Halloween party in Korea

This week was a good one. We spent a bit of time preparing for our late Halloween party for our ward. Usually the ward plans and does most of the parties but they wanted this one to be American so they gave it to us to do. It naturally wasn't huge because the ward size isn't that big but the goal of it was to get members to invite families to come. We had about 4 little girls come that weren't members, their parents didn't come. The party went pretty well. I made sure everything was as American as possible. We had candy fishing, pumpkin bowling, donuts on a string, bobbing for apples, a cake walk, an eating contest, and carving pumpkins. It seemed like everyone had fun and we got a lot of complements. We had to make things like cookies, donuts, and root beer (which turned out really good but still Koreans think it tastes like toothpaste). Elder Singleton and Olsen came from Youngchun to help us out so everything went smoothly.

Yesterday we had some really neat experiences as we found 2 new people that we will be able to meet again and keep teaching. One of them is an old lady in the branch who is really nice to missionaries and everyone simply thought she was baptized because he husband is one of the strongest members in our branch. We were able to teach her the first discussion but we are pretty sure there is a reason she is not baptized so we will teach her. I really stressed baptism while I taught and the importance of the authority to baptize being restored. It went pretty well and we had a member to help teach which is always nice. The older lady absolutely ardors all the pictures of my nieces and nephews. She looked and talked about them for about a half hour. Cute little kids. Oh, I need root beer extract with a recipe for sparkling water on the box. It is the best way here since dried ice is only used in science and the yeast hasn't worked. Yesterday we were also able to meet a man while we were knocking doors. It actually works sometimes. Wow. Korea is doing good. We are doing good. Thanks for the love and prayers.

I'm settled in Chinhae (just east of Pusan)

I am now settled in here in my new area. I am with Elder Morrow from New Mexico. He is in his 3rd transfer. Our branch is pretty small but the members are really nice. I will probably be here for a while so I have been cleaning the house with all the free time I have. It was pretty bad but I've seen worse missionary houses. It's a problem when everyone knows they are going to eventually get transferred. The area is similar to CHINHAE but the members are about 1/4 of what my last area had. This week we had to buy bikes because the ones they were using before got stolen. I also updated my lenses in my glasses, now I have completely Korean glasses. about $25 for everything and no waiting time. They don't have any of the eye Doctor stuff that is in America. They have a machine that goes over your eyes and in about 3 seconds finds your prescription and prints it out. Pretty cool. We have a couple of investigators that may be good but I have only met one because of time problems. Koreans think they are so busy. It's insane. I would actually say that they are but they take the excuse and use it for everything. Our district is just my team and Elder Singleton's team. It's as countryside as Korea gets. I like it out here. We are both really looking forward to this transfer. We will both learn a lot. This is the first transfer where I have a companion that can't speak Korean as well as me. I definitely will learn a lot. I'm excited.

Transfer-new Companion

I have been transferred back up near Daegu in a city called Gyeoung San. I am now with a 3rd transfer named Elder Morrow from New Mexico. I'm really excited but sad to leave chin hey.

reminders to myself that I am a missionary, I year in Korea

In honor of my 1 year anniversary in Korea this past week, I have come up with a list of things that happen and make me realize I'm a missionary. I Don't know if you will find it funny like I do.
1. Walking my bike across crosswalks with a helmet and a suit.
2. Being chased by dogs on my bike.
3. Dogs in general, they all hate us but not as much as I hate them.
4. Sprinting alongside a bus to catch it at the next bus stop.
5. Feeling awkward without a Book of Mormon in my hand.
6. Panicking if I cannot see my companion.
7. Stopping and looking at every neck tie I see.
8. Saying at least "Hi" to every person I pass.
9. People literally running away from us on sight.
10. Being called everything from angles to Satan himself.

I love missionary work! It really is fun. We are still preparing for our open house for this coming week. Transfers will be this upcoming week so who knows where I will be next week or if I will still be here in 진해. This week we had a stake choir competition. Music is pretty big here among our church. The stake choirs are really serious about it and compete nationally. Our wards took first and second places out of something like 5 wards. Ya, we're pretty cool like that. It was really fun to go listen and sing.
We were able to have a first lesson with a 12 year old that has been coming to church with her friends this week. Hopefully her family comes to this open house. It can be a really good opportunity to introduce people to our church with very little pressure. It should be pretty good.

conference, hike and fishmarket

Pictures: Elder Anderson on a stinkin high mountain, Korean fish market.

I hope everyone listened well to Elder 죄(Che)'s talk and thought about me and then Elder Sitati's talk and thought about Travis. Elder 죄 visited our mission in my first or second transfer but spoke in all Korean so I had a translator. He is a really great man and a real support for the Koreans. I loved general conference. I feel like Conference is completely different as a missionary. We are all so excited for it and every 2 hours fly by so fast. I especially liked the analogy with the heart surgery in the Sunday afternoon session. It's amazing how bold our church is with our doctrine. We are bold because we can be. Our claims are such that we are either right or wrong. No in-between. It is so amazing to be led by a prophet who says that this church is founded upon the rock of revelation. We have so much and are so blessed. Elder Holland's testimony on the Book of Mormon was also really powerful. I can't wait to read them all again. A foreigner in our ward should be able to get them to me with audio as well. Listening to others testimonies really can strengthen your own. It is one of the ways the spirit works through us. This week we had zone conference where we got to hear President Jennings speak. He is a real light to us missionaries and always has the spark that we need to get us moving forward. We have been going through all our old investigators and have found a few that we will hopefully start teaching again. It was a good week. Love you all. Thanks for the prayers and support.

Choo souck- Harvest holiday

Because of the regular P-day along with a Full P-Day and 3 days of 추석 (choo souck) Today we are only e-mailing and shopping. It was a pretty fun week though. I went on splits with Elder Bordman our district leader. We have been in the same district for over half my mission and he has been my district leader for all but one of those. It was fun and we were able to meet with a member's friend and teach them, with the member over dinner. Teaching is fun.

The next day we were called in the morning and were told we had President Interviews in an hour. In an area that is about an hour bus ride away. We got there fine and the interviews went great. We are so lucky to have President Jennings right now. For our full P-day we went and tried to climb the tallest mountain on South Korea's main land. Unfortunately because of the traffic we weren't able to make it there in time to climb the whole thing. I was actually more pleased because half way up the mountain there was a temple that we got to see and then turn around at. It was really amazing. This temple was built in the 1400's and they said it is the highest temple in Korean. I have no clue how they carried all that stuff up there. It was quite the hike. I wish I could have taken pictures of inside the temples. They were amazingly decorated with all sorts of colors. It kind of reminded me of some of the Mongolian things I have seen but I defiantly did not tell them that. Most of our week was spent at members houses eating and talking. The holiday is a harvest holiday like Thanksgiving and is always with the full moon. It is also kind of the end of summer and I can feel it. The weather is really nice right now. A hot sun with coolish air if that makes sense. The leaves are going to start changing which I am really excited for. 진해 is a smaller city and so it has a lot more trees and scenery. I wish I could be here for spring. They have a huge festival which is what the city is known for because of all the budding cherry blossoms. Korea is amazing. I love it.

knocking knocking knocking

Just so you all know this next coming week is the Korean version on Thanksgiving. It's pretty huge. We had a good week. We haven't had much success as for investigators but we were able to have some really good less-active meetings. Two specifically.

The first was on Saturday. We were walking around talking to people and a lady walked straight at us and began talking and didn't stop for about 30 minutes. Turns out she was baptized when she was a young adult but hasn't been to church for 20 years. She didn't know where the newer church in the area was so we walked her over to the building where we were headed anyway (to help clean) and we toured it with her. It was really cool, she was one of those people that can talk endlessly. We got her information because we had absolutely no record of her living in the area. Hopefully we can meet more often with her.

The other one was just yesterday. We had decided on an apartment complex to visit but we didn't know which one. I felt like 109 or 104. We were closer to 104 so we knocked on that but nothing. We then had to decide where to go again. We said little prayers and I went through and numbered all the apartments in my head. 109 stuck out again so we went and did that. Nothing. We were on the bottom floor of the last line (6 story apartments) and were were headed out when the second to last door we knocked on opened well after we had knocked on it. A lady opened the door and I went back to the door and explained who we were. She quickly informed us that she already believes us and invited us in. We had a really good chat with her about our church and invited her back. We got her information (once again we have zero records of her) and were able to leave her with a spiritual message and a prayer. It was amazing to see that we were able to be led to her. We will try to meet her with a member of the relief society later. She seemed like she would be willing to come back. The message we are sharing is true. That is what I know and I'm just trying to share it. This opportunity is amazing. Thanks for the love.