7/5/2015

This week was a great week! Less cancellations, which equates to more chances to teach! We were actually forecasting a lot more appointments than we ultimately had, but that's alright, because the people we met were great; especially our less-active friend, Gwan Sung Gir (관성길).

We met him on Monday night, and talked a little bit about what exactly he wanted out of our meetings, and what we wanted to do (we missionaries call that HBT -- how to begin teaching). He explained that he wants to move to Australia in a few years, to continue his work on elevator design. He also said that he understands the church is important, and said that when he has time, of course he'll come! But, he thinks that that time will probably be when he lives in Australia... so, he doesn't quite understand how important church is, since it's not very high on his list of priorities. We only had a few minutes to tell him what we wanted to do as we met, since Sung Gir's quite the talker (not that I'm complaining!). We asked about prayer, and he said that he always prays when things are difficult. So we invited him to pray everyday, and briefly reviewed the three methods we receive revelation: through prayer (specifically, the feelings and thoughts we have while praying), through reading the Book of Mormon, and through church attendance. We told him very simply that every time we met, we would invite him to do those three things. He accepted that well, and said he'd start re-reading the Book of Mormon that night. Sung Gir is one of the nicest people I've met in Korea, and is just a great guy. I'm excited to meet him more often. Unfortunately, he canceled our following three appointments, because of a string of unfortunate events (everything from company dinners to a friend getting into a car accident). However, he called this morning to confirm our appointment for tonight, so I'm confident we'll be seeing much more of him moving forward.

One especially great thing about all of his cancellations was that it gave us the chance to work closely with a recently returned sister missionary in our ward, Lee Kibbum (이기쁨). Sung Gir knew her from when he was active (about nine years ago) and now we've gotten them back in contact with each other! It was rather miraculous that everything's happened at just the right time for their paths to cross again. Kibbum had made some changes to her work schedule so she could come to one of our appointments with him, and so when he canceled, we had to cancel with her too. She was pretty excited to see him, and clearly wanted to get involved with missionary work. She even asked us if she could proselyte with us! We didn't think that'd work, but after calling the Sister missionaries, the five of us got together to do some English stickerboarding. It was really effective, and we could tell that Kibbum was really excited to be doing missionary work again. We got over a dozen numbers, and so far everybody we've called has given us an appointment. The first one's tonight... fingers crossed!

We also met HY Ho (황용호), the man with a drinking problem... but now it seems like he's forcibly quitting. When we last saw him, it looked like he'd been hit by a car! He had large black marks on his body, lots of small lacerations, and he'd had surgery on his chin. His face was really swollen, and something was up with his teeth. He was obviously in a lot of pain, so we were grateful that he allowed us to come and introduce exactly what the Book of Mormon is. He accepted it, and said he'd start reading it when he wasn't in so much pain. He's taking a lot of medication, so I think he's on the abstinence track right now. I doubt Korean soju would mix well with his medications.

We also met Kyoo Hwan (규환), with his friend, Go Gyung Hwan (고경환). We read part of Enos together, which Kyoo Hwan had had a rather difficult time understanding. It was an interesting experience to help a Korean understand their own language (equatable to a foreigner helping you understand old English, or the language of the Bible). It was also really cool to invite Kyoo Hwan to teach his friend the method of prayer, and to see how well he's understood everything we've talked about. He did great.

And of course, there's always Kim Yong Kyoo (김용규), our star player. This week he took a big step towards resolving some of his doubts when he finally verbalized what one of his largest concerns with the church is: polygamy. How stereotypical! And, more than that, he's confused about the Manifesto, issued by President Wilford Woodruff, and about a whole host of things... all inflamed by his experience as a college student, as part of a church where the pastor did some very un-Christian things under the guise of Christianity.

However, to balance that we're also meeting him more often. We've been teaching a ton from the scriptures, and have given him a lot to think about. For instance, he asked about martyrs in the era of Roman persecution, compared with the Lord rescinding plural marriage during a time of persecution from the government. To discuss that, we shared a very simple scriptures: John 8:59. In that verse, Christ hides himself and leaves the temple, after the Jews had taken up stones with the intention of stoning Him. That threw him for a loop, and he's been pondering and praying about that for a while now. The next time we meet, we'll re-focus on the baptismal questions, because once Kim Yong Kyoo takes that step of faith, he'll receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, which, as Christ promised, will teach us and comfort us. Kim Yong Kyoo, with his seemingly inexhaustible host of questions and concerns, could really use that in his life.

Fourth of July? I'll be honest, there's no recognition of it here in Korea, so Elder Stapp and I ate hamburgers and sang patriotic hymns in our English hymnals to celebrate the holiday. Not a single firework in sight, either.

We did teach English class that night though, which is a pretty American thing... if you're a missionary! It went really well. It's actually pretty fun to teach people English, and it turns out that you can have a lot of fun!

I gave my second training as district leader this past Wednesday. We focused more on teaching skills, specifically teaching with variety. We discussed all of the various tools we have at our disposal, and the importance of implementing them in our lesson plans. It went pretty well. I think my favorite part is participation from the district members, however few in number we may be (4명).

In spite of all this, we still spend dozens of hours a week proselyting on the streets. It feels like we've combed across our area, which can be an attitude killer when it comes to planning another day of proselyting. To break up the monotony, we try to find places we've never been before. We've been having a lot of success finding new venues on the other side of the (not-so-proverbial) subway tracks. I was under the impression that it was all factories, but lately we've discovered several shopping areas, tucked away in all the industrial complexes.

To wrap up our week, we ate dinner at a member's home, and practiced teaching with them. Practice lessons are a great resource; it helps the members feel the Holy Ghost testifying of the truthfulness of the gospel, and it helps us improve our ability to teach, especially in Korean. We impressed the members with our unity in teaching; we made a concious effort to switch off and not let either one of us do everything, which can be a problem when you have very young and old missionaries paired together. Elder Stapp's very talented however, and he deserves it. The members were very impressed with his skill, considering his time in country. It reminded me of when I was in my third transfer, just like he is. I think we have a lot of similarities, and hopefully he'll not only learn as quickly as I did, but do even better than I did! After all, we're a dynamic duo -- not one person leading, the other following, but a partnership. I'm constantly grateful for the chance to work hand in hand with not just a great companion, but with the Savior of all mankind. It's His work, and I know that He is involved in it. He has promise to be with us; and I know that He fulfills His promises. In a sense, that is a vital part of faith: the faith that Jesus Christ has the power to fulfill His promises, and will do so.

Sincerely,
Elder Austin Lynn