I'm Staying!

August 24, 2015

          This week was super great!  We were blessed with 3 new investigators.  Wow!  The one who seems to have the most potential is Jim.  We met him on the street a few weeks back and met him for the first time last week.  He speaks English super well and is just a really, really great guy.  He’s interested in our church and how we’re different.  Hopefully he likes it!  There’s another guy who is mainly English interest, and then an older taxi driver who kind of just wants someone to talk to it seems like.  But we have things to do!  Yay!

          I went on a split this week with Elder Russell our zone leader and it was super great.  We had a ton of appointments planned but they almost all cancelled, but we were able to meet a guy on the street and meet with him right then and there!  So that was a cool unexpected miracle.  I learned a lot on the split and think we’ll be able to progress Iksan a lot now.  Ooh!  Funny story.  After the split we were at the bus terminal and these American guys were there and were super frustrated and went to the ticket counter and just kept saying “refund” but of course the guy couldn’t understand.  So I stepped in front and started talking with the guy at the ticket counter.  I could hear the guys behind me saying, “Woah!  Who is that guy?  Is he helping us?”  It was pretty funny.  We talked for a little bit and they were super impressed with us and now they have good feelings about missionaries!

          We are trying to work with this family who met us for English a bit ago.  They had us over for dinner last night and had a good time and when we shared a spiritual message at the end, the mom said she is starting to like our message.  It might take some time and strategy, but they have some potential too!

          Things are looking very bright and I don’t want to leave.  Today we get transfer calls and I really hope I stay.  I’m really enjoying my time here and learning a lot.

          Elder Anderson

P.S. I’m staying!  Yay!

me and elder russell eating good japanese food

the cool miracle guy we found on the split

 

I'm growing a lot

August 17, 2015

          This week was not too exciting.  We were only able to meet with 1 investigator, Bro. Beak, but he seems to be doing well.  He was one of my old investigators and he is doing whole lot better now.  In the past he was all English interest, but now he is taking interest in the gospel portion and keeping commitments. 

          We were able to meet with one other guy, but he has a mental issue that keeps him from progressing, and I don’t think we will even be able to meet him again.

          The most exciting thing this week was we got a referral from a Korean member from Bountiful!  His niece had been living there and since she came back to Korea he wanted her to continue to meet with the missionaries.  But sadly when we spoke with her dad, he said that it’s not something that they or his daughter want.  So that was pretty sad and disappointing.

          We’ve met some crazy people this week and made lots of good memories.  We are still trying to find those who will accept the gospel, but it’s hard enough to find any that are willing to talk with us.  We had a few people throw up their arms, yell out, and then run across a big street because we just said hi and asked something like where they are going.  But there are some great people!  We have an appointment with a really cool guy we met on the street for tonight.  So hopefully that will go well!  I’m growing a lot and become a better person, but just wish I could have a bigger effect on others.

          Elder Anderson

 

The kinda handicap guy we met and our chicken party!! Please notice the extremely rare dr pepper i found.

Yup, it was a good week!

August 10, 2015

          So I don’t have too much time to write, but I’ll let you in on my week.  We moved today and it super sucked, but I’m really glad it’s over.  We now live in a city outside our area, but the house is a whole lot nicer!  So, Bro Ha is just, I don’t even know.  He is just extremely flaky and won’t come to appointments.  We’re pretty sure he has a mental problem, and when we explained our situation to bishop, he told us to just drop him.  So we’ll see what happens.  We’ll keep trying though.  But we were able to meet Bro Kang again which went well.  We picked up one of our old investigators again and were able to meet 2x.  He’s mostly English interest, but he’s someone to meet with at least!  Last week we had no lessons, but this week we had 4!  And we were able to visit a few less actives as well.  So it was over all a good week, minus the news about Bro Ha.  We met him on the street and he was just contradicting all his past words.  Not good. 

          This guy from a newspaper saw our English ad, called, we met and he took our pic and said he’d put it in the newspaper!  So that could be fun.  Yeah, so it was a solid week.  We actually had things to do and felt like we used our time well.  Oh!  We found that old investigator because we were waiting at the church for a guy who never showed up, and the guy rode by on his bike so we met with him right then and there!  That was a nice little miracle.  Yup, it was a good week.

          Elder Anderson

Pass Off

August 3, 2015

          So, I’m sorry to say that there is not a whole lot of good or exciting news this week.  We didn’t have a single lesson the entire week, so….it was just a little bit hard.  We set appointments, but people just never showed up.  We weren’t able to meet Bro Ha and he didn’t come to church either, so it’s not looking like he’ll be baptized on the 16^th.  I still think that he’ll be baptized though, as long as we are able to meet him.  Sadly, we still haven’t been able to meet Bro Kong this transfer, and he just straight up lies about coming to appointments, so he’s basically dropped.  We need to find new investigators!  We talk to sooo many people each day, but no one is willing to give our message a chance. 

          We were not able to teach very much this week, but we feel good about the work we put in.  We are able to come home without any regrets each day.  I really just wish that we could find people who are willing to simply give it a try.  We’ll keep trying!!

          I also had my first district meeting as district leader.  It went ok I guess.  It was just kind of awkward, but it was just my first one.

          It was fast Sunday, so I want to share a little bit about what I bore my testimony on.  In our mission we have this thing called Pass Off which has several tasks to do and ways to advance.  One of the tasks is to learn 10 things about Buddhism from people.  So whenever we meet Buddhists, we try to ask about their beliefs.  Oddly enough, we have found that they don’t share!  It made me think that if we have lives and something we cherish, we will want to share it.  This applies to all of us too.  If people ask about our beliefs will we shy away or boldly share these truths?  Are we seeking out opportunities to share or are we afraid of what other people might think of us?  Through meeting with people of many different religions and by sharing the restored gospel, I have really come to see how great of a blessing it is and how grateful I am to it.  I’m learning a lot here and hoping and working to find those who are willing to accept the blessings of the restored truth.

          Elder Jace Anderson

                            thanks for the awesome chocolate!! super good!!!

 

Funny Story

July 27, 2015

          We had a pretty good week here in Iksan.  Not as good as last week, but still good.  Bad news first, one of our investigators with a baptismal date sort of just disappeared and we can’t get a hold of him.  So that’s pretty sad.  But Brother Ha is doing very well!  We met during the week and taught Lesson 3, the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and he is very excited for baptism.  When asked how the gospel applies to his life, he replied that it gives strength when times are hard, and then pretended to rip off his shirt as he yelled “Sparta!!” to show what it means.  Silly guy.  I love him so much.

          We also met a super sweet old guy on the street and set up an appt. for the next day.  He declined a return appt. but was super nice and gave us a referral!!  Those are quite rare by the way.  He was super awesome so I got a picture with him.  We also met another nice old guy at the park who I also took a picture with.  Speaking of parks, at zone conference President Shin did away with our language study time.  Instead we’re just supposed to find people to talk with at places like parks and what not.  Just talk with them, not proselyte and stuff with them.  So that’s new for sure. 

          Zone conference went really well, it was a fun time.  I also had my first leadership meeting afterward which was fun, and I was the youngest one there!  Haha but I’m not that young, I hit my year mark on Thursday.  So crazy!  It has been fun to look back and see how much I have progressed and changed over the last year.  Also, when Pres. sent me to Iksan, he sent me with the instruction to “change Iksan.”  At zone conference he hugged all of us after and said to my comp. the same thing.  I was right after and he said, “You’re already changing it.”  So that was great to hear.

          Funny story!  We were out of the house and far away at lunch time one day, so we went to a gas station like store to get something to eat.  I bought these noodle things and after putting in the hot water and microwaving it you have to dump out the water.  Well, I messed up and the lid came off as I poured it and dumped it all on the ground and burned my hand in the process.  No fun. 

          Things are going well here.  We have been blessed to meet so many nice people this last week.  I am really enjoying me time here and feel so blessed to serve the Lord here in Iksan, South Korea.

          Love,

          Elder Jace Anderson

Meat buffet for our year mark

 An awesome old guy we met!

Brother Ha

A guy we met at a cool little park!

 

 

Super Golden!!!

July 20, 2015               

          By far the best week of my mission, and possibly the best of my whole life to be honest.  Well, that might be a stretch, but it was a super great week!  Before E. Kim transferred, we were able to meet with our investigator Bro. Kang Hwangu and taught the Plan of Salvation.  He accepted it all very well and has a strong desire to believe.  We shared John 3:5 about needing to be baptized to return to God’s kingdom, and he accepted a baptism date for 8/16.  The problem is he works on Sundays, so it might be difficult.  But he is a super great sincere guy!

          On transfer day, after E. Kim got on the train, another missionary and I worked in Iksan as we waited for our new companions.  We talked to a guy on the street and got his #.  His name is Ha Sungyong and we were able to meet with him once my new comp, E. Skouson, came.  Holy smokes he is sooo great!  I love this guy so much!  He is just the sweetest guy and after we taught the restoration, he said that he believes it all and was so excited to get a Book of Mormon.  He said he’d come to church before we even asked, and we met with our bishop and taught the Plan of Salvation after church.  He expressed his desire to go to the Celestial Kingdom so we shared John 3:5 and he accepted a baptismal date for 8/16 as well.  I really think that he will go through with it, and could also refer his family as well.  He is the best!!

          We were also able to find another investigator, Sister June, who is a really funny lady who wants to improve her English, but is really hard to do gospel stuff with.

          This week has been super great and I am enjoying my time with Elder Skouson.  We are being so blessed and seeing so many miracles.  Iksan is changing right before our eyes and I feel so grateful to experience this.  Thank you all so much for your prayers and support.  I have felt them so much and am having such a great time in the blessed land of Iksan, once known as possibly the hardest and slowest area in the mission.  We have seen the Lord’s hand so much and know that none of this could have happened if it was not for His help.  This is the Lord’s work and He is at the helm, and I am so grateful to play my little part.

          Love,

          Elder Anderson

Thanks for the package!

me and my new comp elder skouson from the mtc!! we got proselyted to by other missionaries, and this was what they gave us in their little advertisement......hhahahaha

 

Puppy Chow

7-13-2015

Puppy Chow

          Super big news!  I ate dog this week!  And no, it is nothing like chicken.  It is actually really slimy and eating the skin was pretty gross.  I don’t want it again that’s for sure, but I had to try it once!  We ate it because Elder Hunter, a missionary that goes home this week, came and served with us for a few days and he wanted to try it before he left.  It went pretty well and we learned a lot, but it honestly seems like we are doing the same stuff as everyone else, just with not as much visible results.  But that’s ok, we are called to push the rock, not move it. 

          Our student investigator, Wi Sungmin, decided to stop meeting with us.  He said he doesn’t have time, but we are pretty sure that his friend who came last time told him not to meet with us.  So that’s sad, but we were blessed with a new investigator, Kang Hwangu, this week.  We met him on the street last week and we met him once this week.  He seems to have good potential and is only gospel interest!  He’s our only investigator so I really hope things go well. 

          We only had that one appointment this week and the rest of our time we spent out on the streets trying to bring people to Christ.  We were soaked the entire time with sweat, rain, or both.  Man, I hate humidity so much.  But that’s ok, I’m happy to help in the Lord’s work.  On Saturday we fasted as a district so had no lunch time and just worked the streets in the summer heat for 9 hours.  I wish there was something else to do, but…we are doing our best to bring these people to Christ.  It’s just hard.

          So that was my week.  Pretty long and hard, but definitely worth doing and I could feel that this is what I am to do right now.  Pres. Benson talked about how happiness comes from finding God’s will and willingly following it, so that’s what we’re trying to do.  I just wish that I could find someone who is willing to accept this message and the happiness and security it brings.  Thank you to all for all your love support.  It really means a lot to me to have so many people cheering me on and praying for me.  This gospel can truly change people, but as shown in Alma 5:14-26, it is not a one and done thing.  This gospel can and will bless us our entire lives and after, but only if we want it to and act accordingly.  “O be wish:  what can I say more.”  (Jacob 6:11)

          Love,

          Elder Jace Anderson

Update! I will be staying in Iksan but will be receiving a new companion, my good friend Elder Skouson from the MTC!! and I have also been assigned to be the new district leader in our new district of 6 elders. Im a little nervous, but I know that with the Lords help we can do all things he asks

Doggy

 Elder Hunter