By the way...

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:

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.

SURPRISE!

Of course, it was all wonderful.  Let's start at the beginning...

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.

..........okay fine.

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.

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.

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...

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.

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.

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."

Alright, I can die now.

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.

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.

Elder Graf

When all of our appointments cancel...

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.

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.

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??"

ummmmmm, yes!

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.

"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!?!"

"Maybe, maybe not" we said.

"NO!" he jumped in.  "Because it happens all the time!"

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?).

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.

"Please don't have a knife" I thought.  Haha, the guy was crazy.

"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.

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:

"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?"

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.

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.

Once.

Twice.

Three times.

A fourth.

Then he opened his eyes.  "This is how I can tell if it is God's words or not."

"Through that method?" I engagingly asked.

"Yes, through this method." and he proceeded to do it a fifth time.

"So......" I said, trying not to laugh "......what do you think?"

After the sixth time, he opened his eyes with a smile. "It's God's word" he proclaimed.

"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.

-----------------

 So that's a snippet from this week.  Appointments cancelled, but experiences out the ying yang.  Bring it on for another 6!

 Elder Graf

His name is Joo

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.

"Wow, your Korean is great!"  they would say, "How long have you been here?"

"2 weeks!"  I exclaimed.

"WOW!  NO WAY!"

compared with this:

"Wow, your Korean is great! How long have you been here?"

"6 months"

"Ahhhh, I see"

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!

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.

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.

And that's when I saw him.

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.

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.

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!

Elder Graf

Camera gone, Pictures missing, Investigators found‏

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.

And that's when I heard it.

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.

We sat down and got settled.  "What was that loud noise?" asked Elder Skinner.  "Did you drop something?"

"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.

"Ummm... you sure it's fine?  It won't turn on"

"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.

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.

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:

"SD card damaged.  Needs to be reformatted"

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.

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.

anyway.

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!

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.

Elder Crap 

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