Time can be such a mysterious dimension. Sounds like he still remembers people, though. Enjoy this letter!
September 11, 2012
Week X
Well, it's official, I no longer remember how long I have been at the MTC... I think this is week 5? Don't quote me on that. And thanks again for all your letters. I'm guessing the email gets posted and maybe some favorite lines from the letter home? So, in any event, Annie, I got both the psalms book and the last few letters of yours. The last one made me laugh. A lot. Thanks for that! And mom and dad, I really enjoyed the letters - it sounds like the bike ride (that I thought happened a month ago... whoops) went really well. I'm super stoked that dad and Terry did that! Bragging rights, no?
So, this week, I've been focussing on finding some funny things. While many happened (at least I think a lot did - I laughed quite a bit this week), one stands out among the rest. Whitney, you've already heard this one, but it deserves a repeat. So the other missionary companionship sharing a room with Elder Bowman and myself is Elders Paskett and Hogge. Last Wednesday, we were walking to dinner after a long day of class, and Elder Hogge was playing with this really neat belt/batman like gadget that you attach your keys and card to, and it retracts automaticially. Anyways, the string broke while he was extending it one time, and his keys and card when flying. Here's where the story gets really good. Both items nailed another elder who was 15 feet in front of us. As in, if I wasn't paying attention, I would have thought Elder Hogge tossed them at him on purpose. Even better, this elder and his companion were the only two people in the hall besides us. What are the odds? The story doesn't stop there, Elder Paskett filled Elder Bowman and I on the very end. In line, Elder Hogge thought he saw the same elder he accidently hit, and apologized. It wasn't the same elder... so Elder Hogge just had to explain the story to this new elder. Super funny. Really demonstrates the level of humor present in the MTC. I'll leave that one up for interpretation.
Oh, and the Older Districts (the missionaries who were at the MTC before us and going Korean speaking) left this week. Next Wednesday (not tomorrow... 8 days from now), we will officially be the older districts. Super stoked - mostly because I want to see how far we've come in learning the language. Elder Bowman and I are doing a lot better when we teach our "investigators"; Whitney, your advice about making it a spiritual experience for our investigator is paying off really well. Our lesson plans have changed super dramatically in the last week, and I think we're finally working through some of our "investigator's" needs. For instance, he would never read the Book of Mormon chapters we asked him to, so finally, we explained to him last time why we wanted him to read. The converstaion went something like this:
"Why do you think we want you to read the Book of Mormon?"
"So we can learn about God."
"Right, but we also ask you to read it so you can recieve personal revelation. Do you remember the first lesson we taught you?"
"I forgot"
"We talked about personal revelation. Do you remember why personal revelation is important?"
"So God can teach us."
"Right, and how can we recieve it?"
"By praying and studying scriptures."
"Exactly. We believe the Book of Mormon is scripture, and we want you to read from it so you can receive personal revelation for yourself that it is true. Do you understand?"
"Yes"
"Good! I just want to promise that as you read the Book of Mormon and pray about it, God will give you an answer if it's true or not. Will you read the Book of Enos tonight?"
"Yes"
And then we proceeded to talk about the apostasy. In any event, I should mention, the conversation went as above almost exactly. It was tricky usage of indirect discourse and indirect questions. I was thrilled. Really thrilled. Mostly because we were really able to communicate and work around his needs rather than lecture and just spew information. And this is the approach we're planning on taking. Answer questions and address needs. Next lesson, Elder Bowman and I want to invite him to be baptized, and we're planning on explaining why we want to meet with him. I'm super stoked.
Oh, side note. Terry, my teacher, John Kim (affectionately known as 김 형제님) served in Whitney's mission (a fact I'm sure you already heard). What I found out, and what you may already know (dramatic pause via compeletely trivial parenthetical insert) is that you TA his economics class (I'm assuming that you're TA-ing this term. If not, he has you confused for some other doppleganger with a last name of Wedam, which is still a really cool fact). Anyways, we exchanged this info... in Korean. Boom. Still excited.
Running low on time now, only 2 minutes left, but I love you all so very much. Mom and dad, true to the last X weeks (where X is the number of weeks I've been here), I'll write you another letter today. You'll get your more spiritually fulfilling content in that. Feel free to share what you feel appropriate in those letters on das blog. And some exciting news, they have SD card readers in the laundry room now, so you may be getting pictures in the near future!
Take care, and your always in my prayers, both in Korean and in English!
-Elder Wedam
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