Week 106 Last Day

October 21, 2018

Well everyone, I'm gone. It's gone, the best experience any one could ever ask for. All that in a blink of the eye.... just kidding two years was a long time, it definitely didn't go by in the blink of an eye!

But I will quickly recap the week and share one last testimony!

Monday was our zone pday and we had a meal with one of my favorite families! We had a district v district v district. The games were charades, musical chairs, eating competition, and dodge ball. With 6 years of stake dodge ball and 2 years of participating in High School dodge ball tournaments you could basically call me a dodge ball player right? haha well I couldn't contribute much to the other events, but our district completely destroyed in dodge ball. We annihilated, and my team just handed me the ball every time... it was fun

Tuesday we was kinda the last day of missionary work for me I guess. We had an appointment in the morning with the zone leaders for Elder Kim's language evaluation, then an investigator appointment then service then we had sticker boarding!

Wednesday was my final interview and English class. It was strange to talk with my Mission President for the last time, but it was a sweet experience as we discussed all that was learnt and how we grew these two years.

Thursday we had district meeting in Icheon, which is far so we traveled for 4 hours, district meeting for 2 and then lunch dinner and studies.

Friday we had another language test with the assistants. I had a test. About 8 weeks ago our mission got a new language program for older missionaries. I decided I wasn't going to do it, but I was awaken in the middle of the night 4 weeks ago, and felt strongly I needed to do the program. So I got to work, I wrote 3 talks, 7 lesson plans, 5 proselyting approaches, translated 30 journal entries, read every pamphlet in Korean, and memorized 3,700 vocabulary words. It was tough and definitely not deigned to be done in one transfer, but I did it. But sadly I didn't pass, which is OK, I know by doing this it kept me working hard till the end! You needed a 80% on the vocabulary and I got a 74%... but I'm glad I put in the work

Saturday I had two member appointments and english class. It was probably one of the best days of my mission, a member took us to an ancient kings tomb, then to a delicious restaurant, then home for cake, I showed them some magic tricks and they freaked out and called me Harry Potter and yeah it was a good night,  

Sunday was a day for packing....

And now today I am off to the mission home and tomorrow I will see my parents.

Thank you all for following me throughout my mission, for your prayers and support.

My role as a missionary is to stand as a witness and preach the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ. So for the last time I will do that,

When Joseph Smith Prayed to God to know what church to join, God and Jesus Christ appeared to him. They called him as their latter day prophet and through him revealed the Book of Mormon, restored Gods power on the earth, and organized their church.

I know this to be true. It is not a matter of belief or faith anymore, it is sure, true knowledge.

I know that because of this, we are incredibly blessed today and if we accept this restored gospel, will be blessed for eternity.

I have read the Book of Mormon, I have pleaded with God to know if it is true. I testify it is.

I know God loves us. I know Jesus Christ died for us.

I am so grateful I got to teach this message for the past two years.

Everyone have a good 2 weeks and I will be back in Vegas soon!

Elder Goon

Week 105 Goodbye

October 14, 2018

Well at this point my time here is done. We have an insanely busy week and I’m not even sure we will have time to do our studies. When I came to 분당 I promised myself and the Lord that I would work my head off. That equaled me and Elder Kim spending almost all of our free time out on the streets proselyting.

Well our mission averages 8 new people to teach per week. In the past 5 weeks me and Elder Kim have found 10. Which has created a very big teaching pool equaling lots of appointments and therefore no time. Plus many members are saying goodbye and feeding us, which takes up time.

This week was amazing one of my favorite members bought me some new shoes and took me out to lunch! She took me to one of the most expensive restaurants in Korea! And I was grateful.

Other than that the majority of our week was spent meeting investigators and finding. We had one cool miracle!

We had got a text from a random person at 9:40 in the morning asking when church starts, we said 10 but I told him he can come at 11! Well he came and he had met missionaries nearly 3 years ago! And he said that he wants to meet again! He said he has mostly English interest but I mean he came to church in order to introduce himself so he must have some potential!

Now for something fun! On Friday we had a big zone activity. We had to skip the dinner because of another meal appointment but got there for the activity. Afterwards the whole zone wanted to see if I could break the record for the punch machine. So I put in my dollar and we all took turns I went first and last. The first time I was 1 away from the high score. Everyone was impressed and it was way fun to see a bunch of missionaries getting so excited over a punching bag!

Now for something I learned at conference! I heard a common theme on Sunday and I had met most of the apostles and seventies that spoke on my mission. So I listened a little more intently and their words had a little more meaning.

I particularly enjoyed Elder Gary's talk. He talked about how he judged his sister and only looked at her inactivity in the church and trials. When he blessed her before she died God allowed him to see his sister through His eyes. Elder Gay saw her goodness. Her divine potential. And learned that we can't judge others because we don't know what God has in plan for them.

I think this goes for ourselves. Sometimes we are too hard on ourselves only seeing the bad, only noticing our imperfections and weaknesses. That's not what God sees. We all have a potential to become like him. He loves us infinitely and knows and loves us better than we know and love ourselves!

I hope you all have a good week!

Elder Goon

Week 104 NEW people to teach!

October 7, 2018

This week was soooo busy! So it all started because of Pday, we went bowling with some other Elders and it was good! I learned I don't like bowling very much... But after wards for some reason my companion didn't want to get outside and just sat at his desk, so I thought I could call LOTS of people and get some appointments. I found a way to still be productive and because of that our week was great! So I am actually glad and think it was a good thing to stay in side and grab appointments!

Anyways Tuesday was busy, we met 2 new person and had great time! The first man is a Canadian and wants to learn Korean! So we had a gospel discussion in Korean and he would ask us what certain words are. He claims to not be religious and have no interest, but he sure asked a ton of questions! And he doesn't admit it but he has a TON of interest! Well we agreed to meet every Tuesday morning!

Then we met another person for lunch! We had a good time. He has read the book of Mormon in the past and met with missionaries a lot, we are not sure how much he has actually been taught so we decided to start teaching him again! Then that day we had our service activity and a sticker boarding activity.

Wednesday was busy! We had to travel quiet far for district meeting. So our day was traveling for 4 hours, district meeting for 2 hours. Then studying and teaching English class. This day flew by!

Thursday I was on exchanges with Elder Bradford, we spent the morning studying and then went out and sticker boarded with the sisters! We then reexchanged and me and Elder Kim went to bishops house for a meal. There was another family there and it was a good time, with VERY delicious food! But the members were asking all the questions you want to ask to a dying missionary, what was hardest, what was best. What was most impressive what did you learn how have you changed. While I like those questions and don't mind answering, it really is indescribable. I'll never be able to express my love for this mission.

Friday and Saturday were rainy days... We had lots of appointments on these days. We had a lunch appointment with some more Members and they just expressed their love for me and how much they will miss me. One of the members expressed how I feel like a member of the ward and they remembered how sad they were when I left the first time and they don't want me to leave again.

Saturday we met 2 new people again! And they were super cool! Similar to the Canadian one met us and said all I want is to learn English, but as we talked all he talked about was God and he really opened up!

Sunday was a day inside and we did lots of planning and records and it was a good end to the great week!

Week 103

September 30, 2018

Well well well, where to start.

These final weeks are scary honestly. Similar to how I was the final weeks before my mission, I take an extra second to enjoy each moment. Spend a little more time doing the little things. Take in sights, smells, and tastes that I know I will probably never get to experience again. I'm quieter. More thoughtful.

My mission President and wife interviewed us this week. They asked me how I felt and my concerns about going home. I explained that I just want to leave it all on the table. And that’s what I have been trying to do!

This week Monday was our special pday at the Korean folk village, this will be the last time I go before my parents come. This is seriously one of the funnest places and things I have done in Korea! I love it seeing the history and the amazing performances.

Then Tuesday we had zone conference we went to the Suwon fortress and that is always fun and beautiful! We received some great training and our mission is stepping up the effort and intensity for sure!

Wednesday we had some great lessons with an investigator and a less active. We just talked and both were interested and attentive and felt the spirit and grew a little bit more. It was great day.

Thursday was probably the best day of my mission! We spent the whole day with our mission president and his wife. We had interviews in our house. Then we drove with them for an hour in the car out to the neighboring area. Then we had dinner with them. Then sticker boarded with them. Then drove home for an hour with them! It was just so awesome and they just inspire me to be my best and be better! And none of the other missionaries wanted to talk to them, so i just talked to them and it was awesome! Anyone that knows me knows I get along with adults much better than children, and I just love the Turners SO MUCH!

Friday Saturday and Sunday we hit the streets and just grinded. We are really trying hard to find new people to teach and to talk to everyone so we spend most of our day outside on the street!

There was so many miracles this week and so many amazing things that happened. I don’t have time to explain them all, but here are a few.

1) Two of my favorite members came to visit me!

2) I was prompted to carry an English Book of Mormon around (something I have never done) and I met someone who couldn’t speak Korean who was really interested in the Gospel!

3) I met someone who invited me to come play volleyball with his college team!

4) I reconnected with an old friend that I met the first time I was here

5) A Bundang member referred her husband and brought him to church!

Those are just a few of the many many miracles I saw this week! It was awesome!

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