Another Good Week

September 21, 2015

We had a solid week here in Iksan.  Things just keep getting better and better and I’m afraid that I will get transferred in a few weeks.  Let me tell you why things are so great!  The biggest reason is Sister Moon Sunae.  She called on Thursday, we thought it was for English, and we met on Friday.  She said she found our church and number on the internet and contacted us because she wants to attend our church!!  She is 43 and has what’s called auditory hallucination which makes it so she just hears random noises sometimes.  It’s really hard on her and she’s had it for 10 years.  She wants to work but said she can’t because of it.  She lives alone and seems pretty lonely.  The gospel will be a huge help for her.  She came to church on Sunday and it was a little unfamiliar for her, but she talked well with bishop and I think she’ll progress well.  Please pray for her!

We also have a cute little family that we are doing our English/gospel program with.  They don’t have much religious background, but there is a really good feeling in their home when we teach the gospel portion.  I hope they recognize it!

I went on a split with the new elder in the house and we had 3 lessons that day!  He said it was the busiest day of his mission.  We met another new lady, a Chinese one named Choe Eunsook who could have some potential as well.

Elder Choe (Choi?) of the 70 visited our mission!  It was really great and we learned about changing who we are and our destiny starting with our thoughts.  He also dropped quite a large bomb on our mission saying that each companionship should be baptizing one person per week.  So we’re trying to figure out how to get that done.  1 per week!  

 

Our paralyzed guy didn’t come out to church and we haven’t been able to teach him.  So we are kind of afraid that we could lose him.  If we can just continue he has potential.  

 

Things are going well and I’m enjoying my time a lot more now.  It really helps when we have things to do!  Thanks for the love and support.

          Love,

          Elder Anderson 

                               ps im getting surgery today on my toe. scary!!!!!

Pretty solid week

September 14, 2015

          Pretty solid week.  The beginning went well, the middle was a little bit slow, but we had a good finish.  We had a cool experience on Tuesday.  We were walking back to the bus terminal and were talking about our plan for the next day (we went to Jeonju and extended our visas which was an adventure).  I pulled out my camera to check the bus times and stopped in front of a store that sells plates and bowls and what not.  Elder Skouson and I had been talking about buying cool chopsticks, so he said that that store might have some.  Usually I would say no since it wasn’t p-day, but for some reason I felt like it would be ok, if not good.  We went in and the owners started talking with us in English and had met missionaries once in the past at the church!  So that was pretty cool, being led in there.

          I also had another cool experience on Saturday.  All our plans fell through in the afternoon so we were left out on the street.  We tried talking with people but they rejected us pretty hard so I was feeling pretty down.  I said a prayer that we would be able to find someone who would just give it a chance and listen, someone we’d be able to teach.  We stopped the next guy we saw and it went so well!  He wanted to talk for a while, accepted a B of M, gave us his number and seems pretty interested!  It was great!

          We met a few of our investigators, but nothing too big with them.  Except we’re thinking of dropping our homeless guy because he’s pretty crazy.

          Sunday was great!  We got a referral like over a month ago from a guy we met once.  The referral had hurt something so we couldn’t meet him, but he came to church yesterday!  His name is Jang Bongsuk and is 74 and in a wheelchair leave because his bottom half is paralyzed.  The members were great with him and he learned a TON, maybe too much.  Our sacrament meeting is on the 2^nd floor and he was in his electric wheelchair, so couldn’t go up, but just talked with one of our members during sacrament and learned all about the church including the Pearl of Great Price and stuff.  Haha but he wants to learn more and seems like he will accept it well.  Should be great! 

          Things are going well and we’re meeting more and more people.  I’m really hoping to help one come unto Christ through baptism before I leave Iksan.  I think that Bro. Jang is showing some good signs of potential.  Hopefully things go well with him this week!!

          Thank you all for your love and support and also for all your prayers!  It means a lot to me.

          Elder Jace Anderson

 sometimes we eat sushi buffets and sometimes we eat fried egg and peanut butter sandwiches with a jar of kimchi. because we are homeless and eat at the church.

 

my surgery

 

 

 

 

 

We had 11

September 7, 2015

          We had a pretty great week here.  Things really have come a long way in Iksan since I first got here  We used to average just 4 meetings (investigator lessons, member visits, less active, etc) per week, but this last week we got 11!  Hooray for having things to do!  And we also had an investigator come to church yesterday!  He called off an English ad, but when we met on Tuesday and explained our program (30 min English, 30 min gospel) he told us to do less English and more gospel!  His name is Kim Geehong.  He didn’t seem to enjoy church all that much, but he’s willing to meet again.

          Our homeless guy is pretty tough.  He has some pretty strange ideas.  He says the Book of Mormon is not truth.  Everything inside is truth, but since it has that title it’s not truth.  Weird.

          We also met 2 other investigators.  One has been an investigator for a while, but the other is fairly new and has good potential if we could just actually do a discussion with him.  We read the Book of Mormon’s intro and it took forever because he explained all the words to us.

          We were also able to find 2 good potential investigators that we should be able to meet this week.  Things really are so much better than what they used to be.  We’ve been very blessed recently and actually having things to do makes everything so much better.

          Funny story!  We were walking on the street and this lady comes up to us and starts to ask where something is, but when she realized who we were she stopped.  I tried to tell her that she could ask, but as soon as I started talking she did this crazy yodel scream thing and ran away.  We just froze and stood there out of shock for a bit. Sometimes I wonder why people think so negatively about us.  It can hurt sometimes but I mostly just feel bad for them.  The people we talk to seem so unhappy, but they are not willing to give this a try or even listen to us.

          But things are looking much better lately and things seem to be picking up a lot.  It has been so great to look back and see all the progress here.  There really is a different feeling.  Thank you for all your love and support and don’t forget the importance of enduring to the end!

          Love,

          Elder Jace Anderson

                                                  An old temple site

       He's going to the Ogden mission. No he can't speak English. haha

Me and Johnny.  A guy that comes to English class. He took us to this cool place today!

Rubiks cube battle

August 31, 2015

          We were not able to meet with Jim or any of our other investigators this week.  People always say they will meet or come to church, but …there are some things we can’t control.  But we were able to meet a couple new people this week.  One of them is just English interest and asked us to do the gospel portion in English, and when we said we had to do it in Korean, it got super awkward and didn’t go too well.  Our other new investigator is a homeless man!  His name is Park Jongsoo, and we met him by just talking to him on the street.  He believes in God but thinks all the Korean churches are corrupt, so he has a lot of potential.  Just as long as he doesn’t keep wanting to live in the church…Haha but he’s a cool guy and speaks English really well actually. 

          We had potential to have about 8 lessons on Saturday and Sunday, but missionaries are people’s lowest priority.  But that’s ok!  We have another guy with potential so I really hope it works out.  This is the 1^st week of my 4^th transfer here and possibly my last in Iksan, so I really want to make a difference.  When I first came here I really felt like I would be able to help someone come unto Christ through baptism, so that’s the goal before I leave!  I realize that it is not the only way to measure success, but I feel like it is possible and I really just want to be a help to someone.

          A lot of people think we are crazy and think pretty poorly about us.  I’ve seen and heard it a lot.  But I know that this really is the one and only path back to the Father and I’m happy to offer my help.

          Elder Anderson

                                my district and my toe. ouch. at least I don't limp anymore!!!

 

 

                                     our homeless investigator park jongsoo

rubiks cube battle and chicken before elder heo transferred. i lost, but i did solve it in 2min 26 seconds once!! and i didnt know how to do it a week and a half ago.