Family and Home, Dear
Life is good. Odds are this portion of the letter will be short. It's Saturday night, almost time for bed, and I don't know how much time. But there's a lot to say.
First off, sorry for the wierd email thing. I sent one, but I guess it didn't go through. I'll resend it P-day. Not much time around here to send a snail mail after getting your letters though. and we're only supposed to use email on P-day.
Anyway, things are pretty cool here, but I've already adjusted to the missionary sleeping cycle. When you climb in bed, you're out. No exaggeration.
Some fun bits from my life here: They released a min-sized version of "Preach My Gospel," it even fits in a scripture case. Handy to have, especially with how many language books we carry. Hurray Korean....On that note, there are so many cool forms in Korean grammar. I use the noun through form [something in Korean] all the time. Working on trying new ones. TRC [Andrew says that is Training something something] [Joseph says Training Required for Combat] is by far the best place to experiment. Volunteers come in every Saturday, and we talk to them for a while, both in Korean and English. It's easy to practice there, I found myself saying phrases I'd never put together before.
As for our progressing investigators, we're working on two new ones at the moment. The Golden investigator and the guy who doesn't believe in prayer.
Our first lesson with that golden investigator was by far our best. We were actually able to communicate enough to get through the first lesson, or most of it. She agreed to pray, read The Book of Mormon, and pray to know if the message is true and be baptized. We talked about family, how she feels, about religion; it was awesome. Once we finish the lessons I think she'll be ready. She's practically accepted it already and everything we've taught, she's believed. The main challenge with her is trying to learn Korean fast enough to teach her the rest of the lessons.
Speaking of Korean, I think there were some translation issues with my letters. I'll try to isolate the forms from the grammar so it switches over better.
Fun fact: I've got new hair! Less of it. Much less. As in, it's short enough that I've had to start using hair gel again. Small eternity since I've done that.
Anyway, last Tuesday we had our first Apostle. Neil L. Anderson gave a good talk for President Monson's b-day. Lessons learned from the prophet. (I might list them at the end of the letter.)
One thing I've dying to write about for a while has been the testimony exchanges every night on the way back to our residence. I've heard the Gospel shared in so many languages now... Every time it's awesome. Two stand out to me.
One, where we talked with two English speaking Elders and got to help teach them English (both were foreign with English as their second language). Really felt cool to be on the other end of learning a language, even for 15 min.
The second was a pair of ASL missionaires. First time I've been asked if I want to see someone's testimony, but it got me thinking. I want to say that, too. I want to be able to share my testimony just by others seeing what I do, how the Gospel has touched my life.
But seriously, bearing my testimony in Korean and hearing others has been one of my favorite things here. I've heard Mandrin, Spanish, Finnish, French (I think), Estonian (or some other crazy language), and a few others I can't remember.
Another favorite spirit-building activity is watching those new Bible videos after our night gym days. Makes studying a lot nicer and it's really helped keep us going out here.
A little more info on my district: We're district 28-G, probably the most tight-knit district out here. We've honestly become a family really fast here, it'll be hard when we get split up. Luckily, we're not the biggest goof-offs. but we joke around quite a bit. We have a lot of inside [Korean]. (First pun out here, sounds like joke. We've got a lot of those...)
Our Branch Presidency is President Shin and his counselors Brother Yost and Brother Manlove.
Now, downsides to the MTC... (minor ones)
- our room smells like something died. I've invested in a couple of air fresheners and dryer sheets, but it's a losing battle. Let's just say I'm thankful I have a terrible sense of smell. Rivercats, you're saving my life out here.
The other big one -- This place is spawning ground for illness. I've seen so many things going around. One poor guy here has had pink eye, athelete's foot, planter's foot (whatever that is) sprained ankle, a couple colds... Dangerous place, this. But the good news is that the small arsenal of meds we were told to bring has seen some good use. I haven't needed it, but I've helped a few other missionaries here. (I think karma is being kind to me.)
And that's not counting the injuries... crazy. But things are safe here if you're careful. The sanitizer every ten feet on the walls makes a lot more sense now. And the rules on sports.
Future missionaries, follow the rules.
Other greenie tips -
- The name tags take a day or two to master. Practice with a sibling's if you have one. We always forget to mention it by the time we get back.
-The orange juice is safe. Compared to the effects other things here have on your digestion, you've got a lot more pressing things to worry about.
-If you're foreign speaking, get ready for a shock. There's no wading pool here.
There's probably more, but i"ll get to them later. It's wierd though. I'm getting used to this place. The days are blurring, things are clicking, and my companion and I are getting better at living and working together. Life is good. Sorry and can't write more. It's Sunday night now but I wanted to get this in the mail as soon as I could.
I think I'll wrap up here though. One last tidbit before I close.
If you go to drycleaning, every now and then they have stuff people left behind (especially ties) I've gotten a few good ones there -- definitely helps add variety. Fun stuff. I'll write again soon.
(signed) [Korean} (translation) Robarts Elder
1. Follow the prophet
2. Do your duty
3. Trust in the Lord (good stuff from this one)
4. Let the Lord shape you
5. Smile, enjoy yourself
6. Love the people you serve
7. Never ignore a prompting
8. Testify of the prophet Joseph Smith
9. Witness the power of the Savior
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