Christmas Party preparations

So this is kind of weird because I called my parents and family yesterday but I guess I will try to push out an email as well. I have been informed that my emails are not entertaining. Sorry, I will try but I am simply not an entertaining person especially when comparing with Elder Travis Gowen. Anyhow, this week we have spent a lot of time as members. By this I mean that we have been planning our Christmas party. It has taken a little more time then we would have liked but it will be good and hopefully members will invite there friends. We have some less actives that have promised to come. I think it should turn out well. It will be the day before Christmas so pictures should follow next week if I remember to take them. We went over to the branch pres. house this week because they have been asking us to make root beer for them and teach them how. Not many Koreans like the stuff but they both do so they were extremely appreciative for it all. On the way out they gave us as much stuff as we could carry including salsa from Costco and money for the taxi. I have found it a problem in the church that people are more than willing to serve but when it comes to being served not many will let it be. I really appreciated all the stuff they gave us but when that kind of thing happens you leave the house feeling good because you got a lot of food rather than feeling like you helped and served them. Anyway, that was just my thought for the week. We will definitely put that salsa to good use. :) Hope everything is well back home ya all.

(note from mom: Caleb called for our Christmas call as we will not be available on Christmas day. He took the cards and ornaments we sent and turned them in to invitations for the ward Christmas party inviting many people to the party. I asked him if he gives talks in church. He said he just gave one on Family Home evening. I asked him if he talked about our family- we're pretty good at FHE-- he said "no" and then said "of course I did" He gets up at 6:30 and eats a hard boiled egg for breakfast! that is all. I asked him how much he weighs. He went from 180 to 153. We hope we have some of our boy when he gets home 8 months from now. He does like Korean food and eats it regularly. He was in positive spirits. Laughing and having a good time.)

Christmas cards

Hello! This week was good as usual. My mother has informed me that I do not write enough stories. Sorry but perhaps I just don't have enough stories. We were told to go back to America in the lowest form possible this week via text. We got a good laugh out of that one. Lets see... This week we were able to meet that guy who showed up at church randomly. We went out to dinner with him and talked. We taught the first lesson but it turns out he has already talked to many missionaries before us and just wanted us to help him with his English letter that he needed to write. He is a really smart man but thinks he is too smart for religion. Sad. This church make so much sense. It's fairly incredible to be honest. There is so much truth. Spiritually and factually. It's true!

This Sunday we went and found some less-actives in the area with an old guy in our ward. It was an hour and a half of straight old-man-Korean. It was so hard, my brain was mush by the end of it. It is so solid but it's hard to get things across between us. Well he understands everything I am saying but when it comes back... Wow, it was fun. We were going up an elevator and he just busted up laughing. I asked him what he was laughing about he said "I don't know where we are going and you don't know where we are going, we need the branch president" It took us a while to figure out who he knows and who he doesn't know.

Korean is awesome. We had a good week. Hope all of you are doing well. Thanks for the prayers. I appreciate everything Elder Anderson... thanks for the card stuff. this is what we did with them... (note from mom:Rachael and her kids made ornaments and I sent some Christmas Cards.. notice our calendar in the background. Those are Rachael's kids)

Any ideas... Christmas party for 20 people?

Transfers came and left. Elder Morrow and I will be staying together but Elder Ballantyne has come up with Elder Singleton and will be in my district. I'm excited, I served in the same district with him for 3 transfers when I was in Chinhae. This week was good. We weren't able to meet the kid I talked about in our last week but we have an appointment for this week. We have been going around and practice teaching with members for their benefit and ours. It is a good way to get to know them and build trust. We also had a neat experience while knocking doors. Fist of all we actually got into a house. We have came up to 1/1000 doors we get into. Its a rounded number but its almost dead on. That's a lot of doors so we are quite excited when we do get in. We came in and told them about our book. They let us and and immediately sat us down to eat dinner. There was a 15 years old kid and his grandparents. They were really nice and the 15 year old took a quick liking to the Book of Mormon. While we were there he read all of the introduction and the testimonies in the front. Apparently he likes reading. The grandma was really nice and actually invited us to their Church which we may take her up on later. She called us again Sunday to see if we could come but we had a thing in Tague so we couldn't go. We should be able to meet him as well but because of school he is busy. I really hope we can meet him soon. We have also been commissioned by our ward to do plan the Christmas party... Any ideas for a branch of 20 people? We made Halloween pretty good so they have high expectations. It should be fun but we need to come up with something quick. It was a good week. I'm excited to be with Elder Morrow for another. He has now been here for 4 transfers and it's the only area he knows. Pretty crazy. I really like the area which is good because i should be here for a while. Hope all is well back home.

Thanksgiving

Much of this week was spent in Tagu. We had Zone conference where elder Choi came and spoke to us about having the spirit with us in all of our work, it was really good. I then went with Elder McKenna on splits that same day and met with Elder Bae from the second quorum of the 70. Basically our whole day that day was with 70s (Leaders in the LDS church) It was quite the day. The next day was Thanksgiving. We got permission to have a Turkey bowl (football game) before eating with the foreign branch. They made us an amazing Thanksgiving dinner. Extremely American. It was really neat to be reminded of what America is.

We also had a really neat experience last night with a old investigator. I was calling through some old records and I got in a conversation with a 27 year old about receiving answers to prayer. We talked for about 20 minutes when he finally just asked if we could meet at the church right then. We ran over there and then continued our talk for about an hour. It was really fun. He had obvious ally thought about this. He said that lots of missionaries have called him but that Americans and Koreans alike can't answer his question. We went though much but I felt like I was able to see more of the "iceberg". I talked about what we do before prayer to receive an answer. Studying, pondering, and such things. I gave him Alma 32 from the Book of Mormon to read and he said he would and we will meet again on Sunday. I really liked him, questions are amazing, especially since our church really can answer them. He thinks his questions are unanswerable but hopefully he can have an open enough heart to see and hear the answers. It was a good week like usual. Hope all is well back home, glad to hear about BYU. Did anyone else make it in the top 25 besides TCU?

Elder Morrow's 6 months and mini General Conference

Another week gone by. This week was Elder Morrow's 6th month mark so we went to dinner and burned a tie(soaked in bug spray for pictures). Ha, I have never done stuff like that but it is pretty common for missionaries to burn something for important events. This week we got punked a few times but we also saw a few good things happen including meeting with a less active and she let us in to talk. It may not sound like much but most of the times less actives are harder than investigators. We also had a really neat Korea-wide stake conference via video broadcast. President Uchtdorf and Elder Holland spoke along with 2 other 70s. It was really fun for them to speak directly to Koreans and we even got to hear it in English. They have been pushing Koreans to stay in Korea and build up Zion in the nation of their birth. It was really good. It felt like a mini general conference. It was comforting for Koreans to know that their leaders really know their problems and even their culture. President Uchtdorf talked about eating Kimchee in Seoul on a day or 2 lay over. It was fun. I love our leaders. Still going strong. 2 weeks until the end of the transfer. The mission moves fast. I love it.

I love the work

This week was a good one as usual. We got punked (tricked) by our investigator, people blocked our calls, we got rejected at the door pretty harshly in perfect English, and didn't meet anyone new. I love missionary work! No sarcasm.

It really is fun but sometimes we see the worst side of people. It's kind of like dad says about seeing the worst side of renters. I'm sure these people are great and have lots of friends but we just see a different side unfortunately but it does make me really like those people that let us in and talk to them even if they are not interested. This week was president interviews and we talked a lot about the English program because my ward wants to push it and while I don't want to stop it I don't want it to be a main focus for us. He agreed and gave me some stuff to tell my ward which worked like magic. President Jennings is amazing.

We were able to meet that old man that we met knocking doors again and taught him the first lesson. He really understands he just needs to look for and receive that personal revelation and then we will see him progress. It's so fun teaching the truth. I really love missionary work. Its crazy that I am a somewhat of an old missionary. I just keep going.

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.

Cleaning day at our new apartment. Everything you hear about missionary apartments is true.

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.

Visitors at the door

Another week in Korea. Right know I am e-mailing from the middle of a Korean war battle ship. Cool huh? Only Korea would have a couple of rooms for computers in a battle ship museum. Anyway. This week was good. I had quite the interesting experience a couple of days ago. We had stayed in a little past 10:30 AM because we were making some things for some members when we got a ring at the door. I went and opened it and there were 2 Korean college age girls standing there. The quickly started talking to each other about how they don't know how to speak English when one of them got enough courage to say "God's Church" I didn't recognize the name until I translated it back into Korean to "하나님의 교회." In Korea if there was one church that we butt heads with most it would be 하나님의 교회. Mostly because they we are linked to them in many people's minds and they are pretty crazy so we try to push away from them. I quickly introduced that we were missionaries as well and introduced our church a little. When they found out I could speak Korean they just went off.

First was Heavenly Mother. They believe that she is currently living is Seoul right now. A little strange. I started questioning that and and asked what will happen when she dies. They replied back with a prompt, "She wont die." Guess that solves that problem. I then asked what they believe about Jesus Christ and if he was the son of God. They said yes to which I then asked if he was the son of Heavenly Mother. They then turned back and said that he was only just a man and that he was in a kind of substitute for God. Ha. It was really nice because I had all of my English and Korean supplies at the house for a friendly chat. My companion wouldn't come over because he knew it would just turn into an argument but because I'm an American and can't understand absolutely everything it couldn't get too heated. I then began to talk about Prophets and turned to some scriptures which they also had well marked. They also believed in prophets but they also said they were in fact prophets. I didn't think I had caught what they said right so I cleared is up with "Your a prophet like Moses?" "Yes" was the reply.

They talked about the Sabbath and how we should be worshiping on Saturday and not Sunday but unfortunately I only had a few things I could say about that but I made sure to study up on that for later reference. We kept going back and forth and eventually I introduced the Book of Mormon and explained what it was and why we need it. I talked about that for a while and testified about how I read it and got and answer for myself. They then said, "That answer was from Satan." That was kind of a rude turning point when I kind of just stopped talking and just kept explaining our church. They eventually walked away themselves. I wasn't going to be the one to tell them to leave. It was fun and really good Korean practice. Anyway, I'm going to go explore more of this ship. Thanks for the support and love.

Faith and Pictures

So..... the family is gone hunting and they expect me to write an email. humph. I guess I shall. This week was a good one like the rest. We were able to teach Ferenando again and talked a lot about faith in Christ and the faith that through Him, he can actually repent and get over his habits. He has always been very religious but it surprised me when he couldn't answer yes to the question, "Do you believe that Jesus Christ can help you through your trials?" It is actually a fairly difficult question if thought about deeply. It is much different to ask, "Can you give up smoking and drinking" than "Can you give up smoking and drinking with the help of Christ." Anyway, we talked a lot about that and repentance with him. On Saturday we were able to be a part of a stake mini MTC (Mission Training Center) for the youth at a different ward. It was really good, especially the 2 hours of real on-the-street time. That's when the youth realized how hard it is to be rejected over and over and over again but most everyone saw at least one person who showed enough interest to teach a little and whatnot. It was good.

So in Korea we carry around a picture book wherever we go. Koreans like it and it is great to build the relationship a little. I think it is funny because nearly every Korean has the same reaction to every picture. On the cover I have a picture of me when I was 8 with my dad in front of the church going to get baptized. SO many Koreans have asked if my dad was a movie star. Ha. Everyone gapes in awe at my gigantic family of only sisters and adore all of the little white kids. No one knows who marry Poppins is. Sorry. Everyone here likes fishing so Alaska is usually good as well as the bears that are 50 feet away from us fishing. The older ladies can spend a while looking and Rachael and Franny's kids. They have never seen anything so big and cute. Anyway, just thought it would be interesting to know what Koreans think of my family. That's all for this week. I lost my adaptor so no pictures this week. Sorry. FYI the silver suit is being sent home for future use.

Silver is the color to wear

My companion and I bought silver suits on sale. Very Korean.

This coming week is transfer calls! Crazy. I'll most likely stay here but you never know. I'm betting on us both staying together actually, which if together for 2 transfers, this will the first time that has happened. Last P-day I went out and got a hair cut by a Korean. That was a mistake. Usually I do it myself with whatever is in the house but nothing was there so I just gave in a did it. I told her good luck and to do it as American as possible. I should have brought a picture or something. It ended up extremely wide on top and tapered down to the ears. Very Korean style. I handled it for about 10 minutes and then went to our local store and bought hair thinners. I finished the job although not too perfectly. It will grow out. Ha. The life of a missionary.

This week we were not able to meed Franando because he had a friend leaving that he said good bye to. I have been staying in contact with him and he has done well but is having a problem with social pressure. Society vs. God. It seems like an easy choice but as we all know things are quite a bit more difficult than that. He needs a testimony of the healing power of Christ first. It is so much harder to change your life on your own. We also had a girl show up to church and we set up an appointment to teach her next week with a member. She came with a friend. So much more effective then us going out and finding. Anyway, it was a good week. We worked a lot and still many things fell through. We did the choir concert on Saturday at a different ward. It was successful and well done. I love being a missionary. I love the work. Elder Anderson

any ideas to quit smoking?

So I got this giant bundle of letters from a lot of different family members. Thanks so much. It's fun to hear from all of you and I really appreciate the support. I would really like to respond directly to all of them but there were like 30 different people and I don't have all day to write. I really appreciated them though.

This week was really good. On Friday we had President interviews which took up a good chunk of the day. We were also practicing for a zone choir fireside so we had everyone there. I really like President Jennings. After the interview we chatted a little about space, sci-fi, and my future business idea dealing with such things. My kinda guy.

On Saturday we went and did that fireside in Chinju and we will do it again this week in Chongwan. It is a really neat little program they have put together and really spiritual. Sunday was probably the best day of the week. We were able to meet with Fernando again and teach him the first half of the second lesson. When we got to where we were talking about our life on earth I introduced the Word of Wisdom. I had been debating it in my head all day and when it finally got to it I felt like it was right. I was at the blackboard explaining the plan of salvation, took a big breath, and laid it down for him. He likes it but is currently doing about everything on the lists. We talked a lot and made a list of why he doesn't want to smoke and drink which came out to about 6 ideas. He then couldn't come up with any on why he does except for addiction. I honestly had no clue what to tell him to do. He wasn't willing to just stop so we made a deal to slow down. He is going to try to only smoke 5 a day and he will call me tonight on how he did. He likes the Book of Mormon but is a little afraid of change. It's difficult sometimes but always do-able. The spirit was so strong during the lesson. I love this work and trying to help people find this better way.

If anyone has any good quitting plans that have worked for people I would appreciate the info. Right now I am just going off PMG, high school health class, and what he and I think of it. He will slowly be able to overcome it. Anyone can with the help of Christ.

note to LeAnn Albrecht from sister Jennings about Caleb

Sis Jennings sent me some recipes and information this morning about her mission that I requested from her at the Mission Presidents seminar. She had this little paragraph about Caleb that I thought you might like to read it. I cut and pasted so these are her words. You may want to save this for Caleb. They were out doing zone conferences last week and she saw him."I got to see and talk with Elder Anderson as he waited for his interview with Kenneth just day before yesterday and he's doing great. He's healthy, he's working hard, and he seems really happy in the area where he's currently serving. He has a Korean companion who is very intelligent, hard-working, and sweet and I think the two of them are enjoying the companionship. Elder Anderson has also called me twice this transfer about health issues his Korean companion is dealing with and I've been impressed with his kind and caring attitude on behalf of Elder Kang. He really is a sweet young man. He's one of those missionaries that the members (and the mission mom!) just love because they are so cheerful and positive. He has been a good, positive influence in the areas where he's served. I'm not sure his mom knows about a nasty abscessed boil that appeared on his backside in the MTC because he didn't tell the medical folks at the MTC about it for fear of delaying his arrival in the field. We have been treating it here (he got permission to see a local doctor about it) and he reported to me on Tuesday that it was completely gone now and all he has is a funny little nickel-sized scar. I don't know if you want to report that to his mom or not! I leave it to your judgment!"

updates: physical and language

A quick update of my physical self: I left the MTC and a solid 185lbs (5'10"). I just recently weighed myself again. Ever since the field, my weight has slowly been declining to more of where it should have been. Last week I weight in at 152! That's over 30lbs! I'm pretty impressed with myself. It's definitely not a lack of eating either. Leg muscles have increased while my upper body has shrunk. Nose is still there. Before my mission my mother would always get mad at me because I would sit cross-legged (Indian style) at the dinner table. It has definitely got worse. All the men do that here if they are on a chair. I have actually formed callouses on the sides of my feet because of the sitting style. Ha.

Anyway, this week we had a lot of traveling. Monday I went on splits with the Elder Brown from another area because the Koreans who have already done military service went to Busan for some meeting they have to go to every once in a while. Tuesday we all (All the missionaries in the mission) went to Busan for a huge zone meeting. Usually we don't do that but it was President Jennings birthday so the AP's and Mom planned it behind his back. Pretty impressive to pull something that huge off without him knowing until he walked into the room.

Thursday and Friday we were able to work in our area but Saturday we were called in by the Changwon Elders to help out with a bunch of things. Busy week but unfortunately not too much in our area. Franando said he told his family about our church and the Book of Mormon back home but they didn't know what it was so hopefully next time we meet we can get their addresses in Sri Lanka and refer them to the Elders there. We have a few people we may be able to start meeting which we need. The work is chugging along. Korea is amazing. It would be even cooler if I spoke Korean! Ha, no, the language is coming. I was talking to Elder Brown about it and he said before his mission he knew a guy who had gone to this mission and he asked when he felt like he got the language. He just laughed. Elder Brown then asked, "About a year in do you start to feel comfortable?" the reply: "About a year in you start to understand sacrament meeting." Go Korea!! I really do love it. It's way more fun than it is difficult. We get blessed in many different ways. Hope everything back home is going good!

update on Caleb from my friend who visited with Caleb's mission President

my friend just started their 3 year adventure as mission President in Tokyo. She went to a training in Seoul. " "We didn't have a chance to take off and "see" or visit with Caleb...so close yet so far away. I did see his mission president and asked about him....he said "he is an excellent, obedient Elder. A real strength in this mission. I love that Elder, and I can put him anywhere in the mission with anyone and know they will work hard and find success." So it sounds like he is on track...but did we ever think otherwise??? I told him he comes from "good family stock"! He said..."I am sure they are.....his mother trained him well... do they have any more sons to send.....?" I had to tell him No not this generation. So tell Caleb to keep it up...push to the end.

Korea is the best baptizing mission in the Asia North area. They are Christian which is a first step, and respond well to the missionaries. Korea isn't as clean as Japan at least in the big city. They are having lotst of rain right now...flood stage.... in one day the water was over 18 inches but also went down to level in 24 hours. I asked his mission president about N. Korea, and he says they hear more from home about N. Korea than they do living there. I don't think they are very concerned....but we as missionaries live in this cocoon, and only get out in 2 or 3 years so you may have more insight than I got from being there."

Elder MacGyuver

We have been teaching more Sri Lankans. Strange but true. We taught an amazing lesson to a man named Franando. The spirit was so strong, I was teaching in English but we had to go really slow to make sure he understood everything. It is so fun to see the lights come on in someones eyes. This gospel is amazing. We have done a lot of traveling this week. We had zone conference and all the Korean missionaries ran off to Seoul for a conference so we had to manage around all that. We have been doing a lot of reactivation work recently. A few may start coming back to church which would be amazing. Our goal is to really have them remember what they felt when they were baptized. Most remember the missionaries that taught them and the feelings they had at that time. We just need to rekindle that flame.

Right now I am actually with the 2 elders in Masan because my companion had to go to do a military thing in Pusan. Because everyone must be in the military they have to do little things every once in a while to keep them up on it I guess. We will meet back up in Busan on Wednesday.

My companion and I get along well. He is pretty convinced that I could be MacGyver. I randomly fix things around the house like the toilet or the fridge or the lock on our door. He thinks it's amazing. When I fixed our bikes with only a roll of tape he started singing the theme song to the show. Ha. Now it's an occasional thing to hear him humming it when something that used to be broken is still working. Ha, Koreans. Anyway, the work still moves on. I love it out here in Korea. Its so crazy and foreign sometimes but then I look at American things and that's pretty crazy too. I don't know what to believe anymore. I'll just stick with the gospel. Thanks for the support and love.

another week

I will explain a little about my current situation. I am still in 진해(chinhae) but i got a new companion. His name is Elder 강창 혼 (Kang). He is from Seoul. He is 22 and has already done the mandatory military. He has been out for 5 transfers. He will probably be a senior this next transfer or the one after. He knows very little English so we have to get by via my Korean and his scattered English vocabulary. It's fun. He is a really fun and nice person. It's really interesting to have a Korean junior. I'm still the first one to talk to most people and he always hands me the phone but if we get in a real bind it's nice to have a fluent speaker. This week we have done a lot of member and less-active visits. The wards have given us lists of the people they want visited. Some have moved and some we are able to talk to and some flat out reject us. That is depressing. It's one thing to get rejected every day by random people on the street but it's much different with a member. We also got 3 new investigators this week. We were in a big shopping mart and I started talking to this group of foreigners. It turns out they are all Sri Lankans working at the huge ship building factory near by. I don't know what it is with me and Sri Lankans but I have met quite a few after Roshan. I now always keep a Shinali(sp) Book of Mormon at the house. We met the next day with 3 of them and talked about why we are here and our message. They actually called us to make the appointment to meet. When they called I could hardly understand but I knew they were trying to speak English. I thought it was just a random person speaking English to me and I only spoke back in Korean. Finally he gave the phone to a Korean and we could clear that up. Oops. They are really nice but busy so we will have to play that by ear. It was a good week. Thanks for the support and love.

New Companion, Elder Kang

I'm going to have to make this short because I am short on time. I have a new companion. His name is Elder 강 (Kang) I am really excited to serve with him. This last week was good. I am finally back in my own area which is really nice. It was a fun week. I really love the work. Thanks for the support. I can feel it all the way over here.

Restitution

This week will be one year for me. I have many mixed feelings about that. On one hand time has flown. Insanely fast. On the other hand I feel like life before the mission is a haze and that I have been here for 15 years. Anyway, time is a strange thing. This week was pretty interesting. I am currently with Elder Bordman and Ballantyne. We are covering 2 areas and 3 wards which is pretty rare for our mission. Its been a lot of traveling but it's working out. It's kind of strange to be back into a threesome. Elder Ballantyne is really young, only second transfer so it is fun to remember where I was back then. It has been really good.

I think the highlight of the week for me was yesterday. It was Sunday and we had found out earlier last week that the kids that got caught had to pay $1000 fine or work it off at the church. They have been working it off and the bishop told them that they could come to church as part of there time to work. Yesterday 2 of the boys showed up and one of them had is mom and sister. It was pretty funny. They smelled like smoke and what not but the ward was really nice to them even though they looked like fish out of water. They went to the first 2 meetings like normal and then Elder Bordman and I took them into another room for 3rd block and talked to them about us and our church. They were pretty fun and I was glad I didn't wasn't mean to them when we kicked them out of the church. It wasn't too awkward of a situation. They were good and well behaved. They said they would probably come back next week. Speaking of next week, I will have a new companion then! Things change quick. I love this work. It is amazing. Thanks for all the support of love. I appreciate it.Elder Anderson

break in and another transfer

Elder Rockwood

Another fairly crazy week for me. Two big things happened that threw us all off. First of all our church was broken into. Elder Rockwood and I were first on the scene. They had spray painted a lot of the outside and wrote on the front mat in Korean "We hijacked." They had somehow gotten into the building and messed it up pretty good. We made our way upstairs to the second floor and found it a mess. They had used the kitchen to make who knows what and also used the font as a bath. Other stuff had been scattered all over. We then went to the 3rd floor where the chapel is. On our way up we started to smell cigarette smoke and saw it had been messed up as well. What surprised us is that we walked into the chapel to find 5 Jr high students chilling near the piano smoking. There were 3 boys and 2 girls. I'm pretty sure they were more surprised than we were. They had burnt an umbrella in the middle of the floor and spray painted a few things. They kids quickly removed themselves from the scene of the crime. Only one kid seemed to be sorry. As he left he kind of looked at us and said "It's a church!" in Korean. As they were leaving I grabbed my camera and got 2 pictures of them all. One was good and got most of their faces. I gave it to the police when they came and about 2 hours later we found of that they brought the picture to the schools in the area where they were identified and caught. They next 2 days were spent helping the bishop out in cleaning up the place and repairing a few things.

Second crazy thing. Transfers 2 weeks early! President called up on Thursday night and informed us that Elder Rockwood would leave to another area. Quite the surprise but it's happened to me before. An Elder has to go home early for school so they had to do a little adjustment. For 2 weeks I will be in another threesome with the other area in our district. Elder Bordman and Balentine. Pretty exciting week. I really enjoyed Elder Rockwood. He was a great first junior. On to new things. This will be 7 transfers and 9 companions. I am a pretty troublesome missionary apparently. :) Our investigator ee ien gol(이인걸) is doing good. We were able to meet him with sister Olsen(She is Korean but married an American and has forgotten most her Korean) It went well. He is really nice and willing to listen These next couple of weeks we will have to cover 3 areas rather than just the two so it will be a little more difficult but fun as well. Elder Rockwood and I are sending our emails to the other's families. Hope everything is still going good for ya all. Korea is awesome. I love this work. Hard but it has a lot of rewards with it.

(note from dad: I taught Caleb in the areas I have apartments, a camera is more powerful than a gun)

My first talk

Welp, mom is out of the country and won't get this for a while so I debated just not sending one but she would probabaly consider me dead so I will inform you on my week. Relations with the wards are getting better. It is sometimes hard to show both wards we are working because they only see half our work but we are going good. We got a new investigator this week from a referal from a different area. He is in the Navy as a diver for his profession. He is really cool, very built. He has a lot of English interest but we taught him the first and he followed along and asked questions. We will see how that goes down the road.

This Sunday I gave my first talk in Korean. In every ward you go to you give a greeting talk and a leaving talk. Every once in a while we also give other talks like this one. I spoke on smiling and being willing to talk to people. It was good. I felt like it created more of a bond with that ward. It was hard though. I really like giving talks and making them entertaing and good but doing that in Korean is a bit more difficult than in English.

This last P-day we went to an island that had 3 little museams on it. There was a restored battle ship, a navle battle museam, and an ocean museam. It was really fun to see. Korean museams seem to have quite a bit more technology shoved into them. In the middle of the battleship there was a room full of computers and a full stage simulator game in the navel musean and other fun things. Korea is fun. It was a good week. Life is still good. Thanks for the letters and support. Love you all!Elder Anderson

4th of July and no root beer

Two weeks into this transfer, things are still chugging along. This week I think that I got my first real member referral since coming here. It was pretty fun. I did something I have always wanted to do. we met with the investigator and talked about our church, he is a business owner and so was the member so we were all pretty professional about the whole thing. He asked for our business card, I asked for his and we set up another appointment. It seems simple but I have always wanted to set up an appointment like that. I think it's the business side of me.

The next day we taught him a really good lesson in a park. He seems pretty interested, especially in the book of Mormon. He said he would start reading it every day along with his every day reading of the bible. Can't argue with that. His name is 이인걸(lee ien gol). This week was also the 4Th of July. We happen to have a military base in our area and we were invited to go in the evening to eat and watch fireworks. It was like going into America. Suddenly everyone could understand me and I could understand them. It was a really cool experience.

We have a member that lives on the base and the sisters have an investigator there too. The member brought us to have a giant steak. The fireworks were really fun as well. Good old America. It kind of reminded me of the little things that made Korea and America so different. Although when we asked if they had root been on the base the waitress still went and checked the wine closed and came back to inform us that they don't. That is truly only in America. This week was good. The work still goes on even with 2 young Americans that can hardly understand the language. We are blessed. Love you all. Thanks for the prayers and support.Elder Anderson

Chinhae (just east of Pusan)

This week has been a blast. Elder Rockwood and I are very similar. Koreans even think we are brothers. For all those who know Travis Gowen he is similar to him. Naturally we have a lot of fun.



We have been doing a lot of finding since we have had no real investigators. Finding is always good. This area is a little hard to proselyte because we have no colleges and not many people are walking around. We still do fine though. The area is smaller and less populated then most. Being a part of two wards is interesting. We both went to one ward this Sunday and we will go to the other next week. A little harder to manage but at the same time easier because they don't rely on us as much since they know we have 2 wards to cover.

Yesterday was probably the craziest day of the week. We were in church and for the third block the bishop brought us into his office and explained that a kid had been coming to Church for quite some time now and he wanted us to teach him all the lessons... right then... It was pretty rough but there in the bishop's office we taught all the lessons to this kid. He listened to it all and it seemed good. The bishop wants us to baptize him this coming Sunday. A little fast for my liking but the bishop knows him more and he believes the gospel is true so... ya. We should be having a baptism this coming Sunday if all goes well. We still need permission from the parents and also the interview.

We had a few other interesting experiences this week. I think my favorite was while we were proselyting we came across a lady that was convinced we were the devil. Like.... she called us "Satan." It was pretty strange though because she was basing all her arguments on the fact that the Book of Mormon and our names on our tags are translated into Korean so we can't be right because it means different things. I thought it extremely strange when she said she believed the Bible but not the Book of Mormon. We had a small group of older women watching as we talked to this lady. It was really funny because I would glance at them and they would give us a big smile and kind of an apologetic look because this lady would never let us talk.

The work is still going good. Hard but still moving along. This gospel is true. That's why I'm out here. I love Korea. Korean language is coming along, it's getting more fun. Love you all, hope things are good.

new companion new area Elder Rockwood and I are in Chinhae poonghoe

Wow, so our whole MTC district is now senior except for one sister because she didn't have to. Fun fun. This last week in 상인 was good but a little rough. Because of my companion, Elder 이태희's surgery on his foot we did a lot of sitting at home and studying. I'm all for studying for forever but it gets pretty boring pretty quick. I was sad to leave the ward. They were really good to me and very patient. We had a really nice area... but now I am very far from there. I am now in 진해/풍호 (chinhae/poonghoe.) I am with Elder Rockwood from Indiana. He is really good and we are very much alike. He went to Stanford and is pretty smart (That's our biggest difference) He is 4 transfers below me so we are not that far apart at all. I think it will be a good transfer for us. It may be interesting though because when we meet people they like to get to know us. We each bring some pictures representing who we are. In both of our sets of pictures we each have a picture of us riding camels, people may think that all Americans ride camels. Ha.

I am really excited for this transfer. We are the only Elder area to cover 2 wards so that should be interesting. We don't even really have sisters in our area although they may come here because of some investigators that they have(they just barely moved them out of the area.) Our area is right to the west of Busan. It is basically a bay surrounded with boats and ship building stuff, surrounded by houses/apartments, and surrounded by mountains. Its a pretty beautiful area. This last week the humidity just came rolling in which makes it really hot. It's not insanely bad though, still bearable. I think we will have a lot of fun and do tons of work this transfer. I'm really excited. Hope all is going well!

Culture warts and fire

This week we had interviews with the Mission President. It is now 90% sure that this will be my last week as junior companion. I will probably have an American Junior and I will be the senior. Pretty exciting. I think it will be fun, quite the adventure.

Because of all the missionaries leaving this transfer, our 4 man houses will be a thing of the past. Next time you hear from me I will be with my next companion.

This week was good. We were able to go to a cultural dance/singing event at the university here. It was really cool. I consider myself at least somewhat knowledgeable about music but I honestly wouldn't have been able to tell if they were playing those instruments upside down and backwards. They were pretty fun. My favorite was this group of male dancers with drums and hats that had a long ribbon coming off a stick that twirled around. It is hard to explain but it was really neat. Korea has so much culture behind it. Many of the older generation are worried about the Korean culture being lost as Korea progresses. I feel this is true in many ways but there are still many everyday cultural things that differ from the US.

This week Elder 이 had 3 warts removed off the bottom of his foot. They told him to avoid walking as much as possible. I've done a lot of studying and splits with the other missionaries in the house.

One time Elder Asay and I were going to visit a member we haven't seen in a while who works in a fire station. We were on our way to the fire station when we saw a building billowing smoke out of it. It must have just started because no one was there yet. About 30 seconds after that came the sirens and the whole fire station to take care of the fire.

It wasn't very big but still our friend was a little busy at that time. We didn't know what to do besides watch for a little and then try to go visit someone else. Funny how that works. Well thanks for all the support. Anyone who has been debating on writing me a letter recently I am calling you to repentance. Any mail is appreciated. :) Thanks.Elder Anderson

Here buggy buggy

Since being in Korea all my hopes and dreams of being a pro soccer player have been smashed.... However, I do believe that I would be pretty good in the NBA here of course. This week was pretty good. In one of our English classes a man showed up who comes every once in a while. He is a religion expert, well.... he knows a lot about different religions and thinks he is pretty cool because of it. We taught him a while ago and he told Elder Mckenna and me that we were spiritual babies.

Ha. I think it's funny when people try to convince me that I am wrong or that I don't really believe what I believe. You think that I would come to Korea, learn Korean, give up my life for two years, actually pay out of my own pocket to come here, and not first know that what I have is the truth? Come now. Anyway, he is pretty funny.

Currently our house consists of half Americans and half Koreans. Its pretty fun. A few days ago we were knocking doors. We were on the last door when out of nowhere this giant of a bug plopped itself right in front of the door. It was probably a good 3 inches long. When we would approach the door it would get into attack mode and start flapping its wings in anger. Elder 이태희 was pretty convinced that the bug was from the devil and that it was guarding us from getting into the door, we had to attack. We started throwing all sorts of paper at it and other things but it wouldn't move unless we got too close. We were just about to give up when I threw my pen at it and missed. I then wouldn't leave because I wanted my pen back. The garbage we threw was beginning to pile up when the door flew open pushing the pile and bug out of the way. A girl was leaving the house to go to school. We were a little stunned but quickly started introducing ourselves. She got her mom and we talked with her and gave her a pamphlet to read. When the door finally shut the bug was gone because it had failed its purpose and I was able to get my pen back. Success. Hope all is well back home. Elder Anderson

Time flies, you are the pilot

Another week gone, another month gone, time flies. I'm already 10 months out! Wow. As Elder Uchtdorf said to us in the MTC "The bad new is time flies, the good news is that you are the pilot"

Recently we have been visiting a part member family. They have 2 daughters and a little boy. The 2 daughters aren't members. About a month or so ago the oldest girl was put into the hospital for about 1 week with a problem with her intestines. At that time we went and visited her many times. Through those visits and caring about her the Lord has softened her heart. Its really exciting and fun to so the Lords work going forth. The changes people make for what they know is right is amazing and it blesses them so much.

I love the work I love Korea. It's spiritual and fun. This week I weighed myself. When I came on my mission I weighed just over 180lbs. I then gained a little weight in the MTC as most people do and then lost a bunch since I have been in country. I am now 162lbs. That's over 20lbs since the MTC! No, it's not because I'm starving or anything like that. Its just that I had that much weight to simply loose. I probably will loose even more I'm guessing. I feel like I'm constantly eating though. I guess rice doesn't fatten you up very well. ha.

In Korea there are a few English phrases that everyone knows. One is " You are handsome boy." We get that a lot over here. I think the elders here go home still thinking that everyone thinks they are handsome. Ha. Little Jr high and high school girls love us. We had some follow us for probably a mile this week. Its really awkward sometimes. I'll admit it though. It's nice to have a bunch of little kids think you are great after a day of rejection. Good ol' Korea. Hope all is well back home. Good luck with being married Ben.

lost planner

This week was good. I lost my planner which was pretty detrimental. We live from those things. I was able to go with Elder Asay (his grandparents live in my ward in Orem) to another area where he performed a baptism. It was really fun. I got to see Elder Wells for the first time in about 6 months I think. He has been on the Island for the longest time. He is now senior with a second transfer! Wow, that will be all of us once this big group leaves. I'm excited/scared and am doing everything I can to prepare for it.

We started meeting with a lady who has quite the interesting situation. She lived in the US for quite a while and converted while she was over there but never told her husband. She got back recently and now wants us to start teaching him. He is really cool its just that he works in an office building for another church. That is why she has yet to tell him. She wants us to just start teaching him and go from there. Kind of an awkward situation and I pray it doesn't blow up on anyone. He does seem interested though. We are teaching him both English and the Gospel.

BYU friends visit Teagu Korea

Our city, Home sweet home

Noele and Hanna, BYU Choir and Wind Symphony

This week the Wind Symphony from BYU came and did a concert in our area. It was really fun because on Monday night we got to go with them and split off to random members houses to do family night. In the band I knew 4 people. The director, Hanna Bates, Noel Reed, and Courtney Moses. (not sure on the spelling of those listed) It was so cool to see them.

Our group went to a young married couple's house. They speak pretty good English so we didn't have to do much but just enjoy the English being spoke. Ha. It is so weird to understand everything. Even when a Korean speaks English you still don't get all of their thoughts so to understand someone who in not a missionary 100% was a little strange. We were also able to go to their concert on Tuesday night. We brought a few people including a man in his 70's who hadn't attended church for a long time. He really liked it.

At one point the symphony played a Korean traditional song that got most people in the audience to cry because of the feelings of trying to overcome suppression and all of Korean history that it represents. It was really good.

They also played a few American songs and other songs that I have played. It made me a little American-sick. It lead to a lot of talk about our countries with some members and this older member. It really makes me realize how much of a patriot I am.

This week I got to confirm Roshan a member of the church in sacrament meeting. It was really good and he is as excited as ever. The ward is really good with him. They all try out their English with him. Some people that I didn't even know spoke any English were talking with him. It's a bit of a hard situation but it's working out. The work is still chugging along. I love Korea. Keep praying for me. Especially the language. :) thanks. I don't know if its legal to ask for prayers but I need it. Love you all. Elder Anderson

May 10, 2009

Stake Races: Caleb (Elder Anderson) is running in the red shorts and blue shirt.

random missionaries. Caleb is behind the guy with the guitar.

This week was a rather good week. It was the final week of the transfer and yes, I am with 이태희 again. By the way, if any one's computers can't read the Korean properly you should be able to download a program that allows you to do so. I guess that's also if you have the desire to read the Korean or if the question marks and money signs you may get instead make more sense, good for you.

We were able to go this week with our stake to the sports day. All the missionaries went and it was a big gathering for everyone. It was really fun. Most of the time was spent either eating or running relays. I guess they really like that. We also got a few Koreans together to play American Football. It's starting to warm up but it hasn't hit the real heat from what I have heard. The real heat comes with the storms and humidity. That should be fun. We started going on semi regular splits with one of the young men. He is really shy and just needs something to get him interested in the church. Elder 이 said that he has done this same thing before with a lot of success so we will hopefully be able to help him. I am really excited about this next transfer. Kind of scary though because there is a possibility that I go senior next transfer. Pray for me :)

Korea is amazing, I love it here.Love,Elder Anderson (if you send me anything make sure to write "Elder Caleb Anderson, there are a few Andersons in the mission)

from mom: We spoke to Caleb on Mothers day for about 2 hours. He is allowed two phone calls a year. Our next call is on Christmas. Caleb is well, positive, upbeat and his usual cheerful self. I asked him what he does when he gets homesick and he said he doesn't get home sick (stab?) He loves letters and packages. He said he gets the more packages than his companions. I reminded him that when he was 5 and I was packaging up some candy( Jelly bellies and other really cools stuff) to send to my sister Christina on her mission to Guatemala, I promised to send him a package a month when he went and it was then and there he determined to be sure to go on a mission.

Me translate?

This week was full of big meetings. On Tuesday we had zone conference where we had some physical and mental health people come in and talk to us. Making sure we are all OK. The other thing was Stake Conference. We recently had our stake president go to the second quorum of the seventy so this was kind of an emergency stake conference. It was really good although i didn't quite understand most of it. President and sister Jennings talked along with Elder Evens, the area authority President. He was really good and talked a lot about less active work. Members are much more effective at that than we are so we appreciated it. It is something that President Monson has stressed recently. Roshan was able to make it to the last bit of it and then he went to visit some other Sri Lankans that are investigating the church. He is amazing. I had a strange experience with him.

We were talking and a Korean came up and started asking him some simple questions. Roshan doesn't know Korean so the Korean just kind of stared at me to translate. I have never really had that happen, usually they look to someone else but no one was there. Luckily it was pretty simple but I understood everything he said and could translate back what Roshan was saying. It was a pretty fun thing for me. Simple but fun. I've been learning a lot from Elder 이. We are doing well. Thanks for the support and prayers. Love you all. Elder Anderson

Baptism of Roshan

Elder McKenna, Roshan and Elder Anderson

Elder Anderson and Elder E. Tay Hee (Elder Lee) (current companion)

Highlight of the week: Roshan's Baptism! It was on Saturday and was my team's first baptism since the start (about 6 months ago) It was really exciting. It was a humble gathering of 6 missionaries along with the bishop and ward mission leader. It was really good though. We did it all in English. Elder McKenna was able to baptize him. Roshan talks a lot about God's plan for him and how he has no idea how he really came to Korea but that it was God's plan for him. So much faith.

The rest of the week was good. We have been doing a lot of member work because we are both so new in the ward now. We were going around and visiting people one time this week and we were trying to cross a 5 lane highway. There was a light so it was fine but the problem was that there was a drunk man staggering his way to the middle of the road yelling at cars as they went by and around him. He was backing up a lot of traffic and causing quite the problem so Elder 이 went ahead and called the police. We were just going to walk away but he thought the police would get there in under 2 minutes and frankly I didn't have that kind of trust in the Korean police force. They'd be at lest 10 minutes in the US. He proved me wrong, about 30 seconds later there was a police car with it's lights on. They popped out of the car and semi-aggressively put him into the car. That's us doing our part in the community.

Here is something interesting for all readers. Pretty much every Korean knows who MacGuyver is. Turns out that the thing that we call a Swiss army knife to them is a MacGuyver knife. Well it's more like "Mik-gai-bu" in Korean. Fun stuff. Korean is really fun. It was nice to see McKenna again for the baptism. Thanks for the support.

From Elder Josh Bocchino's blog about the baptism: Saturday, we went up to Taegu (I'd never been there before). It's a HUGE city up north of Pusan, and is a major concentration point for the US military presence in Korea. My companion needed to go up to baptize a man he was meeting with before he transfered down to me. The man is named Roshan and is from Sri Lanka. He is sooooooooooo cool! He's maybe 30s or 40, and had to leave Sri Lanka due to the ethnic war that has been raging for years. His religious background is Roman Catholic. He used to be in the Sri Lankan military. He has so much faith and is thankful that the Lord led him to Korea to meet with us. He's so thankful to have found the Lord's Church. My testimony was definitely strengthened from meeting with him. It was a very humble but very spiritual baptismal service. Man, it pretty much made my week. Elder B

Don't worry mom, life is good

It's really nice to have a Korean companion. Its pretty fun. I definitely wouldn't call him a hard companion by any means. I've been really blessed. Life is still going good, 이태희 is really fun. We both are teaching each other a lot with our languages. He only has 2 transfers after this so he is pretty good but not near to fluent in English so we struggle together.

(picture: Caleb with Elder McKenna)

I don't know if I told you this but I broke my glasses last transfer. Luckily it's way cheap to get new frames. I went to a store and they popped out my lenses had me choose new frames and put them in. All for under About $6. I was pretty excited and I like them. The BYU wind symphony is coming to Korea soon and so there are posters all over the churches. I was looking at one and I noticed Hanna Bates was on the picture! Ha, we wont be able to see them unless the whole ward goes together and we bring an investigator but that's OK. Is there anyone else I know in the group coming? The director does the tours to Europe (Don Peterson) so I know him as well. This week has involved a lot of Sri Lankans.

We meet with Roshan again and he will be getting baptized next week. We also set up an appointment to meet with him and some other Sri Lankans that other missionaries are teaching. That same day we were walking around and I saw an Indian-looking person so I went up and started talking. Sure enough he's from Sri Lanka as well! He even knows Roshan. He said he would be willing to meet us with Roshan. Roshan has a lot of respect in the small foreign community because of the type of person he is. Maybe that may be able to open some doors.

Yesterday we also had president interviews. I really like President Jennings. We talked a lot about my companion and the language. He always has amazing things to say. He is such an awesome person. Well, that's about it from me for this week. Hope everything is still going good. Thanks for the support. Love you all. Elder Anderson

pictures: 1)Elders Anderson, Clarke and Singleton (MTC comp)

2)Elders Robb, Anderson, Clarke

3)Elders Bocchino, Anderson, Clarke, ?

4) Our Orem Utah Korean Friend Julia and son Jaemin and husband make a special trip from Seoul to visit Caleb in Busan in February

6th companion- E. Tay Hee (Elder Lee)

So..... for the second time we received a random call from presidentJennings and for the second time a drastic change occurred quickly. We had a mid-transfer split with another team. I am now with a Korean companion named 이태히 (Ee Tae He). The call came on Saturday and I am now with my new companion. It's going to be good I think. Forever more Elder McKenna will by my 2 week companion. My new companion is an older Korean. I think its going to be a good rest of the transfer. It was sad to see Elder McKenna leave, we got along really well but this is the plan for me. This means that in 5 transfers I have had 6 companions and I was with 1 for 2. Ha. I am definitely going to learn a lot. Roshan is doing well. We had general conference this last weekend and he was able to come to one of the sessions. He is so strong and has so much faith. He firmly believes that it is God's plan that he is here meeting us in the random country of Korea. Wow. Because we have been in a kind-of rush these last couple of days this letter is going to be short. Hopefully I have more time next week to read all your emails and what not. Thanks for the support. Elder Anderson

A great week in Teagu

First of all I left my camera at the house because it is charging so no pictures this week, sorry. This week has been amazing. I really like Elder Mckenna. He is only 2 transfers older than me, he is still pretty good at the language and good at working. We get by most of the time. We are having a blast and working hard. We have done a lot of street contacting and are having a lot of success. The Lord blesses if you do your best. A couple of days ago we got 8 contacts, more than any other day on either of our missions. Not that stats matter, it's about how people progress.

We have one progressing investigator who got a baptismal date about a week before I came. He is incredibly prepared. He is from Sri Lanka and speaks very little Korean so we teach him in English. I Haven't done that since the MTC (Mission Training Center in Provo Utah). He has an amazing amount of faith and knows that God put him on this path for a purpose. He loves the Bible and I'm about 50 pages from finishing the whole things so it's fun to talk to him about that. Other than him we have one semi-progressing investigator. It's going to go really slow with him but everyone is different and that's OK.

Right now the weather is amazingly perfect. I'm enjoying it because from what I have heard this area is the hottest in Korea in the summers. Wahoo! Its going to be fun.

We are going to watch LDS General Conference this next weekend on the regular schedule because of translation time. I'm really really excited. Conference is amazing, hope you all enjoyed it! Life is good, language is still hard but coming, the Lord is really blessing us. We need it. ha. Thank you for all your prayers and support.

Transfer to Taegu new companion- Elder McKenna

Wow, transfers are sudden, as usual. On Friday night I got the call and I'm headed to 대구(Taegu) the hottest and coldest place in Korea! "Wahoo!" I left Elder Robb, he will be training this new transfer. I am now with Elder McKenna from Farmington Utah. He is only 2 transfers older than me so I think were both going to learn a lot. Ha. I think it will be good though. When you have to learn Korean I guess you learn it. He is really good at the language but still only 2 transfers ahead. Elder Singleton is going to be in my zone still. The end of the transfer was really good with Elder Robb. It was kind of a bummer to leave because I was just getting close to the ward and "bam," I'm gone.

I have heard only good things about the 대구 (Taegu) ward. Also, our neighboring area has a Costco in it. Sweet! We have about an hour and a half travel time from the mission home up north. It is really far inland, basically the heart. We are going to have a good time I think. I am his first American Junior.

Back with Elder Robb the big thing of the week was Trivia Night. We tried really hard to get people out but the ward was split. Only about half of what we wanted came but it ended up being really fun. Our investigators all came as did a less-active who also came to church two days after that! Those kind of things make it worth it. Korea is awesome, I'm really excited. Thanks for the prayers and support.