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Monday, December 28, 2015

Week 48 - Chad...Now That's a Name I've Not Heard In A Long Time (Part 2)

Note - notice the "Part 2" in the title?  There might even be a Part 3 and Part 4 to this one in the future.  :)  This will be for any time we get to "talk" with Elder Huckvale.  And let me just say... skyping with Elder Huckvale was the BEST CHRISTMAS PRESENT I could ever get!!!!  It was AWESOME and he was so HAPPY and AMAZING!!!!  What an honor to be his parents!  He is loving what he's doing, and that is just shining through!!!

Ok... now back to normal - Title - In "Star Wars", Luke goes out looking for R2D2 who has run away.  He gets attacked by Tuskan Raiders and then gets rescued by Obi-Wan Kenobi.  R2D2 is looking for Obi-Wan Kenobi, who is now going by "Ben".  When he hears that R2D2 is looking for "Obi-Wan Kenobi", he says, "now that's a name I've not heard in a long time".  
  
Date: Mon, 28 Dec 2015 13:10:55 +0900
I can't believe how much time has passed since I wrote the last e-mail with the same title.  So weird.  The whole time thing gets you when you're not looking.
 
Anyways,
 
Merry Christmas! 
 
I hope everyone had a great Christmas and really enjoyed spending time with their families in one way or another in celebration of the birth of the Savior!
 
Now I will talk about me...
 
On Monday after p-day was over we went out into one of our neighboring areas and sang carols as a zone on a street corner.  It was so fun!  It was kind of frustrating though because it didn't really get the attention from the passers-by that we were hoping for.  Some people stayed and watched until the crosswalk light changed to green and they became able to cross the street.  It was really fun though and the other missionaries and I all really felt the Spirit and had a good time. 
 
On Tuesday we the majority of the afternoon visiting members and heart-attacking the doors of people that we had planned on visiting, but weren't able to get the chance.  It was really fun!  I've kind of figured out especially during these last few transfers that the most effective way to do missionary work is usually to do what a sister missionary would do. 


 
On Tuesday night we went to a different neighboring area and sang Christmas carols which was again really fun, but didn't get the attention of as many people that we would have liked.  There were however, two people foreigners from America that just happened to be in the area that came up and started talking to some of the other missionaries about how much they enjoyed that we were singing carols.  I don't know what the deal is.  Once again though, I had a really great time and I could really feel the Spirit as we sang songs and rejoiced over the coming of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ into the world. 
 

On Wednesday we had a district meeting and afterwards we went out and gave out Book of Mormons that we had wrapped.  It was so much fun!  People loved wrapped things!  At night we had our English Christmas party which was a blast.  For the white-elephant gift exchange, Elder Kim and I brought a Boba Fett figure that Elder Kim won out of a machine.  Represent!  Luckily, our investigator, 이동민 (Ee Dongmeen) who was also there, was able to end up with it.   At the end of the party, we put on a spiritual message and did the "Seminary Donuts" object lesson which went really well.  Elder Weiss volunteered to do it and it was really great.  There's probably no better way of demonstrating the Atonement that I've seen than through this lesson.  It's a really moving experience.
 
Thursday was Christmas Eve so all of the elders in our zone decided to go out to eat lunch together which was a blast.  The place we ended up eating at wasn't the best, but it was just fun to be toghether with so many other missionaries celebrating a cherished holiday.  At night we had dinner at a member's house.  It was a really great way to spend Christmas Eve.  After we ate, we shared our message about the Savior being born and had everyone share a good thing that has happened because Jesus came.  It was really awesome.  After we finished our message, the father of the family asked us to sing a carol so we did and then we sang a carol together.  It was so cool!  It's definitely a tradition I want to start with my family someday. 
 
And Friday was Christmas.  It was awesome.  I started out the morning by waking up and opening the presents that my family sent me which are all awesome.  The coolest thing I got was a pair of light-up lightsaber chopsticks.  They have to be one of the coolest things I've ever seen in my life.  I'm afraid to actually eat thing with them though.  I also got a Star Wars crew-neck from my trainer, Elder Jeong which is pretty sweet.  He's so funny.  Christmas afternoon was spent preparing for the Christmas music concert that the mission was putting on in our church building.  The concert was awesome.  A lot of the sisters that came to Korea with me were in it.  Sister Bell and Sister Jones were both there and they did awesome!  The whole concert was so awesome and it did an incredible job of bringing the Spirit and it was a great way to end Christmas day. 

 Keeping it fresh Christmas morning.

 정진섭 장로님의 스타 워즈 스웨터  (Sweatshirt that Elder Jeong gave him for Christmas)

Elder Kim playing with the light up chopsticks.
 
On Saturday I got to talk with my family through the wonders of modern-day technology!  Wow!  Elder Kim and I went to 박병훈 (Bak Byung Hoon)'s house from our ward and he ordered us Chinese food right when we got there but it arrived right at 1:30 when I had planned to start talking with my family.  I couldn't wait because I ordered noodles and they would stick together if I didn't eat them quick enough!  It only took about 7 minutes to eat it all, but it was still pretty funny.  I can just imagine my family all gathered around the TV screen waiting and then the message "I have to eat the food that we ordered" come up.  Good times.  Anyways yeah it was really awesome and I think it had a little more impact than just talking over the phone.  I am so grateful to have had that opportunity.



 The wonders of modern-day technology (the picture from the other side is way better).


 
On Sunday we met with our progressing investigator, 이동민 (Ee Dongmeen) and had a really great lesson!  We talked about our personal commitment to follow Jesus Christ and about coming to know the truth of the Book of Mormon through prayer.  We then talked about fasting and invited him to fast with us in order to receive an answer to his prayers and he agreed!  He's doing so great!
 
This Christmas was so awesome and was probably one of the most special Christmases I've ever had!  I was going to say most memborable, but I remember all Christmases (Just ask my parents).
 
I know that Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world and I am so grateful, especially at this time of year, that He was born.
 
Happy New Year!
 
Love and Miss Y'all!
 
Called to Serve!
 
Love,
 
Elder Huckvale

Playing some Phase 10 - one of the things he asked for for Christmas.  :)
 
 
 

Week 47 - There Has Been an Awakening. Have You Felt It?

Title - From the first trailer of the new movie, "The Force Awakens".  D is pretty sure it is Snoke who says to Kylo Ren, "there has been an awakening.  Have you felt it?" 


Hello my adoring Fans!
 
Star Wars came out this week and it seems to have gone mostly unnoticed in Korea which is still really weird to me. 
 
But alas I continue to fight the good fight...
 
This week has been pretty good.  We've just been doing every thing this week to prepare for the this Christmas week and the various Christmas festivities that we have planned to do from making message cards and visiting members to wrapping Book of Mormons and going to/preparing Christmas parties.  It's been pretty fun.  I never realized how much I enjoy crafting until now...the real trick is trying to enjoy baking things.

Wrapping Book of Mormons
 
On Monday we had P-day so Elder Kim and I headed out to this huge shopping area called 동대문 시장 (Dongdaemun Market) and it was really awesome.  I got some cheap ties and a sweater.  I got to do some good ol-fashioned Korean bartering to get the sweater which was really fun.  It didn't take that much bargaining skill.  They were just impressed that I could speak Korean.  I'm sure it depends on who you try to buy stuff from though.
 
Anyways afterwards we headed out to the mission home for the Christmas conference and party with our zone and President and Sister Sonksen.  It was so fun!  I really wish I would've taken some pictures.  We did a training for maybe an hour at the office and then went to the mission home, ate dinner, did a Q&A, and then watched part of the First Presidency Christmas Devotional.  They fed us the Christmas morning breakfast casserole (a classic!) and these like pancake balls that were super delicious.  With fork in hand, sitting at a table that wasn't on the floor, a Christmas tree in the background, in the midst of a multitude of English conversations, for a second there I almost forgot that I was in Korea.  It was really cool.
 
On Wednesday we had our district meeting and then afterwards wrapped Book of Mormons to give out to people which should be pretty fun.  Later that night we met with our investigator 이동민 (Ee Dongmeen) and we had a pretty good lesson with him.  He didn't want to meet with us as often this week just to take a break and kind of figure things out a little bit more so we only met on Wednesday.  We taught him about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and it went pretty well.  He's still a little hesitant to accept a baptismal date, but then again he's only been meeting with us for two weeks now.  He has a very strong testimony of Jesus Christ and a sincere desire to follow him, but he's just unsure. 
 
On Thursday we went to go visit some less-active members that we make an effort to visit every week.  One of the less-actives we visit served a mission in Busan, but due to issues in his family he decided to return early and has had a lot of regret since then and has really stopped coming to church.  Pretty much every week since I came to the area we've been visiting his house and haven't been able to catch him, but this week we were able to finally meet with him and we had a really great discussion.  I shared one of my favorite scriptures with him, Alma 5: 32-34 and afterwards he expressed that when he read it he felt the spirit!  What a miracle!  Hopefully as we continue to meet with him we'll be able to remind him that the Atonement of Jesus Christ can heal every wound imaginable and that as we excercise our faith in Jesus Christ and repent, partake of the Sacrament, and remain worthy of the companionship of the Holy Ghost, how great will be our joy!
 
On Friday we had English class and in the spirit of Christmas we decided to show the English class the Church's Christmas video and then did a testimony meeting.  There wasn't as big of a turnout as we were hoping for, but our investigator Ee Dongmeen was there and he decided to get up and bare his testimony and it was so awesome!
 
On Saturday we ate lunch with some of the members and they treated us to this incredibly delicious beef.  The husband and his wife own an English institute for elementary school-aged kids so they're both pretty good at English.  They went out the previous night and saw that new Star Wars movie.  According to his words it was "not bad", "so-so", and other phrases along those lines.  You might as well have written me a dear John letter!  Dang it.  My dad saw it and he really enjoyed it so I guess I'll just have to wait a year or so to see it and find out for myself.  It's nothing to give up the work for, that's for sure. 
 
I got 60 or so years to watch that new Star Wars movie, but only two to serve the Lord in Korea.
 
I'm so excited for Christmas and even though I won't be at home, I know that it's going to be awesome!  I hope that all of you (the fans) have a wonderful Christmas and truly remember why it's a holiday in the first place. 
 
I love you all and am so grateful for all of the love and support that you have blessed me with up until now and from now until the end.
 
Merry Christmas!
 
Love and Miss Y'all!
 
Called to Serve!
 
Love,
 
Elder Huckvale

 The future of camping.  :)

Return of the Stormtrooper.  Getting into mischief in the Christmas Tree.  Just like an "elf on the shelf".  :)
 
 
 

Week 46 - Together Again

Title - In "Return of the Jedi", after Han is unfrozen from the carbonite, Han, Luke and Chewbacca are scheduled to be executed and on their way to the Sarlac Pit, Han says, "Together again, huh?".

Date: Mon, 14 Dec 2015 11:44:55 +0900

Hello my adoring fans!
 
This week has been so awesome!  We're seeing a lot of progression with our investigator who we found last week while streetboarding, 이동민 (Ee Dongmeen), and Elder Kim, the members of the ward, and I all agree that he has a lot of potential to get baptized next month!  Excitement!
 
Since this week was we had temple p-day on Monday we just e-mailed and went to the meat buffet with Elder Moore one last time before he had to leave on Thursday.
 
So on Tuesday we went to the temple and it was really awesome (as usual)!  I decided to do the session in Korean and it was so awesome!  I thought it was going to be really difficult, but it wasn't bad!  Afterwards we went to a cheap restaraunt near the temple that is a favorite among missionaries.

I asked him for a pic for our Christmas card... and this is what he sent.  Pretty awesome, huh?????
 
On Thursday morning Elder Crisp Elder Moore headed out to the transfer meeting, but since Elder Kim and I are both staying in the area we stayed home and just did studies.  When Elder Crisp came back with his new companion, we came to find out that his new companion is none other than my last companion, Elder 김태완 (Elder Kim I)!  I was so excited when I found out!  Now Elder Kim I and II are both in my area!  How crazy is that?  Also, we got sister missionaries in our ward.  It's going to be a really good transfer. 
 
On Friday we were able to meet with our new investigator 이동민 (Ee Dongmeen) again and we had a pretty good lesson.  We just have to be careful because he has a lot of questions that are good, but they can easily get the lesson way off track.  We got off track for a while during the lesson, but we were able to bring it back at the end and have a really good discussion with him about finding out the truth for himself and having the faith to receive answers to his prayers.  He is so open and honest and such a great invesigator!  
 
After we met with 이동민 we had English class and Elder Kim and I gave the message and we talked about knowing the truth through the Holy Ghost.  The message went really well and even those who have attended English class for what seems like forever asked some great questions and seemed really interested in what we had to say.  We've been having a lot of cool experiences at English class recently.  At the beginning of the transfer our ward English class had one person coming and now we have like 10!  And new people are coming too!  It's so cool to see! 
 
On Saturday we met with 이동민 again and this time we were able to get the bishop to come at the last minute so it became a really incredible lesson.  We taught him the Plan of Salvation and it went really well.  As usual, he had a lot of really great questions and with the help of the bishop and the Spirit we were able to answer them with simplicity according to his understanding.  At the end of the lesson we invited him to be baptized on January 9th, 2016 and he said that he wanted to know more doctrince before he was willing to be baptized.  He also talked about how he has a very strong desire to follow Jesus Christ and he believes that the Book of Mormon is true, but he's still waiting for an answer.  I showed him the scripture in Alma 32 about the importance of showing faith and believing enough to get baptized without knowing every thing perfectly.    He's still not ready to be baptized yet, but as we continue to meet with him and follow the promptings of the Spirit, we can help him to prepare to enter the waters of baptism.
 
On Sunday 이동민 came to church and we had the primary program!  이동민 seemed to have really enjoyed the primary program.  I think the other two hours of Church were a little bit more difficult for him though.  He still enjoyed it though.
 
Yesterday at the primary program, the oldest kid in the primary and his dad who's in the bishop pric sang a duet of "He Sent His Son" which is probably my favorite primary song and among my favorite hymns.  Their singing was not the best, I'll be honest, but the Spirit was still strong as ever.  I remembered once more the sacred love that my Heavenly Father has for me.  I remembered once more that He sent His Son to die for me; to die for us, so that we could become free.
 
Love and Miss Y'all!
 
Called to Serve!
 
Love,
 
Elder Huckvale
 
Also, Star Wars is coming out this week.  Weird.



 "It's pointless to resist."



장위 와드
 
 
 

Tuesday, December 8, 2015

Week 45 - Then I'll See You in the Celestial Kingdom!

Title - Continued from last week's title.  Han is about to go out on a tauntaun to search for Luke.  The tauntaun wrangler says to him, "you'll freeze before you get to the first marker", in which he replies, "well then, I'll see you in H-E-L-L."  (sorry for the swearing).  :)
 
P.S. If anyone would like to send Elder Huckvale a holiday card (or anything), he would love to hear from you.  His new mission office address is...
 
Elder Chad Huckvale
Korea Seoul Mission
Jahamun-ro  152, 1 dong
Jongno-gu
Seoul-si  03046
South Korea
 
 
Date: Mon, 7 Dec 2015 12:05:15 +0900
Hello my adoring fans!
 
This week has been really great!  We were able to meet with a few people that have a lot of potential to be good investigators.
 
We'll start with last Tuesday.  Elder Kim ate some old cereal on Monday night and was sick all of Tuesday so we didn't get to go out, but it was a good opportunity for me to do some extra studying and get more acquainted with our area book.  Also on Monday night Elder Kim made an apple pie because he felt like it.  It was very delicious. 

Elder Kim and his delicious apple pie.
 
On Wednesday we had a zone training where we talked all about ways to share the Church's big Christmas initiative with everyone.  It was really cool and it's getting me even more excited to go our and preach the message of the Savior's birth with everyone I meet.  We're going all out from streetboards to carrying around clunky DVD players to show the Church's new video with everyone (we need iPads).  It's so exciting!  I think that the elders in our ward are going to try and work with the bishop pric and see if we can do a ward flash mob!  How cool would that be?!

구주 나셨네 Preparation (church's new Christmas initiative - A Savior is Born)
 
On Thursday night we went and visited the family that we helped move last week and it was awesome!  We made them brownies and talked with them about our message and about the missionaries that they knew before.  It turns out that they are both former investigators and the wife, Andrea, went to church a few times and attended the ward Christmas party last year.  Nice!  They seem like a really cool family and I'm really excited to pick them up as investigators again.  We're going to go and visit them again this week so we'll see what happens there.
 
On Saturday we went out and ate lunch in a different area with one of our English class members who's a recent convert in a different ward.  So that was fun.  At night we went streetboarding and we were able to meet this really cool guy named 이동민 (Ee Dongmeen) and we talked with him for a while about the Restoration as well as our purpose and life as missionaries.  It turns out that he too is a former investigator who met the missionaries a few times in a different area a few years ago.  We scheduled a return appointment for him the next day.
 
On Sunday, since Elder Moore (one of the elders living in my house) is going home this week, he bore his final testimony during sacrament meeting which was cool to see.  After church, Elder Moore and his companion, Elder Crisp, were able to baptize one of their investigators which was also cool to see.  After the baptismal service the bishop had us all over for lunch and we talked about our Christmas ideas and how we can work with the members and best share the message of the birth of the Savior. 
 
On Sunday night we met with the guy that we met on Saturday and a member from our ward and were able to have a great lesson!  I was so grateful that the member was there because he was able to answer his questions much better and in-depth that we could and he also was able to share his personal story of how he found the Church and decided to join.  It was awesome!  At the end we extended a baptismal commitment and he said that when he knows it's true that that's something that he wants to do.  It was really cool because he had already read some of the Book of Mormon the night before and had questions about the things that we were teaching about!  Nice!
 
I am so grateful to see the hand of the Lord as Elder Kim and I exercise our faith and he blesses us with opportunities to meet such awesome people!  Being a missionary is so incredible!  How great is my calling?!
 
Love and Miss Y'all!
 
Called to Serve!
 
Love,
 
Elder Huckvale

 Elder Huckvale received his Christmas package.  Woohoo!!!  DHL - 1; USPS - 0. 
(Halloween package still MIA - hopefully he'll get it by next Halloween - there's a great tie in there!)

 We may have sent him a "bit" of Star Wars. :)


Week 44 - That Elder Will Freeze Before He Reaches the First편의점!

Title - In "The Empire Strikes Back", Han is going out to look for Luke, who never came back from their patrol.  He decides to go out on tauntaun because it's too cold for the ships and the tauntaun wrangler warns him that he will freeze before he gets to the first marker.
 
Date: Mon, 30 Nov 2015 12:30:20 +0900

Hello My Adoring Fans!
 
This week has been awesome!  It was Thanksgiving (in America)!  I hope that everyone had a good one!
 
Anyways, yeah, it's starting to get really cold here.  I'm not exactly sure just exactly how cold it is, but it is cold and will most-definitely get colder as winter approaches. 
 
So this week on Elder Huckvale's Extraodinary Adventures in the Southern Korea...
 
On Monday we had a pretty interesting experience.  We were out proselyting after p-day ended and we started talking to this guy who turned out to be Mongolian and couldn't speak a word of Korean and maybe about 5 total words in English.  There was a whole fiasco in which we were trying to help him find his way somewhere, but it was filled with so much confusion and strife because neither us nor him were exactly sure where he was trying to go.  There are two subway station that have similar names and we couldn't figure out which one was the one he was trying to get to.  Luckily, some Mongolian people showed up and talked him out of going.  It turned out that he had just come into Korea that day and was going out to explore.  So we just took him back to where he's staying and we exchanged phone numbers and Facebook information so he could add us.  The whole time I was just wishing that my cousin who's serving in Mongolia was there so we could help him get where he was going and help him by introducing the gospel into his life.
 
On Wednesday we had our district meeting which was really awesome.  So I don't know if everyone knows, but today (or yesterday ?) the Church started  new Christmas initiative called "A Savior is Born" and so all of the leaders in the mission met with President Sonksen and received training on it and then we talked about it at our district meeting.  Anyways, it was really cool.  We discussed all of the ways that during the Christmas season we can spread the message of the birth of the Savior and its importance.  At the end of the meeting, we went around the room and everyone in the district bore their testimonies of Jesus Christ and His birth.  The Spirit was so strong.  There's something that's absolutely incredible about missionaries baring their personal testimonies of the Savior.  Awesome.
 
On Wednesday night Elder Kim told me to call some guy named 이후철 (Chris) that him and his last companion met a while back that seemed nice so I did.  It turned out that he was moving the next day and so he asked us to help.  The next day was Thursday (Thanksgiving) and so we went over and to his house and helped his wife, their two-year-old son, and him move.  In Korea we don't get that many opportunities to serve so it was awesome.  He said that we could call him and visit him whenever we can so we probably go over there and bring treats.  It turns out that his wife is a former investigator of the Church so it could be pretty cool! 
 
After we helped Chris move we went out and did some proselyting and it was really incredibly cold and windy.  Happy Thanksgiving!...Struggily.
 
We then had our Thanksgiving feast with the other elders in our area.  Our feast consisted of take-out chicken, apple slices, and bottle of Pepsi, some Sprite cans, and some kimchi.  It was awesome!  Turkey is very rare in Korea so I figured that some other sort of bird would suffice for a Thanksgiving feast.


 
On Saturday we made kimchi again and I actually got to do it this time!  It was awesome!  This time it was with our ward mission leader and his family so we went over to their house and they just had some tubs set up with piles of cabbage heads and a ton of kimchi seasoning in them.  It was fun!


 
Well, those were the highlights of the week.  This week was really awesome and I am so excited for this Christmas season and the opportunity to spend it sharing the good news of the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  He was born.  He lived.  He died.  He lived again.  Now we can too.
 
구주 나셨네
 
Love and Miss Y'all!
 
Called to Serve!
 
Love,
 
Elder Huckvale

Tuesday, November 24, 2015

Week 43 - Boy Am I Glad to See You!

Title - In Star Wars, Luke is trying to find R2-D2 (because he ran away).  After he finds him, he's attacked by Tusken Raiders and knocked out.  Obi-Wan Kenobi chases the Tusken Raiders away and when Luke comes to, he says, "Ben Kenobi?  Boy, am I glad to see you!"

Date: Mon, 23 Nov 2015 12:41:16 +0900

Hello My Adoring Fans!

This week was awesome!  Plus I had the chance to see a lot of people that I've served without throughout my mission so that was pretty cool (hence the title).  Anyways, yeah, it was a really fun week.


 William, from Elder Huckvale's first ward, Sindang.  
William is currently headed to serve his mission in Federal Way, Washington!!!

On Tuesday we went out and did some 김장 (making kimchi (but this word is only used when it's winter)).  It was really fun.  We headed down near my first house in country to a community center where they had just prepared hundreds of cabbage heads and 양념 (kimchi sauce).  I wasn' actually making the kimchi, but I was one of the people moving the filled boxes across the room to be packed and prepared to be shipped.  We made it for a service project, but there was some left over that we got to eat which was really delicious. 



아니, 내가 너의 아버지이다
"No, I am your Father!".  
Elder Huckvale with his trainer, Elder Jeong.  :)
Hey, it's Elder Fisher!!!

On Friday we had planned to meet with the guy that we met last week who's really awesome, but he punked us and we weren't able to meet him over the weekend.  Dang.  This week was actually filled with a lot of cacellations.  It's alright though.  It happens.

On Saturday I went on exchanges with my district leader, Elder Moore, which was really fun.  He's heading home at the end of the transfer, so he asked me to teach him about setting goals and keeping those goals.  We had a really good talk about the importance of maintaining the level of spirituality that we have come to achive on our missions and also the importance of being accountable for the goals that we've set.  I helped him set some goals for when he gets home and I thought it went pretty well, but I think it made him more trunky.  It was okay though, it didn't seem to distract him the rest of the day.  We went out to the church and met his investigator who has a baptismal date and had a pretty good lesson with him.  Elder Moore and I were able to teach really well together which was cool.  Afterwards we went and did some English flyering with his investigator and at night we went to a music festival in the 동대문 (Dongdaemun) Ward which was really cool.  Sister Jones who came with me to Korea and then went home for a few months just came back to Korea last week and performed in the festival so it was really cool to see her again.

 Hey, it's Sister Jones!  She came back!!!  
(Sister Jones was in Elder Huckvale's District in the MTC and flew to Korea with him.  Unfortunately, she had to go home for a few months to have knee surgery... but got back to Korea last week!)

Recently in our mission we've been trying to focus more on doing member missionary work as opposed to street proselyting (which was what we used to do in every second of our spare time).  Working with the members and taking more time to go out and visit them has been really cool.  As part of our zone commitment from our last zone training, we were all supposed to prayerfully choose three members to visit each week.  So far we've been doing so and it's been really awesome.  This week we went to a guy in our ward's house and he had been planning on calling us because he needed some furniture moved around his apartment.  Looks like we showed up just in time!  Last night we went and were able to visit with the stake president and his wife (who are in our ward) and we had a really good message with them on the importance of family and we committed them and their two sons to hand-write letters to their other son whose serving his mission in Australia.  They really liked the idea of hand-writing a letter and I guess they hadn't really thought about doing it before.  Originally they thought that I meant writing an e-mail until Elder Kim specified.  It was really cool.

Also, since there are no sister missionaries in our ward, we've kind of had to step up a little bit and go out and visit the members more and this week I even made a message card for a less-active family in our ward.  It was more fun than I thought.

Anyways, I'm having an awesome time serving a mission and every day I find myself thinking about how grateful I am for every thing that has happened to me up until this point in my life.  I love the people of Korea and I love being in their service and in the service of my God.

Love and Miss Y'all!

Called to Serve!

Love,

Elder Huckvale

 The Observatory Tower at the Dream Forest.  Unfortunately, it was closed when they tried to go on P-Day. 
(A lot of "attractions" are closed on Mondays in Korea.  It's like their Sunday.)

Monday, November 23, 2015

Week 42 - There's No Such Thing as Luck

Title - In Star Wars, Luke is practicing his lightsaber skills, blind-folded, and he's able to deflect the laser beams from the remote robot.  Obi-Wan compliments Luke on his skills, and Han says, "it seems more like luck".  Obi-Wan responds and says, "In my experience, there's no such thing as luck." 

Date: Mon, 16 Nov 2015 12:55:45 +0900

Hello My Adoring Fans!
 
This week was way awesome.  Like for real.
 
On Tuesday we were out doing sticker-boarding near one of the colleges in our area and I started talking to this kid who was on his way to eat dinner at the school cafeteria.  I asked him if he was going to meet any friends and he said no so I told him that Elder Kim and I could go eat with him.  He got really excited about that and so Elder Kim and I left the other elders streetboarding and went and ate dinner with this kid that we just met.  It was so awesome.  We told him all about Church and what we do there like sing hymns and partake of the Sacrament.  We invited him to be baptized on December 5 and he agreed (He wasn't able to make it to Church on Sunday so he can't be baptized on that date so we're going to push for the 6th)!  Anyways, it was a super awesome experience.  We gave him a Book of Mormon and exchanged phone numbers.  Nice!
 
On Thursday I went on exchanges with the greenie in our area, Elder Crisp.  It was a really fun exchange.  It's always fun to go on exchanges with greenies.  They have so much faith and so many good insights on how to be a more effective missionary.  In the evening, we met up back up with Elder Kim and Elder Crisp's companion, Elder Moore, and we did some more streetboarding.  This time, we met this really awesome guy and ended up talking with him for like half-an-hour.  It turned out that he had been baptized three times into different churches, but is no longer attending any churches.  We taught him the Restoration and invited him to be baptized and he agreed!  We got his phone number, but I forgot his name and also to put the date or any other information about him with his name so his phone number got lost in the other elders' phone.  Elder Crisp is still in the process of recovering it.
 
On Friday we met with a potential investigator named 황병목  (Hwang Byungmok) and had a pretty good lesson with him.  We taught him the Restoration and he seemed accept it all pretty well.  A sister from our ward who just returned from her mission was there too and she shared some really good experiences that helped him to more-fully understand what was being taught.  I've never really realized how much better lessons go when a member is involved.  That's something I tend to forget.
 
On Saturday and Sunday we had stake conference and the Asia area president, President Scott D. Whiting came and gave two really awesome talks.  Apparently in Korea (and maybe just Asia in general), the ward councils have been having difficulties incorporating the sisters into their meetings, so on Saturday evening he chewed them out for that.  On Sunday morning, he talked about making the family and Church our first priority.  Especially in Korea, there's a lot of problems with people sending their kids to like tutoring places so that they can have a better education instead of spending time together as a family or going to Church.  He really got at them for that.  It was awesome.  At the end he bore his testimony and bore a really powerful witness of the reality of Christ's resurrection and the power of the Atonenment.  It was so powerful that the guy translating for him got emotional before he repeated Elder Whiting's words in Korean.  Wow!  It was awesome.
 
Probably the biggest thing that I took away from this week was that if we're nice and we follow the Spirit, the Lord will lead us to those who are prepared to receive the message of the Restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ. 
 
Love and Miss Y'all!
 
Called to Serve!
 
Love,
 
Elder Huckvale


 A Traditional Korean Song Performed by Some College Kids at the Park

Tuesday, November 10, 2015

Week 41 - There Is No Other Way

Title - Well, neither Derrick or I are sure what this title is for... so just make up something good amongst yourselves!  :)

Well, it's been week 2 in 장위 (Jangwee)!
 
This week wasn't too exciting actually, a lot of proselyting, a few member visits, a lot of rain, and the usual: preaching the gospel to the people of Korea.
 
We have really been struggling to find investigators as of recent.  Before I got here Elder Kim and his last companion found a ton of interested people but it turns out that the majority of them were interested in Elder Kim's companion.  This is something that we find a lot especially with the foreign missionaries. 
 
Anyways, so we've been spending a lot of our spare time proselyting and doing member visits.  It's actually been pretty fun.
 
On Wednesday we had a zone meeting and it was really awesome.  We talked a lot about having the faith to baptize (which is kind of the theme of our mission these days) and also the importance of working with members.  It was really cool because this month one of our zone commitments is to invite someone to be baptized every day whether it's on the street or with an investigator.  It's a really good commitment and I know that if we fulfill it that we will see miracles.  I shared a comment during the meeting about the importance of promising blessings when inviting to be baptized and extending other commitments and it really solidified my testimony of the importance of baptism as well as strengthened my testimony of the blessings that come through being diligent in obeying the principles and standards of the Gospel.  It was great.
 
On Thursday we went and visited a less-active who served an honorable mission but has just fallen off the radar recently.  Anyways, we were able to find him and talk with him a little.  We talked mostly about stories from his mission and he seemed to really enjoy talking with us.  We just with him at the doorway of his apartment, but he said that he wanted to take us out to lunch so we'll see what happens there.
 
Thursday evening through Sunday were filled with a ton of cancelled appointments.  It was kind of lame, but it happens.
 
On Saturday we helped some people in our ward move which was pretty interesting.  There isn't a road that runs directly to their new house so we had to haul all of their stuff from some trucks on the street below to where their new house is.  These stairs were like something that somebody in the neigborhood made and also it was raining.  It was kind of sketchy, but it all worked out fine.  We were able to move all of their stuff up with the help of the mover people and then we got to eat 자짱면 (Jajangmyun) and 탕수육 (Tongsuyook) on the floor of their new house so it was pretty fun.

The Struggily Staircase (That Could be the Name of a Mystery Book or Something)
 
After that we went and visited our ward mission leader's house because we had scheduled to meet him on Saturday, but he wasn't there so we just met with his like 25-year old son (who's about to leave on his mission), his 23-year old daughter (who just came back from her mission) and his 9-year old son.  We talked with them about pride and humility and it was pretty good. 
 
On Sunday after church we did music practice because our ward's performing at stake conference this weekend.  At night we went and had dinner at the house of a former stake president which was really fun.  It was him, his wife, their daughter and her three kids who are super freaking adorable.  So that was really fun.
 
Something that I have struggled with a ton and am pretty sure the majority of foreign missionaries struggle with is working with the members.  These past few weeks though, I am starting to see the critical role that member work plays in missionary work and plus it just makes things more fun.  I am really hoping that while I'm serving in 장위 (Jangwee), I'll be able to learn all I can about working with members and then apply it to the rest of my mission.
 
I am loving serving my mission and I love the members of the 장위 ward!  It's awesome!
 
Love and Miss Y'all!
 
Called to Serve!
 
Love,
 
Elder Huckvale
 
 Elder Huckvale and Elder Kim (2) at the Sushi Buffet.

 Look at all that sushi!  Good thing he likes it!!!

 This English Class brought to you in part by Elder Huckvale.  
Classic Chad!!! (Something he would totally say about me!)

 장위...
 
                                       
 and the Return of the Stormtrooper

김시현 장로님과  헉배일 장로
(Not sure what that says... so I'm going with Elder Kim 2 and Elder Huckvale.  Look how cold he is, and it doesn't even faze Elder Kim!)

Monday, November 2, 2015

Week 40 - I Find The Lack of Halloween Celebrations Disturbing

Title - In Star Wars, while in the Death Star Briefing Room, Admiral Motti starts making fun of The Force.  Darth Vader starts choking him with his Force powers, and then says, "I find your lack of faith disturbing." 

Hello adoring fans!
 
I got transferred this week folks!  To 장위 (Jangwee)!  It's been pretty cool.  I was sad to leave my last area at first, but I ended up feeling that it was for the best and that the time was right for me to go.
 
On Monday I had my last Family Home Evening in 금촌 (Geumchon) which was really awesome as usual.  The kids are all so great and so adorable.  I think of all the things I'm going to miss from serving in Geumchon it's doing Family Home Evening every week. 
 
On Tuesday we went to the temple and it was awesome (as usual)!  Afterwards Elder Peterson, Elder Han, Elder Kim, and I all went to a burger buffet called Burger Mine and it was freakin delicious.  Afterwards we went to a place called E-Mart (Korea's version of a mixture between Target and Walmart) to look for Halloween decorations. 

 Elder Huckvale's previous District



 
After our p-day ended we met with 김동환 (Daniel) one last time before I left.  We didn't really prepare anything to teach him, because I really just wanted to talk with him a little and bare my testimony.  I was really tired so it was kind of hard to think straight, but when I started testifying I became empowered by the Spirit.  It was really cool.  I told him my testimony about the truthfulness of the Church and the Gospel and the power and reality of the Atonement.  After that I invited him to be baptized on December 12 and he said "알게 되면" which translates to "if I find out[it's true]".  Sounds like a yes to me!  It was a really good discussion.  Afterwards I bore testimony to Elder Kim that if he follows the Spirit in teaching Daniel that he can be baptized on that date. 
 
Wednesday was my last day in Geumchon and I didn't spend it the way that I thought that I would that's for sure.  Elder Kim got a call on Tuesday from a guy who's a member who is in charge of cleaning the church buildings in Seoul.  Apparently his nephew named Andrew (who grew up in America) is back in Korea for a few months and he's helping to clean the church buildings.  However, Andrew's not a member and so he has gotten in arguments with his uncle about controversial Church topics.  So the uncle was up in Geumchon cleaning the building so he invited us to eat lunch with him and his nephew and then to teach him.  After we ate lunch we went to the Church building and ended up teaching him for about two hours.  It was a really good discussion.  We ended up teaching him the first two lessons almost entirely.  He seemed to accept everything pretty well and he took a Book of Mormon, but he's going back to America this month so we probably won't be able to meet him again.  It's unfortunate, but it was a really cool experience and I hope that when he goes back he'll call up the missionaries. 
 
After that Elder Kim and I just stayed at the Church and helped decorate for the Halloween party.  At dinner time I went on exchanges with Elder Han so that we could meet with a member family before we leave the area.  Afterwards we took some brownies that we made to the world's greatest ward missionary, 이윤희 (Ee Yunhee).  It was really awesome because she's done so much for the missionaries in Geumchon and we just wanted to give back to her a little.
 

On Thursday morning we woke up early and headed to the mission office for exchanges.  Let me tell you, one of the most struggily things on the planet has to be trying to get a 30-40lb suitcase (I sent my other bags through the mail) across Seoul during rush hour.  Dang it's so struggily.  It's even worse when you become a trainer because then you have to carry around all three of the greenie's bags.  It's not during rush hour though. 
 
Anyways we got to transfers and my new companion is named Elder 김시현 (Kim Shihyun), so Elder Kim 2 I guess.  Elder Han got his trainee and Elder Peterson and Elder Kim 1 became companions.  Pretty fun stuff.  Anyways, we finished up at transfers and then Elder Kim (2) and I headed back to Jangwee.
 
From what I've seen of Jangwee it seems pretty cool.  I'm really excited to be back in Seoul and be started a new adventure. 
 
On Saturday we had a special conference where a guy named PJ Rogers came and spoke to us.  He served in Seoul 1988-90 and he is super good at Korean.  He is the first white person to get his his doctrite from 연세 (Yunsei) University which is one of Korea's top three universities.  Anyways he talked to us about Korean culture and how we can strengthen our relationships with our Korean companions and members int he ward.  It was a really cool conference and I learned a ton that will most definitely help me become a better missionary.
 
After the conference Elder Kim and I met with two potential investigators that we picked up so that was pretty cool. 
 
At night we had the ward Halloween party which was really fun.  It was English-themed in an attempt to increase our English class attendance.  Anyways, yeah it was really fun.  One of the members in our ward who just returned from their mission to Busan made a really awesome Jack Skellington pinata which was destroyed but candy-hungry Korean children.  It was pretty funny.  Our district leader, Elder Moore, and I were in charge of Jeopardy and it was really cool.  All of the questions were super easy, but they were also all American-themed and in English.





 
Sunday was really great also.  I'm really determined this transfer to really strive to strengthen my relationships with the ward members.  I saw some pretty cool things happened in Geumchon when we worked with the members, so I'm really excited to apply what I've learned.  Of all of the things I need to do, working with members has proven to be the hardest.
 
First week of the transfer down and also my first week in Jangwee.  I am so excited to see what happens this transfer as we excersice our faith and go out and find, teach, and baptize.
 
Love and Miss Y'all!
 
Called to Serve!
 
Love,
 
Elder Huckvale

Sunday, October 25, 2015

Week 39 - You Must Go to the 장위 Area

Title - In The Empire Strikes Back, after Luke escapes the Wampa cave, he's out in a blizzard and half-dead. Obi-Wan's ghost appears and tells him that he must go to the Dagobah System.

Hello my Adoring Fans!

Well, this week has been really crazy.  There were a lot of really cool miracles, and then the transfer calls came. 

Anyways...

On Tuesday we saw a ton of really cool things happen.  While we were walking out to an apartment to visit a less-active in our area, I started talking to this guy next to me and he just happened to be really good at English!  It was awesome.  It turns out that he's a soldier and that he just happens to live in the same apartment complex that we were heading to.  He told me about how he used to be Christian, but has since switched to Buddhism after seeing corruption in the church he was going to.  He asked me what we were doing and I started talking about how the wife in the family we were going to visit was baptized but has since become in-active.  This conversation opened the way for me to teach him all about the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, in English!  It was great!

After we got to the apartment and couldn't find the people we were looking for, we were heading back towards the center of town and this guy drove by and started yelling at Elder Kim and I.  It turned out that it was a guy that we had met on the street a few weeks earlier who is a good friend of someone in our ward.  He left, but we called him up and were able to go to his office and teach him a little about the Church and finding happiness through Jesus Christ.  It was pretty cool.

On Wednesday, I started an exchange with Elder Han in my district.  Elder Han is super awesome at working with the members which is something that I really struggle with.  We went and were able to go visit an art gallery for Chinese and Korean calligraphy that a member in our ward was hosting.  It was cool because her friend of twenty years who is a nonmember was there and we were able to have a short discussion with her about the Church and bare our testimonies.  Afterwards, she gave us these really nice books that contain copies of all of the pieces on display in the gallery.  It was so incredible!  Miracles!

 이승지 자매님's Art Gallery
A really cool Buddhist statue
 The Gate to the Temple
 Pretending to ring a giant bell
 A fun picture that Elder Huckvale took
The Tomb of the General

On Thursday Elder Han and I just walked around proselyting all day which was okay.  I've been with Elder Han for three transfers now and I've never been able to go on exchanges with him so we got to talk a little bit more which was really good.  He told me a ton of advice about working with the members that I really hope to apply as I continue to do the Lord's work.  At night, Elder Kim and I were out proselyting and Elder Kim started talking to a guy at a bus stop while I was talking to someone else.  After the person that I was talking to left, I decided to join in on Elder Kim's conversation.  I didn't really know what they were talking about because I had just shown up, but I felt really inspired to share with the guy 2 Nephi 2:11.  After sharing it he was blown away.  He told me that it was just what he needed to hear and that I had read his mind.  It was awesome.  He ended up not having interest in meeting with us again, but it was still a really cool experience.  Power of the Holy Ghost!  Miracles!

On Saturday we did a lot of practice for our art festival that we're putting on next month.  Afterwards we did some streetboarding which was pretty fun and then we went home to receive transfer calls.

I'm getting transferred.

I'm going to a place called 장위(Jangwee).  It's out back in Seoul.  Other than that I don't know anything about it or who my companion's going to be.  Recently, our mission president, President Sonksen, has decided that we don't get to know our companions before the actual transfer meeting, so it looks like I'll find out on Thursday!
Sunday was really awesome.  Elder Han is also getting transferred so we had to say goodbye to all of the members in the ward and give our final testimonies during Sacrament meeting.  It was a really good Sunday to end my stay in 금촌 (Geumchon).  It just happened to be the day that the primary program was on, so that was pretty cool.  Afterwards, since Elder Han and I are both leaving we went on an exchange and a family in the ward took us to like all of the tourist attractions in Paju.  It was really great.  Overall I'm sad to leave 금촌, but I'm really excited to begin a new adventure and to help the Lord's work in a different part of His vineyard. 

"I'll go where you want me to go" -I'll Go Where You Want Me To Go

Love and Miss Y'all!

Called to Serve!

Love,

Elder Huckvale