Week 102 STRESS

September 23, 2018

This week, at least at the beginning I got ridiculously stressed. And as a result I got super sick! haha.

So at the beginning of the week there was a lot of things that really stressed me out.

1. I had to eat cow guts. That was just not very fun

2. I accidentally scheduled two important appointments too close together. So we rushed out of one and were late to the other and both parties were mad.

3. So many new rules came out that really hurt our English class and are making the members mad at me.

4. I had to give a talk in sacrament and preparing that was scary

5. My companion got really mad at me for seemingly no reason

6. All the missionaries in our district got into a fight.

There are more but I'm sure you don't really care. Also for some reason as a missionary really really little things can cause a LOT of stress. I've definitely learned that no matter how small you think something is, for some odd reason it can just really stress you out.

Anyways so because of that I was sick from Wednesday till now. I'm doing better though. Wednesday and yesterday were especially rough.

This week, despite the sickness and the stress we were able to see some miracles.

The biggest was a new investigator names June. He is so cool. And he is a volleyball player. And he is very sincere. Unfortunately when I got his number I didn't add a memo.... So when we met him, we didn't know anything about him so I was forced to ask "why do you want to meet us" his answer was jaw dropping. He said. I've been having a feeling that I need to go back to church and I think you can help me.

Well we talked and agreed to meet every Monday. It was awesome!

Then the other miracles were every single time I had to do something important such as teach English class, teach a lesson, give a talk, or proselyte I was blessed with strength and energy and my cold went away. Every time. For an hour during English class. For 10 minutes during my sacrament talk the Lord was with me and holding me up!

Today is Korean Thanksgiving so we are headed to the folk village, which is tradition in our mission.

I hope you all have a great week!

Week 101

September 16, 2018

This week was fun.

We set a really high goal to get 100 new investigators this last transfer and to get 1750 meaningful contacts. (The mission standard of excellence is 10 per day or 420 per transfer and the mission average is a little less than that.) Regardless it is really really high goals.

So Monday night we set right out to achieve those goals. Monday we had soccer pday and boy was I beat! It was pretty awesome though because throughout the mission life I have been moving up in the draft order. This is MOSTLY because all the good players are leaving, but PARTLY because I am getting much better at soccer! Anyways the first time I was last pick, this time I was first pick!

I felt honored and really went hard, and because of that I was beyond exhausted! So when we got home I did NOT want to go out and proselyte. But I did. And I started carrying around a lot of copies of The Book of Mormon. And we gave out 3, got 3 numbers, and 11 meaningful contacts. Though I was entirely exhausted we saw great miracles.

Tuesday we had some time to proselyte. We went out in the morning and walked around while we waited for the sisters. We planned to meet them at the station and help them with their bags. We helped them then had our service activity then an appointment that night with a member. We had boiled pork and it was DELICIOUS. Then we went to their home for a practice lesson.

Wednesday we had our district meeting and an appointment with a member for dinner! We shared a message on family scripture study and prayer and committed them as a family to read and pray as a family daily!

Thursday we had proselyting activities! We advertised for our upcoming English class with many of our members! We also had a test to take! Elder Kim took the Michigan test, which is an English test to get into BYU Hawaii. So that took up most of our day!

Friday was a great day! In the morning we had an appointment with an investigator who is really really really really great. We talked about the restoration and the Book of Mormon and he was really engaged. He was asking all kinds of questions and showing a ton of interest. We committed him to read and he seemed excited to read! I have high hoped for him. Then that night we sticker boarded with the sisters. Man it was rough and not many people stopped and it was pretty frustrating. But we just pushed along and I was happy that we stuck it out.

Saturday we had another English class proselyting activity. It was pretty good and I think we have found a lot of really interested people! Hopefully our English class will be a success!

Sunday was a good day. We didn’t get any investigators at church but it was still a good day. After church we had our study and then weekly planning. And Sunday we made CHICKEN ROLLS!!! Elder Kim and I had fun making them and he loved them! It was really fun!

This week was really busy and flew by! I am so so tired. But ready to push on through my last 5 weeks. We had our district leader call last night and our district leader told us we destroyed the rest of the district in stats, and that we are probably the hardest working companionship in the mission. I’m not sure if that is true, but I sure will try my best to finish strong and fun till the end!

Elder Goon

Week 100!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

September 9. 2018

Hello everyone! I hope you all had a great week.

This week was pretty plain for us. The major thing that happened was our ward has been going crazy trying to help us get our English class started! I told you about our Sunday meeting right? Well Monday and Tuesday we frantically made a sticker board and Wednesday and Saturday got to work with our ward! Our faithful English class coordinators showed up! We taught them how to proselytizing and by Saturday they were experts!

Unfortunately I got sick on Wednesday night and wasn't feeling better till Saturday. So in those days in between we visited some members and spent some time outside, but I mostly stayed inside and planned/rested.

I got a lot of reading and studying while I was sick. I have been reading the Book of Mormon and New Testament as well as preach my gospel. But recently I have been fascinated by the book published by the church called "saints" they have been releasing a chapter a month in the Liahona, but recently released the whole book and I have not been able to put it down! I am already on chapter 41 and have read over 400 pages this week.

As I read about the miracles and the history of the restored church in the latter days my knowledge, testimony, and appreciation for the early Saints has grown tremendously! As I have read I have felt an undeniable spirit about the stalwart examples and faithful saints. I strongly recommend this book! It's on gospel library! Under church history.

This Sunday was stake conference. My old ward Gukbanjeung put together a choir. I had been practicing with them and got pretty good at the base part while I was serving there. Well they invited me back to sing! So I sat up on the stand with my old ward. As I sat on the stand I got to look out at the faithful saints of our stake. I have served in this stake for 11 transfers, about a year and a half, and have come to love these members. As the meeting closed many Bundang members rushed up to me asking if I had been transferred. They were worried I was leaving them again.

I am so grateful for the members in Korea. They have a strong faith. Incredible love. And I have found so much joy through them. I love them!

I hope you all have a great week!

Elder Goon

Week 99

September 2, 2018

Well this week to explain the few pictures i wrote a poem,

I’m going home,

I need a new style,

I’m testing these out,

I’m not a poet

Anyways this week was crazy eventful but sorry not too many pictures!

This week we had a mission tour! Elder Choi and Wada of the seventy came to visit us. They were so powerful and I definitely had a wonderful experience. I'm struggling a bit right now. I'm really really tired, and the 2 elders that we live with both go home in 8 days. If you are familiar with the word trunky, this is the hardest it has been to not be trunky. But Elder Choi and Wada really inspired me and taught me a lot about talking to everyone and not being afraid to open our mouth and being obedient. I left that meeting feeling very motivated. And our mission president promised us that if we opened our mouth on the way home and exercised faith in what we learned we would find investigators to teach. I did just that and because of that we were able to find 4 investigators. But more about them later.

Another big thing that happened this week was we met a less active on Friday, I called him the night before and grabbed an appointment with him! We met and talked.... He has lots of hardships in his life, but he knows the gospel is true and he needs to go to church, we just reminded him of that. Well he said if I wake up I’ll go, we called him in the morning and he sent us a text that he is getting ready, he came and the ward welcomed him and was wonderful! I think he has a great experience back.

Also that same Sunday we found another investigator. When I was first in Bundang I taught an old man named mister lim. Well he came to church every week, but didn't think he was worthy to be baptized, when I came back I looked forward to seeing him. When I came and he wasn't there I was worried he may have died (he is 86). Well I asked about him and he had surgery on his knees and could barely walk. So I waited more, but this Sunday he showed up, remembered me and even asked me to sit by him to help him find the hymns and scriptures speakers quoted! That was a great miracle!

Another miracle! Wow this week was full of them.

Our mission is getting a new English program that requires 1 English coordinator and the help of our ward mission leader. Well if you want just one example on why Bundang is the best ward in our mission it is this: we announced we needed some help and an English coordinator and asked for volunteers to come to a meeting at 1:00 after church. I expected 5 people tops.... Well almost 20 people showed up all so excited and willing to help! They all pitched in great ideas and all said they would come to English class every week, invite friends, and come to proselyting activities to advertise for it! We had women, men, young women, young men, and even people from primary! It was so amazing to see how positively they responded and how ready and willing they were to help!

On Friday night we had a district sticker boarding activity in a new area that we have never been to before. And man we saw a lot of success. Our district combined got almost 30 numbers! (8 people in our district). While I was talking to a younger man I had a very special experience. Our board said something like this:

What do you want to learn more about?

English

Religion

Who are you?

The Book of Mormon

And he stuck his sticker on The Book of Mormon. Well I asked if he knew about the Bible. He said know. I asked if he knew about God. He said no. So I explained that the Book of Mormon is God's words, God is our loving heavenly father and he can guide us through the Book of Mormon. I testified and taught about God and the Book of Mormon. As I did a warm peaceful feeling came over me and I knew it was the Holy Ghost. And if I am feeling it they are too. At that moment I looked into his eyes and testified of the joy that comes through the Book of Mormon and I saw tears start to form in his eyes. It was a very special experience.

Another miracle happened just before that sticker boarding activity. We had received a text from a person met a few months ago by previous missionaries saying let's meet. Well she didn't live in our area so we met her I. The neighboring area with that wards sisters to smoothly refer her over. We talked for about 30 minutes just getting to know her then started a church tour we had to leave early, which was great and allowed her to bond with the sisters. Well I asked that night how it went and the investigator told me it was the best day of her life. I asked the sister missionaries to find out more details. This is what they said: It went wonderful, she wants to be baptized. Thank you elders. We don’t have a date yet...figured we could make it tomorrow after she comes to church! But we invited her and she said yes. We toured the church and we sat in a room to talk again and she told us she felt something so peaceful and warm when we were showing her the baptismal font (I know it's so good it sounds fake not kidding though) and she opened up a lot (haha she's a talker^^) and she wants to join this religion. Said she feels a light around us and the elder she met and you elders.

I was really excited to get that text!

Last but not least me and my companion watched a movie called the district last night (we have too because Elder Kim is a new missionary) it is a documentary of a district of missionaries somewhere in the USA. Well they are excellent missionaries and are a model to all of us. As I said early in this email, I haven’t been very focused and it's been hard for me to be motivated. And Elder Kim wasn't that motivated or hard working either, so we have been slacking the last 3 weeks, but as we both watched, often wiping away tears, I knew we both were feeling the spirit tell us "you need to be better."

After watching that video we quietly went into our room and made goals to be better and said a prayer together asking God to forgive us for our weakness and help us be better.

I am excited for the next week!

Elder Goon