Still "loving it in Seoul!"

It's been awhile since I've updated our sweet missionaries blog. I know it's long, but I wanted him to be able to look back and read it when he gets home. We are planning on going to pick him up in July! We are so excited! It is amazing to see his growth and even though he hasn't had a lot of baptisms or success in that way, he has grown in patience and most definitely spiritually. We are so proud of him and the man he's become. We love every Sunday night when he writes and look forward to his letters and all he teaches us. He is doing great as a zone leader, and will have been in Ilsan after this transfer for seven months,which is a long time, but hopefully there will be miracles in the next 4 months and he can continue to be happy and have the experiences he needs!

 Dinner with the guys in the apartment!

 One of Josh's favorite investigators, Scott.

 A fun ward activity he was in charge of.

 This is Elder Chizzy's ward mission leader, he has come to really love him and they've become really good friends.

 Ice skating on Pday with his zone!

 Huge apartments called The Zenith!

 Packages from home are the best!

 The day the Sisters he went in the MTC with went home. He loves and respects these sisters and Elders. The one on the other end of the Elders was his MTC companion!

 Just hanging out in an elevator!

 Auntie Loreen sent him a gangnam style shirt and a cool beenie! He loves it!

 Some massive shoes being sold on the street. Mostly I  was interested in how worn out his shoes are! Makes me happy. He doesn't want new ones, he wants to wear these all the way out!

 Hiking!

 Elder Chizzy and Smith….with matching hair cuts.

 Zone Leaders and Sister Training Leaders!All in yellow….the sisters idea!

 I love the sweater "Live Strong"….

Hiking Book Han San

Jan 19

Pride is seriously such a terrible thing... It can be pride of anything. Simply putting things before God is pride. It's something I have tried to work on my whole mission, and it is the thing that probably makes me the most sad out of all things.... This week was a pretty bad contacting week too that just had a lot of people that really didn't want to listen and let God into their life. Haha it has just been one of those times that I have had to look inside myself and think about what I need to do better cuz everything has been pretty darn rough.. Haha I feel like I have had this conversation with you a lot cuz it has happened a lot on my mission... This one had been a little bit different... Not just because I am used to it or whatever, but I have found myself wanting to look deeper into things and find what went wrong? Or what made it happen this way... Was it me? Or what does heavenly father want me to learn? Cuz I feel like I have been working as hard, if not harder, than ever and just the new investigators aren't coming and things just aren't going great. Our ward really is excited about the three baptisms, but they don't ever put that excitement or desire into anything and so it just feels like we do the same thing every single day and I can't break out of it... But, the thing that I have been thinking a lot about is how I just can never think I deserve things. Haha I can't think that because everyone else is getting these baptisms, that it is my turn cuz that isn't the way it goes... Seeing those things can bless my life, but Heavenly Father knows me better than I know me, and He knows exactly what I need to go through. It makes me sad because I wish I could help these people, but I just have thought that Heavenly Father needs me to learn in a different way.. If that is the case, I just have to keep going right?? Haha never giving up and  pushing back against all the discouragment and what not.. It is hard, but I have dealt with it my whole mission and it has been hard to push it back, but I have changed and become better. This situation is no different and I just gotta keep going!!

I had a couple really good studies this week... I really liked Enos... I read it and I noticed the same things that I normally did... Like how hard he prayed and how much is faith grew, but as I read towards the end, I started realizing that after the Lord promised him that the record that he was keeping (the plates of nephi) would be preserved, that the Lord said that it would be in His timing... That got me thinking about how we have to accept the Lord's timing in all things and that we just need to follow His commandments. Cuz the Lord told Enos to declare unto the people repentance and baptism and the gospel and Enos went out and did it. The Lord has promised us that we can have eternal life if we follow His commandments. He has promised us His Spirit if we keep our covenants. We just have to serve him and do his work and then, we can have the assuarance that Enos has at the end of his book. I love how he talks in those two verses. Read the last two verses in Enos:) They are awesome and I want to be able to hear that when I stand in front of God at the judgement day... Pretty cool:)

Feb 2

Anyways, this week was kind of a weird one cuz of the holiday...Well, this week was the Chinese New year and it is a really big holiday in Korea! So we had a big missionary meeting on Thursday and I had to clean the rest of the weekend... Kind of boring right????? The reason we had to do that is cuz all of the koreans here leave to their hometowns and no one actually is from the area I live in. So they all go down south to see their families... Haha they eat a big breakfast and this stuff call rice cake soup... When you eat it, you turn one year older!! kind of crazy right?? Haha and then, all the kids bow to their elders? (haha old people) and the old people give them money!! Sounds like fun right?? Maybe you should do that to mom and she will give you some money!Haha yeah it is different then it sounds, but it is pretty good:) Rice cake is the best translation for it... It is just kinda weird stuff!! I have ate a lot of it... Koreans eat tons of rice cake stuff.... It is called 떡 (pronounced like duck, the animal) haha it is intersting that is for sure!! And Bruno Mars performed!? Darn... Missed the best super bowl ever... Haha oh well. I am excited to see what kind of music is out when I get home!! That will be kind of a fun thing.. Haha anyways, that is the story for the week We didn't have p-day on monday which is always kind of weird, but we made it through and still worked hard. Tuesday we found a new investigator, Danny, and he is pretty cool. I met him on the street about a week ago and he lived in Canada for awhile. He knew Winnepeg even which was cool! most koreans don't know Winnepeg but he knew and we talked about it for a little bit. He is pretty good at english but we mostly speak in korean which is fun. We were able to teach him the first lesson and focus a lot on God and the Book of Mormon which was good. When I teach, I learn so much. It's always interesting for me to get into teaching and then take a step back and realize what I am talking about. It teaches me a lot and this time it really made me think about our Heavenly Father and how much He loves us and how much I have learned about Him while I have been on my mission. He is there and He will always help us if we just trust Him and His plan for us. We talked about that a little bit and we were also able to talk a little bit about the Book of Mormon which is always good!! Then on Wednesday, we did a big zone contacting acitvity in our area which was a lot of fun. We split up with people in different districts and different subway stations in our area and contacted together for about 2 hours and then we ate dinner together... It was a lot of fun!! I have tried really hard to be creative this transfer with what we have been doing and how we do stuff with the zone and that activity went pretty well. I pretty much planned it all by myself and it was a lot of fun... Good times that is for sure!! I enjoy planning things and kind of leading them out so that was a lot of fun:) Everybody seemed to like it and it was pretty effective so I was happy!! Then on Thursday we had our mission conference and it was kind of weird!! All of the sisters I came to korea with are going home this next week!! Kind of insane... I can't believe it has already been that long cuz it seriously feels like it was yesterday that I was in the MTC.... so to see them go home it is pretty weird!! I will have to send you the picture with everybody that I came to korea with... It has gotten smaller that is for sure!!! But seeing them was really good and also hearing from President was good!! He talked about how the work is being hastened and just how we have to step up to the plate and do the work. Our mission baptismal number has been going up which is good!! Throughout the mission we have been averaging 4 baptisms every week which is a lot better than in the past so I am excited about that... Hopefully one can come this way!! 

Feb 16

I went into Seoul on Tuesday for our Mission Leadership Council which was fun. That is probably my favorite meeting I get to go to. Sister Christensen always makes good food and I love hearing from President on a pretty personal level. But that night we had to prepare our training and stuff so we were pretty busy all day long which made it so we couldn't talk to anyone really... The focus for the month is revelation through church attendance which is a good focus, just a little bit harder to train on cuz out of the 10 months that I have trained as a zone leader, this is the 3rd time we have trained on church attendance... So we decided to switch it up a bit. We talked more about how through church we can help investigators develop a personal relationship with God and get closer to him... It was kind of an interesting spin... We focused a lot on our personal relationship with God too and I thought it was a really good training. Maybe the best one that I have given. Things were a little bit different and the Spirit was really strong. At the end, I shared that quote from Elder holland that you shared with me and talked a little bit about it and it was really good. I gave all the missionaries a copy and told them to hang it up and look at it everyday. It has helped me out a lot and it is super cool. I bore my testimony about my mission and about the work we are doing and it was just cool. Everybody said it was really good! The AP's were there cuz we went on exchanges that night and they liked it a lot too. I am grateful that I can be in a position that allows me to do stuff like that... Not cuz I want to be higher than people, but because while I prepare those and really try to discern what our zone needs, I learn so much. It has been a huge blessing. After that, I went back to Seoul with Elder Sol, the AP, and we went on exchanges which were fun. We talked a lot about having a spiritual vision of what we want to accomplish and how if we create that vision, and we have something to work toward, it helps us move towards that direction and be better people. Pretty cool. Then on Friday we had a really cool experience. We have a family that the Sisters gave to us a while back that we are teaching... (the one that the daughter was already baptized in... I told you about them right?) But the Dad is in the middle of deciding whether or not to get baptized and he is really close. He has been reading the Book of Mormon everyday and he is coming to church and doing all the right things, but he just can't give up smoking and stuff... Hard... so we were going to give him a baptismal date and what not, but as we talked, it kind of felt weird... Just like there was kind of a wall... There were a lot of distractions during the lesson and stuff... They had asked us about 1 Nephi 8 and about the tree of life so we taught them the gospel of Jesus Christ through that and it was good, just a lot of weird tangents and stuff... But towards the end when we would normally commit them to baptism, it just didn't feel right... I don't know if elder rhodes felt it but I did! Haha but it lead up to us talking about priesthood blessings and we ended up giving him a priesthood blessing on the spot!! It was really cool... The spirit was super strong and I definitely felt like the spirit was just straight pushing him to the right direction... It was so powerful and after the blessing, we were just sitting there and it was almost tangible... Super cool to be able to be apart of that experience. I am grateful that I am worthy to use the priesthood and able to feel the Spirit in that way...

Feb 23

We talked to 260 people this week and made a ton of lessons with people on the street. It felt good to talk to that many people. I think part of the problem about last week is that I was so busy with other stuff that didn't have a ton of relevance to our area and that was kind of stressful and just made me feel like we weren't getting anything done... But this week was better. It was still somewhat frustrating cuz we just could not figure out why people were meeting with us, but on Friday we finally met with somebody, on Saturday we had a guy randomnly call us and say he wanted to meet, (he is going to college next week so we won't be able to continually meet with him but it was still a meeting and a cool little miracle) and on Sunday night we were able to meet a guy from Nepal that I talked to on the street this week... He was really bad at korean and not much better at english so that was really hard, but he was such a nice guy. He reminded me a lot of Januario in just how he was just happy to be alive. Haha such a nice guy.. Luckily they have a BOM in Nepalese so we will be able to give that to him and it will be good... Hopefully we will be able to figure out a way to teach him... He is Hindu too so that is interesting!! It has been fun to meetin so many diverse people... A lot of fun!! But, the coolest part of the week was something that we didn't even do... The Sister's were riding a bus last week and this guy came up and introduced himself to them and asked where our church was and if he could have there number and he gave them his number and all that stuff... Well, The Sister's referred him to us and I called him on like Monday or Tuesday and he said lets talk later which usually means never... Haha but randomnly on Saturday he shows up to english class and says he will come to church on Sunday!! Well, crazy enough, he comes to church on Sunday and we were able to meet with him a little bit and talk about what we do as missionaries and see what kind of interest he has... Haha he has just straight church interest which is pretty rare and it makes me excited. He doesn't have religion and he doesn't believe in God but he heard so many good things about our church and so the only church he has interest in is our church!! Really cool and he really liked all three hours of church... He was making comments in class and everything so it was really cool... So the week was a really long week of contacting followed by some really cool miracles at the end of the week that I was super grateful for... We also talked with the bishop about what is going on in our ward with less actives and they are starting a program where each auxillary will make a list of names of less actives and each week they will give them to us to go and visit and confirm for them... The cool thing is that if we are able tofind them, we can include the members in helping us reactivate them and work with them... It seems like a really good system and it is cool to see our ward getting into the spirit of missionary work. I was excited for that!! But yeah, this week was pretty all around good. Another fun thing was that we were able to kick in a door... Haha kind of random right!? Well, on Friday morning, Elder Hendershot was taking a shower and we heard the shower stop and stuff and then he tried opening the door and it was stuck!! haha it wouldn't open so we tried to mess with it a little bit and nothin happened... So we resorted to the last thing we knew how to do... Just kick in the door!! Haha so me and Elder Smith just kicked in the door and it was awesome!! Haha I always wanted to do that:) It was a lot of fun:) Haha it is just those little things that I think are fun:) It was a good week!!It has been absolutely flying by.... I can't believe it!!! On friday or something like that, I have been on my mission for 19 months!!! That is seriously a long time... Time flies... Can't believe it!

I do love it... I found another quote this week that was super cool about work!! And it really explains well what I have come to think success is... "Let us realize that the privilidge to work is a gift, that the power to work is a blessing, that love of work is success." In terms of numbers or anything like that, my mission really wouldn't be viewed as successful.... Haha I haven't had lots of baptisms or reactivated a ton of less actives or anything like that, but I have learned how to love this work. I love it and I love being a missionary. I love working with missionaries to help them see that they can reach higher and find those privilidges... I love studying and contacting and all that stuff... It is going to be hard to leave that is for sure cuz I really do love it. That is how I know that all that I have done, is ok with the Lord:) 

I studied a lot about the law of consecration cuz I didn't know a ton about it and actually learned a lot. There is a lot of really cool stuff about it in D&C especially in Section 78... It talks a lot about sacrifice and how sacrifice brings blessings... The law of consecration, especially at that time, was a very temporal law dealing with giving all that the saints had and making everyone equal, but the amazing thing is that in the temple, and really just as members of the church, we kind of take upon the law of consecration as a spiritual law as well.. It was always spiritual and given to benefit the saints in a very spiritual way, but the Lord has asked us to sacrifice our time, talents and means to the church so that we can build up His kingdom on this earth... As I thought about that, I thought a lot about what I am doing as a missionary right now.. It is definitely a wonderful blessing that the Lord has given me cuz for two years, I get to live the law of consecration to the fullest.... The Lord had to take away the Law of Consecration for a time cuz the saints weren't spiritually or temporally ready for such a law, so He instituted the Law of Tithing, but I really like the fact that He as provided a time for me to live, to some extent, the Law of Consecration... I think that is way missions bring so many blessings, especially if we give everything we have. I read the fourth missionary again this morning and that stuck out to me a lot... We just have to give everything back to the one that gave us everything and as we do that, we are blessed in so many ways!! The other thing I realized is that happiness, is a present thing. We can't be happy if we are always looking forward and I think that is why I have found so much happiness in missionary work. It isn't always super easy to be happy all the time, but I have found happiness in small things, and even though there are things I look forward too (seeing all of you, college, houseboat, sports, etc.) I am happy because I am trying to live in the moment and do my best everyday!! 

March 9

Tuesday, we had our Mission Leadership Council and it was really good... one of the best ones that I have been too... We talked a lot about inviting and helping people commit to things and what not and I got a lot of really good ideas from it... Our zone has been struggling with quite a few things... But I learned some stuff that I really needed.... so me and Elder Rhodes were kind of talking about what we could train on and Elder Rhodes was talking about faith and some other stuff, but I really felt like we just needed to train on skill related things like teaching street lessons and what not... Our zone has just been kind of dead and so I wanted to do something that would pump people up!!! So, that is what we ended up doing... Haha we did a kind of fun training about how to get street lessons( A street lesson is a contact on the street that you teach a principle and you set a return appointment with a specific place and then get the persons phone number...) So it is something that I have always been decently good at and everyone always asks me questions about it so we decided to focus on that a lot and to set a goal of getting 105 of them in our zone a week, which is 1 street lesson per companionship per day!! Haha I thought it was a pretty good idea and it worked out pretty well actually.... The training was fun, (President was there and he said it was really good) and I think it actually really got people excited!! We told everyone that we wanted them to try new ways to get street lessons and to work on seeing the miracles everyday that come from them!! Later on when we were able to sit down with each of the companionships, we talked about boldness and how we have to be bold when we invite people.... The thing that probably stuck out to me most during those trainings was how love is always the driving force behind boldness... Love is so crucial and really when it comes down to it, love leads to miracles.... We do this work because we love people and it was really cool to see that and just be able to train... ... There is a song on the tarzan soundtrack called Son of Man and it says, "In learning you will teach, and in teaching you will learn." I think that is so true.... I learn sooooooo much when I teach. I often times kind of surprise myself when I teach cuz i don't even realize some of the things I am saying. I think that is super important that we teach with the spirit cuz then it can teach us too....

We had an english class party this week on Saturday which was fun... Life is good with that and what else.... Hmm..... Oh yesterday I had a really cool experience... We were at home after church and we had decided that we were just going to study, (it was ward conference and we were in charge of cleaning up everything for some reason so we didn't get home until like four thirty and then we ate dinner) but as I sat down to study, I felt like maybe we should go out and talk to people... I just kind of shrugged it off, and tried to keep studying but then I felt like we should really go out... I tried to study one more time and it hit me pretty hard that we needed to go out... So I said a quick prayer to confirm what I was feeling and it was right and so we went out... We walked about 30 minutes down to this place that we contact at and we started to talk to people... We only had about 30 minutes before we had to come back home, but we talked to everybody... And seriously no one wanted to talk.. I still felt like there was a reason we went down there though... So with like five minutes before we went home, I talked to this last guy and he was super nice. He was 20 and just had a different light about him kind of. He wasn't rude and actually wanted to talk. So we talked about the gospel a little bit and I didn't get to talk to him for super long, but I got his number and he said he could meet next saturday.... That isn't any crazy result, but after I stopped talking to him, I just said a little prayer of gratitude and just felt the spirit very strongly telling me that what I was doing was right and that Heavenly Father was grateful that I followed that prompting... I dunno if he will turn into an investigator, but it was a really cool experience that just taught me to never push away those prompting... Really cool!!

March16:

This week we got a call from this guy in another stake saying that he needed us to go visit a Pakistani refugee family that needed our help... I guess they were baptized in Pakistan and because of that, they were persecuted a lot and were driven out of pakistan... so we ended up meeting this family, and they are seriously soooooo cool!!! Haha there is eight of them and they are so nice... They don't have really anything. They were kind of ruined by the korean government and have a ton of issues with visa's and what not, so none of them have jobs right now and it is just kind of a huge mess.... So they were wondering if there was anything the church welfare system could do, and so the one member told us to get them to talk to the bishop and what not... so me and Elder rhodes went and visited them on tuesday and it was alright!! The dad is super stressed about everything (obviously he has every reason to be... He is in like 50,000 dollars in debt and doesn't have a house and is just kind of surving on nothing...) but the family turned out to be amazing.... Most of them were baptized about 12 years ago, and they only were able to attend for about a year, but they are super good Christians and went to other church's and stuff, but they could just never find our church again... So we invited them to come and they came yesterday and loved it!! It was interesting to me to see the difference that I saw in them when they came to church... They just had more light and they were happier and just funny!! They are pretty good at english, especially the daughter... she is 22 and amazing at english and decent at korean which is cool... The one son and his wife have three little kids that are sooo cute and fun to play with and they are just a sick family... so during sunday school, we met with the bishop and translated for them and what not and the bishop said that he could try and help them find a job and all of that stuff, and then we had to translate during sacrament meeting which was an interesting experience.... Haha they are funny and cuz there are eight of them, all of the missionaries that have been on their missions for awhile had to translate!! Kind of fun, then that night, we went and visited them again, and they fed us.... I felt bad cuz they don't have much, but they were so stubborn about it!! They really wanted to feed us traditional pakastani food and it was sooooooo good!! haha it was just this flat bread stuff that you dip in curry and eat potatoes and chicked with it. It was seriously amazing and I was so grateful to them... The mom doesn't speak english or korean so we learned the word for thank you in Ordoo, the language they speak, and told her that and she loved it... It was a really cool experience.. We are going to be able to teach them the lessons hopefully this week and they said they will keep coming to church... We hope as they learn more about the commandments and live by them, they will be presented by opportunities to work and find resources for income and what not... It was just cool to see how a family that is in dire circumstances, could still be so happy and full of life. I learned a lot from that and I was grateful for it!! 

Christmas Number 2!

Our cute Korean missionary spent his second Christmas on his mission. He enjoyed it and although he missed home, he felt good about focusing on missionary work and made some lasting memories with his companion and zone. It was wonderful to talk to him on Christmas day and hear his cute laugh and voice. We found out his release date is July 25. Still not sure if we will go pick him up or just have the gigantic airport party!!! Either way, we anticipate it very much!!!

 

 Caroling with his zone!

 One of the pkgs we sent was treats and stockings for his whole appt, 6 Elders. We also sent him an advent calendar (little bags to open every day of December) and I think his most favorite was ornaments with pictures of family and friends with a letter on the back for him to put on his little tree.He LOVED those and I appreciate all who wrote them for him!

 Here is our ornament of our cute missionary!

 New companions!!

 On the 21st advent day he got chocolate covered popcorn.., his favorite!

 Santa even shows up in Seoul!

 Right before his most recent transfer

 Christmas came!! He was happy with his BYU beenie, picture book of family and mostly his yearbook of his mission this past year.

 These are the "imogi" pants (apparently super comfy and quiet funny!) at their Christmas party they did a funny dance skit thing and according to Elder Chizzy, it was EPIC!!! Glad they have so much fun!!

 A rare opportunity to have dinner at a members home. They mostly eat out or members bring food to them, he loves it when they get invited to a home!

December 8

My week..... Well, it was really busy, but with just kind of random things... We only had like one sit down lesson all week with a guy  on Friday... He was a pretty cool 24 year old that Elder Anderson found on the street and we were just able to teach a little bit about what we do as missionaries and he liked that. He doesn't have much religion so it is always fun to teach with people like that... He is korean by the way:) Haha don't let the name woody fool ya... Anyways, it really wasn't going anywhere and I was kind of worried about what was going to happen and I just remember praying a quick prayer and asking what I should do and it was farely similar to the answer you got to your prayer. Be patient, and just yield to the spirit. So I did and it all worked out. Hopefully we can meet with him again this week. Anyways, the rest of the week was very busy with a lot of stuff with my zone... Kind of insane quite honestly. Tuesday, we went down to Seoul for our Mission Leadership Council and it was really good. Our mission focus for this month is the Book of Mormon and it's converting power and I really liked it. I got to play the piano in that meeting which was pretty cool too... Haha there was a NY times newspaper reporter there trying to learn more about the role of sisters and what not but the photographer dude came and took pictures while I was playing the piano and it was a lot of pressure! Especially cuz it was with a song that I am not the best at, "Lead Kindly Light" But I pulled it together and it was aight:) Haha another cool thing about the meeting though was that we got to watch this thing by Pentatonics, an acepella singing group... They sang Little Drummer Boy and it wa really cool... I really hadn't ever actually listened to the words of that song before but we watched it, and then President Christensen talked a little bit about it... He talked about how the little drummer boy really says he has nothing to give so he just goes unto Christ and gives of himself, of his talents, and of his time. It says in the song, "I played my drum for him" which is like giving of ourselves, but my favorite part was the line, "Then he smiled at me," Talking about Christ. Christ just wants us to give of ourselves to Him and what a better time for us to do that than during Christmas. That really left a deep impression on me during the rest of the week. I shared it with my zone on Wednesday at our zone training meeting and I thought about it a lot... Lately, we just haven't been having the success that I wish we could have and things have been hard... It has been hard to get people to focus on the work and what not... There have been difficulties in the zone, but, the Lord doesn't ask us to be perfect, He just asks us to give of ourselves and then He will smile back at us... I loved that and it brought a lot of comfort to me for sure... Then from Wednesday to Friday, I went on exchanges to another area with, one of our district leaders, who has been having a difficult time with his companion and what not... We were able to go up and do some really good work and it was good for him for sure... I think it helped him while I was up there and he seemed to learn some stuff, and I did too. Then last night, he called me and asked him to give him a blessing today so since we are going to all get together as a zone, it was perfect

December 15

This week has definitely been an interesting one... For some reason, as the weather has gotten colder, people have too!! And it has been hard to keep a happy, optimistic attitude the whole time!! But we have found some good things and we talked to a lot of people this week. On Tuesday, it was snowing pretty hard and we decided to go out anyway and contact people on the street!! For about 3 hours we could barely see in front of us it was snowing so hard!! Haha but we still talked to like 20 people and got a couple of numbers and met some nice people... The snow kind of made me feel at home and comfortable, but more than that, I was just grateful that we kept working and didn't just take it as an excuse to not go out and work cuz it would have been really easy to do so... Then that night, we had our only lesson of the whole week with a Japanese dude that we met on the street and new about mormons... We met him and just talked a lot about what we do as missionaries and about the organization of the church... I don't know how much real interest he had because he was Buddhist and just kind of wanted to know why we were here and any time we talked about Christ, he just tried to change the subject... But we tried and it was interesting meeting a dude from Japan!!! This week has been a hard one with appt. and stuff though... All the students right now are in the middle of testing season and they are all stressed out. Students in korea study an absurd amount. Some go to school until 5 and then go to an academy until 10.... They just study all day. Really competitive here in korea which is a little bit different from home.. But a lot of times, students are the most interested in hearing about Christ so I think since all of them are taking tests, it has slowed down a little bit.. People are interesting hear in Korea!! But we just talked to like 182 people this week and tried to do everything we could to still spread the gospel. The best part about the week was that we caroled with our zone last night and it was super awesome!! I will have to show you a picture of it cuz it was super great. We had one of the Elder's dressed up in a Santa suit conducting and we just all sang american songs, hymns, and then some in korean. We got a lot of people to stop and we just handed out Book of Mormon's and it was really good. I really enjoyed it. It is weird for me to be where I am at now cuz I realize how much work it is to put something like that together. When I was younger, I just kind of went and everything was great, but I was the one that kind of put everything together and ran the show so it was a lot of work and I am glad it worked out! We will probably do it again this week which I am looking forward too... Silent night has been a song that has really stuck out to me this winter... I think about how we sing that at the forgotten carols and I love that part... It just emphasizes so well the spirit of Christmas and I love it... Christ is our Savior and He came here for us. I know that is true... I have met a lot of people that studied abroad in Canada and a lot of them don't know where Winnipeg is... Hahahaha I always tell them that you are from there and they don't know. Most of the time they just know Vancouver and Toronto which is kind of funny... There are a lot of koreans up there which is pretty cool!!! 

December 22

Missionary age is a weird thing that is for sure... I hope I can help people out:) My week was really really good!! We had a pretty successful week. My comp is doing well. We get a long and we both want to work hard which is nice. I don't have to worry about him or anything cuz he is even older in the mission than me which is nice. Just not having to worry about all that training stuff makes it easier to focus on the people we are teaching and on just being a zone leader. I have enjoyed it so far... We had a couple really cool miracles this week with Scott actually... I called him on Tuesday night and found out that he had been fired from his job which was his whole life... He worked from like 8 in the morning to like 10 at night and never had time to come to church cuz all he did was work... Kind of a terrible sounding job but cuz he was fired, he really was pretty depressed and needed help so we went out and got hot chocolate with him on Thursday night... There he just kind of opened up to us about some stuff and we just kind of sat there and listened to his concerns and what not... It was kind of cool to see how what he was talking about led directly into something that we could testify would bless his life... So we ended up talking a little bit about the atonement and about the Book of Mormon. I shared Alma 7:11-13 which is my favorite scripture on the atonement  by far... I love it so much.. But it hit Scott so hard. He thought the words talked right to him. So from that time on, we just always taught with the Book of Mormon and he was just talking about how much he needs God and how he needs a sturdy foundation and all this different stuff and it was just perfect... And then he brought up coffee and alchohol and that stuff and we were able to make kind of a plan for him to stop those things and we taught some of the stuff from the Law of Chastity and he accepted all of that stuff.. He is 28 so he is hit with a lot of those things everyday, but he said he would keep it all and that he would try his best to keep the word of wisdom... So we set a date for January 18th for him to stop all of that stuff and be baptized.. He is super committed and doing awesome.. We met him the next day, and he read almost all of 1 Nephi which was amazing, and then he prayed a lot and got a job interview which made him believe in God even more.. It was really cool to see how God would do something like that. Humble him by losing his job to the point that Scott realized he needed the gospel, and then as he started making the necessary steps towards becoming closer to God, God blessed him with success... Really cool!! Scott ended up coming to church yesterday too and loved it. He has no background in church but he loved it. he said 3 hours was kind of long, but he soaked it all up and wanted to learn more. He wanted an english book of mormon too (he studied in the UK for awhile and is really fly at english) and he said he will keep reading it. It was a super big miracle and one that I am incredibly grateful for!! Super cool to see someone progress like that and see his life change... One thing I have thought a lot about this week, was just how sometimes, as we go through our trials, we feel alone. We feel like we are just kind of floating... I have felt like that for a little bit... Seeing all the people me and Elder Anderson taught just fall off the face of the earth was way hard and just nothing was going on... But this week, Scott popped up, David at least answered his phone, and the other kid that had a baptismal date answered his phone too... For me, I was wondering why all of that happened the way it did and what not... Then I was reading a talk from President Monson in the Relief Society conference in the Ensign and in the third or fourth to last paragraph he talked about how one day, with retrospect, as we look back on our trials, we will realize that we weren't alone, and that Heavenly Father and the Lord were with us every step of the way.. We just can't always realize it... I thought that was sooo cool and it hit me super hard!! I studied about that quite a bit and it made a big impact on me just realizing how perfectly they know us because of what the Lord did for us in suffering for our sins and dying for us. Really amazing and it was something I was really grateful to learn!!!

December 29

It sounds like your Christmas was a good one!! Everyone sounds happy and I'm glad that Santa came and what not... Haha it is weird to think that that was my second christmas away from home... I won't lie and say that I wish I would be away another one cuz that isn't true!! Haha I can't wait for next Christmas... But this Christmas I was really just able to focus on Christ and just give my time and talents to him... That was a blessing and one that I will probably remember for the rest of my life.... The best part about it all was finding A Little Drummer Boy (the song) on Christmas eve and being able to listen to that all day cuz that really was the theme of my Christmas and it was really good. I just have to give my all and He will smile back at me. I love that message and found a lot of comfort and happiness in it.

Well the rest of the week really wasn't that eventful or anything like that... The best part of the weekend was Saturday for sure.. We were able to pick up a new investigator straight of the street which was good and then we met this super weird dude from New York that bought us sushi, (yeah I ate it all... Still don't know exactly how I felt about it...) and he was a goofball. He said that because we were only 21, we couldn't persuade people to believe and that cuz we didn't have any experience, it wasn't effective... It was interesting for me to take a step back and realize that in a sense, that is very true. But our job as missionaries isn't to just persuade other people, it is to inform them about the truth and then they have their agency to choose. The Spirit is the persuader and I am super grateful I have been able to feel the Spirit's influence in a lot of different ways on my mission. Then we went with Scott to another ward's baptism which was really good. There weren't lots of people there and it was just kind of a discreet service, but the Spirit was there and it was nice to see someone get baptized. I sure hope that I get to actually have my own baptism while I am still out here, but I really have come to grips with the fact that if I don't, it will truly be ok and that because I am giving my all, Christ really will smile back at me and say "Well done, my good and faithful servant." That is my goal and I won't give up until the end!! But Scott really liked the baptismal service and even though he didn't come to church the next day, it was alright. At least he got to see that service and feel the spirit and see someone else get baptized!

Then on Sunday, I was just playing the piano, (I need the practice!! Haha I love those songs but I will definitely have to work on them a little bit:)) and one of our members walked in and said that we needed to sing with him during sacrament meeting... Haha kind of random but we sang Count your Many Blessings, (kind of a weird version at that) and it was aight!! Haha a lot of people in my house right now have colds so it was kind of hard for them to sing, but I thought it went alright for not having much practice!!! We get dragged into a lot of stuff but it's all good. Haha we are just kind of the multi-use tool for members. We do whatever they want us to pretty much..

Making up for a few months! Life in Seoul is good!!

Our cute Korean missionary is loving life in his new area. It is called Irsan and he says it's small like "New York" with parks. When he calls New York small, I can only assume Seoul is absolutely massive!!! I haven't updated for awhile so there's quite a few letters and pictures. He is doing well, frustrated that people won't accept the message, but happy to be a zone leader, happy to have great companions and friends, glad it is getting cooler there and happy his shoes are holding up pretty well!!!

We love this boy and the great example he is to us and his friends, cousins and siblings. Keep it up Elder Chizzy!!!!!!

 Elder Chiz and his favorite "brother", Elder Coats.

 An average Korean meal! I think I'll stick to meatloaf............

 The boys in his apartment having Sunday dinner a member brought! He loves it when that happens!

 He is very excited for autumn and that the weather is cooler, the summer was stifling and it is a nice change.

 Elder Anderson and Elder Chizzy managed to find a special friend. I wonder if they'll baptize him.......

 Things could be worse.......if you have a Halloween freak for a mom and she sends so much stuff you can feed your whole zone.........for a week.............

 Apparently, building big churches are like a competition in Korea. This one is pretty darn large.

 Cute Elders!

 Elder's Chizzy and Anderson! He loves his new companion and they are having  alot of fun!

 He teaches a lot in Dunkin' Donuts, in fact, he taught all the lessons to one of his investigators here, and another in Baskin Robbins. I hope he's working out and exercising!!!

Evidently these pants are all the rage in Korea. He says he's sending us all some....looking stylin' boys!!!

 I have never felt more pressure to eat with someone in my life. They basically made us eat and so we finally gave in and decided to go with them. Turns out, they take is to this resturant that is a seafood resturant and I'll tell you what, korean seafood is way worse than american seafood. It was so nasty mom. You would have lost your mind. We walked in and on the table, there was silkworm larva as a side dish and what not and I actually ate one, it was terrible. Then they brought out this raw fish which was probably the best part of the meal, and then they brought out this barbequed to heck full fish. Burned and everything and it was so nasty. It had the head and the skin and all the bones in it and they just told me to eat it.

(So, he got super sick and had a lot going on the next day in his new ward, he had his companion give him a blessing and was able to do what he needed to and felt like Heavenly Father really helped him)

The cool thing about it all is just that I got that blessing, and I was given strength when I needed it. The rest of the day I felt terrible but when I needed to talk, I was just given strength. It was a really interesting experience for me and one that I will probably talk about for a long time cuz the Lord blessed me with what I needed. I had to do my part. I had to stay at church and go to the fireside and push through and suffer a bit, but when I did that, the Lord blessed me and I really think the ward saw that and I think the Lord saw that I will do what it takes. The ward is awesome and I am so excited to be here. They are excited to have 8 missionaries in their ward and they want to do missionary work. Our bishop is awesome and we have a ton of amazing members. I haven't been this excited to serve in an area for my whole mission. The atmosphere is very different and I am excited. I am excited to be at full strength and to be able to just settle into doing this work:) It is going to be awesome and we are going to see miracles I know it. 

We found a lot of really cool people through contacting. We talked to this one guy and he took us in to Starbucks and bought us Banana Chocolate drinks that were like $6.50 a pop and that was good. It was even better cuz we taught him about the Book of Mormon and he said he would come to church. (He didn't cuz he got really sick, but we will meet with him again this week.) Then we have our two athiest friends, Jin and Kim Byeong Soo which are two really nice kids that are pretty strong athiests which is impressive for 19 year olds. But they are super cool and kind of somewhat open to religion which is all that we need:) We talked some about the B.O.M and ate Baskin Robbins with them which was fun:) The Baskin Robbins here is super bomb:)  They have so many weird flavors that are so good. It is pretty expensive, but what can ya do I guess:) It's cool!! I love Ice Cream that has cheesecake in it... Super good:) Oh guess what else!! So on Saturday after english class we all went at got Double Down Max's from KFC.... Do you remember what the Double Down is??? Haha they didn't have it for a long time and while we were contacting on Saturday, we saw that it came back and we were all so excited so we went and bought one even though we had already eaten dinner... It was so amazing:) Haha no buns, just two chicken breasts, bacon, a hashbrown in the middle, some cheese, and this chili sauce... Lanta it was sooo good!!! Haha I rather enjoyed that:)

You asked a little bit about my area.... It is pretty great!!! It is just a lot more open and a lot more green than those places I have served in Seoul. I love the air here too... It is really dirty in Seoul and it is nice to have good air... Haha I never thought that was a thing... But it really is!! What else.... I think more than anything it is just a lot more open and it makes it seem nicer. I love it. And for some reason, the people are way nicer too. We have had a lot of people just straight up buy us stuff off the street and then listen to what we have to say which is a great change. I feel like I have taught a lot more here which is really nice and it has strengthened my testimony for sure. Everyone in my house is doing great and our zone is doing really good!! They are all working hard and it has been good to work around them... Missionaries are just the best:) I love them a lot!!! What else... It sounds like everything is going well back at home!! It is crazy that 10 days from today is Halloween and that in 2 days, I will have been in Korea for a year!! Totally nuts... And by the way, you are right about the patience thing... It has taught me a lot about myself and about how I need to become better... It is definitely testing sometimes to not be able to see the success I want to, but I have learned a lot about how to patiently endure. I am pretty sure I also need to work on it a lot, but I am getting better:)

There were some really good things about the week, and then there was the normal disappointment that comes along with doing missionary work here! It was a really good contacting week numbers wise for me this week. We contacted a lot and I set up a lot of appointments with people. The way we contact is kind of interesting. So when we contact, we try and get to know the person a little bit, and then we try to move it into a gospel discussion. It usually turns into us trying to make it so they don't run away... (I have had people literally run acrossed the street during a green light because they don't want to talk to me... I guess I am super scary.) Anyways, if they don't get scared off, we try and give a really short summary of something that makes our message special, and then testify, and then try and get their phone number and set up an appointment. I have been blessed with a talent to get numbers! I don't really know why or how I can get so many, but I can get quite a few. Usually out of 20 people, I can get 3 or 4 numbers which is a lot compared to a lot of people... Anyways, one day we walked out to one of the crosswalks by our house and the first 3 or 4 people I talked to gave me their phone numbers and set up appointments with me! That made me happy! I think I have told you about how it is the little things that really bring happiness and what not... It is those type of little things that really do bring satisfaction into the work here in Korea. I haven't gotten the opportunity to see a lot of baptisms, but I have felt the satisfaction that comes from working hard and enjoying the little things. Anyways, the disappointing part is that a good majority, didn't meet with us again. (actually none of those people have met with us again... Maybe there will be a couple this week but I doubt it because it is the korean equivalent of thanksgiving this week...  But, that just seems to be the way it goes. We work hard, do everything we can, and then they use their agency in the wrong way. It can be incredibly frustrating, but agency is very central to the plan of salvation and I don't want to force anyone into doing anything so I will just keep inviting people to come unto Christ!!

Good things..... I went to a stake meeting yesterday and got to ride in a car for an hour!! I didn't every really realize how nice it is to have a car!! Haha I cannot wait to drive again when I come home:) I think that is going to be so sweet!!! Other things.... um.... I went and played basketball a couple times in the morning and even though it was really dark, it was really fun:) I was also able to play the piano a ton on sunday!!! I really really love playing the piano. I never thought I would say that, but we go to the church early on sundays and while everyone else studies and what not, I play the piano and it is one of my favorite times of the week. I can't wait to play more when I get home and learn some cool songs:) I have learned a lot more hymns and I just love it:) I also love to sing hymns!! Music is a great thing that I have really loved throughout my mission:)

 His zone in Seoul before he was transferred in September

The Seoul temple

 Playing in the rain! This is probably my favorite picture he's sent yet! He looks so happy and cute!

A member bought all this food for the missionaries. They are growing boys but WOW that's a lot of food!!!!!!

We had an appointment last night with the guy that we have met a couple times now... The kid that just got back from the army and is 24... Yeah that guy. We taught him again and he really has a lot of really good intent to learn about our church. I asked him last night if he found out that our church was true, would he join it... And said if he found out it was true, he would. i feel like that is a perfect example of learning with real intent. Learning with the intent to act on the answer that you recieve. We talked a lot about Christ and the role He has played in our lives.. I have thought a lot about that this week and I feel like I have learned a lot about him because of it. Without Christ, we would have no purpose in this life and it would be kind of pointless to be here. But because he came, suffered for our sins, paid that price, and then died on the cross, we have purpose. Because we believe in the resurrected Christ, I feel that we have even more purpose. It doesn't end here and we have the capability to return and live with our families for eternity in the Celestial Kingdom. That is what Christ has provided for us. I read a verse in 3 Nephi 27 today that I really liked. It was verse 14 I think and it talked about how because Christ was raised up, He can raise us up to the judgement bar of God and judge us according to our works with mercy. I really like that imagery. The other thing that I was touched by was just the fact that Christ had to let himself die. He was God's Son. He could have stopped at any point, but He didn't. He endured and secured our salvation voluntarily. He had to give up His life. I am so grateful He did!!!

 Have a great week:) 사랑해요!!!:) (Love you!!)

치슴 장로:):):) Elder Chisholm:)

Wierd hats, heat, service and good food in Seoul!

Elder Chizzy is having a great summer in Seoul. He is ready for the heat and humidity to be gone and is enjoying being with 4 elders in his apartment. His companion is from Guam and he speaks fluent Japanese as well as English and they're working on his Korean! Josh is still a zone leader and loves his calling to lead 24 missionaries. We feel like a big part of his mission is to help lead and train the other missionaries as he trained so early in his mission and has been a zone leader now for a good portion of it too. He has had some hard times with many investigators that he's loved not be able to be baptized for one reason or another and he's learned that even though he wasn't able to "finish" the conversion process for them, he is still so glad he was able to teach them and plant that seed. We are so proud of our boy and love hearing all his experiences! I can't say that I miss him any less, but I can say that his growth and maturity is nothing I could have taught him. He has learned so much and his testimony has grown in so many ways. I love being a missionary mom, the blessings to him and to our family are too numerous to mention and I wouldn't trade it for the world!

 A hot, humid day in Seoul. I think maybe a little TOO hot.......... (he said this was at 10:30 at night and he and his companion were a little delirious, I'm wishing they had a popsicle!)

 Top right is Josh. Here he is with his zone on a service project day.

 His view from the top of the mountain. Seoul really is huge!

 The sisters had a baptism last week! He and his "4-some" got to go as the priesthood presiders. Happy happy day for this cute 14 year old girl!

 Josh was over the top THRILLED with this meal, you can see the member outside grilling on his patio. He had them over for HAMBURGERS! And see that thing in the corner? It's an AIR CONDITIONER!!! Something that is very very luxurious in people's homes. He loved going here for a dinner appointment.

Josh loves these boys!

I went to this meeting and it was exactly what I needed. We talked about how we have to have the spirit with us always and how it will be the deciding factor in our missionary work. So I thought a lot about that. President Christensen talked a lot about removing distractions and just focusing on the important things and working our hardest. And then he said something that I really really liked. He said, " Believe. Trust. Know. Don't doubt. Don't fear." I loved that so much. Belief is belief in the Spirit. Belief that if we are called to go into a hospital room with an old lady in it that is dying that we can give her a blessing and that the Lord's will will be implented. Belief that we will, if we have the spirit, work those miracles as we do his work. I thought about that a lot. And then trust. Trust in the Spirit that even though at times, it may tell us things that are uncomfortable or hard, but that is will be the right thing. And then Know. Something I have learned a lot on my mission is the importance of knowledge. The importance of understanding. President Christensen talks about it constantly, how we must understand. Whether it is a principle or doctrine, or in this case, the spirit. We have to understand how it works in our life. And then the last two. Don't doubt. Don't fear. It made me think of Isaiah 41:10 and how much that scripture means to you, but also how much it means to me. It is an amazing scripture and it helps me remember and understand how much Heavenly Father wants to help us and push us forward. So that was a great lesson I learned. Then on Wednesday, I was able to give a training to my zone.  A very big zone!! 24 people now with 10 of them being sisters!! It's crazy stuff and I felt very blessed to be able to be giving a training in front of all of those great missionaries. Being a zone leader and training at the same time is hard, but I love being a zone leader. I love working with the missionaries in my zone and seeing their hard work and dedication. It pushes me to be better and I just love all of my missionaries tons!! Anyways, thursday was really the first day that I was able to do missionary work and I really implemented some of the things I learned from the training, and also, I did things the way I wanted to do them. We worked sooo, dang, hard. Haha for 4 days we were talking to every person we saw, asking for numbers, getting numbers, setting up appointments. We have no investigators so we have to start from scratch and I love it. I love the fact that I am with a young missionary that will work hard!

We had a really big zone service activity on Tuesday and it was super sweet! Haha way fun:) I told Dad about it a little bit, but we just went and hiked up a mountain and cleaned up trash as we did that... It was super fun. My zone is super awesome with a lot of way cool people. It has been fun to get to know each one of them and to just serve around them. I am glad I have them to watch over and stuff cuz the investigators have been a little bit slow the past little while.... Haha except for one guy... So get this, I went on exchanges out to an area in my zone that is super far away. About a 2 hour total trip and while I was there, my companion had a guy walk up to him and the missionary he was with and he said he wanted to learn english... Anyways, they taught him and they said he almost accepted a baptismal date and stuff.... Well, the next day when I got back, we had an appointment with him.... Turns out, this guy is on parole!! Haha lanta.... Not only that, (and just so you know, I was not planning on telling you all this cuz I think it might make you worry, but I trust you to trust me and to not worry!! It is a crazy story though so I wanted to tell you:)) but he was in jail for 8 years cuz he hit a policeman in the head with a hatchet... I still am not totally sure if the policeman died or not... I didn't want to ask, but it really surprised me cuz this guy is really so dang nice!! Haha he wants to follow Christ and stuff... He came to church on Sunday an brought us apples and is just way nice... Haha totally crazy... I leave for a day, and I come back and to put it simply, "So I am teaching an ax murder..." Hahahaha:) I don't know if that is true but I think it is hilarious...l Elder C' companion absolutely loves that... I think it is funny too..

I feel like my Korean has progressed a lot since I got Elder A... Having to talk all the time really helps and just being pushed to be better has helped a lot... So that is a good thing. Another good thing... I have done p90x for the last week! Getting up 30 minutes earlier and working out hard... It has felt really good quite honestly!! I feel like I am getting in better shape and that it will really help a lot:) Another good thing/ spiritual experience is that I feel my prayers getting a lot better/ way more specific and it has made a big difference in my day to day things. I feel like I am being a lot more sensitive to the spirit because of it and it has been super good. Like I have really recieved answers for investigators which is really cool. I've found that when I am more specific, I get very specific answers. I have also listened a lot more during lessons... The ones that we have had anways, to what questions I should ask and stuff and that has helped a lot... Just searching for questions that would help them think and to feel the spirit... That takes a lot of effort and I am always tired after those lessons, but they are always so good. We had some good lessons this week that didn't have good results, but I learned a lot from them and so they were good in that sense... I feel bad, cuz a lot of times, I feel like my mission has been so much for my own personal growth and that I haven't influenced that many people here in korea... But because I am trying my best and going out and doing everything I can, I know that even though I don't have the stats to show it, I have been successful... I guess that realization was a great thing and a spiritual experience as well:) Another cool thing that we are going to do is that we are going to have a musical fireside for all of our stake/zone!! It is going to be really cool and it is going to follow the order of the first lesson in pmg... It will be really cool and I am really looking forward to that... It will be in September on the 29th hopefully!! Oh and about the temple, we get to go next week to the temple so I am really looking forward to that:) I love the temple.. I had never thought of that symbolism that you had told me either and that is really cool... Christ is the living water and if we come unto him, we will never spiritually thirst again... That is a great lesson and I love the symbolism that goes into the temples... I love the temple so much:)

Korean fall is actually pretty short compared to summer and winter... Same with spring... But it is an exciting time that is for sure! This is the only time that I have to experience the crazy heat here though... Next year, I will be here for the rainy season and come home right around the time it gets ridiculously hot:) so that will be nice!! Haha and my meetings have been for various things. I went on exchanges on tuesday, we had district meeting on wednesday but we combined as a zone and talked about some of the activities coming up, and then I had to do pass off with two people... Do you remember the pass off thing? Haha I am on the other end now. I am the one testing the new missionaries with their korean and teaching skills. It is a good training opportunity and helps me see how far I've come. (Lets see how far we've come, lets see how far we've come. hahah I love that song! Matchbox20:) Listen to it for me!!) Anyways, then the next day, we had a mission wide leadership training meeting for DLs and ZLs and it was alright! Haha it was a long day but it was good hearing from President. And then yesterday, I had a stake meeting that just the ZLs go to and we talked about what we need to do for missionary work in our zone.. (We just need you to come here... Your missionary efforts are sweet mom!! But for reals though:) Super awesome:)) Our zone is struggling all around with us working with members so they are really pushing for the members to do more and refer more and all that jazz... We will see what happens!! I hope it gets better. It turns out we aren't doing that music thing as missionaries cuz the stake is already doing one in november so we are just going to do a joint thing... still should be good though right!?! I think so:) I don't know if I have told you this, but I sing in the choir in our ward! Haha it is kind of a joke, but it is fun. There are like 10 or 15 people in it and me and Elder C are 2 of the 3 guys that can actually sing. It is a weird situation but it is kinda fun. The choir director is somewhat out of her mind... But that makes it pretty interesting:) I thought you would like that!! Also, we had our axe murderer friend come to church again yesterday and he scared everybody there I think. It was cool cuz the sisters in our ward had a baptism... (The cutest most innocent little 14 year old girl. Haha it was really cool:)) But he just kind of followed us around all day as we were preparing for the baptism and what not. He really is a super nice guy and really just needs friends,  Christ dealed with a lot of very interesting people during his ministery and it makes me think about how sometimes it is very easy to judge what a person has done in the past. We obviously have to be careful with this guy, but we do have to trust that he is sincerely looking for the truth and for comfort.  Anyways, for other things this week, it was kind of just one of those busy with a lot of other things kinda week! I am still trying to help my companion out and that takes a lot of time, and on top of that, dealing with some issues within the zone takes a ton of time too. But we finally found a good new investigator last night and I taught what I thought to be a really good lesson to this guy that just got back from the army 3 months ago. It was the first time I had taught a lesson like that since I had studied a lot about the spirit and it was a lot different than ones in the past. My korean felt better, my questions were way better, and he ended up teaching himself a good majority of the lesson. He is a super money investigator that I am really excited about cuz he already has that christian background cuz he attends the presbyterian church.. But he has very similar questions that Joseph Smith had so in a cool way, we were able to relate Joseph Smith's story to him and he really accepted it well. The spirit was super strong and I felt very satisfied with how it went. I love when those things happen and we are able to feel the joy and satisfaction that comes from following the spirit and knowing that we were teaching exactly what that person needed to hear:) Good stuff!! I have also been working out hard in the morning and I feel super good:) 

Haha bring on winter for heavens sakes!!!

Happy 20 Birthday Elder Chizzy and we've reached the Half Way mark!!!

 Birthday Dinner at Outback!!!

 We sent him a "party in a box" with cake mix, frosting, sprinkles, candles, balloons, candy ice cream , noise makers and gifts! He said he had a fun birthday!

 Elder Chizzy, Januario from East Timoor and Elder Coats

 Super happy day to get KRISPY KREME donuts in Seoul!!!!

 Another investigator!

On July 31 they got 1/2 priced ice cream for Baskin Robbins, looks like the boys (Elder Chizzy, Coats, Arrington and Whitlock) are enjoying it immensely in the heat and humidity of Seoul!

Over the past few weeks Elder Chizzy has had two new companions. One from Idaho and now he is training again a new missionary from Guam. He is a zone leader over 22 missionaries and has had a few great weeks and a few very difficult weeks. He is halfway through his mission and I have really seen his growth in so many ways. He is totally fluent in Korean, he relies on his Savior completely, he loves the scriptures and the people and he loves his mission. He remains positive when he has trials, and he has a great attitude even when it's so hot and humid and he has a lot of responsibility! I am so proud of my 20 year old boy and am amazed at his growth in this past year. I miss him terribly but I am so happy with how he is doing and wouldn't trade it for the world. Here are some excerpts from his letters this past month.

"Haha it's still humid beyond belief though... I have never sweated more in my life!!! Haha it was an amazing week:) 19 Lessons, 2 New baptismal dates, 5 new investigators.... OH man I don't know what exactly is going down in this area but it is exploding!! It is awesome!! Haha funny sidenote.... Those stats don't look like much compared to a lot of missions in the world, but those are the best stats I've had in my mission so its cool:) Haha but really, it has been a great, super tiring, week!!! Just throw in on top the fact that it was my birthday and I am a bit worn out to say the least:) Man.... I don't really know where to start with all of it!!! I guess we will start with the fourth of July... So I went to the dentist in the morning who lives in the other mission actually, (I got permission so it's cool:)) and it went well.. I explained to him what I wanted and he checked it out. It didn't have much decay so I just filled it up and all was well... Well, then we were going back home (a hour and a half long subway trip) and got maybe twenty minutes into it when my companion told me he forgot his bag and the dentist.... So we got off at the next station and walked to the other side... Well, we walked onto the train, and my companion started talking to this guy, and it turns out the my companion had met this guy the night before in our area and this guy bought my comanion apple juice... (this is a solid hour or so away from our house and area...) haha it was honestly the craziest "coincidence" ever... Just the fact that we had to get off the train we were on and got on the same car of the same train of that guy... Blew our minds.... He told us he was thinking about coming to church and meeting with us, but now he will have to because of that... haha super crazy!! We will meet him next Saturday... then we went and ate at a buffet cuz it was the fourth of July and made our way home. That night, we met with a guy that I met on the street and he was amazing. He totally accepted everything we were teaching him and said that he wants to become a member of our church. It was super easy to understand him and he was just super awesome. Totally prepared. Maybe the most prepared person I have taught yet on my mission. We are going to meet with him again next Monday hopefully:) Then, we met with this kid on my birthday, (I'll explain a little about that in a minute:)) and he is going to the army on July 31st so we thought maybe we could get him baptized before then... well, we taught Jesus Christ's Gospel and he accepted a baptismal date for the 28th!! haha totally crazy and now we just have to get him to church. His name in Jeon Joon Woo and he is a nice kid. He has no faith so we have a lot of work to do, but I have a lot of faith that he can get to where he needs to be!!! So that is our one baptismal date... Then the other one is with a guy named Januario from East Timoor... Ever heard of it??  Me neither!! Haha we met him on the street my first week here and he came to church yesterday and was bomb.... He speaks Tetum (east timoor lanuage) Indonesian, Portugese, Some English, Some Korean, and a little Malasyian... Yeah sounds tough right?? Well, we taught him throughMormon.org which was a cool experience cuz it was awesome to see how we can use technology in spreading the gospel. We taught him about the Book of Mormon and then watched the Restoration movie (in indonesian:)) and the spirit was crazy strong so we invited him to be baptized on the 28th as well and he accepted!! Haha it was insane.... Just a crazy way to finish out the week... It was a crazy week with a ton of blessings involved that is for sure:) Then for my birthday, Me and my companion were sitting there during study and decided we had to go do something for it... so we decided to go to outback!!! (most expensive decision of my mission so far:)) haha and it was sooo dang good to eat some american style steak and bread and stuff!! Granted it was 70 dollars... BUT, it was sooo good and sooo worth it:) Haha it was way fun and it made my day a little bit better. I also made the funfetti cake (lanta..... Soooo dang good!!! Haha) and I opened those presents and stuff!! It was super fun and by the way, those nerf guns are stinkin beastly for little guns!! Haha super fun:) Thank you for your package!! I loved it for sure. I hung up all the b-day posters on my wall and of course I love the Independance Day stuff!! Especially the sick quote from the president:) Haha so sweet. So thank you for that!!! That was a short version of an insane week!!!"

"I am doing pretty good:) I am tired.... haha this week has been a long one... I wish I had some really cool things to tell you about this week.... But everything, every single thing we had planned fell through!! Ugh.... it was rough... so I am just happy it is a new week and I get a new start... Cuz it was definitely one of the harder weeks of my mission!! I didn't want to have bad news.... But yeah... Januario just had work so he couldn't come on sunday... He still should be baptized though next week so that is still good:) Our other one, the kid going to the army tomorrow, came in on Friday and told us he didn't think he was ready.... He passed the interview technically by answering all the questions right, but he failed himself... It was ridiculous and soooo sad to see him reject that chance cuz we did everything in our power to help him... he grew a ton in his faith and there was nothing else we could have done... but he couldn't take that stuff and it was soooo hard. I was pretty crushed. That same night, our other investigator with a baptismal date took a baptismal record home to get it signed by his mom and she opposes him getting baptized and ripped up the baptismal record and threw it away... Some background story on that, he told us on Thursday that he was moving next week.... Freak.. Haha so we thought about trying to baptize him this Sunday and had a pretty good plan to do everything and teach everything, but his mom wouldn't let him... super sad.. We are really going to try hard this week to work with her and try and convince her otherwise cuz he wants to be baptized. He has that desire but because he is only 14, he can't without parental permission... rough stuff. So, this week kind of all fell down the drain and it was insanely mentally, and physically draining in every sense.... I am exhausted and really needed this p-day more than any other p-day!!"

"It has just been one of those situations that absolutely nothing has went right in the last week and a half. It is really kind of insane how nothing has went right at all.... I have searched a lot for things that I need to improve and I think I have found some things so I am working on those... I did have a good experience during sacrament meeting where I was just praying and thinking about how everything has been so bad, and Heavenly Father, through the Holy Ghost definitely comforted me in saying that it will all be for my good and that I will become a better person through these experiences. I think that is true. I know that is true. Things are hard, and things aren't always perfect, but up to this point everything has helped me grow and so I know that I need to learn from this and just keep moving forward with faith. At the end of Sacrament meeting, we sang Press Forward saints and that was kind of cool as well... I felt like that was a message  directly to me... And I love the part of How firm a Foundation that you included... It is true... Heavenly Father won't always take those trials away, but he will bless them so that they will sanctify us and make us better. He did the same to Joseph Smith in D&C 121 and 122. He tell him that all these things will be for his good and I know that is true in this situation as well. It's cool. I am learning and it has helped me see my progression. I don't know how I would have dealt with something like this before my mission or even at the beginning of my mission. So that progression is good!!"

"It is my time. I learned what I needed to. Had the experiences that were necessary. Now it is my turn to go out and just do missionary work all out and work the hardest I can. I have a standard and I need to raise it even higher cuz that is what the Lord needs me to do now. Haha it blows my mind that it has been a year.... Really cool though:)"