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