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