Choku!
Choku (촉구) was our sports activity this week. It's a vastly enjoyable cross between soccer and volleyball, which, like both sports, I'm not terribly good at, but always pleased to try my hand. We were especially excited because a less-active brother we've been working with for a long time came to it, marking his first step inside a church building in.... likely, years. So, yay for Bak Jay H (박제홍)! He's a really great man, with strong beliefs about family, but he hasn't been coming out due to work. We're not very worried about his family life though. The other day, he told us that he's always remembered one of the phrases from the church a while back: Family is heaven on earth. He's always remembered that, and it's affected his family life. He sets aside time for his family, and you can just tell how much he loves them. It's wonderful. As a fun sidenote, his son and I are the same age, so he calls me "son" and I call him "father."
It's interesting to note how many "fathers" I have, in one sense. Foremost, there's my Heavenly Father, and my earthly father. Beyond that, there's Moses and Aaron, who become the spiritual fathers of all priesthood holders, my mission president, my trainer, and now this less-active man who so loves his family. Finally, there's Jesus Christ, who becomes the spiritual father of all who accept His gospel and endure to the end. Isn't it funny how much of our gospel relates back to those primal relationships found in the family?
In other news, I golfed for the very first time last week. For P-Day, the Sanbon Elders went screen-golfing! It's very popular in Korea, and all of us have always wondered what it's like. It turned out to be a lot of fun. Of course, I didn't do too well, but that's to be expected.^^ No big deal; I'll get better if we play it again.
Hey, I'm not sure how many of you know this, but reading the scriptures in a foreign language can be exhilarating. I recently started using the Korean scriptures more in my language studies, and it's been fantastic. I'm finally to a point where all I miss are the specific words, rather than grammar forms and conjugations, so the scriptures have become another text for me to learn from. Unfortunately, nobody actually speaks in the scriptural forms anymore, but understanding the scriptures really helps when it comes to teaching. (Naturally)
I haven't started teaching seminary yet; when (or if) it happens, you'll hear first! Hopefully they ask for my help, I'm terribly excited to try it. I think it'd be a great way to learn.
All in all, this week was pretty slow, with lots of appointments punking on us. There's not much to do in that case, besides go out there and find people to meet with us. And, that's the majority of missionary work in Korea. One golden day, members will be a prime, moving force behind it, but until then there's nothing to do but put our shoulders to the wheel, and our feet to the pavement. In the words of the Prophet Joseph Smith... "Shall we not go on in so great a cause? Go forward and not backward. Courage, ... and on, on to the victory!" I am all about the business of victory. Victory over sin, victory over despair, victory over ignorance -- ultimately, victory of light over dark.
From a lonesome private on the front lines, deep in the trenches,
Elder Austin Lynn
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