the Book of Mormon, if we want it to really be a part of us. It's such a blessing. I can honestly say that the literal story in the Book of Mormon -- the history of the Lamanites and Nephites -- is one of the most interesting stories I've ever read! As I think more about the actual character and lives of the people in the Book of Mormon, it means more and more to me. That's one of the reasons I loved seminary so much. From talking about Alma's "Dream Team of Missionaries" to reclaim the Zoramites, to the dreadful task that faced the prophet Jacob, the Book of Mormon is (at times) brutally real. Try to keep that in mind whenever you read it, and it'll become more meaningful, more memorable. I promise, as a representative of Jesus Christ.

I don't know if you remember K
B J (김범진), but he got in an accident last Saturday, and fractured both of his wrists! He called us, and we visited him in the hospital. We told bishop, and the next day all five of us (Bishop and four missionaries) visited him, and gave him a blessing. Bishop had me do the annointing with oil. I'll send a picture of us together right after this.

I'm out of time for this week, but just know that Yeonsu's on fire! And we're gonna keep it burning! The Lord is pouring out his blessings as we do our best, and miracles are happening left and right. If there's anything I mention in my emails you'd like to know more about, or any other questions, please let me know! I love getting mail from home!

Love,
Elder Austin Lynn