Greetings from 신당 (Sheen-Dahng)

Yes, I think that was the best gift I could give Mr KJO, he seems to be so happy. I called the elders serving there now, and they said he was confirmed, and he's loving it. I'm so happy for him. 

This week was incredibly busy, but not a lot to report. Here it goes.

We got up early on Wednesday, went to transfers, and I got to trainers' meeting. My new companion is Elder Bybee, from Clearfield UT. He's pretty awesome. He loves taekwondo, anime, and he studied Chinese for 3 years. He's excited to be here. They gave us our brand new phone from the 80's, it's an old phone, but it'll work. They said, well, we think this is how you get to your new area. We are opening an area, so we're all going to be new. So we, with two other elders we're going to live with, started off on the trek. After climbing stairs after stairs, subway to subway transfers, and going from apartment to apartment trying to find it, we did. It's a brand new apartment, which is nice, but the only downside, is that there isn't much inside. We have the necessary, like cups and plates, but no toilet paper, extra food left by the old missionaries, and cleaning supplies. So we had to go out and get all of that good stuff. Stocking up the new apartment. Elder Bybee and I serve in 신당, but we are living in 신촌, a little away from the temple, and the two elders we live with, Elder 박종일 and Elder Bell (also a new missionary), serve in 신촌, where we're living. They're all really cool, I'm really excited to be here. Even though we've only been here for 4 days, we already have a whole list of phone numbers we got from just walking around and talking to people. We also have 2 new investigators and they're really nice! One seems to be really accepting the message, but we've only met twice, so we can't be sure yet. The ward is great, it's really big. They were really happy that even though we're new, we were able to bring something to them to show we've been working. Saturday night they had their Christmas party, which was fun, I got to know some of the members well, then I gave a short introductory talk in church the next day. The members are really nice. I miss my old ward, but I think I'll like it here too.
 

I didn't do much to celebrate my birthday, I opened my presents (THANK YOU!!), and went to my old ward member's wedding. I've only been out of the area for a few days, but I already missed the members, so it was good to see them. The wedding was actually held only a stop or two away from where our house is now! Fancy that.

Today we are going to go to the bathhouses, then out shopping for my birthday/Christmas, and also to show our greenies the wonders of Korea, one p day at a time. I love this work! It's cold, my nose is stuffy, but something keeps pulling me out to talk to people on the street and give them books of Mormon! I don't know how he does it, but my greenie gave away about 6 or 7 books since he got here. Just in a few days. He's great. 

I love this work, and I don't have much longer left (well, 10 months is a while, but it'll go fast), but I love every second of it. I love Korea. It's so much fun here. I just want to take all of you our here and introduce you to the people here and show you around. Hopefully one day all of you that read this will be able to come out here :)

Thank you for everything, especially the birthday wishes and such, it's nice to know you're thinking of me even though I'm far away. 

Elder Franchina

BAPTISM!!!!

Hello All!

I got my package with the presents in it, I'm super excited to open them! And THANKS SO MUCH for the Reese's, I love them. One thing I forgot, is in Korea, the floors are heated, so when I left the box on the floor, I went to eat a Reese's, and it was all liquid. But a quick trip to the freezer and it's all better. They're so good. Thank you thank you.

Thank you everyone for your prayers for us and our investigator. Even though his house had leaks in the floor and ceiling and he got sick the day of his interview, he was able to come Sunday morning, get interviewed in time, and was baptized. It was an incredible meeting, and I wish you all could have been there. The bishop said he had never seen someone that old get baptized in Korea, and that was a testimony builder to him that anyone and everyone can accept the gospel of Jesus Christ. KJO was so happy. The mission president and his wife came to church to see the baptism too. It was amazing. 

Also, this week, we had the opportunity to go to Namsan Tower! It was a great experience. The day before we went, it snowed, so there was a clear sky and a nice, snow-capped Seoul to see. We had a nice buffet on the top floor followed by a lot of pictures. 

We also prepared for our ward's Christmas party, which was really fun. The missionaries did a great skit that we videotaped. I'll mail the card home so you guys can watch it. 

Other than those three things, we didn't really have much time for anything else! We got our transfer calls, and I'm going to Sheen-Dahng, 신당, which is the same area as the President and APs, so that should be really fun! I'll be opening a new area by them, and training. I'll miss this area and Elder Smith, but I'm excited to have this new experience.

I love you all and again, I'm so grateful for everything you do! 

Elder Franchina

Getting Ready for a Baptism!!!

Hello everyone!

 

It's getting colder, but definitely not as cold as Utah! I heard it got to negative 20! We're doing pretty good, and I'm staying warm. The more you walk and work, the warmer you stay.

 

There's not much to report for this week, transfer calls are this Saturday, right after our ward Christmas party, so we're all antsy to see what happens!

 

Our investigators have all been busy this week, it's finals here, so they're all busy. The only people that aren't busy are the old people. So we met our guy that's getting baptized this Sunday, he's doing well. We're going over to his house later today to follow up. So far the plan is still to get baptized this next Sunday. He's 74, so he's pretty old, and surprisingly busy, but he'll make time for us. He's the best. I'm really excited to see him baptized, he mentioned how he needs that 'fresh new start', and how his live was by far better when he believed in God. So he wants to go to church and make his life better. I'm so glad we met him.

  

We're still teaching a small congregation of Seventh Day Adventists, they're really nice and love to hear our insights. It's kind of stressful, teaching all of them and having the leader of the bunch pull random quotes and ask strange questions, but I love meeting with them, they're so nice. They're just trying to find the truth, not to prove one or the other wrong.

 

We met with a few other investigators, but they live just out of our area, so we referred them to the other elders.

 

We're staying up top and looking forward to the Christmas activities coming up!

 

I love you all, and hope you have a good week.

 

Jordan

Long Live the Hinchcliffs

We had a great week this week.

 

The Hinchcliffs, a family living here by the army base, invited us and two companionships of sisters over for dinner. There was so much food, and it was all from the Army base, so it was all American. It was awesome. We had so much turkey, ham, homemade rolls (not better than yours mom, but they were close), and pumpkin pie. It was nice to be able to have full conversations in English too. The family was so nice. They had two friends over, their daughter just got back from a mission a week ago from Holland, their son is preparing for a mission, and their maid from the Philippines isn't a member, but she's so nice! She just walked up to them as they were moving in and said, 'Can I be your maid?' She's the sweetest. She calls them mom and dad. One thing I'm really grateful for this time of year are the people that sacrifice for others. Whether they believe in Christ, Buddha, or just themselves, there are truly great people everywhere, and I'm so grateful that people can overlook differences and make sacrifices for others. Especially being a missionary, it's so nice when you have someone that doesn't even know you bring you in and buy you a nice hot ramen. We didn't know any of these people, and yet they gave us so much food, love, and the leftovers. Can't forget the leftovers. That's another thing I'm grateful for, is leftovers.

 

We haven't gone to the temple again so far, but we'll go soon, so I'll get some names done then.

 

SSM is still working 12 hours a day at his mom's motel, so we haven't seen him in a long time, but he said he'll start having free time around the 15th of Dec, so he'll start meeting with us then. We're excited. Sam's awesome.

 

SN is still busy with work and will continue going out of town for family until mid January. But after then he said he'll get baptized.

 

Our old guy, KJO, is good, he came to church but had to leave right after. So we'll go over to his house later and talk to him. We're still planning on him being baptized on the 15th of December, but we'll have to reconfirm with him.

 

We met two more guys, one is mid 30s, and another is 59, and they're both great. One is a former investigator that we called, and he decided to meet with us because he is going through a rough time. Fist fights with  neighbors, his job is in danger, and he has no family or friends. At the age of 30. That's lonely. He just wants friends. We taught him a little, then when we asked what he needed, he just said a warm hug. So of course we obliged. The other guy is 59, and he comes to English class. He said he went to a few churches a long time ago, but they're all pretty 'solitary'. You go, silently worship, then go home. He's looking for a community. He said no matter what he hears about our church, he always hears that it's like a family. So he came to us, like the other guy, and said, 'Find me a friend in your church. Someone to talk to.' He said he's willing to learn about our gospel because there seems to be something special about it. He wants to make an educated decision, because he wants to attend a church until he dies, and he doesn't want to change churches later, so he told us to teach him why our church was so friendly. He loves it and will start coming to church weekly.

 

Those were some great miracles we saw this week. It is still surprising to me to see people, middle aged or even old, that will come to a 19 or 20 year old, and say, 'help me.' They look to us for support and advice. Sometimes I think, 'I don't have any of these answers. I'm just a kid.' But then as we continue to talk and become friends, I realize that maybe I can help in some way, and, most importantly, this message can help them the most. They truly become happier if they willingly choose to learn about and follow this gospel.

 

I love you all and I'm so grateful for everything you've done, and for all of the sacrifices you have, are, and will continue to make.

 

Elder Franchina

Chusuk and New Elderly Investigator

Hey everybody!

 

This week is Thanksgiving, but because Korea has it's own thanksgiving (Chusuk), we usually wouldn't celebrate it. But, we got an email today and a member in each ward has been so kind as to offer the missionaries a nice dinner on thanksgiving. I'm really excited. We are still doing the 30/30 program, but we're trying to gear it more towards families, so we just call it the Family English Program now. It's good, but we don't have many people interested.

 

Responsibilities as a DL are that of service, offering help and training to other missionaries, and keeping up on everybody's investigators. I enjoy keeping in frequent contact with everybody. One of the opportunities I have is to help people with the Language Progress Program, which we used to call pass off. It's just a little book with vocabulary and help teaching the lessons, so they meet with me, I help them with vocabulary, and then they teach me a lesson as if I was an investigator, and they move through all four lessons, then teach one of the APs. It's just a good program to help learn Korean, and once you pass off, that's a good sign that you're capable of training.

 

Dad, don't worry. There is not a shortage of ping pong trash talk. Our investigator talks trash when we play. It's funny. Don't worry, I'll talk trash to you when I get back, you just might not understand it. I'll have to learn trash talk in Japanese too. 

 

Speaking of which, I've undertaken learning Japanese, as I might have mentioned before. I don't know if it'll help me on my mission, so I'm not spending too much time on it, but I'll learn to read and a few things about missionary work, so if I meet someone, I can use it.

 

This week has been good, but I think I'll just focus on one point. We met a really old guy a few weeks ago, a new guy at our English class. He said he came to this church once or twice maybe 40 years ago, but doesn't go to church anymore. He's terrible at English, but has a really big desire to learn. He's 74, and really likes church. He came two weeks ago, and showed up again yesterday. We taught the Plan of Salvation and followed up on the Restoration, and he said, 'You know what? I think I'll attend this church until the day I die.' Just that morning we were told by a member that it's hard to teach old people and they never get baptized. But it's not because of our teaching, this man just has a great desire. He loves coming to church. We talked a little about baptism and set a date for the 15 of December. Afterwards, he asked if we could start coming to his house to teach him. Our member drove us all over so we can see where he lives, and dropped him off. It was a great Sunday. Our other guy, SHN, is still out of town every weekend, visiting his uncle's grave every week for 7 weeks. But he said he'll definitely come back once this is done. It's an old Korean tradition in some families to pray at their grave for 49 days. That's a long time ㅠㅠ

 

I'm just so happy to be out here, even though it's cold, even though I may not understand when people yell at us. Even when we go days or weeks without meeting anyone with interest. I'm meeting lifelong friends and developing a deep love for this culture. It's worth every minute I'm out here.

 

I love you all and will talk to you next week!

 

Elder Franchina

Stake Conference Miracle

Well, I suspect this letter will be a short one. Not much happened this week, just small things here and there.
 

We visited the Mongolians in our ward, the wife had a baby a month or two ago. They're doing well. They both speak a little Korean, and they even taught us a little Mongolian! We now have our own Mongolian names. Mine, written in Korean, is 덜겅, but I don't know how it is in English, let alone Mongolian. Anyway, KBR, the husband, is awesome. He served a mission in Mongolia a few years ago and killed it. He loves to talk about his mission. One thing I really liked that he said, was, 'On my mission, I suffered so much and it was so hard. But looking back, I have nothing but fond memories. It wasn't that hard.' That showed me that even though I may be going through hard times, they're for my experience, and I know that if I do my best, I'll have a lot of good memories.

 

Later in the week we went back to Seoul University by Cheonynangni to talk to some people, and the sisters in our area came with us. Sister Goodwin will be going home in 2 transfers, and she's training a sister from Taiwan. She speaks a little English, but little Korean. But she's the best, super funny, and a really hard worker. She's improved her Korean so much in the past two weeks. It's amazing. Plus, she's using her Chinese and they were able to find so many Chinese exchange students that are really interested in our message!

 

We met a new investigator this week, he's in his late 50s, and doesn't do much else besides work a little, go to a community center and play ping pong for 2 hours a day, and sleep. We played a bit of ping pong, which was really fun.

 

Saturday was awesome, we had a combined Mission conference with Seoul South! I saw my trainer and other people from the MTC! It was great. Elder Evans spoke and gave a really powerful talk on our roles as missionaries. Going to and from the meeting, I was able to give away 3 book of Mormons on the subway. That usually never happens. I was so happy. Plus, seeing all of my friends after so long was fun. That night we had stake conference and our mission president spoke. His Korean is really good, and he gives really good talks.

 

Sunday we saw a miracle. It was stake conference, and they said it was a special meeting. We called our investigator, but he didn't answer. We asked him for his address a few weeks ago, so we just decided to go to his house to see if he was there. He lives about 10 minutes away, and we knocked, turns out he was just sleeping! He said, hold on! Showered really quickly, got on a fancy suit, and came to church for the first time! It was great. SO many people showed up. Elder Robert D Hales and Quintin L Cook both talked, along with a few other people, via broadcast and translation. It was a great meeting. Didn't understand a whole lot, but I knew they were focusing on the importance of families, and I, along with our investigator, felt the spirit. It was SUPER cold, because of the wind, so we bundled up and went outside to proselyte. That's basically all we do here, besides teaching, is just walk around and talk to people. But it was cool to see that people were still willing to talk to us. Sometimes. Haha it's a hard method to contact people, but we meet some pretty cool people.

 

Well, talk to you next week!

Love,

Jordan

7th day Adventists Lessons

Hello everyone!

This week went by just as fast as the past 52!

SN hasn't been able to meet much, we met once to talk about the Word of Wisdom, and some commandments. He wants to get baptized, but I don't think he understands why. We talked a lot about prayer and finding what God's will is through prayer and scripture study. We'll follow up as soon as we can with him on that.

JDG hasn't answered the phone, we'll drop him. It's too bad, he was so close to baptism.
Pastor JJJ met with us and we talked a lot about prayer. He hasn't been praying about the book of Mormon, so we committed him to find out for himself, through prayer. He was a little hesitant, I think because of the responsibility of his job, but he said he'd do it.

J and S met with us and referred their friend to us, but he only has English interest for now. And they didn't come to church, so we'll meet with them this week and see what's going on.

We met HYN, ADY, with a member, but it was a little awkward, she was much older than him. I didn't realize it would make that big of a difference. He liked the plan of salvation, but not as much as I thought he would. He has a small 18 month old daughter. But I guess he has other needs we need to find. He's still really nice, he texts us every once in a while and says how nice we are and if we ever need dental surgery, he'll help us out. ㅋㅋ

We got a referral from other missionaries, a guy named JSN. He is good at English, and wants to attend church, but it turns out it's because his girlfriend's dad is a pastor, and he doesn't like that his daughter's boyfriend doesn't go to church. But he found our missionaries and started learning. So this is a good opportunity to introduce him to the message.

HBL is a baptist guy we met, and he is a hardcore baptist, but he hesitantly accepted a book of Mormon. We taught a good first lesson, and he really likes us, so I think he trusts us well. He's busy with college, but he'll make time this weekend to meet with us. He's my age, which immediately makes us friends.

DOC didn't meet with us, he canceled his appointment and didn't come to church. He really likes us and church, but being 65 years old, he just kinda does what he wants. But he was reading the book of Mormon, so hopefully he keeps reading.

There is a group of 7th day Adventists that the 이문 elders met, and they invited us to come too. The other elders couldn't come, but Elder Smith and I prepared a really good lesson. The 7th day Adventist people sent us a list of questions and discussion topics, so they gave us 15 minutes to present, then they talked about their beliefs for 15 minutes, then the next 30 ish minutes was Q and A for us. They asked a lot of good questions. Some were prepared, laminated with a number on the back, like, 'who has question number 6'? But then after that they started asking more heartfelt questions. They really drilled into the BOM, but naturally, they base everything off the bible. It's hard for someone, who has believed in one book for so long, to have someone come along with not a lot of credentials and say, 'well, God told me that there's more.' How can you trust him? We finished it with the topic of prayer. You don't have to take our word or even Joseph Smith's words. Read the Book of Mormon. If it fills you with love, helps you come closer to Christ, and improves your life, you can know it's good, not to mention receiving direct revelation from the Creator. Our Father. It is easier for them to trust God then us. At the end they thanked us and said that if there are more of God's words, they need to accept it. So they'll find out of the BOM is God's word.  That was fun, because it was all in English! They're all from the Philippines or American. It was nice to be able to speak English, but I like Korean more.

An old guy, JGJ, 74, came to English class, and we invited him to sacrament meeting the next day. He came and we taught him with a member. He went to church a long time ago, but not anymore, he was busy. But he wants to go again, and likes church. We taught him about the book of Mormon and he liked it, but he was naturally a little shy to pray at the end. It's been a while since he's prayed.
We went to the bishop's house and on the way home on the subway, we said hello to a kid about 17 years old. He really liked us and said he had time to meet right now. He has English interest but when we told him our main purpose is teaching about our church, he said it was okay. He asked a lot of good questions. We'll meet with him again this week. It was so cool to see a miracle like that, where he wanted to meet right away. Just at those times where you think nothing is going to happen and you're a little down on yourself, you can see these miracles, directly from heaven.

I love you all! Until next week,

안영하십시오!

Elder Franchina

Thanks for the Korean, by the way;)

Unshaved Meat

Hey everyone,

 

One year older and wiser, too?

Maybe.

 

This week was busy, but pretty uneventful. We met a few new people that could become new investigators. We picked up two people that are amazing, and we'll meet with them today and tomorrow. Other than them, not much interest. We've changed our tactics a little, just to make us seem more approachable. We just ask if we can meet later if they have interest, and instead of having them meet two random foreign guys in a strange church alone, we just ask if they want to have lunch at a restaurant, grab some kimbap. We've met a lot more people, some become more comfortable saying no, some realize that, surprisingly, we're normal people, and others, whatever way we would have done it, say yes to meet.

Our investigator that was going to get baptized this Sunday hasn't answered his calls for a week and a half, but at the end of this week, he answered, and it turns out his phone was lost. He said he would come to church, but didn't, due to schoolwork. We don't know what's going to happen with him. Hoping for the best.

We have another guy preparing to be baptized at the end of the month. Boy, he's going through a rough time. He's the one that at first, he said, 'I don't want to die' because he was about to go bankrupt. He was able to get a loan and a job, but the last time we met him he lost his wallet on the way to meet us, and the next day he had an accident at work that may cause him to lose his job. But he wants to meet us because he definitely believes that meeting with us will help him. He's a nice guy.

We were also invited to participate in a group discussion with some 7th day Adventists. They brought in some of the other missionaries, and there were about 15 of them, all foreign and speaking English, started asking sincere questions about our religion. They are super curious and really want to learn more about us and the Book of Mormon, and told them to invite us, their friends. They sent us a list of questions they have and told us to teach them. We're pretty excited.

 We have what we call the 12 week program, a 2 transfer program that trainers use with their trainees to help learn how to be a missionary. We had the midway followup conference this week, so I got to see a few friends, including Elder Smith, my MTC companion, on our 1 year mark! A bunch of our sentences started with 'crazy, that a year ago you....'

 

Someone took us out to dinner one night, and it was really good, until you look and notice the meat you're cooking at your table wasn't shaved, so you can see little black hairs poking out of the fat. Mmmm.

 

The Mongolians in our ward who speak a little Korean just had a baby at the beginning of October, and they invited us over for dinner. The food was super good, they gave us so much. They're wonderful, and will teach me Mongolian, and I'll teach them English. 

 

I think I say this every time, but fast Sundays are always my favorite. We're really blessed when the missionaries and ward members get together and fast for a specific cause. We had an investigator, 65 years old, randomly show up at the start of Sacrament meeting, and he loved it. Absolutely loves our church. Says it's super unique. We taught him and set another appointment. Then our district of missionaries went out and proselyted together, and we met so many people. In under 2 hours we were able to have good conversations with tons of people, and received 19 phone numbers for return appointments. Usually we get about 10 numbers a week. I'm grateful to have a companion that's so driven and to have the Lord helping us at every turn. This is His work, and it's moving forward!

Until next week,

 

SUFFER A LOT!

 

That's how they say goodbye in Korean. Legit.

Love you all!

Jordan

Almost One Year...

Hey everybody,

It's almost Halloween, which means I'm heading up on my 1 year mark. It's a strange sensation, time has a strange way of passing on a mission. The days feel like weeks, but the weeks feel like days. And yet, every second can be pure bliss - as long as you make it so.

This week was good, we kept busy with going to the temple on Tuesday and buying groceries, we met with investigators, talked to a lot of college kids, and had a musical fireside.

We had to drop a lot of investigators this week, some, like SSS, said he got a job and couldn't meet anymore, he'll be working 12 hours a day every day. Others said they'd be busy for the next...year. And the rest just stopped answering their phones. We still have plans for a baptism this coming week, but he hasn't answered his phone for a week. He would accept everything we taught him and we were able to see him really change, but it seemed like he just dropped off the face of the planet. It's hard, because regardless if he gets baptized or not, I still want to talk to him. Just like SSS. They're my friends, and I love them. It's hard when people can't see past the suit and name tag and see a person underneath. But I still think he'll be able to contact us soon and we'll figure out if he will still be baptized soon or not.

Still enjoying every moment and definitely loving the weather. We started to call all of the members and get their available time, so that when we schedule an appointment, we have to find a member available at that time. Now we can schedule our appointments according to the member's time. We didn't finish, calling took a long time, but at church they started passing around a calendar for members to fill out. Wonderful. We were so happy.

The work is tiring, humbling, frustrating, and hard. But it's one of the most fun things I've ever done.

I love it out here! Korea pride. 뿅!

Elder Franchina

Onions On My Sneakers

Onions on my sneakers yiroboon! That's how we say hello.

What a week. It seems like time is just flying by, approaching my year mark.

My emails seem to be getting a bit routine, so I'll attempt to spice them up.

The biggest focus we have right now is DY, our investigator that will be baptized next month. He said, after meeting this week, that he's starting to recognize that this is a 'true thing', not just something that's good. He is repenting and changing his life, and is enjoying the blessings that come with it. He wasn't comfortable getting baptized this week, so he wanted to move it to November 3rd, just so he can have more time to prepare and pray more. He is an incredible guy and I love him. He's kind of quiet and shy, but then you get him talking about his bboy competitions and he'll whip out youtube and show you his dances. He's passionate about that. I can also see him developing a passion for church. He doesn't view it as something he has to do, but something he gets to do, and it's a good opportunity for him to learn more and to meet with us. After a few more meetings I'm sure he'll be ready to be baptized. I'm so proud of him and how he's doing.

SSS is doing alright, we have already taught him all of the lessons, so now when we meet it's kind of to resolve concerns and to address questions. I feel like we don't really get anywhere, and so we feel like we need to drop him. It's not something I want to do, but we can't really teach him any more. We have taught him all we can and showed him how to know for himself, but now the ball is in his court and he needs to act. That's the beauty of this message, is that you don't have to take our word for it, you can come to know through your own experiences, directly from God. And what better witness than from God? (see D&C 6:24). I hope not meeting him for a few weeks will show him the drastic change of the absence of the spirit from his life. He is really sincere and is concerned about things like blind faith and praying sincerely, so I know he really wants to know, and he cares about these things, but now it's up to him.

We have another investigator, SSS2, who is doing pretty good. It's different, teaching someone who has absolutely no knowledge of Christianity, but we're doing well with him. He's nice, and is willing to learn.

We met a new investigator on Saturday morning. Last week he stopped us and asked us for a Book of Mormon and other pamphlets we had, and we met him at a coffee shop later, and he came to our church on Saturday morning. He's baptist, and has really strong faith, but he said he's willing to learn more about Christ, if more information exists. He's really nice and very knowledgeable. Teaching him is fun, and he reads the scriptures insatiably. He's also really good at table tennis. I told him I played around in High School, and he wanted to play. He brought his $220 racket and destroyed me. The matches were around 11-5 every time. But at the end, I told him about my $20 paddle, and he said, 'Real sportsmen don't blame the tool.' So we switched paddles and I beat him 11-6. ㅋㅋ

We have a few college students that are investigating our church, one even lived in Provo for a few years when he attended high school as an exchange student. They're coming to church next week, so we're really excited.

We still meet with Pastor JJJ, and we met his boy, Peace, this week. We talked to Pastor JJJ about authority a little, and will continue to talk more about that later. As far as I know, Protestants don't believe that the Catholic church has the proper authority, and so that's what he likes about our church, that we and him see eye to eye on a few things. He said now he recognizes us as Christians.

We visited a few members, and I just have to say, we have some of the best members ever. One of our members, after watching conference, where they said, 'Until you know a missionary's face and name, and their investigators, the Lord can't help you know their heart', she made a list of all of the missionaries and our investigators in our ward, which is over 40 names, and prays for us specifically. She teaches with the missionaries more than 3 times a week, and helps us out so much. I am so grateful for members that help out the missionaries.

We met a member that went to America last year for an 8 month exchange program, and his host family brought him to church. He liked it, and after meeting with the missionaries for 2 months he was baptized! That was this Feb., and he came back to Korea a few months ago, and his parents are very against it. It's hard for him to come out to church because they won't let him, but he does all he can. He's an amazing guy. I love the members in our ward.

On Saturday a member in our ward had a wedding! The groom was baptized this February, so since his family aren't members of the church, they just had a normal wedding. I'm was excited to go to experience a Korean wedding. It was pretty modern, and there wasn't really a reception (as far as we know), so it was over pretty quick, but it was nice, our Stake President married them. It was neat to see it, and they looked so happy.

Nothing much else happened this week, the work is moving on, and we're staying busy!

Love you guys!

Elder Franchina

General Conference

Hello everyone!

This weekend was great. We all got together and watched General Conference. I really enjoyed the talks, and the topics that seemed to stand out were the stresses on member missionary work, looking forward with hope and courage, and love. One person we're teaching is struggling to find an answer to his prayers, and often asks, 'What if I get an answer, but decide to join a different Christian church?' We express our happiness that he would find Christ. That he will have his conviction and testimony of Christ and God, and that he's willing to go to church to learn more about them. But we expressed our sorrow that he would be knowingly rejecting more truth, or will be closing the door and not be willing to learn more. But I appreciated Elder Uchtdorf's talk, about how we respect agency. We don't force people to come in and stay. We are sad when people decide to leave, but respect the right to worship, and rejoice when Christians can find common ground and respect others. 

It seems that religion, as Elder Holland described once, is not a common ground, it's a battleground. People often try to prove one thing right or one thing wrong, or when they see you walking toward them, expect you to do the same. But they're often surprised when you ask, 'What's the favorite part about Buddhism? Why do you like your religion?', and show genuine interest in them, and don't force them to do anything. They're much more willing to meet when you say, 'I have a knowledge of this, and I want to offer you the opportunity to have it too.' It sounds much better and less awkward in Korean. Anyway, what I'm trying to say, is something I've learned over the weeks, is that agency plays a huge role in our lives, and a lot of the time, it's so frustrating. Some people are so close, and they choose not to. Others choose to ignore you even when you're just saying hello. But I can choose every day to be happy and Christlike, and 'choose...this day to serve the lord'.

Our investigator that's close to baptism might have to wait a week or two, his uncle died, so he was super busy with family stuff, and this week is testing week in school, so no one has any time. But he says he's praying about the book of Mormon and is feeling good about it.

As I approach my year mark I've been reflecting on what I've become so far, and what I'm trying to become, and looking at goals I've set. Some goals need to be adjusted, but I really appreciate my mission for giving me the perspective of how important time and goals are. Everything I've achieved so far has been from setting goals, and then working to achieve that.

Thank you for all you do and for the support you give! Like they said in conference, pray for missionaries and their investigators daily, and God will touch and guide them.

Elder Franchina

New Companion, New Suit

Hello!

So right off the bat, I know you want to know who my new companion is.....

It's.....

Elder SMITH! Not the one from the MTC, but we high fived and acted like it was us. Then we realized a brand new greenie was walking towards me. Darn. Wrong Smith. But seriously, he's awesome. Tall, funny, and smart. Studied at MIT, his mom's an opera singer, so for the first half of his life they spent the years moving around the world. He spent about a year in each country, including Germany, England, France, Spain, Italy, South America, and after learning tons of languages, settled in Oceanside California, by San Diego. He's a genius, his Korean is really good. He works hard, and keeps us having fun.

There's now 7 elders in our house, a former AP is training and has another companion who has been here for 9 weeks. There's 5 elders in our ward! Insane! It's a lot of fun. I think we'll do well together. He's logical, like don't leave the front door open. Mosquitoes will come in. Seems like other people in our house don't get that logic. Yet.

We have picked up quite a few new investigators up, and are still teaching our old ones, so we're doing really well! We met an old policeman and his friend, so they took us out to dinner the next day. When we met the first time, we gave him a book of Mormon, and he actually read the introduction! He loves it, and said it seems like it's the fastest way to God. All churches are trying to get people to God, and our church seems to know the fastest way. He explained this all as we sat in a circle in a park using a coffee cup to represent God. We'll teach about the Word of Wisdom later. ;) He listens well and seems to take us very seriously. Our b boy dancer friend is doing well, he really wants to get baptized! We set a date for the 20th of this month, and hopefully we can get everything taught by then!

This week was really crazy with transfers so we said goodbye to members, and then when Elder Smith came we introduced him to everyone, and then getting settled in and introducing him to the area, all of that was really fun and kept us busy. There's no Korean in our house anymore, just 7 Americans, but it's fun. Last P day we went on a hike and took really nice pictures, and today we'll go to the flea market to look for winter clothes and fun Korean things, then off to Costco!

I'm really excited for conference. We wait a week for it to be translated to Korean, but there's no way I could understand it all, so we'll watch it at the same time, just in another room in English. I'm really excited!

Well, I'm super happy but nothing else is really coming to mind! The weather is wonderful! We go on jogs in the morning for about 15 minutes down the riverside by our house, it's nice to see some nature in Seoul. I think I developed allergies, with all of the pollution here, but my handy dandy zone leader hooked me up with some Claritin. At least that's what I think it is. But it's helping I think! I have a theory: Every time I get a new missionary straight from the MTC, I get sick. Maybe I'm allergic to America. Sorry guys.

Anyway, gotta go eat some more Kim chi.

Byeong!

Elder Franchina

Ward Game Night

Thanks for your emails!

This week was very fun, but went by so fast. When anticipating transfer calls, the time will go by so slow, but will then soon pass you by, as the tricksy tortoise always does.

The weather is cooling down, so we are so happy. I love it, it sure makes it easier to be comfortable and happy when you talk to people on the street.

We met with Pastor XXXX on Tuesday like usual. He's great. His wife couldn't come, but we were still able to discuss doctrine. It seems that as soon as we started teaching him, I started to notice articles and talks in the Liahona about teaching simply, teaching only pure doctrine, and avoiding speculation. That helps a lot, because of course he wants to go deep into what each translation means, and sometimes that gets jumbled. We explained clearly our belief on baptism and eternal marriage, and he explained what he learned about baptisms for the dead. I love talking with him, but it seems that at the end of the lessons, he chalks it up to 'well, this is your translation and interpretation, and this is my interpretation.' But he still has potential. I quite enjoy meeting with him.

We referred the two girls we met to the sisters, and it turns out they're really prepared. They don't have a religion, but are looking for something.

A while ago we met a grandpa that keeps calling because he wants chocolate. Korean chocolate isn't good for you. And naturally, since I'm American, I carry around American chocolate with me. When you sent me the s'mores kit (THANK YOU THANK YOU!!), we met with him and gave him some chocolate. He was really grateful.

We also met with our new investigator, the one that called us a week or two ago and came to church. He's a b boy, a dancer like Andrew Dransfield. he's really nice, and super humble. We taught him about the gospel of Jesus Christ, and he accepted the invitation to be baptized! We haven't set a date, but I have a feeling it will be before the end of this month. He's great.

We spent the next day preparing for the game night. We sat down, made flyers, gave them to all of our members at their homes, then the next day, called all of them, then sent a mass text the next day. We really wanted a lot of people to come. It was a big success. We didn't get the attendance we wanted, but we had about 40-50 people show up, not including the missionaries. It was fun, we met members, less actives, and investigators in our stake. We played a lot of 'minute to win it' type games. We were in charge of the chopstick stacking game. They used chopsticks to stack caramels. That was interesting. They were all so good at using chopsticks so the games were intense. At the end we all tied balloons to our ankles and had a game to pop others' balloons while protecting ours. Then we played ping pong soccer, using your breath to protect your side of the table. That was so fun. We had our president show up, and he was a good sport and played all of the games! It was a lot of fun.

So overall, this week was super stressful, trying to put together a whole stake activity, but we saw miracles through it all.

I love you all!

Elder Franchina

Chusuk, A Korean Thanksgiving

Our Mission! See if you can spot Jordan....

You're right about XXXX. But he gave up tea pretty easily. He doesn't understand why we can't drink red or green tea, but we just suggested to switch to a different tea. God commanded it, so just switch one tea for the other. It wasn't hard. But, smoking is. This week was 추석, Chusuk, a kind of Korean thanksgiving. He was out with his family, so he didn't smoke at all. He was able to go over 2 days without smoking! He's doing really well, and we are really excited for him. We moved his baptismal date back a week, but we're still going to be trying really hard with him.

This week was very strange. On Tuesday we had a Chusuk party for English class, which was really fun. We had 3 investigators come and the sisters had one come. We will cancel our English class until October 1st, because we're switching books and starting a 'new semester'. Wednesday we did a mission-wide fast, so we ate at a buffet for lunch and then just went out and proselyted for hours. 

Thursday was mission conference, which was amazing. Missionary work has been going through a 'slump' in Korea over the past few years, so President thought it would be good to have a fast. They gave training and talked a lot about 'daily bread'. We watched a few videos on it that Elder Christoffersen narrated, and President talked about how we need to take missionary work one day at a time. We expect big miracles right now, but we need to be grateful for the little ones we collect every day. After all, getting manna from heaven was definitely a miracle. So when it's hard, when you don't want to work anymore, just take one more step. One more step. Take it one day at a time, and look for the Lord's hand in your lives. It's there, and when you express gratitude for what He's done, he'll open the gates of heaven and pour out blessings. It was a great conference, and it was really fun to see friends and old companions. 

On Chusuk, there's 'travel days' where, on Wednesday they travel to their family's house, then Chusuk is Thursday, then Friday is another travel day. It's eerie, because during Chusuk, there is NO ONE on the streets. You can't find anyone. And you can't knock doors, because partly of culture during Chusuk and stuff. So we had our mission conference on Thursday, then Friday was 'clean day', where we deep cleaned our whole house from top to bottom. It didn't take us too long, having 4 elders who are fairly clean anyway. So after we went to the market to see if they had any 'black Friday sales'. 

Saturday was our P day, so we got together with another zone, and all 50 of us played basketball, ping pong, Uno, all sorts of games, then we got permission to watch the movie "The best 2 years."  I've never seen it before! It was funny because we were all seeing this from a missionary's perspective. Quite enjoyable. 

Sunday was good, none of our investigators showed up to church, but it was still a very spiritual 3 hours where I enjoyed the company of our ward members. After church 2 girls called us. We met their dad on the street last week and he sent them to us to learn about our church and to practice English. They are really nice, and we'll probably refer them to the sisters this week.

Then, for dinner, we got meat from a member as a gift, so we had a really good dinner, then finished it off with SMORES! Thanks mom, Elder 장 loves them.

Today isn't P day, but we're still emailing to keep the regular schedule of Monday emails. After this we'll go visit members and share the news of our stake game night this Saturday. It'll be fun, and I PROMISE I'll take more pictures. We didn't take many pictures during Chusuk, we were kept pretty busy, but I have a few to send to you.^^

Love you all!

Elder Franchina

Another Busy Week!

Army Base Cafeteria

Hello all~

This week was crazy busy, stuffed full of miracles.

In the past 2 weeks we have found 7 new investigators.

One guy I really like, Mr 전 is 20, and really wants to learn about Christ. We gave him a card a few weeks ago, but since we talk to hundreds of people a week, when we met with him, I didn't recognize him. He called us back and said to meet on Saturday. He's so eager. He bought a Bible just to study it with us, and when we offered him our Book of Mormon for free, he was exceedingly grateful. He came to church and read the entire intro of the BOM, including the testimony of the 3, 8, and Joseph Smith. He loves our message!

Anyway, first, the adventures of the week.

Monday was good, we just went to the bathhouse to relax. At FHE XXXXX came, and he was trying to be witty with one of our members who's from America, and they just went back and forth for about 10 minutes, it was hilarious. The sisters lost it, they started laughing so hard, but FHE was great, we all learned about prophets.

Tuesday. We skipped lunch to meet with Pastor XXXXX and his wife. We taught them the Plan of Salvation, and they really liked it. They loved the scriptures in the Bible about baptisms for the dead, and the scriptures that talk about the pre earth life and postmortal existence. Some things were kind of new to them. They did have a question about eternal families, because in Matt 22:30, Christ says there's no marriage in heaven. So we kind of traded scriptures, and went home to study them later. I looked at it and realized that it's talking about being married of the world, as clarified in the same parable in Luke, and we need the saving ordinance of sealings in the temple, revealed to Joseph Smith towards the end of D&C.

Then we went a little out of our area to meet a guy we met on the street last week. Pretty sure he's a mob boss. He took us to the abandoned level of a warehouse and it was empty except for a few people drinking coffee on the cement floor, and then his all glass office with a giant Korean flag and a desk. But he was so nice and loved to talk, but just didn't have that much interest. But we can meet with him again if we want. We might drop by again sometime.  On the way home we met a really nice guy on the subway and gave out a few Book of Mormons. We met with XXXXX, and he's still smoking, but will really try. I don't know if he has a lot of faith in himself. But I know he can do it if he commits himself. If he stops smoking, he'll get his answer and will be baptized.

Wednesday I woke up after a dream where I became AP. Nightmare. So I solved my problems by making nachos for lunch (thank you Costco!). We visited some members, who turned out to be the first Korean Senior couple missionaries ever! They served in the Philippines Milan temple. They're so nice!

Thursday we had follow up training for the trainers and trainees, which was fun. We reviewed a lot about talking to people on the street.

Friday we met the guy that spoke to me on the bus. He's really nice, and brought two friends to meet us! They're really nice, and one friend lived in Provo for 2 years and went to high school, then went to Oregon for 2 years for college. He knows a little about our church and has quite a few Mormon friends, of course. They're really nice, and we all get along well.

Saturday we went to the temple right after lunch, and were able to do confirmations and baptisms for the dead. I was able to do it in Korean, which was a cool experience. It was a large stake activity, so there were a lot of people! After that we hurried back to church to meet Mr 전, who I already explained about. He's awesome.

Sunday was incredible. We sang a song in sacrament, but changed the song that morning, so only had about 20 minutes to practice, but it still turned out okay, and right after that, Mr 전 showed up! He wasn't feeling well due to a kidney problem, but he still came and stayed all 3 hours! Right after sacrament XXXXX and another new investigator showed up. This guy, Mr XXXXX, is about 60, and we met him on the street a few weeks ago. He thought he'd try going to our church a few times. It was so fun to see all of them at church! 

We didn't have much time for personal study or language study, so we planned to do that at night. So at around 7:30 we're doing language study, and I really felt like we should go out and talk to people on the street. Best language study, right? So we went out, and not 20 seconds after we walked out, we met this guy holding those long rubber chickens that squeak. He came up to us and said, 'HELLO! LEMME BUY YOU A DRINK!' He lives right by our house and sometimes sees us leave, but never met us. So he bought us some juice and we talked for over a half hour. He was so nice, and wants to buy us lunch on Tuesday. He loves fish, and showed us lots of pictures of his fish tank. I thought of you, dad, and told him that you have a pretty cool fish tank.

Now we have around 11 investigators, and it's stressful to try to juggle them all, but we get help from both sides of the veil! Things are really picking up. We have transfer calls at the end of the month (this transfer was a long 9 weeks for some reason), so I don't know what's going to happen! All I do know is that we're getting 2 new elders next transfer, so we'll have 4 elders in our ward. That'll be fun!

We've had some rainstorms and cool weather, and now some hot weather. Today, Monday, we went to the Army base with our ward mission leader. We ate, then played a few rounds of mini golf. That was fun. It really feels like America there. I didn't have my camera, but if the other missionaries that were there send me the pictures, I'll forward them your way.

I love the work, and even though it's extraordinarily stressful, it's extraordinarily blissful.

Love you all!

Elder Franchina

Humility & Miracles

Thanks for the pickle juice picture, that made my day. I love elder Holland, and love that quote.

I might by a hair trimmer soon, like what you used to cut my hair. I'm actually getting really good at cutting hair. I cut the elders' hair that live in our house. They love it. BE PROUD OF ME MOM!

I also have a problem with my shoes, they split at the seam of the shoe and sole up by the toe, by my pinky toe. I am trying to glue it shut, hopefully sealing it before it rains or snows, but it's not working. I might need to buy a new pair of shoes for the winter. These shoes are just fine for the summer, I don't mind the rip. But I can get some good shoes here in Korea. I'll just need to look around.

I'm thinking of buying a new camera, mine is still having the problem with the spots and stuff, and I don't think the pictures are good quality. I can go to Costco and get a new one for a good price, what do you think? I can send this camera home and have you two use it, but otherwise, I wouldn't use it. It's just a little bulky and not the best. But I don't NEED a new one, so I'm kind of stuck. I don't want to be wasteful. I'll think about it.

 

Speaking of which, thanks for your thoughts on pride. I'm trying to prepare well and watch and learn from other leaders.  Thank you for your advice on humility, I'll study those and think about it. I need to become more humble. Honestly, my Korean is good, but it could be a lot better. Also, the way I use my talents to help people is more of a 'hey, I'm doing good, let me show you what I can do and you can learn from me' instead of a 'hey, I learned this the hard way' or helping in a more 'humble manner'. So I'm working on that.

 

This week was good. We met a pastor, who goes by the name Pastor XXXXX. He and his wife are both bible scholar evangelists, but when they visited America, they toured through the states and stopped in Salt Lake. They visited our HQ and met a Korean Missionary at Temple Square. He's fascinated with the Book of Mormon and wants to learn so much about it. But they ask questions like, 'were the Nephites Palestinians?' and such. Not like questions we're used to getting. But they're really sincere and would never dare to bible bash. I'm so excited to teach them more.

 

We're revamping our English class and have so far, found 4 investigators through it. The sisters in our area have found 2, and we have 2.

We're continuing to see miracles on the street. I gave a book of Mormon to one guy, and he was so nice. He thought he should give me a book in return. He had just purchased a Hardy Brother's book, and gave that to me. He was Korean, but spoke mostly Russian. If he meets us again, I think he'll be interesting to teach:)

 

Elder Diede's Korean is getting really good, he's improved so much. We really get along well.

 

Not much else to report this week.

 

 

LOVE YOU!!

 

Elder Franchina

300 Days as a Missionary!

That's interesting, and I'm excited to help you and Gary with the temple work. That will be a really special, sacred time. I'm so grateful for temples. That brings us to this week's activities.

We went to the temple last Tuesday! That was great. It was my 300th day as a missionary, and we got together with Elder Smith, my MTC comp and his greenie, and went to a nice restaurant. That was fun.

On Monday we had a cool experience. We do family home evening on mondays, where some ward members just come over, we share a quick message, play some games, and maybe eat some food. One lady in our ward is Mongolian, and doesn't speak much Korean, but she's SUPER pregnant. She was expecting the baby this week, so some of her family from Mongolia came over. So her family doesn't speak any Korean, and only one of them speaks a little English, and we had other Koreans from our ward there. We're trying to teach a message, and I first say it in English, and the husband will translate it into Mongolian for his family, I translate it into Korean for the Koreans, and then if the Mongolian family says anything, he translates it into English and I translate it to Korean. Crazy. It was a night full of short, simple sentences. But it was cool having that experience, speaking three different languages and translating. The Mongolian wife bore her testimony to her husband, he translated it to English, and I translated it into Korean. It was a special experience, having two or three language barriers, but still feeling the Spirit strongly.

One of our friends that comes to English class had an eye procedure done, so his whole face was numb for English class. He was embarrassed, so he held a book in front of his face the whole time. It was kind of creepy but hilarious when you would hear laughter coming from behind the book, but his eyes would be completely serious. He's a funny guy. He actually came to church yesterday, too! The sisters began teaching him.

Today we're doing ALL OF THE THINGS! Shopping, fixing, relaxing, eating, having fun. Sorry I haven't taken many pictures, I'll get on that.

Maybe I'll try to take a video of us playing ping pong and mail the card home.

Thanks for your thoughts on trust. I think you're right, it boils down to action. 걍 한다. Just do it. If you do, you'll do everything you can until you can't do anymore, and will have to rely on the Lord.

Love you all!

Elder Franchina

Any News from Home?

Utah had a rainstorm? The biggest ever? What, 3 inches of rain? I remember a few big rainstorms in my life, but nothing like what I've seen here. I can't even remember what the weather was like back in Utah. How can Korea ever be cold? It's so hot.

Genealogy seems to be a fun but challenging task. But when Christ comes he'll ask for our book of records, and we need to prepare it!

I'm doing good, it's just hot. We're really trying hard to have a better relationship with the ward, and we're working on finding new investigators. I think the most important thing is to just be myself. No one wants to talk to a gospel teaching robot. They want people. Friends. Family. Someone they can trust. 

XXXXX doing well and we have a good relationship with him. But he really is trying. He is still searching for his answer, and is working on the word of wisdom. We moved his baptismal date back, but I think at the rate he's progressing, he'll do fine. 

This week we did a lot of finding. Our lessons fell through, mostly, so we did a lot of street finding. It was fun! We met a lot of people, including Jesus Christ. He's a nice, slightly plump and balding Asian man around the age of 40. Speaks softly and kindly, and said hi to me. We might meet him this week again.

I played intense ping pong last Monday with some other Koreans. They all grew to love me because I'm just as good as them in ping pong.

On the street a man approached us and asked what kind  of Christians we were. We said Mormons, and he was thrilled! He's a preacher for another Christian faith, but lived in Kentucky for three years with his wife, then right before coming back, drove across the united states, and stopped in Utah and visited our headquarters. He really wants to learn about the Book of Mormon. He said we could meet later at a park by where we first met on the street, so after we said goodbye we went to go find the park. The only problem is, it's right by the red light district.. I didn't know we had one. Luckily it was only 3:00 in the afternoon when we walked by, so there wasn't anyone around, but dad, it made me think of that story you told me where your cheap apartment was right in the middle of the red light district. I couldn't imagine that. That just makes me laugh, that your mission pres. didn't know that. That's awkward. 

Our bank manager guy is doing well, he liked our message about families, and is going to read the family: a proclamation to the world, and will think about it. We'll meet him later this week. 

We have a few meetings with new people this week, I'm pretty excited for that. 

Sorry I didn't bring my camera with me, I'll send pictures next week. 

Any news from home? What's going on on your side of the world? Anything special? You know, you can keep sending me pictures too:) I feel a bit hypocritical though, not sending you pictures today ;)

Love you all!

Elder Franchina

Views of Dongdaemun & Comfortable Pants!

Here, the horizon isn't visible. You just see a lot of buildings. But in Sokcho, the sunrises and sunsets were amazing. We really didn't see any sunrises, because we study until 12, but sunsets were nice, setting over Seorak mountain. 

There was just a lot of small houses piled together, and some farming fields, with a lot of mountains. 

 

Tired missionaries after a cleaning trash service project

We found some cool stuff shopping. You can make your own personal MLS soccer jersey for $15 (I'm sure Jeff Hansen would die if he heard it was this cheap), so today we're going to go make ours. You pick the team or country, the jersey style, your name, number, and everything. It's fun and they're really comfortable. They're really breathable so it's nice to wear when you can.

Showing support for Uncle Phil's mayoral campaign!

The bathhouses are nice, there's a few pools with different temperatures, some have massage jets, some have tea in the water, etc. The one in Sokcho is one we have to go to when we go back to Korea after my mission. It's really nice.

XXXXX is doing well, he came to church yesterday! It was a really good experience. He is still waiting for an answer, but is willing to give up things, like the word of wisdom stuff, to be more able to recognize his answer. He's doing well. He's really sincere and is searching for the truth. 

Other than him, there aren't very many investigators. But we're meeting some really nice people. Someone we met, was super nice. He said, after exchanging a few words, 'have you eaten yet? Can me and my wife buy you food?' So he took a taxi with us to a restaurant where we met his wife, and we ate together. That usually never happens. He said he went to Hawaii with his wife for a honeymoon 2 years ago, and because Americans were so nice to him, he wanted to be nice to us. Also, his wife believes in Christ, so he thought we'd get along well. They're both physical therapists, and are the nicest couple. The only thing is, they DON'T LIVE IN OUR AREA! So we'll refer them somewhere else, but I have a really good feeling about them. 

The most comfortable pants, EVER!

Also, I've found the most comfortable pants ever. '할머니 바지'. "Grandma pants."  They're stretchy and really thin, so they're really refreshing in the summer. But they're super stretchy, so they fit fat grandmas, but for skinny people, they're like McHammer parachute pants. I bought some, and am currently wearing them out in public. I could not be happier. They feel amazing. I need to buy a huge stock for when I go home. They'll be my pajamas.

Our Zone leader is now teaching an ax murderer. He wanted to learn about the church, then when they met, he told them he's on parole for hitting a police officer in the head with an ax. But they're still teaching him. That's an interesting situation.

The work is moving forward! I love this area and I definitely love Korea. 

And hey, today is my comp's birthday, he has the same bday as Lloyd! Small world. We'll celebrate today!

I love you all!

Feeling A Lot Better & Chocolate Pudding!

Jordan's mission president (President Christensen) is a surgeon, so I believe he has basic medical training! It's a comfort to know that not only he is spiritually watching over these missionaries, he is monitoring their health and well-being....

I'm feeling a lot better now, I went to the doctor, got some medicinal mouthwash and stuff. I used a flashlight and saw what was in my throat and got scared. I immediately dragged my companion to the hospital. My throat was all swollen and colorful. I think it might have been a strain of strep? Either way, it was miserable, and I had symptoms up the wazoo. I tried teaching lessons, but even though we had AC, I was sweating bullets and had a fever. I talked to President Christensen, and he said it seems like I have a virus, so no matter if I work or not, it'll stay for its duration and go away later. So I figured I could either be miserable inside doing nothing, or miserable outside, letting my trainee talk to Koreans. :)  It was fun, he's doing so well.

Air Conditioner!!!

Our apartment in Dongdaemun...it's the largest one in the mission!

But this week, we didn't get much done. Towards the evenings, like viruses do, I got a lot worse so I had to go home, but we were able to finally meet with xxxxx again. He has been out of town. His baptismal date was for the 4th, but since he hasn't come to church once and hasn't yet received an answer, he didn't get baptized. But we met again, adjusted his date, and encouraged him to keep trying for an answer. Yesterday we fasted for our half-convert, who was baptized before I came to this area, but even after visiting multiple times a week, every week, he still never came out to church to get confirmed. We even took the bishopric to his house, but he wasn't there. But this week we fasted for him, and even though we weren't able to see him at church, the bishopric went with us to his house, and the bishop gave him the gift of the Holy Ghost. It was a cool experience, but now he's already less-active. So we'll work on him. I just think he's a bit shy, and our ward is kind of big.

But now we have sisters in our area, and they're amazing, so we're working together a lot to make family home evening and English class really fun and a good way to find new people to teach! Tomorrow we have a big service project where we're going to a park to clean up trash, so that should be fun!

 

My trainee is doing great. His Korean is improving so much! He's really easy to get along with, along with the other two elders in our house.

Quick funny story before I finish.

Last Friday we wanted to do something nice for some members in the ward. One of our sisters suggested we make them pudding. So she got the recipe and we made homemade pudding, cornstarch, cocoa, and all. It was fun and it tasted pretty good. But the problem was we added the eggs to the mix while it was still a little too hot, so there were small chunks of egg yolk. It looked gross, but tasted fine. Next problem: We didn't have disposable bowls or Tupperware to give them out in. Just bags. So we spooned some yolk-y pudding into bags, and tied a knot at the top. Didn't look pretty. But it tasted fine, so we didn't worry. They looked ridiculous though. We get to one member's house, the Mongolians in our ward, and they weren't home. So we stuck a card we made for them in the door, and left the pudding at the foot of the door. But it was dark, and we didn't want them to step on it, so we laid it over the door handle and left. It was quite ridiculous. We weren't sure if we should actually do it or not, but the sisters said yes, so we did. We talked to the Mongolians the next day, and they said they got it, and ate it, without knowing what it was, and said it was delicious! When we gave it to another member, she looked at the sisters and was like, 'What is this? Is it edible?' It was so funny. But they all loved it.

Chocolate Pudding, anyone??

Anyway, that's our adventures for this week. Today: Dongdaemun shopping and bathouses!

Love you guys!

Elder Franchina