Week 74 - A Day Long-Remembered

Title - In Star Wars, shortly after the Rebels escape the Death Star with Princess Leia, you find out that they were allowed to leave by the Empire because they were tracking them to the hidden Rebel base.  And then Darth Vader says, "this will be a day long-remembered".

 

P.S. Thanks to all those that sent Elder Huckvale a birthday card!!!  It really made his day!  Shout out to all the family, the Clarks' and the Jensens'!  He loved getting mail!!!

 

Date: Mon, 27 Jun 2016 16:58:54 +0900

Hello My Adoring Fans!

 

This week was really great!  It was my birthday on Friday and it was really awesome!

 

On Tuesday we went to the temple and it was really awesome!  I was really wondering about some things that I've been thinking a lot about recently and I was able to receive some answers!  There ain't no place better to get away to to receive revelation than the temple. 

 

Elder Saunders and Elder Huckvale at the Temple

 

After we went to the temple we went to the American-style buffet, Ashley, and then on to 동대문 (Dongdaemun) to get some cheap neckties.  It was great!

Companionship ties.  :)

 

On Wednesday we had our district meeting which went really well.  I felt prompted to do a training on working with members and helping them to participate in missionary work.  Sister Shaver gave part of the training and she did awesome!  I was able to learn a ton from the missionaries from the district!

 

On Thursday we had our weekly missionary coordination meeting with our ward mission leader 김영기 (Yung Gee Kim) and since my birthday was on Friday he threw me a party!  He brought pizza and a sweet-potato cake (it was better than you would think).  It was really great and made this birthday already better than my birthday last year where I got transferredㅠㅠ.

 

And Friday was my birthday!  It was so awesome!  All of the elders in my house went all out.  Elder Tapan made me a sign and at night we went out to a meat buffet and all ate together.  Elder Brantley brought a cake.  That night we had a lesson with our investigator, 이영민 (Yung Meen Ee) at the church with a member.  The member that came isn't actually a member of our ward, but a return-missionary from our mission who has family in our ward and is on break from studying at BYU-Hawaii.  It also just happens that he was the Assistant to the President when he served here.  It was really awesome.  The lesson was awesome and we got Yung meen Ee to commit to pray to know that God lives and also to go to church on Sunday to the ward whose area he's in (he didn't end up going though because he slept in).  The Spirit was really strong and we were all teaching in sync with each other.  It was a really great lesson and afterwards the member that helped us, 최준규 (Jun Gyoo Chwe), bought me a cake at the Paris Baguette (a popular bakery chain in Korea) down the street.  It was so awesome!  I felt so loved by everyone and definitely felt like the Lord was making up to me for my last birthday. 

 

On Saturday we had our ward cleaning day and on Sunday we had our ward conference which were both great.  Today, since Elder Saunders is going home next week, our ward mission leader, Brother Kim, took us all to the Seoul Forest and we hung out there for the day.  It was pretty great.

"Dang it, Elder Tapan, and his selfies!"

 

I have felt so loved this week by everyone around me, especially my Heavenly Father.  Thank you everyone!

 

Love and Miss Y'all!

 

Called to Serve!

 

Love,

 

Elder Huckvale

Special thanks to Brother Kim for taking them to the Seoul Forest and then messaging me all these pics!!!

 

Week 73 - I Think I Know What He Has in Mind

Title - In Star Wars, when Han, Luke, Chewbacca and the others are hatching a plan to rescue Princess Leia, Luke goes to put handcuffs on Chewbacca and when he does, Chewbacca growls and throws his arms up.  After trying to reason with Chewbacca, Luke backs away, and Han says, "I think I know what he has in mind."

Date: Mon, 20 Jun 2016 12:06:15 +0900

Hello my adoring fans!

 

This week was great here in 상계 (Sanggye)!  We had mission tour this week with Elder Yamashita of the Seventy!  I got to go on exchanges with Elder 이홍빈 (Hong bean Ee)!  Plus we got to meet with our new investigator again!  Still working hard to find more!

 

On Wednesday we had mission tour with Elder Yamashita of the Seventy and it was awesome!  He came and spoke a lot of things but what I took away the most from the meeting was what he said about member missionary work and the importance of companion unity.  He talked a lot about how important it is for the members to understand the doctrine of Christ in order to progress in the Gospel after baptism.  We really need to work more with the ward here in Sanggye so I was able to find a lot of inspiration from the mission tour on how I could help them most and strengthen their desires to do missionary work.  As for having unity with your companion, Sister Yamashita said "Your companion is your greatest investigator".  That one got me thinking a lot about how I can better show my love to my companion as well as to other missionaries. 

 

Plus after we ate lunch, to help us stay awake, Sister Yamashita taught us how to make origami. 

 

It was a struggily experience.

 

On Thursday I went on exchanges with Elder Ee who's serving in 의정부 (Uijungbu) and we had a really awesome exchange!  This is his first transfer in country, but he's doing so awesome!  His trainer is actually Elder Hong, who was my zone leader when I was in 장위 (Jangwee).  I learned a ton from Elder Ee!  He's going to be a really great missionary!

Exchange with Elder 이홍빈

 

On Friday the elders from our district had a meal appointment with an older couple from the ward, the wife of which is less-active.  We decided to apply what we learned from the mission tour and share a message about the Atonement and repentance and it was really awesome!  At the end of the message, Elder Brantley played the guitar and we sang "I Know That My Redeemer Lives".  It was such an awesome experience!  Nothing invites the Spirit like love and music.  Afterwards we went out and ate pizza which was good too.

 

On Saturday we met with our new investigator, 이영민 (Yung Meen Ee) again and had a great lesson.  He studied in California for a few years so he's pretty good at English.  He doesn't have a religious background either so it's kind of interesting teaching him because it's all so new to him.  When we showed him the baptismal font, he asked us "Is it a toilet?"  He also asked us if we get baptised with our clothes on or off.  Now to be fair, apparently there's a really sketchy church in Korea that does that.  Anyways, the lesson went really well and he has a really sincere desire to learn to repent of his sins!  The problem is that he lives in a different area.

 

Anyways, this week was really great!  Especially since the mission tour I've been thinking a lot about how on our missions, it doesn't really matter how many investigators we have or how many baptisms we get.  The number is not important.  The most important thing is that the missionaries themselves are converted to the Gospel.  The more I learn this and understand this, the more I want to love other missionaries and help them to come unto Christ. 

 

God could've done His work in a variety of ways, some of which would've been much more effective than others, and yet He chose to have His work done by imperfect and naive 19 and 20-year-olds.   And I'm one of them!

 

Love and Miss Y'all!

 

Called to Serve!

 

Love,

 

Elder Huckvale

 Elder Saunders' shoe, so that the elevator doesn't leave us stranded

 

 

Week 72 - And Bring Order To 상계

Title - Still con't. from the last two emails.  Darth Vader is still trying to convince Luke Skywalker to join forces so that they can bring order to the galaxy. 

Pics - The District;  on exchanges with Elder Brantley; Sister Morillo needs to repent. :)

Date: Mon, 13 Jun 2016 12:07:44 +0900

Hello my adoring fans!

 

This week was another great one here in 상계 (Sang gye).   Elder Saunders and I are having a really awesome time serving together and we're slowly building a teaching pool of investigators and less-actives.

 

On Monday it was P-day and it was one of the elders in our zone's birthday so we headed up north to 동두천 (Dongduchun) where the missionaries there serve in a foreign branch near an American military base.  They got on to the base and hooked us all up with some Taco Bell and we proceeded to play BANG and Apples to Apples.  Fun times.

 

On Monday night we had a lesson with this guy who was an old investigator that contacted Elder Saunders a few months ago and wanted help learning English.  The problem is that he doesn't want to be seen by anyone when he's meeting with us so he meets us at a cafe and wears all black.  It looks like we've got a struggily scenario on our hands here.

 

On Tuesday Elder Saunders and I went tracting in an apartment complex which was pretty interesting.  I've never really been a fan of tracting but the other Elders team in our area has had some luck with finding people to teach that way so we decided to give it a shot and were able to meet some cool people.  Nobody let us in but there was a really nice guy who has some English interest that we'll probably follow up with this week.

 

On Wednesday we had our district meeting which went really well.  One of the themes for this month is overcoming fear through preparing and planning well.  I decided to talk about humility and compared two examples of humility found in Mosiah 21 and 24.  After the district meeting I was able to go on exchanges with the other zone leader, Elder Brantley and it was awesome!  We've been on exchanges before, but it was still really fun to talk to him and get know him more.  He's a really great elder and is doing a really great job training right now.  He's going home next transfer, but he continues to endure.

The District

Sister Morillo needs to repent. :)

On exchanges with Elder Brantley

 

On Thursday Elder Brantley and I went and did a service project where we washed dishes at this kitchen that serves food to old and handicapped people.  It was really fun and I especially enjoyed it because I don't get that many opportunities to do service projects.  I definitely want to do more service projects after the mish. 

 

On Saturday we got a new investigator!  Also, we got together as a zone and did a music proselyting activity.  It was really awesome!  We have two missionaries in our mission who are companions and their sole purpose is to do music activities whether it be proselyting or performing at ward or stake activities.  Anyways, one of them, Elder Pelina, plays the piano really well and his companion, Elder Bradshaw plays the violin really well.  So they played music while we talked to the people that were watching.  It went really well and we were able to talk to a lot of really cool people.  It's really interesting how quickly and how powerfully music can invite the Spirit.

 

I am so grateful to be serving a mission in the Korea Seoul Mission.  It's harder to find and pretty do every thing else, but through that I have become converted myself to this wonderful Gospel.  I've never known what life is like without a belief in God or a belief in a brighter future through Jesus Christ, and I do not want to know.  Jesus Christ lives and this is His true Church.  He guides this work.

"Humble yourselves even in the depths of humility"

-Mosiah 4:11

 

Love and Miss Y'all!

 

Called to Serve!

 

Love,

 

Elder Huckvale

 

 

Week 71 - We Can End This Destructive Conflict

Title - Con't from the last email.  This is the next line after "with our combined strength", when Darth Vader is trying to convince Luke to join forces with him.

Date: Mon, 6 Jun 2016 12:26:50 +0900

Hello my adoring fans!

 

Another week has flown by here in Korea.  This week we all worked really hard in our district and last week we made preparations for a ton of projects that we want to try on the street and with the ward so it's really exciting times.  In terms of investigators, Elder Saunders and I are still struggling.  Luckily, our whole district here in 상계 (Song Gye) is kind of in the same boat, so we're going to really focus on member work and proselyting activities this week so we can start finding and teaching.

 

On Tuesday all of the zone leaders went to receive training from president for the month of June so Elder Saunders and Elder Brantley went there and Elder Brantley's greenie, Elder Tapan, and I went on a day exchange.  Since we're both new to the area and there weren't any appointments scheduled in the area, it was a pretty tough day.  All of the plans that we did make fell through and we didn't have a solid enough back-up plan which resulted with us spending the majority of the day proselyting on the street.  Elder Tapan did really well.  He has so much love and is becoming a great missionary.

 

On Wednesday we had zone training and it was awesome.  I learned a ton about the importance of humbling ourselves before the Lord and overcoming our fears when it comes to doing missionary work.  Elder Saunders and Elder Brantley did awesome!  I'm especially impressed with Elder Saunders.  He only has a few more weeks left and he continues to work hard and stay devoted to the Lord and His work until the end.

 

On Thursday we met with the lady that we met last week and it was a pretty weird lesson.  She talked a lot about how she believes the first verses of John to literally mean that the Bible is God.  We talked about the importance of prayer and God's love for her and His children.  We again challenged her to read and pray about the Book of Mormon to know that it's true.  We'll probably have to drop her.  She seems like she's just trying to share her Bible knowledge with us.

 

Other than that we made some new streetboards on Saturday, had two appointments punk us on Sunday and then went streetboarding. 

 

It was a fun week!

 

Something that I've been thinking about a lot recently are the blessings that come from worshipping a being greater than ourselves.  As we worship Heavenly Father and His Son, Jesus Christ, we learn to love others and ourselves more.  We learn to be humble, patient, and virtuous.  I know that there is a god, and He is our Father.  I know not only that He is there, but that He listens and speaks, and that He lives.

 

Love and Miss Y'all!

 

Called to Serve!

 

Love,

 

Elder Huckvale

Eat Fresh

The Stormtroopers back!

Week 70 - With Our Combined Strength

Title - In "The Empire Strikes Back", Darth Vader has just revealed that he is Luke's father.  He is trying to lure Luke to the Dark Side, by telling him that if they combine their powers, they can rule the galaxy together.

Date: Mon, 30 May 2016 11:44:22 +0900

Hello My Adoring Fans!

 

I got transferred this week to 상계 (Sang gye) and it's been a really awesome first week here with my new companion, Elder Saunders.  

 

Sang gye is actually right next to my last area, 장위 (Jangwee), and seems like it's going to be really fun serving here.  Elder Saunders is the zone leader and the other zone leader is none other than Elder Brantley who was in my district when we were combined with our neighboring area when I was in 장위 (Jangwee).  Elder Brantley and Elder Saunders were companions originally, but they split their area so that Elder Brantley could train.  Elder Brantley is training an elder named Elder Tapan who's from the Philippines and has a really big heart and is really good at Korean already.  The sisters in our district our Sister Shaver (who was in my district when I was in my second area, 금촌 (Geumchon) and she is finishing the training of Sister Murillo who is also from the Philippines.  Also, Elder Saunders was in my district when I was Jangwee and we were combined with our neighboring area.  I feel like this is the Elder Huckvale dream team right here.  

 

Anyways we've been meeting with a lot of Elder Saunders' investigators over the past few days and they aren't really progressing so we're going to have to really work hard at finding new investigator in the ensuing weeks.  We had this really cool lesson with a lady who has some status in her church and we really powerfully and boldly invited her to be baptized, but she rejected.  Both Elder Saunders and I felt that she felt the Book of Mormon is true, but she is really concerned with finding evidence for it in the Bible.  It was a really awesome lesson though.  

 

The ward here is really great and there is so much potential in this area and I'm really excited to see what can be done here as we trust the Lord and work hard to do His work.  

 

Love and Miss Y'all!

 

Called to Serve!

 

Love,

 

Elder Huckvale

Week 69 - You Will Go to the 상계 Area

Title - In "The Empire Strikes Back", Luke had just escaped the Wampa's ice cave and he ventured out into the snowstorm and Obi-Wan's ghost personage appears to him and tells him that he must go to the Dagobah System to learn about the Force from Yoda.

Date: Mon, 23 May 2016 14:55:50 +0900

Hello my adoring fans!

 

This week has been really crazy!  And I'm getting transferred!

 

Anyways...let's look back...

 

On Tuesday we went to the temple and afterwards went to Burger Mine, but were disappointed to find out that they discontinued the burger buffet.  My guess is they did it because of other missionaries.  Anyways, we still enjoyed some very delicious burgers.  It was kind of weird though because the last time I ate at Burger Mine was right before I left my last area, 금촌 (Geumchon) so I took it as a sign that I was going to be leaving this transfer.

Elder Shepherd and Elder Huckvale

Elder Crisp (previous companion) and Elder Huckvale

Yeah, burger!!!

 

On Wednesday we had district meeting and we had a special guest appearance from my trainer Brother Jeong!  It was so awesome to see him and reminisce about the good old days back in my first area, 신당 (Sindang).  That was a year ago (!)(?).  

 

The district meeting was about setting goals and it went really well.  I compared setting a goal that's too high to worrying about becoming exalted someday.  If you set goals too high it can become discouraging!  With that in mind though, every goal we make should take us a step closer towards exaltation with our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.  The zone leaders were there too and they also prepared a message about setting goals!  It was really cool.  This church is guided by revelation!

 

On Thursday we got to go to seminary (at 10:30 pm) and got to teach the youth!  I'll have you know that this is something that I've been trying arrange with the ward seminary teacher ever since I came to 장위 (Jangwee).  It was a really huge miracle that it happened the week before I got transferred!  

 

On Saturday we got transfer calls and I learned that I'm getting transferred to 상계 (Song Gye) and will be the district leader there.  It's one of the areas bordering Jangwee so it's not too far.  It's in the same stake too.  Elder Shepherd, however, is getting sent out to 동해 (Donghay) which is way out in the boonies.  We were really shocked when we found out that they were white-washing our area, and we were even more shocked when we found out that they were white-washing the sisters area in our ward too.  I have to admit that I was kind of insulted  that they were completely going to whitewash our area and I think a lot of the ward members were too.  Luckily, Sister Allsbrook is still going to stay in Jangwee.  I was really glad when found that out Sunday morning.

 

On Sunday we had a really cool experience.  Our investigator with a baptismal date, 김다운 (Da oon Kim) came to church!  He slept in and missed sacrament meeting which was kind of unfortunate, but he really enjoyed the rest of the sessions.  At the end we helped him make a documentary for his school.  He brought his friend and they interviewed us and then filmed us while we did a proselyting activity at this huge park in our area called the Dream Forest.  We did a music activity where two of the office missionaries who were also in the music nights came and played the piano and the violin to help people to feel the Spirit through music.  It was really fun and it was really cool that Da oon Kim was able to come and see us in action.  I think our ward mission leader, 김영균 (Kim Young Gyun) posted some more pictures and videos of the activity on Facebook.

 

After that we went and got to visit a part-member family in the ward and do Family Home Evening with them.  This is another thing I had been trying to do pretty much ever since I came to Jangwee.  This is another really huge miracle.

 

Everything just ended so well here in Jangwee and I can't believe that I was here for 7 months!  The time flew by so fast!  Serving in Jangwee has been incredibly difficult, but it was so good.  I love the ward members and I love the people that I was able to meet and serve with.  I'm excited for what the Lord has in store for me in Song Gye as I continue to do His work.  This could be my last area (!).

 

I love the Lord and I am so grateful for all of the many incredible blessings which He has shed forth upon me.  This week I was thinking a lot about this actually.  Heavenly Father has given me, an imperfect and foolish boy, everything that I need to become the man that He needs me to be.  He has given me everything.  The least I can give Him is two years.

 

Love and Miss Y'all!

 

Called to Serve!

 

Love,

 

Elder Huckvale

 May The Fourth Be With You Package :)

Note left behind for the new Elders moving in to their apartment.