I thought I'd start today's letter with something I learned in language study this morning. I was reading the Book of Mormon in Korean, which has been a wonderful eye opener. There are some concepts that are more clear in Korean, and certain words with carry slightly different connotations. Couple that with a completely different grammatical structure, and you're bound to find new things every time you read. In particular I was reading Alma Chapter 5 today, and I was impressed by how the phrase "sing the song of redeeming love" was translated. It's a little complex to explain to none Korean speakers, but from the way the verb redeeming is conjugated and honorified, it's very clear that they're talking about Jesus Christ's love, in a very present, active way. When I read that phrase, the thought that entered my mind was we "sing the song of the Redeemer's love." What a wonderful song.
So, last Monday was the final day of Korea's biggest holiday. We were expecting to be alone on the streets that night, but a member from a different ward that uses our building invited all of the missionaries in the area to spend a Family Home Evening together. It's probably the only FHE I've been involved in this year! They shared a spiritual thought, refreshments, and played a traditional Korean game with us. I was grateful for these members, and I could sense the importance that missionary work had in their family. As I've served, I've come to realize that I don't worry about the spirituality of families that are involved in missionary work. As we work to show others how wonderful the gospel is, we come to realize it in deeper ways than before.
On Tuesday we met with a former investigator who we'd never met before. he's a 26 year old fellow working for a broadcasting company. He likes missionaries, so we weren't sure how much interest he had in the gospel when we first met him. We decided to focus on God for our first meeting. As follows, we discussed what he believes about God, and inquired as to whether or not he prays and reads the scriptures. He thinks that God exists most of the time, and when prodded by a question of "why," he said it's because he feels God has helped him in his life when things were tough. We explained that whenever God helps us do more than we're able to, or He teaches us something we don't know, it's called revelation.
(As a side note, some people may scoff at that. But, I would point to Doctrine and Covenants, Section 8, where God uses the instance of Moses splitting the Red Sea for Israel as an example of the spirit of revelation. Under that category, I believe revelation is what God does for us that we can't do for ourselves.)
We took that subject and explained that there are three ways we receive revelation: going to Church, reading the scriptures, and praying. We committed him to try an experiment: to read the Book of Mormon every day, pray every day, and come to church every week for a month. We promised him that if he did so, he'd know whether or not God exists. We've been sending him scriptures every day, and he's committed to come to church, so I'm very excited for him. We watched a Mormon Message about revelation together to end the lesson, and he was very impressed. After listening to Elder Bednar explain how revelation feels and works, he exclaimed, "Wow, I have had revelation before!"
https://www.lds.org/…/2012-01-012-patterns-of-light-spirit-…
The next day was District Meeting. I trained on using our new flip-chart books we received at our mission training conference last weekend, and we practiced using them in two different roleplays: one was a random selection from the book, and a second was a President-mandated roleplay about repentance, emphasizing the points we were trained on during last weekend. Both of the roleplays went really well; which is always awesome. Roleplaying is honestly a kind of weird thing to do, but I feel it's one of the most effective ways missionaries become better teachers. Nothing does a 20 year old more good than sitting down and teaching another 20 year old who's pretending to be somebody else.
On Thursday, we finally met with "Dream Man." At least, that's what he said to call him when we met him two weeks ago and had an animated conversation about the Book of Mormon. And... well, I think he was presented with a clear choice, and I hope that he chooses the road towards Christ and joy later in life. Right now, he's fighting himself. In one breath, he says he wants to find the truth, then in the next says that there's no truth anywhere for him to find, and he doesn't care. It's very sad, but all we can do is invite him to look. Like Israel in the wilderness, we've raised the serpent on the rod; it's up to him to look and live.
On Friday I spent the evening working with one of our zone leaders, and I was really impressed by a thought he shared with me the next day: as leaders, our responsibility is to help others reach their potential. He found that in a talk by Elder Wirthlin, where he said a question every leader should ask himself is: "How am I doing in helping others reach their potential?" We sat down and talked about the potential of the people in my area, and how I can help them reach that. It was a really productive discussion, and helped me remember that my most important role isn't to lead people around, but to help show them how to walk, by staying by their side and helping them grow. I am so grateful for the chance to be involved in others' progression, and I hope that I can help everybody in my district take strides forward as effective missionaries.
Saturday and Sunday passed without anything too significant, then we met a less-active young man who had just moved into our area on Sunday evening. (이솔), and boy, I love that kid. His father warned us that he was a little strange, and suffered from crippling depression because of bullying at school, but when we met, he seemed like a normal kid. He was really friendly, and turns out to know my companion's twin! He likes missionaries a lot, and is going to be coming out to church here in the future. Our plan is to involve him in our missionary work as much as possible. Nothing helps you feel good like helping others, and it's in losing ourselves that we find ourselves, and our happiness. I anticipate seeing him a lot more in the future.
General Conference, here I come!
So, last Monday was the final day of Korea's biggest holiday. We were expecting to be alone on the streets that night, but a member from a different ward that uses our building invited all of the missionaries in the area to spend a Family Home Evening together. It's probably the only FHE I've been involved in this year! They shared a spiritual thought, refreshments, and played a traditional Korean game with us. I was grateful for these members, and I could sense the importance that missionary work had in their family. As I've served, I've come to realize that I don't worry about the spirituality of families that are involved in missionary work. As we work to show others how wonderful the gospel is, we come to realize it in deeper ways than before.
On Tuesday we met with a former investigator who we'd never met before. he's a 26 year old fellow working for a broadcasting company. He likes missionaries, so we weren't sure how much interest he had in the gospel when we first met him. We decided to focus on God for our first meeting. As follows, we discussed what he believes about God, and inquired as to whether or not he prays and reads the scriptures. He thinks that God exists most of the time, and when prodded by a question of "why," he said it's because he feels God has helped him in his life when things were tough. We explained that whenever God helps us do more than we're able to, or He teaches us something we don't know, it's called revelation.
(As a side note, some people may scoff at that. But, I would point to Doctrine and Covenants, Section 8, where God uses the instance of Moses splitting the Red Sea for Israel as an example of the spirit of revelation. Under that category, I believe revelation is what God does for us that we can't do for ourselves.)
We took that subject and explained that there are three ways we receive revelation: going to Church, reading the scriptures, and praying. We committed him to try an experiment: to read the Book of Mormon every day, pray every day, and come to church every week for a month. We promised him that if he did so, he'd know whether or not God exists. We've been sending him scriptures every day, and he's committed to come to church, so I'm very excited for him. We watched a Mormon Message about revelation together to end the lesson, and he was very impressed. After listening to Elder Bednar explain how revelation feels and works, he exclaimed, "Wow, I have had revelation before!"
https://www.lds.org/…/2012-01-012-patterns-of-light-spirit-…
The next day was District Meeting. I trained on using our new flip-chart books we received at our mission training conference last weekend, and we practiced using them in two different roleplays: one was a random selection from the book, and a second was a President-mandated roleplay about repentance, emphasizing the points we were trained on during last weekend. Both of the roleplays went really well; which is always awesome. Roleplaying is honestly a kind of weird thing to do, but I feel it's one of the most effective ways missionaries become better teachers. Nothing does a 20 year old more good than sitting down and teaching another 20 year old who's pretending to be somebody else.
On Thursday, we finally met with "Dream Man." At least, that's what he said to call him when we met him two weeks ago and had an animated conversation about the Book of Mormon. And... well, I think he was presented with a clear choice, and I hope that he chooses the road towards Christ and joy later in life. Right now, he's fighting himself. In one breath, he says he wants to find the truth, then in the next says that there's no truth anywhere for him to find, and he doesn't care. It's very sad, but all we can do is invite him to look. Like Israel in the wilderness, we've raised the serpent on the rod; it's up to him to look and live.
On Friday I spent the evening working with one of our zone leaders, and I was really impressed by a thought he shared with me the next day: as leaders, our responsibility is to help others reach their potential. He found that in a talk by Elder Wirthlin, where he said a question every leader should ask himself is: "How am I doing in helping others reach their potential?" We sat down and talked about the potential of the people in my area, and how I can help them reach that. It was a really productive discussion, and helped me remember that my most important role isn't to lead people around, but to help show them how to walk, by staying by their side and helping them grow. I am so grateful for the chance to be involved in others' progression, and I hope that I can help everybody in my district take strides forward as effective missionaries.
Saturday and Sunday passed without anything too significant, then we met a less-active young man who had just moved into our area on Sunday evening. (이솔), and boy, I love that kid. His father warned us that he was a little strange, and suffered from crippling depression because of bullying at school, but when we met, he seemed like a normal kid. He was really friendly, and turns out to know my companion's twin! He likes missionaries a lot, and is going to be coming out to church here in the future. Our plan is to involve him in our missionary work as much as possible. Nothing helps you feel good like helping others, and it's in losing ourselves that we find ourselves, and our happiness. I anticipate seeing him a lot more in the future.
General Conference, here I come!
Best Wishes,
Elder Austin Lynn
Elder Austin Lynn
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