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.