The Week Before Christmas

December 21, 2014

This week was a good one full of parties! Well, 2 of them. We had the mission Christmas party this week and it was soooo much fun seeing everyone again. I really missed all my friends from the MTC and Elder Murdoch and Cowles from Jeonju. I think that was the best part, when those two walked in! It was a little embarrassing with the girlish screams that came out of my mouth while I was being swung around by another guy, but hey, those 2 kept me sane my first transfer!! It was the best thing ever being with all these people I have grown so close to. Man, I’ve been blessed with great friends since coming on my mission. 

We also had a ward Christmas party this week. The missionaries in the ward put on a little musical skit that was pretty fun. I like my ward, but not as much as jeonju, and it is soooo hard to try to build relationships with them when I can barely speak and we can never visit them. We did have one member visit with a single, older man yesterday and it went super well. Everyone seems to be scared of us coming over, but it is just super relaxed and fun when we do. 

One of the hardest things I’ve seen so far is people meet with us, feel the spirit, seem to have so much potential, and then disappear. Our college girl investigator can't be contacted, the guy with the Christian wife has disappeared, and all we really have left is yunshig lee, and our good friend that just wants to practice English. It’s so hard to find people it’s insane!!! But we're still pushing forward, trying to help these people. It’s hard when we know how much our message can help, but when we just say hi to them, they put up their hand and walk right by. 

Ooh!!! the new missionaries came this week and I got to take one out for a proselyting activity. It was the best thing ever!!!! I was soooo surprised with how well I could speak! haha we talk to lots of people and there was only one part I couldn’t understand! Yay!!! We even got a guy’s number! It is so crazy to see them come in and see how far I have come since then! But then, we were at the church when all the zl's were there, and they were speaking and made me feel super inadequate. haha a mission sure is full of ups and downs, but its good. Really good!

Have a merry Christmas everyone, and go ahead and read some stories out of the New Testament about Christ’s life. He sure was one amazing man! Much, much more than just a man. 

Merry Christmas! 

love, elder anderson

 

 

                         please ignore the double chin this rice is making me grow

my main men Elder Cowles and Murdoch

There's a corner with a horde of rats!! blehh!!! 

 

Staying In Good Ol' Daejeon

Bought me some donuts

 Blizzard

December 14, 2014

I just got the news that I will be staying here in Daejeon, now as a cosenior! Woohoo! I’m super happy to stay being things seem to be picking up here lately. We found a new investigator last Monday, her name is garam kim, and she is a student at the local university and a wrestler. haha she seems super prepared with good experiences with god and reading the bible, and kinda searching from church to church. we're hoping for the best!!

There’s a guy we’ve been meeting with almost every night for the past transfer and before that. His name is yoonshig lee, and is about 70 years old. I haven’t talked much about him because there just isn’t much progress. I feel sooo bad for him. He has a wife, kids, and grandkids, but no idea where any of them are. He has 8 siblings, but no contact with them either. He really has no one in his life besides us. He does the exact same thing every single day, and is super lonely. We’ve been frustrated with him and his refusal to pray or progress, but a meeting this week changed our thoughts. He kinda opened up a bit more with us. Right before we left, he said he had a bad nervous feeling and needed some alcohol. He has some problem he won’t tell us about that really troubles him. I asked if there was anything outside of alcohol that he could do, but that’s when he told us how he has absolutely no one in his life. It was heart breaking! I always saw him as a tough, hardened man, but the vulnerability in his eyes at that moment was piercing. I know that this gospel and church is exactly what he needs, but he just won’t accept that that’s even a possibility. It’s so hard! I want to help so bad, but there’s only so much I can do without them taking steps. 

We got some more free food on the road again! This guy that used to live in Utah took us out to get this other super expensive meat. He is a science professor, and says that he just can’t accept the way that Christ was born. It’s so hard to help these people when they are so stuck in their ways at time, but we're always sharing and inviting and giving people a good view about missionaries. 

Things are going well, and we're meting this golden guy later today. He was a former investigator, received all the lessons, and had a baptismal date, but for some reason not really know, got dropped. We finally scheduled an appointment and hopefully he will be our present to Christ for Christmas!! 

Enjoy the holidays and remember the true meaning!!!

Elder Anderson

Getting Chilly

                                                    Not what I expected

 

December 7, 2014

Man, it really has been suuuper cold this week. I bundle up like crazy, but still this humid cold gets you right to the bone. But that’s ok! It’s been fun starting to hear a few Christmas songs every now and again, and see the snow, but it sure does make missionary work tough. The people on the streets don’t want to talk, and the poles are too wet to put ads on!! So we tried door knocking, which everyone always says is just not a good thing to do. But I felt like by doing that, we would be able to talk to more people than wandering the cold streets. So we did it! We only did a few doors before running out of time and having a guard called on us, but I felt good about it. Everyone seems to stick to the same methods here over and over, so I feel like we need to try new approaches. It’s just hard to come up with them sometimes!

We started an English class this week! We advertised quite a bit and had 7 people show up. One of them I think has a lot of potential. His name is woo sangbung, but likes to go by captain woo. haha he has had some good experiences with god and I think he could really be a good one. His wife is a devout member of another church, but he thinks it’s corrupt, so he’s wondering how our church is different. It should be good!! 

Funny story, another guy saw our ad and scheduled a meeting with him. We wound up in a health center in an English class with all these people ages 60-87. hahaha man, old Korean people are the best!! So we might go to that class every Wednesday and try to see if we can get some gospel stuff going there. 

Overall, it was a good week and things seem to be picking up. Here goes week 5 of my first transfer. It’s crazy how fast it goes!! And everyone says the last 2 weeks are the best, so hopefully we'll get some good work done!!

 

me and jo ooyong! an investigator

More Korean Times

November 30, 2014

Hello everyone, I’m sorry, but I kinda procrastinated email time, so I don’t have much time to type this letter. Oh well! So we met with 2 of our investigators this week, everyone is just so busy here in Korea!! I kinda told one of them of fa bit and explained our purpose because he just wanted to do a role play instead of taking things seriously. But it all went well and I think he'll take us more seriously now.

Its crazy how people here have never even thought about God or what happens after this life. I talked to a guy on the bus and told him that our message is that we can live with our families forever through Christ. I asked if he was interested in this, and he said no! Man, I wish people could realize the importance of what we are offering!

We talked to these 2 guys on a moped, one was slightly handicap with 1 hand, and the other was kinda off too. But with Korean culture being so friendly, they bought us super expensive meat! It was sooo good!! That’s one thing I love about Korea is how friendly people are. Whenever you say hi, they say hi back. I’m really going to miss that when I go home, but I’ve got some time still to embrace it all. But at dinner, I did eat silk work pupae. I won’t miss that.

Yup, things are picking up little by little. There are good things ahead.
 
 Elder ANderson

No Real Theme For This Week

                                                         Me in my house

November 23, 2014

 Hello there all you people around the world. It’s cool to think about where this letter goes. I guess pretty much just US and Philippines, but it’s still cool, ok! Anyways, this week I finally go to meet our 2 Chinese investigators, Bryce and Jason. They’re college students living in Daejeon. It’s super tough because they have no former knowledge of god. A lot of people are like that here. And it’s crazy, we ask people all the time if they’ve ever even thought about god and they say no soooo much! I don’t get that! How could you go your whole life and not wonder about god???? There’s tons of Buddhists here and those are the toughest ones to get to think about our message. They simply just do whatever they want. Man, it’s tough.

I think the best part of missionary work so far besides seeing people progress is the fun random stuff that happens throughout the day. for example meeting a guy smoking on the corner and ending up having him drive us to an appointment 1 hr and a half early, and seeing his eyes bug out when he finally finds out that we're Mormons. hahaha funny stuff. Its great meeting all kinds of people but it’s crazy hearing all the different beliefs. This gospel makes perfect sense, but It’s so hard to get people to realize it at times and honestly think about our message. especially when all these other crazy churches get the people to think bad about us before we have a chance, but this is the one true and living church, and gods work and plan will go forth and prevail. I’m happy to be a part of it!

Stay true to the faith everyone! Thanks for all you do and I’ll talk to you aging next week!!! Sorry, it’s so short. We’ve just been putting up fliers and trying to drop by member cards. So yeah, this is Korea, hard but still going!

elder anderson

Good Stuff Here In Samsung

Fun times in Gongju

November 17, 2014

Yes, I am serving in the Samsung ward. Pretty Korean, I know. This week really was a good one!! I feel much more like a missionary now. It is super tough and hard, but it’s worth it and the rewards are great! During the middle part of the week, we tried to run message cards to members in the ward. I don’t really know the members and it’s hard because if you ask if you can visit, they just say that they are too busy a lot of the time. But we're keeping at it. So all you people back home, make sure that you are good to those missionaries!! We receive rejection after rejection the entire day long, so please don’t let them receive even more rejections from the members. Elder Beard and I have gotten loads of rejections, but that means we're trying! Our purpose is simply to invite, we can’t force anyone to listen, unless we're on the bus with them. HA! Suckas!
Man, why is it doing this!!!!

Anyways, we met with another inv, Jo Ooyoung again this week. He invited us over for dinner!! It was super fun to talk with him, were all good friends. We talked some more about the kind of person JS was and how his endurance is a testimony to what he saw, and also talked about how we can be with our families forever after this life. He has a cute little son, so we're trying to cash in on that! He's a bit of an English suck, but we're doing our best to peak his interest in the gospel. 

Funny story!!! We met with a former investigator this last week and he was saying how he saw a documentary on these ancient aliens that came to earth and taught man. And he wanted to know what the BOM said about these ancient aliens....hahaha pretty funny stuff. We just ended up teaching the POS instead. He is a huge English suck, but once again, we're trying to get that good gospel connection that everyone needs. 

Yup, it was a good week and I’m enjoying the mission life a lot more now. It’s definitely hard, but we're still going at it. Thank you for all of your prayers and support. You are the best!!!

Love, 

Elder Anderson

Sad Goodbyes and Very Happy Beginnings

Elder Beard

Old district

November 9, 2014

So the beginning of the week was just the same old stuff, but on Thursday I met my new comp, elder beard and he is the best!!! For a couple days we were both "greenies" because he’s just 1 transfer ahead of me. We have a combined total of 3 transfers going for us! But we're going great.
 
I taught my first lesson ever this week! We met these 2 college students who wanted us to do some interview for English for a school assignment. We did that and then introduced our message. I got to teach about JS and give his story and experience and it was sooo cool!! I loved iT~! That’s what I want to do, teach people about this gospel. I finally feel like a missionary now and I love it! I just hope they want to meet again.
 

We have several investigators, and 1 with a bap date. I’ve only met 2, but it’s so great being able to teach people and try to help them along their own journeys. I finally feel like an effective missionary and I am sooo happy.

Being so young, we’ll need a lot of help, but this is where we should be and the Lord is right there with us. There are lots of good things ahead.
 
 Elder Anderson

Peace Out Jeonju

November 2, 2014

Halloween party!  Me and Elder Cowles made a laser course!

Me and my ghosts

Well,I only lasted one transfer in Jeonju. I’m headed to the big city of Daejon next week!  My new trainer and comp is elder beard, and he’s only been out a transfer ahead of me. I was in the mtc with him!!I sure hope he can speak well, because I sure can’t yet!!! I’m excited for it, it’ll be a great time and we'll get a lot of work done. 

This week I went on a split with our ZL Elder Kunzler. It was great! We got to talk to a lot of different people which was a good change. Sad news, our appointment with Seungbae last week was suddenly canceled. His member fellowshipper family thinks his parents might have gotten   mad about it or something. These darn parents always get in the way!! We haven’t really been able to figure out what’s going on, but we'll keep at it. 

So the rest of the week, we made cookies, and delivered them to members, and then prepped for our halloween party. I think the party was a success!! Over 100 people came, and one of the ym's friends who came also came to church. So hopefully we can help him a bit!

Well, again, there’s not a whole lot else to report on. Just moving on. It’ll be sad to go and leave my buddies I live with and the ward members, but I’m excited to start up something new. It’ll be great and I am super excited!

Elder Anderson

 

Another One Down

Gosan, the rural part of my area

October 26, 2014

Week 4 of my first transfer is in the books. Sadly, we won’t be meeting with Jaemin anymore. His music teacher told him to find a church with an orchestra...we don’t have an orchestra...pretty sad. But we got another referral from a ym. His name is Lee Seungbae. We met him on Friday, ate pizza, just talked, and he had to go. He came to church with his friend and got to go to a primary baptism! The kids were super crazy and distracting, but hopefully he had a good experience. The spirit was really strong at points, hopefully he could feel it. He lives in Gosan, the rural part, It’s really beautiful there and hopefully we can go more because of him!

This week we had the trainers and trainees meeting and I got to see my friends again. Pres Shin asked if I need a new trainer because he said I’m an excellent elder and doesn’t want my trainer to change that. I said I wouldn’t want to do that to my comp and that I’m determined to stay strong and am learning a lot about how to treat my future juniors and trainees. But things are getting better, and I’m in for a good ride!

Elder Anderson

Getting Better

October 19, 2014

This week was pretty good! I had the best day so far when I got to go on a split with Elder Cowles who I live with. We went tracting and got to talk to so many people which was a definite change. It really gave me a lot of hope and encouragement for the rest of my mission.

We haven’t been able to meet with An Jaemin yet because of the crazy Korean schools, but hopefully we get to talk to him again and get things moving with him on his journey to Christ. I really think he has a lot of potential.
 

Korean is coming along well actually. A member family gave us a ride home yesterday and I had a full conversation with the wife by myself. She asked my comp how long I’d been here, I understood and answered 3 1/2 weeks and she was shocked!!! She kept saying how well I was doing and how another elder sounded like a native when he was praying, and I understood it!!! That made me feel good. So things are looking good for the road ahead and I‘ll keep working hard. Now we just need to find some people to teach!!

Sorry it’s so short, not a whole lot happened!

Elder Anderson

The crazy soup from last week

                                            Went to a Buddhist Temple

 

Finally Got One!

October 12, 2014

I feel like I should clarify about last week. The reason I felt like I wasn’t receiving good training was because my trainer was sleeping through training times. And he doesn’t take suggestions well. But this week has been better and I’m trying to focus less on him and more on bettering myself and helping others. I contacted Brian, the white guy from last week and invited him to conference. He came for the last session which had some perfect things for his concerns. It was really a blessing. He and his wife seemed to enjoy it and live out of my area, but I was able to introduce them to some awesome elders in their area. My words to those elders were the words that came to me, "treat him well." I know they will. 

We got our first investigator this week!!  A ym in our ward referred his friend to us, Jaemin. What a great example this young man is to all of us! I challenge you all to pray for a similar experience. His friend has a lot of potential and already seems like a member. I’m excited to be a part of his progression to Christ. 

I ate something crazy this week!! Soup with pig intestines, ear, liver, and huge blood sausages. It was really strange but not all that bad. 

 
Here’s to another week in Jeonju, Korea.

 

Still Going

October 5, 2014

Well, I got my first week of my first transfer done! It seems like it is going to last forever, but I know it will go fast. This week has been somewhat difficult. I don’t feel like I have been trained, by my trainer, as well as possible, but I’m still chugging along! It’s tough not knowing what’s going on, and only picking up a few words here and there and having no idea how they are being pieced together. Because of this, I have been kind of bad about opening my mouth. I was walking home the other day, and a guy was next to me. I kept feeling like I should talk to him, but I kept pushing it aside. Eventually, I didn’t talk to him and I felt like crap. I had the feeling like I had just killed him and sent his soul to eternal misery because I didn’t share my message with him. Man, I still feel terrible about it. I never want to feel that way again, so I’m trying to be better about talking to people.
 

After church, this guy wanted help with English, but Elder Jung was busy. He told me it was ok to go in another room with him. I went, but had a bad feeling about it. I started to help, but then stood up for the rules, even when my companion said it was ok. The guy seemed a little frustrated, but got help later. M comp is always treating the rules as being flexible. On the way home, this white guy came up to me and basically just handed me his number. He’s an English teacher and has been to our church a few times. We talked and he left on the bus. I had the thought come saying, "this is for your obedience. Treat him well." it was a cool experience. I really hope things go well when we contact him again.

Well, that’s about it. Just trying to find people to teach and overcome my fears. Keep up the good work everyone! Thanks for all the support!!!
 

Elder Anderson

 Here's me, the trainee, doing my own training alone while my "trainer" sleeps

It was Elder Kunzler's birthday, so while stranded in Daejeon after a conference we ate some cake

I Arrived in Korea

 

 

 

 

 A coco pie

 The view from the church

 Our church looks like a Temple

 The nice lunch we had my first day

   My companion