SO... It was a good/long week

WOW, it has been a weird week. I think Chase described it the best. It flew by but in a really kind of slow way. It was kind of depressing how fast it went but looking back the things that happened this week seemed like FOREVER ago. Kinda nuts

Anywho ya, another week in Korea. And here I am sitting once again in the same position that I have been in the last 12 times i've emailed (hunched over in church clothes) HAH like the analogy? I thought it was clever.... (not really but I've just got some dry humor going on right now for some reason)

SO Ya, this week was nuts. We had a lovely visit by the AP's on Tuesday and that was pretty nerve racking (always is). But me and Elder Scoville were in one side of our area and the AP Elder went with the two other Elders to the absolute farthest point away in our area that you can be from where we (Elder Scoville/I) were. So it was pretty good.

We had a pretty successful week and I can honestly say we were just freaking out trying to get all of our appointments organized and everything. It is nuts. But ya so I want to tell you about 3 crazy experiences that I have had this week that I have good learning experiences for me.

So first of all we are meeting with this other church 전도사 [missionary]. He is SOOO smart. Ohhhhh my goodness gracious, he is a very smart guy. But it is amazing how people interpret the scriptures sometimes. It completely baffles me. But as we have been meeting with him it has been really amazing to see what people will accept and what they won't. For example: he accepts that Joseph Smith saw God and Christ. He doesn't accept that Jesus Christ was resurrected with a body and claims that the resurrection is a thing that we do spiritually (which is partially true) but that our bodies are just useless (which is not true, see 2 Nephi 9) It is pretty intense. We have really good discussions every time we meet, but he knows the Bible scriptures well, but interprets them kind of askew if you will. He has been fun to meet with and is reading the Book of Mormon and making some really good progress. 

So the next experience we had started at 4 o'clock on Saturday morning. I am sitting there unconscious (I don't sleep anymore I just go into a coma and then come out of it) and all of a sudden I hear Elder Scoville awake and on the phone. So I sit up and see that Elder Jolley is gone too. SO I go into Elder Jolley's room (where they were) and they are on the phone with one of the guys we are meeting with. He was with a buddy and had some questions about doctrine (specifically how we can become gods and where these things come out in the Bible.) So Elder Scoville and Elder Jolley and I sit down and find some scriptures and I call him back and we talk and attempt to explain things in my after anesthesia coma stupor (yay for bad jokes!). Anyway. As I thought about it after we got off the phone I was like "Ya know, I understand what the doctrine is, I know it's true, BUT I don't know where it comes from." So as I hit this realization I jumped out of bed, grabbed all my materials and sat down and started studying this out. We proceeded to spend the time (WOW some grandma is swearing and cussing at one of the receptionists here for some reason.... she has thrown a lot of stuff at him too......... ANYWAYS) I spent the time studying every chance I get the Doctrine for the Plan of Salvation (I think I am seeing the 5 stages of depression with this grandma in action, all right now, this is kinda strange). But ya so it was crazy to get all this studied and learned. We met with him yesterday at church and it was an awesome blessing to get to meet up with him and teach him. Every thing that we talked about that day referred back to the Plan of Salvation. It was kinda crazy so it was good that we got a chance to talk about that! SO that was cool to get to understand the doctrine a lot more than I had before.

Then there was just this one lesson that we taught that day that just went super well. We taught him the Restoration of the Gospel and I told the Joseph Smith story. It was cool because the Spirit was there and he felt it. Elder Scoville was awesome and jumped right on that and pointed out that he was feeling the Spirit. It was just a cool thing to me to watch Joseph Smith's description of the First Vision help someone feel the Spirit and recognize it.

Anyway. I had a pretty good week. We were very busy but it has been SO awesome. I had a really awesome time. I am learning more and more lately HOW to feel the Spirit. It is a very active thing. Trying to feel and recognize the Spirit is a powerful gift, but goodness gracious it is one you have to work for. I am happy that I have gotten a chance to see it work in the lives of the people I've taught this week. It has been great! Love it :) I love the Gospel and am so happy for it.

Love ya'll hope you have an awesome week. So good to hear about all the things that are going on for you at home. I am praying for ya every night, Work hard, have fun, remember the gospel is true!

Love,

Elder Josh

Oh ya! I forgot to tell you!

I touched a porcupine this week. It was really cool.