Google says that Scott is right here at pin A ... I don't know how it picked the middle of what looks like an empty field but that's what it says. It must be right, it is Google, after all, and Google is never wrong - just like Prince Humperdink.
Monday, October 29, 2012
Google v Bing Challenge!!!!
We've seen all the commercials about the Bing/Google challenge so we decided to do our own! Which one do you think will translate Gus's Korean into English better???????
Conclusion- Google wins because it is better. Fact.
Scott Says-Korean
|
Scott Says-English
|
Google Says
|
Bing Says
|
Winner
|
계산
|
Gyaesan
|
Calculation
|
Calculation
|
Tie
|
전도
|
Proselyting/Contact
|
Inversion
|
Evangelism
|
I guess Bing…
|
안녕히 계세요
|
Goodbye
|
Goodbye
|
Tie
|
|
글라슨 장로
|
Posts Larson elders
|
Glasson elders
|
Google wins!
|
Sunday, October 28, 2012
"Holy Cow! I'm in Korea!!" Yes, yes you are Elder Clawson! He sounds great!
Holy Cow! I'm in Korea!!
So this has been easily the most overwhelming experience in my life, but I doubt that's news to anybody at all really. The area that I'm serving is called 계산 (Gyaesan) and it is an interesting area. We have like half of an investigator that was there before I came into the area. It is a tough thing to come into your first area and have virtually nothing to work with. I say we have half an investigator because he's pretty much already an active member of the church, we just need to give him the lessons and then we can babtize him. In all honesty from what I understand the missionaries didn't really do much in regard to the conversion of this man. I'm going to call him George cause we're not supposed to use names and I think and he is in his sixties I believe. I'm not a hundred percent because it's virtually impossible for me to tell age here. I still am of the disposition here that virtually everybody looks the same. I guess I have a ways to go in that regard.
So my trainer is pretty awesome! I'm still not sure about the names thing so I'll get back to you about that at a later date. This is his first time training as well as his first time being senior. Before this transfer he never really had to speak Korean much just because he didn't really need to with his previous companions. He's been out for just under a year I believe and despite what he believes his Korean is way good. My Korean on the other hand, well that's a different story. I may have been good in the MTC but I guess what everybody says is true and we learn two different languages really on our missions. Today while we were on our way here, I did my first full subway 전도! 전도 is proselyting, you basically use that word for contact too. So the guy I talked to was the first man I've ever met who knew anything about the church prior to us talking to him. My companion gave me the cell phone with a text that had a bunch of mistakes asking him if it was correct. Unfortunately it was correct or so it seemed to the guy that was checking it. I was just like oh... well I came to Korea on tuesday, can I practice my Korean? So basically that's the way I use to talk to Koreans all the time. It's a pretty solid strategy I think but it's life time is limited.
This first week of ours as a whole was crazy busy though. So I got here to the area on Wednesday and I was just so beat. Jet lag rocked me those first couple days and it showed. I played ping pong with an investigator who had gotten baptized in July but hadn't been confirmed yet. He has some difficulty with some of the commandments so I think he's slow to kind of accept what's going on in the church. Our ward also has pretty much nobody that is close to him in age so he feels lonely sometimes. One of the older members with a kid wants to try and fellowship him though so I hope that goes well. The investigator is a way cool guy and wants to be good, but has little direction so he's kind of confused with what he should do a lot of the time.
Korean food is a bit of a chore for me at this point. I can eat this meal thats called 비빈밥 but much more than that gets tough. On friday we had a real Korean meal and they served it with hot water which was just about the most disgusting thing I have ever experienced. I was looking for something cool to quench my thirst and I get hot water!!!! So grody. Anyways, it's going to take some time to get used to whats going on with this food mess. There's a lot of really easy to eat stuff we've tried, but once you get to any home cooked meals, I'm toast. In time I guess I'll do better.
It's good to hear about stuff from home though! I'm glad everyone is doing well pretty much! The wedding sounds like its been pretty fun to try and get ready for and yes, I agree Bosco should have one of me, provided no mutilation will be involved. Granted it is cardboard, but I guess its the thought that counts. I was wondering about the harvest festival a little bit actually! It sounds like it went pretty well which is way good! We had this halloween party and it was okay I guess. Nothing is quite as good as an American party for an American holiday. Also glad to hear that Brother Evans can still scale trees in order to take down the lights.
So about the mess that was travel! Well our flight ended up being delayed a total of 2 hours out of Salt Lake. We didn't arrive until 20 minutes after the first groups flight left. They did get to go to Korea that day however, but they had to have a layover in Narita Japan. Everybody on that flight kept saying "Yay! We get to go to Japan!" But come on, lets be real, it doesnt count unless you get a stamp, airports do not count as the country. At least I dont think they do. So Korean air was simply put. nuts. So the first thing, right as you get on the plain and go to your seat, on the seat is a blanket, pillow, headphones, toothbrush, toothpast, and slippers. Also, instead of just some programmed TV thing, you had a personal control with a gang of programs and stuff to watch, a bunch of music, and video games to play whilst on the flight. The Branch president in the MTC said that we could go ahead and watch documentaries and use the games if we wanted to. My game controller however was broken so I didn't get to use that feature, but that's okay with me. I ended up just reading the scriptures, and we were allowed to listen to classical music if they had it so I was just listening to a bunch of orchestra stuff and what not while I read the scriptures for a while. I also watched a documentary on Giant octupuses which were way legit.
The biggest thing I've noticed in Korea is just how tough missionary work can really be. That stat from Elder Beck is way depressing though. Only an 11 percent retention rate of members is way tough, but I guess they just weren't ready for it. People in Korea are really slow to learn and take lessons and stuff. Its not quite like finland where the average investigator takes 3 years to be babtized, but its a lot longer than other places. I'm not too sure what all to expect as far as stats go, but we do a whole bunch of contacting which is amazing practice for Korean so that's way good.
Well I'm now just going to try and address shorter answers to questions that family has asked. I have no idea what my address is and we will have to tell you later. For packages, buffalo pretzels and jalapeno pretzels are always awesome, not so much honey mustard and onion. No I am not jet lagged anymore but I am always tired just cause of the work. It does not smell all like garlic all the time, nor did the airport, but half the time it does smell like balboa beach. Yes I did sleep on the plane, it was way nice and I slept like a rock. The service is unreal and awesome on Korean air. I'll try and have fun things to tell every week but until next week 안녕히 계세요!
글라슨 장로
Holy Cow! I'm in Korea!!
So this has been easily the most overwhelming experience in my life, but I doubt that's news to anybody at all really. The area that I'm serving is called 계산 (Gyaesan) and it is an interesting area. We have like half of an investigator that was there before I came into the area. It is a tough thing to come into your first area and have virtually nothing to work with. I say we have half an investigator because he's pretty much already an active member of the church, we just need to give him the lessons and then we can babtize him. In all honesty from what I understand the missionaries didn't really do much in regard to the conversion of this man. I'm going to call him George cause we're not supposed to use names and I think and he is in his sixties I believe. I'm not a hundred percent because it's virtually impossible for me to tell age here. I still am of the disposition here that virtually everybody looks the same. I guess I have a ways to go in that regard.
So my trainer is pretty awesome! I'm still not sure about the names thing so I'll get back to you about that at a later date. This is his first time training as well as his first time being senior. Before this transfer he never really had to speak Korean much just because he didn't really need to with his previous companions. He's been out for just under a year I believe and despite what he believes his Korean is way good. My Korean on the other hand, well that's a different story. I may have been good in the MTC but I guess what everybody says is true and we learn two different languages really on our missions. Today while we were on our way here, I did my first full subway 전도! 전도 is proselyting, you basically use that word for contact too. So the guy I talked to was the first man I've ever met who knew anything about the church prior to us talking to him. My companion gave me the cell phone with a text that had a bunch of mistakes asking him if it was correct. Unfortunately it was correct or so it seemed to the guy that was checking it. I was just like oh... well I came to Korea on tuesday, can I practice my Korean? So basically that's the way I use to talk to Koreans all the time. It's a pretty solid strategy I think but it's life time is limited.
This first week of ours as a whole was crazy busy though. So I got here to the area on Wednesday and I was just so beat. Jet lag rocked me those first couple days and it showed. I played ping pong with an investigator who had gotten baptized in July but hadn't been confirmed yet. He has some difficulty with some of the commandments so I think he's slow to kind of accept what's going on in the church. Our ward also has pretty much nobody that is close to him in age so he feels lonely sometimes. One of the older members with a kid wants to try and fellowship him though so I hope that goes well. The investigator is a way cool guy and wants to be good, but has little direction so he's kind of confused with what he should do a lot of the time.
Korean food is a bit of a chore for me at this point. I can eat this meal thats called 비빈밥 but much more than that gets tough. On friday we had a real Korean meal and they served it with hot water which was just about the most disgusting thing I have ever experienced. I was looking for something cool to quench my thirst and I get hot water!!!! So grody. Anyways, it's going to take some time to get used to whats going on with this food mess. There's a lot of really easy to eat stuff we've tried, but once you get to any home cooked meals, I'm toast. In time I guess I'll do better.
It's good to hear about stuff from home though! I'm glad everyone is doing well pretty much! The wedding sounds like its been pretty fun to try and get ready for and yes, I agree Bosco should have one of me, provided no mutilation will be involved. Granted it is cardboard, but I guess its the thought that counts. I was wondering about the harvest festival a little bit actually! It sounds like it went pretty well which is way good! We had this halloween party and it was okay I guess. Nothing is quite as good as an American party for an American holiday. Also glad to hear that Brother Evans can still scale trees in order to take down the lights.
So about the mess that was travel! Well our flight ended up being delayed a total of 2 hours out of Salt Lake. We didn't arrive until 20 minutes after the first groups flight left. They did get to go to Korea that day however, but they had to have a layover in Narita Japan. Everybody on that flight kept saying "Yay! We get to go to Japan!" But come on, lets be real, it doesnt count unless you get a stamp, airports do not count as the country. At least I dont think they do. So Korean air was simply put. nuts. So the first thing, right as you get on the plain and go to your seat, on the seat is a blanket, pillow, headphones, toothbrush, toothpast, and slippers. Also, instead of just some programmed TV thing, you had a personal control with a gang of programs and stuff to watch, a bunch of music, and video games to play whilst on the flight. The Branch president in the MTC said that we could go ahead and watch documentaries and use the games if we wanted to. My game controller however was broken so I didn't get to use that feature, but that's okay with me. I ended up just reading the scriptures, and we were allowed to listen to classical music if they had it so I was just listening to a bunch of orchestra stuff and what not while I read the scriptures for a while. I also watched a documentary on Giant octupuses which were way legit.
The biggest thing I've noticed in Korea is just how tough missionary work can really be. That stat from Elder Beck is way depressing though. Only an 11 percent retention rate of members is way tough, but I guess they just weren't ready for it. People in Korea are really slow to learn and take lessons and stuff. Its not quite like finland where the average investigator takes 3 years to be babtized, but its a lot longer than other places. I'm not too sure what all to expect as far as stats go, but we do a whole bunch of contacting which is amazing practice for Korean so that's way good.
Well I'm now just going to try and address shorter answers to questions that family has asked. I have no idea what my address is and we will have to tell you later. For packages, buffalo pretzels and jalapeno pretzels are always awesome, not so much honey mustard and onion. No I am not jet lagged anymore but I am always tired just cause of the work. It does not smell all like garlic all the time, nor did the airport, but half the time it does smell like balboa beach. Yes I did sleep on the plane, it was way nice and I slept like a rock. The service is unreal and awesome on Korean air. I'll try and have fun things to tell every week but until next week 안녕히 계세요!
글라슨 장로
Tuesday, October 23, 2012
Tuesday, October 16, 2012
Hooray for week ten!!!! This letter arrived today and I copied the header of this email in with the text because we can easily tell how excited Scott is by that subject line! Ready to gooooooo.... Can't wait to talk to him next week, and yes I would be ever so slightly tempted to fly to San Francisco just to catch a glimpse. Well, maybe a little more than a glimpse. Love that boy so much and I miss his smiling face. So incredibly grateful for the choices he has made in his life, for his willingness to serve the Lord and to share a portion of his life with the Korean people. They have no idea what is coming their way. =)
From: Scott Clawson <clawson.scott@myldsmail.net>
To: clegmaker <clegmaker@aol.com>
Sent: Tue, Oct 16, 2012 7:57 am
Subject: Week 10, LAST EMAIL FROM THE MTC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
인녕하새요 !!!!! Google translate - "Hello"
Last week in the MTC! I have less than seven days before I get on a plane and head to San Francisco and then Korea! That being said there's a whole lot of bitter-sweetness going on here what with missing all the other missionaries that will be going to other missions as well as the younger transfers. Regardless I'm way excited to head to Korea, plus I'm one of the 7 of 37 missionaries that are flying to Korea that gets to go on Korean Air!!!!!! Basically Korean Air is the equivalent of PanAm, but with Korean people! It's so crazy, they have like a college program for people who want to become stewardesses which is nuts! You have to be fluent in at least Korean and English, you have to be Korean of course, and if you're not pretty enough or fit their exact definition of attractive, they'll tell you to either go get plastic surgery to "fix" something, or just kick you out of the program. It's way cool and nice from what I understand though. Soooooooo excited about that.
Also, since we are getting our lay over in San Francisco as opposed to LAX, that means I won't be able to see anyone, though I'm not entirely sure how likely that is in the first place. With regard to the phone thing however, I have no preference whether its a prepaid phone or a verizon phone, which ever one is more easy for you guys! I'm way looking forward to talking to everyone, so make sure that everyone is in the same place so I can talk to more than just a few of the family! I'll be in San Francisco from I think about 10 am to 1 in the afternoon, so plan accordingly! I'm only supposed to talk to family from what I gather which is kind of a bummer but I know it'll just be that much better if when I get home I can talk to people for the first time in two years.
Also, I won't be sending an email for the next two weeks from what I understand. Tuesday more or less doesn't really exist for me so I most likely won't be able to email next week because I'm pretty sure the P-day in Korea is on tuesdays as well. Also big side-note, DearElder services only work whilst in the MTC, so in the future just email me and I'll try to get back to you. Speaking of getting back to people, Nolan and Sasha, I did get your letters, and they were awesome. As the case may be I got them like 8 weeks ago but I kept on forgetting to say anything about it in my emails. I wrote back but I may have put the wrong addresses so if you never got a response I apologize for my suck at putting addresses on letters, however they didn't get returned to me, so if you didn't get it, I recommend going on scouring the globe in search of my letters.
On the note of letters, family, I'm aware I'm terrible at writing letters, it's a fact, it's basically like at school how I'd just would never call people because I forget things like that which tend to be kinda important, however today I have a firm resolve to write home! It will happen! Also we're only supposed to write on P-days so that kind of inhibits me in the letter writing game as well.
Bosco, I'm putting you on blast real quick. You better go to Lindsay's wedding reception! I want a picture of you and "me" so that at least part of our awesome yoohoo, seeds, bugles companionship can be there. While I may only be in two dimensions, I'll still be able to smile in a picture from what I gather. Let's be real here, I would probably be more fun as a cardboard cut out than as an actual person. Okay, blast moment over, thank you for your time.
Also there's this one Elder here in the MTC right now that's also learning Korean, looks sooooooo much like Kevin Davis, and acts like him pretty well too. So weird to be around him, half the time I catch myself calling him Kevin. It's sooooooo weird hahaha.
Oh yeah! Last tuesday, we had our weekly devotional as usual. You know how you'd think that after General Conference there wouldn't be a GA at the MTC for a while? Wrong. Elder Bednar came and talked and it was so cool! Usually he comes and kinda rips into the missionaries for a little while, they have a bunch of talks they play on Sunday nights of him doing that. This time he didn't though, he taught us his way of how he likes to try and pick apart and recieve revelation from the talks that he hears at conference, or really anywhere. Basically it goes in 3 steps.
1. Doctrine
2. Invitation to act upon doctrine
3. Promise blessings that come as a result of the doctrine.
It's really cool because you know he was also talking about that just so we could do better in our lessons with investigators. Pretty much, that's exactly what we're supposed to do when we're teaching, and it's so amazing how so much and so little can change from the time that someone is taking the lessons to the time that they are long time members and have been going to chuch for years.
I'm pretty low on time, so I think that I'll try and spit out some Korean really fast, also my spelling is terrible, so I apologize for weird translations.
저는 한국에 가는 것을 기데합니다! 저는 한국 사람을 사랑합니다 그리고 그들에 방사하고싶습니다.
저는 열오분을 사랑합니다
클아슨 장로님
Google had a hard time with this one and so did we... Basically we got "I love the Korean people. I'm glad that I'm going to Korea." Something in there was "radiating", we weren't really sure what, so we took a little literary license and just left that out...
At least to start off with, I am glad that when he is up and about, I am pretty much sleeping and while I am up and about, he will mostly be sleeping. I like that. Some kind of peace. There is a dateline between here and there. He will leave Provo on Monday October 22 and arrive in Seoul on Wednesday October 24.
Also, my phone can follow the weather for a handful of cities and I have added Seoul to that list - of course I am interested in the weather there. When we were shopping before he left, his list of suggested items to buy included an umbrella. He absolutely did not want one, but eventually conceded that maybe he might use it. I really have to wonder if he ever will... However, today it is raining in Seoul and the high is 57 degrees.
From: Scott Clawson <clawson.scott@myldsmail.net>
To: clegmaker <clegmaker@aol.com>
Sent: Tue, Oct 16, 2012 7:57 am
Subject: Week 10, LAST EMAIL FROM THE MTC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
인녕하새요 !!!!! Google translate - "Hello"
Last week in the MTC! I have less than seven days before I get on a plane and head to San Francisco and then Korea! That being said there's a whole lot of bitter-sweetness going on here what with missing all the other missionaries that will be going to other missions as well as the younger transfers. Regardless I'm way excited to head to Korea, plus I'm one of the 7 of 37 missionaries that are flying to Korea that gets to go on Korean Air!!!!!! Basically Korean Air is the equivalent of PanAm, but with Korean people! It's so crazy, they have like a college program for people who want to become stewardesses which is nuts! You have to be fluent in at least Korean and English, you have to be Korean of course, and if you're not pretty enough or fit their exact definition of attractive, they'll tell you to either go get plastic surgery to "fix" something, or just kick you out of the program. It's way cool and nice from what I understand though. Soooooooo excited about that.
Also, since we are getting our lay over in San Francisco as opposed to LAX, that means I won't be able to see anyone, though I'm not entirely sure how likely that is in the first place. With regard to the phone thing however, I have no preference whether its a prepaid phone or a verizon phone, which ever one is more easy for you guys! I'm way looking forward to talking to everyone, so make sure that everyone is in the same place so I can talk to more than just a few of the family! I'll be in San Francisco from I think about 10 am to 1 in the afternoon, so plan accordingly! I'm only supposed to talk to family from what I gather which is kind of a bummer but I know it'll just be that much better if when I get home I can talk to people for the first time in two years.
Also, I won't be sending an email for the next two weeks from what I understand. Tuesday more or less doesn't really exist for me so I most likely won't be able to email next week because I'm pretty sure the P-day in Korea is on tuesdays as well. Also big side-note, DearElder services only work whilst in the MTC, so in the future just email me and I'll try to get back to you. Speaking of getting back to people, Nolan and Sasha, I did get your letters, and they were awesome. As the case may be I got them like 8 weeks ago but I kept on forgetting to say anything about it in my emails. I wrote back but I may have put the wrong addresses so if you never got a response I apologize for my suck at putting addresses on letters, however they didn't get returned to me, so if you didn't get it, I recommend going on scouring the globe in search of my letters.
On the note of letters, family, I'm aware I'm terrible at writing letters, it's a fact, it's basically like at school how I'd just would never call people because I forget things like that which tend to be kinda important, however today I have a firm resolve to write home! It will happen! Also we're only supposed to write on P-days so that kind of inhibits me in the letter writing game as well.
Bosco, I'm putting you on blast real quick. You better go to Lindsay's wedding reception! I want a picture of you and "me" so that at least part of our awesome yoohoo, seeds, bugles companionship can be there. While I may only be in two dimensions, I'll still be able to smile in a picture from what I gather. Let's be real here, I would probably be more fun as a cardboard cut out than as an actual person. Okay, blast moment over, thank you for your time.
Also there's this one Elder here in the MTC right now that's also learning Korean, looks sooooooo much like Kevin Davis, and acts like him pretty well too. So weird to be around him, half the time I catch myself calling him Kevin. It's sooooooo weird hahaha.
Oh yeah! Last tuesday, we had our weekly devotional as usual. You know how you'd think that after General Conference there wouldn't be a GA at the MTC for a while? Wrong. Elder Bednar came and talked and it was so cool! Usually he comes and kinda rips into the missionaries for a little while, they have a bunch of talks they play on Sunday nights of him doing that. This time he didn't though, he taught us his way of how he likes to try and pick apart and recieve revelation from the talks that he hears at conference, or really anywhere. Basically it goes in 3 steps.
1. Doctrine
2. Invitation to act upon doctrine
3. Promise blessings that come as a result of the doctrine.
It's really cool because you know he was also talking about that just so we could do better in our lessons with investigators. Pretty much, that's exactly what we're supposed to do when we're teaching, and it's so amazing how so much and so little can change from the time that someone is taking the lessons to the time that they are long time members and have been going to chuch for years.
I'm pretty low on time, so I think that I'll try and spit out some Korean really fast, also my spelling is terrible, so I apologize for weird translations.
저는 한국에 가는 것을 기데합니다! 저는 한국 사람을 사랑합니다 그리고 그들에 방사하고싶습니다.
저는 열오분을 사랑합니다
클아슨 장로님
Google had a hard time with this one and so did we... Basically we got "I love the Korean people. I'm glad that I'm going to Korea." Something in there was "radiating", we weren't really sure what, so we took a little literary license and just left that out...
At least to start off with, I am glad that when he is up and about, I am pretty much sleeping and while I am up and about, he will mostly be sleeping. I like that. Some kind of peace. There is a dateline between here and there. He will leave Provo on Monday October 22 and arrive in Seoul on Wednesday October 24.
Also, my phone can follow the weather for a handful of cities and I have added Seoul to that list - of course I am interested in the weather there. When we were shopping before he left, his list of suggested items to buy included an umbrella. He absolutely did not want one, but eventually conceded that maybe he might use it. I really have to wonder if he ever will... However, today it is raining in Seoul and the high is 57 degrees.
Here is week nine, last week. Oops, I forgot to put this up... I dont know how many of you are really out there anyway. =)
Hey family and everyone else!
So again, I'm kind of tired writing this email so I may not be as fun as usual, but all the same I will write this email with the intention of being fun for everyone! So first off, HOLY COW, I enter the mission field in less than two weeks! Well, kind of because we leave monday for Korea and don't really arrive until wednesday, so that will be a fun journey. Also right this moment I'm being kind of humbled a bit because the native Korean sisters are speaking in Korean in the same room that I'm writing this email, and its kinda not understandable for me at all. I don't know if I already said it but the native Koreans are sooooo fun. It's really great because they love everyone and its so entertaining and fun just to be around them. Also way entertaining, there's always this debate that comes up about Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker, and everyone that ever talks in it hates those two players, except for my companion. We were talking about it with the natives and one of them follows the NBA a bunch, and he said "Tony Parker... HATE!" It was easily one of the funniest moments in the MTC. My companion will not cease to say that flopping is a good strategy but enough about basketball, that's not what I'm here for as you well know.
The language is still just as gnarly as ever. Sometimes I try and just wrap my brain around how it would feel to be fluent and it just doesn't work. I just can't comprehend what it is like to be fluent in another language, but I know it will come in due time. It's a tough language, but it's way fun to speak, and I really can't wait until I get to try and use it every day. It will most certainly be a mess, possibly disastrous, ideally not so, but nonetheless, there's a lot of words that are really close that have entirely different meanings. For example, 사단 is Satan, 사당 is candy. I think I spelled it right, but at any rate, since you most likely can't read the Korean if you're reading this letter, the only difference in those two words, is that the first is pronounced sah-tahn, and the second is pronounce sah-tahng, with an incredibly supressed g for the latter. That's just one example amongst many, and there are definitely some that are far worse than that. If you're not careful, instead of praying to Heavenly Father you could end up praying to the great hippopotamus father. That one is pretty easy to avoid at this point though.
General Conference was unreal! That announcement Saturday morning was just nuts! I'm pretty glad it came out when it did though, if it had come out a year or two ago, I wouldn't have met a whole bunch of the friends that I made at BYU. Even though it would have been way cool to get that call a year earlier, who knows where I would have gone and how I would have reacted. I know where I am right now is the right place for me. This in mind though, I would like to tell all those who are approaching the now closer age at which one can serve a mission, PREPARE NOW! Kyle Merkley, Kyle Beck, Brandon Diebold, Kayvon Aussef, Tyler Benson, and whoever else I may be forgetting, start getting ready. It is the greatest thing you will ever do, there is no question about that. Never doubt the fact that you will be on the Lord's errand and if you are prepared, you will be blessed. Truth be told I wish I was a little more prepared in many regards, but the most important thing is to prepare yourself spiritually, and also based on worthiness. There's a Mormon Message by Jeffrey R. Holland called stay within the lines that's really good, and any aspiring missionary should watch it. It talks a great deal about worthiness and you should not ever let yourself fall victim to something that is avoidable like any problems with worthiness can be.
Okay I'm done yelling at people for a while I guess. The whole entirety of conference was soooooo good though! The talk by Elder Nelson was so cool! Since Mitt Romney is in the election and what not, we figure a whole bunch of more people would be watching General Conference, and so basically every state-side missionary just got a whole mountain of referrals from an Apostle of the Lord. Kinda awesome for all of you stateside fellows! I was kinda bummed that Elder Holland didn't speak in Priesthood because when he does that's always pretty entertaining because half the time you end up just feeling like you can do so much better, which you can. All the same it was all so awesome, and I was really glad to hear from Elder Hales and President Packer. With their health deteriorating like it is, it's anyone's guess as to how many times more we get to hear from them.
Also, this was pretty entertaining, Sunday evening's devotional was pretty greater. We got to hear from Chad Lewis and his wife. While it's not quite as awesome as hearing from the brethren, I will say it's still pretty sweet getting to hear from a Pro-Bowl football player. It was so funny too, because one of my roommates was going up to shake Brother Lewis' hand, and his daughter stopped my roommate and was like "Hey, I know your younger sister can we get a picture?" After the devotional, that same roommate went up to Chad Lewis because he didn't end up shaking his hand just due to lack of time before, and Brother Lewis' daughter says "Hey Dad, this is Morgan Hellbusch's older brother!" at which Brother Lewis responds "Oh hey thats so cool! Your sisters awesome, I love that girl." Funniest happenstance I've seen in quite some time. I've been joking around since that Elder Hellbusch is going to marry into Chad Lewis' family. It was pretty great hahahaha.
Well I'm out of time, I love you all and hope you continue to do well and be safe!
사랑합니다
그라슨 장로
Google translate - 'Love, that Larson Elders"
He is getting there...
Hey family and everyone else!
So again, I'm kind of tired writing this email so I may not be as fun as usual, but all the same I will write this email with the intention of being fun for everyone! So first off, HOLY COW, I enter the mission field in less than two weeks! Well, kind of because we leave monday for Korea and don't really arrive until wednesday, so that will be a fun journey. Also right this moment I'm being kind of humbled a bit because the native Korean sisters are speaking in Korean in the same room that I'm writing this email, and its kinda not understandable for me at all. I don't know if I already said it but the native Koreans are sooooo fun. It's really great because they love everyone and its so entertaining and fun just to be around them. Also way entertaining, there's always this debate that comes up about Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker, and everyone that ever talks in it hates those two players, except for my companion. We were talking about it with the natives and one of them follows the NBA a bunch, and he said "Tony Parker... HATE!" It was easily one of the funniest moments in the MTC. My companion will not cease to say that flopping is a good strategy but enough about basketball, that's not what I'm here for as you well know.
The language is still just as gnarly as ever. Sometimes I try and just wrap my brain around how it would feel to be fluent and it just doesn't work. I just can't comprehend what it is like to be fluent in another language, but I know it will come in due time. It's a tough language, but it's way fun to speak, and I really can't wait until I get to try and use it every day. It will most certainly be a mess, possibly disastrous, ideally not so, but nonetheless, there's a lot of words that are really close that have entirely different meanings. For example, 사단 is Satan, 사당 is candy. I think I spelled it right, but at any rate, since you most likely can't read the Korean if you're reading this letter, the only difference in those two words, is that the first is pronounced sah-tahn, and the second is pronounce sah-tahng, with an incredibly supressed g for the latter. That's just one example amongst many, and there are definitely some that are far worse than that. If you're not careful, instead of praying to Heavenly Father you could end up praying to the great hippopotamus father. That one is pretty easy to avoid at this point though.
General Conference was unreal! That announcement Saturday morning was just nuts! I'm pretty glad it came out when it did though, if it had come out a year or two ago, I wouldn't have met a whole bunch of the friends that I made at BYU. Even though it would have been way cool to get that call a year earlier, who knows where I would have gone and how I would have reacted. I know where I am right now is the right place for me. This in mind though, I would like to tell all those who are approaching the now closer age at which one can serve a mission, PREPARE NOW! Kyle Merkley, Kyle Beck, Brandon Diebold, Kayvon Aussef, Tyler Benson, and whoever else I may be forgetting, start getting ready. It is the greatest thing you will ever do, there is no question about that. Never doubt the fact that you will be on the Lord's errand and if you are prepared, you will be blessed. Truth be told I wish I was a little more prepared in many regards, but the most important thing is to prepare yourself spiritually, and also based on worthiness. There's a Mormon Message by Jeffrey R. Holland called stay within the lines that's really good, and any aspiring missionary should watch it. It talks a great deal about worthiness and you should not ever let yourself fall victim to something that is avoidable like any problems with worthiness can be.
Okay I'm done yelling at people for a while I guess. The whole entirety of conference was soooooo good though! The talk by Elder Nelson was so cool! Since Mitt Romney is in the election and what not, we figure a whole bunch of more people would be watching General Conference, and so basically every state-side missionary just got a whole mountain of referrals from an Apostle of the Lord. Kinda awesome for all of you stateside fellows! I was kinda bummed that Elder Holland didn't speak in Priesthood because when he does that's always pretty entertaining because half the time you end up just feeling like you can do so much better, which you can. All the same it was all so awesome, and I was really glad to hear from Elder Hales and President Packer. With their health deteriorating like it is, it's anyone's guess as to how many times more we get to hear from them.
Also, this was pretty entertaining, Sunday evening's devotional was pretty greater. We got to hear from Chad Lewis and his wife. While it's not quite as awesome as hearing from the brethren, I will say it's still pretty sweet getting to hear from a Pro-Bowl football player. It was so funny too, because one of my roommates was going up to shake Brother Lewis' hand, and his daughter stopped my roommate and was like "Hey, I know your younger sister can we get a picture?" After the devotional, that same roommate went up to Chad Lewis because he didn't end up shaking his hand just due to lack of time before, and Brother Lewis' daughter says "Hey Dad, this is Morgan Hellbusch's older brother!" at which Brother Lewis responds "Oh hey thats so cool! Your sisters awesome, I love that girl." Funniest happenstance I've seen in quite some time. I've been joking around since that Elder Hellbusch is going to marry into Chad Lewis' family. It was pretty great hahahaha.
Well I'm out of time, I love you all and hope you continue to do well and be safe!
사랑합니다
그라슨 장로
Google translate - 'Love, that Larson Elders"
He is getting there...
Tuesday, October 2, 2012
Week 8
Hooray! Tuesday is email day while Scott is in the MTC. Arent his letters long and full of information? So pleased! =) Scott is very ready to leave the MTC and go to Korea. Yikes! That is a little scary for me, but so very excited for him at the same time.
By the way, take note of his delightful comment regarding his disappointment that his assignment with the senior missionaries cut into his study time. Love, love, love that!!! I wonder if his brain still hurts....
-----Original Message-----
From: Scott Clawson <clawson.scott@myldsmail.net>
To: clegmaker <clegmaker@aol.com>
Sent: Tue, Oct 2, 2012 7:21 am
Subject: Week 8
Hey everyone!
I'm really tired right now cause I just woke up and usually I do the email thing later in the day so I cannot promise to be as fun as usual. Also still not sure what it was but just a second ago there was another disclaimer for this letter I was going to say but I have since forgotten it. Well anyways, I guess I'll kind of just get started as per usual. This week has been pretty fun, and the native Koreans got here yesterday. I've only had the opportunity to talk to one of them really and he doesn't speak much English at all so I'm not sure if talk is the correct word for me to use, but nonetheless they are here, which is way exciting. This means that I now have less than three weeks before I leave this place! Not to say the MTC is a bad place but being that this is my 8th week here or at least 8th letter home, I think you can follow how it could get tiring, and how I just want to be in Korea. The natives just get to be a little taste of the country before I actually get to head over there so that will be way sweet.
In regards to the selective service thing, I was never really sure if I had gotten fully processed or whatever when I did it back home because it was online, and I trust the US government so when they say I didn't register, I have reason to believe them just with how awkward the online thing was. Mom, if you're worried about me being in the draft twice, I doubt I am, and even if the draft was re-instated, I would probably enlist so I don't think it would really make a difference, but it's not really going to be an issue I think. Don't worry about it, just worry about the people of Korea and their needs that I will aim to fill and help with!
So there was a day that I got bored and just ended up watching a gang of the "I'm a Mormon" videos, and Ryan Wright is totally on that website! If you kind surf around it for a while just going and watching all the people's videos, you can find him as one of the full size video things! It's so gnarly to see someone from my home ward (also my mission) that's on that website. I now have a new aspiration in life to be on said website hahahaha. Also that website in generel is pretty sweet, I don't know if you guys have ever checked it out, but it's way legit! I seriously spent like an hour just watching videos of all the awesome people that are in this church and at the same time some of the really weird people hahah. It's pretty cool to look at so if you get a chance that'd be a fun/cool thing to do.
So Nate's washing machine story is kinda silly in all honesty. For lack of a better word I use silly, but I think it's appropriate at the time. That's unfortunate that it broke, but I'm glad to hear that he was willing to replace it even though based on what I've heard I don't think he needed to. I'm still not entirely sure, it's a bit confusing honestly but that's okay, such is life. Nate, in your direction you should check out the Jeremy Jones I'm a Mormon thing. It's pretty legit and he has a snowboard that smells like PIZZA!!!!! How cool is that?!?! Anyways yeah Nate check those out, there's some way sweet videos on there!
As far as my experiences this week there's nothing that's too far out of the ordinary. Oh wait, I just lied, there was something that was strange and out of the ordinary! So yesterday my friend Andrew Walton was supposed to be on a flight to Nicouragua, and they took him to the airport and everything. I guess his flight was American Airlines, and because they're going bankrupt, his flight got cancelled! How awful is that? So Sunday we took a picture and everything and were saying goodbye and all that Jazz, and then yesterday I saw him in the cafeteria at dinner and was just all confused. Fun story kind of, sad, but fun nonetheless. I can only hope that nothing of the sort happens to us when we try and leave for Korea. That would just be the worst thing ever, coming back to the MTC after having been all ready to be in the field and such.
Also kind of along the same lines, none of the elders that are going to Spain have gotten any visas yet. Basically all of these elders are just going to be in the MTC until they get a Visa. That sounds like no fun at all. There's a guy in my district whose friend had a similar problem and ended up in the MTC for 4 months! That, would be worse than going to the airport and having to come back. At any rate I pray neither of these things happend to me, that would just be no fun.
Yesterday, was however one of the best days I've had in a while and I'm not entirely sure why. I was kind of upset at first because our zone had to host the Senior Missionaries which took up the time of our personal study time and gym time. I wasn't too mad about gym but I was kind of upset about missing personal study time yesterday, but I don't know after lunch everything just felt way better and I'm not sure why. We got our 6th teacher yesterday, you're supposed to only have 2, we're on 6. We kind of like to call ourselves the black sheep district. This is our new teacher's first district and first time teaching in the MTC. He is a way great teacher and I'm so glad that we could have him to teach us and have him to be our investigator as well. When we did our progressing investigator lesson with him, my companion and I had a plan by which we wanted to go at first, but I don't think I looked at that plan twice during that whole lesson. It was just a way great lesson and I think probably the best one we as a companionship have taught thus far. It was easy to see the spirit's influence in the lesson, and I know I was aided in my speaking of the language. My only regret of the lesson is that for some reason or another, I have the hardest time remembering the word for testimony! I just can't remember it! I don't know why but for some reason it won't stick. Well at least my companion can remember it so that works out.
I love all you guys and pray for everyone all the time! Be safe and watch out for each other while I'm gone! The best I can do is pray at this point but I'm trying really hard to help as much as I can for everyone!
Elder Clawson
By the way, take note of his delightful comment regarding his disappointment that his assignment with the senior missionaries cut into his study time. Love, love, love that!!! I wonder if his brain still hurts....
|
12:37 PM (1 hour ago)
 | | ||
| ||||
From: Scott Clawson <clawson.scott@myldsmail.net>
To: clegmaker <clegmaker@aol.com>
Sent: Tue, Oct 2, 2012 7:21 am
Subject: Week 8
Hey everyone!
I'm really tired right now cause I just woke up and usually I do the email thing later in the day so I cannot promise to be as fun as usual. Also still not sure what it was but just a second ago there was another disclaimer for this letter I was going to say but I have since forgotten it. Well anyways, I guess I'll kind of just get started as per usual. This week has been pretty fun, and the native Koreans got here yesterday. I've only had the opportunity to talk to one of them really and he doesn't speak much English at all so I'm not sure if talk is the correct word for me to use, but nonetheless they are here, which is way exciting. This means that I now have less than three weeks before I leave this place! Not to say the MTC is a bad place but being that this is my 8th week here or at least 8th letter home, I think you can follow how it could get tiring, and how I just want to be in Korea. The natives just get to be a little taste of the country before I actually get to head over there so that will be way sweet.
In regards to the selective service thing, I was never really sure if I had gotten fully processed or whatever when I did it back home because it was online, and I trust the US government so when they say I didn't register, I have reason to believe them just with how awkward the online thing was. Mom, if you're worried about me being in the draft twice, I doubt I am, and even if the draft was re-instated, I would probably enlist so I don't think it would really make a difference, but it's not really going to be an issue I think. Don't worry about it, just worry about the people of Korea and their needs that I will aim to fill and help with!
So there was a day that I got bored and just ended up watching a gang of the "I'm a Mormon" videos, and Ryan Wright is totally on that website! If you kind surf around it for a while just going and watching all the people's videos, you can find him as one of the full size video things! It's so gnarly to see someone from my home ward (also my mission) that's on that website. I now have a new aspiration in life to be on said website hahahaha. Also that website in generel is pretty sweet, I don't know if you guys have ever checked it out, but it's way legit! I seriously spent like an hour just watching videos of all the awesome people that are in this church and at the same time some of the really weird people hahah. It's pretty cool to look at so if you get a chance that'd be a fun/cool thing to do.
So Nate's washing machine story is kinda silly in all honesty. For lack of a better word I use silly, but I think it's appropriate at the time. That's unfortunate that it broke, but I'm glad to hear that he was willing to replace it even though based on what I've heard I don't think he needed to. I'm still not entirely sure, it's a bit confusing honestly but that's okay, such is life. Nate, in your direction you should check out the Jeremy Jones I'm a Mormon thing. It's pretty legit and he has a snowboard that smells like PIZZA!!!!! How cool is that?!?! Anyways yeah Nate check those out, there's some way sweet videos on there!
As far as my experiences this week there's nothing that's too far out of the ordinary. Oh wait, I just lied, there was something that was strange and out of the ordinary! So yesterday my friend Andrew Walton was supposed to be on a flight to Nicouragua, and they took him to the airport and everything. I guess his flight was American Airlines, and because they're going bankrupt, his flight got cancelled! How awful is that? So Sunday we took a picture and everything and were saying goodbye and all that Jazz, and then yesterday I saw him in the cafeteria at dinner and was just all confused. Fun story kind of, sad, but fun nonetheless. I can only hope that nothing of the sort happens to us when we try and leave for Korea. That would just be the worst thing ever, coming back to the MTC after having been all ready to be in the field and such.
Also kind of along the same lines, none of the elders that are going to Spain have gotten any visas yet. Basically all of these elders are just going to be in the MTC until they get a Visa. That sounds like no fun at all. There's a guy in my district whose friend had a similar problem and ended up in the MTC for 4 months! That, would be worse than going to the airport and having to come back. At any rate I pray neither of these things happend to me, that would just be no fun.
Yesterday, was however one of the best days I've had in a while and I'm not entirely sure why. I was kind of upset at first because our zone had to host the Senior Missionaries which took up the time of our personal study time and gym time. I wasn't too mad about gym but I was kind of upset about missing personal study time yesterday, but I don't know after lunch everything just felt way better and I'm not sure why. We got our 6th teacher yesterday, you're supposed to only have 2, we're on 6. We kind of like to call ourselves the black sheep district. This is our new teacher's first district and first time teaching in the MTC. He is a way great teacher and I'm so glad that we could have him to teach us and have him to be our investigator as well. When we did our progressing investigator lesson with him, my companion and I had a plan by which we wanted to go at first, but I don't think I looked at that plan twice during that whole lesson. It was just a way great lesson and I think probably the best one we as a companionship have taught thus far. It was easy to see the spirit's influence in the lesson, and I know I was aided in my speaking of the language. My only regret of the lesson is that for some reason or another, I have the hardest time remembering the word for testimony! I just can't remember it! I don't know why but for some reason it won't stick. Well at least my companion can remember it so that works out.
I love all you guys and pray for everyone all the time! Be safe and watch out for each other while I'm gone! The best I can do is pray at this point but I'm trying really hard to help as much as I can for everyone!
Elder Clawson
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