Hey, Everyone!
Last week was pretty busy as usual but we actually ended up having a lot of appointments cancel on us so that was kind of a bummer. Other than that everything was great!
We met a new investigator named Brother Kim on Monday night. He was a referral from the Bongchun elders and was awesome! He's already reading the Book of Mormon like crazy and he loves to meet with us and learn more about the gospel. We had a great first meeting with him and got a lot closer with him.
Tuesday we had lunch with our ward mission leader at a place called Kogi King. (Kogi means meat.) It's a huge meat buffet and it was amazing. It was Elder Hone's first time and it was awesome. I'm pretty sure we ate a whole cow. After that we went out and visited several members and just spent some time on the street talking to people. We met with one of our investigators, Brother Han, and one of his friends at their work and talked about the church for a while. His friend had heard a lot of weird stuff about our church so she was kind of scared to meet with us but we had a good first meeting and clarified some things for her. After that we raced home and taught English class with the Dongdaemun elders.
Wednesday was transfer day but since neither of us transferred we just had a normal morning studying and then Elder Hone did some of his pass off stuff after lunch. We spent quite a bit of time working on a new English flyer that is a flyer on one side and a proselyting card on the other side. It took some time but it turned out really good and we have been able to use it to tell people about our English program and about the gospel. Other than those things we called former investigators and did a little bit of street proselyting.
Thursday we had several appointments cancel on us because it was pouring rain. So, I spent some time organizing all of the records in our house; there are seriously so many. Elder Hone made message cards for people and then we went out in the rain and talked to people for a while and visited once more with our investigator Brother Han. He's a Catholic and has met with the missionaries before but he never progressed. So we are trying to find the best way to teach him and help him progress. He's super busy and can never leave the college campus so we always have to teach him there and there are always people there so it makes it a little hard to teach.
Friday we studied and had weekly planning meeting and then we went and delivered some brownies to our Branch President. On Sunday they brought back the tupperware we gave them with way more delicious stuff in it than the brownies we gave them. That's typical Korea, though. You should never get in a gift-giving battle with a Korean because you will always lose. After that we headed over to one of the universities and talked to a bunch of kids. They were way cool and we set up some appointments to meet with them again this week. Then we met with an investigator who was a referral from one of our members. He's way cool and is curious about the Book of Mormon but goes to church with his family every week. He's really cool though and we are good friends with him.
Saturday morning we played soccer with lots of church members and investigators. Brother Kim came and played with us and me and him had a sweet play. We brought the ball down the field passing back and forth and then he centered it from the right side and I headed it. It was sick! Saturday we had seriously so many appointments lined up but one by one they fell through; it was way sad. We had English class in i-mun for the second time and it went well. Then we got punked a bunch of times and ate dinner. We met with Brother Kim again at night and taught him more about the Plan of Salvation and then talked about the gospel of Jesus Christ. It went really well. When he came to the appointment he brougt us each an Americano coffee. We've been offered coffee like five times this last week and I am always the one who rejects so this time I turned to Elder Hone and told him it was his turn. Brother Kim felt soooo bad. He said he should have known and he will never do it again. I felt way bad. But after the lesson when he prayed he told God "thank you for teaching me about not drinking alcohol or coffee. From now on I will never drink these things." Pretty amazing! He's progressing really well and I think he will be prepared for baptism soon.
On Sunday church was really good. I learned sooo much! But then all of our appointments cancelled, so it was a huge bummer. We delivered more brownies to members and then put message cards on some of our investigators' doors and then we street-boarded right in front of our church. It seemed like it wasn't going to work very well but it actually did. We talked to a lot of amazing people. I met a university student who was sooo cool and he is going to meet with us again this week. Then we met a guy named Emmanuel from Cameroon and a guy named Lionelle from Madagascar and talked with them. They both actually knew the missionaries from seeing them back home and were excited to see us. So we are going to meet with them again some time this week. We also met a whole bunch of Japanese kids who were hilarious and really want to meet us again. It's weird hearing people talk and not understanding it, though. It reminds me of when I was a greenie. I then had some more sympathy for Elder Hone. He's sick at Korean now, but for his first couple weeks it was pretty rough.
I've learned a lot lately through studying about the gospel each morning. I guess I should do better at sharing that with everyone. I heard a quote I really love the other day. It goes like this, "The things we do for ourselves die with us, but the things we do for others are the legacy we leave behind." I really love that. Doing things for ourselves is useless. We need to serve others!
I've been studying a lot about love and charity lately too. I've been thinking about passive and active love and how they are different. I think that passive love really is weak because it doesn't lead you to do anything. But active love leads you to action and becomes charity. It's the same with belief and faith. Believe is very passive but faith is active. Knowledge by itself is useless, but once it's applied and active it becomes wisdom. Anyway, I've thought a lot about stuff like this lately. The gospel is amazing!
One scripture I read this morning. Acts 3:26
"Unto you first God, having raised up his Son Jesus, sent him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from his iniquities."
Jesus Christ was sent to this earth to bless us and to turn us away from our iniquities (so that we can return to live with him again!). I love this message. I know this church is God's church on the earth and I know that the gospel is the only way to find lasting happiness.
I love you all!
-Elder Rife
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