things are good in Korea

Hello! I hope everyone is doing well. Today is a pretty good looking day. Sun shining, light breeze, 65ish degrees. Korea is amazing this time of year. This week was really good as they usually are. We had 3 less actives show up to church which we were really excited about. 2 of them seemed like they liked it and participated in the lessons. We have been pretty busy lately.

One thing we had to do was to go check up on the youngchun house which we are currently looking after while missionaries are not in that area. It is pretty out of the way but we have to go there once in a while and pay bills and what not. On the way back we had to take 2 different buses for a total of and hour and a half. On the bus we were able to teach 3 different people quite a bit because of the length so that was a blessing. We actually met a lady that I had talked to previously on the same bus line. I had showed her my picture book which she still remembered and talked about families. She especially remembered Franny's twins. That made it really easy to be able to continue to teach about the Book of Mormon and the restoration. Unfortunately she wasn't too interested and lives forever away. I think she will look into it more and if she has questions she has our phone number.

Yesterday we had a really good lesson with the lady and daughter that we taught last week. The lady understood a lot better than we could speak Korean. I don't know how we would survive without the spirit. She now needs to read and pray which she is hesitant to do. I really hope and pray that she does find out about the truth of the gospel for herself. It it amazing. Unfortunately as foreigners we make a few mistakes with the language. It is a lot easier to notice your companions mistakes and this week he had 2 which made us laugh pretty hard afterword. The first is where we were teaching about Adam and Eve and he was trying to explain that Adam was our first parent but rather he said that Adam was in fact the first Buddha. That could cause all sorts of confusion. The other was when he was asking about a certain table in the house. He thought that they respected their ancestors with it but when he asked about it he asked, "Do you commit suicide on this table?" Korean is awesome. We defiantly need the spirit to translate a few things still. The church is true!

It's just ringworm, no big deal.....

I am good, except for the ring worm growing on my leg. It looks pretty cool, I've never had it before but I am in the process of trying to destroy it with anti-fungal cream. Pretty sweet. Besides my little extra stuff on my leg the week was good.

We met with a Jehovah's witness and talked about our churches. It was actually amazing to me as to how much of what he had to say we already believed. For the most part I felt like he had truth and we were just adding on to what he already had. I think the thing that struck us the most was when we asked him to read the book of Mormon and pray about it he said that he would but that he could not receive revelation to tell him if it was true or not. It is interesting because that is exactly what we tell people they need to do. They don't need to trust our knowledge on gospel subjects but they can simply ask an all-knowing being and we believe that he will answer. Wow, I am so grateful for a church based on active revelation. Trust God.

This week we were also able to meet again with a mother and daughter. With them we talked a lot about Adam and Eve, a subject that is quite different in our church. We explained the fall and they accepted it and understood. Now they need to read the Book of Mormon, its hard when they don't, but this time they promised with interest rather than just told us they would. We have a few things that could quickly turn into good things. We had neighbors recently move in as well who are very friendly (bring us food). The mother is really nice and they have a JR High boy who thinks its awesome to have two American friends he can point out to his friends. Ha. We are living and growing. I hope I always feel that way. The Church is true!

Still here…

Hello from Gyeongsan! I am still here. It is transfer day and I am going on my 5th transfer here. That means I have been here 6 months and witllcontinue for 6 more weeks. Time keeps ticking. I am still with Elder Kerrigan which I am really grateful for. We have a lot of fun together and get a lot done. This will now be the longest companionship on my mission at 3 transfers. It is fun because we are "mission brothers" as we were trained by the same Elder Snyder. I still have the birthright. Wow, we are a strange group. Anyway. The biggest news of the week is that English class has been completely slashed (canceled) by our Branch President. I haven't ever had this happen so it will be quite the experience. We were told to come up with another program so we will now be studying the Bible and then the Book of Mormon on Tuesdays and Fridays. We had our first test yesterday and it went well. We had 5 members show up and 1 non member. Hopefully it will be a good way for the members to refer their friends to us easier and will be less pressure. I am excited for it. I don't have much time but I thank you for your prayers.

A day in the life of a missionary

Climbed a Mountain and tried to find lost sheep

Elder Anderson and Kerrigan

Hello! Today is exactly two years since I opened my call letter which told me I would be serving in Korea. It's strange to think about then and now. Very different. I can't believe some of the things that have happened. It has been amazing and I am so grateful for the time that I still have. This week has been pretty busy which is always good. We have been teaching quite a bit compared to the past. We haven't been able to get any of the people that we teach to really progress though but that should come. Unfortunately transfer week is next week and it is somewhat likely that I transfer since I have been here for 6 months. Longer than any other area. We will find out tomorrow if we move.

So every once in a while we decide to try to find some less actives in our area (we have pages of names) Yesterday we went on our bikes and tried to find 3. The first 2 were not too easy to find and the 3rd seemed impossible. We spent most of our day to decide that the first two had moved and we were about to give up on the third. We decided as our last attempt we would go to the police station and see if they couldn't help. The were naturally shocked to have us roll in but they were more than willing to help. They found it via their computer and then attempted to explain where it was. We couldn't really follow so one of the officers offered to take us there. Police are a little different here. Not quite as much to do as in America. It was really interesting to ride in his car. I still don't think I have ever seen a Korean man use a seat belt or really follow any traffic rules. Well, I guess they are more traffic suggestions than rules. We found the house pretty quick and found that it was abandoned. Cross them off the list. That was our Easter egg hunt. We enjoyed it. I hope all is well back home. I love being here as a missionary. The work is amazing.