Dear Home,
So apparently the email I sent
last week didn't go through, sorry about that. But it should be in now,
so this week you get double.
Life is pretty insane
here. The language is getting easier, I'm actually picking up on some
things these guys are saying now. Kind of creepy. The lessons are good
too. We have two new investigators now, and they're as opposite as they
come. One is the golden investigator who is already fairly willing to be
baptized, the other is a guy who doesn't want to pray, and we've spent
two lessons trying to understand why. I think we need to teach him more
about God and Christ. He needs to know that they're real. And that they
want him to communicate. Anyway, that's occupied a lot of my thoughts
lately.
Other news, the new Korean district is pretty awesome.
We've hung out a couple times, learned some new phrases, they're fun to
talk to. And they're very patient about our Korean. It's pretty
impressive.
I think a lot of this will have to wait for this week's
snail mail, there's never enough time here. But another fun thing that
happened last week-- We got our first Apostle! Neil L. Andersen gave an
excellent talk for President Monson's B-Day. That was pretty cool. He
shared lessons he learned from Monson's life. I'll include them in the
letter (not in much detail though).
About 13 min left. Thank you all for the letters you've
been sending, they've been awesome here, even if I haven't had much
time to respond to them. Just know that they're appreciated, and I'll
try to write back when I can. My testimony has grown a lot out here. I
hear some elders say that the MTC has really made them question their
testimony, but mine has never felt stronger. When you're teaching in
Korean and a phrase pops into your head that you've never even thought
of before, it's hard to argue that the spirit isn't real, especially
when that phrase was exactly what the investigator needed to hear.
Granted, that's only happened once or twice, but it's all the more
powerful because of it. This is a hard language. I've been cramming the
grammar in the most, but this week I think I'll try to get my vocab up. I
need to be able to recognize more of what the investigator is saying.
One form we learned yesterday is a beast though. You
use it when quoting, saying that he said/commanded/asked/ etc. You've
got to switch the verb form you use to plain form before you even add
it, so when you're talking, that takes up a second more than you need
just to figure out what you want to say. Petersen said it would feel
like one of the hardest forms we'll learn. Gives me a lot of hope.
The days are different here. It's hard to remember from
day to day. You'll notice this in my letters, but my spelling is
getting shot out here. Every other word in english is getting more
difficult for me. That'll be fun... The snail mail I'm working on now
has a few of those. I hope that means my Korean is getting better...
But the Lord's work is definitely progressing. These
Elders and Sisters I'm working with are incredible. I know we'll get
this language. And the spirit will be with us.
So,
for future letters. If you want me to write back about something,
please have a section of the letter specifically for that, by the time I
have time to write, it's hard to remember what you asked, and there's
no time to re read. Thanks!
(Note to Mom, Joe: I haven't gotten the adapted for the mp3 player yet. Did it get sent there? Let me know, thanks!)
(Note to Debi: Thanks for the cookies! They were amazing! I'll try to write a note later. I'm out of time.)
I'm sure I'm forgetting something, but snailmail will have to save the day. Hope this goes through.
~Elder Robarts
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