He's coming back!

April 11, 2016

          We didn’t have a very exciting week, but it was still good.  Especially because we got to watch conference which was super great.  I loved being able to listen to the prophets, but it made me miss America and my family.  I really enjoyed what Elder Holland talked about, our futures may seem scary (especially after mission stuff) but we can find strength through our past experiences.  I wasn’t able to watch the Priesthood session which super stunk.  The Filipina sisters asked us to go help them with a lesson so we missed it.  We met Walter again with them.  It went well, but he seems to be hiding something. 

          As for our other investigators, well, there aren’t too many anymore.  Jo Youngook (had a bap. date) has dropped off the face of the earth, and we’re considering dropping Park Jonghoon because of lack of progress.  Ji Sumin (the one we thought was a girl) is kind of a sketchy, dangerous guy and says he has no interest at all to even know if God exists so we’re considering dropping him also.
          But in good news, Park Jongmoon comes back next week!!  Remember him?  He said he’d be baptized but had to move to a different city for like a month and a half.  We talked with him on the phone and he’s super excited to meet with us again.  It’s going to be great!
          We had a zone conference last week and Pres said something super awesome for those of us going home in June and July.  He said if we can focus all our thoughts, words and actions on finding more, teaching more, and baptizing more then we will be able to baptize each month.  I’ve been trying to do it and open my mouth better.  It’s tough but going well and I’m excited to see what’s coming out of it. 
          I hope we can all remember what we learned at conference and also the faith building experiences we have had in the past.  Have a great week!  Thank you for all your support.

          Love, Elder Jace Anderson

                                                  This tree has a sweater!

                                                We kinda got lost....haha

Message from President Shin

April 4, 2016

          Decent week, it went by pretty fast.  Wow!  It’s already April!  So crazy.  Update on investigators!  We’ve tried meeting with Jo Youngook and members, but it always fall through and then he didn’t come to church which was disappointing.  He’s supposed to be baptized in 2 weeks, but the members don’t know him and he needs to come to church.  Dang it!  But our rapper guy, Jang Yehoon, who we droopped a month and a half ago randomly showed up to church so that was pretty cool!

          We got a new investigator named Nam Gyo-ooh, who is like 50-60 years old and wants to learn English.  When we did the gospel portion he kind of just got up and left.  Haha so that stunk.  But we’ll meet him again this evening so hopefully it goes better.  Ooh!!  Ji Sumin is a guy!!  But we’re pretty sure he’s bisexual…he has lots of commandment issues, and not really any gospel interest so we might not meet him for much longer. 
          I talked with Pres. Shin on the phone and he said some cool stuff.  First he said, “You go home in July, right?  And your parents are coming to pick you up?”  Then he talked about how I haven’t been able to baptize yet, but when my family comes we should do something special with the people I will baptize.  He suggested going to the temple with them and Dad can baptize them.  Awesome!  He said I have all the skills, hard work, and integrity but just haven’t been able to snatch anyone yet.  But it’ll happen!!  It’s just hard because I feel like I’m doing just about all I can but it’s up to other people. 
          We had an interesting experience on the street with a lady from a different church.  I felt like I was in the BoM talking with Nehor as she tells us we’re missing the secrets of the Bible and even cries for us because we’re not getting it!  It was pretty freaky.  Oh!  She made us pinky promise that we’d talk more if we see her again, and when E. Groves did it she put her other hand on top and said something.  Later, his pinky started to throb and pain moved up his arm and to his chest!  But I have him a blessing and it was all good.  Crazy!  Haha.
          Things are going well here.  I hope you all enjoyed conference.  I’m super excited for it!  I love you all and hope you have a great week.

          Love,

          Elder Anderson

                                                      Flower Festival

What is it?

March 28, 2016

          This was kind of a strange week.  We weren’t able to teach too much and our investigators, well let’s take a look.  First we have Park Jonghoon.  He had a baptismal date coming up, but we met him once last week and it didn’t go too well.  He didn’t like church and we told him not to use his prayer beads.  Well, now we’re not able to contact him.  Second, Jo Youngook.  We met him once last week and it went super well.  We taught about the Book of Mormon and he understood well and did a good job of responding.  He said he’d come to church but when we tried to call to remind him, his phone was off and has been since then and he didn’t come to church.  I don’t know what to do but it breaks my heart that he might be gone.  We did have one investigator at church though, Na Jinju, our old guy who loves his other church too much to switch and can’t fully grasp the meaning of the restoration.  We also met Darius on the street and he said maybe he’ll come to our church “once in a blue moon.”  He’s from Liberia and likes the loud style of worship a lot more than ours.

          The good news is that we have a new investigator!  The bad news is we don’t know what gender they are…haha really though, it’s a problem.  We’re pretty sure it’s a girl that wants to be a guy.  So originally I met her on a bus and started talking because I thought it was a guy, but then they looked at me and I thought girl.  She had English interest so I gave her our card and she contacted us later (her name’s Ji Sumin).  We were pretty sure she was a girl so we met with a guy member and he said girl also, but she used the guys bathroom, is doing the mandatory men’s military service, and has a slight mustache…but talks like a girl, has girl eyes, and a bra in her bag…we have no idea.  Haha.

          That’s pretty much it for this week.  We spent a lot more time on the streets than we used to but it’s still good.  I just found out that yesterday was Easter, so I hope you all had a great one.  He lives!

          Love,

          Elder Anderson

                                           Chicken and juice bottles.  Haha

Pray for my Investigators

March 21, 2016

          Alright, so last Monday we got a random call from a member saying that this former investigator called him saying that he wants to start coming out to church again!  We contacted him and met him once.  His name is Jo Youngook and he’s 29.  He said he wants to come out to church more and learn more about God, so we were able to set a baptismal date for April 17^th.  He also came out to church yesterday.  The only problem is that he has a slight mental problem so he’s a bit awkward and when he came to church no one helped at all or talked with him at all.  So I’m pretty worried.  Please, do more than just ask the names of investigators when they come to church.  He’s such a sweet guy, but no one’s trying to get to know him.

          Same with Park Jonghoon who has the date on the 3^rd.  He came out to church for the first time yesterday and he has a slight issue also but is so great when you talk with him.  But no one tries!!  They know he’s there, and we try to introduce them to people but nothing happens.  It’s super frustrating and disappointing.

          So, when I first came to Gwangju we had this investigator named Park Minjong.  He was super awesome but we lost contact with him.  Well, the other elders were able to start meeting with him after a few months without contact and he progressed like crazy and was baptized yesterday.  It was great to see someone I taught take that step.  He’s even thinking of becoming a missionary!!  A month ago Elder Whiting did a mission tour with us and I had the prompting that some of those whom I had taught would eventually accept the gospel.  It was great to see that come to pass. 

          I want to share the message that I shared at our English class.  It’s Alma 29: 10,13.  We don’t just talk about the Savior and the gospel because we are missionaries.  We are missionaries because we have been changed for the better because of Christ.  Please remember that and please work to find opportunities to help others receive the joy that we have felt because of the changes it has helped us make.  And don’t forget Park Jonghoon and Jo Youngook.  They could use some prayers.

          Ooh!  There’s this member here who was originally from Cashmere and was from a royal family and was Muslim, but had some crazy experiences that helped him convert.  It was awesome visiting him and hearing some of the stuff he went through. 

          Things are going well here, I just hope things work out with our investigators. 

          Love,

          Elder Jace Anderson

 

Went on a random split with Elder Hicken and had a fun time killing roaches.  Haha. 

Most of our district.  The other 2 were sick.

Dang expensive McDonalds

Richard from English class!

Park Minjong!!!

Great lesson with the Filipinos!

This is Park Jonghoon

The baptism

The Khan family

Great Pictures

April 3rd Hopefully

March 14, 2016

          Big news of last week.  I was able to baptize the sister’s investigator, Marie.  She’s from California and even knows Turlock!  It was a really good experience and I’m grateful to have been a part of it.  I was suuuper nervous because she’s not very small and I’ve never baptized anyone before, but it went well.  I did have to push her under the water though.  Haha but we got it done in 1 try!

          Also our investigator Park Jonghoon set a baptism date for April 3.  He’s the slightly handicap one whose parents don’t really like church.  He is going to move out soon and then he’ll be able to go to church and get baptized!  We’re not sure when he’ll move out, so please pray for it to be soon.

          Yang Dongwan came out to church!  But I was in the back translating so I didn’t notice and none of the members said anything to him.  Even after the meeting, everyone just walked right by him.  Pretty frustrating.  We were able to meet him once this last week but he didn’t seem as into it as last time.  He still has potential though!

          We weren’t able to meet many people last week, so we really need to find more.  It’s hard though!  Like last week, we started talking with this guy and then he pulls out this crappy little pamphlet and tries to proselyte to us.  We were nice and patient as he read through it.  He read some part about the importance of Christ so I said it reminded me of a similar scripture in the BoM, Mosiah 3:17.  I tried to get him to read it but he freaked out and no matter how much I said about how it will strengthen his faith he refused and proceeded to tell us how we need to study the Bible and pray more.  Dude.  You don’t know who you’re talking to.  But we were younger than him so because of Korean culture there was nothing we could do.  Oh well.

          We did have a funny experience this last week.  This guy called us to teach English so we went to his office.  Instead of him learning, he’s forcing 2 of his employees to learn.  Why?  Because he’s afraid that robots will surpass humans…oh Koreans.

          Things are going well, we just need to find some more people and figure out how to help the people we have to progress!

          Elder Jace Anderson

Slower week

March 7, 2016

          Things have slowed down a bit again.  We only had 4 appointments this last week and our investigators are kind of disappearing.  But it’s ok, we found an awesome new guy named Yang Dongwon.  We met him on the street last week and got his number but didn’t think much of it.  When we contacted him again I was really surprised that we were able to set an appointment.  He’s 27 years old and just a super nice guy.  He wants to make some foreigner friends (because he lived in New Zealand for a while) but also wants to learn more about the church and what we’re doing.  Awesome!  We gave him a soft baptismal invitation which he accepted well.  He was planning on coming to church but had to move houses, but will come out next week.  He’s super cool.  I’m excited for him.  He also came out to English class which was a good time to build a good relationship.

          Our ward now starts at 1 so our funny older investigator was able to come (right after his church) but sped out super quick so I don’t know what he thought…that’s about all the news with investigators.  Oh!  A while back we had this guy named Kim Yooshin who we thought had great potential but stopped answering calls.  Well, I tried again but it went super poorly.  He just said, “I don’t believe the Book of Mormon.  Bye.”  We were super good friends before.  I know he talked with his church people and it makes me so sad that they changed him so much.

          Elder Beard (my 2^nd comp) is AP and we did a short evening split.  It was fun to look back on the old days (over a year ago!) and see how much we’ve learned and how far we’ve come.

          It was really rainy this weekend, super rainy actually, so we ended up knocking apartments a little bit and actually found one lady who listened and took a pamphlet.  It was awesome!  Haha it doesn’t happen too much. 

          Well, I wish there was more good news to share, but the other elders are getting baptismal dates like crazy, so that’s going really well.  Hopefully we can join in the fun.  My scripture this week is Alma 17:11, so let’s be patient in our trials and show good examples to those around us.  Thanks!

          Love, Elder Jace Anderson

A bit of my area and lots of rain!

Bowling