Closets, pig heads, squid, and... baptisms!‏

Hi!

I hope everyone is still alive out there. I sure am! And kickin'.

Anyway, this week has been great. Still not a whole lot has been happening. This past Saturday we had a baptism - Elder Cameron and Elder Woods' investigators got baptized. It was really great to see - they were all pretty happy. Our mission president decided to fast-track their progress and they also got confirmed that same day. It was a bit unusual I thought - but I'm sure President Cho knows much better. ;P It was really neat to see them all dressed in white - we had six people in white that day. Three people got baptized! A big blessing for Wonju branch - two potential priesthood holders. It'll be exciting to see how that helps out the ward.

Yesterday, we went and helped out the man that isn't doing so well. He's a taxi-driver, and... that's about it. He doesn't do much else with his life right now, he lives in a house above his parent's, and just... drinks all day. So the missionaries here have all decided that we're going to help him out as best we can. So each day he has a day off (taxi drivers in Korea work for two days, and then a day-off alternatively), we go over and visit him. Yesterday, we went at 11:30 in the morning. We try to go in the morning because if we go too late he's already drunk ("'cause I love... sochu. Bbbaaahahaha!" He's a really funny guy), so he never remembers what we tell him. Unfortunately, when we got there he was already drunk, so it was an interesting day. He kept talking about the pyramids in Egypt, how much he loves America, and then he played the guitar for us. I couldn't keep it! But, we talked a little bit about the plan of salvation, and what he believes about God and Christ. We're trying to work on getting him to pray right now - he seems to be warming up to the idea at least.

But after we taught him a few things, he wanted to take us out for lunch (go figure, a Korean wanting to feed us...). As we were walking there, we started winding through all of these little corner shops and small markets (I'll have to take a picture of that area and show it to you guys - I'm so used to seeing it now I don't think it's all that strange). One small market we passed in particular... had a pig head. Just a huge, severed pig head. Two of them, next to each other. And then behind that was a pile of pig ears.

Gross.

I thought it was fake, and almost expected it to be a mask or something... But no, Elder Lemons assured me quite well - it was indeed just a massive pig head.

What I didn't realize then was that I was going to be eating the rest of probably that same pig.

When we got to the small fry shop, the lady that was working there asked what we wanted. We got some 떡 stuff - which is just smashed up rice and rolled into a stick sort of thing. It's really good, and they put sauce and stuff on it with other meat mixed in. It was good stuff - but the guy we were with just wanted to keep feeding us. So then he got us this stick of... something. It was like a tortilla, with other stuff. So I ate that, and the food kept coming. Then he ordered kimbop (the sea-weed rolls. Good stuff), and then he ordered this stuff called... seh something.

I ate a few before I found out what it was. The first one I ate had these little strings stuffed into the inside of a clear looking rubbery kind of stuff. That's all that Elder Lemons ate so that's all that I dared to eat. Then the guy we were with told us what we were eating. He pointed to one thing - "pork. Pork... *pokes at his stomach* liver! Pork liver."

Awesome.

So I asked what the other things on the plate were - pork lung and two different kinds of pork intestines.

Mmm, boy. Good eatin'!

Needless to say, I didn't eat any more of that. It was either that or chicken feet, I guess....

Anyway, we also went out to eat with a member this week (this week has been an adventure in food I've realized). This story isn't too exciting, but I ate my first squid. Tentacles, suction-cups and all! It was rubbery, with little taste, but I felt kinda weird doing it. The place that we ate at with the other guy had deep-fried tentacles that I ate, too.

So now, onto the story of the closet. I've discovered that the closet in our dressing room is quite comfortable. I don't know why, but I go in there and study during my language study. I set-up a light, and have a little area set up for me now. The other elders always laugh at me, but it's nice in there. Yes, it's weird, but... it shall continue to happen I'm sure. xP

Anyway, really not a whole lot else. We went door-knocking again the past couple of days, and we got let in again. We have a return appointment with the lady for this Thursday. Here was the basic conversation (I spoke!)

The kid answered the door, and I asked if his parents were home - he said yes so I asked if we could talk with them. He turned around and yelled "MOM!!" (brought me right back to the Jones' house), and the mother came to the door. I then went on and explained what we were talking about that day - we decided to plan specifically for our door-knocking and wanted to talk about families. So I told them that we're missionaries from the Church of Jesus-Christ of Latter Day Saints, and that we're sharing a message about families. She looked at us both for just a minute, and then so "Come in! Come in." So we talked to her a little bit about how families are important, and will be going back tomorrow. I'm excited! I really got to see the answer to our prayers of finding and planning for specifics - and also how people listen to me, despite my bad Korean. xD

Anyway, I'm about outta time, so stay safe everyone! Be happy! Stay healthy!

Love,
Elder Webster

Roses, bicycles, and the story of the dirty suit.

Hi!

Things are still going really great out here, of course of course. Hope everyone is still alive back home, indeed indeed!

Well, this week has been also kind of uneventful. We're trying to find some new people as of late - we've been dropped by a couple of people, and others just don't have the time anymore to meet with us. So! Thus ushers in the new investigator search.

First transfer passed away like an old squirrel, and the new one is now coming like a tumbling rock down a mountain. I'm not actually sure what breaks up the new transfer, but I know that a few people will be leaving. But not I! I'll be staying in Wonju for another six wonderful weeks. The same as Elder Woods, Elder Cameron, and yes, my companion Elder Lemons. So, nothing changed out here in Wonju - missionaries are still laboring in this section of the vineyard.

A quick investigator update:
Helena and Seo: They've been doing well. Helena got sick, an then Seo did so we actually haven't gotten the chance to meet with them for a week. We met them on Monday and ha a really great talk with them. We decided to put off the baptismal talk for a while - Helena is really confused about it and just needs some time to think about it we decided. So, what we decided to do on Monday was give them the lesson that talks a little bit about families. That includes The Family: Proclomation to the World. We had the plan all prepared and got there - we didn't really even do any English discussion, but instead just jumped right into the lesson. Seo has his test today (Wednesday the 18th), but earlier this week he wasn't sure if he ought to take it or not. He decided he wouldn't - that he wasn't ready. It was a topic o much debate between the two of them - they said that they had been arguing earlier that day, an the previous day. I was sad to hear that, but got even more excited for the lesson we had prepared. We gave them the Proclomation and began reading it and reviewing it. They enjoyed it a lot, and sai that it was very good for them because they had just been arguing the previous day. Seo particularly enjoyed one section that talked about a strong home needs to be built off of prayer, forgiveness, service, love, and the teachings of Christ. He agreed fully. I really think that lesson helped them out, and the impression of the spirit was left very clearly. We get to meet them again this Friday.

Tank (김택명): I'm not sure if I've talked about this guy yet. He's a really awesome guy - he's about forty and teaches at a private English school, so he's pretty good at English. He plays the drums, goes snowboarding every weekend, and is just all around awesome. Unfortunately, he's had some difficulties the past couple of years. His first wife left him, and his second wife just recently left him. I figured since both of his wives left him... he needs to change something. We've been working with him, although he's really busy so doesn't have much time to meet. HOpefully we'll get the chance this weekend. I've taught him about prayer, and he said he prays every night. Then I taught him a little bit about God's eternal plan for us, and trials of faith. He seemed to really accept it, and it'll be great when we find some more time to teach him a lot more about the gospel - I think he's been humbled enough to be ready to accept it.

정수경 자매님: She's really cool. She has crazy little children that're kind of hard to deal with, but I really enjoy teaching her. She's trying to learn English so we're running the 30/30 program with her. She is alright at English, but she has a lot of really good questions that the gospel can easily answer: "What happens to all the other churches when Christ comes? Why are there so many other churches?" I think I've already mentioned this, but there are a massive amount of Christian churches in Korea. If you have a name, own a building, and can build a red neon cross, you can make your own church. Each night I look out my window I find a new cross off in the distance - I'm up to 17 right now. But anyway, I think teaching her will be great - although potentially slow progress, we just have to find what interests her the most.

Those're really our most potential people right now. There's another man, 한장훈 형재님. His kids are baptised but are less-active, and he's kind of in a hole in his life right now. He drinks often, drives a taxi, and lives upstairs from his parent's house. Unfortunately, he's quite smart. I don't like seeing that potential going to waste - he enjoys philosophy, speaks ok English, and knows a lot of Chinese. The four missionaries now are all going to work together to get this guy's life turned around. It'll be some kind of project indeed, but I think it's very achieveable. He enjoys being visited by us - he always takes us out to eat food every time he sees us (since he drives a taxi he's just going around the streets a lot. He tells us to get into his car a lot, and then takes us out for food). It'll be another project, but we're going to try and get him and his kids fully active in the church - he has some much potential that he can achieve - I can already see it.

Oh yeah, so Happy Valentine's everyone. I totally forgot it was on Saturday. The lady that we teach with the children brought us flowers and candy. For some reason, I've been very captivated by the roses that she brought. The candy is delicious - European chocolate! - but I've taken on a whole new insight into the roses. I can't figure out why, but I'm always really concerned about them. I've always learned a lesson from them:
I've been trying to find the best place for them to be to get the best amount of sunlight. I figured that if I keep them in the main room (it has a big sliding glass door that leads to the balcony), they'll got ok amount of sun. One day, just before we left, I saw the sun coming around through that door. So I figured "Hey! I'll put the roses on the floor while everyone is gone, that way they'll got plenty of sun."
So I did. We came back a while later - several hours. I found the roses, still on the floor, but not doing so well. The pedals were drooping, the leaves were looking sad, and the new rose that was just starting to open had closed up a little more. I thought they were doomed. I checked the dirt and found it to be quite dry, so I stuck them under the faucet for a second to let the water moisten it up. I hoped for the best.
The next morning, I awoke and checked on the roses again. Perfect! As if nothing had happened. It was unusual indeed. I started thinking about it, and realized that when I put it on the floor, the sun had beaten through the window and - although it was cold outside - the suns rays heated up the roses and dried them out. After wettening them and putting them back to where they first belonged, after only 9 hours they had been restored.
So of course, it made me think about us as humans and this world of a vineyard that we live in. Heavenly Father puts us in this place that will work out ok for us. Gives us the nourishment that we need when we need it, and keeps us alive. But then He moves us into the little harsher area. We don't think we can make it; and indeed, begin withering, drying, almost to death. He is still concerned for us, of course, but knows better than we do. Before I put the flowers there, I thought about the heat. I thought it'd be good for the roses. Unlike this foolish mind, Heavenly Father puts us into the heat because He KNOWS it's good for us. When we begin to whither, after doing all we can do to stay alive and keep struggling on with what we have, we are rescued. Heavenly Father puts us back into a zone of comfort, nourishing us once again with exactly what we need.
After I watered the roses, that new little flower began blooming again, and the bigger older ones opened up even more. Just as it is, from that harsh experience we learn something new. New flowers of our own begin blooming more, and the experience we already have begins to open up even more.

And thus is life! Stay diligent, persavere, and remember to keep reading you scriptures and praying.

Now, tell the story about the dirty suit...

We were visiting a less-active mother that had just had her kids baptised. She's been doing well since the baptismal service, and we went over to visit the kids an to share a quick message. Well, we went over one day to visit with no luck. She got sick! But she told us to come back the next day. So, we did. Elder Lemons and I had biked over the first day, but decided we all might as well split a taxi and come back the next day, and bike back home then.
So the next day came around, and we cabbed out to where this lady lived. After the quick message, it was time to head back. Elder Lemons and I got our bikes prepped, and Elder Woods and Elder Cameron were heading out to the street to catch a taxi. Then Elder Cameron got an idea.

Don't try this at home, kids.

And don't try this... well, anywhere.

He figured since we have two bikes, we might as well just make it effecient. So I got on the seat of my bike, and Elder Woods stood on the pedals. Elder Cameron got on the pedals to Lemon's bike, and Elder Lemons sat on the seat. Thus it commenced. We biked back into town, passing all sorts of confused looking Koreans, as I hung onto Elder Woods for dear life trying not to die (yes, I was wearing a helmet :D). Anyway, so about fifteen minutes of biking, we finally made it into where we needed to be. elder Woods and Elder Cameron hopped of an walked to where they needed to go, and me and elder Lemons began again on our bikes. I noticed something on Elder Lemons' jacket, and then felt on the back of my own. We had been biking along a river, an had therefore gone through some sandy patches.
My butt was all covered in sandy riverbed dirt..... So I got to go on for the rest of the night with that on me. Yes, lesson learned.
Jacket is fine, too. Got it dry cleaned. :D

So anyway! That's all. It's been getting colder again, but still manageable. Hopefully it'll be warming up soon.

I do have one last quick request, though. I've discovered a way to send stuff to me through the military base. There's a guy on-base that is nice enough to do all of this - he recieves the packages and then ships them out to the missionaries. Coincidentally, I've noticed a few things that I'm still missing that I could use from home...
> A hoody (the brown Vans one)
> Honey (it's expensive in Korea, and I like peanut butter, banana, and honey sandwiches :D)
> Two notebooks I sent home when I was in the MTC but realized I shouln't have - the blue one and the green one.
> The Doctrine and Covenants Student Manual I had in my room... somewhere. If you can't find this one, it's ok. Just a luxury. It's helpful for study.
> Also, music. This is a request going out to one and all. I'm in a dire need of music. Elder Cameron only has so many CDs, and they aren't very good. Church hymns, instrumental music, gospel stuff... Just something. Preferably not MoTab, but it's ok too.

Unfortunately, I don't have the address with me. Yeah, go me, real smart. But! I'll get it for you next week.

So! I hope all is well. I hope everyone out there is staying happy and healthy - and remembering to read your scriptures and say you prayers!

Love,
웹스터 장로

A lack of appointments, a lack of trash-cans, and the case of the missing wallet.

Hello!

This past week has been great (of course. If I don't start an e-mail like that, I may've lost a limb. But I wouldn't actually tell you, so... just keep an eye out for that code. Or I just forgot to).

Although it has been good, we've had a decrease of appointments with our normal investigators. One of them, the old man that got the job, now doesn't have enough time to meet with us. He's working every day, though - and as Elder Lemons pointed out, it might turn into the Nephites of rising and falling in their success... So, we'll still be standing by at least. :D

Another of our investigators got sick - she has tonsal...bad stuff. I don't know how to spell it. But anyway, we've only been able to meet with her and her husband once over the past week. It's been tough - we had her baptismal date planned for the end of this month but it'll have to be changed now.

Our other good investigators are still doing well, though. Although we haven't had the chance to meet with them, we've at least gotten phone calls sent to them. So, that's ok. We're still checking up on them. One really great guy that we haven't had the chance to teach a lesson to yet has been going through a hard time - he met with the missionaries about two years, and we found his record and gave him a call again. We aren't sure why he stopped meeting, but we've only had the chance to see him two or three times. He's always busy - works from morning to night, and then goes snowboarding on the weekends (... >.<). We've tried to get him to make time for us, but not much luck so far. So anyway, we found out the other day that his wife kicked him out of the house. Not really sure why, but I asked him if there was anything we could do for him. All he said was to pray for him. I asked if he'd pray for help, too, but didn't say much, and then said that he had to go. So, we'll call him later. So, hopefully that'll turn out ok soon!

Other than that, though, we've been going about trying to find new people and contacting old people. We rode our bikes for the first time yesterday - I definately miss real bikes (the back brake doesn't work very well, and the rim has a big dent in it. I'm safe, though, don't worry). I had fun suffering on the bike since it has been something of like... five months since I've had a good ride. There's a hugely steep hill near our apartment. Elder Lemons toughed up it, but I gave up as soon as my gears popped and I lost momentum. But I cheered him on! Also, for some reason, while we were on bikes, a lot more people said hello to us. Kinda strange. Maybe they felt bad because we looked ridiculous wearing a suit and helmet. BUT! I did have my ninja face mask on. That's all that matter, I think. Except for when I couldn't breath very well...

We met with our Branch President this past week, too. He's really, really nice. He has the most awesome little kid - and I don't think anyone better could be called to serve as the Wonju branch president. He's the most humble guy, he works as a car-washer and lives on the top floor of a two story house (the top floor is smaller). So, he's been helping out a lot - he likes to help the missionaries and he's always very happy.

Not really any stories to report. The explanation of the title would be that I've began to discover that, for some reason, Korea seems to have a massive lack of trash cans. I can't figure it out. They sort their trash in recyclables - paper, plastic, and food trash - which is kinda neat. But... there aren't ever any trash cans around. Maybe I'm just used to America where, you know... it's logical to put a trash can in each room. Our apartment has a trash can the size of one you'd keep in a bathroom, and our church has one for the entire church. It's just weird, is all.

Next, "The Case of the Missing Wallet" or "The Most Expensive Taxi Ride Ever". We were heading home from a less-actives house and the group stuck me in the front - it was all four missionaries that night. And because I was in the front, I had to pay. So, I gave the guy a five - the cost was about $2. He gave me two dollars back - I didn't realize until after I got out of the car because we were trying to move quickly. So he gipped me a dollar in the first place, and then when I went to put the cash into my wallet... I discovered it was quite gone. Yes, quite gone. Not just missing, but 없습니다 ! So, that really kinda sucked. It had my bank cards, my alien ID card, and 22 dollars. But, there was nothing I could do. I searched on the ground and all about, with no luck.

We went back into our apartment and started planning meeting, and that night I prayed that I'd find my wallet with my cards intact. I needed them!

The next morning we were to go to our district meeting, so the other two missionaries left first to go to the bus station. Elder Cameron has an addiction to chocolate, so he went and grabbed that at a nearby store. When he went in there (I found this out later - they told me the story after pulling the prank on me) the lady behind the counter asked "Hey, do you know this person?" and showed Elder Cameron my wallet - with my driver's license in the front. So, he took the wallet and gave it to Elder Lemons without me knowing. I went to the bus station with sadness because I had to make Elder Lemons buy my ticket, but then after we bought the ticket he said "We have to go get money".

So we ran out of the bus station and across the street to an ATM. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a wallet and told me, "Ok, go get some money". I flipped the wallet open really confused and found out it was mine. At first I thought he had taken it in the first place and they were just pulling a total joke on me, so I may've threatened Elder Lemons' life a little bit (just a little), but then realized that Elder Cameron and Elder Woods must've given it to him after that. And after he gave me big puppy dog eyes.

So! My wallet is safe. My money was gone, but all of my cards were intact. Now, how did that wallet get from a taxi cab into a convienance store, you ask?

Yeah, so do I.

Prayers come true!

Keep praying, keep reading your scriptures, and stay healthy and happy.

'til next time!

Elder Webster

Hiiii everyone!

Hi!

Things are still going great. The font to this computer is really big. It's kinda freakin' me out.

Anyway, yeah this week has been good. I got Nate's e-mail -- don't worry Nate, I can relate. Sometimes it feels like you aren't moving along at all, and even though you may not feel like it, you are! And have patience with your trainer. There isn't too much time left, and maybe this is a good refining period for you to go through. :D

So first off, I bought a translator and a new memory card for my camera. Hence the slight dent in the bank account now. Also, my card doesn't work again... -.-;; I'm assuming it's because of they're doing updates again? Probably. It worked fine that one time I drew money out, but went again today and no such luck. But that's ok, I don't actually need anything really. I got want I wanted. The translator is awesome, too. It does Japanese, Chinese, and Korean - touch screen, mp3, recorder... *sigh* Haven't had the chance to play with it yet, though.

Ok, so just a couple of quick stories. My trainer and I were walking along yesterday - we went to Hwengsung yesterday - about a half an hour busride from Wonju - and decided to go scout out the area up there. I didn't even know that our area covered so much, but apparently it goes even farther north. So anyway, we meandered up there for a while and talked to a few people. Didn't really do too much else but get a map, visited a less-active up there and got a return appointment with her, and just chundo'ed for a while. BUT, as we were coming back, my trainer said hello to someone standing at the bus stop. He started up a basic conversation, and the guy said that he's actually an American citizen (he was a very old Korean - he said 73). He does business in Wonju, America, and Seoul. He has apartments in each area, and will be in Wonju for a little while. So, Elder Lemons started talking to him for a little while, just the basic getting to know him stuff, and we found out that he likes to read the bible. He doesn't have a religion right now, but is interested. So! We got a potential investigator on our hands. A very wealthy, well-to-do man even. One of the first things I've noticed about Korea is that the people here are really intelligent - and they're the ones that're interested in the church!

The same day, we were walking to the church to go prep for our English class, when a guy stops us on the street. He looks at our name-tags first, and then starts talking a lot. I didn't understand anything he said, but my trainer told me that he had seen some missionaries like 20 years ago, and they gave him a BoM. He put it in his garage, and just left it. Until recently, when he refound out and pulled it out and started reading about it. He knows about Moroni, and about Joseph Smith. It's really cool! He said he'll actually come to church this Sunday, too. I hope he will - another potential. ;)

And another current investigator that we have - the 70 year old man Jung jintek that was looking for a job - found one! He said that he'd been praying every night "to the God to help me find job". And he realizes that it's because he's been praying that he found the job! He's such a cool guy. Unfortunately, it'll be harder to meet with him - but I think this is great progress and I'm really happy for him.

That couple that I mentioned last time - Helena and Seo are still doing really great too. I think they're both really really close to baptism. We really haven't met with them very much - the only concern that Helena has been having has been baptism by authority and Joseph Smith. She understands that our church has power - that we may even be the true church, and she totally knows the BoM are God's words. But, she is really confused as to why she'd have to get baptised again. When she get baptised as a Presbyterian she knew that she was entering into a covenant with God, so... Why do it again? Next time we plan on teaching her about authority and about the Holy Ghost. It's gunna be fun!

That's an update on some wonderful happenings out here in Korea Land. I hope you're all doing well out there in 미국! Did you know America in Korean translates to "Beautiful Land"? Cool huh?

Now some funny stories about strange school-attenders:

as we were walking around yesterday trying to find the bus station that would get us up to hwengsung, we got lost. Of course. This place is confusing! So, we asked a few people and started to try and talk to some people. Everyone was really nice - but on the flip side, since it was a nice day, there were a lot of people out. Mostly females for some reason, and little kids. I don't really know why. We kept passing by females in Jr. High and High School that would just stare at us. one group of girls made really funny noises when we passed by them. I couldn't stop laughing. And little kids kept staring at us, too. Everyone keeps saying "Ah!Foreigners!" or, "Wow! Americans!" And then my trainer and I say hello, and they laugh and giggle to themselves. I asked Elder Lemons if it ever gets old - he said no. :D

And also, while we were up in hwengsung, we found a group of high school guys playing basketball. We stopped and watched for a while, and one of them said "Hello! I love basketball!" and we just smiled and said "Great!" (both in English). Then, another kid said "I love you!" I just started laughing. As we kept watching, he said it again. I laughed even more. It just gets me every time - of all the English words they learn those ones! Oh man, it's so funny. I don't think I'll ever get tired of that.

Anyway, not too much else to report. We're in Seoul right now actually - Zone Conference and temple trip. I'm VERY excited! I'll be sure and get all my pictures sent that I've taken up to this point - especially of the temple!

So family and friends and hackers that're attacking the computer that my family and friends are reading this e-mail on, stay happy! Stay healthy! Keep (or start) praying and reading your scriptures! It's fun and good for you. :D

Love,
Elder Webster