The last week was pretty crazy up until Chuseok (Korean Thanksgiving).
Last Monday night we met up with Brother Kim and we were going to teach him the full Restoration lesson but he didn't keep his reading commitment so we read the scriptures with him and tried to help him to understand them better. It's hard because we teach him in Korean and he wants to answer our questions and everything in English and his English is really hard to understand. Something I've really learned lately is how teaching the gospel in Korea is so hard because a lot of the time the investigator and missionary aren't understanding each other about 60-75% of the time. Thank goodness we have the Spirit that can bring things to our minds that we need to share or teach.
Tuesday we met with two new investigators. Brother Lee is one that we texted one day from a former investigator record and he answered us and said that he really wanted to meet with us. We met him for lunch and at first he was really quiet but we got him to open up and he said that he has gospel interest and wants us to talk to him in English so he can get better. He actually said that he wanted to meet with us every day for lunch but we told him that we couldn't do that so we are planning on meeting twice a week. We couldn't meet him again last week because of the holiday but he has a lot of potential and he really wants to meet with us regularly.
We also met an investigator named Brother Jang. He's about 30 years old and seems like he may have autism or something. He's really nice. He didn't seem like he wanted to meet us too regularly but we are trying to meet with him again so that we can start teaching him more. Then we went to meet with our investigator named Brother Han at KyungHee university. He still is just in the "asking questions" about our church phase. But we got to teach him a little about the Restoration and why it is necessary last time we met, so that was good. We also talked to him about General Conference coming up and he seemed a little interested so hopefully we can get him out to a session next week. After meeting with him we went home and ate a snack and then taught English class and that was it for the day.
Wednesday we had a meeting with our whole zone, so we got together and we had a district meeting together and then headed back. All of our appointments for Wednesday cancelled on us so we were left proselyting and calling former and potential investigators for the day. We talked to a lot of nice people and found one person who wants to meet again!
Thursday was also a finding day! While making calls we accidentaly called the wrong number and a lady who lives on the other side of Korea answered and said it was the wrong number but we kept talking to her and found out that she has interest in hearing about the gospel and wants to learn English. She had a crazy accent so it was hard for me to understand her but I referred her to the missionaries in Busan and they are supposed to meet her soon! Who knew that calling wrong numbers could be an effective finding method? We also visited a member and took her a card and brownies we had made and she cried because she was so happy that we had made them for her. She's a member from North Korea and is possibly the nicest lady ever! She won't let me take a picture with her though because there's some rumor that if a picture of her goes up on the internet and North Korea finds it then they will kill her family. Super sad. So one day I'll get a picture with her and send it. She's one of the best members and I've learned a lot from her while I've been here.
Friday we had weekly planning meeting and then we met with a new investigator. She's the daughter of one of the investigators (the pastor) we are already teaching. She's also a pastor, at a different church than her mother. We are teaching her more about our church and are helping her with English. I think she has potential because she seems like someone who is seeking the truth. After that we met with Brother Kim again and taught him about the Restoration and watched the dvd with him. For some reason he really doesn't want to come to church. He's accepting everything so well and says he feels really good when he prays and when he's with us but he will not commit to coming to church. We tried really hard but we are going to have to figure out why he won't come before we meet him next time. After that we made some calls and I called a really cool lady. She's twins and she and her twin are famous musicians in Korea. They want to meet us so we are planning on meeting them this week!
Saturday was the first day of Chuseok and we were told not to proselyte and not to do anything unless we were invited by members or investigators. We had a zone activity where we played ping pong and soccer which was way fun. We visited some members who invited us over. They are really old and the lady cooked all day to make food for us. It was so sweet of her. So we ate with them and then we headed home and that was the day. We wrote her and her husband thank you cards and gave them to them at church the next day.
Sunday we had one hour of church in the morning and then we had an appointment with Sister Hong. She has lots of questions relating to philosophy stuff and it's really hard for us to answer her in Korean but she is making progress. She came to church and has been praying every day. After that we headed home and ate lunch and spent the afternoon organizing our house a little bit more and updating all of our investigators records. And I went through all of the member records and wrote down everything that I have learned about them since I got to this area so that the next missionaries will know a little bit about them from reading the records.
Monday we went to Dobong Mountain with Brother Kim. He took us and the Dongdaemun elders and led us up the mountain. It was sooooo fun! I miss hiking so much. It felt so good to be up in the mountains. I'm pretty sure everyone who lives in Seoul was hiking at the same time as us though. There were so many people! It was a good hike though. Really steep and they had bars and chains to hold on to just like Angels landing in Zions. It was awesome. Then we headed home and took a nap for the rest of P-day and then went to a member's house for family home evening. It was the sister from North Korea. We had a really fun night with a lot of the members just playing games and eating together.
Today we had temple day and then ate lunch with my Korean Grandparents!
Things have been going amazing lately. I love being a missionary.
Lately I have been studying in Mosiah. I found one scripture that has really applied to my mission.
Mosiah 5:2 "The spirit of the Lord Omnipotent has wrought a mighty change in us, or in our hearts, that we have no more disposition to do evil, but to do good continually."
I feel like I have experienced this change of heart throughout my mission and it is the best feeling ever. It's like how faith is described in Alma 32... After you have planted the seed and the seed begins to grow you can feel "swelling motions." That's the only way I can describe it. It's the best feeling in the world.
Mosiah 5:12 "I would that ye should remember to retain the name written always in your hearts."
We all covenanted to remember Christ always and to follow him. We should all try to do that better in our lives.
I know that the gospel is true!! It hass brought me and my investigators happiness.
I love you all!!
-Elder Rife
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