Week 6 in Korea

How was everybody week???! Did you do anything special for Issa's b-day? It's been raining a ton here in Korea. But no matter how hard it rains... it is HOT!

My companion and I have been sharing one tiny 12 inch fan, and we've been dying. We wanted to get another one, and then the one fan we did have died. So we wanted two fans... we had zero. We spent a day without it, and it was rough. They ok'd us to buy a new one, with a max budget of 50 bucks. When we went fan shopping, my mouth dropped... so many things are so much cheaper here in Korea, but home appliances are ridiculously overpriced!!!! 80 to 160 for fans that are anywhere from tiny little 8 inchers to 14 inchers. Then I looked at toasters... 60-90 dollars for something that would cost 15-20 in the states. So weird. Anyway, we went to a few well known appliance stores, and I just couldn't bring myself to buy any of them. SO I decided to check out some small hole in the wall fixture and hardware stores. and found a huge 19 inch fan that rocks! And only for 60 bucks. We can't put it past the second setting, it's sooo powerful. If we put it on it's highest setting it knocks books over! Appreciate AC for all those who have it.

It's vacation season right now, so our pool of investigators temporarily dropped this last week. So we had the opportunity to do a lot more finding activities. Muscles I didn't know I had were sore! We were able to visit some more members this week as well. I love getting to know and build relationships with the members here. The members in Korea are so strong!!! They have such amazing testimonies and stories of their conversion. I was able to share with them, our less actives, and our investigators the importance of reading the B.O.M everyday. I would relate to them two ways (on top of starting and ending with a prayer) that would help them study the scriptures, instead of just reading them:

First, have a question. Work out in your mind what the answer is, and then read. So many times, I've read the scriptures looking for a specific answer, and it's right there, plain in the scriptures. Sometimes though, or most times, you are inspired, or your thoughts are flooded by an overwhelming "yes" or "no" answer, or just a feeling of peace about the answer you have worked out before hand.

Second, read with the intent that you need to find something in the scriptures to share with someone. It's part of our schedule as missionaries, but I would relate a story about Dad to them about always looking for something to share. I would tell them: When I was a kid, my dad always gave me such great advice, and would always connect it with my situation at the time, or any rough patches I was going through. I would always think, " WOW! My dad is a genius!!!" When I began studying the scriptures, instead of just mindlessly reading words on the page, I began to realize, my Dad was just sharing principles that he had learned from the B.O.M with me.

Miracles: After our weekly planning session, we saw that we were slacking in our other lessons, since most of our investigators are on vacation. We were waaay behind. But that day, we got ALL of the rest of our lessons, for the rest of the week, with two extra days to spare. There was a bus ride, where Elder Lee and I were on different sides of the bus, teaching people, just full on lessons: pamphlets out, having them read scriptures, testifying. I would look over at my companion, and he would look over at me, i thought "this is amazing." On that one bus ride, we both placed B.O.M's and set up return appointments (the return appointment qualifies it as a lesson, or else you're just talking a lot.) It went like that the rest of the day, just one after the other!

If you think you can accomplish something, and you make plans and work hard, you'll most likely get that thing done. But if you put your trust in the Lord... you can accomplish so much more. Because it's not you, you're just an instrument in his hands.

I love all of you. I'm waiting on Comic Con pics and stories btw....! :) So jealous.

Let me leave you with something else that happened to me on Thursday. As I was walking to service, going over some phrase I was trying to learn, it just hit me so strong, the power of your prayers for me. I could feel them literally pushing me forward, keeping me safe, protecting me. Thank you sooo much.

-Elder Reyes

Week 5 in Korea

So Mondays are usually my P-days. But we went to the temple today, so yesterday was a regular proselyting day. It's a blessing that it was. We walk one way out of our apartment to go to the Church, and another way to go do e-mail. Since yesterday was a regular day, we were going to the church to grab some materials, and there it was, on top of a bunch of junk..... A GUITAR!!!!! I picked it up, expecting to see a cracked neck, or a broken bridge,but it was in good shape. I looked around, and there was a lady putting other junk on the curb, she yells "Just take it." I did. It was dusty, and the strings were rusted, but I just threw some pledge on it and took the strings off, hoping to get some strings later on in the week. It just so happens, we pass by three music stores in the area we were visiting some less-actives. And it just so happens, that when my foreign mission card wouldn't work, I had EXACTLY enough cash to buy a new set of strings. I'm meant to have a guitar I guess. I strung it up during lunch, and after a long day of contacting, we came back to our apt, and there it was...our house finally felt like a home! It works wonders to let loose at the end of the night.

Like I said last week, we did run into a member after emailing, and they wanted to buy us food, but we were running late so we had to turn it down.

So this week:

I met a kid on a bus ride back from interviews two Saturdays ago. His name is Lee Moon Hock. I called him that Monday, and the second he picks up, and I explain who I am, He says" I want to meet again. I want to come to your church. I grew up Buddhist, and I've always had a good feeling when I look at Christian churches." I ask when he's good to meet, "I'm on school vacation, there's a place I study for a little bit, but then I'm free the whole rest of the day." WOW! I got goosebumps. We scheduled to meet the next day.

Then the next morning, finally got a hold of Na Kwang Yeoul, the man who miraculously found Elder Hafen and I when we were on exchanges. When I called him at night, he had never picked up, so I tried calling in the morning, and right away he answers, "WHEN can we meet!" So I was feeling great that morning. Everything was falling into place. But then we get a text from Lee Moon Hock... "Sorry, my mom won't let me go to your church." My heart was broken. My companion tried to cheer me up, saying that it happens all the time. But I didn't want to give up on someone this excited and this prepared. I suggested texting him back and seeing if we can go to the place where he studies, and just teach him there . He texts back, "Sure, I'm 20 minutes away from where you are, is that okay?" We tell him that we're on our way. Right before we're about to get on the bus to go and meet him he calls us, "You know what, I really want to see your church. I'm on my way over to you!"

He has no concept of God, and even the word itself is a bit strange to him, but he's as smart as a tack, and really enjoyed learning about the restoration. When we tried to give him a Book of Mormon to take home, he said his mom would freak out if she found it. He said, "What parts do you want me to read, I'll read it now." It was amazing, he ended up reading more than we asked hm too as well. I constructed a false cover for a Book of Mormon so it looks like a Disney story book, and we'll be giving it to him soon.

We finally got to meet with Na Kwang Yeoul on Thursday. My companion was a little skeptical, with what Elder Hafen and I have told him about Na and his friends. But when we got there, Na himself explained the story to Elder Lee, and affirmed, that it was "A miracle that I saw those two walking. I just had to invite them in, I know they were sent from God." The lesson went so well with him and his friend, that Elder Lee was just so excited afterward. Na even made sure it's okay to call us if he has any questions WHEN he reads the B.O.M. He's so committed. He went to China this last Sunday, but is excited to come to church and "See what the members are like."

We lost an investigator who had committed to Baptism after her mom put the ixnay on it. But after we saw her for the last time, I began to think. Maybe she really hadn't had a spiritual testimony, maybe she is just really nice. Our investigators need to use the tools we give them in order to receive that answer. Sometimes, we need an experience like how we met Na Kwang Yeoul, to really build our faith. So the next day, Elder Lee and I wanted to go tract somewhere we never had before. We wanted to go to this park, but we got super lost. We ended up seeing people walking through these huge rice paddies. We decide to go through there. But the further we got, the less people there were. And pretty soon we were surrounded by rice patties for over a mile in every direction.

We only talk to two people in about two hours of walking through some of the most amazing scenery (I didn't have my camera!!!), with some huge bugs and huge plants that make me feel like I'm in Wonderland. We finally get out of the rice fields, and I'm a bit disappointed. It felt like kind of a waste. But who do we see at the bus stop? Lee Moon Hock! He asks "What were you doing in there?" We tell him, we have no idea. But that we were probably meant to see him.

Ok, running out of time, glad to hear from all of you! Free and Joe, send me some comic-con pics and stories!!!!

Love

Elider Reyes

P.S Happy Birthday ISSA! I sent you a card last week, hopefully it gets there in time for Sat. Also, this computer is gnarly, so feel free to correct any typos.

More from Korea!

Week 4 in Korea

I don't know what it is about emailing my family, but the last two times I did, we ran into members who want to buy us food. 2 weeks ago, we ran into a less-active that we visit all the time, because he works on Sundays. He bought us Baskin Robbins ...Baskin Robbins ROCKS here in Korea! So different, but so good. I had Blueberry Oatmeal ice cream, so rich and delicious... and it kinda sounds healthy so I went with it.

Then last week, which was the only P-Day so far that I've gotten to wear regular clothes, (since we were going to a Zone Activity afterward), a lady starts yelling, "Elders! Elders!" Across a huge intersection.

At first I didn't know how she recognized us in street clothes, but then I realized, "Oh yeah, we're still wearing name tags!" Anyway, her daughter served a mission, and she goes to a ward 20 or so minutes away in Puchun. She leads us into a bakery, Paris Baguette (kinda like Portos), and tells us to grab whatever we want. I grab a couple of items and then she says to grab WAAAY more than that. I filled my tray with like 12 bucks worth of stuff, but she wanted me to grab more. "There's no more room on the tray." I've got my fingers crossed for this week.

This week I went on exchanges with one of my Zone Leaders, Elder Grant. I learned so much from him. He served in the area I'm serving in now for a long time, .with my companion now. He got to give me some great insight on the members in Siheung, and on my companion too. He definitely gave me some pointers on being more bold when contacting people on the street, especially when street boarding. When we exchanged back, me and my companion literally doubled the amount of people we were able to contact before during street boarding. I'd venture out, and really use all of my efforts to get people to stop and talk. I wouldn't know what they're saying half the time, but I progressed so much, just because I'm forced to blurt out everything I know in Korean to figure out what kind of needs they have, and what part of the Restoration I can relate back to their lives, or get them to think about.

Later on in the week, I ran into a man while passing out English Class fliers. I saw him eying me the whole time. I thought to myself, "This guy wants to Bible bash." I could feel it. The second he walked up, bad vibes all around. Even though he was respectful, I could tell how skeptical he was of me, and how he was trying to get me to slip up or something. He spoke English to me, and I would try to speak English back to him, but had to explain what I was saying in Korean afterward, if he didn't understand. He kept asking me about "posters."

"Where's the poster? Do you have a poster?" Why was he obsessed with some poster?

"Where did you see this poster?" I said.

I thought maybe he saw some anti-Mormon propaganda or something. "No, a poster, of someone who talks to people." After 5 minutes of this awkward back and forth, even him spelling out P-O-S-T-E-R, and me explaining that we believe both the Bible and The Book of Mormon to be the word of God, and that they work together in testifying of Christ, I was getting nowhere on the "Poster" subject.

I had convinced him that, yes, we are indeed Christian. But he kept going back to "Where is your poster. Does your Church have a poster?" "Yes, we have lots of things with pictures on them." I'd say. What are you trying to say, tell me in Korean! I speak Korean. I don't know what you're talking about." Finally, he tells me. "OOOOOOOOOOOoooooh! You mean a PASTOR!"

I'm glad that got cleared up, and I think I surprised him that I was so respectful, and willing to answer all of his (trying to be sneaky) backhanded questions.

This last Thursday, we met again with these two investigators we meet with every Tuesday and Thursday to teach them 30/30, half English, half gospel. They're both Korean teachers. Sister Park and Sister Im. And they're super nice, and very devout Presbyterians. They've heard a lot of weird things from their friends about our church, since we've been teaching them. But they know we're nice, and they feel there's a reason they met us. The last time we met them, we told them, "Write down everything you've heard about our Church that's bothering you. And we'll discuss that the next time we meet." Sister Park brought 7 things she wanted cleared up: The fact that we believe God, Jesus Christ and The Holy Ghost are three separate beings. That we don't believe in "hell." Plural marriage, etc. This is something that if not handled correctly, could feel like a Bible bash. But the big thing being handed down from the First Presidency, is to establish correct expectations, and resolve misconceptions from the start.

We were able to explain so simply and lovingly our beliefs on the subjects using both the B.O.M and The Bible. It was amazing to see their countenance change so much. Every time we'd explain something, they'd sigh with relief. Or give a "Wow! That does make sense."

At the end of it, Sister Park took back her list of questions, and put huge X's through all of them! And gave us a big satisfied smile. I've never been so happy to see someone cross something out before.

We've got to be up front about what we have, and what we believe. When explained in the right setting, with the Spirit there, it all does make perfect sense. But more importantly, the Spirit can testify of the truth of it.

Glad Mom and Issa's trip went alright. Dallen is gonna love the MTC! I miss it. More prayers per square foot than anywhere else I can think of. I miss you all, especially just the little things.

Send me a line, let me know how everyone is doing.

-Elder Reyes

PHOTOS! thus far

Week 3 in Korea

Ok, so I've seen this DVD at the MTC, but man, The Restoration has some of the best cinematography! Showed it a couple of times this last week to investigators, so powerful, so well done. I like the Joseph Smith story too, but we'd probably never show that to investigators. But I think it was done by the same people, a lot of the same footage is used, and Leo Paur has a couple nice little appearances in it. Anywaaaaay...

Third week in country, first time going on splits. So there was this big 3-day training for Zone Leaders, District Leaders and Trainers this week. So I got to have an American as my companion for the first time in Korea. What was odd though about the exchange, is my trainer went and stayed with our DL, and our DL's companion stayed with me in Siheung. So someone who's never been to my area, and someone who's only been in Korea for two weeks period... running around with no idea where anything is! We started the exchange by admitting to each other, "Ready to get lost for three days???!!!!"

It was exciting though. And yes, we would get lost everyday, and I'm talking epically lost. But we're put where the Lord needs us. The very first day, my companion had sent me and Elder Hafen (the American I was on exchanges with) to travel waaaay out to visit some less active members that he hasn't even met. After a half hour on the bus, and an hour of asking for a lot of help in finding the place, we found it. Knock Knock, "Who is it?". Answers the member's wife. "It's the missionaries, Is Kim Du He there?" "He's at work, I'm busy, can't meet now." Fun times.

So that killed our visit and our plans, so we had close to two hours of nothing planned until our next appointment, so we decided to walk to our next appointment instead of taking a bus. We get to a point in the road, where we have no idea where either one will take us. "We want to be over there. but that seems impossible without a helicopter." Elder Hafen suggests, "let's just walk up these hills and try to knock doors." Blistering hot heat, uphill. And the further we walk up, the more we realize that there's only random Hardware and garden stores on this hill. We're in a VERY random place. Elder Hafen says, "We're gonna find someone."

"I trust you," I said. Another 10-15 minutes uphill, and we're drenched head to toe in sweat...

All of a sudden we hear a voice, "Hey!" What, someone is speaking English to us. "Up here." Still couldn't see where the voice was coming from, way up a small pathway a Korean man was yelling, "Come up to my house." He sounded exactly, and I mean EXACTLY like Andre the Giant in "Princess Bride."

"I told you we'd find someone," Elder Hafen said. We were in the middle of nowhere. I looked where the man was yelling from, I have no idea how he saw us. He invites us in, and there's SIX other people in the house. They've just finished eating. And they offer us their chairs, some food, and put a huge fan on us to dry us off. The man's name is Kwang Yeol Na, and he lives off and on in Seoul, and Seattle. This was just one of his places, and it was a total party Karaoke house. We start explaining who we are, and why we're in Korea. And we keep trying to find out how on earth he saw us... (he never explains how, but just says he knows that we were sent from God).

The cool beverages, and the cool air is just what we needed. Then another one of his friends shows up speaking perfect English. He's built like an ox, and explains that he used to play college ball for Temple, lives on and off in FL and Korea. I think both these guys are very well off. So Elder Hafen and I are just amazed that we're able to be in the middle of nowhere, and all of a sudden be sharing the gospel with 8 people within the matter of a second. Out of nowhere, one of the people has a guitar in their hands and is just noodling. I say I can play guitar, they make me play a couple songs and Kwang and his friends love it. Kwang is about Dad's age, and said he is a hippie, that's probably why we clicked so well.

The next couple of days went just like that, lost, but exactly where we need to be. I didn't have my camera, but we took a picture with Kwang and his friends on Hafen's camera. I'll get a copy soon.

What's odd though, is he wanted us to call him back the next day, but he never picked up. The same with the the man I sat next to on the plane. after running into him again. Both of those finding experiences built my faith and are great stories to tell, but they haven't chosen to act on those experiences. Our investigators who are progressing and keeping their commitments, are the ones we've found simply putting our nose to the grinder and going out and finding people through hard work and persistence. Good ol' fashion missionary work.

We'll have some miraculous things happen to us in our lives, but it is the things we do on a daily basis that are what will build our faith the most, and keep us on the straight and narrow path.

Too many stories to tell, not enough time.

Love you all,

Elder Reyes

Week 2 in Korea!

OK! Week 2... First off... Mom broke her foot??? No one told me that. That sucks. How? When, where? Anyway, while you are eating steak from Dallen, I ate what I thought was really good ham last night... turns out, dog. Sorry dog lovers, Fido was delicious.

Alright, I've been leaving my self IOU journal entries, with the big events of the day written on a post it note I stick on the page of my journal for that day. Not a good idea. But either I'm so exhausted at the end of the day, or there's something that I want to study, that it's hard to spend my last waking hours writing about myself. That's even more exhausting. So I've been trying to get back to properly writing in my journal. Consider these emails the abridged version of my tales.

Last Monday, we did a basketball contact to a group of twentysomethings... sounds fun, but we do it in full on missionary attire. Sweating like crazy! On top of that, those guys schooled us so hard!!!! They were so good. But I call shenanigans because it was a 9 foot court, which I'm not used to shooting on ever. Later that night we taught a lesson on the street to a kid who didn't seem all that interested, but had some of the best questions I've heard from anybody I've taught so far. Again, amazingly, I was able to answer all of his questions. I say something, and I'd look at my companion and ask if I answered it properly, and to see if if there was anything he wanted to add. "No, that's the answer."

I finally got my translator this last week. The thing is amazing. It was like Christmas when it arrived. I didn't realize it was touch screen!!! So hi-tech. But the thing is made for Koreans, I can use it for what I need it for. But since all of the menu buttons and instructions are in Korean, i have no clue had to change the clock setting or date. Dec 8 2009 it is. But it makes my studying so much faster, Thank you sooo much!

I had dinner with the Bishop's family, I showed him some pictures from the photo album, and freaked out when He saw that we had gotten to meet Ezra Taft Benson. He absolutely loved him, and had me tell him all about the experience.

Thursday was not so pleasant as the rest of the week, due to one 15 minute incident. We were in the church building, since that is where we do 90% of our teaching, and we hear someone yelling up a storm inside the church. Some drunk grandpa was furious, and when he saw my companion, he got even more angry. Yelled stuff I didn't understand, and then started slapping my companion in the chest. We called the cops, and told him to get out. Apparently he was angry that our church locks our gates, so that kids from the neighborhood don't use the parking lot as a playground, which the neighbors end up complaining about the noise. Yelling grandpa was mad because his two granddaughters would play in there. There's literally more than a dozen of some of the most beautiful parks you've ever seen within a 10 block radius of our church. I don't get it.

Ok, so I hadn't seen proper rain yet, but be careful what you wish for. Friday and sat it rained like no other!!!! It's a 1:30 walk from our Apt to the church, and in that time, my pants were drenched. Everyone shuts down when it rains. They stay in there houses, and don't go out. Brutal. So we knocked doors sat, and that was brutal too. Luckily it just makes me giggle uncontrollably when a door gets slammed in our face. My comp takes it a lot harder. 3 apt buildings, 19+ floors each... phew.

Sunday, great church meetings. One of our progressing investigators came to church, and we gave her a soft baptismal commitment when we taught her afterward. So great! It was super windy all day. And people kept giving us food...there's a giant watermelon taking up half our fridge.

Ok, love you all. hope Mom gets better fast. Hope everyone s going ok. Let me know what's happening with everyone!