Title - our 4th (and final!) call home!
Pics - Stake President luncheon; lunch; Ward Christmas party; Christmas; "family" photos part 2
Date: Mon, 26 Dec 2016 12:29:16 +0900
Hello My Adoring Fans!
Merry Christmas!
I hope everyone's enjoying the Christmas season with their family and friends as they celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
This week has been really awesome! Although there was a lot of excitement and things to do as a result of the Christmas season, we were able to do a lot of missionary work and see a lot of miracles!
On Monday Elder Fehlberg and I went and took family pictures with Elder Baird and Elder Hipps!
On Tuesday the stake president, President 송병철 (Song) invited all of the missionaries in our zone and any investigators or recent converts that could attend to his house for lunch! It was really awesome! He even put money on the transportation cards of all the missionaries so that we can have a little extra as we go from place to place. It was way cool! That night we went out to the 닭 갈비 (Chicken rib) buffet with the other elders and some of the YSA and young men who graduated high school this year. It was really cool to get to talk with them and get a feel for how they're all doing spiritually. It was a blast!
On Thursday we got to be out all day proselyting and visiting people and we saw a ton a miracles! We met with a less-active brother in his 70's and committed him to come to church for Christmas. We then met with a new investigator who we're going to teach English to. Along the way we visited less-actives and were able to meet a lot of really cool people, including a kid who met with the missionaries a few years ago, attended church and almost got baptized. It was awesome!
On Friday our ward mission leader, 김영기 (Brother Kim) took all of the missionaries out to the American-style buffet, Ashley, and we ate and wrote letters to some of the less-actives in the ward. It was amazing! Afterwards we went to a high-foot traffic subway station in our area and did a caroling activity as a zone. It was a blast! Elder Hipps dressed up as Santa Claus!
On Saturday we had our annual Sanggye Ward Christmas Party! It was so fun! In Korea when they do Christmas parties, all of the different auxiliaries (including the missionaries) prepare skits or musical numbers and then perform them for the ward. The young men did a really funny skit about life in Sanggye Ward and their take on the foreign missionaries was absolutely spot-on. The missionaries in our district sang a "O Come All Ye Faithful" and then just for the heck-of-it danced to "Feliz Navidad". I want my brother Luke to know that my performance goes out to him "from the bottom of my heart" (he'll get it when he reads it). The ward really loved it and we (of course) had a blast putting it on. Elder Hipps reprised his role as Santa Claus and came and brought presents for everyone. The party was really well-attended and the kid we met on the street a few days before came as well as some less-actives, part-member families, and some non-member friends that the members brought. It was awesome!
(Check this out... because it's hysterically awesome!!!)
https://www.facebook.com/100002549175694/videos/1225283637566597/
Sunday was the big day! Christmas! We had our ward's special Sacrament Meeting and it was really good. We were hoping to have a bigger turnout in terms of non-members, but we worked really hard to invite people and help them to come, so it's okay. The sisters' investigator from English Class came and I think that she really enjoyed it! After Sacrament meeting, we borrowed some devices from the ward members and were able to Skype our families! It was so cool to see my family again, but it was also really surreal because deep down I know that I'll see them a month from now. Aw jeez.
After we Skyped our families, we spent the rest of the days out on the streets proselyting and caroling to members as a district. We had the merriest of times.
I am so grateful that I have been able to spend this Christmas here in Korea as a missionary. I originally would've felt a little bummed that I will have to wait another year to spend Christmas with my family, but this Christmas in Korea has proved to be one of the best of my life. I really think it's because during this Christmas, more than any other Christmas, I really did my best to focus on others more than myself. As I did that, I think that I came to more fully understand the meaning of Christmas. It's about giving of ourselves the way Christ would---being a light unto the world as He is. I know that He lives and that He is my Savior and Redeemer.
Love and Miss Y'all!
Merry Christmas!
Called to Serve!
Love,
Elder Huckvale
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