Week 34 - And A Powerful Ally It Is

Title - In The Empire Strikes Back, Yoda is talking to Luke about the Force and he's telling him not to judge him by his size because his ally is the Force.  He's powerful because he has the Force, not because he's small.  He's got the Force, so that's a powerful ally in him. 

Hello Adoring Fans!

 

This week was pretty slow.  We did a lot of prosyleting por el camino if you know what I mean.  Anyways, yeah, the first week of the transfer is already over which is super crazy to think about.  Elder Ee from my house left on Thursday and Elder Han got a new companion named Elder Peterson, whose from North Carolina.  This means that we still don't have any missionaries serving in our ward from Utah.  What are the odds?  So yeah, considering the fact that 18 new missionaries arrived to the mission this transfer, I was not really affected at all.

 

So how about the week?

 

On Tuesday I went on exchanges with Elder Ee which was pretty fun.  We didn't have any appointments, but we still had a really great time out on the street proselyting.  Plus he showed me this shop that sells A&W Rootbeer.  It was like a buck fifty a can, but it was so worth it considering the fact that Rootbeer isn't sold in Korea outside of the American bases, stores that got it specially imported, and people who illegally purchased it from people that have access to an American base. 

 

So yeah, it tasted like my childhood.

 

After I ended my exchange with Elder Ee, Elder Kim and I taught 김동환 (Daniel).  We taught the last half of the Plan of Salvation to him and it went pretty well.  When we were done teaching him, we went out and proselyted for a bit and then came back after English Class ended.  The missionaries in our ward are going to be putting on a music program next month, so we met to discuss some ideas for songs and.  We're going to be doing some musical numbers with some of our investigators (including Daniel who plays the guitar) which should be pretty awesome. 

 

Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday were pretty normal days.  We did a lot of proselyting and some less-active hunting.  Some interesting events...

 

On Thursday some guy who told me that he was Buddhist called me satan when I kept trying to talk to him at the bus stop.  I told him that I thought that Buddhist people didn't believe in satan and then he just walked further away from me so I left.  Thursday night, I taught this kid all about the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith, invited the Spirit, had him read Moroni's promise in the Book of Mormon, but he ultimately decided not to believe me because we don't believe in the Trinity.  He told me to go and read the scripture in Matthew where Jesus says something like "you can not know the Father without knowing the Father".  I told him that I know that what I'm teaching is true.  We ultimately decided to agree to disagree.  He was a super nice kid though, so I continued to talk to him for a little bit after I taught him. 

 

It's kind of silly that all of the other churches are trying so hard to prove that their church's doctrine is true through the Bible, because every church interprets the same verse of scripture entirely different leaving the honest seeker of truth just confused and discouraged.  That is why our message is so special:  we're not trying in any way to prove that the Church is true through logic and the reasoning of men, we're inviting people to pray and ask God, the Source of all truth, whether the Church is true or not. 

 

Anyways...

 

On Saturday we taught English Class and then met with Daniel again and had a really good lesson about faith, which is something that he has a problem with.  We read Alma 32 with him and talked about how when we have faith, we receive a special strength from God that allows us to overcome all of our trials and struggles.  However, it is really hard to have faith when you still feel that there is no need to have it.  I shared my conversion story with him and expressed that if it were not for the large decision that I had been faced with in my life, I would have not gone seeking heavenly guidance.  I expressed that it is the same for him.  It was a really good lesson and Daniel said that if he decides to join a church he's joining ours.

 

Saturday night and Sunday afternoon we taught some people who are meeting us because of English interest, but they're not super opposed to the Gospel.  We'll see if that goes anywhere.

 

Especially recently,  I've been realizing a ton the power of the Book of Mormon.  I've been putting an effort forth to use it more when teaching on the street and it's resulted in some pretty cool things.  I was able to invite two people to be baptized after sharing with them a verse from the Book of Mormon and then expressing that I know that every one can know that it is true through the Power of Holy Ghost. 

 

"Pray.  He is there.  Speak.  He is listening"

    

     -A Child's Prayer

 

Love and Miss Y'all!

 

Called to Serve!

 

Love,

 

Elder Huckvale

At the Meat Buffet before Elder Ee left.

 

Week 33 - From My Experience There's No Such Thing as Luck

Title - In Star Wars, Luke is training with his lightsaber and is able to deflect laser blasts, even though he is wearing a helmet that he can't see out of.  Han comments, "I call it luck", and Obi-Wan responds, "From my experience, there's no such thing as luck."

Hello Adoring Fans!

 

This week was pretty fresh.  We got transfer calls on Saturday and I'm not getting transferred, neither is Elder Kim or anyone else in our district except Elder Ee.  So nothing too exciting there.

 

Anyways, I'm really excited to continue being Elder Kim's companion and to be staying in 금촌 (Geumchon).  We're starting to see some movement among our investigators and finding more people to teach so I feel that we can get a baptism this transfer.

 

Let's look back now to Monday...

 

We had a zone p-day which was pretty choice.  We went over to 일산 (Irsan) and just played basketball, ping-pong, and 촉구 (Choku) which is like volleyball and soccer mixed.  It's pretty fun, but I'm not very good at it at all.  Curse my athletically-disabled body!

 

Tuesday was pretty good.  We didn't have any appointments, so we did a lot of proselyting and less-active hunting.  After we ate dinner, we were on our way to go to the church building to meet Daniel, and I ran into a guy that I met over a month ago who's kind of special and is Catholic (See "You Don't Know the Power of the Holy Ghost").  We talked a little bit.  The last time that I met him on the street, I talked to him about the Church and was able to quiet some of his concerns about it, but he was still hesitant to give me his phone number.  Right before I met him though, I was thinking about him again.  He told me his name last time and I had had the thought a few times of writing it down in my planner for this transfer, but never did.  Anyways, this time when we met him, it was pretty much the same which was kind of lame.  We had to go, so we didn't get to talk to him very long.  I keep thinking that maybe if I would have written down his name and remembered it, the encounter might've gone differently.

 

After we met that guy on the street we met with Daniel at the church building and had a pretty good lesson about the Plan of Salvation.  Daniel admitted that he believes that he believes that there is some sort of 신 (Unknown Force "a Great Spirit" or "the Force"), but he refuses to admit that that unknown force is our Heavenly Father.  Still, a month ago he was talking about how the only thing that he could believe in is a black hole, so we're seeing some progress.

 

On Wednesday, we had a zone meeting which was pretty swell.  We talked all about following the promptings of the Spirit and also having the faith to baptize.  After the zone meeting we didn't have any appointments, so we proselyted.  I had a really awesome experience after dinner.  We were out proselyting and I started talking to this kid who looked like he was 23, but is actually 16/17.  It also turned out that he's super good at English because he lived with his aunt in Bountiful, Utah for a year.  What the flip kind of crazy coincidence is that?!  His name is 노하송 (No Ha Song) and he was waiting for his mom to come pick him up on her way home from work.  We ended up talking for like an hour.  He told me about how his aunt and her husband are church members and that he knows a little bit about the Church but not very much.  He and his mom, and his grandma are all devout members of 성결교 (Sanctification Church).  I taught him a little about the Church, mostly about the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith.  When I recited the First Vision to him, he told me that he felt a certain joy within him and I helped him realize that that's the Spirit.  I showed him some verses from the Book of Mormon as well and he was able to really feel the power of them.  It was a really cool experience.  However, he is a very faithful member of the church that he is attending and he really has a strong faith in his pastor.  Him and his mom were considering moving to his aunt's house in Utah.  They had prayed a ton about it and had brought the matter before the pastor.  The pastor came back a few days later and through revelation, told No Ha Song and his mom that God told the pastor that there is an 80% chance that No Ha Song could become a pastor which is his dream.  I tried to explain that when God answers prayers, at least in my experience, He doesn't do it in percentages.  He is the center of all truth, when I receive an answer from God, I know 100% that it is the truth.  I challenged No Ha Song to pray about whether his pastor is really a disciple of Christ and pray to have a confirmation that the revelation that his pastor received is true.  Anyways, No Ha Song and I both agreed that we were supposed to meet.  I tried to offer him a Book of Mormon, but he didn't want to accept it, mostly because of how others would feel about it.  Then his mom came and we talked for like a minute, but had to go because it was almost 9.  From my experience there's no such thing as luck.

 

On Saturday we met with Daniel again and one of our ward missionares, Julie, came with us again.  We had an awesome discussion, most of which I didn't understand.  Daniel and Julie know each other through English class so Daniel is really comfortable talking about his thoughts with her.  He probably would feel like that with us except I don't understand every thing that he says and Elder Kim is just naturally a really quiet and reserved person.  Anyways, the discussion was good and I was able to throw in a few things here and there.  Daniel is a super spiritual person and I know that he will get baptized, I just don't know when. 

 

After we met with Daniel we went to stake conference with one of our investigators that we haven't met in a long time, 이경용 (Ee Gyung yung). 

 

On Sunday we went to stake conference again with another one of our investigators that we haven't met in a long time, 이경철 (Ee Gyung Chur).  On the way back we taught him the Plan of Salvation and it seemed to have gone really well.  He is a really good man and has been reading the Book of Mormon since we met with him last time (he hasn't been able to meet because he's been sick).  He also consistently wonders about the questions that are answered through the Plan of Salvation.  Nice!

 

So yeah, had some pretty cool experiences this week.  The more I go about my Father's business, the more I realize that the Church is true and the more my faith in that knowledge is strengthened. 

 

Love and Miss Y'all

 

Called to Serve!

 

Love,

 

Elder Huckvale

During Family Home Evening, 

Elder Huckvale, serving as the "Good Samaritan" and rescuing Elder Han after he got mugged.  :)

Week 32 - Your Knowledge of the Bible is Insignificant Next to the Power of the Spirit

Title - In Star Wars, in the Death Star meeting room, Admiral Motti, who is the Commander of the Death Star, is boasting about how powerful the Death Star is.  Darth Vader responds, "The ability to destroy a planet is insignificant next to the power of the Force."  

Hello Adoring Fans!

 

This week was pretty fan-freakin-tastic!  I had a ton of really spiritual experiences this week that have helped to strengthen my testimony of the Church as well as the divinity of this work.

 

Unfortunately, though, we still are struggling to find people to teach...

 

On Monday, we didn't have p-day because this week we had temple p-day which was awesome.  Anyways, so after we e-mailed, we just proselyted, ate dinner, and then went and did family home evening at the church.  One of the sisters in our ward is an incredible ward missionary and is a tutor (?) has been bringing all of these elementary school-aged kids to family home evening every week and it has been really awesome.  None of them are members, but they are all great kids.  Elder Kim and I taught the spiritual message about the Creation.  We asked the kids what God had created and then we drew them up on the chalk board for the 6 days in which the earth was created.  Afterwards, we committed them to think about all God had created for them and given them and pray to Him and thank Him.  Then we played some other games with them.  Elder Kim and I only started coming to Family Home Evening last week, but it has been really fun.

 

On Tuesday, we had temple p-day which was awesome as expected.  The rest of the day was pretty laid-back for a temple p-day.  We went out to this cheap restaurant near the temple that is highly-regarded among the missionaries, and the then Elder Kim and I went to 동대문 (Dongdaemun) and got some cheap companionship ties.  재미 있다!  (Fun!)

 

On Wednesday we didn't have anything going on and it was raining, so Elder Kim and I went tracting in an apartment building.  It's by no means the most effective way for finding, but it was raining so we thought "why not?".  Plus isn't it essential for all missionaries?

 

On Thursday we had a mission tour back in my old area, 신당 (Sin Dang(Sheen Dong)).  President Scott D. Whiting of the First Presidency of the Seventy came and spoke to us and it was awesome.  The main theme of the mission tour was having the faith to baptize.  It is something that our mission really struggles with.  It's mostly due to the reputation that our mission has for being a low-baptizing mission.  Gosh dang it.  So we talked all about that and how there are people out there who have been prepared to receive our message.  It was a really great meeting and I definitely received a lot of inspiration from it and a renewed desire to do the work of the Lord.  Before we broke for lunch, President Whiting asked us to think about instances in which we have seen the hand of the Lord involved in the work in Korea.  After lunch we got back together and I got up and talked about how the Korean War had left Korea ravaged and within only fifty years, Korea had become a sprawling metropolis.  I really felt the Spirit testifying to me the love that the Lord has for this people and that it was He who helped them to get to where they are.  My love for the people was strengthened significantly. 

 

On Saturday, Elder Kim and I had a pretty interesting experience.  We had some time to kill in between lunch and English class so we were out proselyting and then these two guys in suits (who have apparently met Elder Kim before) came up to us and started asking Elder Kim about some verse in the Bible.  Then they wanted to Bible Bash us, but they didn't have a Bible so they had to borrow mine.  They kept like yelling at us and talking non-stop and then when they realized they were getting a little carried away they would throw in a little smile so as to convince themselves that they were doing this whole thing out of love.  One of them, who knew that I had no idea what they were talking about, kept trying to argue with me.  He kept talking to me about something and even after I straight-out told him that I didn't know what he was talking about, he continued to try to argue with me.  I got really fed up with it all so, being overwhelmed with the Spirit I raised up the Book of Mormon to them and asked them "Do you believe that God answers prayers?"  They kept trying to talk over me and say some lame excuse or avoid the question so I repeated myself until they stopped and allowed me to talk.  I then said to them "My friend and I have prayed about this book and we know that it is true!"  If they could have only softened their hearts, they could've felt the power of my witness.  But instead, they continued to argue.  I got fed up again and tried to say "If you will not read and pray about this book, then we are wasting our time", but instead of saying "wasting", I said "blaming", so it wasn't nearly as cool as I had planned it to be.  Anyways, they had to go somewhere so they left and Elder Kim bore one final testimony of the Book of Mormon and one of the guys said "Don't tell me all of that 'I know it's true' stuff!" as he walked away.  It was silly, but a really awesome experience though, and it really strengthened my testimony not just of the Book of Mormon, but also the divinity of this work. 

 

After English class, we went with 김동환 (Daniel) and the ward missionary mentioned above, 이윤희 (English name is Julie), to dinner at another ward member's house out in the boonies.  The guy we met, 김조수 (Kim Josu) is super rich and has this really awesome garden on his property with all sorts of patios and eating areas and a fountain that he all designed and built himself.  We ate dinner with him, Daniel, and Julie, and then we talked together.  It was really awesome, both Julie and 김조수 talked about their conversion stories and how the gospel has blessed their lives.  Daniel, however, just doesn't have any faith and he still hasn't seen any reason to have faith.  It's pretty struggily.  Julie, Elder Kim, and I, concluded that in order for Daniel to gain faith, he must have a trial in his life that is too hard for him to bare on his own. 

 

So yeah, this week has been really awesome.  There are many times when it's hard not to get discouraged as we struggle to find people to teach, but when I was particularly frustrated, I read in the Book of Mormon 2 Nephi 2: 11 which I'm sure all of you are familiar with which reads:

 

For it must needs be, that there is an oppostion in all things.  If not so,...righteousness could not be brought to pass, neither wickedness, neither holiness nor misery, neither good nor bad.  Wherefore, all things must needs be a compound in one.

 

As long as I stay faithful and diligent to the end, the Lord will bless me.  I know this to be true.

 

Love and Miss Y'all!

 

Called to Serve!

 

Love,

 

Elder Huckvale 

A really rad llama pen from Peru that one of the in-active members that we've been working with gave me.

Week 31 - We Are Offering a More-Than-Substantial Reward

I am a week behind.  Sorry!  This is last Sunday's email.  This week has been a little crazy for us.  :)

Title - In "The Empire Strikes Back" (we think), when the Empire has hired Bounty Hunters to find Han Solo and the Millenium Falcon.

Hello Adoring Fans!

 

There weren't any attacks from 북한 this week!

 

This week was a pretty slow one.  We did a lot of proselyting this week as we struggle to find new people to meet with.  Unfortunately, for the entire month of August, most of our most promising investigators were out of town on business trips.  Anyways, the week was still good and we had some pretty cool experiences. 

 

On Tuesday, Elder Han had to go back to the army to do a training, so Elder Ee was with Elder Kim and I for the day.  In Korea, every male must serve in the military for two years at some point after they've graduated high school.  Since Elder Han's already done his service, he has to go back to the army to do like a training or something every few months.  Anyways, so we were with Elder Ee for the day and of course didn't have any appointments.  So we went out into the country looking for a missing in-active member who unfortunately we were still unable to find.  Dang.  When the Church was first introduced into Korea, it spread like wild fire and many people were baptized in the 60's and 70's, but most have since become in-active.  There are so many in-active members here.  I think that in my last area 신당 (Sindang), there were in total 1,000 members within the ward boundaries, but only 250 of them are active.  Dang.  Anyways, that's what the situation is here.

 

Outside of in-active member hunting, on Tuesday I had a pretty cool experience while I was proselyting.  I started talking to this guy who was on his way home from work and he was really exhausted and a little bit struggled.  But alas, I continued to talk to him.  Then he got a little bit snappy at me and told me I was wasting my time and to go back to America and go to school.  Then I told him about how I knew that it was the will of God for me to be in Korea right now.  Then, getting lost in my own thoughts, I let out a huge sigh.  Then he laughed.  It was pretty funny and a really cool experience.  Within an instant he changed from a struggled businessman to a friendly child of God.  Then we talked about families for a little bit and how excited I am to start my own family because that's really where true happiness is.  Then his bus showed up and he had to leave. 

 

On Friday, Elder Kim and I met with a less-active named 박찬우 (Pak Chan Oo).  We just met him at the train station near our apartment and then went and hung out at the nearby Dunkin Donuts and talked with him for a bit.  He was baptized a few years ago, but became less-active.  He's a super nice guy and doesn't have anything against missionaries or the Church, he just slowly fell away from the Church because he never acquired a firm testimony.  Anyways, we're probably going to meet with him again this week so that'll probably be good.

 

On Saturday, we met with 김동환 (Daniel).  We had a pretty good lesson with him about the Atonement and we talked a lot about how the Atonement only works if you have faith in Jesus Christ.  Then we talked about faith and his lack of it.  We committed him to read Alma 32 and pray for faith.  He also said that he can probably come to Church every once in a while.  Classic 김동환.  Anyways, yeah, it was good.  Saturday night we went street-boarding which is always really fun.  I'm usually the one who holds the board so that I can lure people over and then the other missionaries come over to them and teach them.  Nice!

 

All-in-all, this was a pretty jammin' week!  In all seriousness though, yeah it was good.  The hardest struggle for me has been remaining diligent in trying to talk to as many people as possible.  I've decided that anytime I don't want to talk to someone, I'm going to recite in my head Mosiah 3:19 which says:

 

For the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit , and putteth off the natural man and becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and becometh as a child

 

I don't want to be the natural man, I want to become something more, and my Heavenly Father has provided a way for me; He's provided a way for all of us.

 

Love and Miss Y'all!

 

Called to Serve!

 

Love,

 

Elder Huckvale 

A Baymax cup!  At Baskin-Robbins... in Korea!  Odd!

Week 30 - It Didn't Hit Anything...Just Impacted on the Surface

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

 

 

Week 29 - Aren't You a Little Short for a Missionary?

Title - When Luke first finds Princess Leia, he says, "aren't you a little short for a Stormtrooper?"

Hello my adoring fans!

 

This week has been pretty fresh.  We didn't do much along the lines of meeting with our investigators this week.  A lot of them are on business trips in southern South Korea for the month of August so we've had a lot of time to proselyte these past few weeks. 

 

But it's still been awesome!

 

On Monday, after we e-mailed, we went to a trampoline park in a different area.  One of the elders in our mission, named John Carpenter, just went home this week so some of the elders wanted to get together to see him one last time.  Considering the fact that Elder Carpenter...er Brother Carpenter (?) is a world-renown parkour champion, the trampoline park seemed like a fitting place to get together with him one last time.  It was pretty awesome.  He can do some pretty crazy stuff.  He probably could've done more, but it's been a while since he was on a trampoline.

 

On Tuesday, we just jeondoed all day and then at night we had a "meeting" at our ward missionary leader, 김수민 (Kim Su Min)'s house.  It was pretty much he just wanted to have all of the missionaries in the ward over for dinner.  So we ate dinner and then he talked with us about the importance of working with the members in order to do missionary work.  This is something that I think a lot of missionaries struggle with, myself included.  I really need to work on becoming friends with the members so that we can work together in spreading the gospel. 

 

On Wednesday, we had a zone conference which was pretty awesome.  Again, I felt Presiden't Sonksen's love for us and his desire to really get the work going in our mission.  He changed things a little bit in terms of how we will do street contacting going forward which I think was done for the better.  For part of the conference, we broke up into separate groups and did some trainings and then we got back together in the chapel to discuss what we learned.  President Sonksen called me out and asked me a question.  After I answered he asked "are you really 18 years old?"  I replied "actually, 19 now."  Then he said "every time I look at you I think your 14 years old!"  Classic.

 

On the way back from the conference, I started talking to this really good guy about church and God and his family.  We were having a really good conversation and I really felt the Spirit.  Then this drunk grandpa on the other side of the train started yelling at me in English and telling me there is no god.  He continued to yell at me as I tried to talk to the other guy.  Then, what do you know?  The spot next to where I'm standing opens and the drunk grandpa takes it.  Dang.  It was a very struggily scenario.  So, my conversation with the other guy was pretty much over at that point.  Dang drunk grandpas.  Anyways, even  though I was being harassed by the drunk grandpa for the rest of the train ride, before the other guy left, he gave me his business card.  Nice!  He doesn't live in our area unfortunately, but he lives in the area nextdoor so we can just meet with him once and then see if we can refer him to other missionaries.

 

On Thursday, it was a really nice day and then all-of-a-sudden it started pouring...while we were out jeondoing  and we didn't have any umbrellas.  Dang it.  We got really wet.  Luckily, some members saw us and gave us a ride home.  It was a miracle.  After we ate the weather was perfectly fine again so we went out jeondoing and we started talking to this one guy and we ended up talking to him for an hour.  We had a really good conversation and we gave him a Book of Mormon, but he refused to give us him name and phone number, but he said that he would read the Book of Mormon over a month and then pray about it and call us if he finds out it's true.  We'll see how that turns out.  Hopefully with a lot of prayer and faith we'll get a phone call in a month from the guy we met near the police station telling us the Church is true and that he wants to get baptized.

 

On Saturday we had the ward barbecue which was really fun.  김동환 (Daniel) came and stayed for the whole thing and I think that he really enjoyed it.  The unfortunate thing is that there aren't any members in our ward who are his same age or in the same stage in their lives as he is so it's been hard finding somebody who can fellowship him.  Anyways, we at a lot of meat and played 촉구 (Choku) which is pretty much volleyball but instead you kick it and the net is lower.  It was fun, but I am not very good at it.

 Doing the "Kimchi Squat" :)

 Children taking turns throwing water balloons at Elder Ee

 Ward BBQ in the parking lot

On Sunday I got wrapped up in toilet paper to be Lazarus for the primary kids.  That was really fun.  At night Elder Kim and I talked to some drunk foreigners outside of a Seven-Eleven.  That was interesting.

 

Overall this week has been really awesome!  We have had a lot of good talks with people on the street and have seen a lot of miracles.  Missionary work is hard but it's the most fulfilling thing that I've ever done.

 

Love and Miss Y'all

 

Called to Serve!

 

Love,

 

Elder Huckvale

 

P.S.  I drank a full glass of milk for the first time since I was like three on Tuesday and I am still not a fan.

P.S.S.  Chocolate milk is good though.

 Elder Huckvale and Elder Kim

Sporting his "Happy 6-month-mark" tee shirt we sent him.  Looks pretty cool with the Korean name tag above it!

 

 

Week 28 - Well More Rain Than You Could Imagine! I Don't Know, I Can Imagine Quite A Bit

Title - In Star Wars, Luke is trying to convince Han to go rescue Princess Leia. He tells Han that she's rich and Han says, "how rich?".  Luke says, "more wealth than you can possibly imagine".  Han answers, "I don't know.  I can imagine quite a bit."

This week was awesome!  We got to go the temple last Tuesday and it was choice!  Also, I made it through this week char-free!

 

Let's start with last Monday...

 

Last Monday after e-mail, we got to meet with one of our new investigators named 이경철 (Ee Gyung Chur).  Technically, he's not new so-to-speak, but we just decided to meet with him because he came to church last Sunday because Elder Kim invited him to over the phone.  He's really nice and he seems to have a sincere desire to know the truth, so that's cool.

 

On Tuesday we went to the Temple.  The temple was awesome.  I felt the spirit really strongly as President and Sister Sonksen bore their testimonies to us of the love that they have for us.  I am so grateful for them and their willingness to serve the Lord in Korea and lead His work here.  And they are loving it too.  After we went to the temple, Elder Kim and I went to this giant like book mall thing called Kyobo Book Centre and I got a Korean grammar book.  After that we went all the way out to 동대문 (Dongdaemun), to get some cheap ties, but when we got there, the cheap tie place was closed!  Apparently, a lot of people take the first week in August off for vacation.  Jank.  Anyways, both Dongdaemun and the place where Kyobo are were in my old area and it was really cool to be back. 

 Elder Kim and Elder Huckvale

Elder Huckvale's District at the Korea Seoul Temple

Sister Cameron, Sister Hong, Elder Han, Elder Kim, Elder Bell, Elder Huckvale, Elder Ee and Elder Dye

Tuesday night we met with 김동환 (Daniel), again, and it was awesome.  I felt the spirit really strongly as we talked about God.  There was a time in Daniel's life when he wanted to know which church is true, but he's kind of given up on that search and doesn't believe that God could exist anymore.  It was really cool because I was able to understand him while he explained his thoughts in Korean.  I wasn't able to understand it all, but I understood what I needed to through the Spirit.  It was awesome.  Then I was able to testify that God doesn't just exist, but that He lives, and that He is our Heavenly Father, and that He loves all of His children, even those who don't believe in Him, even Daniel.  It was really cool.  Then I told Daniel that we love him also, and that we want to help him, and that we want him to overcome his smoking problem.  He told us that he's been smoking less.  Nice.  We met again with him yesterday and he's been improving, slowly but surely, and has been smoking less and less.  Nice.

 

Wednesday we just jeondoed a lot.  Then at night we almost got lost.  We decided to take a train to 운정 (Oonjung, which is the next train stop after ours) and then we were going to walk back.  So it's like 8:30, and we walk a quarter mile down the highway on a perfectly nice sidewalk, and then all-of-a-sudden, the sidewalk just ends!  What the flip?!  So we had to walk all the way back and ended up just having to take the bus. 

 

On Thursday, while we were picking up trash around the church building, I ran into my friend from 장로교 (Presbyterian Church) that I met a few weeks ago who called the Church a cult because we read the Book of Mormon.  Anyways, he had come up with a new list of reasons why the Church is a cult and once again I didn't understand what he was talking about so I told him that I still don't care if people call the Church a cult so then he left.  He's not mad at me or anything and I'm not really sure why I am the one who always becomes the target of his fiery darts because he can't really argue with me, he can just argue at me.  I guess that's how he finds fulfillment.

 

On Saturday, it rained, and when I say that it rained, I mean like a typhoon/rain/lightning/thunderstorm happened.  It was pretty crazy.  Luckily, we had an appointment at a cafe so while that was going on outside we were inside drinking hot chocolate.  Then when the appointment was over, as was the storm.  It was pretty bad.  When we got to English class right after, it turned out that the sister missionaries had not faired as well as us.  They were soaked.  Then the rest of the day the weather was actually pretty nice.

 

On Sunday, we were supposed to have 3 appointments, but two of them cancelled.  We did, however, have a really awesome ward going-away celebration for 이순호 (Ee Soonho), who left today to go the MTC in Utah and is going to the Korea Busan Mission. 

I love the 금촌 (Geumchon) ward.

 

Serving a mission is so awesome. 

 

Love and Miss Y'all!

 

Called to Serve!

 

Love,

 

Elder Huckvale

 Oonjung Train Station

 Return of the Stormtrooper (for all who have been missing him)  :)

Elder Huckvale's dad mentioned to him that the Stormtrooper was looking a little bit worn like he had been in battle or something), and Elder Huckvale responded that he had been in the same bag as his Tide To-Go Marker.  Dang!

 Not sure... but it's funny.  :)

 Lunch.

Wound care.  Glad we sent that first aid kit.  :)