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Monday, July 13, 2015

Week 24 - You Lost it to Me Fair and Square

Title - K, so Derrick is currently on High Adventure with Luke, so I have no idea what the title means - sorry Scott! Make things up and let me know!

Hello Everyone!
 
This week has been really long but also flew by really fast at the same time.  What the flip.  Anyways, yeah.  Lots happened.
 
On Monday we decided to go to the Costco in the area next to ours (일산 (Irsan)).  It was quite an adventure.  Elder Kim and I went with Elder Bell and another missionary in our district, Elder Dye.  None of us had a Costco card though so Elder Dye was just planning on buying one when we got there.  Elder Dye takes Costco trips really seriously.  He emptied out one of his suitcases and brought it with him to fill up with food.  American missionaries love Costco.  Anyways, we got there and Elder Dye filled out a membership application and gave it to the lady but apparently he can't get a Costco card in Korea because he's not 19 yet.  I don't know why that is the age that you can get a Costco card here but alas...so Elder Dye gave Elder Bell the money to buy a Costco card that he would then give to Elder Dye for him to use in the future because Elder Bell's going home at the end of the transfer.  So yes, quite the adventure.  We got some peanut butter and chips and salsa and other things and then had to haul it back to our apartment via the subway.  Fun!
 
On Tuesday we ate at Burger King.
 
On Wednesday we had a zone meeting which was really good.  It was all about helping others to come closer unto Christ by inviting them to be baptized.  One of the zone commitments was to invite someone to be baptized every day.  Right after the meeting, Elder Kim and I were jeondoing around and I stopped this 19-year-old kid on the street and started teaching him.  I told him about the Book of Mormon and then I told him that I know that every one can know that it's true.  I then asked him that when he knows that it's true, if he would follow Jesus Christ's example by being baptized.  The question totally threw him off and he had to stop and think for a few seconds and then he said no.  It's cool though because I gave him a Book of Mormon and he gave us his phone number and agreed to meet again.  Rad!  Other than when I did that we been kind of falling short on that commitment.  But it was still a really awesome experience!
 
On Friday morning we had interviews with our new mission president, President Sonksen.  That was good.  During my interview with him he just asked me about myself.  Just a get-to-know you thing.  Then he asked me if I had any questions for me and I asked him if he was going to give us peanut butter and he said that he can't get it shipped here.  Dang.  Then I asked him if he was going to change the mission at all and he said that he didn't have any plans right now because President Christensen already has done a good job of running things.  I agreed with him and then we ended the interview.  The days leading up to the interview we were lead to believe that during the interviews Sister Sonksen was going to doing a cleaning check of our houses.  So the days prior to the interviews I was wasting away trying to clean our incredibly disgusting bathroom that appeared as if it had not been cleaned since the house had been opened to missionaries.  Classic missionaries.  Anyways, yeah, our apartments didn't get checked.  It was all a ruse.  The bathroom really needed to be cleaned anyways.  After the interviews, Elder Kim and I went and ate this thing called 순대국 (Soon Dae Gook).  It was pretty delicious.  It's like this stew with pig intestines in it.  I may not sound that good, but it is.

Eating pig intestine stew.  Yum!
 
After we ate lunche we went back to the house and it turns out that Elder Bell and his companion, Elder Han, are going to be switching companions with Elder Dye and his companion, Elder Ee, due to some challenges going on at the other house.  So now, the other elders living in my house are Elder Han and Elder Ee which means that I am now living with three Korean people.  Elder Han is nearly fluent at English, but still, it's pretty crazy. 
 
After that we had an appointment about 15 minutes away by train so we headed out and came back.  So in Korea, you have this card called a T-Money card that you put money on and then swipe it when you ride the train/subway/bus/taxi and just keep refilling it when you need to.  When I was in 신당,  Elder Jeong found a teenager T-Money card on the street which charges at a lower rate and gave it to me because technically I could still have used it before my 19th birthday.  After my birthday I continued to use it though because I thought I was pretty sure that I could still pass off as a high school student.  Anyways, when we came back from our appointment a guy came up to me and started interrogating me about the card and then he told me that I owed the subway/train company $40 because that's how much I've saved from using the other card.  Luckily I had a ton of money in my missionary fund that I had saved from using the teenager card so I just went across the street to the bank and withdrew the money and then paid the subway people.  They gave me a receipt which I kept because I think it's funny.  I should've stopped while I was ahead.  Dang.  Don't gamble kids!
 
On Saturday we met with 김동환 (Daniel) again.  Usually when we meet with Daniel we just end up talking about random stuff and don't get the chance to teach him.  This time around, I decided that it would be a good idea to teach him about the Restoration again because that's our special message to the world.  When we started teaching him and told him that we were going to talk about Joseph Smith again, he admitted that he didn't really remember anything about Joseph Smith.  So we started teaching him about the Restoration and about the Great Apostasy and we didn't get to the Restoration but it was still a really good lesson.  When we talked about the Great Apostasy, I could see his eyes being opened and his understanding of the significance of our church being strengthened.  Then at the end I asked him if he would give us a closing prayer and he refused.  I then asked him if he would say it next time and he said that he doesn't like praying because he feels like he doesn't have the faith.  I promised him that as he sincerely prays to Heavenly Father, that he will have his faith strengthened.  I then committed him to pray next time.  It was a really awesome experience for me because I it helped me to further realize my role as a missionary in helping other come closer unto Christ.  It was awesome.
 
Wow, I can't believe all that happened it the last week.  All of this seemed like it happened so long ago, but still the week flew by.  I am continuing to be blessed as I serve my mission and I am seeing others around me being blessed immensely as well, especially my family.  I am so grateful to be serving a mission in Korea right now.  It's hard, but it's fun, and most importantly, it's worth it.
 
Love and Miss Y'all!
 
Called to Serve!
 
Love,
 
Elder Huckvale 

 Paju, Elder Huckvale's new area.  Isn't it lovely????

 Some squid hanging out at market.
"Stalker" picture that Elder Kim took of Elder Huckvale

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