The pictures are of Elder Lee (이상범) and I at transfers with President Morrisse.
and he's from California. Let me list off a few things I've noticed and learned about him:
He's a little taller than me.
His major is game programming.
He liked to tinker before his mission.
He's highly intelligent.
He's very musical.
He likes video games.
His hair color is similar to Griffin's.
All in all, it feels like I'm serving with Griffin. It's the strangest feeling to feel like you're with your uncle, but I'm down for it. He's a great missionary, and we're working well together. We're stalling out a bit in Gimpo right now, but we're determined to push forward. We had stake conference last week with Elder Koichi Aoyagi of the Seventy, and there were a few things they said that I really liked. From the priesthood session, one of the speakers said that we need to "trust the missionaries and do our best." Do your best is one of my favorite Korean phrases, so my ears perked up when he said that. I really liked his statement. I've shortened it to "trust and do your best," but I think it's important for members to trust the missionaries as much as they can. 99% of the time, the missionaries are just 19 year old kids who are doing their best to represent Jesus Christ. They make mistakes, but they're doing their best, just like we are. Trust them. Love them. Remember to remove the beam from your own eye before looking for the mote in theirs.
In the Sunday session, a sister speaking about family history talked about how her grandparents had passed away, and asked the question, "How will I know them?" That really brought home the importance of journal keeping and family history work. How will we know those who have gone before us? How will we know our family members who are further up the tree than we are?
We had a monsoon the other night! It came out of nowhere. As we were standing on the street corner, we literally saw the cascade of water coming towards us, splashing off the ground. It had been clear, so I was the only one with an umbrella. Elder Harline and I huddled under it as nature gave us the works. As we approached our house, it got really windy, and it destroyed my umbrella! Terrified of the baldness causing acid rain, I held the tattered remains of our hopes and dreams over my head as we ran into the building. We were absolutely soaked from the waist down. I actually poured water out of my shoes, a unique experience for me.
Last monday, we had our last family night with Elder Lee, my companion. We shared a message about faith and works. He shared the classic faith/works rowboat story, then I talked a bit about dad's company, and his motto, reading from James. I then read a verse from 3 Nephi describing how not everybody who cries out, "Lord, Lord," will enter the kingdom of heaven, but those who do the Father's will. I testified, and said that if we truly do have faith, it will cause us to act. I said that if we have true faith, we'll show it through our works. We know it's by grace that we're saved, but through our works we purify our hearts, and qualify for God's saving grace. The ward mission leader really liked the thought, and said that it was a really important one for the young adults there. It was nice to have his endorsement of our message.
We play soccer every Monday morning with a bunch of pastors and priests and such from other churches, and this week was my best week yet! I'd really improved, and they even mentioned that. They said I was the "MVP." Of course I wasn't, but they're a bunch of jokesters, and we're all pretty close. For instance, last week the guy who split up the teams (a president of some church) pulled me over to his side, saying that he'd "scouted me." If you remember, last week they told me I was fat but played well. This week, they told me that I played extremely well today. It's nice to see those bits of progression! Who'd have ever thought I'd be playing soccer a lot?
We had a cool miracle yesterday while proselyting! We decided to sit down and rest our feet for a few minutes in a park. When we sat down in the midst of some benches, there was nobody there, nobody around, but we felt good about it. A few minutes later, and five or six grandmas just appear out of nowhere and sit down next to us! They gave us some oranges, and started chatting. Well, as we sat there for the next 15 minutes or so four more grandmas showed up, for a total of 9! There were also a bunch of kids and parents in the park in the background. We were able to explain who we were and what we're doing here to all of these grandmas, and learn a bit about them. They all got our card, and one of them may bring her two grandchildren (a little boy and girl that we met) to English class! It was truly a miracle, and that enabled us to reach our contact goal, which we thought for sure we were going to miss. It just goes to show that with God, all things are possible.
See you next week! Sorry for the short letter!
Love,
Elder Austin Lynn
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