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