Letter from Elder Rife~October 2, 2012

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

Photos from Korea~September 24, 2012

[Mission Tour.]

[Elder Hone and me in our Team America jerseys.]

[Me and Brother Kim at Saturday morning soccer; we won 8-7.]

[With Brother Han.]

Letter from Korea~September 24, 2012

Hi everyone!

Last week was such a great week! We got to meet with a lot of our investigators and teach them and several of them are progressing. The next step with each one of them is to come to church. We taught each of them about that but none of them were able to come to church. One of them has work only on Sundays each week and another one has a study group Sunday mornings and the rest of them just say that they can't come. So it's been a bummer lately. But they are keeping commitments and reading the Book of Mormon and praying so that's good.

Thursday we had Elder Ringwood of the seventy visit our mission and teach us for a couple of hours. He's so amazing and taught us so much about the scriptures and was really funny, too. I love when people teach and they can make us laugh and feel the spirit. After the meetings we had an interview and he asked me about my missionary work and then just let me ask him questions for about twenty minutes. I asked him about prayer and he taught me a lot about how I can make my prayers with Heavenly Father more spiritual and more sincere. He also just talked to me about my family and helped me to understand more about Heavenly Father's plan for me.

I read something by Bruce R. McConkie that was about how Mormons are "peculiar people." One of the main reasons we are "peculiar" people is because we have overcome the world. Obviously not all Mormons have overcome the world. Maybe more haven't overcome the world than have. But when I met with Elder Ringwood and talked with him I could tell that 1) he was a servant of God and 2) he has overcome the world. So it has become something that I am really trying to do: overcome the world. To only care about serving the Lord and not get caught up in the worldly things.

One scripture that I really loved that Elder Ringwood shared with me was this one..

Romans 14:17

For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.

So true! The only way that we can find true happiness is through the gospel. I have realized that lately as I have had more of the spirit in my life and have found that when I have the spirit with me I am always happy.

I don't have too much time now but I just want to say that this has been the best experience of my life. We met a lot of our investigators last week and there were a lot of funny or odd things that happened. Some of our investigators have been studying philosophy and stuff so it's been interesting to try to teach them the gospel. I'm not a big fan of philosophy. Seems like it's people who are trying to figure out all of the hardest questions of life just by logic, without feeling, revelation, or the Holy Ghost.

Anyway, I love you all and am so thankful for your support!!

-Elder Rife

Photos from Korea~September 17, 2012

[Sonhee Cho and me.]

[Me and Sister Manley; she's in my group and went home last week.]

[Elder Kafusi and me.]

[Enjoying the meat buffet.]

[The streets of Korea.]

[Brother Kim!]

Letter from Korea~September 17, 2012

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

Letter from Elder Rife~September 10, 2012

Last week was the last week of my first transfer in i-mun! It's crazy that I've already been here for a whole transfer. Tonight is transfer calls but when you are training you are usually together for two transfers and since we are white washing I'm not expecting anything to happen this time.

Last week we met with several of our investigators and we met with three new investigators. I talked about a Sister Park from last week. We met with her and we learned a lot more about her. We also got her to start reading the Book of Mormon again. She was amazed at the fact that we listened so well when she was speaking and at all of the questions we would ask her.

We've started going through all of our old potential investigator sheets and texting all of the people on the lists because most of the people in our area are college students and they respond to texting more than to calls. It's worked so well. We have about 6 more people we are lined up to meet this next week, all from texting. One of them, Brother Seo, said that he is having a really hard time in his life and that he needs something to rely on. We are meeting him next Sunday to teach him about the gospel. We also got a referral from one of the members of our branch. He brought one of his friends to play soccer with us on Saturday morning and we got closer with him and invited him to meet with us and learn more and he said yes. And we received a referral from some other missionaries of a guy who already has accepted the soft baptismal commitment and is living in our area. We have so much potential and we are being so blessed lately.

Something I've thought about lately is just letting our light shine forth as members of the Church. If we just live our lives well and let the light that we have shine then people will notice and will want to know how we are so happy. It's really been the key for our success with missionary work lately. We don't force people to listen to what we say out on the street but we greet everyone we walk by and let them see the light shining in our eyes and try to spark up a conversation with them. Most of the success we have been seeing lately is just because people are curious about why we are so happy. That's what the gospel is! Pure, eternal happiness.

My mission has been such an amazing time for me to figure out who I am and what I want to make with my life. I've learned so much more in the last year and a half than I had in the 19 years previous to that.

I'm sorry that I didn't go into very much detail about all of our investigators! Sister Jee is progressing well but she can't come to Church because she has an English study group every Sunday at 11 in the morning. Please pray that something will change and she will be able to come to Church! That's the next step for her.

I love you all!! Thanks for your support.

-Elder Rife

Photos from Korea~September 3, 2012

[Elder Hone and me.]

[with Lee Chang Yeop and his wife. Dad baptized his grandmother in Incheon in 1974 and he became one of their missionaries in Daejeon.]

[with Ha Ji Woong.]

[Chang Hyo Jeong.]

[Our house.]