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Tuesday, May 17, 2016

Week 68 - Then Perhaps I WILL!

Title (con't from Week 65) - this finished the quote.  "... then perhaps she (Princess Leia) will".  (Darth Vader is saying that if Luke won't turn to the Dark Side, maybe he can get her to do it."

Date: Mon, 16 May 2016 13:15:21 +0900

Hello my adoring fans!
 
I'm so glad that I was finally able to finish that quote from like two weeks ago.
 
Anyways, this week has been really awesome!  We got to teach the Law of Chastity using Oreos and Choco Pies, go to a ward sports day, pick up a new investigator, and eat dinner with Elder Shepherd's exchange student's parents again.  Most of those things happened in the same day too!
 
Speaking of cookies and the Law of Chastity, apparently our very own 남규빈 (Gyubin Nam) uploaded our video to Facebook and it is now floating the interwebs!  We taught it using Oreo cookies and Choco Pies.  I don't know about those of you reading this, but I saw the same thing done in my middle school health class when they taught us about chastity.  At the beginning of the class, we gave everyone an Oreo cookie and told them not to eat it and that if they didn't eat it, we would give them something better at the end of the class.  At the end of the English portion of class, we gave everyone a Choco Pie ( I don't think that anyone was that interested in eating the Oreo)( a Choco Pie is the equivalent of a Twinkie in Korea).  The point we were trying to get across is that if you remain chaste until after you're married, you'll be able to enjoy the blessings of marriage even more.  I think that it worked out pretty well.  We always try to use object lessons when teaching our English class messages.  Last week, to teach the Word of Wisdom, we had two bowls of water and we mixed a bunch of really terrible things (including roach killer) into one of the bowls and explained that this is what we're doing to our bodies when we break the Word of Wisdom.  It's been really fun to come up with new ideas every week!

If you want to see the video... this may work... https://www.facebook.com/gyubining/videos/1027881477294456/
 
On Wednesday we had a district meeting which was really great!  I felt prompted to share my experience last week with our investigator 김다운 (Da oon Kim) and it went really well!  That experience really led me to change the way I do missionary work.  I challenged everyone to do as it says in Jacob 4: 10 and "seek not to counsel the Lord, but to take counsel at his hand."
 
On Saturday we had a really busy day.  We got up and headed out to a middle school about an hour and a half away and had a stake sports day.  It was so awesome!  We were able to build some really strong relationships with the ward members and have a really great time!  We had to leave early though so that we could meet a potential investigator at the church.  The lesson went really well but we were both totally exhausted!  Elder Shepherd looked like he was going to die.  Our investigator even expressed concerns for him.  There was actually a pretty cool story behind this investigator.  I met him on the bus like two months ago and called him a few times just to see how he was doing but he was always too busy to meet.  Then last week I met him again on the street, called him a few days later, and he agreed to meet us!  What an awesome miracle!



 
After we met with him we went and met with the family of Elder Shepherd's exchange student and they fed us very well.  It was delicious!  Plus they hooked us up with more Nutella and...4 pounds of bacon!  Real American American bacon!  It was so awesome!  They are such great people and are very thankful to Elder Shepherd's family for taking such great care of their son.





 
Well that's pretty much it.  We weren't able to meet with our investigator with a baptismal date, Da Oon Kim, this week, but we're meeting him tonight so it should be pretty good.  Serving the Lord as a missionary is the funnest and happiest thing that I've ever done!  Especially in Korea, at times the work can be very discouraging, but I know that Jesus Christ lives, and because He lives, I have a hope in Him and His Atonement that everything will be okay in the end.  Everything bad will be overcome by that which is good and there we will be eternally happy once and for all.
 
Transfer calls are this Saturday(!)
 
Love and Miss Y'all!
 
Called to Serve!
 
Love,
 
Elder Huckvale


Elder Shepherd Delivering the 반찬 (side dish?)

Week 67 - Chad...Now That's a Name I've Not Heard In a Long Time (Part 3)

He only gets to use this title one more time.  :)


Date: Mon, 9 May 2016 12:23:48 +0900
Hello my Adoring Fans!  
 
This week has been so freakin awesome!  We got a baptismal date and I got to Skype my family this morning!  Too legit to quit!
 
Let's take a brief look back...shall we?
 
Last Monday after we e-mailed we went down to my first area and ate Taco Bell for old times sake.  It was really great!


Taco Bell Product Placement :)
 
On Wednesday we had a really awesome zone meeting where the focus was on planning and I learned a ton about how to plan effectively and with the Spirit.  We took what we learned and applied it the next day.
 
On Thursday we met with an investigator that Elder Crisp and I met on the street before he left named 김다운 (Da Oon Kim).  In the morning during personal study I decided to pray and ask Heavenly Father if we should invite him to be baptized.  After feeling the Spirit confirming to me that we should invite him, I prayed to know a date and the date June 18th popped into my head.  I asked Heavenly Father if this was to be the date we should give him and I felt the Spirit confirm it to me.  During companionship study the next hour I told Elder Shepherd about my experience and invited him to pray about the date in order to fulfill the law of witnesses.  He prayed and felt good about it too.
 
Fast forward to that night.  We met Da Oon Kim at the Chinese restaraunt near the church and we talked with him a lot about our missionary life and how even though there are many mission rules, as we are obedient to them we are more happy.  I think that it really opened up his heart and then we were able to share with him the message of the Restoration.  It was really awesome.  Then we asked him if when he knows the Book of Mormon is true that he'd be willing to be baptized.  He said yes.  We then proceeded to tell him how much we had been thinking about him and praying about him and asked him if he would be baptized and he said yes.  
 
That was a really awesome experience for us and helped me truly realize how involved the Lord is in this work.  It also helped me realize that as missionaries, we have a more direct line to Him.  It was really awesome and definitely has changed me as a missionary and helped me to more fully understand prayer.
 
On Saturday we had our first youth activity and it was really awesome!  I didn't take any pictures but I think that our Bishop, 배성훈 (Bay Sunghoon) took some.  We had a water fight and it was really fun!  We got to get closer with the youth and one of the young women brought her friend!  
 
This morning I got to Skype with my family and it was so awesome!  It was really cool because some of my aunts, uncles, and cousins were there too enjoying the Mothers Day festivities.  It was so great and makes me want to work harder in the service of the Lord!  It's still almost impossible to believe that the next time I Skype my family I will be in my last transfer with only about a month left!  This mission goes by "mind-bogglingly" fast as my dad put it.  I can't even imagine what it feels like to be a parent.  I will e-mail my family one more time and that will be a sign unto them that the end is near.
 

Wow!  Technology!!!

Love and Miss Y'all!
 
Called to Serve!
 
Love,
 
Elder Huckvale


No comment.  :)


Week 66 - Wookiees Are Known to Do That

Title -  In "Star Wars", aboard the Millenium Falcon, R2D2 and C3PO are playing a game of "holo-chess" against Chewbacca.  R2D2 makes a move against Chewbacca's guys that makes him upset.  C3PO says, "it was a fair move.  No need to get upset."  Han says, "it's unwise to upset a Wookie." And then C3PO says, "no one ever worries about upsetting a droid".  And then Han says, "Well droids don't pull your arms out of sockets.  Wookies are known to do that." 


Date: Mon, 2 May 2016 11:52:13 +0900
Hello My Adoring Fans!!!
 
I don't know who caught the reference last week, but it was setting up the title for this week, but something happened that I just couldn't resist making a reference to in my e-mail title...
 
This week has been great!  In terms of finding it's been a little sparse, but in terms of working with the ward it's been great!  We've been working really hard recently to work closely with the Bishop and youth of the ward to strengthen them and it's been really fun.  This Saturday our ward is doing a mutual activity at our church building and they invited the missionaries to help prepare it and take part in it.  We're going to have a water-balloon/water gun fight!  It should be really fun.  
 
This week, probably after a days worth of getting complaints from moms, President Sonksen decided to have mercy on us and allow us to wear short-sleeve shirts.  Nice!  





"Suns out, Guns out"
 
The weather's been great and we've been doing a lot of proselyting!  It's been really fun!
 
On Tuesday we met this Chewbacca-esque man twice in the same day.  He was like six-feet tall, really heavy-built, had a nicely trimmed and well-groomed beard and long hair.  The first time we met him he tried to hit us up for bus money and we told him we couldn't give him money.  Later that day we saw him in a completely different place in our area and we said hi to him and then grabbed us in a headlock and kept giving us noogies.  It was really weird.  We were able to escape though.
 
On Wednesday I went on exchanges with our zone leader, Elder Houston and we had a really awesome exchange!  We met this really cool Mongolian guy who is really good at Korean.  He practices Christianity and Shamanism!  That'll probably be a problem down the road.  Anyways, he's really cool and we're going to try and meet with him this week.  He felt the Spirit when he read Moroni's promise!
 
So yeah this week had been really great!  The more I've been on my mission, the more I realize just how much authority the Lord has given me as a missionary.  We have the awesome opportunity and privilege of being able to go up to anyone and teach them the Gospel!  It's so great!  
 
Love and Miss Y'all!
 
Called to Serve!
 
Love,
 
Elder Huckvale


Elder Huckvales' attempt to make Kimchi Oma Rice (?)


"Saving souls in Seoul"

Week 65 - If You Will Not Eat the Last 초코파이...

Title - In "Return of the Jedi", Luke and Darth Vader are light saber dueling and Luke has a moment where he's able to hide.  Darth Vader is looking for him, and starts to antagonize him, to try and coax him to come out from hiding.  While he's doing this, he figures out that Luke has a twin sister, Princess Leia.  Then Darth Vader says, "if you will not be turned to the Dark Side..."


Date: Mon, 25 Apr 2016 13:11:02 +0900
Hello My Adoring Fans!
 
It's been another week here in 장위.  Elder Shepherd and I were able to see a lot of miracles this week and were able find some really great people!  The weather's getting better and as the weather gets better, my belief that Presidnet Sonksen is trying torture us gets stronger and stronger.
 
Anyways...
 
On Wednesday we had interviews with our mission president, President Sonksen and it was awesome!  I talked with him a lot about how the work is going in our area and what I think that we need to do to get it moving faster.  It was really great!  After the interviews we had our district meeting which also went really well.  I gave a training on finding, particularly finding on the street and it went really well.  
 
On Thursday night we met a new investigator named 이현구 (Hyungu Ee) and he's really cool.  He's really at a prime time to learn the Gospel.  He just graduated college and is the middle of searching for a job so he has a lot of time.  He's really cool and seems to have a really strong desire to find the truth.
 
On Saturday we had a stake music night and it was awesome!  The struggily part was that we had to travel back and forth to the stake center in our neighboring area 3 times in one day because we kept having to bring things over there.  Struggily.  There wasn't a big turnout at the performance, but it went really well and we had a potential investigator from English Class come and he seemed to really enjoy it.  Nice!
 
On Saturday afternoon, we also had the really cool opportunity of meeting with our newly-called bishop and coordinating with him on what he think the ward needs to help get the work going.  It was a really great meeting.  He really stressed working with the youth in the ward and working through them to find new people to teach.  
 
I am beginning to realize now more than ever that the Lord truly is preparing people to hear about the Restoration of the Gospel.  We just need to be prepared ourselves to find those prepared people.  
 
Love and Miss Y'all!
 
Called to Serve!
 
Love,
 
Elder Huckvale


Monday, May 2, 2016

Week 64 - See, You Can Do It

Title - In "Star Wars", while Luke is training with his light saber, Obi-Wan Kenobi has him put on a blast shield helmet so that Luke can't see the training remote.  After failing to block several bolts, Obi-Wan suggests that he "reach out with his feelings".  After a moment, on Luke's next attempt, he's able to block all of the bolts from hitting him.  Then Obi-Wan says, "see, you can do it!"

Date: Mon, 18 Apr 2016 12:56:19 +0900
Hello My Adoring Fans!
 
This is week two of shorter e-mail times and suit jackets in the middle of spring!  Our mission president is trying to kill us!  Just kidding I love President Sonksen and understand to some extent the reasoning behind this madness.
 
Anyways...
 
Elder Shepherd and I had another really great week!  After weeks of not being able to find people to meet with, we're finally starting to find new investigators and it's exciting!  On Tuesday, we brought our recent convert, Songha Kim with us to meet a potential investigator and the lesson went really well.  His name is 김문형 (Munhyung Kim) and when he was young he went to school next to one of the church buildings in our stake, but never talked to missionaries before us.  He's great!  We also met a really cool kid while we were streetboarding that just happens to live in the apartment above our stake president and is friends with his son which was really cool.  He punked our appointment, but I think we can get him one of these days.  It was still a really cool miracle!
 
These past two weeks have shown me that although it's hard sometimes, as we exercise our faith, He will open doors for us to teach the Gospel.
 
This week were able to try out a new activity in our area that has been really effective in our neighboring area.  It's called "Talk with a Foreigner".  We did it at one of the local colleges and it was really fun!  We were able to find a lot of people that have interest in learning English.
 
Also, due to my lack of suit pants and the increasing need for suits these days, Elder Shepherd and I went to Dongdaemun market in downtown Seoul and I got a new suit!  It's moderately shiny.  It was really fun bargaining with the suit salesman.  I got him to lower the price $45 and I think the biggest factor in this was just my indecisiveness.  The Dongdaemun market is really cool.  I'll have to take more pictures the next time I go.
 
So yeah, this week has been really great and I know that the continuing weeks will be even better.  
 
Serving a mission is by far the greatest thing I've ever done for my life and it's helped me to realize just how much I need the Lord.  Without Him I am nothing and with Him and through Him, I can become everything.  Jesus Christ lives!
 
Love and Miss Y'all!
 
Called to Serve!
 
Love,
 
Elder Huckvale
 
 
 
 

Week 63 - Elder! You've Switched Off Your Targeting Computer!

Title - In "Star Wars", when Luke is flying his X-Wing Fighter down the trench of the Death Star, Obi-Wan's ghost speaks to his mind and tells him to use the Force.  So Luke turns off his targeting computer and the technician asks, "Luke, you've switched off your targeting computer!"...

Date: Mon, 11 Apr 2016 12:43:42 +0900

Hello My Adoring Fans!
 
This week was the last week of transfers and it went pretty well.  No one from our area is getting transferred which is good.
 
There were also some struggles...
 
At our zone meeting on Wednesday, the Zone Leaders dropped the bomb on us when they announced that our e-mail time has been shortened to an hour.  On top of that, we won't be able to work without our suit jackets for the foreseeable future until President Sonksen says it's hot enough to take them off.  So yeah, my e-mails will be a lot shorter because I'll either have to leave, or I'll pass out from the heat.  It's all good though!
 
Besides that, this week was great!
 
We were able to eat with the members a ton this week which was great!  It's really awesome because I feel that they're starting to trust us more as we put our trust in them and show our love towards them.  
 
This week on Thursday we met with a potential investigator and he brought his friend to meet us.  They're studying rap at the local university and they're really fun!  I don't know how much interest they have in the Gospel, but we'll have to see.  
 
We were going to meet with another really promising potential investigator on Friday, but he's kind of old and he forgot.  It's all good though because he still wants to meet again.
 
On Friday night at English class, our ward mission leader came and tested out a new section of English class that he's been thinking about doing called "video English class".  It's pretty much we get together, watch a scene from an American TV show and then we help them practice the conversation from the scene.  We watched the pilot episode from "the Mentalist" which was great until the wife in the show shot her husband.  I don't know if it's just because I haven't seen something like that happen in a while or what but that was shocking!  We had to discuss it with our  ward mission leader afterwards.  
 
It's a good idea though!
 
Then on Saturday and Sunday we watched General Conference!  It was really awesome!  I especially enjoyed President Uchtdorf's talk during Priesthood session about forgiveness.  Sometimes you just have to be the one who wears the Chewbacca costume!  I also really enjoyed the Mormon Tabernacle Choir's performance of "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing".  It gets me every time!
 
This week was great, and especially after watching conference, I feel so grateful to live in a world where we have a living prophet and the true, complete Gospel of Jesus Christ is on the earth.  I know that Joseph Smith is a prophet of God and that President Thomas S. Monson is our prophet today.  This is the Church of Jesus Christ, built upon the foundation of prophets and apostles just as it's always been, and Jesus Christ is the Chief Cornerstone.
 
Love and Miss Y'all!
 
Called to Serve!
 
Love,
 
Elder Huckvale