Week 48

hello everyone!

ya this week was really good in my new area andong! it really is a countryside place but the people are very humble and nice people. This last week we met with an investigator named brother kim jin hoon and talked about the word of wisdom and coming to church. he has a slight mental problem but is still able to be on his own. we talked and shared the scripture mosiah 2:41 and helped him to see that people who keep the commandments will have never ending happiness. He is working very hard and progressing a lot. he's had problems with smoking but is starting to get over it through prayer and reading the book of mormon. we actually invited him to be baptized and he said yes!  his date is july 13 so we will help him prepare for that as best we can! We also met another investigator named brother Lee sang hoon and his mom. His mom is  a member but he has been investigating the church for awhile now. hes a really humble guy and just wants to be happy. we talked about scripture study and why it is important to read the book of mormon in order to know if this church is true or not. Its a little bit sad to see, but it seems like he doesnt have a lot of hope in his life. he works, watches world cup, and lives with his mom still. not a lot of friends and not a lot going on. when we met with him i really just thought about the blessing it is to a part of this gospel, to enjoy the blessings that come from it. maybe just because im a missionary or something but it seems like there is always something we can be doing that will help us progress! 

our branch in andong has about 40 members that attend and they are all really nice! ive met with a couple of them and all of them just want to help the missionaries. all the youth there are really fun and have strong testimonies too! apparently if members ever take you out to eat, its always something called ChimDak. its chicken, vegetables, and noodles in a brown sauce thats really good! basically andong is sweet and i hope i stay here awhile! hope you all have a good week! love you!\

-elder carter

Week 46, 47

hello everyone,

 

So I got transfered this past week! really hard to leave Jinhae and especially saying good bye to the ward members. im in a place called Andong now in Daegu, a little more north of Jinhae I think. It is really countryside so we had to take a bus from busan to andong that took 2.5 hours! and then another bus for about 30 minutes, so our pday was done yesterday! so im emailing today but not very long we have an appointment soon. My new companion is elder Ha Sung Jun and i will be his follow up trainer! pretty cool... some of the highlights from last week was meeting with our new investigator rohitha. he is from Schrilanka(sp?) and speaks a little english. he just talked and talked but we were able to share a short message about the plan of salvation. He said he was really happy with his life but we just testified about the plan of salvation and how we can be happy for eternity. He will continue to meet with the jinhae elders next week but i think he will be able to progress with them. thank you everyone, sorry i cant really email there is no time. next week!

 

-elder carter

Week 45

hello everyone!

not a ton of time today but this week was really cool and i learned a lot. this past week we had zone conference with president and sister gilbert. this was kind of their final big meeting before they go home in 2 weeks. we talked about our purpose on earth. why are we here? and the answers that were given were : to become like god. and to help others become like god. As I thought about this and as we discussed it, it seems like you couldnt do one with out the other. in our journey to become like god, we would be trying to act as god would. and in the process, helping others on their journey to repent, change, and also become more like Him. i remembered some scriptures in moroni chapter 7 about faith, hope, and charity. it says that without faith you cant have hope, and with out hope you cant have faith. kind of like an all or none situation. so i thought about our purpose "to become like god" and in order to do that, we must help others become like him. Only through this gospel can we become like Him, and we get to share this gospel every day. as missionaries we really can help other people do that. in moroni 7 it says to have faith hope and charity, charity being the pure love of christ. as ive done missionary work i realize that only through charity can we really do this work. so i substituted our purpose in for faith and hope ending up with becoming like god, helping others become, and charity. charity never faileth! last week we were able to meet with brother Hwang and talk with him for about 10 minutes. i really hope he can feel the charity and love that god has for him. we shared a message about the restoration and how much god loves him. he said he would think about it and let us know. We pray that he will come to know the truth of this message! hopefully soon! thank you all for the love and prayers, have a great week everyone!

-elder carter

Week 44

hello everyone!!

yes last week was my year mark! ugh... time really does go by too fast. I remember when i was in my 1st transfer and i went on exchanges with elder campbell. I remember asking him how long he's been on his mission and he said about a year. it seemed like one year would never come but it came faster than i couldve thought... everyone says the second year goes by faster but i sure hope thats a lie.. haha darn. as far as last week goes, our new investigator, dave, dropped us and said that he doesn't really want to learn about god anymore. If he wants to learn about god later, he will call us. that was a really special moment in my mission, honestly. My companion and i started from square one and explained about the nature of god and his love for us. after we talked and he told us he didnt want to learn more, i just kept thinking to myself about how this gospel has helped me and how it could help him. nothing too special happened, just a "testimony builder" kind of feeling came over me and i thought about how this gospel REALLY CAN help every single person who accepts it. It was sad to see, but he used his agency for himself and im sure he'll be back to learn someday! 

our other investigator brother Whang didnt meet with us this week. We tried calling him like he told us too and said that he will call us later. he told us not to call and he will have us over again later. hopefully it all works out with him.

on sunday the sister missionaries had an investigator and her son come to church for the first time. the ward did a great job with fellowshipping them and i think the son really felt welcomed and liked coming to church! our ward members are so awesome. 

well, as ive served my mission for just over a year now, ive never really had much progressing investigators or a ton of people to meet with, but i know my testimony has definitely strengthed and the message i get to share each day is true. through our actions, other people are blessed and i can see that everyday. im so thankful to be in korea for the next year! have a great week everyone, talk to you soon!

-카터 장로