Title - In Star Wars, there is a group of ex-wing fighters that go down the trench on the Death Star. The leader shoots his torpedoes towards the exhaust port and it explodes, but the other pilots' ask, "did it go in?" and the leader says, "No, it didn't go in... just impacted on the surface."
Random side note. This week has been a little stressful for us. There is currently unrest in Korea and Elder Huckvale is living right on the North Korea/South Korea border near the DMZ in a town called Paju. We were happy to hear that everything is under control, that the Mission President is on the ball and constantly talking with the military and that all the missionaries have prepared 72-hour kits just in case they have to evacuate.
Hello Adoring Fans!
Well, this week has really flown by. It's crazy how fast it goes. I remember in the MTC we talked about how the summer was just going to fly by and guess what happened? It did. Crazy. Anyways, apparently there is some concern on the homefront due to some bombs that North Korea has thrown over the boarder. Have no fear, all is well. Apparently this kind of stuff happens every once and a while and nobody's really that worried about it. However, I will still be on the watch for explosions and things of the sort.
Putting national threats aside...
On Monday after P-Day, we all of a sudden ended up meeting with 허진영 (Hou Jin Yung), who we met a few weeks ago in the train station and insisted that we teach his daughter English. Anyways, yeah we met with him and his family and it went alright. We really fell through though on teaching the spiritual half of the family-language program which I felt really bad about. I kept expecting Elder Kim to kind of transition into that part of the hour, but it just never happened. It was kind of struggily. Elder Kim is my senior companion and every thing, but doing something like teaching the Gospel when we had just spent the last half hour teaching English goes against every thing that Elder Kim and I think most Koreans have learned. I may be the junior companion, but somebody has to take control of the situation and make sure that our purpose is fulfilled. Gosh dang it.
PDay activities at the church. Look at all that yummy food!!!
On Tuesday we met with 김동환 (Daniel) and it went pretty well. We taught him all about the Atonement and how through repentance and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, we can overcome any trial or addiction in our lives. It was really cool because I talked about how the Atonement can help him strengthen his relationship with his father, which isn't in the best state these days. I also talked about how it can help him to overcome his smoking problem. Then we had him look up the "Because He Lives" video from Easter and we watched that with him. It was really cool. I think that a lot of the time people don't really understand what exactly Jesus Christ did when he came to the earth and fulfilled the Atonement. People always talk about how He "died for our sins", but I don't think they actually know or understand what that means. Because of the Atonement, it's not just our sins that we can overcome, but every thing...even death.
On Wednesday and Thursday I went on an exchange in 일산 (Irsan) with one of our zone leaders, Elder Taylor. It's kind of funny these days because Elder Jeong started this rumor among the missionaries that I'm the cutest missionary in the mission. So, of course, I've been getting the most crap from my zone leaders because they are really close with Elder Jeong. It's been fun though. Oh, and the zone leaders also saw the picture of me from our family Christmas card and now take to calling me "Little Hipster". I have to keep reminding them that "I wasn't even that hip".
Anyways, the exchange went really well and Elder Taylor helped me realize that this mission is getting filled with young missionaries really fast and that it's up to us to get the work moving in the mission. So that was pretty cool for me. It helped me to re-emphasize just how important this work is and that instead of waiting to become a leader when I become a senior companion or a trainer or something, I need to be a leader now.
On Thursday we had zone street boarding which was going pretty well until it was interrupted by the whole "we might be being invaded" fiasco. So yeah we all had to rush back to our houses and prepare our 72-hour kits in case we had to be evacuated. It was all good though, the situation hasn't gotten too far out of hand yet from what I've heard. President Sonksen is keeping a close eye on our area though because of its close proximity to the DMZ and we will be the first to know if anything's going on and if we need to flee. Even if nothing happens, it was still good practice in case something actually does happen.
Making preparations for evacuation.
On Saturday we got teach this guy from the Philippines named Mark who I met about a month ago on the street and have been trying to meet ever since. Anyways, we didn't have a lot of time to meet with him, so we just got to know him a little and we talked about Jesus Christ and His Atonement a little bit. He is a super great guy, is 29, has a wife and two kids in the Philippines, and is currently attending a Born-again Christian Church. He came to Korea about a year ago for work and now his wife has gotten clearance to come over to work also, but she needs to find an employer first. Anyways, the lesson with him went really well and I'm really looking forward to meeting with him in the future.
So yeah, all-in-all this week has been pretty great! In Korea, we do a lot of street contacting and on days where we have few appointments and are required to do street contacting for long periods of time, it can be very difficult not to become discouraged and to stay motivated the entire time. The most important thing for me to remember is to remain happy the entire time and remember why we're here as missionaries: not to meet people, not to teach English, but to teach the gospel and help others come closer unto Jesus Christ.
If South Korea gets invaded, I'll be sure to let you know in my next e-mail!
Love and Miss Y'all!
This one goes out to all the fans
Called to Serve
Love,
Elder Huckvale
금릉
금촌
Glad things are going well. Keep working with the family. You'll get a chance to teach them about spiritual things. Even if it is in your demeanor and the light that shines through you.
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