This week was off the hook! Awesome miracles and some sweet meetings. I'll just do a day by day, blow by blow this week.
Monday: Monday was super simple. We had a really calm evening, since there was literally nobody outside, and we didn't have Family Home Evening. The reason why? Choo Suk! (추석) Basically, Korean thanksgiving. It's a mammothly huge deal here, so we couldn't get too much done during it -- everybody was traveling and busy with family.
Tuesday: Tuesday was our mission Choo Suk meeting. It was so cool! It was all day long, and tons of fun. We received some training from Elder Han, of the 70, who was President Morrisse's mission president! We arrived early, so we got to chat with him before the meeting. During the training, he talked to us about bows, and he called my name out. I wasn't sure whether or not he meant me, but he did! He had me come up in front of everybody, and demonstrate how I bow to people. That made me feel really good about the way I bow! He said that the most important things were not depth, but eye contact and friendliness. You're basically hugging them... by bending your neck. They gotta feel your love when you stoop below them! Okay, most of that's an interpolation by me, but that's the feeling. We also got some training from President Morrisse, and then we had lunch -- homemade Korean food! It was nuts having the whole mission in one church building. During lunch, I got to catch up with the Yeonsu (연수) gang -- my trainer, Elder Westbrook, Elder Thomas, and their new greenies. It was really fun seeing everybody I'd met throughout my mission so far, and being able to catch up a bit with them. After lunch, all of the zones split up to do some activities together. In my zone (Ganso (강서)), we had to fill out a questionaire about Choo Suk, by asking people on the streets the questions! That was lots of fun, and a good conversation starter. I got picked to come up with our zone's chant, and I had to come up with it on the spot! I went through a few different versions, but this is the one that we ended up using. We had to use the phrase, "We succeed when we invite" in it.
We're Gangso zone
To the bone!
We never teach kudoja (investigators (구도자)) alone!
We listen to our kamdokenim (bishop (감독님))
And we've got an Elder Im (임)! [Elder Im is one of our zone leaders, and the only Korean Elder in our zone. He's super funny, and generally beloved among the missionaries]
[This next part was a call and response from each district. I led the chant, saying everything, then the districts would do their shout, and we recited the last two lines together (I didn't choose that, they made me!)]
Sounds off!
Gimpo!
DMZ~!
Sound off!
Gaybong!
Peaches~!
Sound off!
Mokedong!
Brother Reel.
We're Gangso Jiyuk (지역(zone))
We just wreck!
We're the best, we never rest!
We succeed when we invite,
Because might don't make right!
Sound off!
Boochun!
Pears and apples!
And Shihoon! [They're a split off of Boochun, so they get a seperate mention like this)
Boochun!
Sound off!
Hwagoke!
Elder Im!
We're Gangso Zone, we're at the top!
And our progress never stops!
It was tons of fun, and everybody loved it. I also had a huge role in our zone's skit, which was something along these lines:
A Tale of Elder Rock (a senior missionary, who was Elder Morrisse's trainer, so many years ago! It's crazy having him here) and Elder Morrisse. They visit King Seyjang, the king who invented the Korean alphabet, and he's converted, and accepts a baptismal invitation. It was really funny, using a lot of jokes from the mission, and my role was the messenger of the king. It was all improv, but so much fun! One of the missionaries approached me afterwards, and told me I was like a missionary Jack Black -- which is something I've heard before. They meant I was funny, so I'll take that. Our skit was one of the best one's and it was just really fun to act. I hope to do a lot more of that when I come home. Afterwards was the talent show, and there were tons of cool things, tons of music, tons of vague things I can't describe right now, but I turned pages for my companion while he played the piano, and I sang "Praise to the Man," to the tune of "The Spirit of God," with Sister Morrisse accompanying me on the piano. I almost made a sister cry, haha! I hope they felt the spirit when I sang. I realized that's the most important thing.
Wednesday: We ate with the bishop, his twin daughters (who are about Noel's age) and his son (who's 16 or 17), and his wife. We played a traditional Korean board game that resembled sorry, and my team dominated! Haha. It was tons of fun, and there was a lot of delicious food. His daughters are adorable, and decorated a bit of my planner, and put some stickers on my nametag! Haha. It was a lot of fun; I also got some help from bishop on some sentences I'd written.
Thursday: We had a meal with the stake patriarch and his wife. Korean food, plus sphagetti! That was different, but good. I got the typical comment about our family being huge! They were impressed that I was the eldest though. I think that's something I'm going to keep running into in Korea -- there's a lot of respect for the oldest child.
Friday: I went on exchanges with Elder Chow! I really respect and love him. I'm out of time, but I want to mention one of the vital things I learned from him: the importance of unity, of having a team spirit, on every level of the mission. We also met with Y M Suk, but he was sick so we just gave him his copy of the bible... and he introduced us to his friend Kim Dong Bin, who wants to study English and the gospel with us! His family too! We're going to be teaching a family! That's really rare in Korea! AAAAAHHHHH!!!!!!
Saturday: Had a picnic for English class, nothing special, and then I spent the rest of the day with Elder Chow. We gave a blessing to a foreigner who lived in our area, accompanied by senior missionaries from the Seoul Mission. They called us up out of nowhere; we didn't even know about the sister! It was really nice to give a blessing again though; it's something I love doing.
Sunday: We had church, and that night Elder Harline and I met with Y M Suk again, who brought two of his students with him, so we reintroduced the Book of Mormon, taught one of them who had no religion -- who God was, and how to pray, and then read a bit of the Book of Mormon with them. The miracle there is that on our way to the appointment, we had a conversation with a man who'd just moved back from America with his family. They'd just been thinking about whether or not they should come to church again, and where, then they say us! We were the answers to somebody's prayer! They're going to come to church this Sunday, and if their kids like it they'll keep coming! We may have a chance to teach another family! I'm losing my mind!!!!!
One of the days we walked around picking up trash, which is a really good service project here. Later, a grandma talked to Elder Harline and I, and patted us on the face, thanking us for picking up trash!
Sorry the email's so rough this week, I just don't have any time! So busy! Agh!
Love you all,
Elder Austin Lynn
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