Hey President!
Another super awesome week! And we actually had some lessons to show for it this time too! I'm excited for what these hold in store. I wouldn't call them new investigators yet, just by definition, so we'll continue to work on it! One thing that was especially cool was that there is a man who had attended church with a member friend of his a couple months back. He said to wait until the new year to try and meet him, so we did, and it was really great! He wasn't super forthright with his interests in the gospel, but I do think that he is indeed interested. He really enjoyed the chapel and the lack of a 싶자가 which was kind of fun for me. He even brought another friend of his who was interested in learning about what makes us different. Again, it was a very cool experience.
It's also interesting how our schedule prepares us. We went on exchanges with the zone leaders this week, and we had a teaching appointment whilst there. Honestly, Elder Thorup and I haven't had too many lately, but we're still working! During that teaching appointment it felt strange to teach a little bit, but it helped me have confidence for my appointment the next day. I love experiences like that. I find that many times it's not big impressions that the spirit uses to work on me, but he helps me in small simple ways, that I don't even think are promptings at the time. I'm really happy with where the work here is at right now. Thank you so much!!
Elder Clawson
Hey Everybody!!!
Truth be told this is probably one of the happiest email times I've had in a long time!!! Not because I need a break from the week, but just because this week has been so stinking awesome!!!
So last sunday we got a new ward mission leader, which was super cool and the guy is just so willing to help out! We met with him on tuesday, and it was really cool. He speaks insanely difficult Korean and has a vocabulary that is just insane. Well I guess that's what is difficult these days is vocabulary, but because of that, it's particularly cool for me to meet with him. I'm not sure if you remember but I used to pride myself on having an elevated vocabulary in high school (no longer the case since beginning learning Korean) but it's a different story in Korean. Vocab is a monster that keeps on giving! You know how in English there are words that have like ten different meanings? It's the other way around in Korean. For example, off the top of my head I can think of three words for "to judge". Not complaining! Just saying! Anyways, no more tangent, but that meeting was really cool. He is really stoked to help as much as he can and has already put together some cool avenues for us to do some things a little more effectively in the area. Also he taught me a little chinese!!! super cool
Wednesday legitimately had a mission changing experience. So we were doing this 20 minute lesson program that our mission is trying to get going consistently, and we were at the home of some members who have recently moved to Korea from the US. Super awesome family. Husband works for Nuskin and actually just organized a school! He used to work for the US board of education, and is just a boss. His wife is a convert and an awesome mom. Both so fun. They decided to make their "investigator" roles really tough, and afterwards when we asked for feedback, he shared something with us that I didn't expect. He says "you two elders have been together for about 8 or 9 weeks now, and you've both got better at things since we first got here, but if you don't love each other, every thing you get better at is worthless." That was by no means, what I had expected to be told. He proceeded to share experiences from his mission, where through actually loving his companion, things just changed. full 180. Regrettably, I know that he is totally right. I know that with some of my companions, I haven't even come close to loving them. My thoughts were just "you don't want to talk to people on the street? fine. Just shadow me as I talk to everyone" I never really thought that us just being in harmony would change anything. It really is the only thing that makes sense. Please don't chastise me for my stubbornness about not having loved people, but everyone that knows me well knows that I am far from an emotional person and don't like opening up to people. It would only follow that's not too natural for me, but I am so grateful that I am now in a place to where hearing a message like that was able to help me to be a better missionary as I need.
I left that house with a different outlook, and I swear everything has been so much different. All the people I've met since then I feel better about. Everything I know was changed right there, and it's not even like I have to do anything too crazy! Both me and my companion want to work hard, and now we know what stands in our way. That's kind of what the subject line is about.
Wednesday we met with this guy in his ginseng shop which was fun. He fed us this disgusting ginseng drink that Elder Thorup couldn't even finish, but I've gotten pretty good at eating or drinking just about anything within the bounds of the word of wisdom, so I almost chugged it haha. That guy was super great and wanted a copy of the Book of Mormon and told us to come again later. I'm thinking he can be an investigator pretty soon here!
Thursday was soooooooo cold. The coldest day of the year so far, and my companion wasn't wearing his winter coat!!! So scary. He somehow didn't get sick though, so I'm glad. We met with this man who the sisters in our area had been meeting with but his wife and daughter are in the Philippines right now so we are meeting him. Very nice guy. We shared about the Book of Mormon and then he kindly ushered us out. I think he was really hungry and we were kind of just in between him and dinner at the time, but he's a really nice guy, so he should come to church soon!
Friday we went on exchanges with the zone leaders which was super fun! I got to spend so much time speaking just Korean with Koreans! It was awesome!!! During the duration of that exchange, I got to have two meals with only other Koreans, which was awesome. Kinda hard, but still cool! Also the zone leader I was on exchanges with is from the same group that was with me in the mtc. He's korean so he was in a different district there, but he's still 동기 as it is called in korean. It was especially cool to be with him, because he's probably the best missionary I know at loving people so I learned a lot from him about loving people and still maintaining the spirit of our calling.
Saturday was the day of the appointment I shared about in my letter to president. check that out if you want.
Sunday was cool too! Fun story! So last week, this kid who moved in recently got ordained to the priesthood. Interesting part is that he has never been baptized! In korea because of culture, if you're talking to a kid, a lot of times if you're older they'll just kind of put their head down and just say yes to everything, thus our bishop thinking this kid had been baptized! Now he's in league with Joseph Smith, Oliver Cowdery, and Alma!!! How cool is that?!!?!
also that word 동기 (dong-gi)
it means like graduating class.
동갑 (dong- gap)
it means you were born in the same year. big deal in korea
Sorry I'm out of time, but I love you all! Keep being awesome!!!
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