Dear Family,
My Stay here at the MTC is nearing its end. I leave for Korea in 21 days!!!! I leave the morning of July 5th. So the night before, when you are blowing stuff up, or watching things get blown up in the sky, I'll be stuffing Korean textbooks into my luggage. Happy Independence Day to me....
This past Saturday there weren't enough Korean speaking volunteers for the TA (Teaching Assessment, where missionaries role play teaching Lessons and performing everyday scenarios ). So the Older Districts (our district) were asked to fill in. It was the first time these new missionaries had to teach in the TA. They only have to teach a 3 minute "getting to know you"/ short message in Korean. And the lesson is in English. Since our 6th week, we've been teaching full 35-40 minute lessons entirely in Korean!!! So it was pretty amazing to see how far we've progressed, as the new Elders struggled to just introduce themselves, and butchered every pronunciation imaginable.... I thought, " that was us not too long ago."
This week we also learned some Korean games from a Native teacher. All Korean games are mean, and involve some type of physical torture. If you lose or mess up in a game, you get "Indian Pop!" (Spicy Rice). But there is no food involved. Just everyone in a circle around you as you gets on all fours, and they start SLAPPING your back like a Conga drum, while yelling " Indiiiiiiaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan", and throwing their elbows into your back, "POP!"
Last Tuesday we got to hear from another one of the 12 Apostles. Robert D. Hales spoke about Light and Darkness. The Light, or truth that we have, and how we need to help those in the dark, or in other words, those who don't know where to find the truth.
Everyday I realize more and more how blessed I've been to have been raised in the church. To know, since the age of 4 or 5, maybe younger, the simple truths that people spend lifetimes looking for. That God is our Heavenly Father, we are made in his image. Jesus Christ is his Son, our brother, and our Redeemer. And what we need to do in order to return to live with them.
I would love it if the family could write out their conversion stories and send them to me. Nothing extravagant, just your testimonies... then again those might be long stories. But I'd especially like to hear, and get all the dates and names, of where we were living when Mom and Dad first met with the missionaries, what their initial thoughts were, and what convinced them that this is indeed the true and restored Church of Jesus Christ.
My prayers are with you, I'll email you when I get my flight itinerary, because I'll be able to call you from the airport.
Love,
Elder Reyes
My Stay here at the MTC is nearing its end. I leave for Korea in 21 days!!!! I leave the morning of July 5th. So the night before, when you are blowing stuff up, or watching things get blown up in the sky, I'll be stuffing Korean textbooks into my luggage. Happy Independence Day to me....
This past Saturday there weren't enough Korean speaking volunteers for the TA (Teaching Assessment, where missionaries role play teaching Lessons and performing everyday scenarios ). So the Older Districts (our district) were asked to fill in. It was the first time these new missionaries had to teach in the TA. They only have to teach a 3 minute "getting to know you"/ short message in Korean. And the lesson is in English. Since our 6th week, we've been teaching full 35-40 minute lessons entirely in Korean!!! So it was pretty amazing to see how far we've progressed, as the new Elders struggled to just introduce themselves, and butchered every pronunciation imaginable.... I thought, " that was us not too long ago."
This week we also learned some Korean games from a Native teacher. All Korean games are mean, and involve some type of physical torture. If you lose or mess up in a game, you get "Indian Pop!" (Spicy Rice). But there is no food involved. Just everyone in a circle around you as you gets on all fours, and they start SLAPPING your back like a Conga drum, while yelling " Indiiiiiiaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan", and throwing their elbows into your back, "POP!"
Last Tuesday we got to hear from another one of the 12 Apostles. Robert D. Hales spoke about Light and Darkness. The Light, or truth that we have, and how we need to help those in the dark, or in other words, those who don't know where to find the truth.
Everyday I realize more and more how blessed I've been to have been raised in the church. To know, since the age of 4 or 5, maybe younger, the simple truths that people spend lifetimes looking for. That God is our Heavenly Father, we are made in his image. Jesus Christ is his Son, our brother, and our Redeemer. And what we need to do in order to return to live with them.
I would love it if the family could write out their conversion stories and send them to me. Nothing extravagant, just your testimonies... then again those might be long stories. But I'd especially like to hear, and get all the dates and names, of where we were living when Mom and Dad first met with the missionaries, what their initial thoughts were, and what convinced them that this is indeed the true and restored Church of Jesus Christ.
My prayers are with you, I'll email you when I get my flight itinerary, because I'll be able to call you from the airport.
Love,
Elder Reyes
Ha! Yeah, the games are a hoot.
ReplyDelete