Monday, July 23, 2012

Letter from Elder Rife~July 23, 2012

Another crazy week is gone. Lately I have been sooo exhausted all of the time. We are constantly traveling all over the place and the weather is so hot and humid that it just kills me. But I like being busy and having lots of things to do so I'm happy, but very very tired.

Last Monday we went to lunch with an investigator and then emailed and packed up our stuff and headed to Seoul. We got to Seoul at about 6:30 and met up with the other missionaries from our zone at the church next to the temple and we had interviews with President Christensen. It was really good to talk to him. He's such a great mission president! After that we got to sleep at the dormitory in the temple! There was an air conditioner and real beds. It was crazy. Actually I couldn't sleep at all that night. In the morning I told the other missionaries that the beds were too comfortable so I couldn't sleep. Which really is true. I'm used to being uncomfortable when I go to bed so if it's comfortable I can't sleep. haha.

The next day was temple day which was great, as usual. We just woke up and got ready and were already at the temple so it was really convenient. The session was really great. I love to be at the temple. After that we met up with Bishop Cho and went out to eat one last time before they headed off to America. I seriously love seeing them when I go to the temple. They are the most amazing people ever. We met up with other missionaries at Dongdaemun and did a little bit of shopping and then headed back to Wonju with the Taebaek missionaries. Once we got to Wonju we sent the Taebaek missionaries off the proselyte and we went and met with one of our investigators. Whenever we meet he has talked to my companion a lot about politics and so it's been kind of hard for us to teach but we prayed a lot and had some help and we set everything up so that next time we meet we can teach him more about the Book of Mormon and read it with him. After that we went home and had a sleepover with the Taebaek Elders. They slept over because we were having district meeting the next morning in Wonju.

Wednesday we woke up and studied then went to the church and had district meeting. Our meeting centered on the Book of Mormon, and then we did an activity I have wanted to do for a while. We wrote down all of the questions people ask us about our Church or about the Book of Mormon and we are each going to study how to answer them well and then this week at district meeting we are going to discuss them and come up with simple answers for them. We listed things people say to us, like, "I don't need to go to church because I read the Bible and pray at home." I'm excited to hear from everyone in our district.

After that we ate with the district and one of our members came who is preparing for a mission. Then we went and met with Melanie at the Yonsei University. We took our member with us because he lived in America and Canada for a long time and speaks fluent English. The lesson went well. She had a lot of questions about the Book of Mormon so we answered them and then we taught the Restoration. We focused on praying to know whether the Book of Mormon is true and about real intent. Of course I used a food analogy to explain real intent. I said, "If you ask your mom to cook you a steak dinner and she knows that you really are going to eat it after she cooks it obviously she will make it for you. But if you ask her to make it and you aren't planning on eating it. And she knows you aren't planning on eating it then she probably isn't going to cook it for you, right? It's the same way with God. If you ask him for an answer but aren't planning on acting on that answer then He has no reason to give it to you." Kind of a weird analogy but it made sense to her!

We went to our member's house and talked to him about preparing for a mission. Then we worked our way back home and visited one of our other investigators at his work. We ate dinner and spent time organizing all of our records at our house.

Thursday was exchanges with Kangnung, so I went to Kangnung in the morning and spent the day with Elder Dorius. We spent some time English flyering and proselyting then we met with a recent convert and helped him with English and his questions about the Book of Mormon. We  also met with a guy at his restaurant and ate dinner there and then taught English class. We met tons of way cool people while proselyting!

Friday I went back to Wonju and Elder Kim and I had planning meeting then organized more records and I cleaned our house for a little while and then we met with some potential investigators and then played basketball with two of our other investigators and proselyted to other people while playing basketball.

Saturday we taught English at Golden Voice and then went to lunch (sushi). Then we taught English but only one person came. We met with 정진택. (I'm sorry I'm not going in to detail really. It's because the email place we are emailing at right now is like a thousand degrees and I'm dying.) After that we stayed at the church for the seminary class with some of the youth.

Sunday was slightly a disappointment. Our appointments cancelled so we spent the day meeting with different members. Each time we met with each member they fed us so last  night we were both so full we thought we were going to die. It was great to spend time with the members. We talked to our branch president's son about going on a mission and committed him to start preparing for a mission!

The week was really good but it kind of hit me last weekend and I thought I was going to die I was so tired! I'm so thankful for the opportunity to serve the Lord. Thanks so much for all of your prayers and support.

-Elder Rife

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