Week 21 & 22

hey everybody,

how was christmas this past week?? pretty amazing?! christmas in korea was really good here! except for one thing... our investigator, jong min didn't get baptized on the 23rd because we werent able to get his parents permission yet... so its been a little delayed. Im pretty sure we will be able to get his parents permission soon so ill keep you updated on that. that is the hardest thing for korean kids to get baptized, their parents. I think Jong min's parents are coming around though. Another investigator we have Sung Hyun might not get baptized until later in life too. His parents have actually not allowed him to go to church because they hate the idea of church and god... but he wants to get baptized, so when he is older i think he will be baptized!

chirstmas this week was really good! all the missionaries in our mission came the onchoen ward and we had a big missionary party. we watched some mormon messages and listened to president and sister gilbert speak. we had subway catered in and then we all watched Narnia together haha it was really weird watching a movie! after our christmas party we went back to our area and had a bunch of youth at our church so we played games with all of them. On saturday we had a stake youth activity where we had lots of different games, food, perfomances, and testimonies. Since our branch has the most youth in our stake, we prepared a dance to a really popular korean pop song haha Im not sure what the song was called or how to spell it english, but maybe if you search youtube you can find it! maybe type in "ba ba ba jumping korean song" haha maybe you can find it! 5 girls in the pop group wearing white racing outfits and helmets. so that was really funny, me and elder day were helping with the dance and lots of other missionaries were there just laughing haha

yesterday, sunday, was a little bit of a downer. none of our investigators came to church, Jong min went fishing with his dad and another doesnt have a phone so we couldnt contact him. the other investigators name is Min Jay, he didnt coe to church last week either and said he would come this week, but didnt! hopefully he comes next week! after church we met with 3 future missionaries in our branch. 3 sisters are all going to Seoul Korea Mission next month so we all just talked about missionary work and helped them get ready for the mtc. They are really strong spirited! I couldnt really understand what they were saying but i felt the spirit so strongly when they talked about why they wanted to serve missions. woah. they will be really great missionaries for sure! We street contacted a little bit to end the day yesterday and it was pretty rough. Lots of people didnt even respond to us or look at us when we tried talking to them, they are missing out on so much! elder day was pretty surprised by that even after being out for over a year. But next time will be better for sure! just gotta keep trying. Love you all, God be with you!

-elder carter

Week 20

hey everyone,

 

This week was really great! So we were able to meet with our investigators everyday this week. Since they are all young, I played a lot of ping pong this week so im getting better! And Ive converted to holding the paddle in the "asian way" that I used to make fun of... haha its so much easier! On Tuesday, we went looking for less actives. Our branch president gave us a huge stack of less actives to find so we started this week. We spent the whole day walking up hills and apartments trying to find but a lot of them moved and the new people dont know where they moved. We found 18 houses that day! but out of those 18 houses only about 5 lived there. and out of those 5, 2of them wouldn't even talk to us, 1 didn't answer the door(we heard the sink turn off when we knocked) and 1 of them wasn't home. BUT, 1 of them was busy and said that we could come back and he would want to talk to us! Such a blessing! We will head back over there sometime this week! that took all day, but it actually paid off! hopefully at least one can come back to church, hopefully all will come back!

     later on in the week we did some activities with our youth which was good because i dont really know them that well yet. Our investigators were there too and they seem to be more and more comfortable with the youth in our branch.

     Yesterday on Sunday, one investigator came to church and brought his dad's bible with him. The zone leaders gave him a triple combination and then taught him a lesson while me and elder day were in sunday school. They taught him about baptism and then asked him to be baptized... He accepted!! He will be baptized on the 22nd of December! perfect, just in time for Christmas! Oh man Im so happy for him! hes awesome!

Hope Y'all have a good week! christmas is almost coming up!

 

-elder carter

Week 19

hello everybody,

This week was a solid week with elder day. I met our branch yesterday at church and they are amazing! I got such a warm welcome from them and everyone seemed excited to have a new missionary in their area. Living with the zone leaders is really good too, their english is not very good so we always try to talk to each other everynight. I was honestly a little uncomfortable with them at first because we cant really speak much to each other, but now its very good! i love living with them! So our investigators in this area are all young men, our branch president and presidency want us to focus on the young men because there are so many here in the branch. The past few transfers in this area, they've had maybe 6 baptisms of all young men and they were all referals from 1 friend refering all them. So our investigators now are about 15 years old and all friends. We have about 4 investigators and see them almost everyday. They come to the church and we play games with them and teach them very short lessons here and there. 2 of them actually came to church yesterday and we talked to them about faith after church. Their understanding of the gospel is improving as we continue to talk so they are making some progress. We also have a different investigator about 70 years old that i havent met before. He was supposed to come to church yesterday but then he didnt and we cant get a hold of him yet. Im just geting used to the area but i already love it! so much to be thankful for around this time of the year! love you all!

-elder carter

Week 18

Hey everyone,

 

Ya this week was sweet! We got transfer calls on thrusdays and I am leaving my area this time! I will be going to a place called Gupo a little more north of my area. So I had to say goodbye to everyone in our branch on sunday and it was tough! I love those people so much. I can't really speak with many of them but I've always felt the love they have for other people. On Saturday we were able to meet with Vicky, Julie, and Mr. Yu again. Since this was our last time meeting together they ordered chicken for us to eat! haha it was delicous as always. We talked about America for awhile and they had some questions about some english phrases. After we talked about that, we both just shared our testimonies and told them how much we have come to love them. we told them that we pray for them individually every single day and they really appreciated that. They said they actually have felt closer to god as we met so that was a good sign. Before we finished I invited Julie to pray but she wouldn't do it... dang it haha I asked probably 5 times and just waited but she wouldn't pray. I told her that if I prayed first she could pray after, but she still wouldn't do it, so I just prayed... Gah! Then we invited them to come to Ahn Yay Jin's baptism the next day but vicky and mr. yu were busy and julie just flat out said no, she wasn't busy but wouldn't come to the baptism. So tough! Elder Kim's new companion elder jackson, is from my mtc district and he is the best! I know he will be able to help Vicky julie and mr yu out! Then on Sunday I gave my goodbye speech with President and Sister Gilbert up on the stand! so scary... but it was good and then we had the baptism after!! I was able to baptize her but it didn't go perfectly! so the clerk turned on the water and just left it on through out priesthood meeting and sunday school. when we went back to check on it, the water was super hot! When I got in, i thought it was actually a little bit uncomfortable. Ahn Yay Jin was already scared of water because she doesn't know how to swim and was afraid of something happening. I guess she's had a bad experience of almost drowning before in her life. So I baptized her the first time, and she was kind of resisting going under so she didn't go all the way under. The second time I did it some hair wasnt tied all the back and didn't go under so we had to do it again! after the second time, she just put her hands over he face and started to cry for some reason! I felt horrible!! I dont know why she cried but it was not good! then after me and the sisters calmed her down, we did it a third time and she went all the way under! When I was changing in the bathroom, maybe 5 or 10 min after the baptism, I was in my garments and i could see steam coming from them! thats how hot the water was! But, after we dried off and changed, she was smiling and happy she was baptized! so overall, it was pretty successful! But I still felt really bad! Now today I met my new companion elder Day from Lehi, Utah. He will show me his family pictures tonight, but he said he has family that might live in Kensington?? He said he knows lindsay and brown, and also he played basketball at our park in Kensington. Is there a Gardner family that moved in our ward maybe a year or two ago? someone let me know! super weird... he described our park perfectly haha but I think this transfer will be good, I'm living in a 4 man house with the 2 zone leaders, who are Korean, so hopefully I can learn a lot! pretty good week last week!

 

-Elder carter

Baptism - Sister Jin

With members

With Mr. Yu, Julie, and Vicky

Week 17

hey everyone,

 

Not a ton of time today, but this past week was really good! This week we were actually able to meet with Vicky, Julie, and Mr. Yu! I was so happy! We haven't been able to meet with them for a few weeks now. We talked a little bit about there weeks and how it went. They are not doing too good right now. Vicky is just having a hard time keeping interested in her job, and Julie and Mr. Yu are just struggling with their daughter Jenny and her problems. It was really weird because that morning we planned to share a message about hope and being positive about the future! We shared a short section from "Our Search for Happiness" that related our trials on earth life to a rope and string. The rope extends both ways into the eternities while one strand is wrapped around the middle of it, being our earth life. the trials we have are just a small moment in the grand scheme of things. We were able to discuss a little bit about what they do to overcome trials like the ones they are having and I shared my testimony about having faith and hope in God. The spirit was so strong and I think they really felt it! This next week will be very important, because transfer calls are on thursday and I think I might leave my traning area! Nooo!!! I love this branch and area! haha but maybe ill have to leave. AND.... I'm pretty sure I forgot to tell everyone this but we are having a baptism next sunday!! haha sorry!! I think I talked about Ahn Yay Jin before, me and my old companion elder Jeong were able to teach her a few times before the sisters took over. I always forgot to mention this in my previous emails because we dont meet with her anymore, she meets with the sisters! sorry! haha but she is getting baptized next week and actually I think I will be baptizing her! I'm so excited for her! well that's all for this week!

 

-elder carter

                         Because of 95F with 90% humidity walking up & down the giant hills of
my area of South Korea, I lost a fist full of weight!

Week 16

Hey Everyone,

This week was really good! We were able to teach brother Yi once again! We talked to him about the 2000 stripling warriors and how they were just young men, wanting to do God's will. We shared our testimonies about how strong God is and how willing He is to help us if we just keep His commandments and live worthily. He had a question about God. He was all confused about why in the scriptures it sometimes says that God, Jesus Christ, and the Spirit are one. Oh Geez... So then we kinda talked about the trinity and how other churches believe in that, but we know that is not true. I asked him if he remembers Joseph Smith's experience when he pray, and saw the Father and Son. he just looked at me confused. I thought he didn't remember but then my companion said it again in REAL korean and he remembered! haha gosh... we talked a little more and then he had to go.

On Thursday, after district meeting we all ate gamjatang together. One of my favorite foods in Korea! After we ate together, we all got ice cream and then went home. I ate 2 ice cream cones, and then about 30 min later a less active that ive never heard of before called us and said that he wanted to meet with us. We met outside our apartment and talked for maybe 5 min. then he said, "hey let's go out and eat!" Oh man... he took us to this Tonkasu place where the tonkasu was huge! But really not that good...I ate about half of it and then he tells the waitress "hey! he needs more rice! bring more!" so i had two bowls of rice and a huge tonkasu. I almost threw up after! we just talked while we ate and then after for maybe about 5 min. Im still not really sure why he wanted to meet with us, but maybe we can meet with him again!

This weekend we had stake conference so we weren't able to meet with Vicky, Julie, and Mr. Yu. On Saturday, we went to Sujeong ward and listened to a few members of the stake speak. Our translator was one of the assistants and i think it was difficult for him. There were times when he just paused and listened to the speaker for maybe 30 seconds and didn't say anything so it was a little bit hard to follow haha but it was good! All the speakers talked about member missionary work and how important the members are in missionary work. And always remember to work together, every missionary and every member together. Also, it's not our work or the members work, its the Lord's work. This week we will visit more members homes and encourage them to share the gospel more with the people they come in contact with!

I heard from bishop Larsen that Kelli Wickerman got baptized recently in the Kensington Ward! That's awesome! I've known her for a long time but never even thought about sharing the gospel with her! Every member a missionary! Share the gospel with the people you know, maybe you can find the next Kelli. If you are reading this Kelli, congratulations! Love you all!

-elder carter

Week 15

Hello everyone,

not a ton of time today, a member is having some birthday party or something today so we have to hurry up today. but this week was pretty good! we werent able to meet with vicky and julie this week because mr yu was busy and we couldnt get a male to come to the lesson. we did meet with brother Yi though. we went with a couples missionaries elder yang and sister kim. they were the ones that gave him the homework to read in abraham. when we got there they just started talking about it again so me and elder kim just kinda sat there while they talked. I think most of his questions got answered though! I hope so! I couldnt really understand... haha also we couldnt meet with kim dae hun either. we tried to visit him 4 times but all times he was busy! he felt bad but said that we can meet tomorrow, so we will go visit him. on saturday we really focused on finding new, actual investigators or people to come to our english class and we got 10 contacts that day! which is amazing! i dont think ive ever gotten more than 3 in one day! so we will continue to call them and invite them to english class. at least 2 of them said they really want to learn english, so we will see where that goes! well... this week i thought that I accomplished a milestone in the korea busan mission! Im not really sure how ive lost 8 or 9kg but this past week, except for sunday, i ate chicken at least one meal for one week straight! haha  7 days I ate delicious fried chicken! SOmeone told me that some elders actually ate chicken for 3 weeks straight but i dont think i want to even try for that haha I have to eat better thsi week. mom I can make this delicous onion and gyoza soup. ill make it sometime! boil water, put in beef seasoning i think? about one spoon, leveled off. then half or whole onion sliced in strips. frozen gyoza. a little salt, and some garlic powder! super easy! just boil it until the onions are really soft. its kinda a light soup, but i think its delicious! k I gotta go now, love you all! bye!

 

-elder carter

Week 14

Hello everyone,

 

this week was much better than last week! Elder kim and I are doing much better and I think he is starting to get used to this area. This week was a crazy week! For some reason, our hot water started to come out orange!! so we couldnt shower or use the water from our sink. Im still not 100% sure why it wasn't clean, i think they said they were cleaning out some big water tank or something... I dont know, I couldnt understand them! So we got permission to go to a korean bath house! haha so funny. there were tons on korean men just sitting on 6 inch stools showering in front of a mirror. some were in a big round pool type thing in the middle of the room just resting. haha it was really refreshing actually! They had a scale there and I checked how much I weigh... I've lost about 8kg! Thats about 20lbs? haha so that was good! It wasn't too much of a culture shock to me, we kinda went in Japan before. Maybe for some people though, it would be a little weird haha and the other days we had to go to another area's elder's apartment to shower (nothing too exciting about that). But now our water is fine, it just needed a few days to filter out the bad water.

this week we met with brother Yi twice which was great! The first time we met with him this week, he had some questions about the homework elder yang gave him. Elder yang is a couple missionary with his wife, they usually meet with him once a week. the homework they gave him was in abraham and talked about the "gods". he asked why it always said gods if there is only one god. My companion went off and explained to him that it was just a name they used, just like when sometimes Jesus Christ is referred to as God. We showed him scriptures that had similar examples and he was ok after that. He seemed a little worried at first haha they fed us a delious meal after our lesson! Spam, kimchi, rice, tofu, and cucumbers in some garlic butter. Ive never had spam before my mission, but we eat it all the time now! Apparently spam is the best kind of ham in korea... haha but its good! The second time we met with him, he was a little bit busy but we shared a message about faith and how to strenghten it. He continues to come to church and from what I can see, is strengthening his faith everyday. He always is reading from the book of mormon and doing the homework we give him.

On Saturday we had our english class with Vicky, Julie, and her husband Mr. Yu. There daughter had a reading class and couldnt attend so that was a bummer. Also, the class didn't really go as planned, they had tons of questions about different english phrases and what situations to use what phrase, so we weren't able to discuss an article like we wanted to. And, we couldnt stay later because we had a halloween party that night! No one dressed up but we had a few youth come from different branches in our district. It was actually pretty fun haha we were in charge of bowling! we just had 2 liter bottles filled with water and a soccer ball haha all the kids loved it. I dont think they really celebrate halloween very much here, they just know what it is. No fun koreans haha yesterday we had two appointments with the branch president and also the 1st counselor. They invited us to eat lunch and then dinner at their houses. I think yesterday was the first time I actually couldnt finish my rice bowl! we ate at the 1st counselors house at around 3, and then the branch presidents at about 630! whoa... even my companion who loves to eat, couldnt really eat all that much because he was so full. The struggles of missionary work are real! haha

really good week last week. This week should be a good one! love yall

 

-elder carter2

Week 13

Hey everyone,

 

This week was a very interesting week! I learned a lot about obedience and why it is so important. So... my new companion hasn't been very obedient. I don't just want to go on a rant about him but its been a little frustrating here and there. All I can say is that we have commandments (and missionary rules) for a reason! not just because. Through these commandments and rules, we can be TOTALLY happy if we follow them! That is what I really learned this week. My companion has had a hard time getting up on time lately and it really has affected me. When one of us is disobedient, it really affects the companionship and the spirit is completely gone. That day I just felt super down and it really ruined the whole day, just because of one decision. We talked about it and its been getting better recently. Ah man, the commandments, what a beautiful thing. Its been tough, but also really good for both of us I think! Also, we had a branch dinner on friday because my companion is new in the area. He met a lot of members of the branch but it was not a good night. There is a brother in our branch who has a very "strong personality". My previous companion told me before that he had said some things that drove some people away from the church. When he met my new companion, he said "Wow, our new missionary is super fat!" then he told all the members, "Dont give him any meat, he needs to lose about 10 to 15 kilograms" He was not happy about that... then on Sunday at church, that brother's wife came in and met my companion for the first time. She said "Hey, I heard we were getting a fat missionary and thats exactly right!" she laughed and we just walked away... gosh some people man. My comp really does not like that couple. We met with brother Yi again this week. He is really one of my favorite people Ive ever met, not just on my mission, but in my whole life. Ill have to get a picture with him sometime! When we talked with him this week, he told us that he is actually planning on going to the temple in Seoul in a year!! His health is not the best, but he wants to make an effort in going to the temple and getting sealed to his wife and taking out his endowments! I was so happy when he told us that! AND, he also said that sometime in 2015 he will go on a stake trip to Utah! They will go to Salt lake and visit temple square. If Im home from my mission by then  I really want to see him again! (by that time Ill actually know korean!)

We also met with Vicky, Julie, Mr Yu, and also julie's son and daughter came! We had our english conversation class like always and the daughters english is very good! her pronunciation is amazing, she is about 14 years old. The son on the other hand couldnt speak much of anything, but he is only about 8 i think. We actually talked about standards and why they are important. I asked them about the standards they have set for their children and after talking for a bit Julies daughter (Jenny) got mad at her mom because she thinks that her mom is too hard on her. It was tough to manage haha but eventually it calmed down and we were just able to talk for a bit about it. The class itself did not go all too great but after class was great! So after we went home, Julie texted us and asked if we coud help her daughter through english class. (I guess she is having a hard time with personal stuff right now.) Julie then asked "Can God help out my daughter?" haha Yes! I asked her what she thought, and she replied "I think God can help anyone that believes in Him" So maybe we are making progress with her! I invited her to pray again, but she didnt reply after that... so we will have to wait and see.

I think these next 5 weeks of the transfer will be interesting! We will see how this next week goes!

 

-elder carter2

Week 12

hey everyone,

today was transfer day and so we just got settled in, i am staying in my area and i got a new companion! his name is kim dae yun! haha almost the same as our less active friend kim dae hun. He is very funny and I heard he is a hard worker too! so thats good! Right now its about 5:30 so I really dont have a ton of time. We have been busy today because of transfer meeting and then getting all of his stuff situated. This week was ok, we met on saturday with Vicky, Julie, and her husband mr yu. We did a lot of free talking, they asked me questions about america and we just talked for awhile about whatever they wanted to. For some reason Julie always says that she wants her kids to grow like me, and might bring her kids next week so I can talk to them... kinda weird? haha Her kids are very rowdy and dont obey very well so she wants to try anything to help them i guess. After she said that, Vicky asked me what the turning point in my life was so I told her about how I started to love the gospel when I was about 17 years old. Loving the gospel has helped me to feel God's love and purpose for my life. before that, i always tried to find happiness through other ways, but couldn't. Once I learned to love this gospel, I was much happier and realized what important things in life are. They couldn't meet for very long and we weren't able to give a message so we gave them homework to read an article from the liahona about standards and how they can help us. It was cool to see vicky smiling so much when we gave her homework, because I always remember the first time meeting them and how much she hated when we would talk about gospel related topics. I think she is starting to change very slowly. Julie told us again how she wants to believe in god but doesnt know if she can. We always ask her to pray to find out but she says shes "not ready yet". Gah! haha weve told her before the only way to know is through action (prayer) but she is just scared I think... 

we werent able to meet with Kim dae hun this week, he was very busy and didnt have time. we talked with brother Yi about modern day prophets and shared President Monsons talk from this past general conference. He couldnt really understand because his hearing is very bad but he got most of it. He is so awesome and love that guy! Ill let you all know how my new companion is next week! thank you!

-elder carter #2

Week 11

Hey everyone,

 

This week was sweet as usual! We started off the week by visiting our recent convert brother Yi in hang. We wanted to talk to him about faith. we shared some scriptures from alma 32 and kinda went through them with him. When we asked him questions about what some of the scriptures meant, he answered pretty much all of them perfectly (so my companion said, i had no clue). Everytime we meet with him we have given him homework to read certain passages of scriptures and he always does them so I think he is beginning how to learn from the spirit better. Even as a member, he is progressing very well and I can see the growth hes had.  He is so Awesome! I can always feel the spirit so strongly when we talk with him.

We also were able to meet with brother Kim Dae Hun. We made a message card for him about families and how they can be forever through christ. When we got to his cell phone store, elder Jeong realized he forgot the message card. Disaster! So we thought... We just talked to him for awhile about cell phones and about his business. It got a little bit awkward and quiet because there was nothing else we could really think of to talk to him about. He broke the silence and asked me why I wanted to serve a mission. I shared my testimony about the Book of Mormon and about Jesus Christ. After that, he asked us if we can really know the church is true. He told us that his sisters are very strong members of the church, they cannot deny this church's truth. He is a little bit confused because they both went to a very prestigious university and are smart people. He said they couldn't just be fooled. He wondered how you feel the spirit and what its like. Awesome question! haha my companion talked to him for a little bit and we gave him homework to read from the book of mormon. Maybe he has some interest! We are hoping and praying that he will read from the book of mormon to feel the spirit.

Transfer calls are this week! By next monday, I will have been in Korea for 3 months! dang time flies. If I get transfered I wont be able to see the progression of vicky, julie, and kim dae hun! This week is very important! Hopefully I dont get transferred though! sorry im short on time this week. Oh and conference was inspiring wasnt it?! so great! Probably the best one Ive heard! love yall

 

-elder carter

this place is called ursukdoe, across the water is the edge of our area goejeong

Ready to eat my favorite Pork spine soup!

Week 10

Hi Everyone,

This week was pretty good as always. We were able to meet with Song
Han Myeong again in the hospital. We talked with him for awhile and
shared a message about trials. We shared scriptures about when Joseph
Smith was in jail and called upon God to help him. Brother Song really
connected to this when we taught him. He said in english, "woah, my
situation!" haha (maybe a little different). He asked a lot of
questions about why we have trials and why would God give us such
"big" trials in our lives. He felt very down about himself because he
cannot work and he feels like he is failing his family. He has two
daughters in middle school and elementary and a newborn son. We taught
him that trials are how we can learn and also to test our faith. We
gave him a new Book of Mormon and he said he would read it! He also
said he would pray a lot more, so hopefully he can strengthen his
faith! We testified to him that if he read the Book of Mormon and
prayed, that he would strengthen his faith and his situation with his
family will all work out. He is such a cool guy!
On Saturday, we met again with Vicky and Julie for english class. We
talked about friends and why it is important to have true friends. We
shared a talk by Sister Dalton about True friends. The only way to
have true friends is to BE a true friend. They really liked that. We
talked for about an hour, they asked a lot of questions about America
and about some english grammar so they weren't too focused. Before we
ended we asked them how they felt about their homework we gave them
last week. Last week, we gave them homework about gratitude. they were
supposed to text us 2 things every day about what they were thankful
for that day. Vicky said that she realized that she has been given any
things and feels more appreciative for them. Then Julie said that the
homework was a good assignment and she said that maybe, just maybe,
she felt that God was with her that week. Apparently she had a tough
week but looking for things to be thankful for made her feel something
different (maybe God). So that was great! She seems to be progressing
without her even knowing.

-elder carter

Week 9

Hello Everyone,

 

This week was great! No other real way to describe it. Last week was a tough week for whatever reason but God really has taken good care of me. He has blessed me so much throughout my whole mission, I can feel that so much. This week we met with NONE of our investigators. But still a great week. Because last week was Korean Thanksgiving, every takes off work and visits their family. The week after Korean Thanksgiving is usually very busy. My Companion told me that every has to work extra hard the week after to make up for their time off. We had appointments and meetings planned with Vicky, Julie, Mr. Yu, but they canceled because they were busy. We stopped by Brother Yi's house, the recent convert, but he was very busy as well and couldn't meet this week. Brother Kim dae hyun was also busy when we stopped by (which was twice). So... we weren't able to meet with any investigators this week, we just tried to find new investigators and walked the streets talking to people. We were able to find this guy in a wheelchair outside the Hospital with a broken leg. We talked to him for a bit about who we are and he said he loves americans. haha I think he tried to speak english to me but I couldnt understand. I just heard him say "Korea" a few times. Before we left I gave him a Book of Mormon and started to tell him about it. He held it in his hands and said "Hana-neem" which means God. He seemed really interested in it! We got his number and tried to visit him last night but he said he was very tired and couldn't meet with us! Gah! We will try again this week! I went on exchanges this week with elder Campbell. We went to his area called Suejeong. We met with a less active and talked about the importance of the book of Mormon. He seemed to know a lot about the gospel but he just doesn't think coming to church is important. I'm not sure if he went to church yesterday or not, but I hope so! After we met with him we met a new investigator. He is about 40 years old. I can't remember his name but his story is pretty crazy. When he was younger, he killed 2 people at 2 different times and spent some time in jail. (I'm not sure why he didn't spend life in jail) but his mind is very messed up now and he just wants to be a better person now. He is going to the hospital to help him with his mental trouble but it was still a little weird meeting with him knowing that he killed to people before (sorry mom haha). When we met with him, we just talked about the Book of Mormon and also the bible. He was that nicest guy ever!! I told Elder Campbell that he seemed like he could be a stake president or something. They all have the same features: gray and black mixed hair, very fit, and a little bit short. He had all of them! That guy was sweet. After that we tried to find a less active but had the wrong address. We knocked and this catholic guy came out. He actually talked with us for awhile! We talked for probably an hour. Well, I just listened and talked for about 10 minutes haha I tought him about the restoration and I think Elder campbell will meet with him again next week! yesterday we went to the hospital to visit the guy in the wheelchair but that was when he said he was tired and didn't want to meet. We stopped by a less active's room in the same hospital. He fed us hospital food which was not very good but we were very thankful for that! After we ate, he had a very cool experience to share. His mother is in the same hospital and she is very sick. One night he prayed very hard, said he had tears rolling down his face, that she would be ok and he had a very good feeling come over him that she would be ok. The next day he checked on her, and things were looking very good with his mother! He told us how much he loved God and hopefully that will spark his interest in coming back to church! He needs to stay in the hospital for another 4 weeks so if I get transfered, I wont be able to see him at church! dang! He had the missionaries before us come and visit with him and they asked him something very inspiring: "Are you rich?" I really can't remember why they asked him that but he thought about the question and thought about it like spiritually rich instead of money rich. That question really made him think about how "rich" he is and how rich he wants to be. He said that that question had made him more humble and he wants to become more spiritually rich. Some other things were said in Korean, but I don't know. It was just a cool experience with him! I learned a lot this week, we weren't able to meet with our usual investigators, but it was a great week! Love you all.

 

-Elder Carter

P.S.

We ate at a restaurant that served Pork spine soup. Its basically like ribs in a soup. really good! they just throw in 3 big bones with spine and rib meat and you tear it off into the soup. it was spicy and is probably one of my favorite things ive eaten here. only $6 too!

Week 8

Hello everyone,

 This week was a tough one. We met with brother kim dae hun again and shared a message about charity and how important it is to have charity. He is very busy and from what I saw, he doesn't seem too interested, we might drop him. This was probably our 5th time meeting with him and he doesn't want to come to church. He is the 2nd counselors son so hopefully he can come back to church! Mr. Shalizad was sick yesterday so we couldn't meet with him and he works during the week. We were able to meet with Vicky, Julie, and her husband Mr. Yu on saturday. We talked about Korean Thanksgiving which was on the 19th. We talked about that for our english class and not too much about the gospel. at the end we shared a really short message about gratitude and shared another message from the liahona. They actually seemed pretty interested and they want copies of the english liahona next week! so that was an improvement. We pray for them everyday and try to text them as much as possible. We think there could be hope for them, but we will see. God is truly testing our faith at this point but we are trying our hardest to find new people as well. Weve gotten a few numbers but whenever we call or text, they never reply or answer. Not too much time today sorry. love you all.

-elder carter

Week 7

Hello everyone,

This week was very successful I'd like to think. So earlier this week we met with a less active and talked to him about the important things in life like the gospel and families. He seemed to take it well but he is always working and doesn't want to meet with us for very long. We usually have just been stopping by his cell phone store and talking with him if hes not busy so he doesn't have a ton of time. We might try to teach him the restoration this week. He's really cool and is always so nice to us! But we will see if we can help him come back... The members in our branch have been very generous to us this week providing home cooked meals and a lot of socks! haha I dont know why but weve gotten maybe 5 or 6 pairs of socks from members haha they aren't bad socks actually.. They are all so awesome! We met again with a recent convert member brother Yi In Hang. Talked about how God gives us trials and challenges for our benefit and we can learn from them. Through our faith we can overcome them and become stronger. I actually taught most of it this time and it was cool, at that moment the gift of tongues was given to me, i believe! I can't really remember what exactly I said, but he said that my words touched him and then he said some stuff I couldnt understand and my companion talked to him. But it was cool! The gift of tongues is real! I knew that I was supposed to lead the lesson so I had to pray really hard that it would go well and I could say the things that I wanted to and it worked! Faith is a beautiful thing my friends! He is doing very well so far, he still is very active in the church and he blesses the sacrament every week. Hopefully he continues on this path and doesn't fall away. 

Later in the week, we were able to have english conversation class with Julie and her husband Mr. Woo. Vicky was not able to come this week. We shared a short article from the Liahona titled "The Lord never shouted at me". It was a really good article. It is about a mother who is very worried for her son because he started to do a lot of bad things like drugs, lying, and alcohol. She would always get mad at him for doing those things and they argued a lot. Then she prayed and asked god to help her son. She trusted the Lord that He could help her son. In the end, the son and mother's relationship became better because God helped him. Julie is sort of in the same situation. Her son is very disobedient and is very crazy. She has tried a lot of different things to help him but none have really worked. When we were sharing this message, she seemed to get a little bit emotional and tried to hold all her emotions in. We talked to her about God and if we trust in him, everything will work out. We gave her a copy of the Liahona in Korean and when she accepted it, her hand was shaking a little bit. After we talked, she still said that she didn't believe in god and that the mother just tried something new and it worked. But me and elder Jeong think that our message touched her heart. We saw a change in her eyes. But she still doesn't want to believe. I don't know why! We think that deep down, she might believe in God and wants to believe in God, but her husband, and also her sister Vicky don't believe in God so its a tough situation. But I think that she will progress more next week. We saw something change! 

So yesterday I gave a talk about tithing in Korean. My companion translated my english talk into Korean. Usually when I give talks, they are in english and my companion translates it to korean, but this week i gave the talk in korean. It was not that good haha even for me, I thought that I pronounced things wrong and it was very choppy. After Sacrament meeting, a lot of people came up to me and told me my korean is very good! haha but they are just being nice. I asked my companion if he could understand any of it, and he said "maybe a little" haha it wasn't too good... the 2nd counselor in our branch is really funny and he always tries to talk to me in english. He came up to me and said, "Wow, Carter's Korean...NUMBER 1!" haha he is hilarious! Last night, we contacted a guy named Mr. Shalizard. He is from Pakistan and wanted to meet with us. He speaks very little english , and also very little korean so it was hard to talk to him. His korean is better than his english, but even when my companion talked with him, i could understand it. I don't think he is too interested in our gospel, he said he just wants to make new friends. Maybe at church he can make friends? haha we will meet him again this week. 

The work is slowly progressing here in Goejeong! Ive seen the hand o;f the lord in my mission area a lot this week. People seem more friendly and the people we are meeting with are very slowly progressing! Next week will be another good one! 

-Elder Carter

Week 6

Hello everyone,

HJey Everybody! Another great week in 한국!  I actually forgot to bring my journal with me to email so I'll try to remember as much as I can. I can't remember if I told you last week about sister Doe Ji Hyun...? Maybe maybe not! So President Gilbert has told us that if we (as elders) are teaching a sister, then we need to hand her over to the sister missionaries. SO we had to do that with Sister Doe Ji Hyun. Even if there is another male present, or members there, we are still to let the sister missionaries teach her. So now we aren't teaching her anymore!! Gah! Oh well, I know the sisters will take good care of her! On Wednesday, the sisters were able to teach her at our church. We were out with other elders doing street contacting and then after we had to get the keys to our church before the sisters left. We went to the church and walked by the room where the sister were teaching and sister Doe Ji Hyun was praying as we walked by! I think we've asked to her to pray, but she always said that she will next time, but this time she did with the sister missionaries! So there was some progress there! After she finished, we talked with them and walked with them for a little bit. In Korea, when girls walk together, they always hold hands just showing that they are good friends. Sister Doe Ji Hyun was holding hands with Sister Yun as we walked! At first, me and elder jeong didn't want to give up Doe Ji Hyun to the sisters because we were afraid that the relationship might not be as strong or something. But we were completely wrong! The lesson went well and now they are all friends, so they will meet again next week. What a miracle! haha This last week we also were able to meet with Vicky, Julie, and Julie's husband Mr. Yu. We planned to have another short spiritual message about the priesthood and how the gospel blesses families. We talked about temples and the ability to be together forever with our spouse and family, through the priesthood of God. They asked a TON of questions about the temple, which led into other questions, which led into other questions. They asked a ton of different questions like why dont we have crosses on our temple, why is angel moroni on the top of the temple, why dont women have the priesthood, why are you called elder on missions and brother at home but sisters are just sisters on their missions, why did God create Adam first and then Eve, why is the church called the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, what happens when Jesus comes, what happens after... haha and so forth. Literally all these questions plus a few others I can't remember haha BUT, it was good that we were able to talk about the gospel the whole time, instead of just something else in english. They seemed really interested and I think that's why they had so many questions. Just another one of God's great miracles!  We will meet with them next week!! 

     This week I have been continuing to read out of "Our Search For Happiness" and haven't put it down! It is such a cool book and I would recommend it to all of you! Sorry I didn't have my journal today, we left early this morning for transfer meeting. No I didn't get transferred but we wanted to see some people from our district before they got transferred! Hope you all have a great week! 

Elder carter

Alien Card

Bed Room

Bath Room

Kitchen

Week 5

Hello everyone!

This week was a little bit different than past weeks. So last sunday, the investigator that we were teaching has a Buddhist background and just wanted to know what is different about our church so were only planning on teaching her a few lessons. Me and my companion were hoping that she might feel the spirit and want to continue to learn more but last sunday was her second lesson about the plan of salvation and then she dropped us. She said that was all she needed to know and that she didn't want to meet with us anymore. Now, she will learn more about some other churches and try to study them. she said she just wants to find the truth, maybe her life will be somewhat like Joseph Smiths experience and she will ask God which church to join, who knows! Hopefully she will want to meet with us again or find the truth... Oh well. We always pray for her and try to call her but she doesnt answer. God bless her. This past thrusday we had a multi-zone meeting, I'm not sure what the actual meeting's name was. We learned about "real intent" and how as missionaries we obviously need real intent. What is our intent as missionaries? Learn a new language? See a new country? Get baptisms? Our purpose should be our intent: Bring others unto Christ. As missionaries that should be the intent of everything we do, bring others unto Christ. I don't remember the speakers name, but he told a story about this guy that really wanted this particular job and eventually he finally got it. There was a Supervising position opening up pretty soon that he wanted so he stayed late, and came early so the boss could see him working longer than he was supposed to. The job was eventually given to someone who was only working there for about 6 months. He wondered why he didn't get the job so he went in and asked his boss. The boss didn't answer him and just said "go to the store and buy some oranges, my wife needs them." so he got $20 from the boss and went to the store and came back with a bag of oranges and his change. The boss asked him how much they cost and he didn't really know. He asked him what kind of oranges they were, he didn't know. Then the boss told him to sit down and watch. The boss called in the new supervisor and told him the same thing.  The new supervisor went to the store and didn't know which oranges to buy. He remembered they were for the boss's wife so he called the wife and she said they were for juicing for a party. So then the new supervisor asked the grocer which oranges would be best for juicing. He needed to buy a ton of oranges because it was for a party so he bargained with the grocer and got a good wholesale price on the oranges. He came back and gave them to the boss and told him everything. The other worker just sat there in the office discouraged. The supervisor left and then the boss told the other worker thats why he got the new supervisor job. All about real intent! The first guy stayed late and came early with the wrong intent, he came to be seen, not because he cared about the boss, but because he wanted the new job. Our intent is everything! It was a really sweet talk and so now me and Elder Jeong 정희섭 장로님 are trying to do everything we can to have real intent in our purpose! So besides the investigator that dropped us, sister Doe Ji Hyun and Vickie and Julie cancelled appointments this week with us so we didn't teach any investigators this week! But we did teach this recent convert. He is a super old guy thatgot baptized maybe 4 months ago. His name is brother Yi In Hang. He and his wife are so awesome and humble. They have just a small shop they work out of selling drinks and small packaged foods. I think that shop is just a part of their house they turned into a store. They are the nicest people though! So poor, but they always try to feed us every time we stop by. We talked to them about the priesthood and how it can bless other peoples lives. A senior missionary couple was there and they helped in our lesson. I told him that "if he used the priesthood to bless other people, then god will bless him." The senior couple said that inspired them to share something else, and they talked for another 10 minutes maybe, so the power of the spirit is real! haha I know that to be true! I can't speak the language very well but when the spirit teaches, its so much easier! haha pray for the spirit in all that you do and it will work out how it should! The Lord loves everyone so much He has given us this wonderful gift of the spirit! Love you everyone! have a nice week!

-elder carter

Week 4

Hello Everyone,

This week was great! So last weekly planning session we decided that we were going to give out a book of mormon everyday and we did good! Since Thursday we have given out 5 copies of the book of mormon! But we want to give out more this next week. This week we saw tons of blessings! First of all, We went and tried to visit Brother Kim, a less active, at his cell phone store and he was there! The last couple of times we went he was on vacation so it was good that we got to meet with him. Miracle! We talked to him a little bit about the Book of Mormon and how important it is in our lives but he was really busy with customers so we had to leave to another appointment, but that was good that we still got to talk a little.

The members of our branch have taken us out to eat 3 times this week! haha they have tons of really nice buffets here in Korea that everyone likes to go to. They always laugh at me because I eat so much meat compared to other things haha on thursday we had our english class. The past 2 times no one has showed up and we would have to do our backup plan, this week 3 people came! The sisters from daeshin came to help and they were on companion exchanges for the day. So usually it is just me teaching the class because the sisters are korean and my companion is korean but since they were on exchanges we had sister taylor from utah help me teach! It was actually a lot more fun for me and also the class was more excited. There were two old ladies there that love class and they want to keep coming! So hopefully they will want to learn more about the gospel in the near future, but who knows! During weekly planning this week, we talked a lot about our investigator Doe Ji Hyon and how we can help her. We decided to teach here about eternal relationships and how we can have those for eternity. The lesson went really well and she took it very well. after we went back to the apartment i asked elder jeong what he thought of the lesson and he said that he could see her changing and maybe was considering baptism. We are really excited about her and we think that she will be baptized eventually! I hope so! Our next lesson with her will be very important! Later that night we had english conversation class with vicky and julie. We shared a short spiritual message from the book "Our search for happiness" about how a married couple didn't really get along because they didn't have anything in common and almost divorced, but then they started to go to church and found their commonality in Christ. They kept asking more and more questions and what was supposed to be a 10 min message turned into a 35 min discussion! Then we just talked about America and they asked a lot of questions about our culture. They said that next time they would like to hear more about Our Search for Happiness so we are slowly making progress with them! On Sunday I gave a very simple talk about Obedience in english while my companion translated it. There were a ton of white people in the congregation that day because some army member family came. I talked to them after and it was nice to hear english for once! haha They were way cool. After church we taught this younger girl about honesty and shared an article from the Liahona. She said she would be honest with everyone and will continue to read the book of mormon. I think she is an investigator from the daeshin area but she was in town or something. (I don't know, I still can't understand anything) after we taught her we taught a Buddhist lady the restoration because she just wanted to learn what is different between all the different churches. She seemed really interested and we will teach her the plan of salvation next time! So.. these were all the big miracles we saw this week! There were a ton! and I think this next week will also have a lot of miracles! Just gotta keep working! Love you all!

-Carter 장로

Week 3

hey everyone,

 

this week was a very good week! So we actually had an appointment with one of our recent converts. He was baptized in april so we talked to him about the sacrament. recently he recieved the priesthood so we want him to bless the sacrament sometime. I think he's about 65 years old haha but he didn't come to yesterday. We will try to contact him again and see if he'll come to church. We had companion exchanges on thursday so I exchanged with our district leader elder campbell. He is a great missionary and he wanted to see our area was doing and how he could help me with this work. We went around town and tried talking to people on the street but it was tough. For some reason, our area Geojeoung's people are very private, and cold people. they don't even say Hello back if you say hi to them. They just look at you and look away or not even acknowledge you at all. Elder Campbell noticed this and said that is was completely different from his area. He told me a really cool story about this kind of situation! His first area was kind of like htis where the people didn't really want to talk or anything, and he said that the whole 12 weeks he was there he probably taught a total of 6 lessons the whole time he was there. They didn't have any investigators but they just tried their hardest. He said that he just kept going and he tried to "change" the area. After he left, he said that the area started to see better progress with people and the work was moving forward! Now, that area is having tons of success and a lot of baptisms! he said that missionaries really have the power to change areas if they choose too. they just need to trust in the Lord and work even harder. When we unexchanged, my companion and I had weekly planning and we talked about this. We made a goal to make the Geojeoung area a baptizing area! We also made a goal to give out a Book of Mormon everyday! So far we have done that except for 1 day! We are trying to "change" the area. And so far we have been successful! last night we got 2 contacts and talked to this very old guy that seems very interested in our church and he said he will read the Book of Mormon! I can't wait to see what happens this week with that! This week, will be meeting with sister do ji hyun again and we can both feel like she is our closest potential investigator to baptism. She can feel the spirit but doesn't want to commit to anything; but we can feel a baptism coming in her future... hopefully! Also this past week, we met again with our english students Vickie and Julie. they were the ones that told me they only wanted to learn english and not about our gospel. We met with them again and I went over an article that they brought it. It went really well and i think they learned a lot. They seemed very happy with my teaching and at the end they told me that next time we could have a spiritual message if we wanted! So that was jsut one of the many miracles we have seen! Hopefully they will be able to feel the spirit this time and want to learn more about the gospel! My time here in Korea is getting better and better! I love being here and just walking the streets trying to talk to people! There are some very humble people here and I think there will be a baptism before I leave this area. me and my companion are continuing to increase our faith and our new motto is 9 weeks 3 baptisms! We want to try and have 3 baptisms by the end of 9 weeks but if we don't than thats ok, its just our goal. I remember something my 7th grade math teacher told us haha : Shoot for the moon, even if you don't make it, you will land among stars! So we are trying our hardest to shoot for the moon and our 3 baptisms! this next week will be a great week! Love y'all!

 

-elder carter

카터 장롬

Week 2

Hey everyone!

Another week in Korea! This week was very similar to last week. Me and
my companion traveled all over the city to try and find less actives
or lost members but a lot of them were not home or were busy. On
tuesday we tried to visit some other members that are less active or
lost. We tried to visit this man named kim tay hune so we took the
subway bus and walked for all about 40 min to his cell phone store
because we tried his house before but he didn't answer. once we got
there he wasnt there... another worker said that he is on vacation so
we will try next week to come back. after that, we went back to "the
Hill" and walked up the huge hill to the less actives house.
Apparently she never answers her door and my companion has tried so
many times to visit her house with other companions but she never is
home or doesn't answer. so we got to her house and she actually
answered the door! she said she was very busy and sick so we jsut gave
her a small bottle of orange juice and left. haha she answered! My
companion couldn't stop laughing because hes tried so many times
before! haha I think we will try to visit her again sometime. These
are the small miracles that we see each day! haha wednesday I
practiced teaching with my companion and he gave me some good tips on
how to say things better and helped me a lot. He knows so much about
the gospel! After practicing teaching we tried a new area of less
active members and this time the environment was worse than "the Hill"
haha it was just as steep but it was way longer and more hot outside.
So we made the climb up the massive hill and through neighborhoods to
find this one house. We found it but there was no answer when we
knocked... There was mail sticking out of her mailbox so we checked it
and there were 2 different people living there now. she moved! gah!
haha so we had to go back down and then we asked some people if they
knew where she lived. They told us a different house up the same hill
so we went back up the hill! and to a different house but she wasn't
there... that was tough haha we left that area and took a bus back to
our area. We went to visit a sort-of less active up a different hill.
There are a ton of hills in korea aren't there? yes, yes there are.
haha it was a long walk up the hill and we found his apartment
complex. We asked the front person which room he was staying in but he
checked the list and he didn't live there anymore! That was a rough
day. so much walking and didn't get to meet with anyone. My feet were
about to fall off after that day. thursday we tried to go to a
beach/water park area to prostelyte but all the families there didn't
want to listen while they were having fun. after that we had a branch
activity and ate cold noodles in some kind of fish soup. It was
actually really good! and we also had fresh salmon sashimi and
watermelons. One of the members wanted to arm wrestle so we did. He
won! haha he's so funny too. Later that day we called a former
investigator and she said she would meet with us!
So friday we had zone meeting and we talked about how to use english
class effectively and the balance of fun and business we need to have.
It was good, I saw a bunch of other elders from my MTC district and
got to talk to them. Later that day we met with the former
investigator sister Doe Ji Hyon ( sorry I dont know how to romanize
Korean haha) We taught her about hope faith and charity. I was able to
teach in english because she is studying english as her major. My
first official lesson! In english! haha It went really well she said
that she always loves meeting with the missionaries because she feels
a good feeling. We invited her to read the book of mormon everyday but
she said she doesn't make comittments that she probably wont keep so
she said no. She said she believes in God if you ask him for things
but nothing beyond that so she doesnt want to get baptized or be a
part of this religion. I dont have much more time but the rest of the
week went like usual!

-elder carter

Week 1

Hello everyone!

 

So I made it Korea safely and have been here about one week! It has been great so far and I am loving it. Missionary work is definetely different than what I thought it would be. We have 0 investigators and only 2 "Potential investigtors" even thought our potential investigators only come to english class and only want to learn english, not about our church. anyway more on that later... the First day with my companion! My companion's name is elder Jeoung! 정장로님. He is hilarious! haha just a stereotypical korean that tries to speak english with a very thick accent. He's the best! A very hard worker and always is trying to do his best to reach out to other people. He is from Pusan so it's nothing is foreign to him. Our first area is called GwayJeoung. When we left the mission home, we walked for about 30 minutes in the blistering heat and humidity to the subway. It was awesome! haha I literally had sweat just dripping down my face as I had my suitcases and packpack on. We rode the subway for about another 20 minutes and then go to our apartment. It jsut got redone so it was actually really nice. We have a room with 2 beds and another room with our clothes. Then the kitchen and another open room with our desks. Surprisingly big. But, it doesn't have air conditioning so our windows are open and we have one small fan that cools us off. haha We planned for a little bit and then we had english class. Everyone said they would be able to come and then last minute they all canceled so we didn't have anyone show up. We left and walked around town for a bit. The cell phone was in my pocket and apparently it went off a couple times but I couldn't feel it. we checked and then called some of them back. They changed their plans and were waiting at teh church for about 15 min! We ran back to the church for a solid 10 min haha my fault... but they were very nice and forgiving. I talked with them in english for a little while just getting to know them and then that was it for the day. The next day we went to visit less actives. we took a bus and train for about 40 min and then walked for another 20 min up this HUGE hill! It was so steep that we had to stop halfway up and rest. once we go to the house, he wasn't there... haha AAHH! We took the bus and train back to our city and tried more less actives. No one was home. Nothing seemed to go right. But it was all ok! The next day we had english class again and Vickie and Julie are our students. We talked in english for about 30 min and then I taught them about the plan of salvation and why I am serving a mission. after what I thought was a very good message, they told me "we can learn about your message, but we don't feel anything. we come here to learn english. it takes us a long time to get here and we don't want to just hear a lesson." ahh... shoot. That was a tough one. Especially because they said they can't feel anything form our message. I felt pretty bad about that, but we continued to talk with them in english and we will meet them again next week for english class. They are our only 2 "potential investigators" but they really have no interest in the church. Sunday was good, I met a lot of people from the ward and everytime I introduced myself to someone, they would say "Oh! President Carter! Are you related to president carter??" haha the 1st counselor calls me President Carter now haha I introduced myself in sacrament and shared my testimony. we stayed for priesthood and sunday school. It was weird because we ended church 15 minutes early to attend to the garden outside haha we watered the garden with everyone and picked weeds out in front of the church. We tried to visit more less actives and they live so far away and none of them are home! we walked, rode the bus, and tried to find them, but either they moved or no one was there.

      So that was my first week here! haha doesn't sound like a lot and it really feels like it hasn't been, but it's always fun! Really hard, but also very fun at times. All of the males say that I look very big and ask if I play football. All the old ladies ask me if I am korean and say that I am a very handsome boy haha I'll have more next week hopefully! Love you all!

 

-Elder Carter

Made it to Korea! on 7/30/2013

hello mom/dad,

 

Well... I made it to Korea! President Gilbert told us that we should send a short email to you letting you know we all got here safely. It has been crazy so far! We went to the bank today and yes... I don't know any Korean haha but it should be fun. We will be meeting our trainers and going to the fish market later today.

 

last night we got to the mission home around 1020 and just went to bed. It is super humid here and I just feel wet all day. I didn't get sick on the plane so that was good. I slept a lot of the way to Japan and the whole 2 hours to Korea. The food was terrible and I couldn't get my bag of mcdonalds because our flight to San Fransisco was delayed as soon as we boarded. But, we did get little obento boxes on Japan air to korea. So much better than the food on delta to japan. Just letting you know that I got here safely and President and Sister Gilbert are awesome! Talk to you on P day!

 

Elder Carter