Doing great "Korean Mission Style"

 Elder Chizzy continues to do great in Seoul! Here are some pictures of life in Korea. He says the subways are usually packed and everyone is on their smart phones (usually Samsung, which is huge in Seoul) and that he does most if not all of his contacting on the street or in the subway. He emails us from a little store, maybe similar to the one above. He says some of the most common stores are Paris Baguette stores and coffee shops similar to Starbucks... a little random I think!

 He often talks about how much he loves the Korean elders and enjoys it when he gets to go on splits with them and talk to them. He loves the Korean people and is feeling very good about his language. He says "it's crazy hard, but I'm getting more and more comfortable every day!" He is training for the second time and is still in the same area through two transfers, Gaebong Seoul. He has loved all of his companions so far and really enjoys being a trainer!

 Our boy was never a big soccer fan, but since going there he has come to LOVE it and said he's bought a few soccer jerseys, asked for his soccer cleats and sent home a cool ball for his little brothers to practice with till he gets home and "shows them how to play for real"...apparently soccer is a HUGE deal in Seoul....who knew?

 "One of my favorite things to do is service, we don't get to do it as often as I'd like, but when I do, it is so much fun and so rewarding to work with the other missionaries and members and do something for the community." Here is picking up a local park, he said it's a beautiful park and Seoul has many of them.

Every time I look at my boys pictures with that name tag on his suit I get emotional. Something our Bishop said last week really made me think. These Elders and Sisters bare Christ's name over their heart every day, every hour, every minute for two years. It is obvious who they stand for and who they represent, and it's written on their hearts. I am learning so much from my son, who bears our Savior's name and hope that I can live my life so that it's obvious that His name is written on my heart too.

Here are some small parts of his letters over the past little while.

I had a really cool experience on Thursday that really strengthened my testimony about so many things. We went to this guys house that really has a hard time accepting anything but his own beliefs. He is a really nice guy but just want english help and stuff but the more we started talking, the more interest he seemed to have about the book of mormon. This guy was insanely hard to understand though, he honestly did not speak a lick of english and spoke so fast. But I literally felt my ears just being opened up though and I was just able to understand and even though it may not have been all of what he said, I was able to answer his questions and try to help him understand why we are even here as missionaries. He had a ton of questions but I was able to answer them by the spirit. There was one specific point where he asked if he could ever come to know the things we were teaching him for himself. And I know for a fact that without the spirit, I would not have been able to answer the way that I did. I can't even remember exactly what I said but I just felt that I opened my mouth and Korean came out and I'll tell you what, I haven't felt the spirit as strong as I did for a long time. It was so insanely strong and I just felt so grateful to my Heavenly Father for the help he was giving me. I felt the spirit working through me to touch this mans heart that really had been stubborn in the past when missionaries had taught him. So it was cool to experience that and to feel the spirit so strongly in this mans home

Well, I will first tell you about a lesson that I had with a guy on thursday that was super cool!!  We found him off of a referral and he is a really nice guy that is buddhist. We met him at the church and he walked in and said he wanted to learn about the Book of Mormon so we were like sweet! Haha and then we asked him if we could pray and he asked if he could say it. Well, the problem was that he had no idea how to pray. So we taught him and he prayed an awesome prayer. He finished and said that his heart was burning! Crazy right? The spirit was super strong. So we taught him about the Book of Mormon and he really was accepting everything and I just had a strong impression to extend the baptismal invitation to him. (Later I found out that my comp felt the same way.) So I talked to him about baptism and then extended the commitment. He said he felt like he wasn't ready but that if he felt ready, he would definitely think about it. It was awesome! He said he wants to meet every thursday and stuff like that. It was an amazing experience! I was being led by the spirit the whole time and I was so grateful for that experience. It was like a dream lesson for sure. I never felt so happy after teaching something. I don't know if it will really go anywhere or anything, but it definitely felt amazing. I felt the spirit and it was just a great experience. The Korean is definitely coming faster now. I am starting to understand more and more every day and my mind is just being opened. It is honestly the coolest feeling ever. I can't thank my Father in Heaven enough for what he has done for me the last 2 weeks or so. I feel so blessed. We have had a ton of miracles this past week and some really cool lessons. We were hoping the one sister was going to get baptized

 We both like Korean food so we usually eat that. Our favorite is probably soon dae and dokboki which is really good. soon dae is a pig intestine stuffed with noodles and cooked. Haha sounds weird as heck but it is super super good! And then dok boki is this spicy rice cake stuff. In Korea, there is stuff called dok and it is super popular and is really really good. I don't know how to make it our anything or how they make it, but I love it! Haha I also got McDonalds a couple times. Last time I got the MEGAMAC! Haha it is a big mac just supersized. It has four patties instead of two! Haha it is dang good. Anyways, we also eat stuff called donkas sometimes which is a pork cutlet thing which is super good as well. Sometimes we get kimbab which is a seaweed roll with vegetables and rice in it and it is super tasty as well! I really enjoy it:) Hmmm.... So yeah that is some about the food. Any time we eat at members house or out, we always have kimchi which is great! I love kimchi. Haha it is so good. Their meat is also amazing! Haha so so good. Hmm other things.... We almost always just contact on the street! Homes are even harder to get into then in america, and there are tons of people on the street all the time so we spend most of our time out on the street. We talk to at least 20 people a day and last week, we talked to 170 people and set up maybe 10 street lessons for this next week. Out of those 10 lessons, maybe 2 will meet if we are lucky! Haha we have to have faith though right? Anyways, church is pretty much the same besides the fact I can't always understand... (Even though my understanding is skyrocketing right now which is sweet!!) And the church is very small. It is good though for our 70 member ward! Shopping malls are fairly similar to the ones in America! there are just a lot of street vendors here. Imagine Chinatown and that is what Korea is like. Just a million of tiny little stores and they all seem to be the same store

But that night, we met with 이은심  And she is totally awesome. I talk to her on the phone every night about what she has been reading and she is progressing so well! She is 54 and just a really nice lady. Anyways, that night we gave her the baptismal commitment which she actually declined... She said she didn't feel ready... But she came to church again on Sunday which was so good! She is hilarious. There was a talk in sacrament meeting about Mother's and she started clapping after it because she liked it so much. It was so funny. The whole ward laughed and she is just kind of oblivious to all of that:) But she is awesome and I love her. But anyways, then we met with her after church and talked to her about repentance and baptism again. I talked about how when I was 8 years old, I was not in anyway ready for baptism... haha I didn't really know what I was getting into but how because I had the holy ghost, I was able to learn faster and more correctly than if I didn't have the Holy Ghost. She seemed to really like that and the spirit was super strong. Our member gave a great testimony and so did my comp and she finally accepted a date to be baptized!! She will be baptized on April 13th!! I am honestly so pumped. It was amazing to see how all my hard work for 5 months, really paid off in the end. Granted, the work is not over, and I had so much help it was ridiculous, but it was so nice to finally see someone actually willing to progress and work towards a date. I am 90% sure she will be baptized then and I just hope I can stay in my area so I can see it. She is so awesome and I love her tons! 

One of the kids just got back from a mission and is awesome, he has helped us teach twice and is just sarcastic and hilarious and the other kid is leaving today for the MTC! Anyways we ate with them and their family and then our ward mission leaders family and it was just so awesome. We talked and laughed and just messed around and I really felt like I was just part of them I guess. I felt that I had connections with these people, and even though I am far from perfect in Korean, I could communicate with them and joke with them and just have fun. It just made me realize how far I have come in a very short amount of time and how much the Lord has helped me to this point. It also for some reason helped me realize how stinking much I absolutely love Korea! I absolutely love it and it is going to be so hard for me to leave it some day. It will be so hard and I am just trying to soak it all in cuz honestly, I am having the time of my life. Nothing, besides being with my family, has ever brought me so much joy as this work has. I am imperfect and have a lot to work on still, but the Lord is helping me and he will continue to help me. That just meant so much to me and just the fact that a little dinner appointment helped me realize that was awesome. I love being here and I love serving the Lord so much! 

Pictures...finally!

 We were so excited to get a package last week with the looong awaited memory card inside it with pictures of Elder Chizzy and  some fun Christmas presents from Korea! He is doing great!

Chewing pleasure at its finest!

 In one of his letters, Elder Chiz said he dunked the basketball while playing with his Korean friend and investigator, Gyeong Meen.  I can't imagine my boy liking basketball or anything.....ha ha ha! I love the B of M in one hand!! Maybe that's how he dunked it!!! (some spiritual power!)

 Seoul looks like a really big, really beautiful city!

The church.

 Snowy Seoul. Look at that cute smile! I am so happy he got his Christmas packages!

 His little tree and the 12 days of Christmas we sent him and his companion.

 Elder Chisholm, and Elder Hatch. They and the rest of their district went singing Christmas Carols in the subway stations often during the holidays, Josh said he loved it!

 I LOVE THIS! He was Santa at their ward party and handed out gifts to all the kids. He often refers to how much he loves the Korean children and how fun they are.

 These are the other Elders Josh was in the MTC with, he got to see them at their mission Christmas party and was a fun reunion for them.

I am amazed that this boy, who I taught to spell his name, who I taught to speak, who I taught to pray and sing...can now write, speak, pray and sing in Korean. He is doing well and so happy. He has been called as a trainer, and he was quite overwhelmed with that, this week he was amazed at how the Lord has helped him and how he has grown in such a short time. Missionaries are the best!!!

 

"I am great. This last week has been kind of absolutely insane. Haha I am training an American Missionary!!! He came straight from the MTC like I did and yeah... Fun stuff.  Haha he went to BYU for 2 years before coming on a mission and lets just say that he wants to work hard and talk to absolutely everyone. He has a huge heart and loves everyone. He is very bold and very loud and loving!!This last week may have been the craziest week I have ever have. Haha but honestly, it has been awesome. We have had some super cool experiences and I can't believe how much the Lord is helping me right now. I honestly, am understanding so much right now. I can understand maybe 80 to 90 percent of what people say and The Lord is also just totally opening up my mouth. We taught a lesson yesterday and it was to a guy that Elder Hatch said I better have a member come to because he is super hard to understand. Well, I tried all day sunday to get a member to help but none of them could so we ended up teaching alone. Well, it went AWESOME! I could understand every single thing he said and I opened my mouth and words came out. It was crazy. I don't really know how to explain how it feels besides the fact that I know its not because of anything I did. I mean I study hard and stuff, but even when I was with Elder Hatch 6 days ago, I wasn't understanding this much. It has been awesome and all I can say is that I feel very undeserving of the blessings I have received. It has been awesome. I feel like yesterday, after we taught that lesson, I had it hit me like "Wow, I am doing what the Lord wants me to do and I am the one that is portraying the gospel in a language that 5 months ago, I didn't even know how to say hi." Haha that is how I felt. It was one of the strongest spiritual experiences I have ever had. I just felt Heavenly Father's love and I was able to feel like I was doing what he wanted me to do. We also taught the second half of the plan of salvation on Saturday to 임진영  And we extended a baptismal invitation and she was praying and fasting about February 9th yesterday and church so we are hoping we will have a baptism that day! It would be so dang cool if it happened:) I am pumped. Anyways, it has been an awesome week and I have seen a ton of miracles. I feel like I am a miracle! Haha Heavenly Father his working through me and it is an amazing feeling!

 It is definitely where the Lord wants me to be! The Scripture that says "The Lord doesn't call the qualified, he qualifies the called." took on a whole different meaning for me this week!   He is lifting me up to where I could not go by myself. It has been a great experience and I am looking forward to continue to have cool experiences and keep progressing.
Oh, I made korean food the other day! It didn't turn out to bad!!  I thought you would like that. I just made this soup stuff that has tons of random stuff thrown in it!  It's called budae chigae! I like it a lot."

Love you all,
Elder Chizzy

Christmas as a missionary!

Elder Chizzy spent his first Christmas in Seoul and he's doing great. He said he enjoyed caroling in the subway stations with his zone, decorating a ward Christmas tree with some kids in the ward, eating a Christmas Eve dinner at a Korean grill (kind of like Golden Corral only you grill your own food) and having a party with the rest of the missionaries with his mission President and wife. He is happy, cold, grateful for heated floors and warm quilts and hand warmers and learning more and more Korean every day. When we talked to him on the phone he told us the first vision in Korean and we were all blown away by how great he sounds. We miss him, we are proud of him and the struggles and accomplishments he is having as a missionary. He is growing so much and loves his mission so far! He would love letters!!! We are excitedly awaiting his SD card which he says has over 500 pictures on it....he said he sent it last week and I can't wait to see his face!!!


"Well first off, HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! THANK GOODNESS WE AREN'T ALL DEAD!! Haha that whole end of the world thing came and went didn't it?? HAha pretty funny stuff. Anyways, Talking to you guys was so good and it made me so happy. It wasn't long enough but at the same time, it made it so I didn't miss you guys to much and that made it so I could focus on the work still which was good:) Haha but I do miss you guys tons and I am grateful we got to talk! It made me so happy. Anyways, it sounds like this last week has been crazy busy like normal! Haha I miss being around the craziness but oh well... I am glad everyone had such a good week. It sounds like it was so much fun and just being around family is an amazing blessing. That is one thing that I really came to feel during Christmas was even though I did some of the things we always do, and I was around people I wanted to be around and was where I was supposed to be, there was one thing missing and that was you guys! I came to realize that those traditions would be absolutely nothing without the family and I am so grateful for our family and for the traditions we have. They are so much fun and everything but, it is the time we spend together that really is so much fun! 

Well this week, we got back to work which was a relief! And we were able to meet a lot of cool people which was good. Actually on thursday,  we knocked on this door and this lady actually let us in. She lived in NEw York for 15 years and spoke good English and she believed a lot of things we believed. The great thing was that she is just searching for truth and not judging by just the church name or whatever. What a great situation! She took a Book of Mormon and said she would read it and I felt the spirit as a testified to her about the truthfulness of it. It was a really good experience! We also had a great sunday which was really good .) On Saturday, I  had president interviews with President Christensen which was awesome! He is such a good man and I respect him a ton.  He definitely is called of God and I am so glad he is my Mission President. That day, I was also able to pass off with the A.P's which was awesome. I memorized D&C 4 in Korean and the Korean A.P said it was awesome. So that made me really happy. Now all I need to do is teach him and I will be certified basically to be a trainer and stuff. Pretty cool. I have worked hard on that so it was good to finish that and get it off my back so I can work on some other things!

Anyways, now I will answer some questions you had::) Me and Elder Hatch are doing great. We are nothing alike and he doesn't like sports and we don't have the same personalities, but we get along and he is great. He helps me a lot and I have learned a ton from him which is really good. I was blessed with a great trainer. Transfers are in two weeks. One of us will be transfered and I will have a new companion more than likely. I want to stay in 개봉 but I will do whatever the mission President asks for sure:) Change will be good and it will push me to work hard! Whatever happens it will be for the best. Koreans celebrate the Lunar New year. It is called 설날(Solar) And it is the second biggest holiday in Korea next to their thanksgiving. Everything shuts down and we can't do missionary work for a bit and we just study and what not! So they party hard then:) Haha pretty funny! They like to party for sure. Answering your other questions, this mission is so much different than what I thought a mission would be. We contact all the time and we don't teach that much which is really hard sometimes. But at the same time, it has given me the opportunity to really rely on my Savior and learn so much about myself and about the gospel. It has been a great blessing! The work is hard but very rewarding, fun, and it is just changing me and I can feel it which is awesome! I am definitely grateful for the blessings of being on a mission. I know me being out here will also bless you guys so much and I am grateful for those blessings as well:) 
Well I gotta go soon but I really hope you have a great week. Sounds like it has been crazy at home... But what is new right? Haha I hope Eisley is doing ok. Like you said, she does have a plan. All of us do and Heavenly Father knows our weaknesses and our strengths and he tests both of them.  I was reading in the  War chapters this morning and I think it is in Ch 50 that Moroni is strengthening the weak cities in the region. When he did that, the lamanites could not even fight back. So just let the Lord strengthen those weaknesses and trust him. "

First Month in Seoul

 Thanksgiving at an army base with an LDS Chaplain and family, the Degn's.

 Elder's Chisholm and Hatch, a yummy Thanksgiving dinner!

 We think this is an ice sculpture turkey!

 The view outside Elder Chizzy's apartment!

 Halloween tie, pillowcase and Batman! Apparently, Halloween isn't a big deal in Korea!!!


Elder Chizzy is doing great! He is enjoying cold, snowy, wet Seoul. He is learning little by little to understand and talk and is positive, happy and healthy! We love hearing from him and look forward to his emails every week! We love hime and are super proud of him! Here are a few excerpts from his recent letters.

"Thanksgiving was a great day! The Degn's were a very nice family and I was grateful for them. They lived on an Army base so we got to visit that and see a lot of other American's which was nice. 

We also taught a couple other lessons that went really well:) Heavenly Father really blessed me this week and made me see that I really can make a difference in these peoples lives. For that, I am definitely grateful."

"Church this week was really cool! It was the primary presentation and the kids were so dang cute:) HAha asian kids just in general are so dang cute and awesome! I was touched by the primary music and I was grateful for that experience. The other cool thing about Church was just that there was a sense of just love and everything. Haha it was super cool and the spirit was just super strong at church! It was a good day for sure:"

"This week was full of very cool experiences. It started off with the Bathhouse... HAHA it was way sick and super relaxing! Like, it wasn't near as weird as it sounds. There really weren't tons of people there and it was actually big and it was nice. It didn't remind me of anything in particular because it was like nothing I've ever been in... But there was like a sauna and like four or five big hot tubs basically. Then a wet room and then a cold pool. The cold pool was absolutely freezing but fun. I am pretty sure this is one of the only missions in the world that you can go swimming! Haha it was sick:) Anyways, then we went to Costco and got food and stuff which was fun. Then Tuesday was Temple day!! We got to go to the temple which is about a 30 minute subway ride away... It was super relaxing and a great experience. The temple is aboslutely puny. I am pretty sure there are two endowment rooms and initiatory and the baptismal font and thats it. It is smaller than the Oquirhh Mountain temple and yeah. It is so small. But it is very pretty and very spiritual. It was cool because when you go in, it is noisy and you can hear the city and it is right in the middle of the city, but when you enter the temple, it is quiet and just spiritual. I really liked that part and just being able to feel the spirit was great."

"This week was a better all around week with teaching people and things as well. WE actually had some lessons and one of them in particular was insanely cool. This kids name is 경민 (gyeong meen) He is 21 years old and I actually contacted him like the first week or two I was here. I speaks english super well so that was nice

I actually had some good conversations with people on the street! In our mission, since teaching lessons is really hard, they also set a goal for how many people you talk with on the street every week. the standard is 140 but me and Elder Hatch wanted to get 200 this last week and we did it! It was hard work but way fun. I learned a lot and the time absolutely flew by. We had some really good lessons too. We are meeting with 경민 (gyeong meen:)) today again.. We will see how it goes! We are just doing the same thing as last time so hopefully it goes well. We also met with a guy named 권혁태 (gwon hyeok tae) and he was a really nice guy."

"Luckily, last Monday, we found a super cheap
Christmas tree and ornaments at this place and we were able to buy it
so we have a Christmas tree in our house! Haha and we found a Michael
Buble c.d. and we have been listening to it:) It has made this week
feel a little bit more like christmas:) And then on Wednesday, we went
to another area and it was snowing so hard! But us and the
missionaries in our zone proselyted and handed out Books of Mormon for
presents and stuff:) It was fun and freezing! It has snowed quite a
bit.. Which has really made it feel like christmas.
We haven't been able to meet with a lot of people which has been pretty
frustrating... That is one thing about Koreans... They are always
busy! ALWAYS! Whether it is a test, or something else, they are always
busy with something. So they always say that they can meet next week
and that ends up being the end of the month and then they just never
meet. It is pretty frustrating... We haven't taught a normal lesson
since the 2nd week I was here. But even though that is the case,
missionary work is still good. 
Oh cool story, we got to carol last night!! It
was way fun:) We went to a big subway station and just stood in a
really busy area and sang christmas carols in both english and korean.
It was way fun! It was us, another zone, and a companionship from our
zone. It was awesome to just spread the happiness of christmas and
stuff:) But yeah, life is good... Hard and freezing... But good!"

May the Force be With you!!!!

 Elder Chisholm and Sister McKay....good friends in the MTC, and neighbors at home!!!

 Josh and his branch President, and wife, native Koreans.

 District!

 We think this is right before a lot of the native Koreans left for Korea about 4 weeks ago. Josh talked a lot about them and how helpful they were in teaching the language to those missionaries preparing to go to Korea. Josh loved them and said he couldn't wait to go and teach!!

 Last MTC pkg was a Star Wars box! Josh loves Star Wars and we have lots of fun family memories watching it. We figured it was fitting to send our little Korean Jedi Missionary off with some things that remind him of home. We also sent a coloring book, play dough, ADVIL  and treats for the 16 1/2 hr long plane ride!!!

Everyone was anxiously awaiting the airport phone call! It was so great to hear our missionaries voice!! Everyone got to talk to him for quite awhile and he sounded great. He bore his testimony in Korean and said lots of other cool things in Korean too. The best part about it was that he is SO excited to go, so happy, so ready and so anxious. It was fun to talk to him and to hear how good he is doing and how ready he is to GET ON WITH IT! He loved the MTC and learned so much, the Spirit was so strong there and I can tell he grew a lot in the last 11 1/2 weeks.

I, of course, did not sleep well, or do anything well, until I got this picture at 9:00 Tuesday morning. The email said " Missionary Arrival: Your missionary arrived safe, healthy and is in good hands."

Deep sigh of relief for mom!!!!

Now the real fun starts......we can't wait to hear how Korea is and how he's doing!!

"Well, there are a lot of things going through my head right now. It is crazy that in a few days I will be talking to people IN KOREA. It blows my mind that I can actually speak it! I feel so blessed that way. I have come to have a very firm testimony about a missionary calling. The Lord qualifies who He chooses. The biggest thing for me is that I just need to push myself to be better every single day. Something I have thought a lot about today is just finishing. Finishing this awesome MTC experience, finishing some of the relationships with people I may never see again.I look at it this way, if I finish this experience well, I will finish all my mission well. I am really excited to finish out strong and I am doing my best."

"We have sung Called to Serve EVERY SINGLE Tuesday... it is so old now Ha!Ha! But today was the last day of singing it and it really made me think of how great an experience this really has been. My testimony and closeness to the Savior has grown more than anything else. The Korean has been great but I just feel that Heavenly Father is shaping me to be what HE wants me to be and that is one of the greatest feelings in the world! I feel so blessed!"

Love

Elder Chisholm

He's almost there!!!!

Josh is plugging away at the MTC. This week marks 8 weeks of him being there. I really can't believe it. In some ways it's gone fast, and in some, I'm sure, especially to him, it's been forever. He has loved it and learned so much, but he is very excited to get to Korea. In his written letters these past few weeks he's told us about Korean missionaries that have been in the district with him and how much he's learned from them. He already loves them and is excited when he can communicate with them. His goal is to have learned 1000 words in Korean before he leaves on Oct 22. He sent us the alphabet and told us to try to study it. Well, we tried, but, we failed!!!!! We are glad he has the gift of tongues, because without it, we can see how truly difficult this language really is. We are proud of him for working so hard!!!! I try to send him interesting care pkgs each week, some of them are a Rise and Shine pkg, with cereal, pop tarts, muffins, drinks, fruit. A General Conference pkg, a BYU Rise and Shout pkg, lots and lots of cookies and rolls, and a cupcake a week that I promised him before he left! Of course,he  always gets letters and pictures from his siblings, he always writes them back and is so sweet in how he talks to them! Jon gives him a weekly "sports minute" and he is up to date and thrilled with BYU's new black football jerseys!!!! He says mail and pkgs make his week and break up the constant studying and monotony. Way to go Elder Chizzy!!!


" A mission isn't easy though and I knew it wouldn't be so this has been a great test for me. Heavenly Father definitely strengthens our weaknesses and I have no doubt that is what he is doing right now. One scripture that really helped me this week was Alma 37:37. It talks about prayer and how we should always counsel with the Lord. More than anything, here at the MTC, I have learned how to talk with Heavenly Father and that has been an amazing blessing! at times I just feel alone. But with that, I have learned a lot about the importance of prayer and everything like that which I am super grateful for. I have also learned a ton about patience and just not complaining and just going with the flow. Haha it allows me to avoid a lot of conflict and all of that stuff so its good. It's pretty cool that I am where I am at though, I wouldn't trade it for the world even if it is getting harder and harder to stay patient here:) only 3 weeks and 6 days and it is going to fly by:) 
I am happy with how I am doing and how I am progressing. The sacrament prayer on Sunday went so well and everyone said I did a really good job which made me happy:) I have gotten a lot closer to some of the Elder's in the other districts and the new districts just because for the most part, I actually like being around them a lot more. I played two of them in basketball so I have talked to them a lot about those games and stuff like that. It has been pretty fun getting to know them. I also really really like our new districts. They are way nice and they really want to work hard which makes me happy. Its cool to see where they are at now because 7 weeks ago, that is where I was at. I know that the Lord helps us everyday and allows us to learn more than we think we can learn. I can't wait to get there and to start teaching the Korean people. The language is insanely hard but ya know, I know the Lord is going to provide as long as I work hard. The gift of tongues is real as long as you work for it. I wish I could read the Book of Mormon in Korean. Haha it is so confusing. I can read it, I just have no idea what is going on
The Temple dedication was super good. I really really enjoyed it. When I went to the temple this morning, I thought about it and it was just a really neat experience. Elder Packer looked pretty beat up but he seemed to be in really good spirits and that was good to see. I can't wait for the Payson temple to be done either. That will be way cool to be able to come home and go to that temple! I can't wait for General conference for sure! Love you lots and miss you lots and I'll talk to you next week! 
Love,
Elder Chisholm "

Life in the MTC!!!!

Our cute Elder Chizzy is doing great in the MTC. He and his Companion Elder Frazier (from Georgia) are doing well together and seem to be good friends. He is also loving his other roommates, from Canada (YAY!!!) and Hawaii!!! He says his goal is to have 1500 Korean vocab words memorized by the time he leaves. (His estimated departure date is October 22). He is happy to be able to say quite a few phrases in Korean now and can bear his testimony easily! I am amazed at the progress he has made in 4 short weeks.  I asked him how the food was in the MTC. He says, "The food is......well, it's food. The best part is that I mash up 4 chocolate chip cookies in a bowl and put milk with it, yea, it's really really good." WOW!!!!!!!!!!! I guess that says a lot for the MTC food!! Ha! 

We miss him and think of him every day, but we know he is doing a great job and are so proud of him.

He missed the BYU home game opener last week. He actually had outside gym time during the opening kick off and he said that he was a little sad, but "I know I'm in the right place!" This coming from a serious DIE HARD cougar football fan, who hasn't missed a BYU game since he was 2 I think. Wow, my little boy is really growing up!!! 

Go Elder Chizzy!

"Prayers are answered everyday here. I have definitely never ever prayed harder in my life. The feeling I get from prayer is like no other feeling because I feel like Heavenly Father helps me so much everyday. For instance, The other day we were teaching a lesson to our investigator (teacher) and we invited him to come to church. It was like the 5th lesson so we decided that that would be a good commitment for him. When we extended the invitation to him though, he seemed very hesitant and what he said was, was that he was scared. So with my very limited Korean, I didn't know how to answer. So I said a really quick prayer and just started flipping open the scriptures. (The english ones:) ) and I opened to 2 Nephi 22:2 which talks about if we trust in the Lord, and he is our salvation, we don't need to be afraid. So I shared it with him, ( In Korean:)) and he seemed much less afraid. So I think he committed to coming to church next Sunday which is super cool! But yeah, that was a way cool experience and I know Heavenly Father answers prayers, even small ones."

"Mail is definitely the best part of the day because it is the only part of the day that you get a quick little escape from the MTC. The same routine everyday gets so old but I still like it a lot. The spirit is strong and its amazing how close to the spirit I feel. In last weeks devotional, Neil A. Anderson came and talked to us and that was so cool! He talked a lot about stories the prophet told and some of the interactions he has with the prophet on a daily basis. It was a super cool talk and we sang a way cool song that was called Behold the Nails in Jesus' Hands. It was a great song about the atonment and I really enjoyed it. This week we are singing Jesus once of Humble birth, which is also a great song!

 But I am doing great! My throat has been all the way better for the whole week which is such a huge blessing! The Korean is hard, but I just feel so blessed by the Lord with learning it. It is coming easily and I understand what I am learning and my memory is amazing. I know that the Lord has helped me a ton and that is such a cool feeling. I feel like I am learning how to study considering we study the BOM for an hour a day and every time I am just sitting around, I am just studying vocab like crazy. I try to memorize at least 20 words a day so that by time I leave here, I will know at least 1500 korean words. The grammar forms are the hardest part but those are coming too and I feel like I understand the general base of Korean. So It is coming and it will continue to get better!

 One of my new teachers, Brother Wade, just got off of his mission 2 months ago and he is so sick! He is an amazing teacher and we taught him a lesson in Korean last night and it actually went really well! I just made some sentences up in my head which really helped me realize how far I have come already. The fact that I can make up sentences in my head is amazing."

"Absolutely everyone I talk to says that Korea is just the most amazing place ever. My one teacher, Bro Hatfield, talked about how he played basketball almost everyday there which made me happy and they also play a lot of soccer over there. They say the people are so incredibly nice and I totally believe it! This week, we had 8 native Korean missionaries come and they all are just so insanely nice. They help us with our Korean all the time because we kind of just look foolish around them! They are all going Korean speaking so they will only be here for 3 weeks but it is a really cool experience to have them here."

 "I am amazed by the Book of Mormon. I have taken things out of it this time that I have never taken out of it before. The gospel is so simple, yet it is so amazingly powerful. I feel so grateful for it and for Heavenly Father and Jesus for blessing us with it. "

 Elder Chisholm and Elder Frazier

 Roommates!

 Yes, if you know Josh, you know he's just gotta play ball!!!

 Some Korean!

 All day, every day....just do it!!! (learning "his" language!)

 Ugly tie day with Sister McKay!! (Our next door neighbor!)

Every Wednesday Josh and Elder Miller go try to shake hands with and welcome as many new missionaries as they can! You can tell they're new by they're little orange sticker. Here they are with a brand new, straight from Seoul Elder!!! Elder Chizzy is so excited to teach these people!