Easter

Right now, things are going pretty awesome.  Throughout my mission, I've had lots of great moments, but I've also had a lot of ".....this is it?" moments too.  The mission was supposed to be an adventure - full of miracles, fun times, and success.  So then why was I wandering the vacant streets all day hanging up fliers, occasionally teaching English to people, and then wandering the vacant streets again trying to find people to talk to.  When it's just the same routine day after day, it's gets a little, well, depressing.  This definitely wasn't the experience I was expecting...
 
Then, I came to Daejeon.  
 
All of the sudden, I was a missionary!  We have tons of investigators, we are riding the subway and running accross the city all day to get to appointments, we had THREE different people come out to church this last week (on my entire mission, I've only had an investigator come out to church twice), we're too busy on some days and have to even cancel appointments, and one of or investigators is getting baptized THIS SUNDAY!  The fact that my companion and I have been best friends from day one just makes it even better.  I've only been here for one week and I've already decided that I want to stay here for the rest of my mission, it's just that perfect.
 
So this week we were working super hard, had a good time, and then before we knew it, Sunday came.  We woke up, got ready, met one of our investigators at the subway station (the one that is getting baptized in 6 days) and went to church together.  It was my first Sunday in the ward, so I gave a talk in Sacrament meeting to introduce myself and share stories about the blessings I've received from serving my mission.  I had the ward laughing and smiling and nodding and halfway through, it hit me that I was just completely naturally and comfortably speaking Korean.  "Wait what?" I thought, "since when was I able to speak Korean like this?".  My entire mission, the language has been really hard for me.  But all of the sudden, I'm able to just do and say everything I need to without even thinking about it.  Of course, I still have a ton to learn and I'm nowhere near fluent, but I can actually say "yeah, I can speak Korean" to people and mean it when I say it.  Pretty cool, huh?
 
So church was great, we taught a lesson to our investigator afterwards and then rode the subway back with him to his house.  He's 18 years old and is super ready for baptism - his testimony is so strong and he wants it more than anything.  I'm so happy that FINALLY I'm not trying to convince or trick somebody into joining the church, but instead just helping somebody that already wants it.  Can't wait for this Sunday.
 
After that, Elder Skinner and I went home for companionship study.  We had two member visits scheduled for the night and wanted to be well prepared for them.  Following a laughing attack while we were trying to sing our opening hymn together (and 3 prayers to get us to stop) (and 2 other hymns 25 minutes after we gained control of ourselves in order to get us focused again) (I'm telling you, we're best buds) we started studying together.  What to share to our members?  Our favorite scriptures?  Our reasons for coming on missions?  No, no, none of that seemed right.... then.... I looked at the calendar.
 
It was Easter!
 
What the?  A holiday?  I forgot those existed!  Well of course we knew what to share to our members now!  We quickly planned our message, ran to the Subway station, and then took a taxi from there to where our first member lived.  We then shared with the family the Easter traditions we do in America, what they represent, and then together read "The Living Christ" document written by the Apostles in 2000.  Elder Skinner and I bore our testimonies about the main reason we are here in Korea - and that is that Jesus Christ came to this earth, atoned for our sins, died for us, was ressurected, and that even now today, He lives.  The spirit was so strong as we shared that simple truth.  We said goodbye, ran to the subway station, missed our bus out to Saejong (the new capitol city I told you about last week), and therefore ended up taking $20 taxi to get us there on time.  It's okay, I don't need to eat this week.  Haha, anyway, we got there, and shared the same message about the meaning of Easter to them.
 
As we rode the bus home from Saejong, Elder Skinner and I talked about how awesome the day was.  3 church attendances, a lesson to our investigator getting baptized, and 2 amazing member visits.  "Dude, I want to serve with you for another transfer - this is just too good" we told each other, and laughed our way home.  And of course, upon our arrival, we borrowed 4 eggs from our neighbors, boiled them, and decorated them to cap off the night.  Happy Easter Everyone!
 
Elder Graf

I'm in Korea now

It's a whole different world, this is not the country I've been living in.  

Last week, I spent my time saying goodbye to all of the wonderful people I have met over the past few months.  They were all sad to see me go as well and were kind enough to treat me to delicious restaurant trips and goodbye presents such as late night cake deliveries and long letters expressing how much I've helped them.

It was so hard to say goodbye, I'm going to miss them so much.  But I will definitely remember all of the wonderful experiences I had with them during my time in Dangjin.  Thursday came, my bags were all packed, and I headed out to Daejeon to meet my new companion.

Elder Skinner is his name and coolest companion ever is his game.  Haha, I'm super lucky to be serving with him, we have a ton in common with each other so this next transfer will be lots of fun.  Mainly though, we both want to work super hard in our area.  Which brings us to....

Yuseong/ SeJong!  My area!  After we met each other at the bus terminal, we took off to our area.  How did we get there, you ask?  The subway.  "Wait, you mean, we're not going to walk for miles through rice fields?", I thought in my mind.  The two of us took the elevator underground, carried my luggage onto the subway, and we were off.  As I was riding the train, I began to realize that everything I had been experiencing in the countryside was long gone - I was in a city now.  Taxis, subways, massive buildings, and thousands of people everywhere.  It was a whole new experience, and I was so excited to be jumping right into it.

So I've been here for a few days now, and things are going awesome.  We have great investigators - two of them even came to conference with us over the weekend.  One of them is actually scheduled to be baptized in two weeks - so we're really excited!  The area is amazing, especially SeJong.  It's a BRAND NEW city.  Everything in it was built within the last two years.  Korea is moving their capitol from Seoul to the new city SeJong because that is where is used to be hundreds of years back.  Two years ago, it was all just rice fields, but now it is a sprawling modern metropolis that is growing every day.  Basically, it's everything that I am interested in doing - so of course I would be sent here.  President knows me well.  Our main area is Yuseong (one of the neighborhoods in Daejeon) but we are given the special assignment to work in SeJong as well to start a branch there as the city grows.  Basically, it's what I was doing in Dangjin, but on a whole different level.

I'm so happy that I am here - it's a whole new world!  Already, I'm able to look back on my mission so far and learn so much.  I'm so excited for my time here in Yuseong/Sejong to see and learn new things and add to my Korean adventure.  Wish Elder Skinner and I good luck this week!

Elder Graf

And then I have to say goodbye

After a week full of meeting with people, teaching english, teaching gospel, sight seeing with members, visiting less actives, walking through endless farming fields, hanging up flyers, taking pictures of beautiful blossoms, knocking on doors, going to stake conference, returning home Sunday night exhausted, and then waking up this morning to the rooster outside our window and thinking "Wow, it's already been six weeks?",  we sat and waiting for our transfer calls to come.

 

I started in Gunsan, a countryside city next to the sea.  Then I moved to Cheongju, a sprawling metropolis in the mountains.  Following that, it was back to a countryside city next to the sea, Dangjin, and now - any guesses?  It's following the patern and I'm headed to a sprawling metropolis in the mountains once again.  This time, it's Daejeon.  Yup, smack dab in the main city of our mission.  My area is called Yuseong (pronounced yoo suhng) and my companion is Elder Skinner - he's been in the mission for a few months.

 

Am I excited??  Of course!!  City is awesome!  So much life and activity, it'll be tons of fun to completely change my environment.  I'm also really glad I finally have the opportunity to go senior with an American companion - now I have no cushion to fall back on when it comes to my Korean (that's a good thing). But am I also sad to leave Dangjin?  No doubt about it.

 

During my time here, I've had highs and I've had lows.  It's a mission, so I guess that's expected, haha.  But out of all of my areas, it was in Dangjin that I really learned the most.  It was here that I had the biggest tasks, the most investigators, the hardest trials, the most support from members, the greatest examples from others, and overall - the best time.  I will never forget the miracles we saw here - the big ones and the small.  I hope to forever stay in contact with all of the wonderful people I have met - it will be really hard to say goodbye to them over the next few days before I go.

 

Now as I leave, I also enter the second half of my mission.  I've been here in Korea for a while, I've learned a lot, and I'm ready to take all of those skills and lessons and apply them full force.  Basically, it's kill it time - and I'm 100% ready!  I'm really excited for everything that I will experience in the next coming weeks and months.  Bring on Yuseong!

 

As I say goodbye to Dangjin (and the countryside) here's some pictures from the past few weeks.  Beautiful, isn't it?  (Korea, not me ;) )

 

Elder Graf

Okay fine, I'll write a blog post

Am I a missionary?  Or a blogger?

 

Or something in between??

 

Haha, well recently, I've put my blogging letters off to the side and simply have just been too busy to write my weekly update for you all to read.  But, FINALLY, I found the time this week and chose to return to my old ways.  Alas, here is an update from my life here in Korea:

 

Things are going great!  The weather is warming up as spring officially begins to set in.  The fields are being planted, the blossoms on the trees are beginning to bloom, and - last and least - the bugs are returning.  But all is okay, because the beauty of Korea definitely beats the pesky little bugs any day.  That is, until the spiders get bigger....

 

Missionary work is going great.  We found another new investigator!  She was referred to us from a member's daughter and has lots of potential.  She right now is attending college, is really nice, and is truly interested in our message.  Hopefully things will keep going well!  Also, just a few weeks back, we got the approval from the Area Seventy to split off from the current branch and form our own group here in Dangjin!  Now they are just looking for a building for us to meet in each week and it will be official.

 

And finally, we saw another wonderful miracle unfold over these past few weeks.  For a very long time now, there has been a husband and wife in our branch that have been seperated.  She lives in the city, he lives in the country.  The wife has still attended church, but the husband has long since gone inactive.  Elder Otterson and I went to his farm often and tried to visit him, but his problems seemed too deep for us young missionaries to understand.  However, despite that fact, we still continued to stop in just to give him as much support as we could.  Then, 4 weeks ago, my companion and I got a phonecall from him.  He told us that he is finished with regretting things he knows he should be doing and that he was ready to change his life around. That week, he drove us the 40 minutes to church and attended all meetings.  But it doesn't end there.  The next day, he invited us over to his house for family home evening.  Then, he started asking us about our missionary work and how he can help.  Then, he started driving us all over the countryside to visit less actives that haven't been seen in years.  Then, he invited us over for family home evening again, attended church every week, and taught lessons to our investigators with us. 

 

Just a few weeks back, this man was lonely, unhappy, and lost.  His hair was unkept, his hands were worn from farm work, and his clothes were tattered.  Now, his hair is cut, his clothes are neat, and his smile is bigger than ever.  Of course, the problems with his wife are still there, but he is now doing everything he can fix the mistakes he once made.  It has been such a wonderful thing for Elder Jung and I to experience - and really - we did nothing.  The gospel, however, provided the perfect opportunity for him to change his life once again.  Elder Jung and I have just been lucky enough to help him along the way.

 

So there's my update.  Things are going great, as you can see.  Next week is transfers and I have a feeling I might be saying goodbye to Dangjin... but maybe (and hopefully) I'll stay as well.  Until I find out, have a wonderful week!

 

Elder Graf

Making things sentimental

One thing that differs GREATLY between Korea and America is Korea's lack of sentimental things.  They live such busy lives, they simply don't have the time (or mindset) for all the little special things we hold so dear in America.  For example, we have big holidays like Halloween, Christmas, Fourth of July, etc, and we take them really seriously.  Then, we also have smaller holidays like Valentines day and St Patrick's Day, and we still take them seriously.  In Korea, well, they just don't do things the same way we do.

At first, it was really hard for me... haha, I love sentimental things!  Nothing beats a good atmosphere, especially a happy one on a holiday.  Coming to Korea and all of the sudden losing all of my holidays for 2 years was one of the hardest things to give up.... One by one, all of the holidays came and went, without much fanfare, and I just got used to looking at the calendar, realizing the date, and saying something like, "Oh look, it's Christmas Eve, hmm, weird." And that was it.

But then, I have a wonderful thing back at home called a family.

Thanks to them, each and every holiday is accompanied with a package that brings the holiday straight to Korea from good old Utah.  So, today was St Patrick's Day, and I of course made a green breakfast with the pancake mix and green food dye my family sent, all decorated with gold chocolate coins.  My companion, who is a Korean, saw the food and was first freaked out, then just confused.  He had never heard of St Patrick's Day and he had never seen food dye before.  I told him, "Don't worry, it's natural" as I held up the green food dye (because he doesn't eat anything with chemicals, haha, and he believed me) and then I pinched him after I noticed he wasn't wearing any green.  "You're not wearing any green!," I said, "so I get to pinch you!"  He was just beyond confused, haha.  I explained the holiday to him, or at least tried, but he didn't seem to understand.  Like I said, it's just not in their culture to celebrate things like this, so even after I explained everything, he was still just confused and asked me something like, "....so, what's your point?"

Insert deep long sigh right about here.

Anyway, we had a nice breakfast, and I at least felt the holiday spirit as I drank my milk the leprechauns had turned green.  Happy St Patrick's Day, everybody!

Elder Grape

A few updates

TRANSFERS!!

What the- I'm in my eighth transfer??  I've passed my halfway??  Winter is ending??  I have a new companion??  Where did all the time go!?

In order to properly begin the new transfer, I figured I would give a short update of everything going on right now.  Ready, set, go:

- I am still in Dangjin - at lest six more weeks!

- I have a new companion, a Korean, named Jung Gi Hyun (just call him Elder Jung).  He is tons of fun and has been on his mission the same amount of time as me.  The two of us are co-senioring together

- Last week was freezing, snow and all, but it warmed up yesterday and today is wonderful.  Spring is finally coming.  I can't wait to see all the blossoms that Korea is famous for.

- We still have all the same investigators, but we gathered a new 60 year man last week to add to our list.  He's had a bad experience with churches in the past and is really just looking for one that is honest and true (ding ding ding, we have a winner)

- Remember our family that we reactivated just 2 months ago?  Well they share farms with their uncle and their uncle raises dogs.  This week when we visited them, they slaughtered one of the dogs and fed it to us in the same day - just pure dog meat.  Crazy, huh!?  Most missionaries that "try dog meat" on their mission eat it in a restaurant as part of a famous Korean soup called Boshingtang.  Basically, it's the simplest way to eat dog meat, it's just part of a soup.  It's like eating chicken noodle soup and saying you ate chicken - you did, but not really.  So this week, I got the real deal and yes, it tasted and smelled (oh gosh it smelled) exactly how you would imagine a dog would taste and smell like...... like a dog.

- I still love the countryside and am just blown away by the beauty of everything every day.  I can't wait for everything to start turning green

-The Koreans are hard at work and the fields are now full of grandmas and grandpa farmers planting away

- Korea is OBSESSED with Frozen and they play every single song from that movie on the streets all day, every day.  I don't even know what the movie is about, but I've sure been able to memorize all the lyrics

-  Each day is a new adventure, I literally love every minute!

So I hope that gives you a little glimpse of my now.  If that wasn't good enough, I'll send some pictures to add to it.  Hope you all have a good week!  

Elder Crap

Never saw that coming...

Well, this is week is transfer week once again.  Crazy how fast it comes, huh?  But this transfer turned out to be a lot different than anyone was expecting.

 

You see, my companion, Elder Otterson, is nearing the end of his mission.  He is scheduled to end and go home in the beginning of April, so it's coming up really fast.  As every missionary towards the end of their mission does, he began to plan for the future.  You know, the usual things: job, school, when to get married (haha), etc etc.  Among his plans was the goal to return to Korea later this year as an English teacher.  The country has many governement sponsered programs where they hire english speaking foreigners to come to they country for a year contract and teach English in the public schools.  The job actually pays pretty well and because he already has Korea and Korean down, it seemed like a really appealing thing for him to do.

 

So, just 3 weeks ago during Zone Conferences, in an interview with president, he told him all of his plans.  President Shin actually approved of them all and told Otterson that he would do all he could to help Otterson find a good teacher job in Korea.  Lesson learned:  If you want something and President Shin approves of it, it's going to happen.

 

Fast forward to just this last week, Elder Otterson got a phonecall from the principal of a high-end private elementary school here in Korea.  After an interview over the phone, an interview in person, a tour of the school, a fancy dinner, and a phonecall between Otterson and his family, he accepted the job.  The catch, THE JOB STARTS NEXT WEEK!

 

Elder Otterson is now no longer ending his mission in April, but is now ending it in 4 days.  And, instead of going home to his family, he will stay here in Korea for another year and instantly start teaching at the school next Monday.  Talk about rare!  I've hear of missionaries returning to their countries to work after their missions, but I've never heard of a mission that never goes home!  Haha, anyway, so his plans instantly changed, and he is extremely excited.  We've been spending this last week saying goodbye to everyone and helping him close off his mission ties well.

 

Now, here I am typing this and just waiting for the call from the APs to tell me who my new companion will be/ if I'm staying in Dangjin or not..... I have no idea what's going to happen....  So, next week, I'll let you know!

 

Elder Graf