Dear Home,
I've got exactly 27 minutes to write this, so I'm hoping I'll be able to get to everything I need to. First off, thanks for all of the letters you've sent while I've been here, I've loved every one of them. And thanks for keeping the emails fairly short, it's great not to have to worry about having time to read them. You guys already know this, but it's really helpful for the longer letters to be sent through DearElder, since I have more time to read them usually.
But enough of that. I wish I had more time to write the responses that I want to, but I'm stretched pretty thin right now. When I'm not studying the scriptures or preparing for the next activity, I'm cramming as much Korean in as possible. But I am hoping to get some written today. I've got a letter home that I'm working on that has a brief summary of my first couple days here, but it's been crazy!
Day one: Teacher only spoke Korean.
Day two: We find out that we're teaching an investigator in Korean the next day
Day three: The lesson was pretty awful, but we got some things across I think. And the best part is, we learned how to pray!
Day four: I begin to see the gift of tongues. There's a real power to praying for the gift of tongues in the language that you're trying to learn. We teach again, and this time it goes ten times better. We learned how to bear our testimonies, and while we may not have said everything right, I know the spirit was there. (By the way, Koreans read like the WIND. We had hime read the First Vision... Crazy.)
Day Five: Thank goodness for Sunday. Not going to lie, it was still pretty crazy, but we had a few moments of quiet. That helped a lot. We also got to take a walk around the Temple. That was incredible to me. After that, a few of us went to choir (I'm going to see if I can make it for General Conference. ;) ). We attended a fireside that night, and then watched a talk by David A. Bednar. Characters of Christ, it's a really good one. He mentioned buying a cheap fresh copy of the Book of Mormon and reading it with a single question in mind, marking any scripture that applies. I got a mini BoM the yesterday, so I've been trying to find ways to be the best missionary I can be. There's a surprisingly large amount of wisdom on that topic in the BoM. Shocking, no?
Day Six: We taught our investigator again, but this time we didn't have enough time to study, so we couldn't go in with a script of prepared responses. To be honest though, that was almost a blessing. We did a little more charades (sp?) than usual, but the Spirit was able to work so much more. We asked him to read the BoM, and write down questions he has for us (so we can actually figure out what he says...), and taught him how to pray. He didn't feel comfortable praying in front of us then, but I asked if he might during our next visit, and he seemed to consider it. That was exciting to me.
So, now's P Day. Still crazy, but I'm doing alright. The language is getting easier, things are clicking. We say a phrase, and I'm beginning to see how it is broken apart and put together. The spirit is there, even if we're only teaching fellow members playing a role. I still don't know if that sister from the first day was a member or not, but I heard that some of them weren't. Regardless, it taught me a lot. One day, I'll be able to speak like that in Korean. I'll be able to express the love of the Savior in a way they'll understand. It's all up to the Spirit, but I'm giving Him the best possible vehicle to work with as I can.
So, that's my life. Pretty insane, no? I've got a ton of letters to write. I'll probably only be able to write home on a regular basis, but there are a few notes I want to make. We'll see what I have time for.
By the way, sorry for the short summary, hopefully I'll be able to send more later. But it's really not the main point. Life is busy, but it's the things I've learned that I want to share. The Gospel is real. The Gift of Tongues is real.
Jonun Bogumur Saranghasimneeda! It feels so weird to write it with Roman letters. I haven't done that in days... Korean looks beautiful to me now. I learned that asking for the gift of tongues doesn't give immediate understanding. It helps you love the language, and the people who speak it. When you have that, it's so much easier to learn. And the knowledge comes at an alarming rate. I love being able to pray now without using a cheat sheet. And to be able to share my testimony... I love everything about this place.
So, keep me posted. How's home? I felt terrible for not being able to write more, but then I realized I've only been here one week. It feels like I've been here so much longer. Our time is the Lord's. I'll do everything I can, but I've seen that He can do more with it than I. Today, I'll try to write. But for now, my time is up.
Saranghasaeyo! (That's actually a much higher form than I'm supposed to use, but I can't remember the other one.)
Love you all!
~Elder Robarts