16.1.3

J (준석) was baptized!
I'm 99% sure it was the first baptism of the year. He asked me to baptize him, so we descended into the baptismal font on January 1st, at the bright and (relatively) early hour of 9 o'clock. By my reckoning, it was even a new year over in the New World. It was a wonderful baptismal service, and it was a good spiritual experience for our (former investigator, now) recent convert. He commented afterwards that he was more motivated to read the Book of Mormon and keep the commandments now. And isn't that was baptism should do? If our covenants with God don't motivate us to "try a little harder to be a little better" than I'm not sure exactly why we'd make them. Why promise to do your best, then keep performing at your average level?
The baptismal service itself was the culmination of our ward's New Year's activity. The missionaries arrived at 8 to eat rice cake soup (a traditional dish for Korean New Year's). The soup is pretty important; it's the moment you eat it that you "eat" one more year of age. So, I'm now 22 in Korean age. Apparently, the Ward had a nice devotional with the Bishopric, and then gave blessings to families before we got there. After breakfast, we had our baptismal service (the missionaries sang "He Sent His Son," one of my favorite primary songs), and took lots of pictures. Of special note: the man giving me a great handhold in several photos is our ward's Bishop. I was really excited when he grabbed my hand; that means you're close in Korean culture!

Our week in review:

Monday: met with J, and taught him about the temple and missionary work (when he was confirmed on Sunday, part of his blessing was to become a great missionary in the future! I dearly hope that will come to pass). As always, he enjoyed our discussion and continues to open up to us about his life.

Tuesday: met J again; finished teaching everything he needs to know about baptism, mainly concerning family history and enduring to the end. We invited him to endure to the end in enjoying the blessings of the gospel, and continually growing closer to God. I'm not sure there's a more joyful principle of the gospel than that of enduring to the end. Afterwards, we finally finished our session of weekly planning that was interrupted on Friday (thanks, Christmas!) and closed out our night by eating with some members and teaching them a practice lesson. Elder Lowe rocked teaching the first lesson, and we had a wonderful time with this young couple and their newborn son. I say newborn, but he's about ready to start crawling. They fed us well, both spiritually and physically. 

Wednesday: began exchanges with Elder Rogers, and had district meeting. My directive to train was teaching simply and powerfully, and I felt like the best way to do that is to teach from the scriptures. In church settings, we sometimes slip into the mistake of having the scriptures support our words, when really teaching from the scriptures means that we use our words to support the scriptures. We practiced doing so, and I was really happy with the results. Teaching is so much more powerful when we present a verse (or section) of scripture, and then allow the scripture to speak for itself. Our role diminishes to that of interpreting, and likening, rather than blocking and producing from our own stores of knowledge. I find the result to be more pure, and more conducive to individuals learning on their own. 

Thursday: ended exchanges with Elder Rogers. We cleaned up some of their old house (which was also my first house), which was poetically ironic for me. We also visited an investigator who fed us rotisserie chicken! That was delicious. We also watched the Mormon Message, "Reflections," with him. We all felt the Spirit, and it led to a great discussion about family relations. I was impressed by how he spoke of his dad: he didn't talk much, but he taught me how to do things, like paint a car, or build a bookcase. My amount of gratitude for the various people I meet and the lessons they help me learn increases a bit more.
(In the meantime, my companion meets our new investigator for the first time while on exchanges, and they discuss why they want to meet, and watch the video "Because He Lives.")

Friday: Spent most of the day at the church. We played the Korean sport likenable to soccer and volleyball combined, had our baptismal service, and cleaned the church! Our new investigator also came again, and we taught him about God and prayer. He doesn't know anything about religion, but after our explanation of prayer and what blessings are, he commented, "That sounds really good. I need to read the Book of Mormon. I need to pray." Sounds like a golden investigator to me! Once again only managed to get a part of weekly planning done. 

Saturday: Texted tons of people Happy New Year's, and as a result answered phone calls from random people all day! Yay! Taught English to some children; contacted some more folks, and then a less-active member randomly called and wanted to feed us dinner. 

Sunday: J got confirmed! Also, we had our stake president, mission president, and a counselor in the area presidency in attendance! The counselor is Elder Choi of the 70. He gave some great training on sustaining our leaders, local and general, and also about prioritizing in life. His wife gave a heartfelt testimony about how we often think of the Apostleship as glorious, honorable, and wonderful, but we don't see the side of it where they come out of hospitals, use wheelchairs, and can hear themselves getting closer to the grave. The Apostles literally wear out their lives in the service of God, bearing witness of Jesus Christ. How blessed we are for those selfless leaders.
We were also blessed by a completely out of the blue invitation to dinner at a member's home Sunday evening, so we got to break our fast at a member's home. One more fast Sunday for me!

Best Wishes and Happy New Year,
Elder Austin Lynn

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