A More Difficult Road

This week was great. We met with T again.  She is doing so well, we taught her
the plan of salvation this past week. She said she is feeling like the Book of
Mormon is true, and that she needs to be baptized a second time, this
time it being her choice, not as a baby. She wants to show the Lord
that she's willing to follow him. We committed her to baptism, but it
was almost as if she committed to it before we asked. She's
incredible. Everything we talk about makes sense to her, and agrees
with 'her' beliefs. 

We met with a few new people, in that group are: A Nigerian, a mid
20's Korean, and a 91 year old Korean whom we first met at the
bathhouse. That's a great first impression, right?ㅋㅋ

We see a lot of potential in the investigators we have, we just need
to stay on top of things and not let one person slip through the
cracks. That's my worst fear.

KEN's confirmation went really well. Elder Harrison did a great
job, then we met with the Turners that night and talked about temple
work. KEN is so excited to do baptisms, then later marry in the
temple. It turns out that he knows where the temple in Nigeria is.
He's seen it so much because it's on the main road right by his house!
So no matter where he goes, he'll be close to the temple. That's a
comfort to me. He is getting ready to do work for his parents and
other relatives, and even plans on finding a wife soon! He's a great
man and has had a great influence on me.

I love this work and the influence it's had on me. I wouldn't have it
any other way. Similar to Robert Frost's poem, the road less traveled,
I'd like to change it to a more difficult road. We, as members of the
church, take the road that may be more difficult, and that has made
all the difference.

May we all take the road less traveled by. The harder, but more
rewarding road of discipleship.

Elder Franchina

KEN's Baptism

This week was great, all culminating with KEN's baptism.

It started with meeting a referral from the Embassy housing, so we went over for dinner to a member's house, and they had a friend, TRA, with them. She's had experiences from miscarriages and being told they're in hell, to abusive parents, and she has a lot of questions.  After hearing more about our church, she said she feels like she's been a 'closet Mormon' her whole life. Everything she disagrees with her church, she agrees with our church. The family was wonderful in helping teach, even the 16 year old son. This coming week we're excited to meet her husband too.

We met a guy last Saturday who called immediately to take us out for dinner that night who is really interested. He seems Mormon already, the most important thing to him is family, and he really likes our stance on families. We feel like we're running into a lot of potential around here.

KEN's baptism went well. A less active Nigerian showed up that Elder Bell and Weight brought, and he bore a great testimony about baptism, and after the ordinance KEN bore a powerful testimony about God and his life. He knows and understands how important this is in his life. He's so excited to be baptized.  It was an incredible experience for all of us, and we're so happy for him. I can see a great future in the church for him, receiving callings and magnifying them. I've only known him for 15 days, but I know that he has received a manifestation from God that this is true, and that he will be a great member in this church.

These experiences and even the smaller ones that we have every day are just adding to my testimony that this is true. We see miracles daily in this church. I know that this church is the way to find the eternal happiness we're all searching for.

Elder Franchina

Mother's Day Call!!!

It was so good to talk to you today! I enjoyed it, even though it was brief. I, too, look forward to your letters every week. 

 

This week we had a miracle with our Nigerian investigator, KEN.  He was planning to meet us, but for the moment, he's living up by 의정부 (Uijeongbu), but he's moving to Seoul soon. He was coming to meet us, but he had a sudden job interview, so we thought that we weren't going to be able to meet him that day, but later, our other appointments canceled, and KEN showed up! He seems to really enjoy learning about the word of God.  He reads the Book of Mormon avidly. He read the first 20 chapters without us even asking him! Since he lost his job, all he does is study the Book of Mormon. 

 

Then he came to church yesterday, and saw a baptism, and we taught everything else needed before his baptism next week. The other 용산 (Yongsan) elders found a less active from Nigeria, and when he came to our church, he saw KEN, and it turns out that they know each other! So he was a great help in that. He even had a job offer for him that would move KEN right by our house. Everything worked out perfectly. He has such great faith and truly believes that through the grace of God, he can do anything.

Also, his friend that we met with on a different occasion, JOE, at first didn't want to be baptized a second time. We explained authority, but he refused it. We prayed so hard for him, and when we met on Saturday, he said that he could see himself getting baptized later, after he studies more.

 

I know this is the Lord's work, you can't trust 19 year olds with much, let alone the future of a company. But the Lord guides his true church, so we cannot fail!

 

Elder Franchina

This Is How We Do Missionary Work

This is how we do missionary work

On the sign:
How does god talk to me?
What is after this life?
What's the purpose of life?
Why does god let bad things happen to good people?

 

 

This week was incredible. We saw so many miracles. 

 

We met a 27 year old lady, JYG, on the street 4 different times, in four different parts of Seoul. Twice at places by our home, once in a different city by the temple, and once we were walking across a bridge, and a car drives by while she sticks her head out the window and yells, 'Changnonim!' (Elders). So she called us up and asked to meet. She doesn't believe in coincidences. We met with an RM in our ward that served in Tokyo, and the lesson went really well. She's really interested, and liked the member, and asked to meet again later this coming week. 

Preparing for Buddah's Birthday

We met with JOE from Nigeria again, and he's doing well. He knows the bible better than anyone, which is good when we talk about some doctrine, but when we talked about baptism he said he doesn't need it twice. We focused a lot on prayer, so if he receives an answer to his prayer, we're certain he'll get baptized. But while we met with him, I felt like I learned so much more about the Bible. Everything we said about anything, he could relate to a story. 'You know, that's why in Jeramiah, he said....' etc. He's great, and has a passion for his faith. 

 

Preparing for Buddah's Birthday

We met a new guy this week. Last week while we were waiting for the bus to go to church, we saw JOE (mentioned above), walking with a friend. His friend was so nice, gave us a bite of his fried chicken, and asked where our church was so he could come. His name is KEN and he's also from Nigeria. He couldn't make it to an appt this last week, but he showed up to church! We taught him the first lesson with the ward mission leader, and the spirit was really strong. I knew we had to ask him to be baptized. We asked him to prepare for the 18th of May, just two weeks from yesterday, giving him 3 weeks to come to church and prepare. His only concern was like JOE, being baptized twice, but Elder Harrison and I took things slowly, and explained authority from Acts 19, where people had to get baptized twice. I asked him again if he would be baptized. He immediately looked up after reading and said, 'I will, by the grace of God.' Meaning he'll get baptized because the grace of God has helped him know this is what he should do. I know it's such a short time, but he's prepared. Right after introducing the Book of Mormon, he said, 'this has to be true, it just makes sense.' It makes sense that God would talk to all nations, at all times, not just one at one time. Just as expected, this and other miracles happened on fast Sunday. It's always on fast Sundays that you see great miracles. 

Dr HNG is good, we finally met him again, and really worked hard on helping him understand that if he believes the Book of Mormon is true, then that means this is the restored church of God. He's taking a 4 year bible course, like seminary, but it's only once a week or so, and he says once he's done with that this December, he'll know enough to be baptized. But we encouraged him to set a goal for next month. 

We haven't been able to meet our other investigators yet though, but we're working on them.

We have started working with other less actives now. One is a guy that my MTC teacher baptized, and we were finally able to meet him yesterday! He came back to 신당 for school vacation, and came to church! It was great to meet him, and we'll get lunch on Tuesday to talk more. I was so excited to meet him, we heard so much about him at the MTC.

Please pray for KEN , and tell me of your missionary experiences back home!

Love you all, and look forward to talking next week!

Elder Franchina