Monday, December 12, 2011

Letter from Elder Rife~December 12, 2011

Hello!

We set up lots of appointments for last week and we got punked like crazy. Nobody met with us last week! We met with one kid who we have been meeting up with a couple times each week while he walks to his academy but they have been really short meetings so we want to try to meet with him somewhere where we can talk more and try to help him progress. The work here is pretty slow right now. We only had 1 person who wasn't a member come to English class last week and the rest were all members. But right now lots of people are taking tests in school so they don't have much time. Lots of the ward members in our area are planning on bringing their friends to English class and stuff when all of their tests are over. So we are really hoping that we can have lots of people at English class and that we can find investigators through it. My companion and I are both still very young missionaries. I've been out for 9 months and he's been out for less than 4 so we are still trying to figure out how to work together well and how to do missionary work effectively. Sometimes I feel bad when I think about how much more effective I would be if I could just speak the language and could communicate the things I want to. But I have faith that I can learn this language!

This week I got closer with three people in my ward when I learned that they each know my dad, one of them having attributed where he is today to being helped often by my then 19 year old dad. I'll be more specific in my email to you, Dad. Don't worry! One of the other member knew my dad when he was a lawyer in Seoul in the 1980's, and the last one knew my dad while he was mission president in Daejeon. Pretty cool!

Last week I read the book called Our Heritage. It's a part of the missionary library so I thought I should read it. I learned a lot more about the pioneers and all that they went through in the early stages of our church. I won't write too much about it but I just want to say how thankful I am for those who went before us and prepared the way for us. I feel so grateful for our heritage as members of our church. When I compare my life to theirs I am overwhelmed by how much harder their lives were than mine is. It's humbling.

I've also been reading a lot in Jesus the Christ. I have found that while I read it I can really feel of my Savior's love for me. I love to learn more about my Savior and His life on this earth, especially around Christmas time. I have really been trying to get into the Christmas spirit lately. I don't have the nice decorations around me like I did back home. I don't have my family near. But I have the knowledge that my Savior lives and loves me and I am so grateful for that.

I'm sorry this week's email was so short! Next week we hope to see more things happen throughout the week. I'm excited for Christmas too!!!

Love you all! Oh and shout out to Todd. Happy B'day this week, Brotha!

-Elder Rife

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