Another Crazy Week in the 대전 선교부 본부

Wow, this was a pretty insane week I have got to say. So like I told you last week I got transfered to 대전 and have been working as the guy who does almost everything in the office (in a week or two I will do everything).

Long story short:

There are a lot of things to do.

I Basically make reports/record stuff/order stuff/help Sis Furniss/help Sis Brunson/Do whatever President needs/etc.......

ya.................................

It's definitely fun and all (I like being back in front of a computer that is kind of my natural enviroment you might say) BUT I do get frustrated not being able to get out and do the work as much as we would like. It is interesting..

And on top of that, I get the wonderful job of trying to translate sacrament meeting. That is a pain let me tell ya. I've almost been out a year and ya........ still dont get it all..... probably won't ever get it ALL but I am hoping that one of these days I will at least start getting MORE. It is hard, but I think that the people who are at the real disadvantage are the people on the receiving side of the translation. It has gotta be horrible..... Hahaha. Wow

Anyway It has been a busy week we had transfers so I was busy trying to get everyone checked in and checked out and just ya...... Long story short. Tired. Very very tired.

But besides that we do get time on saturdays and sundays (as well as every other day from 6-9) to get out and prosylete/teach and stuff SO ya that was fun. I am still getting used to the new ward but my companion is a stud. Love him so much hahaa. His name is Elder Hwang. 황희승 장로 for those who can read korean. He is SO cool. Love the guy so much. We have a great time together and keep the 본부 running pretty good!

Ya! that was my week. We got out and met some people on Saturday and Sunday we were just busy trying to be visiting members and build some 정. SO it was a pretty good two days. GOt another busy week ahead of me but ya!

It is so good to hear that everyone back at home is doing so good.... except Dad.... who has died from pneumonia again...... Dangit Dad kick that thing! No more being sick for you! You are too good of a guy! You are going to Lake Powell so you have got to get over it soon! Gosh man!!! And Mom and the Girls all got to go to Girls Camp eh? That has got to be fun. I love hearing how my sisters are just being the best. It makes me so happy. My family is just the best. I really miss you guys :) But hey! We will get to see each other in December! (Cause who knows if I'm still in the office I sure am gonna make sure that I get to Skype!)

I think that one of the awesome scriptures that I studied was in Alma 38:5 (but I replaced Shiblon with Joshua). I really have got to learn how to "rely on the Lord" a lot more now. I am doing stuff that is important but doesn't exactly have the results I would like to see.... I really am going to need that support. A lot. It's kinda frustrating to be perfectly honest. But I know that through relying on the Lord I can make it work.

I love you all so much, I hope you know that. I hope you will remember little old me in your prayers because I need 'em. Remember that the church is true. Remember that and don't ever forget it. God lives and loves us. Know that, rely on that truth. It'll get you through anything.

Love ya'll! Have a good week!
Elder Josh

P.S.(for Dad): Happy Fathers Day (from last week) AND.... HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! From this week!!!! I hope that you have an awesome week! Love you so much and thank you for being MY dad :)

P.P.S. I love you all!


Because I said I would, here is some pictures!  OH btw I got a haircut this morning!

Wow..... didn't see this coming!

Dear Family!!!

Wahhhh crazy week!!!!!!!

Like you have no idea! It is gonna absolutely blow all of your minds.

So to start off the week, however, we had a good week up till Wednesday! Then surprisingly, Wednesday night we got a call from President Furniss. I am being transferred. To the Mission Office! I will be serving as the Supply Manager/Mission Recorder/Financial Clerk (because our office couple goes home in a month). So I had to pack up my stuff and get here to the 본부 (office) on Saturday morning! In addition to that my area (because 율전 [Yuljeon] area didn't have a whole lot going on) is closing and they are making 신풍/율전 areas a 2 man area.
Crazy eh? Elder 이가하 is finishing up and I am already here so that area is clean.

Wow.... but we had investigators in that area. Let me tell you about them......

순동철 had an interesting week. I told you last week that he was going on this "adventure" and so he wouldn't be coming back soon (so he said) well, he came back!!!! And we were able to meet him and talk with him once (before I got my call on Wednesday) and then after that we called him back and were like "let's meet cause Elder Crowther has to go!" So we met up and had a good chat with him and stuff and it was good! We even got him another baptismal date and stuff but because me and Elder 이가하 have both left I don't know if that will go through or not!

We will see if that goes through! It would be really awesome if it did. I would thoroughly appreciate it! It would make my life a WHOLE lot easier if he would stop saying "i'll do it when I go to college or after army".

AhhhhH!!

But ya, as to now, I have been assigned as the supply manager and mission recorder and soon the financial guy so in not very long I am going to have a TON of stuff to do! But lately, I have just been working and trying to get this all done. There is a lot to remember and try to do. Kinda stressful lots to remember and all but it's alright!

So ya, I'll send you pics a little later today (seeing as how I have like no time limit or anything). So ya!

Sorry there wasn't a whole lot of interesting stuff this week I just got thrown to 대전 [war] so ya!

Hey, I hope you know I love you all! Take care!

Elder Josh

WOW busy week

Dear Familia!

Well it has been a crazy week this week. And unfortunately it did not end up the way I would have wished it would though. I'll tell you a bit in just a second.

But before that....

YOU RAN A MARATHON! WAHHH! That is SO crazy...... Oh my goodness, how does one manage to run that many miles? That is nuts. Completely and totally nuts. But I have to say congratulations that is quite the accomplishment and you both worked hard! Maybe I might have to go running with you when you get back. I still am sporting some dunlops disease (ask dad about that) so I am going to be in need of some hard core recovery time when I get home.

I am attaching some of the pictures from our trip to the beach so ya, we were exhausted afterwards and I got myself a pretty nice looking tan after I was done (besides my watch line and my shirt line) I am looking pretty interesting and from what I can tell it is only going to get worse! Wahhooo! I got to do wrestling and played soccer at the beach and it was wonderful (you should have seen the wrestling though it was so fun ahha. I've never even done it before in my life, and BOY was it awesome, unfortunately, we don't have any pictures of that so I can't show you more but it was way fun that's all I have to say).

The weather here in Korea is starting to heat up and boy let me tell ya my body doesn't like 습기 (humidity) and I sweat like a dog! It is wonderful let me tell ya, I am getting used to the 50% humidity I can endure that pretty good but if it starts to go over that (which it does EVERY DAY) I begin to just die because of the sweat (If you look at the pictures that I attached of ZLC's you will see I am nice and glossy).

But ya, we also had ZLC's this week which was a great experience. I got to hear from some of the greatest minds in the mission and it was wonderful. I totally have the desire to be SUCH a better missionary! It is such a blessing to have examples like that in our mission and I hope that one day I can be like them! WAH!

But ya. Unfortuantely this week our baptism did not go through. 손동철b has some concerns still about getting baptized (more like he just wants to do it later in life, he already knows he needs to be baptized, he admitted that and that It was a good thing. He just wants to do it later like after Army service in college.....) So ya we are still working on helping him out, it will be a process but hopefully he will get that answer from God when he needs to get baptized (we are hoping and praying that it is soon) so ya.

This week was just a hard week overall to be honest. We had a lot of things going on and as far as getting a chance to get out and do the work really solid we didn't have a whole lot of time so we are going to buckle down and pick things back up this week!

So I have been doing something lately that I want all of you to try! It will be a fun FHE activity and frankly I have learned a lot through doing it. In PMG chapter 6 at the very end of the chapter (honestly if you just turn to chapter 7 it's on the other page which is the very last of chapter 6) there is a Christlike attributes examination. I have been trying to take this on a pretty regular basis to see how much I am progressing as a person and as a missionary. So I think that if all you at home want to take that and just be honest don't show it to anyone else but take that little evaluation and evaluate where you are. Then pick a couple of the things and set some goals to be better this week. I know that as I have tried to do it, it's been really hard. BUT when I honestly try my best it is so cool to see how I progress just a little bit! And that's what this life is all about 발전. Progression. Every day a little bit here and a little bit there.

I really like the scripture Helaman 3:35 which talks about progression and I think we can apply it to ourselves too! Every day we can try a little bit harder, to be a little bit better. As we do so we really do progress and become better people and more worthy sons and daughters of our Heavenly Father. I can't remember where I heard this said BUT I heard that "God doesn't expect perfection NOW, but he does expect progression."

I certainly have come a long way and I've still got a dang long way to go. But I know that I am making a little bit  of progression. It is slow, sometimes tedious, sometimes it's even really REALLY difficult so much that it may seem that we can't do it. But remember 1 Nephi 3:7 and try and watch how God helps us out! It's so cool!

I love you all and am so thankful for all that you have done for me!
You are all awesome and I look forward to hearing from you again soon!
Love,
Elder Josh

A very VERY busy week

Dear Family!

WAhhh!!! We have been all over the place this last week! (Like I can't even tell you, it has been ridiculous) and apparently for us we have another very Very busy week. Wahhhh.......

Dang...

So ya I will give you the update on our Baptismal candidate (named 손동철) and ya. Me and Elder 이가하 have been working really hard on getting him prepared to be baptized. He has gotten all of the lessons and it is awesome. But he is still nervous about baptism. I am not 100% sure what his concerns are it has been really hard trying to figure that out. But as of yet the date still stands. We met with him yesterday and it was just a very hectic day.... I'll tell you about it.

We met with him on Saturday and I told him that I would call him to get him up in the morning. So at 8AM I called him (like 3 times till he woke up) then he confirmed he was coming to church and ya. So we go about our average morning and all and about 8:45 he calls back. So I answer and all of a sudden he is like "I can't go to church"...... So we asked why and he says "I have to clean my room.... my parents have a guest coming over" SO we are like... "alright we'll come help you clean we'll be at your house in 10 mins" SO we dash out the door and head to his house to meet up with him. He persistently tells us not to come and that we can't do anything but we come anyway (persistent little missionaries hehe) and ya. We get to his house and he comes out and talks with us. We talk for like 45 mins... (church starts at 9:30) and just kept trying and trying to convince him to come to church. But for some reason as we talked to him we just could not convince him to come. Just could not. So we left to head to church and my heart just cried. I couldn't understand why he wasn't coming. I just could not understand. He is so close, SO close and I just couldn't understand. So as I'm standing there on the bus and going to church suddenly we get a call from him. All of a sudden... He can come! So we turn around and hop in a taxi head back to his house and take him to church. It was a good meeting (but we missed the sacrament, unfortunately...) and so ya. He for the first time actually stayed for all of the meetings. At the end of the day we went and dragged him into a classroom and talked about baptism and the baptismal questions and he promised us that he would pray about being baptized and stuff.

He hasn't been keeping commitments as good as we'd like but he's getting there little bit by a little bit. Hopefully he will actually have a good solid week of actually praying and reading the Book of Mormon so he can get baptised on Saturday (we moved it forward a day) So we will find out today. Please keep him in your prayers tonight if you would. That would be awesome.

Anyways ya, we also had zone conference this week and it was a really good experience to get to go to 대전 and meet up with president and all of the other missionaries. It was really good. Then afterwards in Zone Conference Review (more meetings as a ZL 역시) and ya it was good. Had to give my opinion on a couple things and it is really interesting as an AZL that I get to have some real input and stuff. It's kinda intimidating but cool at the same time.

This week however is going to be a lot more of the same old trying to be a million places at once kinda business. Plus we have to somehow try and get 손동철 baptized AND ya.

This is gonna be nuts. But we are however going with our stake to 안면도 on Wednesday. It is gonna be a blast, we will be at the beach and although I can't go in the water (which apparently just fyi most Koreans can't swim.... interesting eh?) I will take lots and LOTS of pics for you. It will be sweet.

As to this week I have some pics that I will send to you I hope you enjoy! I took some with the sisters that were in the MTC with me that I haven't seen in forever and ya it was fun!

I hope all of you know that this is God's work. I feel the spirit in this work and I truly know this is true. This is God's church, the Book of Mormon is God's word. All you gotta do is read it and you will feel that truth for yourself. How cool is that :)!

I love this gospel and I know it's true!

And alsoooo...

LOVE YA FAMILY!!!

Elder Josh