Week 79 & 80

hello everyone!

this week was a good week in daemyoung, this week we were able to meet again with brother yun haegn! it was a really good lesson, we taught about the plan of salvation. as we talked about how the plan was made for our eternal happiness, he really started to feel the truthfulness of it. he said that when he learned about the restoration everything made sense and he understood everything in his mind, but he said he feels like he is learning within his heart, not his mind. he told us about how he trusts us and opened up a little bit more to us. he was in jail for a little while of his life and once he got out, he started to look for God and wanted to change his life around. we asked what his life purpose was and he said that he wanted to give lots of money to charities and be able to help them out haha but then he explained that when he helps people, especially when it is a big sacrifice to him, it makes him feel happy. we talked about how the plan is made for our happiness and we can feel that for eternity. he accepted it very well and the feeling in the room was very tender. he actually came to church this week and stayed for sacrament! it will be exciting to meet with him again this next week! that was the main highlight of the week. today we went to costco (my 2nd time in korea) and ate at the food court. also me and another missionary bought a big box of mozzarella cheese sticks so we'll see how that goes... haha  love you!

elder carter

hello everyone,

this week was a pretty good week in daemyoung. so this week as i spent almost the whole week eating costco foods like cheese sticks, steak, sugared cereal, muffins, and kettle chips i felt sick almost everyday after eating them haha i cant go back to the US... ill be done for! so this week Yun Haegn was busy with different things like his family and heading out of town for a few days so we werent able to meet with him for this week. he did come to our english class on saturday but had to leave quickly because of an appointment with his friend... but we met with brother hong woo shik this week and he is having a hard time right now. he really wants to know about god these days, and he will start meeting with the other elders every week. he will also start coming to church after about 2 weeks where he will be out of town. man.. he just doesnt seem to have a lot of hope in his life. when we talked, he said all he wanted was a feeling that God was there. he said he never felt it. It was really sad hearing that, because we tried to explain that feelings of peace and warmth are from God, but he wants a firm "god exists" kind-of feeling. we testified that god loves him and wants him to recognize these feelings. it was a very humbling experience realizing what i know from personal experience and seeing someone else not have that same experience. im glad to know that god loves us and that he exists :) because of that, im able to serve a mission and have even more experiences like this! so thankful! love you mom and dad

elder carter

Week 77 & 78

hello!

this week was pretty good, we met with yang jae hong again yesterday and talked for about 2 hours long. we talked again about baptism and what his life will be like after baptism. so since we have to commit him to keep the commandments, we talked about tithing for the first time. he didnt really take it very well, not in a bad way but said he will think about it. he didnt want to commit to keeping it because he didnt think his faith was strong enough to make such a big decision. so we told him that we would have to move the baptism back because he needs  a little more preparation time. he really liked that, he said that he knows we dont just baptize anyone that wants to be baptized. it was a little disappointing during the lesson but after, he said he will continue to meet with us and he wants to grow his faith. so it turned around a little bit at the end. cancelling the baptism kinda just made me realize why we baptize people. we dont do it just for numbers, or to get people to join our church, but to help them start making covenants with heavenly father and that it is a very important/sacred thing. i feel like yang jae hong can see that our church is different from other churches but he just needs to feel it more. i know god lives and loves us! this is christ true restored church, no other church on earth is like this, it is a special gift. love you both and yes, in a few months i will be on the other side of the pond! 

and this is the last week of the transfer but i dont think i will get transferred, me and elder miller will probably be together for one more! then only 3 transfers left! ahh :( love you mom and dad! talk to you next week

elder carter

Re: Sigan

hello,

ya this week was good, we werent able to meet with brother yang jae hong this week. he is having some trouble at work right now and getting really stressed. so he works in the stock market,  and apparently he is really good at buying and selling. he said he is number one in his field. anyway, he teaches people how to buy and sell basically for free so lots of people are coming to him and joining his company. now the other companies are getting mad because he is "stealing" their customers so they filed a law suit against him... dang. ha he said it is just a lot of made up things so he can get taken into custody and not be able to work for a little bit so the other company can get their customers back, but it is a really serious situation. so he is worried they will charge him with false charges and he wont be able to work for awhile. when he gets stressed, he doesnt answer his phone and avoids people. so not much progress with him, gotta keep praying for him. but the good news for the week is that we got a referral from the mission! his name is brother yun hae guen. he said he saw one of his friends on facebook post a video about our church and he really got interested. we met with him one time last week and he seems pretty prepared by the Lord. when we talked about the restoration he just took it all in and accepted our invitation to read and pray. also when we asked him if he would come to sacrament meeting this next week he asked what time it started. we explained that it was 3 hours and he could just come to sacrament if he wanted. he told us no, that he would have to come the whole 3 hours since it was his first time and he would need to be respectful of the time. during the lesson, it just kept coming to my mind how much the lord prepares people before we even meet them. also through the book of mormon, we can know the truth of this gospel and begin a new journey through a new path. im excited to meet with him again and see how it goes! also yesterday we went to busan and had transfer meeting! me and my companion elder miller are both staying, and im now district leader. i had to say goodbye to some of my best korean friends and companions elder kim taeun, elder choi won seok and some others. love them so much!

i gotta go! love you!

elder carter

Week 76

Hi everyone

this week was awesome! we had a really good thing happen to us yesterday! so as of late, our investigator brother yang jae hong has been progressing very well and learning a lot about our church. he has had lots of good experiences with having special feelings and really feels comfortable in this church. whenever we talked about making the next step, baptism, he said he will think about it and get back. so sunday morning we woke up and there was a text from him at 2:10am saying "Ill got a baptism" in english haha kinda both future and past tense but we confirmed and he said he will get baptism on the 25th of this month! we are really excited for him! he has made a lot of changes in his life and is still making them, but he wants to be baptized this month! super awesome how the Lord is preparing people to come into the fold of God. wonderful week in daemyoung, ill keep you posted on yang jae hongs progress!

Week 75

hello everyone,

happy new year!
christmas and new years here in korea was great! we ate the usual new years food, rice cake soup. really good! this week was really good! we met with yang jae hong again and had some really really good lessons with him. we are still teaching about the plan of salvation and talked to him about the atonement this week. the lesson we had with him really seemed to be led by the spirit. he asked what happened after christ died, so we talked about the Resurrection and his visit to america. we turned to 3 Nephi ch 11 where christ comes and he is just flipping through the pages and finds verse 38 which talks about us repenting, being baptized, and becoming like little children in order to go to heaven. he said "this is an important sentence" in english haha  we asked him how that sounded to him and he said it was good. we felt prompted to ask him to be baptized on the 25th of january but he said he never thought about getting baptized. he said he will think about it and pray about it. the spirit was so strong in that lesson, it seemed impossible for him to find that small verse, but after he did and we talked about it, it led to talking about baptism. that was a really big testimony builder for me about the power of the spirit, how it can touch lives without them recognizing it. the next time we met, we finished the plan of salvation and he really liked the 3 kingdoms of glory. he said because we believe in the 3 kingdoms our church is very charitable towards everyone. he said because of that, this church is now "his church". we again talked about baptism and he said he doesnt know for sure yet, but he is leaning towards getting baptized. the feelings we had and the way he is progressing right now really make missionary work worth while. this week me and my companion have made some more personal goals to be more humble, be more uplifting and really trying everything we can to help our investigators. overall wonderful week! 

elder carter

Week 73 & 74

hello everyone,

training is great! my new trainee's name is elder miller he is from hawaii and loves basketball and surfing. hes about 6'5" so he's huge! but a little skinny. its funny because he talks a little bit like a surfer like "yeaaahh mann, lets hit the waves" haha but he is doing really good. it seems like he worked really hard in the mtc, his korean is really good and he just wants to talk to people about jesus christ. super awesome!

anyway, sorry not a ton of time, we have to prepare for our ward christmas party, cant wait to talk to you on thursday! <3

hello!

we had a good week this week being christmas! almost no time today but we had a lesson with yang jae hong. he said he felt very comfotable in this church and asked how he can share the gospel with other people! he said he didnt have any other real friends but he will just find a random person and try to bring them to church. haha during the lesson as we talked about praying and reading the scriptures everyday he told us he really liked this church and the people in the church. I could really feel the love that god has for him in that moment. hopefully he could feel that too. he is making more progress and doing well! 

anyway, gotta go, merry christmas everyone and happy new year!! :)

elder carter

Week 71 & 72

hello everyone!

yes it is 8:40 right now and we are emailing. we were in busan all day today because of transfer meeting and i had lots of meetings  because i will train this transfer! first trainee! haha they will come to korea this thursday. for the next couple of days, i will be with another elder that will train. elder jeong noh young. so we dont have mu;ch time, we have to get home soon. but this week we were able to meet again with brother yang jae hong! he came back from incheon and came to church this week! we didnt get to meet with him long but it seems like he will be busy again very soon... we also were able to teach the guy who i met when in the morning during exercise time. he was wondering about the book of mormon and why our church is different. i still dont know if he has lots of interest or is just wondering how we are different. we will see! 

also at transfer meeting one of the returning missionaries gave his testimony about how we are all called to the work. he was one of those elders that wasnt very good at korean, or public speaking, or very sociable, but he talked about D&C 4 how it says that everyone who has desire is called to the work. it was a very powerful testimony to me, especially since i will train a very new missionary who hasnt had much experience. wonderful testimony, i know that is true as well! through our efforts the lord will make up for our short comings!

love you mom and dad, have a great week! ill talk to you next week! and no i didnt get your package! i dont think i need anything honestly... mostly everything i can just buy here in korea, but thank you so much! love you

elder carter

Week 69 & 70

Hi Everyone,

this week was pretty good! we were actually able to get a hold of brother yang jae hong up in seoul and he sounded really good! he said he is excited to come back and meet with us in about 2 weeks. I asked scott how we could better help people realize that special feelings and thoughts came directly from God and he said to love them enough for them to be pierced in the heart. make them feel love from you, and then they will listen. we will do that and see what happens! 

as for other investigators, we were teaching brother lee sung won english and the gospel but we had to drop him because he didnt show any interest in the gospel. and also the presentation didnt really go through either. a lot of them were very curious about what our church believes but they all have their own religion and said that they arent interested... and then also brother lee min gun didnt come to church yesterday and hasnt answered our phone calls for a few days so we are praying for him. his son is in school to become a preacher so we are afraid that he might have talked to him about our church. hopefully we can get a hold of him! time to find new investigators! (again) haha..

Hi Everyone,

news for this week: we had one lesson this week. we have 2 investigators that we were able to meet with occasionally but sometimes its hard for them to meet because they are so busy. so we werent able to meet with either of them this week. we called, made an appointment, and then got a call saying they couldnt meet. dang.. but thats ok! we actually met a new investigator who came to our english class this past week. we talked to him a little before class and it seems like he has a lot of gospel interest. we talked for about 15 min and he talked for about 45 or 50 min about his life basically. he seems really awesome and will meet with us again! also at church this lady randomly showed up and said she wants to come to church next week. she said she wants to meet with us and learn about our church. she said to call us when we have time and we can teach her! so there were lots of miracles  that happened this past week to be thankful for. every week we get an email from president and lately president barrow has been telling me and elder noh that the Lord is preparing people daily. He has been doing this work since the world began and He will continue to do it through the eternities. knowing this really gives us hope to find and help the next person prepared by the lord. so overall, it was a good week :)