New Area!

First off, I told you the wrong area last week.  Well, I had the right area, I just spelled it wrong.  I said Chungju, and that's wrong.  If you googled Chungju, you saw a city that is really about an hour or so away from where I am.  I'm in CHEONGJU, but it's it's pronounced Chuhng Joo.  Yeahh, okay.  Just to clear that up.  I'm in Cheongju, not Chungju.

So - crazy week!  First, I found out that I'd be leaving Gunsan and going to Cheongju.  That was sad and exciting at the same time.  The rest of the week was spent saying goodbye to all of our investigators and members.  I loved all the people in Gunsan, it was really sad to say goodbye to all of them.  Also, I didn't tell a single one of them that I played the piano, but for some reason every single member had the natural instinct to ask me to play the piano for them when I visited their houses to say goodbye.  So I got to play the piano for the first time in 6 months, I'm pretty rusty.  But they all seemed to enjoy it.... I still don't know how they found out I could play... haha.

So I packed my stuff (Mom, I don't know what I would do without the spacebags)  and said one final goodbye to the city that had literally become my home.  Off to Cheongju!

First:  It's huge!  It's no New York City of course, but it still is a big city with a lot of activity.  

Second:  The ward is massive!  The building here is a stake center, so that's a big upgrade from my last building and the ward has over 100 members.  That's crazy!  I don't know how I'm going to learn all of the people...   

Third:  Our apartment in incredible!!  It's so big, nice, and new.  Four missionaries live in it, but there's 2 bathrooms and 4 bedrooms so it isn't crowded at all.

And last:  There's sadly not that much going on.  Nothing at all.  The missionary here before me wasn't much of a worker, or missionary, for that matter.  So right now we don't really have any investigators.  There's just a list of names of people that haven't been contacted in about 4-5 months.  So.  There's a lot of work to do.  Hopefully we can turn this place upside down and turn it into a baptizing machine.

So there's my first few impressions of the area.  Basically, this area is exploding with potential, we just have to find out how to tap into that potential.  We got together as an area (there's six missionaries in this area along, 4 elders and 2 sisters) and talked about how we can really change the system here and make it into an effective area in the mission.  We have a ton of new ideas (especially about how we can use English class effectively) and can't wait to get started.

Anyway, I'm super excited to be here!!  Especially because I know everyone in this district, it's such a small world.  First, Elder Ward (my trainer) is in my district as my Zone Leader now.  It's awesome working with him again.  Then, Sister Jacklin (one of the sisters in my area) is really Chloe Jacklin from Lone Peak.  How awesome is that?  Haha, a year ago in class together, we would've never thought that we would be in KOREA, of all places, serving in the same area.  So we see each other practically every day.  Pretty funny.  And finally, the other day we had a meal appointment at a members house and the second I walked in the door, Jeong Uiyong (a member in the family) just bust out in perfect English "Wait! Graf.  Do you know Justin!?"

Haha what!?

I came all the way to Korea to get placed in one of the many wards here just to find out that Jeong Uiyong served his mission in Toronto almost two years ago and was in the same Zone as Justin for a long time.  What are the chances!?  I thing he probably went by Elder Jeong on his mission (pronounced Juhng).

So I feel pretty much at home here in my new area, it's pretty nice.  Just pretty funny that there's my trainer, someone from Lone Peak. and a connection with a family member back at home.

Anyway, I've got to go.  Wish me luck!  There's a lot of work to do!

Elder Graf  

Last week in 군산

May 9th, 2013 - I arrived here in Gunsan.

September 12th, 2013 - I leave Gunsan.

Yup! Today was transfer call day and I found out that I am leaving Gunsan and going to a new area.  Before I talk about my new area, first I'll go through this last week...

This last week was great, we had awesome opportunities to meet with all of our investigators.  Each one of them has different difficulties and concerns, but they all are also growing so much.  Right now, it seems like a common concern between all of them is the fact that life is hard.  They all have different trials and hardships in their life that makes them confused or lost.  As missionaries, we've been able to share with them how the Gospel can specifically bless their life and help them through their trials.  In the end, the thing is, this life and it's trials are so tiny when you look at things with an eternal perspective.  Life is hard, it's true.  But when you focus on where you can go, who you can be with, and what you can become with an eternal perspective, this life becomes so much easier! 

So each day we met with a different person until finally English class came around.  Now, usually we have 5-10 people attend, but for some reason, nobody came to class.  So there we were, at the church, ready to give them all our English knowledge, but no one came.  Then, about 15 minutes late, Lee Hyung Suk, one of our class attendees, came in.  I gave him two options.  One, we could wait for more people to arrive so we could teach the lesson we came prepared with (it required group participation), or two, we could just talk and have conversation practice with each other.  Of course, he chose the second, and so we started talking.  At first, we were talking about Korea and America and simple things like that, but then he brought up a different topic.  He first pointed out the fact that I was 21 years old (that's my Korean age) and that usually people my age don't go on missions.  We all laughed at that.  Then he said, "but you seem so much happier.  Why is that?"

He couldn't have asked a better question.  So then I began to explain how my lifestyle and beliefs make me happy compared to if I lived my life a little differently.  I wasn't all like "BOOK OF MORMON! GOSPEL! Will you get baptized tommorrow?"  In fact, I didn't bring up any of those topics (at first).  But we had a wonderful conversation about life, it's purpose, and eventually how God can help us.  It was awesome, especially because he was the one asking the questions, we weren't the conversation starters.  I then, at the end, shared a section of a scripture with him about how God hasn't forgotten his people and how he still loves us and wants us to find happiness in this life.  We said goodbye and we then went home for dinner.

THEN, about an hour later, we got a phone call from him while we were making dinner at our house.  He said that he really liked meeting with us today and wanted to take us out for dinner.  I told him that he didn't have to do that (trying to be polite and kind) but he then said "Well, I cleaned my car and everything for you".  Hahaha, okay okay, we'll go to dinner.  So we had a fantastic meal, but more importantly, we had the opportunity to share our fantastic message with yet another person.  Hopefully, the missionaries here in 군산 that replace me will continue to meet with him.

So that's the week.  Sunday came around as usual. I blessed the sacrament for the 15th or so time (I've nailed that by now), and then after sacrament meeting, the youth teacher came up to me and told me that he had to leave.  He then asked me to teach the youth class again.  Sure, why not.  Haha, so we then had an awesome lesson with the youth about the Articles of Faith and how understanding them can help us grow our testimonies.  I can't believe that just a few months ago, I could not say a word in Korean.  Now, I'm teaching lessons in church like it's no big deal.  So cool! 

And finally, today came.  I was nervous all morning, I had no idea what would be happening.  Then, just about an hour ago, the phone rang and heart dropped.  Literally.  I answered it, and that's when the AP's told me I would be leaving Gunsan and going to 흥덕!  Sorry, I don't know how to romanize it... hmmm.... It's pronounced Hngduk.  No joke.  Like the word hung, but take out the big "uh" sound (say it ever so slightly), just say hng, and then say duk.  Perfect.  흥덕.  It's a part of a bigger city called 청주.  Chungju.  That's pronounced like it looks.  So if anyone asks you where I am, just say "A city called Chungju!" and you'll get it.  It's inland and in the mountains, so I'm leaving the coast (sadly) but it's a MUCH bigger city than Gunsan, so I'll have many different experiences than here.  AND, drum roll please..... I'm getting a Korean companion!!  His name is Kim Dae Won and he's only been on his mission the same ammount of time that I have!  So we're babies practically, it'll be crazy, fun, and awesome.  And I'll become much better at Korean as well. 

Well that's it!  I'm including some pictures as well.  These pictures are just a small look at Gunsan and some of the surrounding areas.  I wish I could send more, but this should hold you over.  Next week I'll be in 흥덕!

Elder Graf

Week 5 Transfer 3

I feel really bad for all of these letters being so short! I get emails from other missionaries and they write novels.  How in the world??  Where do they get all that time??  After writing my mission president, I have literally only 20 minutes left to read my emails AND write back.  So I'm sorry in advance if my letters aren't as long or detailed filled as you would hope.  Also, I'm sorry for not including pictures.  I have over 1000 that I've taken already,  it just takes time to email pictures and - as I already went over - time is something that I don't have.  Hopefully one week I'll figure this time thing out and send some pictures.

 

So, this week was great.  We started it off by going to Sunyudo on P-day, a wonderful island of paradise off the coast of Gunsan.  Then, the rest of the week we met with our wonderful investigators.  There's not many, but they are all so great and all have so much potential.  Especially a 30 year old Filipino that we teach.  She tells us that she is just searching for truth and I had the wonderful opporunity to testify to her in our lesson that she has found it.  That even though life is hard, and we don't know all the answers to everything (she has A LOT of DEEP questions about life, the bible, God, etc.), she has found the source where she can find peace, truth, and the fullness of happiness in this life.  It's called the Gospel!  Anyway, she's not getting baptized yet, but she's progressing so much.

 

So teaching all week was great, English Class was again wonderful, and Sunday came around in no time.  We had planned to visit one of our members for home teaching (we do that too)  in the evening, but another member made him cancel our home teaching visit with us so she could invite us over to her house for dinner with the Bishop.  Haha, the Koreans don't mess around with their food.  Anyway, we arrived at her house and we noticed there was no food in the kitchen. The lights in the kitchen, in fact, were off and it didn't look like she was making any preperations.  What was going on??  The Bishop and 2nd counselor then arrived and they asked also had the same confusion.  Then, our member that invited us over grabbed her wallet and said "Alright lets go!"

 

Um what?? It's Sunday!

 

I didn't know exactly what to do, haha.  On one hand, we're told to not eat out on Sundays.  On the other, we're told to not reject food.  I was conflicted.  But then when the Bishop and 2nd counselor said "Okay, what restaraunt?"  I figured we didn't really have any choice but to go along.  Haha, so there we all were, Bishop and all, eating out at a fantasticly delicious restaraunt last night.  Oh well!

 

Anyway, I have always had a way getting things my way.  Even though I'm a missionary, there is no exception to that character trait of mine haha.  When I first arrived in Gunsan, I noticed a couple things that I wanted to do.  The two main attractions though were the islands off the coast and Geumsansa - a Buddhist temple up in the mountains.  After a few months of being here, I finally convinced my companion to go to the islands, all that was left on my list was Geumsansa.  

 

So.

 

A couple weeks back, I presented that idea to my Zone Leader for a Zone activity.  He sad it probably wouldn't work, but he would think about it.  THEN, last week we got a text from him saying we would be going on an activity and we had two options: Geumsansa, or an old Korean shopping center.   I then began my campaign, texting all the sisters in my zone to NOT CHOOSE the shopping center and why they should choose Geumsansa.  Anyway, the votes were casted and the today, we went on a Zone Activity to, you guessed it, Geumsansa.

 

Success.

 

So now I have wonderful pictures of an amazing Buddhist temple with incredible scenery and buildings and golden Buddha statues.  Sadly, I'm out of time so I can't really send them.  Oh well!  Haha, another week.  But you can at least use your imagination.

 

Thanks for all you support, wish me luck!

Elder Graf

Hold your horses

Another week down, can you believe it?  I have no idea how time is going by so fast.  First, my 100 day mark came and went in a flash and now my six month mark is next week.  What the?

 

Anyway, how fast time is going doesn't matter.  All that matters is the fact that I'm using all the time I have to be the most effective missionary possible.  And we did that this week, even though nothing went as planned.  To start off, we had 8 different investigators we wanted to meet with.  Then, they all for some reason decided that they "didn't have time to meet" and that they "appreciated our help these last few weeks" but they "won't be able to meet with us anymore".

 

So. We then knocked on doors.

 

And we knocked, and we knocked, and we knocked.  And then were slammed, shut, and never answered.  BUT, it's okay because we're missionaries, right? Right!  And there's always other opportunities to preach the gospel.  However, it was an opportunity I wasn't expecting at all.  You see, on Saturday, our 1st counselor called and asked if I would be able to give a talk in Sacrament meeting the next day.  "Excuse me, what did you say?".  Anyway, he wasn't kidding.  Luckily, I had no problem with it this time.  My last talk, I knew about it a whole week in advance and it took me the whole week to prepare.  I was super pumped Saturday night because preparing for it was super easy.  Yeah! My Korean is getting better!

 

Anyway, Sunday came, I gave my lovely talk on missionary work and how members can be involved. Afterwards, members were coming up to me saying how much I've improved, how good it was, etc.  Success!! The only problem was this:  Just because they thought I could give a talk at the pulpit (one that I've written before hand, as well), they now began to think that it means I'm practically fluent.  So the rest of church was spent with them jabbering to me, trying to have deep and detailed conversations.  I was all like, woah now, hold your horses - I don't know Korean!  Haha, I might be able to teach or give a pre-written talk, but don't expect me to be able to talk with you about Korean politics or the differences betweem Korean and Japanese customs or whatever else they were talking to me about.  That will come in time... maybe....

 

Then, today (Monday) was P-day.  So we FINALLY went to Sunyudo Island - a beautiful small piece of paradise an hour off the coast by ferry.  It was wonderful, I'll send a couple pictures.  It was also $30.  So it was definitely a one time thing.

 

Well, I'm out of time.  Wish us luck this next week!  Hopefully my giving talk days are over (they're not).

 

Elder Grape

100 Days and More

Well it actually happened! I have now been in Korea for over a hundred days.  The big day was August 14th, and I had planned to celebrate.  You know how in elementary school, all the kids bring fun posters with the number "100" built out of 100 marshmallows or pretzels or pennies or whatever they choose in order to celebrate the 100th day of school that year?  Yeah, well I did!  And so in true Korean (and elementary school) fashion, I built a number 100 out of grains of rice, put it on a poster, took a picture, and celebrated.  My companion wasn't as thrilled as I was, but it's a big deal right?  How many other times am I going to be able to say "Today is my 100th day in Korea"?  None.  So it was a big deal.

 

Anyway, this week was the end of 방학, or summer vacation, for all of the Koreans.  So, because it was the end of their time off, ALL of our investigators were out of town.  Literally.  All of them.  So how many did we get to meet with?  None.  Yup.  So instead we spent all day, every day, trying to find new people.  We hung up english flyers over the whole city, tracted in countless apartments, and talking to people on the street every night from 6-9 in the 시내, or downtown/shopping area.  We met wonderful people, had quality conversations, found new english class hopefuls, but we still didn't find any solid investigators that were interested in the gospel.  But that's okay.

 

Sunday, after a long week of trying every day, was a wonderful day to break up the norm.  First, you know how in "A Christmas Story", the asians try to sing Deck the Halls and they say "Deck the harrs with bourrs of horry. Fa ra ra ra ra ra ra ra ra."?  Yeah, that's no joke.  Koreans literally, for the most part, can't say their "l's"  so it comes our sounding like an "r".  So if you want a good laugh, just look at the Hymn "All Creatures of our God and King" (I think that's the English name) and imagine the chorus being sung in a Korean ward.  Because it was, and bless their hearts it was hilarious.  I love my members, they are fantastic singers, but that song may or may not have brought a big smile to my face on Sunday during church while it was being sung.

 

Then, we ended church at our Korean ward in Gunsan and left immediately to go to our Air Force Base Branch.  This week, we had a grand total of two in attendance.  Elder McDonald and I passed the sacrament, Elder and Sister Riding (a senior couple over military relations in our mission) gave the talks, and Elder McDonald and I taught Sunday School.  All together, the six of us participated in one of the best church services I have ever attended in my life.  Going to a ward of 400-500 people in Utah, it sometimes hard to focus on the true purpose of everything.  But when there's practically no one there, and everyone that is there truly cares for the gospel, the spirit is incredible.  Towards the end of our sunday school lesson, Sister Riding was crying because of how touching the whole atmosphere really was.  I seriously love attending that branch so much, I'm going to be very sad when I'm transfered away from it. 

 

So that concludes my update this week.  Another week full of work, work, work, and rewards.  I truly love being a missionary, it really is going to be my best two years, as corny as that sounds.

 

Until next week,

Elder Crap

Raccoons and the restoration

Another week down.  So I'm sitting here, trying to think about what I should write, and I honestly can't think of anything.  Usually, I have a pretty cool story to tell or something funny that happened but, thinking about it, this week was pretty average.  Hmmm.  haha, oh well, I'll walk you through it anyway.

 

So It began last Monday, P-day.  We emailed, shopped, went home, cleaned the house, Elder McDonald finished unpacking and moving in, and I studied Korean for 4 hours until we had to leave the house at 6.  That's basically all I do in my extra time.  Study Korean.  It's good though, I'm really starting to actually learn it for real now.  Hopefully I'll learn it fast.

 

Tuesday was our first district meeting of the transfer.  We have some new people in our district so it was fun to get to know everyone that I'm going to be seeing each week for the rest of the transfer.  After district meeting, we spent the rest of the day trying to find less actives and then we had a dinner that night with one of our members that night.  Korean food is incredible, I'm never going to get tired of it. 

 

Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday were kind of all the same.  Full of talking to people on the street, searching for missing less actives, meal appointments with an investigator (they took us to a really nice american restaurant), and meeting with investigators.  We don't have that many investigators right now.  You can count them all on one hand.  But it's okay, because we're going to try to find more - hopefully we will.

 

Now, this is where it gets fun.  Saturday night, one of our members called us and told us that we were going to be teaching our youth in church because the youth teacher couldn't make it and that we could choose the topic.  So what did we do?  We taught them the first lesson.  Haha, it's practically all we can do.  So we went in there and had an hour long discussion about the restoration and why it's important, it was actually really good.  At the end, we committed them (we're missionaries! Of couse we committed them!) to pray about the message of the restoration to find out for themselves if it is true.  Haha, it was pretty awesome.  Then, the rest of the day was spent doing the same exact thing we did on Wednesday-Saturday.  However, at around 8:00pm, a pack (herd?) of 6 asian raccoons crossed the road infront of us.  Of couse, we snuck up to them in the bushes and tried to get close.  They eventually came to us and were sniffing us/ walking around us.  It was pretty funning.  Two young boys (11 or 12 years old) saw what we were doing and came in to join.  I started talking to one of the boys and then ended up talking about our church to him, and gave him a Book of Mormon.  He was really excited to be talking to an american and couldn't stop saying thankyou (in english) after I gave him the book.  I never thought raccoons would help me teach someone about the Book of Mormon, haha.

 

Anyway, so it was an average week, sorry for it to sound boring.  But, hey!  It's not!  Because I'm a missionary! And that's a pretty cool thing to be.

 

Elder Graf

The Start of a New Transfer

This week has been full of ups and downs. After we received our transfer calls last Monday, Elder Ward began packing his bags and I began to think "How in the world am I going to do this?" I'm only a third transfer, and now it's up to me to take the lead in all of our teaching situations and dealings with members and non-members alike. The days went by very fast. We spent our last few days together visiting with all of our members and investigators so that Elder Ward could say goodbye to them (they all loved him so much, he's been here since January). Wednesday night, our last night together, was spent having a goodbye dinner in the church with close ward members. Before we knew it, Thursday was here and it was time to go to the mission office in Daejeon to switch companions.

I can't believe my time as a greenie is already over. Elder Ward was really the best trainer I could've asked for. I'm so glad for the opportunity I had to be trained by him. We got to the mission office, found our new companions, said goodbye, and took off. My new companion is Elder Mcdonald. He's in his 14th transfer, so he's almost done with his mission. He also looks korean, but he was adopted into an American family when he was a baby so he's not really korean. The very first thing we did together was go to Costco, yes they have one in Korea and Elder McDonald had Adam Farrell's (an old missionary that is home now) old costco card. We stalked up with costco kettle sea salt chips, costco muffins, and got a slice of costco pizza on our way out. Ahhh, It was so nice.

Then my job began. It was really weird, but all of the sudden I could speak so much more korean than I thought. I was telling taxi drivers where to go, making phone calls with our investigators, introducing my new companion to the members, and giving book of mormons out to people on the street. I don't really know how to explain it, but all I know is that the Lord is helping me do this. I'm not fluent at all, I know nothing. But when I need to say something that is related to what I need to do as a missionary, I can say it. It might not be detailed or perfect, but I'm able to still say all that I need to.

Yesterday when we were riding the bus, I felt like I should say hi to the person next to me. So I did and after chatting for a little bit about where he's going, where he lives, works, etc, he told me "Wow, your korean is really good". I laughed and just said "No, I'm just a missionary. Have you heard about the book of mormon?". Haha, anyway, I ended up giving him a copy. Its incredible what the Lord can help me do.

Well I'm running out of time, but I'm doing great here in Gunsan. The church is true!

-Elder Graf