Hey Everybody!
Another week passes at the MTC and I still can't tell the days apart
really. Kinda fun I suppose but I'm definitely excited to get out of
here. So the new Elders and Sisters showed up last wednesday and they
all seem to be a pretty great bunch. It's kinda fun messing with them a
little bit. I convinced one of the districts that they're teacher who
is basically the most white person you could possibly find, had awful
English. They believed me for a pretty long time and then the teacher
himself gave it away that he actually can speak English pretty well.
Kind of a bummer but it was fun while it lasted. There's a lot of great
elders, I haven't gotten to aquainted with any of the new sisters, but
I'd say that's for the better on some level just because I don't need to
be getting to know people that I'll only see for a total of like, 5
weeks of my life probably. Also if you don't know people then you can't
get distracted by talking to them when you should probably be studying
or something to that effect.
The language continues to come along pretty well, I love learning it but
I wish I could just speak to people conversationally. We mostly just
learn how to teach the gospel and stuff, so we don't get much
opportunity to practice the normal vocab either. I know that it's way
important to know the gospel vocab and such, but you need to know how to
talk to people otherwise I won't be able to get to a point where I can
actually teach anybody. It doesn't matter where you are, if you just go
up to somebody and say "I have a message for you about Jesus Christ", 9
times out of 10 they'll kind of tune you out if they even stick around
to listen. I wish it was that easy because that would be nice, but I
guess I'll just have to work to get those conversational skills that are
necessary.
I have found out some more things about Korea that are kinda fun yet
still kinda strange. The first thing is kinda strange and relates to
how we will be teaching people, but apparently basically every male in
Korea will have substantial problems with keeping the Word of Wisdom.
Everybody smokes cigerettes there, and everybody drinks. I guess
illegal drugs aren't too much of an issue, but still, I'll have to learn
how to help people overcome addiction which will be a trial in itself.
Also, I found out that most likely I will not be able to proselyte to
women in Korea. Not too sure why this is, but I can speculate, and
truth be told it's probably wayyyyy for the better. I don't know if
I've said this before but I guess everybody in Korea likes to talk about
religion, it's a really common thing to be the subject of a
conversation for some reason or another. That'll certainly make it easy
to find people who will talk to us, but most of them won't really have a
Christian background so we'll have to find a different way to go about
teaching things.
As far as things in the MTC go, it's finally starting to get cold here
which makes me so happy. As much as I love having hot weather back
home, based on our daily activities I would much rather it be cold out
while we are here in the MTC. The proffessional soccer player Elder
left today, which is cool for him but at the same time, I've spent more
time in the MTC than he has had his call for so that's kinda irritating
at the same time, but the Lord didn't call him to learn Korean so I
guess it was just what was in the cards. This week we'll be losing one
of our teachers and getting a new one. Hopefully with only three weeks
left, he will be a teacher that we end our time here with. It's kinda
ridiculous, as a district, we're supposed to have 2 teachers with
occasionally getting subs. Our district has had 6 "official" teachers,
not 2, and has had virtually every teacher in the entire zone, and then
some, sub for us here. I like the fact that we get to have a bunch of
different teaching styles placed before us and that we can have a lot
more experiences put before us, but come on! I didn't know it was
possible to have that many teachers in 11 weeks hahahahaa.
This past Sunday at devotional we had another speaker for the second
time in our stay here. I guess they each speak once a month of
something, at least the ones for the firesides on sundays. He talked
about the dedication of the temple, which by the way was wayyyyyy cool.
I was so glad that we got to hear from President Packer again. I love
him as a speaker and even though it was kind of a stray from the normal
talks it was still way cool. Anyways, back to the fireside. The
speaker, Stephen B. Allen, talked a great deal about how the Lord's
will, not ours will be done. It was a really great talk that focused a
lot on how we should look at what happens while we are here in the
mission field. One thing he said that was really cool was that we
invite people to repent, and avoid and end further suffering that they
may otherwise bring upon themselves. I thought that was a really cool
way to add on to the usual "we invite people to repent". Not saying
that it's bad on it's own by any means, but nobody wants to suffer so in
all honesty I think it makes it wayyyyy more applicable to our
investigators. He also talked about 5 really cool points that describe
our power as missionaries.
We are set apart and ordained to do this mission for Christ. Our power
as servents under Christ makes us stronger than any earthly means.
We have the Gift of the Holy Ghost constantly as our companion. That is
to say a member of the God head can always be with us to aid and keep
us safe.
We carry the Word of God. This too is more powerful than any worldy
weapon. We need to use the doctrine and not get in the word's way.
Testimony. As we record our witness of faith, nourish it, and then share it, people will have no choice but to feel the spirit.
Lastly, our Obedience and character set us apart from anyone else. If
you look at anyone who is my age and not a missionary you see a very
different person. Not saying that they are bad by any means, but people
can notice our good character, and for that reason they will listen to
us, and our character alone will testify to them.
These 5 things are amazing to think about and a constant reminder of who
we are and what we are capable of. This week I started talking with
one of the newer missionaries about secular music a little bit and it
started to feel a little bit awkward. Not because it was something I
haven't enjoyed talking about, but because that is no longer who we
are. I love where I am right now and I wouldn't give it up for
anything.
Love,
Elder Scott Clawson
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