tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22431786600180855772024-03-08T14:11:20.897-08:00Elder Christian Graf - Korea Daejeon MissionAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12291442663189149463noreply@blogger.comBlogger85125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2243178660018085577.post-6605688246007985582015-01-28T16:30:00.000-08:002015-02-01T17:21:44.009-08:00The Banana Bread of LifeThe time is ticking. Actually, not only is it ticking, but it's almost out. I, after today, will only have 2 1/2 more weeks here in the mission field. <br />
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WHAT HAPPENED? How did it come so fast? I thought I just got here!</div>
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But, no, the truth is, my mission is coming to its end, and I only have 19 more days here in Korea. Now, sadness definitely sets in when I dwell on the thought of leaving this country and all of the beautiful things and people I have come to love here. Yes, it will be nice to see my family and be a normal human being again, but Korea and the wonderful things that my mission taught me will be truly missed. So, in order to combat the bitter side of the situation, I decided I wanted to bring a little sweetness into the equation. That is, sweetness in the form of banana bread.</div>
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Apparently, I'm a cook. Or chef, or baker. Whatever you call it. I had no idea, but somehow I mix things together and it turns out incredibly delicious. It's a good thing too, because our house actually has a little toaster oven and I've been able to master my skills of creating the most wonderful, soft, moist, sweet, and perfect banana bread ever. While it's a nice little thing for me to eat myself, making things is no fun without sharing it with others.</div>
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If you remember, I transferred to my current ward not very long ago. All of the other missionaries there are very new to the ward as well. We have good relationships with the members, yes, but nothing was really strong. We definitely had some bonding that needed to be done before member missionary work could really commence (also, I'm a social bee and need to fill up my talking/friendly/social tank). </div>
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First, I made one loaf of banana bread for Sister Jang because she was sick with a cold and had to leave church early. When we went to her house and gave her the bread, we also shared John 6:35 "I am the bread of life" (we thought it was cute). After we left that evening, she was so overly happy and thankful for it, she wouldn't stop texting us thank you messages all throughout the night. Because it was so successful, we thought it would be great to give bread to other members too.</div>
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Before we knew it, we were buying 30+ bananas and bags of flour, sugar, and other ingredients. During studies in the morning, the oven was hot and the bread was baking. Then, all throughout extra time when we didn't have appointments throughout the day, we would be at members houses sharing with them John 6:35 and a warm loaf of banana bread to accompany it. Everybody loved it so much and it was a perfect way to open the way for a better relationship to be formed with us and all of the ward members. It definitely is going to be sad to say goodbye to all of them when I have to leave in the next few weeks. However, until then, at least our time together will be wonderful.</div>
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Elder Graf</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12291442663189149463noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2243178660018085577.post-79820034426276566482015-01-11T16:37:00.001-08:002015-01-11T16:37:06.168-08:00The Year of My Mission<span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21.2999992370605px;">When I said goodbye to 2013 and hello to the new year, I made the decision within myself that I would make 2014 the greatest year I possibly could. In fact, I dubbed it "The Year of My Mission". The setting of the situation was perfect. I was in Korea, I was a senior missionary, I could speak Korean, I knew my personal method for missionary work, and I knew what I would need to do in order to make it the best experience possible. So, I felt it was a perfect goal to set and remind myself about all year long. And now as 2014 began to come to a close, and I'm was looking back on the entire experience as a whole, it sure proved to be quite wonderful.</span><br />
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I don't have much time to write about everything that I learned, and I definitely don't have time to post pictures of everything that I saw (I really want to do both though), so I'll instead just give a short summary and try my best to squeeze everything into it:</div>
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2014 was a year full of trials. I had hard companions, I had difficult investigators. I had sad times, and I went through many doubts myself. Through all of these hardships - though I would never wish to go through them again - there were many lessons learned. I discovered my flaws and how to improve them. I found my true self and became a better version of it. 2014 was a year of experiences. Culture festivals, new foods, trips to Buddhist temples, excursions to bath houses, and hikes to mountain peaks were only a few of the many things that I experienced all year long. P-day, for me, stood for Party Day. 2014 was a year of people. I met so many different types of people ranging from young to old, believer to non believer, Pakistan to England, and so on. Not only did I meet with them, but I learned from them. And I grew because of them. The friends I have made here have been so kind to me, and our friendships will continue after the mission. 2014 was a year of lessons. Never in my entire life have I needed so much patience, and never again will I be in another situation where I will have to put that patience to the test. I've learned so many things about not only patience, but kindness, and true service, and friendship, and how to work with people, and - in the end - love. 2014 was the year of all of these things, and in the end, it was truly the Year of My Mission.</div>
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On the morning of January 1, 2015, I woke up at 5 AM. The 4 of us put on our clothes and headed outside. It was cold, but we dressed warm. At 6 AM, we met the other missionaries at the base of Bomun Mountain where I had arranged for us all to meet. We hike up to the top in the dark as the snow lightly fell upon us. At the summit was the fortress, and the stars were still visible. There we sat in the wind and cold, watching and waiting for the sun to rise. The sky gradually brightened in the southeast over the horizon until finally, through the clouds, shone the new year. Welcome 2015, I'm glad you finally made it.</div>
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Elder Graf</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12291442663189149463noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2243178660018085577.post-80013885448640606062015-01-04T17:47:00.002-08:002015-01-04T17:47:58.629-08:00A Merry Christmas<span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21.2999992370605px;">Sometimes, I become really busy and have no time to write an email. IE - the last month.</span><br />
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But it's fine, I'm here now, and what better week to start up again than Christmas? I know, I could'nt agree more.</div>
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Christmas in Korea, however, is....well.... as I've already hashed out before.... not really Christmas. There might be a lit up tree or two in front of the Macy's-esque department store, and there might be Christmas songs playing on the streets, but the overall feel and ambiance is definitely not the same. I'm sure as a normal person in Korea, you can watch holiday movies and decorate the tree and do all you can to bring the spirit in, but as a missionary, those opportunities are almost non-existent. At first, the season was seeming to come and go without much fanfare and nothing we could do was going to stop it.....</div>
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So we got to work.</div>
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Step 1: Decorate with what we can. I whipped out the little one foot tall Christmas tree and miniature lights, garland, and ornaments that came with it and plopped it right on my desk surrounded by the pre-wrapped presents my wonderful mother sent me. The other Elders in the house also made their makeshift decorations using things also sent to them from their families.</div>
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Step 2: Sing Christmas songs only. Each day when we start companionship study, we sing a hymn. For the entire month of December, we sang only Christmas hymns. Yes, the less than 10 songs provided in the Korean hymnbook got tiring - but we still sang them!</div>
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Step 3: Get the band back together. Elder Tischner (violin), Sister Jensen (beautiful vocals), and I (piano) once upon a time performed "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" at the stake talent show. We slapped together our own arrangement and everybody loved it so much that the ward requested for us to perform again for the Christmas Party. The song? Oh Holy Night. And the outcome? Standing applause ;) Oh, and Christmas Spirit.</div>
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Step 4: Hold a zone caroling activity. A new transfer comes new meetings, and we were required to hold our zone conference on Christmas Eve. As horrible as it sounds, I did all I could to make both the meeting exciting, but also the post-meeting time as well. Once it ended, all 24 of us missionaries went to the downtown shopping area and ate Christmas Eve Dinner (sushi) and then caroled the night away. It was such a hit, that not only was everyone that passed by recording and taking pictures of us, but the Daejeon news also came with their big camera and reporter and blasted us onto the big screen in the shopping district (think times square). It was crazy and tons of fun - and after we finished, a missionary turned to me and said "hey - it really<i style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;"> is</i>beginning to look a lot like Christmas!"</div>
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Step 5: Skype the family. Christmas morning came, and while their wasn't anything special about the morning in Korea, the second the webcam turned on, I felt the season blast through the computer and pour out into the little room in the church I was skyping from. While I had done all I could to brighten up the atmosphere over here in Daejeon, it became crystal clear to me that Christmas, simply, is family. While we weren't together in reality, it was still wonderful to talk and see each other. Best Christmas Present ever.</div>
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Step 6: Share the joy with everyone else. So the build up happened, Christmas came, the joy was high! And it became time to spread that joy to everyone around us. On the night of the 25th, we went from investigator house to member house to less active house to investigator house, caroling and sharing the true message, and gift, of the holiday.</div>
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"For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son" is the story that sparked everything that Christmas is, was, and will always be. A gift to the world - a gift of love, hope, and peace. These are things that Christmas is truly about, and these are the things that my mission has revolved around. Things might be hard, and unfair at times too, but with the concepts of love, hope, peace, service, kindness, friendship, family, and giving in our lives, life all of a sudden becomes more than worth living. And Christmas, on both sides of the world, is a wonderful time to cherish these wonderful attributes and reasons to live for.</div>
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Merry Christmas Everyone!</div>
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Elder Graf</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12291442663189149463noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2243178660018085577.post-56937892611180933422014-11-30T17:48:00.000-08:002015-01-04T17:49:01.035-08:00Thanksgiving Week<div style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21.2999992370605px;">
What am I thankful for? Food. I'm thankful for food.</div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21.2999992370605px;">Never, ever, in my entire mission, have I had so many consecutive days of amazing food to eat. I mean, we are often taken out, and fed at houses, and sometimes we even get creative and put together a makeshift feast of our own. BUT, never have all of those happened day after day, meal after meal, all within one week before. And it was just perfect that it all happened around Thanksgiving.</span><br />
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Monday, all of us Elders in Daejeon decided to get together for P-day and eat at a meat buffet. "This week is Thanksgiving" we figured. "We <i style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;">have</i> to eat celebrate somehow". And so we did. It was delicious, wonderful, and filled us up with the Thanksgiving spirit. Or so we thought.</div>
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Tuesday, we were all-of-the-sudden invited to a dinner appointment with our investigator and the APs. And where did he take us? To an amazing restaurant called All-that Barbecue - full American buffet. We were in heaven. And we were filled with the<i style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;"> American</i> Thanksgiving spirit - or at least our stomachs were.</div>
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Then, on Wednesday, I went on an exchange with an Elder in my Zone. He's been going through a real rough time recently, so I figured I would cheer him up and pay for him at that one really nice burger restaurant I ate at on the Fourth of July. $30 later, we were both geared up for the holiday to come.</div>
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On Thursday morning, the alarm went off. "Happy Thanksgiving" the four of us sleepily mumbled to each other, and we all went about getting ready for what was going to be just a normal day until right around 10 o'clock, we heard a knock on the door. Sure enough, it was my Thanksgiving package from my wonderful mother, full of mashed potatoes mix, stuffing mix, jello, and all of the essentials you need for a Thanksgiving feast. The only things missing were rolls and a turkey. But alas! I still had the rolls mix from last year my mom sent me, and this time around, my house had an oven! And for the Turkey, right then and there, Elder Oliverson and I hit the streets and bought a chicken (no turkeys in Korea) but it looked the same as a turkey does, just a little smaller, and so we called it good. Starting right then, we all worked together to make our meal, and the four of us ate a wonderful Thanksgiving lunch together. Really, all I could feel the whole time during that was the overwhelming amount of appreciation I have for my family and everything they have always done for me - especially all the help they have sent me from the other side of the world during my mission. The four of us all felt the spirit of Thanksgiving for sure!</div>
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Friday, our member spoiled us to another American buffet restaurant for Thanksgiving and on Saturday, we had a massive Thanksgiving party at the Colver's house for the English/American Branch here in Daejeon (with food made BY Americans, FOR Americans!). Then, following that, we taught our weekly English class and, of course, the topic was Thanksgiving.</div>
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All in all, it was an amazing Thanksgiving week. And my goodness, were we given so much to be thankful for. But beyond the food, it was the time and care and love that we received that really mattered. And At the same time, we also did our best all week as missionaries to continue to give to others as well. Really, it was a great week of both. A week of giving and getting, and a week of showing thanks, and being thankful. There's so much I could say that I'm thankful for, and I really don't know where I would be able to stop if I were to start a list. So I'll just be a cheater, but completely mean it when I say it:</div>
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What am I thankful for? Everything. Absolutely everything. And I'm grateful to my mission for helping me see that.</div>
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Elder Graf</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12291442663189149463noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2243178660018085577.post-42352588072652768812014-11-17T09:05:00.002-08:002014-11-17T09:05:50.747-08:00The Field Trip<span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21.2999992370605px;">Remember in Elementary School when you woke up one day, excited as ever, packed your sack lunch, went to school, and rode a bus with your teachers to the museum? Or the forest? Or wherever it was the buses took you? </span><br />
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I do.</div>
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And boy, weren't those always among the greatest days of the school year? Or at least, the most refreshing? Well, we're not in elementary school anymore, but we're on a mission, so it's not<i style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;"> too</i> different, right? So of course, a field trip was due to occur.</div>
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The day? Today. P-day. </div>
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The bus? Daejeon area tour buses - 2 of them. </div>
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The teachers? President and Sister Shin.</div>
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And the destination? A museum, an ancient king's tomb, and a 1500 year old fortress.</div>
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Last week, I literally announced it to my zone as such. "Next week," I beamed at our zone meeting, "We will be going on a field trip!!" And wow, was it great or what! I coordinated the venture with Elder Butterfield, one of the district leaders in the zone who had the connections with the bus people, and President Shin, of course. Before the day came, everybody was so excited to be going on a big activity. And luckily, the company doing to tour was giving it all to us for free in order to promote tourism and advertise through us. So, they were using us, but we were definitely using them - and I feel we got the better end of the stick.</div>
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Anyway, it was fantastic. And many of the missionaries brought their investigators with them as well, so it was a great opportunity to still do missionary work even while having fun. I wish I could send you all pictures of the trip, but I don't have a card reader right now.... so I guess it'll have to wait. But just so you a get a picture in your mind, imagine 30 smiling missionaries in front of a massive Asian castle and you'll get the idea.</div>
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So other than that, the week went great! I love my new comp and area. While it's still Daejeon, it still is very different. And being a zone leader thus far has been a great experience. Hopefully this next week will just be a continuation of the good time I've already had.</div>
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Until then!</div>
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Elder Graf</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12291442663189149463noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2243178660018085577.post-63099487883351079922014-11-10T17:39:00.003-08:002014-11-10T17:39:35.169-08:00The Last Area<span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21.2999992370605px;">Goodbye SeJong, hello Dunsan, oh....... hey Daejeon.....nice to see you again.</span><br />
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Now, to you people, you probably have no idea what that means really, so I'll explain. For the last seven months, I have been living in the city Daejeon in the neighborhood of Yuseong. That's like living in New York City, but on Staten Island. I've been serving in Yuseong all that time, but also in the city of SeJong - which is about 30 minutes north. It's been a very long time, but a very wonderful time as well. In Yuseong/SeJong, I've made many friends, experienced many things, seen two of my investigators get baptized, and have truly come to love the area.</div>
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Transfer calls came and I knew I would be leaving. "What new and foreign land will President be sending me to next!?" I wondered. "Will it be the south? The sprawling traditional country towns? An ocean city again? I sure hope I get an ocean city again.....". Clearly, I was excited to see just how I was going to be spending the final stretch of my mission. I mean, I love Daejeon - and it's been a great time - but I've already seen and done nearly everything there is to see and do here, and a new area is always nice</div>
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During my time leading up to when our calls would come in, I was busy saying goodbye to everyone and announced to them that I would be leaving soon. "Where?" they asked, and I would respond by telling them that it would most likely be somewhere far, far away. I met with the military general one more time and he took us out to eat a delicious meal. My English class in SeJong celebrated our last day together and each one of them gave me a going away gift. I taught farewell lessons to each of my investigators and visited all of the member families that I had come to love so much. It was actually really hard to say goodbye to everyone - Yuseong had literally become my home and all of the people here, my family.</div>
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But alas, the day came and I waited in patience for the call to come. The phone ringed and I looked at caller ID - it wasn't the APs, but was my old companion Elder Skinner. I answered. "Dude did you get your call yet!?</div>
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Clearly he had gotten his. "No, I didn't.... what's happening to you?"</div>
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"My comp and I are staying the same - but you need to get your call - you're gonna flip!"</div>
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My phone began ringing again - this time caller ID said the APs. "They're calling right now - I gotta go!"</div>
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And oh boy, did I flip. My new area is Dunsan. It's still Daejeon - just the next neighborhood over from Yuseong. Literally a step, not a stone throw, but a step away. My new companion? Elder Oliverson - he's from Castle Dale, Utah. And our position together? Daejeon Zone Leaders.</div>
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Stress. Lots of stress. Still staying in Daejeon - not getting that nice fresh start I was vying for. Zone Leader too sounds great and all - but whenever you ask a Zone Leader whether or not they like it, they'll always hesitate for a while - definitely doing a little "should I tell him, should I not, should I tell him, should I not" mental battle until they finally blurt out with a smile "it's always great to serve the Lord"</div>
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such saints.</div>
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Haha, anyway, I was definitely stressed all week long trying to build my mental strategy for how I will going about adjusting to the minute yet also drastic changes. Thursday came and I said by to first SeJong, then Godfrey - my one and only greenie - and headed to the mission home. And ever since then, I had no idea why I was stressing out so much.</div>
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Dunsan rocks! It's like the Manhattan of Daejeon - the big city center. All of the members are so nice too. And, it is also designated as the ward in the Daejeon area that all of the English speaking foreigners who are living in Korea attend and so on my very first Sunday, the Bishop had me translate 2 of their talks into Korean during sacrament meeting so the rest of the ward could understand. Talk about pressure for a good first impression. "Hi ward members I don't know at all and I just met today - you all now get to see my Korean ability". Luckily, it turned out great and all I got afterwards was compliments about how good my Korean was. Success. And being a Zone Leader....... I <i style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;">have</i> always liked leadership positions.... ;)</div>
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So a great last 3 months it will be.</div>
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Elder Graf</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12291442663189149463noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2243178660018085577.post-83138883229806154372014-11-02T11:46:00.001-08:002014-11-02T11:46:36.558-08:00So. Many. Things.<span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21.2999992370605px;">This week was insane. Actually, despite my very vague emails - every week is insane. There is just always so much that goes on, it's almost too much to write about, so I simply just choose one story and focus on that. But this week, I'll change it up a bit for you and just send pictures and little snippets about what we did.</span><br />
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MONDAY:</div>
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For P-day, it was raining, but that didn't stop us from going to the National Cemetery to check out the changing leaves and beautiful landscape. Monday night we met with our investigator and ate dinner with him at his house. Afterwards, we reviewed the Plan of Salvation with him and invited him to our Halloween Party that was going to be on Saturday</div>
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TUESDAY:</div>
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We had a combined district meeting as a zone at the mission office. The majority of the meeting was spent finalizing our Halloween Party that we had been planning for the last month. President Shin sat in our district meeting and when it came to role-play, I was paired with him. Year ago me would've been scared to death. Today me was totally chill. It was a fun time, President Shin is awesome. Afterwards, we all went to a delicious and cheap restaurant together and it actually ended up being the same restaurant I ate with Elder Ward, my trainer, on my first day in Korea. I hadn't been there since that day - it's really weird how fast the time has gone.</div>
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WEDNESDAY:</div>
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Wednesday was AMAZING! Our English class in SeJong scheduled a private tour of the new government complex in SeJong a few weeks back and the day of the tour finally came. We went through security, got our passes, met our tour guide, and entered the building. For over 6 months, I've been walking around and under it, but I never thought I would actually get the opportunity to go inside, and my goodness, was it amazing or what. Afterwards, we went up to the observation tower in the city and took pictures from the top - we have the coolest English class members ever! We invited them to our Halloween Party as well. Later in the day, Elder and Godfrey and I had other appointments as well including a member visit and a dinner with a famous Korean poet.</div>
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THURSDAY:</div>
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Not all, but nearly all day was spent making decorations for the Halloween Party on Saturday. Many fun times were shared as we drew, cut, and colored as a district (family). On our way home, we passed a street vendor selling live octopus. Yes, we bought them, and yes, we ate them live. Just whole octopus, squirming and slimy - beak, tentacles, head and all - straight into the mouth. Delicious! And dangerous too... the dang thing bit my hand as I was holding it.</div>
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FRIDAY:</div>
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A day with Brother Fastcar again. He took us for an amazing stroll into the deep countryside and though the mountains in his car. We ended up at a reservoir and just sat and talked about life and it's purposes with him as we stared off onto the beautiful lake. Once evening came, Elder Godfrey and I hit up the city park to check out the flower festival that was going on there. It was beautiful! And the performances were amazing! It was also perfect for street contacting as well - we talked to tons of people and got lots of numbers.</div>
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SATURDAY:</div>
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Finally, the big day came. We woke up, did personal study as always, and then headed straight for the church to begin. Hours of set up, hours of stress, and a break in the middle to teach our weekly English class later, we were finished and we opened the door to our American-style Halloween Party. We had all sorts of activities.... fishing for candy, bobbing for apples, scary feeling game with eyeballs (skinned grapes) brains (spaghetti) and all, face painting, musical chairs, a costume contest, and last but DEFINITELY not least, a haunted house. For the haunted house, we completely shut off and remodeled the basement to our church and turned it into a maze of black-lit funhouses, fuzzy analog-tv corridors, dark closets, and damp boiler rooms. Of course, we had people dressed up and scare people throughout it as they walked through - it was a hit.</div>
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Before the party, our members were actually worried about the party. They were hesitant to help us and didn't think the turnout would be that large.... Boy did we show them wrong! TWENTY less actives and over FORTY investigators came, making that more than the sixty members that did! It was huge! And super successful! And everybody had a wonderful time.</div>
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SUNDAY:</div>
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Two of our investigators came to church with us, as well as our recent convert. However, despite their presence, I had the hardest time trying to stay awake during sacrament meeting! Busy weeks and busy parties and busy lifestyles will do that to you. It's okay, I'm sure they thought I was just praying or something..... I hope haha.</div>
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All in all, it was a great week full of great things. However, it's actually really bitter sweet right now. The leaves are changing, the rice is being harvested, and I'm watching the seasons change as my time here in Korea begins to near its end. I'm actually devastated to see the rice go like that - it'll be the last time I will ever see it before I leave this country. On top of all of that, this next week is actually my last week in this area before I transfer.... it's going to be so sad to say goodbye to all the people I have come to know so well. But I can't do anything to change it, so I'm just trying to take it all in while I can.</div>
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Elder Graf</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12291442663189149463noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2243178660018085577.post-67036494900727177162014-10-21T18:25:00.002-07:002014-10-21T18:25:29.305-07:00The Return of Brother Fastcar and Translating for the World<span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21.2999992370605px;">On Wednesday, Elder Williams (my district leader) decided it would be a good idea for us to go on a missionary exchange. He took my companion, and I took his companion (who is also a greenie) and we switched areas for a day.</span><br />
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His greenie did a rather good job planning for the day, but there was a gap in the afternoon that was still left unfilled. He said we could scan through the less actives and see if there was anyone we could visit. "Why not" I thought, and we brought out the books. Not before long, I found my victim.</div>
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"Hello?"</div>
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"Yes, hi! Is this Brother Park?"</div>
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"Yes, Hello Elder Williams!"</div>
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"Actually, this is Elder Graf, I stole Elder William's phone today - he and I switched places"</div>
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"Ahhh, I see"</div>
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"Yeah"</div>
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.......</div>
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"So, do you want a ride in my car?"</div>
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Did I ever!! We met him at 3 pm and actually just talked with him about his life and all the hardships he has been going through recently. Work has been a really big stress for him recently and he really just needed some advice and cheering up. I whipped out a few scriptures that I thought would help him and we talked it through for quite some time. Towards the end, he felt much better. He may be an inactive member for 15 or so years, but he still is a very spiritual man and loves the assistance the missionaries have always given him. Dinner came and he actually ended up taking us out to an amazing (and expensive) restaurant.</div>
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"Because you cured me, Elder Graf", he said "I will cure you" (meaning with the food).</div>
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And then again, after the amazing meal, he again repeated to me as a joke, "Because you cured me, Elder Graf, I again will cure you", this time implying an adrenaline-rush cure.</div>
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He then proceeded to take us out to the freeway (it was after rush hour this time, luckily) and we hit 240+ kmh once again. Now I can say I've done that twice without dying, haha, and both times have been with him behind the wheel.</div>
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Other than the missionary exchange, the week was great! On Friday, our investigator took us inside the government building in SeJong and there was a presentation/tour being held in front of a model of the building. The presenter was explaining the plans for SeJong and the future growth of the city - the people she was speaking to were government officials from all over the world. We just kind of snuck into the crowd and began to watch the presentation. Of course, it was in Korean, and so for everyone to understand, there was a translator explaining everything in English, however, she wasn't doing a very good job. After about 3 minutes of watching, and when she was struggling with a certain sentence, I just without even thinking took over and blurted out for her what she was trying to say. All of the sudden, I had 30 pairs of eyes from the worlds' most powerful people straight on me - the translator and the presenter just looked stunned... Had the young American just translated Korean? Who was he and what was he doing here anyway??</div>
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Haha, I just shrunk back into the group, but that didn't work very well because I'm a foot taller than everyone else..... That was sure a funny moment.</div>
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So it was a good week! We'll see what the next one brings</div>
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Elder Translator Graf</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12291442663189149463noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2243178660018085577.post-34384381260600572122014-10-13T09:43:00.000-07:002014-10-19T09:43:55.868-07:00The Senior Week<span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21.2999992370605px;">Trainers do everything.</span><br />
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That's just the simple truth that comes with having a greenie as a companion. As amazing as my companion is, in the end, I've still been here for 20 months and he has only been here for 2.</div>
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So.</div>
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For the first little while, I just took the reins and helped him out the best I could. He little by little learned, made some funny mistakes along the way, and became accustomed to the country. Then, just as he started getting his feet underneath him - Senior Week came. Senior Week is when the trainer acts as a junior, gives the cell phone to the greenie, and the greenie takes control of everything. Directions, scheduling things, and teaching - it's all up to the greenie now. And so this last week from Monday to Sunday - I became a junior companion all over again and Elder Godfrey took control.</div>
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Day 1 - We missed our Subway stop by 8 stops - that's a REALLY LONG TIME! Hahaha, and we were late to our appointment because of it! I just sat there, watched as our stop came and went, and kept quiet smiling to myself until Godfrey finally asked me "Wait, were we supposed to get off already?" And I just replied "Uhhh, I dunno, were we?"</div>
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Day 2 - Got lost trying to find our church. It's fine.</div>
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Days 3,4,5,6,7 - Things started going much smoother. Missed a few more stops, forget to schedule and follow up with a few phone calls, and I had to step in a few times. But overall, it was a great experience for both of us. Elder Godfrey will be training in no time.</div>
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The week was also full of excitement too. Friday night, there was a festival in SeJong and a famous K-pop band came. We didn't attend the concert of course, but we heard and saw the fireworks from afar - it was the first time I've seen fireworks like that in a really long time - over 2 years actually. Definitely brought a smile to my face. Also, we met a new investigator this week and he LOVES US beyond belief. He calls me Goostin, because he doesn't want to call me by my last name and when I said that my first name was Christian, he heard "Goostin" instead. Haha, it's not worth trying to correct. ALSO, our teenage investigator who's Dad won't let be baptized is doing really great - it's actually looking like things might work out and his Dad could end up giving permission after all before I leave this area in 3 weeks. That'd be awesome - it would be my third baptism in this area.</div>
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Things are going great, until next week!</div>
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Elder Graf</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12291442663189149463noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2243178660018085577.post-141062787549350012014-09-29T12:49:00.002-07:002014-09-29T12:49:48.061-07:00A Sister Mission<span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21.2999992370605px;">If I were a sister missionary, I would've started my mission back in March 2013 like I did....</span><br />
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I would've also come to Korea in May of last year and start off in the little Ocean city of Gunsan.</div>
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I would've had a wonderful time there, and upon leaving and moving to Cheongju, I would've been very sad but excited for the future.</div>
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I would've loved Cheongju, but I would've missed the small town feel for sure.</div>
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I would've jumped for joy when I found out I would move back to the coast in a small little country town called Dangjin.</div>
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I would've loved Dangjin with all of my heart, but loved the people there even more. It would've been an amazing time there for sure, and when I would leave Dangjin and find out I would be going to the new capitol of Korea, I would've been counting all my little lucky blessings.</div>
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I would've loved SeJong even more than any area I've been in, and the time there would've gone by super fast. I would've had a blast with my companions, had a great time with my investigators, and then as the months went on, I would've began to reminisce about the whole experience.</div>
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My time in Korea would've been coming to an end, but that would've been okay, because I would've been excited to go back home and see my family again and start my life with the mission behind me, but always with me still.</div>
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On my very last Sunday in Korea, I would've seen my investigator get baptized and how much his life has changed. It would've been the perfect cherry on top of the icing on the cake.</div>
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There would've been many hugs and tears and last minute souvenir purchases before the trip up to Seoul and then home. I would've watched the entire Korean peninsula disappear from my view as the plane ascended above the clouds and my trip home began.</div>
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If I was a sister missionary, I would be done.</div>
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BUT...................I'M NOT! Haha, I'm an Elder! And so even though I bid a ginormous farewell to each and every one of the sisters that began this Korean adventure with me in the Provo MTC on that slightly warm March day oh so long ago, they all left me, and I stayed behind. Now, you might say..... "Hmmm, Elder Graf sure sounds like he wants to be home right now"... and I will tell you, that might be a good observation, but it's so not true!</div>
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Korea is amazing, I've established that enough. This week alone we went to the foot spa with an investigator and attended this massive festival they are having to celebrate one of the ancient Korean dynasties. But beyond Korea being amazing, this mission is amazing. Yesterday I watched my recent convert give a talk in church talking about his conversion story. Now, if I was a sister missionary, I would not have been able to witness the blessings the church has already brought him in one week's time. So I am here, for at least a little while more, and I'm grateful for it. And when the time comes for me to come home, it'll be because I was an Elder ;)</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12291442663189149463noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2243178660018085577.post-18232493972303946442014-09-22T12:53:00.000-07:002014-09-29T12:53:34.888-07:00Stickers bring change<span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21.2999992370605px;">So I'm not big on the whole write-all-about-my-investigator's-life-and-share-personal-things-that-I-wouldn't-want-to-be-shared-about-me-if-I-were-an-investigator thing, as you know, so I haven't really told you about really any of my investigators..... sorry! But now that there is good news to share, I'll go a little bit more in depth ;)</span><br />
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One night four months ago, Elder Skinner and I didn't have any appointments. We didn't want to knock doors... We didn't want to just wander around the streets.... We didn't want to just visit a random member and get fed food.... So we chose to sticker board. What is sticker boarding? We have a poster that we made with four different questions on it: Do you belong to a special belief or religion? Do you think that there is a God? Do you think, if there was a God, that we could be able to communicate with him? And, If you see us again, will you say hi? We set up the poster on the streets, give people passing by stickers, and have them put the stickers on the "yes" or "no" by each question. It's a good way to see what people think and start a conversation without having it be too awkward.</div>
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So we were sticker boarding by the university and not having much success finding potentials when all of the sudden, a guy walked up to us and asked us what we were doing. We had him answer the questions, but he was more interested in us than putting the stickers on the board. If I remember correctly, he didn't even answer a single question, I don't think... Anyway, we ended up telling him that we're missionaries and he expressed an interest to meet with us again, so we exchanged numbers.</div>
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The next week, we called him up and scheduled an appointment to meet at our church. Right off the bat, he trusted us and our friendship began. He told us that his life has really taken a downturn and expressed to us all of his hardships that he has gone through. We just promised him that, in the end, all we wanted to do was be his friend and help him the best we could. Over the next few months, we continued to meet with him, taught him the lessons, and be there for him whenever he needed it. Still at the first, the whole church thing was a little hard for him, but overtime he got more used to it and he chose to give it a try one Sunday.</div>
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Since the first time, he hasn't missed a single week. I can't even begin to describe the miraculous change we have seen in his life starting with that first time he came to church. Little by little, he started forming new goals, making new dreams, and overall started to become a happier person. It was amazing to watch as the time went on week after week. Still when we brought up big things like the word of wisdom, tithing, and baptism, it was a little scary for him, but he also overtime came to understand those things as well. He would text me throughout the week with a text that just said "I'm so excited to go to our church on Sunday! Have a good night!" and really in the end, just did a complete transformation. Finally, he was ready, and after we gave him the invitation, he accepted to be baptized this last week.</div>
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And yes, it was just as perfect as you would hope it to be.</div>
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Hope you all have a great week!</div>
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Elder Graf</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12291442663189149463noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2243178660018085577.post-2092656441392739692014-09-15T23:46:00.000-07:002014-09-21T00:04:30.738-07:00A feast<span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21.2999992370605px;">As I've always said, one of the hardest things for me to give up coming on a mission was holidays. Christmas, Fourth of July, St Patricks Day, you name it - are days that simply don't exist here. For the first whole year, it was sad to see those days come and go on the calendar without even thinking or doing anything about it. I mean, I always did my best to celebrate them still, but when you're the only person at the party,well.... there's kind of no party. However, I little by little got over my original mindset (in all things American, not just holidays) and my interests and desires transitioned from American holidays and traditions to Korean ones. For the last month or so, I've been getting more and more excited as the anticipation built up and finally, this last week, it was Choosuk, and this time, I wasn't the only one at the party.</span><br />
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What is Choosuk? Well Koreans celebrate 2 major holidays each year: Solar, and Choosuk. Solar is the Lunar New Year and was in February this last year. If you remember, I wrote you all about it. Choosuk comes a few months down the road and is always celebrated at the end of the harvest. It's a three day long holiday in which they all travel back to their hometown with their families, give respect to their ancestors at their tombs with a special ceremony called Jehsah, and then eat traditional Choosuk food. And when I say eat, I mean EAT. There is a TON of food! Basically, Thanksgiving to Americans is what Choosuk is to them.</div>
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It's a big deal, and because the one Korean sister missionary in my district wouldn't be able to be with her family for it and instead would be surrounded with Americans that don't understand about her holiday, I wanted to make it the best Choosuk for her as possible. It actually lined up perfectly and was going to be on a P-day, so we had all day to spend it however we wanted. Two weeks before the holiday, she and I made a massive shopping list of required food and supplies. She would do all the shopping, we would all as a district pay for the food, and then when Choosuk came, we would gather together at the church and make ourselves a Choosuk feast, do Jehsah, and play traditional Korean games. Sounds like a good plan, right? The very next day, she called me.</div>
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"So...... I went shopping" she said in Korean. I asked her what she bought and she listed off a few foods that were on the list.</div>
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"That's great! It'll be delicious!" I exclaimed. "How much was it?"</div>
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(silence... no response...)</div>
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"Sister Park.... how much was the food...." I jokingly asked</div>
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"$100- bye!"</div>
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And she hung up the phone. Hahaha, what!? I called her back and after she started apologizing, I told her it was totally fine. This was her holiday, she could spend as much money on it as she wanted - heck, I'd pay for it all if I needed to. As the days to Choosuk began to count down, the excitement really did start to build. The stores were packed with shoppers frantic for food, children and family were wearing traditional Korean clothes, and it really felt like a holiday. Like I'm not kidding, the holiday spirit was there - and there was not a single jingle bell or stocking in sight. I mentioned something about the holiday feeling to Elder Godfrey and he replied back by saying "what are you talking about?"</div>
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"Don't you feel the holiday spirit? The Choosuk excitement? I feel like I won't be able to sleep all night!" I beamed.</div>
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"ummmmmmm, you're too Korean, man"</div>
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I took it as a compliment. Finally, the day of anticipation came and we all went to the church. The next door district joined us as well and the Korean missionaries from the other district, Sister Park, Elder Kim, and Sister Park from my district got to skype their families (they don't do it on Christmas like I do, of course). Once skype was over, the three Koreans and I dove ourselves into the kitchen and the preparation began. We cooked, and we cooked, and we cooked, and we cooked. And we partied, of course, while we did so. It was tons of fun! Learning how to make all of those Korean foods and just being with my three Asian buddies, haha. No other American helped make the food, they all just sort of hung out in other rooms in the church and played games. But like I promised Sister Park weeks before, this was their holiday, and I wanted to help them out the best I could. I guess Elder Godfrey was right... haha, I've become Korean.</div>
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Finally, after hours of cooking, it was dinner time and we set the table. My goodness, was it delicious or what! And while we all just sat and talked, eating our food, the best feeling of "holiday" was in the air. I'm not sure if the other Americans could feel it, but for sure the three Koreans and I did. I just thought to myself how funny the whole thing was. Why do I love holidays so much? Why do I love Christmas and the feeling that the season brings? Really, it's because of the feeling of love, and happiness, and togetherness, and joy, and just overall all of the things that come when you are with family. It dawned on me that Korea has really started to become my home, the Koreans have really become my friends, and other missionaries like Sister Park and Elder Kim have really become my family. Now of course, I still have a family back at home in America, but Korea and the people here have joined the ranks. And that's why it truly was a holiday to me.</div>
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So Choosuk was a success and the happiness that it brought continued throughout the week. Many other amazing things happened, like a personal tour of a beautiful Buddhist temple by a monk, a ping pong competition with some church members, a picnic in SeJong with all of the members and our investigators at the lake, and our investigator FINALLY accepting to be baptized for sure. Now it's just a matter of when, again. But it's okay, we're happy about it. Korea is amazing, things couldn't be better.</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12291442663189149463noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2243178660018085577.post-88663486723837329502014-09-08T20:39:00.004-07:002014-09-08T20:40:22.270-07:00I love my area<div style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.459999084472656px;">
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">SeJong is seriously the most incredible area in the entire mission. Hands down. Now, I may say that about every area I've been in.... but still.... Let me walk you through my week and explain why I'm loving life right now.<br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Last week ended with an amazing time with all of our SeJong members. Because there is no church in SeJong and all of the members have to travel to a nearby ward of their choice (there are 3 different ones all in opposite directions of each other up to an hour away), one of the members decided it would be a good idea on Sunday nights to start doing SeJong Family Home Evenings. Basically, we're getting a head start to starting the branch in SeJong without a church building yet On Sunday, we gathered all together - old members, new members, and less actives alike, ate a delicious meal, and Elder Godfrey and I taught the lesson to them all. It was an amazing experience to see the faith and hope of these people, without a church building or any organization at all, coming together and being uplifted from each other like that. I can't wait until all their devotion and hard work pays off and the branch is established here - they deserve it!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />Throughout the week of meeting with the wide variety of our investigators (famous poets, genius atheists, successful colonels in the military, adorable children, and English learners), I just couldn't help but continue to fall more and more in love with the people each day. They all have so many different opinions, backgrounds, dreams, plans, and purposes for meeting with us, but in the end they all share one common thing - they are all 100% equally important in the plan that God has for them. Even though most of our investigators struggle to come to agree with what we try to teach them, I still love teaching it to them nonetheless. Everybody I meet and come in contact with is important and worth my time as a missionary, even the English learners ;) And SeJong, being the brand new under construction capitol of Korea where everyone is moving in from all walks of life all over the country, provides the perfect opportunity to meet with ALL different types of people and to learn with/from each of them.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />Of course, training Elder Godfrey just adds to the experience. He still loves Korea more than anything and is in awe every day as we walk around. He also is the greatest greenie in the world when it comes to trying the language. He's learning super fast, but he still makes his funny share of greenie mistakes. Story time: The other day when we were at a members house in Daejeon eating dinner, he asked our member if they had ever been to America before. When they responded back and said "no", he was at first thrilled because it means that he asked the question right and they understood him. Then, he decided to continue the conversation. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />The sentence he wanted to say: "Do you hope to go?". </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The word for hope in Korean: "Soh mahng"</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The way to say that in Korean: "Soh mang Eesoyo?" (translates to "does hope exist?")</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The word for death in Korean: "SAH mahng"</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What he said to the member in Korean: "Sah mahng Eesoyo?"</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />What the whole conversation translated to: </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />"Have you ever been to America?"</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />"No, I haven't"</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />"So.... Do you have death?"</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />Hahaha! We all busted up laughing with Elder Godfrey just sitting there looking confused because he had no idea what he said. So yes, training is fun.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />The week was filled with many other exciting things. Going on top of our recent convert's apartment tower with him and playing Phase 10 on the roof, me teaching the entire gospel doctrine class at our Daejeon Ward just winging it last minute but getting compliments out the ying yang from members afterwards, finding an ancient burial mound in the middle of SeJong at night and taking pictures on top of it, and setting a baptismal date again (this one is official) with our investigator for this next week. I am 95% sure it will happen this time. Anyway, as you can see, things are going amazing. SeJong is BEAUTIFUL, and life couldn't be better.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />Elder Graf</span><br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12291442663189149463noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2243178660018085577.post-19465639726442327222014-08-18T10:03:00.000-07:002014-08-21T10:04:10.036-07:00When the Pope comes to Korea<span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21.299999237060547px;">What. A week.</span><br />
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From Monday last week to today, I have been to and done and seen so much. First, Monday was spent going to an awesome Buddhist temple up in the mountains. While there, we received the phone call from the APs telling us that Skinner would be leaving and I would be training. Right then, we began texting and calling all of our investigators and members.</div>
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From Monday evening to Thursday morning, every single second was spent running around (what felt like) the entire country and meeting with everyone and their dog. Skinner wanted to say goodbye to everybody, but it's better phrased that EVERYBODY wanted to say goodbye to Skinner. On Wednesday, we had FIVE lunch/dinner meals with five different people and they were all MASSIVE. I don't even know how we did that without throwing up... somehow we managed.</div>
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Thursday came and Skinner and I made our way to the mission house. Right as we got there and I, as a trainer, was taken away to the meeting for trainers and Skinner was ushered to meet his new comp and leave, the reality of the situation hit me. "Wait... what's going on? You mean Skinner and I can't be companions anymore?" Haha, I had no idea how good of friends we had become until we weren't allowed to be friends anymore.... this whole split-up-from-companions-that-you-actually-get-along-with thing is no fun. It's okay, we still have California and Caribbean cruises with our future wives awaiting us in the future.</div>
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I was taken to the church building where our greenies were all anxiously waiting for us in the upstairs chapel. They had them all line up in a half circle by the doors to the chapel and then in one big movement, swung open the doors and us trainers flooded in to find our little babies. The excitement was crazy as everyone met each other for the first time. I found him (wasn't too hard, he's 6'6"), hugged, and our companionship began.</div>
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He's super cool! His name is Elder Godfrey and he is from Calgary, Canada. Right off the bat, he told me about how excited and thrilled and stoked he is to be a missionary and just wants this to be the most incredible and uplifting and amazing experience of his life. I had just 5 words for him.</div>
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"Well then, Welcome to Sejong."</div>
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Oh, ever since Thursday, he's been just the greatest greenie anyone could ask for. He is MORE than willing to try EVERYTHING. Food, the language, street contacting - you name it - he has no fear. When I was a greenie, *spoiler alert* I dreaded the language and talking to people on the street. But he literally has no fear. What an amazing thing it has been, he's already helped so much in all of our lessons and will be a perfect partner for these next upcoming weeks. Of course, there are hilarious face-palm things that he, as a greenie, does, but I'll save those for sharing after the mission ;)</div>
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To close off this email, as you all know (if you watch the news at least) the Pope came to Korea last week. It's a pretty big deal, the Pope doesn't just pick up and travel like that all the time. He hasn't been to Korea, or Asia for that matter, in 30 years. His visit brought millions from all over the continent and as the leader of 1/7 of the entire population of the world, he rightfully so is and important figure. Of course, when I found out he was coming to Daejeon, I HAD to see him. But not only that, I HAD to do it as a missionary ;).</div>
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Well, seeing him actually turned out to be impossible. Apparently, you had to be someone either super famous and rich or super poor and a charity case in order to get a ticket. So instead, on Friday morning, Elder Godfrey and I decided to let out our anger in the form of hanging up English advertisements all over the bus stations, subway stations, and streets surrounding the stadium he was speaking at DURING the event. Bahahaha, it was hilarious. No, we didn't do anything disrespectful and we were sure to keep our distance, but we did push some boundaries I guess.... Oh well! When in Korea!</div>
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As you can see, things are going great. Our investigator didn't get baptized this last week because he wants Skinner to baptize him and Skinner wasn't able to come back up to Daejeon. So we just rescheduled it and it's still going through. Wish Elder Godfrey and I luck with everything else! </div>
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Elder almost-saw-the-pope Graf</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12291442663189149463noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2243178660018085577.post-8291182941463733502014-08-11T08:21:00.000-07:002014-08-12T08:21:23.843-07:00The last week of 18<span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.46000099182129px;">This week was probably the fastest week in my entire mission, no joke. Elder Skinner and I have now been companions for 3 transfers - that's a REALLY long time. No problem though, we're best friends, so it's been nothing but good times, but now that we've been together for so long - we have our system down. We know what each other will do and say in a lesson, we know how to plan together and set unified goals, we know each other's deepest thoughts... we have it all down. Therefore, the time has just for some reason begun to BLOW by. This last week was week 5 of the transfer, our (potentially) last full week together, and boy were we busy. I'll walk you through it.</span><br />
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<span class="" tabindex="0">Monday</span> was sleep day. I was tired, he was tired, we needed our rest before jumping into the new week. Come <span class="" tabindex="0">Tuesday</span>, our appointments began, and we were traveling all over our area from city to city to meet with our investigators. The people we met with this week range from teenagers who look up to us like celebrities, old Korean men full of wisdom about the world and its spiritual aspects, only-interested-in-learning-English-from-us-by-lie-about-being-interested-in-the-gospel adults, and a wonderful miracle of a person we met on the street a few months back. More on him later.</div>
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Half-way through the week, heaven came in the form of two packages from my family. Honestly, those things mean everything to us missionaries. I opened them up and was welcomed with candy, treats, needed supplies, and - last but not least - my long lost camera that broke a few months back in the subway station, was sent to America to be repaired, and then was sent back to me. I almost cried from joy. Ever since getting it, I've used it oh so diligently. So much so, that the battery actually died today..... and then I realized that there was no battery charger sent in the package..... so I once again have a problem.... to be continued.</div>
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<span class="" tabindex="0">Sunday</span> came and so did two of our investigators (to church, that is). One of them is the teenager who wants to be baptized but his dad won't let him, and the other is the wonderful miracle of a person we met on the street a few months back that I referred to a paragraph or two back. When we first met him, he really liked us and wanted to meet, but didn't have much church interest. But then, all of a sudden two weeks ago, he called us up and told us that he was sorry for not being better earlier, but now he wants to change. He promised us that he will come to church every single week from now on no matter what. <span class="" tabindex="0">This Sunday</span> was the second week in a row that he came, actually, and afterwards, we taught him a little bit more about the plan of salvation and why the gospel of Jesus Christ plays a key role in it. Long story short, he's getting baptized this <span class="" tabindex="0">next Sunday</span>, the 17th. Awesome, huh!?</div>
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So our week was great. We were busier than ever, we set a baptismal date, and we felt rather accomplished. Our last week together closed, and we anxiously awaited for the transfer calls this morning........ drum roll please.....</div>
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I'M TRAINING! Our mission FINALLY is getting greenies (we've been in a drought do to the age change and just waiting for everyone to graduate high school) and one is coming my way <span class="" tabindex="0">this Thursday</span>. Who? I have no idea. All I know is that Elder Skinner is leaving for the south of the country, and I'm staying here in Sejong to train. I'm really excited - can't wait to put my skills to the test.</div>
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So, it's been a really good 3 transfers together. 18 weeks went by extremely fast, it's been a really good time serving with Elder Skinner. Hopefully my next companion will be good as well, wish me and my greenie a good week!</div>
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Elder Graf</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12291442663189149463noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2243178660018085577.post-72370884900502918882014-07-28T11:43:00.000-07:002014-08-10T11:50:29.343-07:00Typhoon Matmo<div style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15.555556297302246px; line-height: 21.30000114440918px;">
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Not much time to write my email today, the lines for the computers are insane so everyone only gets 20 minutes. Ever since the Typhoon hit a few days ago, the power has been out in most areas of the city. Nobody has running water either and there is still debris all over the city. Walking around on the street is still quite a horrifying sight, many people are now homeless because of their houses being completely leveled.... luckily our house has extra space and we've been able to take 2 families in. The only bad thing is doctors and hospitals are so overwhelmed, we still haven't been able to go to get Elder Skinner's head treated. When our windows broke, a piece of glass flew in and slit open his forhead. We've washed it out but he definitely needs stitches.... Luckily, that's the only injury out of all of us. Definitely the craziest week so far of my entire mission.....</div>
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NAH! Haha, I kid, I kid. None of that is true EXCEPT for the fact that a Typhoon<em> did</em> in fact come blowing through the other night. We had heard about a typhoon to come from our investigators we were meeting with. Apparently it was called Typhoon Matmo and was, at the time, hitting Taiwan pretty hard. Then, it was expected to come burrowing through Korea, but not as strong as it hit Taiwan and also not over Daejeon. We, on the other hand, would just get the tail end of the storm. But still cool, huh?</div>
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As the night came, so did the rain. First it was just drizzling, but it started to pick up heavily after we had gotten home. We went to bed with it raining, but there was still no wind. THEN, all of the sudden, we were awakened by a loud crash at 2 a.m. as the wind blew into our house (all of our windows are always open because of the heat, and they are massive floor to ceiling windows because we live in a really nice high rise apartment building) and knocked over the guitars. The gust of wind then continued, slammed all of the doors in our house, blew around all of our papers and books on our desks, and also blew the wet pouring rain inside as well. We frantically got up and shut all the windows (except for a small one in the back -- if we were to close ALL of them, our house would become an oven) and just laid down back on our beds, errr, floor mats. The storm then kept us all awake for the next hour or so as it blew through the city. I can't even image what it would've been like if we were in the center of it... I hope everyone in Taiwan is okay.</div>
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Anyway, going outside the next day was incredible. I have never seen the sky so clear in Korea before. Usually, it's really smoggy because of all of the pollution, but the storm just cleared it all up. But, we literally had no time to take the beauty in because of how busy we were. EVERY DAY this week was full with 3 appointments with 3 different people all in 3 different cities that require traveling for an hour to get to each one. We have used over $100 this week on travel alone (usually, missionaries only have enough money to use $30, but we are somehow managing/replacing meals with travel expenses). Anyway, all of our hard work paid off when our 30-year old investigator ended up coming to church on Sunday. We had told practically everyone in the Ward that he would be coming and that when he did, to kill him with kindness. Luckily, they did exactly that and he ended up staying after church for over an hour just chatting with everyone, or, being chatted to by everyone, haha. As we were walking him out, he told us that he was debating whether or not to actually come to church that morning, but he now felt as though he made the right decision. "I'm going to come to this church every single week now, I promise" he said, and he rode off on his motorbike with a smile. </div>
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....Can anyone say, "baptism"?</div>
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SO, we're going to meet with him again tomorrow, and then he'll come to church again, and then in 2 or 3 weeks, we'll be filling up the font. Until then, we still have a lot of work to do in all other areas of the work. Wish us a good week! Hopefully another typhoon will come and spice things up again.</div>
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Elder Graf</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12291442663189149463noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2243178660018085577.post-22646271114828385082014-07-21T11:41:00.000-07:002014-08-10T11:42:28.987-07:00Skidding Tires<div style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15.555556297302246px; line-height: 21.30000114440918px;">
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Hello from Summer Korea. After there being 100% humidity for nearly two months now, our fans for our house finally arrived. Now, we at least have something to battle the constant stickiness and sweat flow that accompanies us every day.</div>
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Anyway, things are going great! And to tell you the truth, it's actually not that hot - plus I like it. Hot weather is always better than cold weather. However, every day, I do sure wish I had a swimming pool or beach to go to.... maybe it's a good thing President transfered me to an inland city during the summer months... haha ;)</div>
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So the week began as normal, and we met with and taught our investigators as usual, but sadly, our investigator Tom (who was supposed to get baptized yesterday) expressed to us that he just simply isn't ready for a commitment like baptism yet and he's going to need more time. A little bummed from the news, Skinner and I were just sort of in a let down mood following our lunch time appointment with him. It seemed as our day would be all gloomy, but then, our phone started to ring. Not knowing the number, we answered anyway. "Hello missionaries, this is Brother Park"</div>
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"Brother Park??", we thought. "Who is brother Park?"</div>
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"I am here in Sejong, where are you?"</div>
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"We're by the library right now"</div>
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"Perfect, I'll see you in 5 minutes"</div>
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Compeltely clueless as to who would be coming, we curiously waited on the street next to the library. Then, from around the corner, came a brand new Infiniti sports car that drove right up next to us. The window was rolled down and we saw Brother Park, a less active we have never met, called, and had only seen in the record books, smiling up at us. "Do you want a ride?"</div>
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Turns out Brother Park loves all the missionaries that come into this area, and especially loves driving them around in his 420 or so horsepower car. Both Skinner and I looked at each other... then back at the car... then at each other... and then got in the car. Brother Park took us to a mountain where we got out and talked about life, his life, faith, God, everything. We shared a few scriptures with him about the purpose of life and what God wants for us. While the lesson was great for him, it was also wonderful for Elder Skinner and I - totally helped us refocus on what is important and get over our Tom woes. After looking out at the beautiful Korean landscape next to the mountain and talking for quite some time, Brother Park thanked us for our time and said he would take us home. "Oh you really don't have to, we can take the bus from here (Sejong is over 30 minutes from our house). We don't want to burden you or anything"</div>
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Brother Park just looked at us like we were stupid. "Have you seen my car?"</div>
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Of course, that's what Skinner and I really wanted him to say, and we jumped back in. From where we were to where we had to go, it was just all freeway. However, it was also later in the day and closer to rush hour, so there were a lot of cars. BUT, there is also something called a bus lane (that only busses are supposed to use, of course). Now, I won't go into to much detail, I don't want to scare my mother too much, but let me just say that I have NEVER been that fast in a car before, and I have NEVER smelled the tires burn that much before, I have NEVER skidded around cars like that before, and I will probably NEVER ever again. I dunno, something to do with 260kmh weaving in and out of the bus lane and cars that were going less than half our speed. The entire ride, Skinner and I were just smiling and holding on for our lives while brother Park was just chill and confident, telling us "Don't be scared, this is fun".</div>
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Hahaha, he's crazy. And we love him.</div>
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Anyway, the rest of the week was really good, but nothing of course beat our Fast and Furious experience. Maybe he'll give us another ride again...</div>
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Elder Graf</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12291442663189149463noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2243178660018085577.post-46577254392395763712014-07-14T12:34:00.000-07:002014-07-14T12:34:04.032-07:00The random events that make up a week<div style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15.555556297302246px; line-height: 21.30000114440918px;">
The other one had a critical typo that erros the story. Here, this is better:</div>
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This week was just the standard, nothing special, normal missionary week. In other words, it is full of adventures, surprises, and laughs. Let me walk you through a few of them.<br /><br />Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday went by rather smoothly. We met with our investigators and tried our best to help them all with their faith - especially Tom. He is scheduled to be baptized this upcoming Sunday but is also having a hard time with some of the commandments.... luckily, his girlfriend is out of town for a few weeks and won't be back until after his baptism ;).... anyway.... We were sitting in our room Wednesday night planning for the next day when all of the sudden, we heard somebody from outside shout up "Hey Elders!"<br /><br />I knew right when I heard it that it was Elder Ward's voice - my trainer from over a year ago. Since him and I split up as companions, he went on to become Zone Leader and then AP. His mission turned out to be a success and it was nearing the end. He was scheduled to go home last Saturday, so I was just figuring that he would give me a call or something before he got on the plane to say goodbye. I guess he had other ideas in mind, haha, because when we looked out the window, we just saw him there all alone with his backpack, waiting for us to let him in.<br /><br />His AP days were over and he was just spending the last week of his mission bouncing from house to house all over the mission for a day at a time per President's request. He got the command to crash our house for a day and surprised us with no warning in advance. But there were of course no complains, it was great to see him one last time before he headed out to America. He's now gone and with his family (lucky kid!) and the mission will always remain in a better state thanks to all the hard work he did over here.<br /><br />The very next day, I had something special planned. It was Elder Skinners hump-day, and I had sneakily bought very expensive American breakfast items (bacon, sausage, etc) to wake up early while everyone else was still sleeping and make him breakfast in bed. I was thinking 6:00 would be a good time, it would give me 30 minutes until everyone else arrived, but then, Elder Skinner (who didn't know about my idea) announced that to celebrate his hump-day, he wanted to go to the bathhouse early in the morning. Dang it. So, I instead had to wake up at 4:30 to make him a delicious breakfast, which I did, and after he woke up, smiled and hugged me for my kind act of service, and ate deliciously, Elder Ward, Skinner, and I all went to the bathhouse together until we had to head back home for personal study at 8:00.<br /><br />The week went on and we said goodbye to Elder Ward, Skinner's hump-day, and the sunny weather. Rain came, as did far away appointments that required hour long bus rides. One night, as we were riding the bus home, a drunk man decided to step on. Instead of taking a bus seat, he just plopped himself right in the middle of the floor. Of course, that didn't sit well with the bus driver, and after a few minutes of the drunk man not listening, the bus driver pulled over on the side of the road, apologized to all the other people riding the bus, and proceeded to call the cops. Naturally, the first thing I did was get my camera out. While we were just all sitting there in silence, waiting for the cops to come, one grandma on the bus decided to try to interveine with the situation. "Hurry Mister!" she kindly insisted/yelled "The police are coming! Sit in your seat!" Haha, half the bus was giggling at how funny that sounded, but the drunk man was too out of it to even pay attention. Finally, the cops came and took him off - our bus then continued onward.<br /><br />The next day was long and hard - not many appointments and when we tried to talk with people on the street, nobody listened. Finally, it was time to go home, so we scanned our passes and found a spot on the subway, luckily, because there usually is only room to stand. After 20 minutes of riding, and still one stop away from the station by our house, Elder Skinner tapped my arm and said he felt like we should get off right then. Spiritual prompting? Maybe it didn't seem like it at first, but we followed it anyway. We got off the train, walked out of the station, and were accompianed outside with a light drizzle of rain. No people were outside on the street - it was just dark and wet. "Well", we figured. "Let's walk home then", and we proceeded to walk down the street, following the path that the underground and out of the rain train would've taken us on. But no matter, we soon got talking with each other about random topics and the walk home became interesting. Somehow, the topic was changed to what snack restaurant we would go to right now if we were in America. "You know what I miss?" asked Skinner.<br /><br />"No, what?" I answered.<br /><br />"I just miss being able to be like 'huh... I'm hungry'.... and then going to somewhere like Wendy's or something and not even care about money, and then eat a crispy chicken sandwich and fries. Satisfaction"<br /><br />"Ahhhh, I know what you mean. But now we have no money, or time, or Wendy's for that life. It's gone, sadly... err, for the time being"<br /><br />"Yeah..... I just could really take a burger right now"<br /><br />"Me too"<br /><br />And then, like it was out of a movie, we looked across the street and beheld infront of our eyes a brand new built and in the middle of its grand opening Burger King. And, even better, right as we saw it, the traffic stopped and we were able to just walk across the street with no problem, straight to heaven. Three burgers, two french fries, and a drink later, Elder Skinner were able to confirm with ourselves that spiritual promptings to get off of subways early indeed do come for a reason.<br /><br />So, there you have it. A week of investigators, drunk men, divine restaurants, and old companion farewells. Hopefully this next week will be just as eventful, and hopefully Tom will be able to be baptized as well. Wish us luck!<br /><br />Elder Crap</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12291442663189149463noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2243178660018085577.post-33782529074361382792014-07-06T13:29:00.000-07:002014-08-10T11:52:14.434-07:00The Second Fourth of July<div style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15.555556297302246px; line-height: 21.30000114440918px;">
Last year, it was all about the American Air Force Base in Gunsan. I had been in Korea for nearly 2 months and I was starting to forget exactly what it was like to live in America. The Fourth of July came and went without much fanfare, but then, that Sunday we attended the small branch at the Gunsan Air Force Base and for all hymns (except the sacrament, of course) we sang American patriotic songs.</div>
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Now, before you all start going off on rampages about how inappropriate it is to sing The Star Spangled Banner as part of a church service - especially in Korea - , let me just say that it was nice ;) I'm not a fan of singing those songs in church either, but being away from home during my favorite time of the year and then still getting to have SOME sort of a glimpse of the Fourth was a nice little treat.</div>
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<br />So, this year, of course, I'm not anywhere near an Air Force Base. I had two options. 1) Leave my area and go to Gunsan, or 2) not. Haha, I chose to stay and celebrate other ways. The morning started off with an early bus ride to SeJong where we taught our English Class at the public library. For the day's sake, I based the English Class around the Fourth and taught them all about American history going from Columbus to the Puritans to the Colonies to the taxes to the rebellion and, finally, the Declaration of Independence. Then, we talked about how we honor that wonderful day that declaration was signed through our barbeques and parades and fireworks. To practice our writing, we then all together made our own Declarations of _________ (healthy living, being kind, etc) and signed each others' papers. Then, I spoiled them all with a surprise and gave them each a sparkler, telling them to celebrate the Fourth by lighting it once the night came. It was a good English class.</div>
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Once it finished, one of our class attendee's/investigator's took us out to lunch to "celebrate the Fourth", they said. How kind! We ate deliciously and taught them a lesson afterwards. Following that, we hung up some English flyers in SeJong and took off back to YuSeong. To celebrate even further, we had planned to meet the other Elders at a restaurant called House Burger. We had to eat American food, didn't we? 16 dollars and a MASSIVE and DELICIOUS burger later, we were full.</div>
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We had another appointment that night with an investigator (remember Steve?), read the Book of Mormon together with him, and talked with him about how we can get permission from his Dad for him to be baptized. Still looking difficult. But, he still is loving church and coming every week, so whether it's because he'll get permission or turn 18, he'll get baptized one day.</div>
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Finally, to end the day, I had us swing by a *certain store to buy *certain things. My companion was a little apprehensive at first, but I was persistent enough and he could do nothing to stop me, heh heh heh. We got home, I showed these *certain things to the other Elders, and of course, one of them said "YES! Let's go to the mountain to light them off!" (he happened to be a Korean, go figure, it's not even his holiday) and the other Elder said "no" (he happened to be our District Leader).</div>
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So fine, I now still to this date have a pile of unused *certain things.</div>
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Anyway, it was still wonderful. I felt slightly American, had a fun day, and now next time I spend it, it will be the real deal! 2 down, zero to go.</div>
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Until next week!</div>
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<br />*Fireworks (shhhh, they're not<em> necessarily </em>in line with the rules...)<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12291442663189149463noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2243178660018085577.post-66450296374695174742014-06-29T18:53:00.000-07:002014-07-06T18:53:37.089-07:00A Third<div style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15.555556297302246px; line-height: 21.30000114440918px;">
Sorry for skipping last week. I promise, a ton happens each and every day - but now that I've been a missionary for so long, the every day things of teaching lessons, street contacting, and setting commitments with people is all so exciting, but when I sit down at the computer to write my big weekly update, well, I all-of-the-sudden can't think of anything interesting to write about....</div>
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.....and I'm facing the same problem right now....</div>
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But, I know I have family who is just DYING to hear from me. So fine, haha, I'll write something and hope it sounds interesting enough.</div>
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Things went rather well this past week here in Korea. We started meeting with this new guy out in a little town called Daepyeongni (I dare you to try to pronouce that correctly). He is really cool, super nice, and loves to take us out to eat. He also is open to listen to what we have to say and happily took the Book of Mormon from us when we offered it to him.</div>
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The week continued on as Korea lost in their match against Belgium. Who knew the World Cup was so awesome?? I bought myself a Korean Soccer Jersey a few weeks back and have worn it over my white shirt and tie inside the house whenever it was game day. No, we didn't watch any of the games. But, oh, we could hear them. The ENTIRE CITY was watching. And whenever anything good or bad happened, you could hear the screams and shouts and stomping and horns and clapping of every single Korean in the country. Sadly, like I said, they lost in the third game and were kicked out.... but apparently America is still going forward? I ask my investigators daily for World Cup updates, haha, who knew I was so in to soccer.</div>
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Speaking of Soccer, Saturday came and we had a massive stake-wide soccer event. The missionaries were invited and we all headed to KAIST (Korea's MIT) and played game after game at the stadium there. My skills are nothing compared to the Korean's, but it's still tons of fun.</div>
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Sunday came, our investigator came to church with us, and the night was closed off with a delicious meal at a members house. Before we knew it, it was Monday again. But, not just any Monday - it's transfer Monday - ALREADY! The call came, and we're staying again. Skinner and I are super surprised (He's been here since January) but we're really excited for another 6 weeks! </div>
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Hope you're all having a fun summer vacation! Don't have too much fun without me!</div>
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Elder Graf</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12291442663189149463noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2243178660018085577.post-8801658700798590282014-06-16T15:59:00.000-07:002014-06-22T16:06:10.958-07:00Tag along companions<div style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15.555556297302246px; line-height: 21.30000114440918px;">
So Elder Christofferson came a few weeks back, right? Right. Well he actually came in the first week of the new transfer. So, all of those missionaries who went home last transfer missed him by one week. They came to Korea for 2 years, worked super hard, found out an apostle would be coming to speak to them, and then found out it was actually the week after they would be going home and so they would miss it. To some of these missionaries, that wasn't really all that fair, so President Shin made some arrangements and allowed those missionaries to extend for a extra 3 weeks (if they wanted) so that they could still be around for Elder Christofferson when he came. Out of the group, two missionaries made the choice to stay (the others were all like "Please - I've been here for two years, I can see Elder Christofferson on TV in October") and President has been using them as "Traveling APs". What does that mean? Well, because there really isn't anywhere to put someone for merely 3 weeks, they have been given the special assignment to travel around the whole mission and be with each companionship for 3 or so days in order to give training and/or give them something to do before they go home.</div>
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That's when last week, we were joined by Elder Orr in his last stop of his mission tour. And, instead of 3 days, he was with us all week until the day he went home. It was tons of fun, and really interesting as well. Over a year ago when I came into the mission, Elder Orr was in my district. He was just a normal missionary in the middle of his mission, earlier than where I am now. And now, he's going home. Where did the time go?!</div>
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So all week long, we worked super hard, found a new investigator, taught tons of lessons, and committed our investigator Jason (code name from a few weeks back) to talk to his dad about baptism again. If his dad says yes, he could be baptized tomorrow, the kid is extremely ready. Then, on Thursday, it came time to say goodbye to Elder Orr and send him off to the mission office to go home. We celebrated with a picture and a chicken buffet restaurant and sent him on his way. He was a super good missionary - Zone Leader and then Traveling AP - so it was really great for us to spend his last week with him.</div>
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Now, for this week, Elder Skinner and I will be joined again by somebody else. This time it's Elder Williams, one of the other elders who lives in our house. His companion, Elder Park, will be going to the military for one week (it's required for all Koreans to do one week-long check up military service each year, so even though they're missionaries, they have to take a week off and do it). So, for this whole next week, the 3 of us will be combining all of our investigators and appointments and doing them all together. Should be fun!</div>
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Anyway, I'm out of time, but wish us luck! Oh and here's a fun picture of Elder Skinner and I at a Buddhist temple. We ran into it the other day and couldn't resist taking a picture.</div>
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Elder Graf<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12291442663189149463noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2243178660018085577.post-81816937156270774712014-06-01T21:17:00.001-07:002014-06-01T22:56:38.428-07:00By the way...<span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15.555556297302246px; line-height: 21.30000114440918px;">So I forgot to tell you all a few months back when it was announced to us..... And I also forgot to tell you last week that it would be coming up.... So allow me to enlighten you:</span><br />
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This last weekend, Elder Christofferson came and visited our mission! First, he gave an exclusive missionaries-only fireside on Saturday morning. Then, he spoke at a region-wide devotional Saturday night followed by a special Stake Conference down in the south of the mission where he dedicated the brand new (and beautiful) Stake Center.</div>
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SURPRISE!</div>
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Of course, it was all wonderful. Let's start at the beginning...</div>
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We woke up bright and early Saturday morning, determined to be the first ones to the church. We wanted front row seats and we weren't going to let anyone take them from us. We all showered (some other elders spent the night for the meeting) and were on the Subway by 6:00 AM. Just under an hour later, we arrived at the Stake Center on the other side of the city and discovered that we were indeed the first people there. After 30 minutes, others began arriving as well and not before long, the entire mission was there. We ended up at first sitting down in the front, but then the APs pushed us back 6 rows because the mission choir would need to be in the front.</div>
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..........okay fine.</div>
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Anyway, Elder Christofferson arrived with his wife and 3 other seventies and their wives. They all spoke to us one by one until finally it was Elder Christofferson's turn. For weeks now, all of the missionaries have been debating what he would say to us... "He's going to slam us all in our seats and rebuke us for not serving diligently enough!" some would say. "No, come on, he wouldn't do that, he's too nice" others would reply. "But I heard from a friend who's on a mission that when his brother's cousin's aunt's nephew was on his mission a few years back, Elder Holland came to a mission and practically yelled at them the entire time because the spirit told him that they weren't living up to their mission's potential." to which I would think to myself "I'm surrounded by idiots," but instead enjoyed the show. Finally the moment had come and Elder Christofferson stood at the pulpit.</div>
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What a shocker! All he did the entire time was open the floor for missionaries to ask questions for him to answer. At first, NOBODY raised their hands (terrifying, anyone?) but after the first few questions, the ball was rolling and it was impossible to be called on in the sea of arms. Even though I didn't get to ask him anything, in the end, other missionaries asked really good questions and it proved to be a wonderful hour listening to and watching an apostle ponder and think and search through the scriptures and share his answers with us. After the last question was answered, he took 5 minutes and blessed us as a mission and as missionaries, bore his testimony, and then left. We were ordered to immediately leave the church in order to clear it for other meetings.</div>
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However, that was only round one. Round two was the night devotional, and if you had an investigator to bring, you were allowed to attend...</div>
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Our investigator (lets give him the code name Jason) was extremely excited to come. He is 17 years old and really likes us missionaries. The only problem is his dad won't let him join the church and so getting him excited about anything gospel-oriented has been a little difficult recently. However, when we asked him if he would want to come, he responded to us with a definite "It's an apostle, isn't it?! That's a big deal!!" and we were off.</div>
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Jason the entire time was paying attention like none other. He was laughing with Elder Christofferson's jokes, asking me questions when he didn't understand a gospel principle (like what the millennium is), and was smiling almost the entire time. After the meeting closed and Elder Christofferson was being ushered out of the chapel to his car, Jason told me "Elder Graf! Quick, take a picture!" and he was opening my backpack to get my camera out. I tried to turn it on, but there was no battery. "Ahh, Jason, no battery!" I said, but then got a slightly-against-the-rules-because-they-told-us-to-NOT-follow-him-outside-but-genius-idea. "Wanna go shake his hand and get a picture outside?!?" I asked, to which Jason said "LETS GO!" and took off busting through the crowd in the chapel waving goodbye.</div>
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After shoving our way through masses of people and running around the stuffed-packed parking lot, we caught up to Elder Christofferson as he was being ushered into the backseat of the car. Jason just went straight up and said "hello!" in English, sticking his hand out to be shaken. Elder Christofferson turned around and saw him standing there, to which he stuck out his hand and shook it, thanking Jason for coming. I was hiding 10 feet behind at first, but I then ran up next to them and blurted out "This is my investigator". What was I trying to do, show off to the apostle?? Haha, whoops. But then Elder Christofferson shook my hand as well and with a smile said "That's wonderful" looking at Jason, and then back to me "Keep up the great work, Elder."</div>
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Alright, I can die now.</div>
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Haha, the two of us said goodbye and left his car beaming. Jason was actually cheering "I shook his hand! I shook his hand!" as we went back to where the other missionaries and their investigators were. We found Elder Skinner and told him what happened, to which he then took off with our recent convert who was baptized a few weeks back and did the same thing right before Elder Christofferson's car left. Success on both parts.</div>
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Anyway, I'm out of email time now, but as you can see, it was a fantastic week. Next time an apostle is coming, I won't keep it a secret from you all.</div>
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Elder Graf</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12291442663189149463noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2243178660018085577.post-33959407827802571672014-05-26T20:58:00.003-07:002014-05-26T21:00:56.928-07:00When all of our appointments cancel...<div class="ecxMsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #444444; line-height: 21.30000114440918px; margin-bottom: 1.35em;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 22.720001220703125px;">So we've been doing pretty great these past few weeks. We've found tons of investigators, taught lots of lessons, committed people to baptism, and our stats are better than ever - we're actually achieving the goals we set at the start of the transfer (P.S, that never happens). Of course, because things are going so great, President Shin had Elder Skinner and I stay together again through the transfer and we have at least another six weeks to look forward to.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 22.720001220703125px;">Well awesome! Another 6 weeks of non-stop appointments, miracles, and laughs! Why not? Excited and confident, Elder Skinner and I went into this last week ready to keep the flame going. And then, on Monday, our evening appointment cancelled. "Oh that's fine," we thought. "We'll just use the time to find people on the streets. We've been so busy, we haven't had time to do that in a while..." and so we did. But then on Tuesday, the same thing happened. "Oh I guess that's fine. How about we do some less active visits? We've been so busy, we haven't had time to do that in a while..." and so we did. Then, on Wednesday, it happened again. "Okay God, we get it. We were getting too confident" we prayed/laughed. "We'll take the humility blow and be as productive as possible...." and so we were. By the end of the week, we only had 3 investigator lessons (compared to our usual 10), but we had 8 awesome street lessons and 6 less active visits (that's 8 and 6 more than we get, haha) and we had wonderful experiences through them all. Here's a funny snippet from my journal about 2 different people we met on the street back to back.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 22.720001220703125px;">We were walking by this guy on the street who looked a little crazy, but for some reason I blurted out "Annyeonghaseyo!" and started to talk to him. Turns out he was from Vietnam, was lost, and was looking for an internet cafe. He couldn't speak English, but was fluent in Korean. Instead of accepting my attempt to help him find it, he right off the bat started to argue with us. He asked us what right we had to be in Korea teaching the things we are. I said that we are just missionaries with a message that makes people happy, so we want to share it. He said "Oh I'm sure! So what's the message!? That Jesus lives??"</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 22.720001220703125px;">ummmmmm, yes!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 22.720001220703125px;">With a smile, I told him that our message is exactly that. That Christ lives and that through him we can find joy and peace in life. That's when he erupted. He went all on this big rant about there being horrible people in the world and how there's killing and murdering and slashing and smashing and bombing and raping and everything. He said that we religious people believe in miracles, but if God really was, then he would stop the bad people from doing those things. We tried to bring up the whole agency and choice thing, but he just continued.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 22.720001220703125px;">"What would I happen if I just snatched this boy up (pointing to a kid walking right next to us), took him to the top of the mountain, and killed him?!" he screamed. "Would God save the boy!?!"</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 22.720001220703125px;">"Maybe, maybe not" we said.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 22.720001220703125px;">"NO!" he jumped in. "Because it happens all the time!"</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 22.720001220703125px;">Elder Skinner jumped in and tried again to explain that God gives everyone the choice. Sometimes He may intervene, but most of the time he doesn't. Even though it's sad at first, the child would be with God and the evil people will eventually receive their reward" (Alma 14 anyone?).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 22.720001220703125px;">Then he just began screaming again. "SO what if I just grabbed you right now" as he grabbed my shoulder and brought me in "and MURDERED YOU RIGHT HERE!?!?!" making the arm motion of stabbing me in the gut.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 22.720001220703125px;">"Please don't have a knife" I thought. Haha, the guy was crazy.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 22.720001220703125px;">"Then I would die and the world would still go on. God gave you and all mankind the ability to make choices. But you will one day receive your judgment" I said. Basically, the conversation was going nowhere. We changed it back to that we know God exists, if you pray to Him you can know too, and said goodbye. Let's hope that is the first and last death threat I'll get on the street, haha.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 22.720001220703125px;">The next story happened a little later in the evening. As we were walking home from a night filled with visiting less active members, Elder Skinner said, "Let's talk to that guy" pointing to a man about 50 feet ahead. We got there and I gave him the standard:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 22.720001220703125px;">"Hi, where are you headed? Oh that's great, we're going this way. Actually, we're missionaries, have you ever seen missionaries like us before? Oh I know, there's a lot indeed. Well you know, the reason why there's so many is because we're sharing a special message with everybody. Through this message, we can find joy, happiness, and peace in life. Would you happen to have time for us to speak with you for a bit about this special message?"</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 22.720001220703125px;">When the guy said, "Sure, why not? But let’s go over there where it's not as loud," I was stunned. Already, he was starkly different from the first guy. We went over to a quieter street with him and taught him about God, Jesus, and that because they love us, they have once again given us further knowledge to follow them more perfectly: the Book of Mormon. He had lots of questions, but they were all faith-driven. After 20 minutes of talking to him, we ended up giving him a Book of Mormon and said it was a free gift from us to him.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 22.720001220703125px;">He took it gladly from my hands, but then proceeded to do the most interesting thing. He closed his eyes, took the book in his hands, and slowly scanned it up and down a few inches from his face, nodding his head and inhaling and exhaling with the slow up and down motions of the book. Basically, he was yoga bowing with the Book of Mormon.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 22.720001220703125px;">Once.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 22.720001220703125px;">Twice.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 22.720001220703125px;">Three times.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 22.720001220703125px;">A fourth.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 22.720001220703125px;">Then he opened his eyes. "This is how I can tell if it is God's words or not."</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 22.720001220703125px;">"Through that method?" I engagingly asked.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 22.720001220703125px;">"Yes, through this method." and he proceeded to do it a fifth time.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 22.720001220703125px;">"So......" I said, trying not to laugh "......what do you think?"</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 22.720001220703125px;">After the sixth time, he opened his eyes with a smile. "It's God's word" he proclaimed.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 22.720001220703125px;">"Wonderful!" I said. "Your method worked! But, you know, prayer is also a good one too..." and flipped to Moroni 10. The man left with our book, number, and church address. Maybe we'll see him again.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 22.720001220703125px;"> </span><span style="line-height: 22.720001220703125px;">So that's a snippet from this week. Appointments cancelled, but experiences out the ying yang. Bring it on for another 6!</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 22.720001220703125px;"> </span><span style="line-height: 22.720001220703125px;">Elder Graf</span></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12291442663189149463noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2243178660018085577.post-65267138300397694052014-05-12T08:40:00.000-07:002014-05-26T21:00:05.687-07:00His name is Joo<div style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15.555556297302246px; line-height: 21.30000114440918px;">
First, I was telling people "2 weeks, Since I've come to Korea, it's been two weeks". Then, that went up to "4 weeks, I've been in Korea for 4 weeks". Then, somehow, that changed to "6 months, I've been in Korea for 6 months". As the time continued to go on, I realized that the people were less excited with my Korean level coordinated with the time I had been in Korea.<br />
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"Wow, your Korean is great!" they would say, "How long have you been here?"</div>
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"2 weeks!" I exclaimed.</div>
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"WOW! NO WAY!"</div>
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compared with this:</div>
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"Wow, your Korean is great! How long have you been here?"</div>
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"6 months"</div>
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"Ahhhh, I see"</div>
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What!? No! You're supposed to load me with compliments! Anyway, so starting around my 7 month mark, I started telling people that I had been in Korea for 3 months less than I actually had. That way, I received both compliments and understanding when I made language mistakes. And I worded it perfectly so I wouldn't be lying. "Yes, I have been in Korea for 5 months" does not necessarily mean that I CAME here 5 months ago, it just means that, yeah, I have in fact been in Korea for, but not limited to, 5 months. Yay for honesty!</div>
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Anyway, the reason I say this all is because I hit the big 1 year in Korea milestone this last week on May 7th. And what a celebration it was. Skinner and I woke up and started our day as normal, but all day long I was keeping my eyes out for exciting opportunities. Would I buy fireworks and light them off at night? Would I order the most delicious Korean food there is and have it delivered after midnight? I had no idea what to do, and I'm a fan of spontaneous things, so I let the day go on and figured I would find something amazing.</div>
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That night, we had a family home evening scheduled with a less active family. The lesson was planned, but we were missing one thing: Jenga. Our plan was to play the game and then at the end, explain that we needed to have a strong foundation in Christ. So, Skinner and I really quickly went to the Wal-Mart equivelant over here to snatch the game.</div>
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And that's when I saw him.</div>
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Right there by the toy section was a cage, and inside the cage was a little baby bunny. "THAT'S IT!" I thought, "I'M BUYING A BUNNY!" and instantly was drawn to the cage. My comp and I were of course on the same page and began justifying our breaking the no-pet rule because this situation obviously was an acceptable exception. Then, we saw the whole $30 price tag, realized that we were poor, and so fine, bought a fish instead.</div>
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So his name is Joo. Why? JooNyun means anniversary, or one year, in Korean. So "Joo" for short. I put him in my backpack and he spent the rest of the day inside being jostled around inside as we ran from bus stop to appointment to bus stop in order to not be late. Luckily, he lived, and when we got home, we put him in our garden (oh yeah, we have a garden by the way). We got a big sink that isn't being used, buried it in the dirt, and put him inside. Then the next day, we collected about 30 rocks throughout the day and put them in my backpack, bought 4 more flower plants, and when we got home, beautified our fish pond. Basically, we have an awesome Korean garden with a Koi (goldfish) pond in the middle. Go us, we're Asian.</div>
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So the week was great! Fun times, big celebrations, and mircales out the ying yang. Or our investigator accepted the baptismal commitement and will be dunked in the next coming weeks. We also found another guy that is super solid - things are going awesome! Who would've thought that all of these miracles are possible? Wish us luck!</div>
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Elder Graf</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12291442663189149463noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2243178660018085577.post-61198985164227541612014-05-05T14:06:00.002-07:002014-05-05T14:06:35.246-07:00Camera gone, Pictures missing, Investigators found<span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15.555556297302246px; line-height: 21.30000114440918px;">The other day, we were walking into the subway station from the street level. In order to get down to the tracks, you first have to go underground one level, scan your pass, and then go down again another level to get to the loading dock. As we walked into the station, we heard the train arrive and it's doors opened. With only 15 seconds left before it would depart, we had no choice but to run. Elder Skinner and I booked it down the first flight of stairs and whipped around the corner running towards the scanning gates. I opened my backpack pocket, got out my wallet, scanned my pass, and continued to run through. We then whipped around the corner again and began to take off down the last flight of stairs to the lower level.</span><br />
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And that's when I heard it.</div>
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After the loud smack of something falling out of my backpack, I turned around and saw my camera laying flat on the stone steps. At first, my heart sank, but when I picked it up and it seemed fine, I had no time but to keep running down the steps. The two of us got on the train, the doors closed, and it took off. Made it.</div>
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We sat down and got settled. "What was that loud noise?" asked Elder Skinner. "Did you drop something?"</div>
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"Nah, it was my camera - I guess I didn't close my zipper after getting my wallet out and it was shaken out of my bag. But it's fine, see?" as I handed it over for him to observe it's indestructiveness.</div>
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"Ummm... you sure it's fine? It won't turn on"</div>
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"What do you mean it won't turn on?" I asked, and instantly took it back from him. After closer inspection, I noticed that the screen - not the glass part, but underneath the glass, was completely shattered. The camera actually still turned on, but the screen was completely shot, so I couldn't see pictures that I was taking - or if I was even taking them for that matter.</div>
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At first I was distraught, but I got over it. The whole taking mystery pictures thing became fun. For the rest of the week, whenever I saw something cool, I would just pull out my camera, turn it on, and hope that the picture I snapped turned out how I wanted it to. Did I get the picture? Did it look funny? I had no idea! And it became a fun little guessing game. My camera was gone, but I at least still had the SD card inside with the 5000 pictures from December to now on it - and that is all that matter.</div>
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Well, then one day, I decided that I wanted to see all of the mystery pictures I was taking and how they turned out. We were at the church waiting for our investigator, so I popped my SD card into the computer to see and that's when the worst message I could possibly receive popped up:</div>
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"SD card damaged. Needs to be reformatted"</div>
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NO. NO. Something must be wrong, THIS CANT BE HAPPENING. I tried it again, and again, and again. Then I put the card in Skinner's camera - same message. First my camera was gone, but now every single picture I have taken from last year to now (my investigators, the members, the blossoms, the snow, the Buddhist temples, the beaches - everything) is potentially gone.</div>
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I panicked for a bit, but then I got over myself, packed it up in an envelope, and sent it to my sister Ashley so she can do miracle data recovery work on it. If you are wondering for people to pray for, pray for my SD card - it's in a coma right now and I'm just not ready to even think about taking it off of life support yet.</div>
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anyway.</div>
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The missionary work side of my week was wonderful. We found SIX new investigators this week. We barely had enough time on our hands to meet with the current ones we had - now we're going to have to start doing splits with members to cover appointments with everyone. We're working super hard, having a blast together, and we are setting a baptismal date with our investigator tonight for the 25th of May. Let's make it happen!</div>
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So, pray for the work, pray for my parents to send me a new camera, and pray for my SD card that it will wake up without any memory loss.</div>
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Elder Crap </div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12291442663189149463noreply@blogger.com0