2013.07.28 email

Transfer calls again, and I still don't know the verdict. So far, the other Elders here are staying, we're getting a new district leader, and odds are one of the two of us will be leaving. But I usually get my calls a little later. I think the Lord knows I need to stress less, so He's giving me an opportunity to practice. The thing is, I'm happy with whatever happens. For some reason, even though I'm happy with the outcome and willing to follow the Lord, I still feel stressed. Every time.

To make things more fun, I just got a call from the APs. Still no transfer call, but he mentioned our travel plans will be taking us to the headquarters. Could mean anything, but it confirms that Lee and I are getting split up. Man, I'll miss him so much... We've had some crazy times. And our moms are already Facebook friends, so it's been so nice knowing that they'll still get news even if I can't write about it. I've actually been meaning to mention that. If you're interested in our life here, check Elder Lee's Facebook or something. Between the two of us we've got a lot of pictures and stories. His are better though.

Anyway, this week has been insane. English Village, leading into transfer week. Stress, baby. Stress. Meaningless stress? Probably, but I always seem to have it. The village went great though. I've got pictures. And yes, I was a doctor. Elder Lee and I ran the hospital. It was awesome. We've got a couple doctors in our ward (Told you, SMART people place, Yuseong...) so we got to borrow some stuff from them. We also brought our scale, measuring tape thing, first aid kits, faked an eye test sheet, even falsified a medical certificate for our med school degree. Needless to say, it was pretty fun. Also stole some toys and magazines for our waiting room and rigged up fake forms for them to fill out.

After we were done setting up our station, we helped with some other ones. Including the airport. This one is probably one of the best examples of Mormon creativity. Carpet squares, tables on umbrella holders, a set of drawers we stole from an apartment, a conveyor belt leading into a closet for baggage... It was nice.

But it was great! People came, we managed everything pretty well, now we're working on getting other zones ready to copy it and try it in other areas. Probably though we'll be it once every three months.

We've also been focusing a lot on members. With Transfers, and 4 missionaries all of which having been here at least 2 transfers, in my case 5, we knew someone was leaving, so we wanted to say goodbyes. Basically, we made a ton of banana bread in our miniature oven (the thing looks like a Suzy bake oven, but it's helped us a ton.) and went to people's houses to sing to them and leave a little message card. ^^

I love this place. I feel like it's getting close. I'm going to have to leave soon. I don't really want to. I feel like I have so much unfinished business here. I know these people so well... They're so close. But I'm ready. I know there are big changes up ahead. And I'm excited.

Oh yeah, we went to a baseball game too. Elder Lee reminded me about that. Elder's Quorum activity. Brought an investigator out that had never seen a game. Pretty fun. For those who don't know, I worked at a baseball park for a while, so it was pretty cool. Pretty much the same. The main difference was the animelike cartoons that came on for strikeouts or good plays. Dramatic.

I'm so happy. I feel so tired when I think about the things I need to be doing better, but I see everyday that this work is the Lords. And it's moving forward.

Our mission president is amazing. He's set up a regular weekly MISSION-WIDE conference call for Mondays. It's so cool. He's really getting involved in every aspect of this work. He's helped with lessons, he's giving new ideas, it's incredible.

No matter where I am coming this Thursday, this week will be crazy. Last week we lost SO MANY appointment because of English village. Five of them just from Saturday because we were busy and couldn't meet them. So now we've got to get back with all these people, reestablish everything and prep them for transfers, knowing one of us will leave and a new missionary will come in. Craziness... Anyway, for pictures... (on Facebook and Google+)

~Elder Robarts

Transfer Call!

 

I'm training again. And moving to a new area. Should be fun. =D Another big city by the looks of it. Four Elders and Two Sister missionaries, in the area which has historically been the most active area in the mission. Scary. But luckily, I know one of the guys down there already. Elder 조규원, one of my old Companions will be down there, as well as a Sister from my older generation. Powerhouses. Should be exciting. Lots of work to do to hit the ground running. Gotta seal off this area and get it ready to transition, finish teaching the bus routes and what not, then get ready to drop into chaos. I thought training in an area I knew was crazy. It's about to begin. ^^

 

Have a good week guys!

 

~Elder Robarts

2013.07.21 email

Emails are an awesome time. Short, but awesome. Makes my head hurt a little now though. I spend about 40 minutes writing to president, (he gave us 15 extra minutes since we're writing in Korean. I love this mission president...) then I spend about 30 catching up on emails home.

As for who. It's essentially Mom and a couple of missionaries that can't read my emails home. Usually all I have time for is copying the main letter and sometimes adding a little note. Not many though. There's rarely time.

So, this week has been fun. I keep forgetting about that snack supply. But we get that cheap icecream a LOT. not this week though for some reason... I'll see if I can find some things a little more interesting and take a picture for her. ^^

The work here is exhausting, but fulfilling. We witnessed an interesting experience right at the end of the week that really stuck with me. We met a family who loves the Bible. They've probably read it over 30 times. And they KNOW it. We share a scripture, and by us describing it, they usually already know the reference. They have lots of questions, but this time we spent a lot of time going over one of their biggest concerns. They've flat out told us. They're LOOKING for a modern day prophet. The Bible indicates there'll be one before the second coming. But the thing is, Joseph Smith isn't the only person claiming to have received revelation. Especially in Korea. There are so many 계시 교회's here. People usually divide Christian into Catholic or Protestant, but here there's a big third one. Revelation churches. Ones that say that Christ failed and there's a new christ, or ones that claim to be a modern prophet. We've got the answer to knowing which one is true through Prayer and the Book of Mormon, but they're worried about relying on prayer. How do we know that our answers aren't just some fantasy in our head? They trust the Bible because there are prophecies they can see the fulfillment of. Anything else for them is questionable. We've been thinking about them a lot. And a big thought that has come came from PMG. Under recognizing the spirit, Joseph Smith said that "Salvation cannot come without revelation. It is foolish the minister without it." We've been preparing a lot about prayer. They're excited to meet us. They want to learn, and know. This sunday as we thought of how we could help them, we saw a member reading in Aug's Liahona. It had a talk ALL about Revelation.

In essence, God is all powerful. When we come before Him with real intent, He won't let us be deceived. As members of the church, we've felt that witness numberless times. It's impossible to describe, even more impossible to deny.

Anyway, powerful, allbeit at times frustrating experience. It's hard knowing what to do sometimes. Our worldly knowledge is limited. But the Lord is real. He doesn't leave us to be alone.

Also, tons of English Prep this week. The big English activity is this Saturday, and we've been boosting our english class a lot to get ready for it. Looks like it'll be pretty good, we've put a lot into it. Fingers crossed.

Thanks for everything guys. You're the best. Keep praying for our friends. They need this message. We're weak, and can't speak well, but we're sharing the greatest blessing in the world.

Lots of love! Time for pictures and a few fun stories.

~Elder Robarts

Let's see, this week, we ran from a scary lady who bible bashes anytime we see her, went into the heart of babylon to advertise the English Village this week. I hate big shop streets here. There are some shops that need to burn, and there are many. We also saw fox dog. There's this awesome little dog who we see walking around the street here. His owner has a shop around here, and we see them sometimes. Usually just foxdog. But he's SO cute. I want a picture, but we only see him at night.

We had dinner with some awesome families too. I love the members here. Everyone is asking about transfers next week, and I'll admit, I'm nervous. President Shin said he wanted to keep it as much the same as he could this time, but there are somewhere between 25 and 30 new missionaries coming. That tends to throw a lot of change into transfers. I hope I can stay in Yuseong, but I'll accept what comes.

Waiting for the next adventure. ^^

~Elder Robarts

2013.07.14 email

Dear home,

 

I'm glad I have a loving, patient mission president. I just spent about 40 minutes typing a letter for him in Korean, then the computer was silly and left the screen without saving anything, so I had to retype it in English...

 

Anyway, I'm sure he'll understand. But I hate not having time, a seemingly unchanging situation here. I don't know how Elder Lee is writing so much. Korean takes a bit longer, sure, and I keep getting texts interrupting, but still...

 

Sorry. I know you guys look forward to these, such as they are. Just know, this week was crazy. We got a ton of referrals from our investigators, met a ton of cool people, to the point that we're continually losing our study time. Too many appointments. It's gotten bad enough that I brought it up with President. He just said to use my best judgement. Great advice, hard to put in practice.

 

I guess there's been a lot of stress lately. More investigators than I can really manage. So many different needs. And we don't always have study time to do the prep we need. We're looking at dropping probably. I hate it, most of them have potential, but we may have to.

 

Cool news though. We might be famous. We met an author on the street who asked us to help him with his book. Wanted proofreading. So, in about 2 hours? maybe three-- We read through a 400 page language book. Head hurt so much. He said he wanted to hear more about what we do here, so that was cool. Also said he wants to have dinner with us, and that he'd put our names in as editors and give us a copy. We'll see how things go as an investigator, he's a nice guy. Talks fast.

 

Probably my favorite family is doing well too. They've read all the way to 3 Nephi, they study the Bible DILIGENTLY. I say a reference we're sharing and they already know what is in that chapter... Basically, they've looked at a lot of churches, like what we share, and are just waiting for that confirmation. We're mostly trying to help them recognize it now.

 

Too much to write about... No time to do it. Met another cool guy who is a friend of another investigator. Talked about the Restoration. He read a little of the Book of Mormon while we were talking and even was able to help explain it when we got to that part. Smart guy, and looks like he has good potential. Met another family that is interested in visiting America. (English interest, but open to religion) Also we met a really amazing guy while knocking doors. He's slightly mentally disabled, but he asked if we could visit, so we talked with him for a while. He's so amazing. So nice, and so happy. It was odd, even though it was hard to understand him, both Elder Lee and I felt like we knew what he wanted to say. Words would just come to mind in English. He lives with his mom, and she seems like a great person. We want to see if we can visit again and meet them together. We want to meet her too.

 

Anyway, this only puts a dent in what happened this week, but it's all I have time for. I love you. Sorry I can't express it much. If I could get more time, I'd give a lot for it.

Love you!

 

~Elder Robarts

 

Pictures on Facebook

email 2013.07.07

[Benjamin answers some questions I asked him: 

1) How is the garlic salt holding up?

1a) Likewise the vanilla.

2) What other seasonings do you miss?
3) Do you want English copies of the Book of Mormon for English class?]

 

Q&A

 

Seasonings are holding up great. If there's one thing I learned, it's how to ration. I've really only put a dent in them. I only use them for special stuff like cookies for members or whitesause and chicken alfredo. Not super frequent.

I don't know what else I miss... Parsley was nice, or italian seasoning, but italian wouldn't be useful hre. I never make that kind here. I think I'm pretty set. Most things I can make or fake here. Costco stopped carrying chocolate, but I've been holding strong, so it should last me a couple more months. Waiting for it to come back in the fall. (hopefully I don't get transfered first...)

 

Don't worry about BoM. We've got some Eng ones, and we stole some Korean ones during mission tour from another building, so we'll be okay till we get a new supply.

 

Also, bad news. Email time just got butchered. We write to President Shin in Korean, and I type extremely slow in Korean. If if was a text, I'd be set. But the keyboard I'm not used to. I need to buy one for practice.

 

As it is, I'm almost out of tme and I just started. ...Sorry about that.

 

Anything else? Oh yeah, President Shin is AWESOME. But that'll get covered in the letter. (PS: Typing so long in Korean has messed with my head. If I look at the keyboard,  get disoriented because of the Korean. I have no choice but to touch type. [is that right? not looking] I usually do it anyway, but I can't look down to gather thoughts anymore...)

 

Time for the normal letter.

So, this week has been crazy. Mission Tour, second one this transfer, new mission president,and new programs. He's trying to get stake service couple missionaries to work on visiting LA [less actives, not city in California] and he's asked us to commit a day a week to go out with them. Hasn't started yet, but sounds great. There's so much LA work here, and we need those couple missionaries.

 

Also, a new English program. A once a month English camp kind of thing, stake wide. Sounds pretty cool, he's having our zone pilot it.

 

In other news, we have been swamped with investigators. It's gettig hard to manage them all, especially because some of them have trouble meeting. So much texting... Night calls too. But it's good. I like this better than the alternative. Missionary work without investigators is really long...

 

Also, I gotta haircut. Elder Lee did it, so it looks pretty good. He got a picture of it which I'm sure you'll get. Facebook is so crazy. A couple of our members here use it too, so I'll give a shoutout. You guys are amazing! Sorry about the English. It's for the family...

 

Anyway, things are good. Lot's of rain. Lot's of hot. I'm not used to sweating in the rain. But I love Korea. It's still really beautiful here.

 

How are you guys doing? I've been thinking about you guys alot. I might be sending a package home soon. We found out with Elder Lee that packages aren't too bad sending out of Korea, just coming in. So there's a couple things I might try to find. It might take a little while to collect them, but within a couple weeks I'll try to send one.

 

You guys rock so much!

 

Gotta go now, but I'll get some pictures for you. ^^

snail mail received 2013.07.03

[dated] (really old)

Dear Home,

I love you guys.  I'm 6 thousand miles away, but I'm super excited.  It felt a little weird calling home.  I didn't really expect it this time, came out of nowhere.  But it was amazing to hear your voices again.

I've said it a thousand times, it's crazy around here.  I'm in a 4 man house now, and not one of us has been out longer than a year.  These are exciting times to be serving.

Really busy, but in good ways.  One thing I wanted to share is about a member here.  He's in a military hospital, and he's started sharing the Gospel with new people that come in.  He asked us to help, so we've gone there a couple times a week.  Already we've found two people who said they wanted to find missionaries and the church after  they go home. It's such a new way to do missionary work.  I've never had a chance to try it before, but this member is incredible.  I love his desire to serve and share.

Also, we got 김치 (kimchi) recently, and I feel alive again.  I've been so exhausted lately trying to keep up with things. Before there wasn't any 김치 in the house.  The sister's 김치 had gone bad.  (how? I'll never know.  I've never had 김치 in the house that long.)  But I've missed that stuff.  Without it, there's not much energy.  But our Bishop gave us some last night, and it's amazing!

I love my comp, this area, this work.  We visited our Bishop's house last night, played with is kids, sang a children's song with them and shared a message about the 2000 Stripling Warriors.  They're such a great family.  I've often felt that if I did nothing else, it would be worth coming to Korea just to meet them.  Everything else at the same time?  I love Korea.

A lot of things I used to stress over I've gotten more used to.  I'm a stressful person, but that stress rarely seems to help. The thing I've learned a lot out here is that the Lord isn’t just sitting back, He's  engaged in this work.  He helps us so much, it's hard to describe.  But those things I worry over' they don't really matter that much. It's all in the eternal perspective.

A lesson I'm still learning, but I've learned to tame my habit of worrying over things.  Just do it enough that you can problem solve and plan well.  Wit that, things will work out. Too often I look for problems that aren't there.  I almost seem to relish these problems, that stress.  But little by little, you can really see the blessings of faith. One thing, if you stress too much, it makes it harder for God to help out. You kind of get in your own way.

But you see miracles in your life if you take the time to look.  People you never expected to meet.  A phrase that comes to mind, a scripture, that changes someone's life. Even something as simple as a guy giving you a drink on a hot summer day.  I love those everyday things that make life easier.

Right now, I feel like the biggest challenge is simply being patient, keeping the Lord's time.  And methods.  A life-long lesson, but one with many rewards.

If I said the reason for not writing more was being busy with missionary work, would anyone believe it?  Things have been interesting here, but it's the P-Day time being busy that's the problem.  But we've been doing lots of culture stuff.  Good for pictures, and people like those, right?