Happy New Years!!! 새해 복 많이 받으세요! Happy Birthday, Mom!!
This week was a really good week! We had lots of time to do missionary work and I got to go on splits with one of my zone leaders. We met lots of cool people this week and I can tell that things are starting to pick up here in Ilsan.
We met a kid on the street on Wednesday who was really cool and really wants to meet us this week. I got the same impression when I met him as when we met David in Bundang. I tried to set up an appointment with him for this Tuesday and he said he is too busy lately, so hopefully we can meet him sometime soon! He's a great guy. His name is 정영훈 and he is 19 years old.
We met a lady at a bank last week (we went so I could exchange American money for Korean money) and she loved us. She thought it was so great that a foreigner and a Korean were serving as missionaries together so she gave us her number and wants us to teach her son English and about the gospel. Hopefully we can teach the whole family. They haven't answered phone calls yet but we'll get a hold of them soon.
At a bookstore, I met a guy from New York named Peter. He recognized us as Mormon missionaries right off the bat and then he and I talked for about an hour. He asked tons of questions about our church and it felt so good to be able to answer all of his questions in English. He didn't want to set an appointment to meet and wouldn't give me his number but he said he wanted to know more and would "research." I didn't have an English book of Mormon on me so I couldn't give him one but hopefully he calls us and we can give him a Book of Mormon and teach him some more.
We talked to lots of people this week and we are getting better at teaching with unity. It's always hard with a Korean and an American because the Korean can say whatever he wants and the American can't because of the language. We are getting better at teaching together and being more smooth. We've been getting closer with the members too and have had more meal appointments lately so it's been really good. Hopefully we can start getting referrals from our members since that's the most effective way of doing missionary work.
Saturday morning we played soccer with a couple of the wards in our stake and then we had a stake service project where we moved lots and lots of coal to people's houses. It was sad to see some of the places that people were living and how cold they must be all the time. But I'm glad they have coal now and can stay more warm this winter.
Saturday night we had English class and we had 3 people who said they were going to come but then got busy all of a sudden. So we had one older guy named Eddie and then a sister from our ward. It was fun though. We talked about new year resolutions and played 20 questions then read the Book of Mormon together in English.
Unfortunately we couldn't stay up till midnight this year to welcome in the new year so it was kind of a low key New Year's Eve and New Year's Day for me. Koreans usually hike to the top of mountains and watch the sun rise on New Year's Day to welcome in the new year but nobody did that really this year. Maybe because it was Sunday. But this year will be a good one! It's the year of missionary work for me. I'm excited to see all of the miracles that will happen this year and all of the things I will learn. It's gonna be a great year!
Tonight we get transfer calls. My companion thinks he will be leaving to another area but I'm pretty sure that he will stay. We'll see! it's always kind of exciting when you get transfer calls but I'm not nervous today because I'm almost 100% sure that I won't be going anywhere.
At the end of last year I started a new tradition that I want to keep up throughout my lifetime, which is finishing the Book of Mormon right as the year ends. So I read like crazy and finished the Book of Mormon for the second time so far as a missionary and it was amazing! I feel like I know so much more than I used to and I'm sure I will learn so much more as I read the Book of Mormon again and again throughout my life. I'm so thankful for the Book of Mormon and we are so lucky to have it. It's such a fun thing sharing it with everyone we meet on the street.
I met a kid on the street yesterday who speaks 4 languages fluently: Korean, English, Turkish, and Hungarian. Apparently his parents are missionaries in Eastern Europe or something. He spoke English really well and then he said that his most fluent language is Turkish, but I gave him a Book of Mormon in Korean.
Anyway, it was a really good week! I thought a lot about my mom since it was her birthday! I love you, Mom! You are amazing! Everyone please keep praying for my Mom!
Love you all!
-Elder Rife
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