Week SUM 41

Week Sum 41, as in I wonder whatever happened to the Oneders. Anyway...
 

Thanks for the birthday wishes everyone. Throw something nice and crazy for Hillary, since she sacrificed her B-Day bash for me prepping to leave for the mission last year.
 

I don't have anything special planned. I have training at 9am in the morning. A nice 2 1/2 hour bus ride back to my area, and then I teach English class that night. But maybe I'll do something fun while I'm in Seoul today.
 

This week was pretty amazing, we were able to get a lot of work done. We found a new investigator who stopped meeting the missionaries about a year ago. He was coming to church pretty solidly before, but when his favorite Elder left, he just stopped picking up their calls. But we called him, met up, and he loves us. Don't know what the difference is this time.
 

I went on exchanges to interview a Baptismal candidate for another area in my District. It was the first baptismal interview I've ever had to conduct, so I was pretty anxious and prepared a lot for it. It went great, I was able to clear up some things, and had to review some other things, but Moon-Jeoung Gon is a pretty pure 17 year old kid. The Elders have been having a hard time to get him to pray in front of other people, so I wanted to make sure he prayed at the end of the interview. He kept saying he can't. And Then I kept telling how simple it is and that it doesn't need to be fancy. He kept saying I can't, I can't, and then finally finished, "No, I can't remember your name." Aaaaah. He was baptized yesterday!
 

On the exchange we were eating at a restaurant and I started speaking to some of the workers there. The usual, "Oh you're so good at Korean", and me insisting that I'm not (I'm really not), back and forth. Then the owner walks in, and we talk for a little bit. He sees the name tag. A little puzzled. But then he sees it on the table, The Book of Mormon. He yelps out, "Oh, you're THAT church!" He starts murmuring to his wife,  and I ask "Why is it weird?" Surprised that I understood what he was trying to mutter under his breath, he says, "...Some guy buries stuff. Weird translations..."
 

 

"Why is that weird." He blurts out, "It's just not the Bible alright. I don't understand the need for it." We talk back and forth, and I explained the usual background on the Book of Mormon. I end by telling him that it's a historical fact that plain and precious things were physically taken out of the Bible. And I testified that the Book of Mormon restores those truths. Blank stare. And then he changes the subject.
 

The Book of Mormon is our special message to the world, it's the keystone of our religion. Everything we say hinges on whether or not it is true. It is our sickle. Don't try to work your way around it when people say it's "weird". Testify of its divinity.
 

-Elder Reyes

PS: eat some moshi ice cream on my behalf