What a great week.
We met a guy Monday night, MJG, and gave him a Book of Mormon, then
on Wednesday we met him again. He has read the bible quite often and
was interested in the Book of Mormon. He kind of has the mindset of
'what can I pull from this religion to help me?, so when he came to
church on Sunday we finished the first lesson and expanded on modern
prophets by teaching the word of wisdom. He liked it, but didn't want to
commit yet. He wants to read more though, so we're happy about that. He
seems to be more of an independent, nondenominational christian, but he
seems to have an interest in the Book of Mormon. The only thing is, he
went out of town after our lesson for two months for work. But, we were
able to meet with him twice, and while he's gone, he wants us to keep in
contact, refer scriptures to him via text, and he wants to come to
church when he comes back. It was great to have a member in our lesson
too, he offered so much help and a great perspective that we as
missionaries and members since childhood, can't offer. Sometimes it can
be really hard to get members in our lessons because we live so far out
of our own area, or the members are busy, but they are so valuable in
our lessons.
We plan on meeting with NDY and his wife CLN this Thursday,
we're really excited about them. They're really nice, and we have a
feeling like they have genuine interest about the Book of Mormon.
Our
biggest progress was with Dr. HNG. He invited us to a 설날 (New Year's Day) meal with his
daughter's family, and he wanted to introduces his grand kids to us. He
has 3 granddaughters around our age, and one is living around our area.
From the moment he walked in to the moment we left he went on and on
about how nice we are, how we're gentleman because we don't smoke,
drink, etc. It seemed at first like he was trying to introduce us as
potential husbands, but after a sec we realized that he was trying to
encourage her to go to our church. We shared our thanks and how we're grateful
for families, which can receive so many blessings through this message.
It was just nice to sit down and see how
much our investigator trusts and respects us. Next time we meet we'll
really focus on HIM getting baptized too. It's funny how he really wants
them to be baptized, but he's not jumping in the boat right away. But
we see a lot of potential with him.
In this current Liahona there's a talk by Richard G Scott and he
talks about ten guidelines for life, and one of them was to make a list
of principles to guide our lives in every aspect, so I decided to start
that list. I only have a few principles down, but I'm trying to think of
the fundamental doctrines and principles that govern the actions, not
just list the actions that I want to do. I'm also finding a few
scriptures to back them up. It's really helped me find direction to my
personal study, and not only do I read with purpose, but I also have
some silent moments to sit and think about what I really want, and plan
for my future life, including family. It's peaceful and exciting when I
think of another principle that I can see helping me and my future
family. Your mission is a good time to think about your standards and
character, and set a standard that will last your lifetime. The things
we learn and the goals we set on our mission won't just bless us for
these two years, but they teach us valuable lessons and principles that
we can carry with us throughout our whole lives.
As we focused on the Book of Mormon this month, we were able to see
huge miracles. Sometimes we'd go a few weeks without giving out a book,
but in just 31 days we were able to give out over 130 books. I don't
say this to boast, but to say how much I've learned about setting worthy
goals, and asking for the lord's help daily to accomplish them.
Whatever goals we set that are in line with God's will, He will provide a
way to accomplish it.
I've also began to meet many more Japanese people, it's weird. A
lot of old people that were here when Japan was occupying Korea will use
Japanese words here and there, for things like pants and desk, but I
haven't been able to pick up much. But I'm running into so many Japanese
people that I'm starting to carry around Japanese pamphlets and or a
Japanese book of Mormon. I can't read or speak Japanese, but I'll learn
just enough to say hello and offer them a book^^
This week we were able to go through the war museum again and see
more of it, and for the new year, our investigator invited us over to
his daughter's house (this guy is 84 years old). Every new years they do
SeBeh, which is where you bow to your parents and grandparents, and
wish them the blessings of a new year, and for luck, they'll give you
money. Sometimes $10, sometimes $200. But we were able to experience
that, and we SeBeh'd to our investigator, and he gave us a dollar. We
didn't do it for the money, but he said the ceremony wouldn't be
complete if we didn't get lucky money ㅋㅋ
Also, on two separate days in two separate places, I saw a guy
riding a bike with a cat on his shoulder. So the second time I saw him I
stopped him and took a picture. He's nice, and when I asked why, he
said, 'just 'cuz.' It's just for fun ㅋㅋ
I love you all and hope you had a wonderful New Year! (If you go by the lunar calendar)
Elder Franchina
This week we didn't see too much progress in many of our
investigators, we think HJ dropped us, and we can't meet with
MRC until Wednesday, but we were able to make huge progress with some
other investigators. KYJ was the guy we met our first night here, and
went on vacation for a month. We called to meet him again, and he said
he would be busy, but one night, after teaching NDY and his wife CLN, he called and said he wanted to meet. We met in a cafe and
taught the gospel of Jesus Christ. He mentioned how he liked the plan of
salvation, and how the hierarchy in heaven (celestial, terrestrial,
etc) is something that he believes in, and he thinks it's strange how
other churches don't believe in it. We had great conversations about
faith and the benefit it has on man, and we invited him to be baptized.
He said, 'Yeah, I've been thinking recently that I need to be baptized.
Why don't they focus on that more in other churches? It's so important.'
We set a date for March 2, and after that he said, 'I told my wife I'm
talking to 2 american missionaries about faith and church, and she said
she wants to listen too.' So he will introduce us to his wife soon! He
said that he likes church for the faith and gospel aspect, but his wife
likes church more for the community and friendship. She went to another
church recently, and she might feel guilty about going to another
church, but she'll probably come. We're so excited about this family. 
We weren't able to meet with Dr. HNG, and his granddaughter didn't come to
church or anything, but we're still trying to contact him frequently. 
