Week 26

I got to see and meet Elder Yoon Hwan Choi of the Seventy yesterday for our "Mission Tour". He spoke to us for like 4 hours.... it was great! He did that talk a few General Conferences ago, "I like loud boys," about those rowdy kids in his neighborhood in Korea who eventually all got baptized and served missions. Anyway, I got to learn so much from him, and received many impressions from the Spirit.

It was really funny because he reprimanded the entire mission for printing small versions of Preach My Gospel, English/Korean side by side. Even our mission President guiltily pulled out his small copy and laughed. After all the explaining of why we're not supposed to have them, Elder Choi picked one up, flipped through one of the side by side copies, and said, "Hey, this IS convenient!!!" Nevertheless, they want us taking notes in the big copies.

Now that I've bored you with those "only missionaries will find that funny" details, thanks Issa and Ka-El for the pics! New Years and Christmas looked like a blast. Everyone looks the same, but different. It's weird. Even Kali looks the same! That girl needs to grow. Sadie is big now though, she looks a lot like Loryn now. And Mike, wow! THAT'S AMAZING. Christmas games looked like a blast. I'll never forget last year's games, I thought I was gonna die laughing.

After the Mission Tour yesterday, we we got our mail, I had the biggest stack! I thought the UT missionaries would have droves of mail, but the kid from Glendale seems to have the best WARD/stake and friends! It made me miss everyone sooo much. It also made the three hour ride back to my area go by a lot faster. But...

I accidentally got sent Elder Unotoa's Christmas Cards from the primary, and I'm guessing he has mine. So I need his mission address, and I can send him those cards directly.

So I finally left the hospital last Thursday. The whole time I was there, the nursing staff only ever saw me in my hospital pajama type wear, unshaven, with needles and tubes sticking in me. So when I finally got all shaved up, showered, and back in my suit and tie, I think it freaked them out a little. I felt like Ron Burgandy, "that dude cleans up good!" 

It feels good to finally be back in my area. My second night back my Branch had a New Year's Eve party. It was so great, and it was amazing how worried everyone was for me. I'm still sad though that I missed the Christmas Party. A lot of less actives came out, and I finally got to introduce my greenie to the branch. Everyone was having so much fun, I haven't seen the Branch that unified before... that's why I didn't have the heart to tell them that they were all eating cake that had coffee in it. My companion and I just politely declined.

We only got a chance to be in our area for 2 1/2 days before we had to get had back to Seoul for that mission tour yesterday. But we were able to pick up 2 new investigators, and my ZL and DL's jaws dropped when they saw how much work we were able to do in such a short amount of time. But it was tough, I'm not gonna lie. My muscles became weak from resting all day in my hospital bed, and the 12 pills a day I'm on make me super tired. Not to mention that me and Elder Eisenhauer got sick of the food mid-way through, and from then on our diet mainly consisted of the taffy the La Crescenta Stake Presidency sent me. 

But I'm finding my strength again, and the joy I get from sharing the gospel is all that I need. We found some really great new people, and Elder Yoo, my new companion, is amazing, truly amazing.

I hope everyone has some good New Year's resolutions. Elder Choi yesterday talked about how the gospel makes people progress. That if someone got up 15 years after being baptized and said, "I haven't changed," then he wasn't truly converted. 

The Gospel of Jesus Christ helps us to always better ourselves. Satan's traps are always evolving, and we have to become stronger to fight against them. After I got off the phone with you, I longed for how these were when I left. For "the good ol' days." But I know that when I get back, things won't be the same, I hope everyone is actively trying to better themselves, and draw closer to the Savior. If we do the latter, naturally we will become better, and we will be blessed.

-Elder Reyes