October 29, 2012
Starting week 2 in South Korea. Yeah, this language is a lot tougher than I thought. Some personal accomplishments this week include not crying in frustration because I have no idea what's going on, looking cute, and figuring out where the church building is in relationship to our apartment. But that's getting ahead of myself. First things first.
So my new companion/trainer is Elder Anderson. He hails from Pleasant Grove, Utah. He's nice. Enthusiastic. Encouraging me to keep talking to people in Korean. He's been out for around a year, and this is his first transfer as a senior companion. He's doing well. And translating for me often... as I'm always lost. I like him a lot. He swam in high school too. And he plays soccer. Good combination.
My first area... since I don't know what map you're using, it can be spelled a few ways. Gwanju, Kwanju, 권주. Take your pick. We're on the west side, where city meets country. It's kinda nice. And by kinda, I mean really nice. There are a ton of high-rise apartments to tract at (or, in Korean 가가호호). We had some amazing experiences while tracting. We've been door knocking this one particular apartment building. The first night, we found two older gentlemen (I should mention, Korean people develop a pretty strong accent as they age. I was able to pick out a few words). The first actually let us in to talk (yes, we do sit criss-cross on the floor while teaching). The second gave us a phone number. And, we found a recent convert who went inactive (and is from the land up north... relative to my position. Not Canada)
But then came yesterday. Not a single door slammed in our face... as a matter of fact, of the three we knocked (I realize that may sound like not a lot... to be fair, we were not expecting to spend 20 minutes at each door talking about the gospel). The first door, the lady who answered didn't have time because she had a guest (she seemed like she would have heard us out had she had more time), but the second door, another elderly gentleman answered (he's Buddhist), and was super friendly. As we were talking, another man came walking down, and somehow, we started teaching two lessons simultaneously (I should mention, I was of very limited help at this point... oh, and the second man is also from the land up north). That was crazy. It was awesome. Then came door number 3. AKA, another miracle. The man who answered wasn't intially interested, but we offered him a pass-along card. At that point, Elder Anderson just bore a simple testimony, and the conversation changed compelety. The man who answered was super interested after that. We taught him a little more about the restoration, got a phone number, and are planning on meeting with him this week. Yes. Faith brings miracles.
Oh, and all the while, I've been doing my best to follow along with the conversations/lessons/meetings. Sometimes I can follow along. Other times, meaning almost always, I have no clue as to what's happening. But hey, it's not MTC anymore.
One more awesome experience. Yesterday, the ward I'm serving in (송정) had a primary program. Obviously, I had no clue what was going on. But, the spirit speaks the same in any language. It was such a spiritual sacrament meeting. Despite not knowing the language, I could feel the spirit super strong because I was trying to understand as best as I could. I wish I could really describe just how overwhelmingly awesome it was.
Anyways, I need to wrap up, I love you all. PS, my P-Day is Monday. Considering I'm 16 hours ahead, be prepared to receive emails Sunday night. And mom, dad, Terry, Whitney, Alisa, Nathan, Vera, and anybody else who reads my blog, feel free to use any material you want to. I wouldn't share it if I didn't feel comfortable doing so.
CIAO!
Elder Elliott Wedam
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