2016 is just around the corner

December 28, 2015

          Merry Christmas everyone!  I hope it was a great one.  It definitely did not feel like Christmas at all here, but it was good none the less.  We were not able to meet with Bro. Song Gwang Jeong so he was not able to be baptized (he also didn’t come out to church, he only has once since I’ve been here and we have only been able to meet once).  But we did have a pretty good week.  We started it off with our mission’s Christmas devotional thing.  It was fun being able to see some old friends again.  Sadly it wasn’t the whole mission so there are several people that I haven’t seen in a super long time. 

          Our ward mission leader was super nice and took us out to a buffet as a Christmas gift.  It was good, but Korean food is starting to all taste the same now.  We had our ward Christmas party on the 24^th which was pretty fun.  We did a skit about trying to get Scrooge out of his house on Christmas which went pretty well.  We also had this seemingly golden guy randomly show up who had met the missionaries before, but he got chewed out by a member for having these Buddhism beads, and then this other crazy less active guy would only speak to him in English.  So yeah, he ended up just sneaking out and escaping.  Hopefully we can meet him again because he could be super golden. 

          All our other investigators are just at the same spots.  No one really cares enough to know if our message is true to the point where they act.  It doesn’t help that they all just meet because they want to learn English or just like missionaries.  But we can still help them!  And we’ll find some great new investigators soon.

          It was great to be able to Skype for Christmas.  It’s hard to believe that I only have 1 more skype left on my mission.  So crazy!  And 2016 is just around the corner!  Time’s going pretty fast and I hope to use the time I have next year well and help some people.  And baptize too!  Thanks for all your support and caring about what’s going on over here, it means a lot.  I’m grateful to be here and excited for what’s ahead.

          Love, Elder Jace Anderson

Christmas party and package

 

Merry Christmas

December 21, 2015

          We had a pretty good week.  Nothing too great, but it was a good one.  I was finally able to meet with our investigator who has a baptismal date for next week, Song Gwangjeong.  We met him with our ward mission leader who taught him stuff from the Book of Revelations and about the tabernacle.  It’s great and all, I learned a lot, but we need to help him prepare for baptism!  So hopefully we can meet him more. 

          Jang Yehoon, the guy my age that came out to church last week, came out again for just a tiny bit.  We met him twice, and he’s still just the same pretty much.  He just isn’t trying to find an answer.  We were able to meet several other people, and one of them (Park Minjong – eternal investigator) gave me this super awesome scroll with Chinese characters on it that his grandpa made.  It’s super cool!  But we left them at the church, so hopefully they don’t get lost.  Some of our other investigators that seemed like they wouldn’t progress much are showing some decent signs. 

          I got my 2^nd invite from a member to come visit!  They were super nice and it was a fun time.  Except it’s super hard.  Why?  Because we have all these rules for member visits, so we’re only supposed to be there for 20 minutes, but they just keep bringing out more food and don’t want us to leave.  We do our best. 

          I went on a split with Elder Benefiel, the young missionary in the house.  It went really well.  We had a good time just talking about how things are going and I was able to give him tips as a young missionary.  It’s crazy to think of how long I’ve been out.  I’m about to skype for the 3^rd out of 4 times.  I hope you all have a great holiday season and use this time to strengthen your relationships with family and others.  It’s the season of giving, so I hope you all look for those opportunities to serve.  I love you all and hope you have a Merry Christmas.

          Elder Jace Anderson

Me and Elder Benefiel

A Christmas Baptism

December 14, 2015

          This last week went by pretty fast.  We had a pretty cool experience on Tuesday.  We had an appointment cancel so we got on a bus to go get on another bus to just go to a random area.  When we got off the bus there was this big black guy there on the sidewalk.  He approached us and said hello and it was a bit awkward at first.  Long story short he is from Liberia and was baptized 2 years ago.  He absolutely LOVES the church but didn’t think that it would be here in Korea.  He came maybe 2-3 weeks ago and has had to go to his brother’s church which he doesn’t like.  He had been praying to find the church and on Tuesday had the random feeling that he needed to go outside and just walk around to get to know the area.  He didn’t want to, but kept feeling like he should.  He did and we got off the bus right as he was passing by.  His name’s Nelson and he is such a cool guy.  We even had a member lesson with him, and it’s pretty great having a sweet black guy with an awesome African accent talk about Satan’s tricks to keep you from going to church.  Haha he’s the best.

          In other great news, our investigator I’ve never taught and only seen once is getting baptized on the 26^th!  His name is Song Gwangjeong and is the husband of a member (he’s pretty old).  Our ward mission leader has been meeting with him and teaching him Revelations.  We’ve tried visiting him many times, but haven’t been able to.  But he’s getting baptized so yay!  I wish I could’ve done a bit more but…

          In less good news, my investigator in Iksan heard about the word of wisdom, said he’d never be able to do it so he decided to not get baptized and stop meeting with the missionaries.  So that was super sad to hear.

          We were able to meet with more people last week and our rap loving 19 year old investigator named Jang Yehoon came out to church and stayed the whole 3 hours!  It was great!  He has a lot of changes to make, but things are looking good.  Yeah, so we were able to meet with more people, but also had several people just not show up and had no intention to meet when they made the appointment.  I will never understand that.

          Here’s my favorite scripture, Alma 26:37.  “Now my brethren, we see that God is mindful of every people, whatsoever land they may be in; yea, he numbereth his people, and his bowels of mercy are over all the earth.  Now this is my joy, and my great thanksgiving; year and I will give thanks unto my God forever.  Amen.”  I’m enjoying my time here and the opportunity to meet so many great people.

          Love, Elder Jace Anderson 

Me and Nelson!

 

Being sick isn't fun

December 7, 2015

I kind of broke last week.  Well, my body did.  I woke up several times in the middle of Monday night and threw up a bunch.  But Tuesday was zone conference so I didn’t stay home, I just kind of suffered through a really upset stomach and also threw up Tuesday night as well.  My upset stomach lasted the whole week and then Saturday I started getting crazy itchy and got all these freaky spots and bumps.  I was intending to call Sis. Shin today, but I woke up and they were gone!  So that was super great, and my toe seems like it is getting better.  So things were rough, but are looking much better now.

We weren’t able to meet too many people this week, but we did meet a dad and his son for English which seems like it will work out well.  We also met with Kim Sanghyun twice, he is the son of a recent convert.  If he just feels like he wants to be baptized, he can whenever.  We have several investigators, we just weren’t able to meet with them.  Things are looking good this next week.  I’m getting healthy again and we have some potential people to meet.  It’ll be good!

I want to share a quote from Pres. Benson I read this morning.  “Happiness must be earned from day to day.  But it is worth the effort!”  I’m grateful to be here sharing this wonderful message and am hoping and working to find those who will accept it.

Elder Jace Anderson

Elder Dubois

Adjusting to a new area

November 30, 2015

          It’s pretty hard to believe it’s already the last day of November.  So crazy!  This last week was alright, nothing too great.  But I do feel like I’m getting used to things more.  We still haven’t found any new people to teach, and our other investigators are just kind of floating at the same spot.  There are still several of them that I haven’t met yet.  We have a few that could get baptized whenever they feel like it though.  Oh!  I finally met Jonathan, our Filipino investigator with the baptismal date.  His date is December 12, but it won’t happen because he can’t come out to church because of work.  He wants to get baptized though, and it’ll probably happen a month down the road once he stops doing this part time job.

          So, it turned freezing here.  Especially Thursday.  It was soo cold and wet and it was just an awful time.  But it’s ok!  It’s not too bad now.  And I had to go to the hospital twice this last week.  My toe got infected so now I’m on some ills and have to bandage up my toe each day.  It seems like it’s getting better though.  I just need to keep it dry which is a very difficult task, especially because my bandage is pretty big so I can’t wear shoes…just sandals.  Lame!  Also, E. Dubois was pretty sick for a few days last week, so our team was a pretty sad sight.

          Things are going well though, we just need to find some more people.  We do have some people that could get baptized whenever they want to, so hopefully that happens!  Things are still pretty new and different here, but I know there are lots of good things ahead.  I’ve been preparing for a training at our zone thing tomorrow and have been learning about finding strength and having a good attitude.  I have been learning that when things get difficult we need to have that bigger perspective and remember why we are doing what we’re doing.  Thank you all for your support and prayers.  I hope you’re all doing well back home and staying warm!

          Elder Jace Anderson