Week 2

October 26, 2016

Hi all!

So week two is over and it flew by so fast! This week has been up and down but overall my experience is amazing!

First Korean is SO HARD!

I was expecting a challenge and i wasn't thinking it would be easy, but i had no clue it would be this hard!

I was told that Korean is the 3rd hardest language to learn next to Finish and one of the African clicking languages. According to the Korean branch president it is harder than Japanese and Chinese. He said it is because there are so many vowels that make the exact same sound and there are so many pronunciation sound changed. Also the sentence structure hurts my brain so much! I definitely agree! It is by far the most difficult think I have done and will ever do! 

So I get discouraged a lot because we have to teach a lesson in Korean almost every night and it is so frustrating to not understand a word they are saying and not be able to tall them all that I want to. ButIi realized yesterday that it doesn't matter what i say, it matters how the investigator feels when I teach. And I have been so focused on teaching that i haven't been focused on them and helping them feel the spirit. So that has helped me from quitting because I just feel so terrible after teaching. But after that I feel better. 

Any ways there isn't really much to talk about. This place is like Mormon Prison. We all wear the same clothes, eat the same food, have designated exercise time, are stuck in a tiny class room all day, and are surrounded by walls! Haha but it is pretty ok I guess,.. 

It is definitely a good experience, but since it is like prison me and my district have found very odd ways to entertain ourselves. The first is through rewriting song lyrics. This is my favorite lyric by Elder Kellis.. He said " The MTC wont let me be, so let me be me so let see, the try to turn me into a missionary but it feels so empty without me." and "they've created a monster cause nobody wants to see Taz no more they want Elder Goon I'im chopped liver, well if you want elder goon this is what ill give ya, a little bit of me mixed with some true scripture." It is so dumb but we find ways to keep us going crazy. There is also mints in the MTC store for like $.50 so we buy so many of them and toss them across the room into each others mouths when the teacher is not looking. We miss all the time, but we haven't been caught yet. We also have pull up competitions on the door frame of our class room...I always win! But when its time to focus we all focus and learn so no worries there. We also sing and beatbox, which is funny cause we are all terrible. 

Ok back to the hard times. For dinner one night we had fish taco's and I felt like my world was over. I literally held the taco in my hand just staring at it, trying to will myself to take a bite for a good 20 minutes. WhenIi finally took a bite I almost threw up like 4 times. It was terrible! And then one of the girls in our district who go to Korea all the time were telling me about all the fish and live octopus and EWWWWWWW! I am really not looking forward to that...

Ok back to the good times! when we all return to the dorms we like to do whats called PASS. There are like 20 bathroom stalls and so we all go and use the number two. It is called pass because we Poop And Share Scriptures. It is so weird and funny, but definitely the highlight of my night. We also have sword fights tournament in the dorms. Where you grab each others hand and try to poke them with your finger and they try to poke you. I always win those because I'm the smallest so they underestimate my strength and mad skills. 

We had two speakers this week, the first being the managing director of every missionary. He talked about the spirit and how much of a tool it is for us. The next speaker was Elder K Brett Nattress of the 70 and he talked about Jesus Christ. He shared his thoughts and what Chris's atonement meant to him and it really hit me hard. One thing he shared was "do your best, be your best and the Lord will make up the rest." I know that is true. I know that i can't learn Korean in 9 weeks, but if i try my best, the Lord will help me with what i cant do. He also talked about the prophet, Gorden B Hinckley. He shared that before the prophet went on his mission his father gave him a note card and written on it was "be not afraid, Only Believe." so now I have a note card in my pocket that says those words.  I am definitely afraid and nervous for my mission, but because of that I know that Heavenly Father will bless and help me.

The last thing I will share is in choir we sang Jesus Once of Humble birth. And our director made sure we truly understood and knew the words. I'd encourage you all to read the song. It spoke to me so much. The song sums up Christs life and his atonement. One thing our director talked about was when Jesus Christ suffered for all our sins. He asked us to think about how we feel after doing something wrong and how guilty we feel. He said Christ had never felt guilt because he was perfect. So when Jesus took on all the sins of the world, he felt all our guilt, and that pressure is what caused him to sweat drops of blood. He suffered for everything that we every went through. And in the book of Matthew is explains that Christ could have just known what it was like to sin. The spirit could have just told him "this is what it is like to get your heart broken, or have a family member die, or feel lonely, or sad." Instead Jesus Chose to actual suffer for all that, to actually suffer for everything that you and I have been through. So he could no us perfectly and our feelings, not just know what it is like to feel bad or sad or heartbroken, but to know perfectly how WE feel. I testify that Christ knows how we feel and all our pains and sorrows and sins. He doesn't just know in general what it feels like but he knows exactly what we as individuals have felt. He has felt the exact same way. And because of that he can justly take away our pain. He can justly say, i know what you are feeling right now, let me help you. I know that Jesus Christ suffered and died for us and that He loves us. I know he wants to help us if we just ask. I share that in the name of Jesus Christ, amen. 

I love you all and thank you for all your letters and emails and support. it means a lot! I'll see you guys in two years

Elder Goon