Week 4

Hey everyone!

 

This week was another good week overall. Me and elder Hansen have been hard at work and we teach a lot of lessons to our two investigators. We have actually committed both of them to baptism this week after about 4 lessons. Even though they are "fake" investigators, it still feels good to get a couple of baptisms under our belt. This past sunday was a sunday I will never forget. Due to security reasons me and elder Hansen were not supposed to tell anyone about what we were assigned to do. Last sunday, all of the new mission presidents, members of the 70, 11 of the 12 apostles, and the first presidency including the prophet, were all in a special sacrament meeting that Elder Hansen and I were able to be a part of. We were assigned by our branch president to be 2 of the 48 missionaries that got to pass the sacrament to all those people I listed. It was an amazing experience seeing the Prophet and his counselors on the stand about 30 feet from where we were passing! I actually passed pretty close to President and sister Stoker, but I don't think they saw me. Elder Holland was next to president Uchtdorf which was kind of funny because elder Holland looked like he was piercing into the souls of all of us missionaries while President Uchtdorf was just smiling and looking around at everyone. haha Me and President Uchtdorf made eye contact and I gave him a smile and a nod. He did the same to me. The spirit was so strong in that sacrament meeting, my heart was pounding so hard and elder Handen said that his body went numb. I will never forget that. We weren't able to stay and listen to the prophet speak to the mission presidents, but it was nice to see him. Later that day was the worldwide broadcast in the Marriot center. We were taught about the new way of missionary work and how we can help members become better missionaries. New technology will also be added as a way to do missionary work. Tuesday we had the weekly devotional. We heard from Janice Kapp Perry. She is actually the great aunt of one of the elders in our district, Elder Wilson. She gave a shout out to him and said hello in korean. She has written about 10 of the songs in our children's song book for the church. A lot of the more well known ones, so that is pretty cool. We sang some of those together as a congregation and she taught us about the spirit. The rest of the week was about the same as always, we teach and go to class to learn more about korean and the gospel! Everything is going well with our district and our companionship, no complaints! The spirit is so strong here at the MTC and I love it. Love you all! Talk to you next week!

 

- Elder Carter

Week 3

Hi Everyone,

This week was a good week. Elder hansen and I taught very good lessons to our investigators and we are seeing our language improve everyday! We had probably the best day in the mtc so far on saturday. We buckled down and were able to memorize and review all the grammar forms. We were really focused on working and studying that day and it produced so many blessings. We were so happy we were able to learn those grammar forms and will continue to work hard on our language and gospel study. On sunday, we had sacrament as usual and then devotional was really good! We heard from Stephen B. Allen. he talked about us as missionaries and how we can better missionaries. It was weird, because earlier that day I was thinking about Korean and hard it is and how it seems like everyone else is progressing so much faster than me. Elder Allen talked about us comparing ourselves to other missionaries and said that we shouldn´t because it will only frustrate us and make it even worse. He said, ¨¨It´´s not who you aren´´t, it´´s who you are. Being yourself is being great.¨ He was really in tune with that spirit and it was really powerful to all of us in our district! I loved that devotional! On monday, we taught sister sagers about the book of mormon and how it is the keystone to our religion. We asked her if she would read it everyday and pray about it, but then she said something that we couldn´´t understand so we had her write it down, and then we just asked her to pray haha we asked her later what it meant and she said that the Book of mormon was really hard to understand. Oh well... haha we will teach her better next time! tuesday night devotional was also great! If there is anyway for you to watch or stream the devotionals throught the internet I would highly recommend it! Elder Gay talked about recieving revelation from God and how we need to trust Him in every way possible. One thing he said that struck me was ¨the Lord will ALWAYS deliver!¨ He repeated that a few times in a row. he talked about a man named billy that had crazy visions about the church coming to his country. I think billy lived in like africa or something and this was awhile ago when the church was being spread throughout the world. Billy had visions that the church would eventually send missionaries and that he was suposed to tell people that they need to prepare for the gospel so when it gets to them they can be baptized and come unto Christ. Billy was chastized and persecuted, he lost his property and his wife who divorced him. About 15 years later, the church was brought into his country and he already had over 1000 people ready to recieve the restored gospel. It was a really cool story about us trusting the Lord because, ¨The Lord will ALWAYS deliver!¨ The rest of the week went as usual and was really good! Hopefully next week will be just as good! i miss you all but being here at the MTC is so awesome! Keep on doing the Lord´s will! He will bless you! Love you all!

 

Love,

 

Carter Chang no

Week 2

hey everyone

 

 So this week was definitely a rollercoaster kind of week. Me and elder hansen are working hard and study ALL the time! we have a set MTC schedule and there are always personal study times and additional or language study times. Its awesome to get away from class once in a while and just study the scriptures. In english of course! that makes such a difference. haha Sunday was our first regular sunday because last sunday was fast sunday. I really love going to sacrament meeting because everything is in Korean! the speakers try to use korean as much as possible and we always sing hymns in Korean. I love to sing hymns in Korean. Plus it also helps me with my reading ability and speed of reading. Ive always heard that the language of the gospel is the same for everyone because the spirit can be felt, and I know that to be true, Ive felt it so many times even though I have no idea what some people are saying. Sunday was an overall great day. Monday was a different story. I don't know why, but our whole district was just so tired and frustrated with Korean. Me and elder Hansen felt really bad because our teacher said we couldn't use our korean language book and we didn't know what to say. We were supposed to teach each other about prayer in korean and we didn't know what to do. I know it doesn't sound like a big deal but we all just got down on ourselves because we still aren't comfortable with Korean. Probably the worst day in the MTC. Oh well... Our night class made up for that. Brother Kim taught us that night and we really felt the spirit so strong. It made everything better! The Lord is always looking out for His missionaries. The rest of the week went by pretty fast. We teach Brother Kim and Sister Sagers almost everyday. Me and elder Hansen have finally been able to learn vocab enough to where we have an idea on what we want to talk about and go in there without a word-for-word script of what we are going to say. This week was our 4th or 5th lesson but it was the first time we were able to feel the spirit while we taught. The other times we were not experienced enough so we would just focus on trying to read our message out of the books. Teaching by the spirit is obviously the better way to go. Other than all that, we are all very close as a district and continue to grow closer to each other and to our Savior Jesus Christ. I love my district.

 

 Can you send me the lyrics to "If you could hie to kolob" in a dear elder letter? That's my favorite hymn but they don't have it translated into Korean and I don't know the english words! We need something to sing when we are taking showers and getting ready haha. Its also Elder Hansen's favorite song so we could both use it. We want to memorize it by the end of the mtc stay.

 

Thank you for the dear elders and everything you send me! It keeps me going! This is a wonderful work and I think its already starting to fly by. This last week just went by so fast! Ill try to send you some pictures of the people ive seen. Ive actually seen a lot here from byui or mountain view! Love you all! Ill continue to pray for you every night! Please pray for me! I really need some help with this Korean thang. It's so tough trying to learn it all in 9 weeks! Thank you! Love you mom and pop!

 

-Carter Chang-No

Elder Hansen, My companion

My district

With Elder Tobler

With Elder Schofield

First Letter, May 31

Hello family!

So today is friday, my p-day. It has been a real adventure so far! On wednesday we we with our hosts and they took us around the mtc. we got our nametags and all the other things we needed. I was dropped off in a room with two sister instructors. They began speaking Korean and I thought they would eventually translate what they were saying into english but they never did! They still haven't yet! Only a few words will come up in english so we aren't totally lost but overally about 99% of our classroom time has been in Korean. We started to learn the Korean alphabet and how to pronounce them. I met my companion Elder Hansen. He is from Southern California, plays baseball and football and is a really funny guy. We get along very well! then we met the rest of our district in our classroom and they are all very cool elders! Their names are Elder Han, Clark, Wilson, Jackson, Blake, Sorenson! We are all cramped into a small room with desks enough for 4 but we have 6 people in our room. There are 4 closets and very limited space for all 6 of us but we make it work.

The first day we did some orientation and began to get to work immediately. We had language class and study times throughout the day. I don't even really know what to write about I feel like there has been so much going on! but it has been a really great experience so far! I love the mtc and time seems to go quickly when you are trying your best to learn the language and study. I think it was our 2nd day here, we had a large group of elders and sisters that met with 3 different investigators and asked them questions and taught them as a class. It was a really spiritual experience and I can't wait to teach my own investigator. Me and elder Hansen have been hard at work learning the language and getting used to the missionary schedule. We are actually teaching a Korean "investigator" later today. (I think the investigator works here or something, so I've heard. He isn't really an investigator) But we are only supposed to speak Korean to him! His name is Kim Young Jun. yesterday in class we learned how to say God loves us all, the church is true, and our message is short. haha so we are teaching him later today, taking turns as companionships. Elder Han is our district leader and is a white-washed Korean. He is full Korean but can't speak it very well. He can understand most but can't speak as well. He could probably hold a simple  conversation but still needs to be in the beginning Korean class with all of us. He will be helping us with our Korean later today before we get to teach our investigator. Korean is hard! I thought you and mom said that if you hear Korean off in the distance you get it confused with Japanese sometimes before you realize you don't understand it. I don't think it sounds anything like Japanese! haha It's fun to learn though.

So far the mtc has been good to us elders! Hopefully the next week will be even better! This church is true and I love learning more about our Savior Jesus Christ. This sacred work will change the lives of people that accept it, I know that to be true! I have to go now, I love you and miss you all!

-Carter Chag-no

Elders flying from AZ to Utah