5/31/2015

This week was packed with mission stuff!
Well, yes, every week is packed with mission stuff, but this week was full of mission meetings. On Tuesday, I had the opportunity to interview with President Morrise, and it was very enlightening. One of my favorite things was our discussion about testimony. We talked about how new members and investigators can receive such huge, unmistakable impressions that the Book of Mormon is true, whereas we life-long members often simply don't have experiences like that very often. President suggested that the strength of the witness we receive is proportionate to the price we will pay for living the gospel the Book of Mormon teaches us. Most people have to make huge changes in their lives, with great sacrifice, as opposed to life-long members, who grew up this way. In a sense, it's like road signs: for those of us who have always walked the right road, we only need the reassurance to keep going, simple signs pointing forward. For those who are changing paths, they need something huge and unmistakable to convince them to turn aside, and change everything. 
On Friday, we had a combined mission conference with the missionaries north of the river (Seoul Mission) which had Elder Maynes, of the Presidency of the 70, and Elder Ringwood, our area president, in attendance. There was a large focus on finding and baptizing. Considering that's most of what we do, that's not much of a surprise. Those are central to our purpose of inviting others to come closer to Christ; invitations that strengthen faith come from our teaching, and baptism is the ultimate commitment to follow Christ. And, as I've learned, the more we learn to follow Christ, the closer we come to him, like the older brother who's always led the way for us. 
Last Sunday was our ward conference; the missionaries sang "This is the Christ," and most of the ward formed a choir to sing "The Spirit of God." It was a privilege to participate in singing such a foundational hymn, in Korean. After the meeting, several of the sisters commented that I look like I've lost weight! One of them (the one who's husband passed away last December) told me that she's lost weight too! She said it's because of stress. It's odd how open Koreans are about that, as opposed to America. 
On Wednesday afternoon, our investigator, Lee Gi Won (이기원) finally met us again... to drop us. Which is totally fine, because we were planning on dropping him too, but it's just funny that he beat us to it. The funniest thing was that we realized he was drinking alcohol throughout the lesson; he held it like a champ though. He always took at least two hours to meet, and he spent most of it complaining about his health, so we'll just use the time to find investigators who have real intent to discover whether or not the Book of Mormon's true, if Joseph Smith was a prophet, and if this church is true. 
On the bright side, we met our friend at the library, Lucas, again. We were able to talk a lot about the Holy Ghost, and we actually taught him all about the Word of Wisdom, without it being burdensome or awkward. He shared an awesome experience he had, which our discussion helped him realize was the Holy Ghost. He was about to cross the street, but he had a feeling not to. He was confused, since the cross walk light was green, but he heeded the feeling, and didn't move. At that moment, a parked car on a hill un-parked itself, and flew down the street. Somebody Lucas knew walked into the street, and was killed. It could've been him, if he hadn't listened to an unexplainable feeling that crossing the street was not the thing to do. 
On Thursday evening, we had a "zone blitz" in Sanbon area. The rest of our zone's missionaries came, we switched companions, and spent an hour and a half proselyting, using bingo cards I'd devised. It was really fun, and really effective in helping us begin conversations. I worked with Elder Empey, our new zone leader. It's always interesting to proselyte with somebody else, because everybody's style is so unique. 
This week I started reading the standard works from the beginning, in Genesis. I was really impressed by one of the very first things to occur after Adam and Eve's transgression: a promise of redemption, the guarantee of a Savior. In Genesis 3 (look, see how early on in the canon this promise arrives! Virtually immediately after creation, with the juice of the forbidden fruit still on their lips, God establishes the most important promise in all of Judaism or Christianity: that of a Messiah, a Christ, a Savior) God, while cursing Satan -- in a sense, cursing death, both physical (the separation of body and spirit) and spiritual (separation from God), cursing all failures and fallings, cursing, for our blessing -- God, while in the very act of cursing the deceptive serpent who, unwittingly had set into motion the very Plan of Salvation he sought to thwart, promised: "I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; he shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel." 
One Man, of all men, was born of a woman, and not a man: Jesus of Nazareth. One Man, of all men, conquered death: Jesus, the Christ. In the words of Jeffrey R. Holland, a modern Apostle and witness of Jesus Christ, "[W]e celebrate the gift of victory over every fall we have ever experienced, every sorrow we have ever known, every discouragement we have ever had, every fear we have ever faced -- to say nothing of our resurrection from death and forgiveness of our sins." 
The Atonement of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is the heart and core of the Gospel. The Old Testament is full of promises and prophecies looking forward to it; the New Testament showing us the fulfillment of it, and the Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ, expounds in a beautiful way, adding additional prophecy, teaching, and understanding, in a sense enriching and completing the Bible.