My first transfer is almost over!
I remember my dad telling the missionaries to not make bets, or talk too much about transfers. But I kinda understand it now that I'm on the missionary side of things. It's gonna be exciting to find out who goes where. I bet I'll stay here for at least one more transfer. That's usually the pattern for greenies, at least from what I've heard. I'm not supposed to talk about it though. haha.
In Korea the method of "knocking doors" isn't that effective. Most apartment complexes have cameras on the outside and you have to type in the apartment you want to visit, then they can see you through the camera and decide whether to let you in or not. Even if you got into the apartment complex somehow and were knocking on peoples doors then they would be able to see you through a camera on their door and tell you to leave.
This last Wednesday we went on exchanges with one of the zone leaders of our zone. He's on the bottom left of the picture that I attached; his name is Elder Chidester. He's "dying" this transfer. Crazy! Anyway, I learned a lot from him and we tried knocking doors. Except not to apartment complexes but to other places where people have their own little houses. They're hard to explain; I'll take a picture next week. Before we did it we prayed a lot and then put sticky tabs on different places on our map and then we each chose a few and narrowed it down to just one area. Then we prayed some more and went there. It was raining sooooo hard that I was soaked from head to toe by the time we were done. We went to so many people's houses and didn't get into one house. We did have a few people open their doors and stuff but no one let us in. It's very rare to actually get into someone's house. I think that God was testing our faith to see if we would actually go knock doors even though it's not as effective and it was pouring rain. I think if we do it again then we will get into someone's house! I have faith. We plan to go next week.
We met with the lady who Bible bashed with us a few weeks ago again. She called us and said that she wanted to learn about our church and wouldn't argue with us. She lied. haha. We had a member present who taught her about the plan of salvation. He served in Busan in the 80's and was amazing at teaching the plan of salvation. If he can explain it so that I can understand it in Korean then anyone can. The lady said some really interesting things. Before she left my companion bore a really powerful testimony of the Book of Mormon and you could tell that she felt something. But she told us she wanted to leave and said a prayer before she left. I'll translate something she said that we though was funny. "Dear God thank you for giving us the Bible. We know that it has a lot of problems but that it has all of the answers we need." Haha Why won't she just read the Book of Mormon? She really does believe in God and the Bible. It seems like if you really do believe in God and Jesus Christ then why wouldn't you want to read a book that testifies of them? I don't understand. 2 Nephi 33:10-11..."Believe in Christ; and if ye believe not in these words believe in Christ. And if ye shall believe in Christ ye will believe in these words; for they are the words of Christ...Christ will show unto you with power and great glory that these are his words."
Last weekend I passed off lesson 3! I have a major dilemma because I always have to study for pass off but then when we meet with investigators I have to study other stuff. I don't have time to study both. But now I have to pass off lesson four, which is a pretty intense lesson. There're so many things to say! I set a goal to pass off lesson four by the end of this transfer. Whether that's possible or not, I'm not sure. Then I just have to do ZL pass off, which is intense. Then AP pass off, which is more intense. I can do it!
So our investigator 최진영 told us that she doesn't have time anymore to meet with us. Bummer. I was really upset. We had so many potential investigators last week and none of them could meet. We should have a bunch of new investigators this week. I really hope so. The two kids we've been teaching want to get baptized at the end of the month so we are excited for that.
Other than that not much else happened this last week. We ate dinner with some of the members last night and it was so much fun. There were three different families and we all ate together and talked and I taught them all how football works. haha. Oh and if you could send me a picture of me playing football that would be great; they really want to see it. When I tell them how much I used to weigh they freak out. Oh, and I did eat octopus last night, not raw or anything; don't worry. It was okay. I need to try more crazy food I think. ha. Anyway, I had a great week! I can't believe the transfer is almost over. Really weird. I find myself hoping that time will slow down sometimes so that I can have more time to learn Korean. Thanks for all of your prayers and support! Love you all!
-Elder Rife
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