Missions are very hard, but can they be fun!

In the weekly emails the following note came through:  

I've been struggling this week with my purpose. One day while talking with my companion, she asked why I am out on a mission and talked about what missionaries do. I spent the rest of the day thinking about my purpose. I couldn't think of why I decided to serve. I even started thinking if I was qualified to be out here teaching. That night I said a prayer and poured out my soul to my Heavenly Father. The next day during personal study I hadn't really thought about the day before but I was reading conference talks, Pres. Uchtdorf's talk "A Yearning for Home" was next. I started reading and so many things that he said answered my prayers. A sweet spirit came over me confirming that God hears my prayers and answers them.
Everything is great and so fun being a missionary. Everything has its ups and its downs but I couldn't call it a successful day if I can't end it on a good note. Missionary work is hard, but it isn't impossible. Life is hard but that is why it is fun. If it was easy we would never grow.

These messages always warm our hearts. These are young people developing new understandings and perspectives.  When they arrive at something like the above on their own, it is especially meaningful.  We are so blessed to be with them!

This past week we started interviews again.  You'll notice a few unusual things, like wearing coats, scarves, and gloves in the pictures.  There is a reason for that.  It is very cold!

 In the building in which we took the picture above, there was no heat at all.  We tried for some time to get it going, but the internal temperature was probably 10-15 degrees F.  In Korea, they do not heat the entire building, just the individual rooms.  However, we couldn't get the master system to work, so there was no heat in any of the rooms.

 This building was a bit warmer.  The above sisters got their new down comforter donated by a church leader to each missionary (see previous post) and used it to walk home.

 This building had heat, but as the heat blew from the ceiling, it seemed like the top four feet of the room was warm and when sitting down, you were cold from the shoulders down.  The missionaries were good sports and we were only in each building about four to five hours.

 By the last interviews, Sister Turner needed to snuggle to warm up.  Fine by me...

In the middle of the week, we took a break to drive to the airport to pick up a new Military Relations couple who will be working with the single and unaccompanied Air Force church members who are assigned to Osan air base.  They are a wonderful couple who recently completed a mission to Madagascar.  They are ready to serve again.  We got them settled in their new apartment.

 After one set of interviews, a good member of the local ward and his wife invited the missionaries and Sister Turner and I to have lunch at a nearby restaurant.  It was such a wonderful kindness. On top of that, they provided flowers to the lady of the mission, Terri as well as a cake.  They are so generous to us and to the missionaries who work so hard.

Terri had a couple of P-day adventures this week with missionaries.  First, she took the bullet train south on her own.  She was concerned about when to get off and all, but she did great. 

 She even got a special breakfast of mixed fruit and nuts and a small bottle of water for her trip.

The sister missionaries in the area picked her up and went to a place where for ten minutes you put your feet in water and little fishes eat the dead skin from your feet. if you look closely you will note that she was hogging the fish. Old woman feet syndrome :}   I was invited but decided to continue to work instead.  I'm not big into anyone or anything playing with my feet.

 She also was joined by a few elders of the area to see what the women were up to.  It is safe to say she made it back to me later in the day.  It was an easy trip as it is the end of the line.

 Then, today she had the opportunity to visit one of the local open markets.  Even with the temperatures being in the mid teens and wind chill well below that, she and a few sisters wandered through this market which is in this area on any day that ends with 4 or 9.  She was pretty thoroughly frozen when she returned home.

As for interesting sights for the week.  Even motorcycles can be used to pull carts.  As cold as it is, there are still people delivering or picking up things all over town.  Some people seem to survive better in the cold than others.

We will finish where we started, an experience of a missionary.  This missionary is trying to utilize the new tools for online proselyting and teaching.  Many missionaries have friends back home they would like to introduce to this amazing message while they serve missions.  With the new tools they can do that.  Here's an experience from one of our missionaries:

I have some great news for you!!! Today I did my first online session with my friend back at home and we had a great conversation. She had gone to seminary in the past and had shown some interest in church but got busy along the way and never ended up meeting the missionaries. When I found out we could try to help our friends receive the Gospel, she was the first person I thought of and I was so excited to see if I could help her at all. I was a little nervous to extend the invitation to her to take the missionary lessons (because like most members, I thought I would love a friend) but then I trusted that the Lord would provide the words and Spirit I needed to touch her heart, and He did. I bore simple and fervent testimony of how important the Gospel is and how much it could bless her life and how because she was my friend and I didn't want her to miss this opportunity to receive it. Instead of becoming awkward, she actually was really happy I reached out to her and was very excited to receive the missionaries at her home. I found out that she had actually been reading the Book of Mormon with her father in order to understand it more and know our beliefs. I was so happy when my friend accepted the invitation and it showed me that I can still do missionary work even when I go home. It is a special joy to help a stranger on the street find happiness, but when you can help someone you are already close to, the joy is even greater. It was a great miracle to me

These are young men, young women with limited experience.  However, they pick up pretty quickly the purpose they have to invite others to come to Christ and use all their resources.  It is easy to note their humble desire to share.  They don't want to bully people or try to compel them to a belief or acceptance of the message.  They have the deep love of the Savior and the gospel and like missionaries of old, "Now they were desirous that salvation should be declared to every creature, for they could not bear that any human soul should perish; yea, even the very thoughts that any soul should endure endless torment did cause them to quake and tremble."  They do this with huge smiles on their faces.

It's fun to be with them and share their message.  The missionaries even gave me a chance this week to teach with them. What a thrill that was.

What joy fills the heart when a testimony of the Savior of the world is shared with others.  There's lots of joy in our mission right now.

They're back on Facebook! They're Spreading the Message!

What an amazing week.  We had three zone conferences and taught all the missionaries how to use the new missionary tools!  They are excited but a little nervous as they want to use them in a proper, effective manner and not as they did as high school teenagers!

What a great conference we had!  You can see it in their faces.
Gangnam Zone

 Anyang Zone (we'll get to the birthday later)

 Gangseo Zone

 Incheon Zone

 Suwon Zone

 Gyeonggi Zone

They want you all to see that they still have their sense of play (goof off) Two of the zones didn't play!

There was good training and good music.  Nearly all of it was based on using Facebook, Messenger and KakaoTalk (a commonly used tool in Korea).
Of course, a break for lunch is always nice...

 For the first time, we have a trumpet player in our mission . We are excited to utilize his talent. He has tremendous talent. It's amazing what you can do with a trumpet, violin, and piano... this number was awesome.  visit the mission facebook page to hear it and other numbers as well.

The camera runs off on its own once in a while and captures an occasional cameo shot...

Sister Turner and I had a special experience today.  We had a busy calendar so we couldn't stay for the baptism, but we attend the Sacrament meeting at Bucheon Ward.  Two young men were going to baptized and we wanted to meet them.  The missionaries ran into a 15 year-old boy several months ago who had a lots of interest in what the missionaries had to say.  As he learned, he invited a friend to join him.  The two of them are full of joy and kindness and love the missionaries.  They already have so many friends in the ward.  It was fun to watch.

As for the birthday, the missionaries surprised President Turner with all kinds of things this week.  There are a few videos that were too large for the blog, but we tried to include at least one.  There were lots of fun, touching moments, so many calls, texts, emails with warm birthday wishes.  At the end of the day, while wrapping up, the Assistants and Sister Turner asked me to come downstairs.  They had received pictures from almost all the missionaries which were taped on the walls of the hallway for us to peruse and finished with a nice birthday cake.  It was a rich day.

Finally, on the page of strange things we see, while driving home today, we looked up on about a ten-story building and saw something we're still trying to figure out.  If you think you know what it is, be sure to let us know.  It has a harness, but I don't think Santa lost him...

We are excited to go into interviews this week.  We're into the one-on-one time with each missionary.  We are getting into a cold period, you'll probably hear about it.  We gave them permission to spend extra time in their homes or at the church updating their electronic area books.  They have to move all the records onto their phones.  That will keep them busy through the coldest part of the day.  They are wonderful examples and we love being with them.  Until next time...