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