Rain.... And More Rain....

Hello everyone!

I'll start off the letter with last Pday. We went to our Zone leader's area and played ping-pong/other games. It was a lot of fun. We also went to Costco to eat, and got some delicious food. It's nice to have a selection of bulk American food, and bulk Korean food. Mmm.

The next few days included a lot of rain. And more rain. And some more here and there. It makes talking to people on the street hard, so we go visit people and put hearts and cute pictures on their doors! That's always a lot of fun. Until one of the security guards comes out when you walk up to the apartment and just says, 'no.' It's a little frustrating sometimes when they assume you're going to knock the doors and leave flyers everywhere. We explained we were visiting a member of our church, and he wouldn't listen. Needless to say, I might still be a little mad about that.

*rage quit*

So we move on the week. Going from place to place, even out of our area! I had the opportunity to go on exchanges with one of the Koreans in my house, I went to 이문(ee-moon). That was fun. We talked to a lot of people, walked around a college campus and met some people, and visited members. Their branch president was really nice to me and gave me a lot of advice.

We had a few lessons this week, which all went well. Our Korean that speaks fluent British English is going out of town for 2 weeks, so we were pretty sad, but he'll be back. We've started focusing on doing more lessons with members present, because, to be honest, neither of us are that great at Korean. So it's better to have a member there that can actually communicate to them and relate. It's been going well! We had two investigators show up to church last week and it went very smoothly. Our English class is fun, there are a few people that are basically fluent, so they ask us hard questions like 'what's the difference between shade, hue, tint, and color?' It keeps us on our toes.

We met a guy on the street that really wanted to meet, but he didn't show up (that happens a lot), but it's nice when you get a call or text from them asking to reschedule. He really wants to meet!

I was able to meet with the AP's (Assistant to the President) last week and finally 'pass off'. Pass off is a little book that our mission has that just has vocabulary and other stuff that's designed to help missionaries learn the language and practice teaching. You have to teach your district leader and zone leader all of the 4 lessons, then meet with the AP's twice and teach them what they tell you to. It was nice, and went well. I wanted to get it done earlier, but it was a little hard when I lived 3 1/2 hours away. Now I'm 30 minutes away! The city is nice:) But sometimes I do miss SokCho. I can't wait to go back after my mission. 

We don't have much planned for this week, but our email time is about up, so I've got to go! But until next week, 건강하게하세요!  (Get Healthy!)

I love you all! I can't believe that 9 months is already gone. The next 15 months will be amazing!

Elder Franchina

A Year Ago...

We mentioned to Jordan that it has almost been a year since he got his mission call...

Yeah, I remember a few days before I got my call, laying on the Saltmarsh's lawn thinking about where I'll go, talking about receiving my call. Then that day came with the big envelope. Wow, time has gone by so fast! Today is my 6 month mark in Korea, by the way. Crazy.

 

There's not much to report this week, I'm sorry. It's turning into monsoon season, so there's rain coming from all directions. It's not raining one second, then the next it'll be pouring. Sideways. But it's a fun experience, we've received SO MUCH rain this past week! Our investigators are doing well, one accepted a baptismal date for the 4th of August, so we're all excited for him! We're still working a lot with less-actives and still talking to everyone we see on the street!

The work is hard. So hard. But so rewarding. I love being out here.

 

 

 

Today we'll go to Costco to get our two week supply of groceries, play ping pong with some people in our zone, and that's about it.

 

I can't think of anything I need, I'm pretty set. If you could just send a small plastic envelope thingy full of flavor packets, that could be enough. I don't want you to spend so much money sending that though. I'll see if I can find it at Costco.

I don't really need anything. Not shirts, garments, ties, food, anything. Just your prayers!

We've been a little stressed out these past few weeks. My companion baptized someone two weeks before I got here, but he hasn't been back to church to receive the gift of the Holy Ghost yet. So we wanted to come to his house and do it there, but we need the bishopric, witnesses, and it would be ideal to have it done in sacrament. The ward members should be there to see it and to befriend him. But if he doesn't come, what else can we do? The other problem is that he has a disorder. It's not bad, he understands what you're talking about. So there's the question if he needs to be baptized or not. Well, before I got there, they talked it over with the mission president, and he said if he thinks at the level of an 8 year old or higher, he can be baptized. But who's the judge of that? We thought we'd have to make that decision, and deciding who needs baptism or not seemed to be a huge burden. But after talking to the mission president, we realized that we can talk to the bishop. It's ultimately his decision, because the converts will then become a member of his ward. 

 

His brother, who loves our message, but never wanted to come to church, came out yesterday! He wants to get baptized, but the bishop thinks he doesn't need it. So we're trying to work that out, but that's just a little of the stress we've had. But after a phone call to the mission president, we realize that all of the responsibility isn't ours. We thought we had big decisions to make. But it's not all ours. So we feel a lot better about it. Since that one guy was baptized, his ordinance needs to be finished. So that's where we are at right now. Finishing his ordinance. 

 

Don't worry dad, I may be a little stressed at times, but your prayers, the prayers of others, and the fact that I'm on the Lord's errand is helping me. I'm learning a lot, one of which is how to deal with stress, so it's all a big blessing!

 

I love missionary work. Thank you for your support and your example. I still think of how you talk about your mission all of the time. Just the way you talk about it, I can tell it means so much to you. That has helped me make my mission mean more to me. You're the best dad!

Love you!

 

Elder Franchina

Another Rainy Week in Seoul & Breaking Up

Hello there!

First, to answer your....statement, yeah. It's very different from Sokcho, but it's still great. There's a ton of people, and resources everywhere, not to mention the church is 20 feet away from our house. It's SUPER hot. Like I said last week, you get used to being wet all of the time. Our house is miserably hot, no AC, so we're going to ask the mission president if we can sleep in the church. Past missionaries did, because the church has AC. But it's not that bad, it's nice being in Seoul. It's a weird feeling, I still feel like we're on a vacation, and I'll go back to my home soon. But that home is Sokcho. I can't wait to go back with you guys at the end of my mission. I walk past the small fish market and the smells really take me back to the good ole Sokcho days.

Just nostalgia, not homesickness.

There's no real 'dialect', Seoul is determined to be the standard speech. Sokcho where I was, has some dialect, but our mission doesn't really have any. It's Busan and Daejon that really have strange accents. 

It's raining a lot here. We walked to the church to watch a video during study, and only a few minutes later, we go to walk back and it's raining sideways. It's pouring. It's on and off, but when it turns on, it's on full blast.

Yes, I got my shirts, probably a month or two ago. I can't remember, time is a strange thing on your mission. But those short sleeved shirts you sent are saving my life. I definitely needed more. Thank you! There's nothing I really need right now, except more Hawaiian punch. But don't send just those. You can wait for a month or two until there's more things I need. Just don't send the lemonade ones, I like the berry flavored Hawaiian punches.

Anyway......

Three missionaries helping Brad pour cement at the Franchina house!

That's great the missionaries helped with the cement, I would love to help with things like that. We don't really get those kinds of opportunities here. No one really has lawns or yards, and even if they need help with something, they refuse it, almost rudely. But there's something in the culture about it not being good for an older person to receive help from a younger person. But there was a guy laying on the ground last week kind of by our house, and he asked for food, so we went back home and gave him some fruit. He was super grateful, and it left us feeling really good. We may not be able to help lay cement, but we can help out in other ways.

Now for the week's activities:

We've met with some investigators, we have our friend xxxxxx, who is fluent at English. He lived in the Philippines for a few years, but his roommates were British, so he doesn't speak English, he speaks British English. Kind of pidgeon English too. It's weird. It's awesome, but if you don't focus, it's hard to understand him. Mostly because you don't expect a Korean to bust out that kind of accent. He and his friend are good, they're really curious about our church, and they're really nice. We're really good friends. 

We've picked up some old investigators, and, unfortunately, had to drop some that have been meeting for a while but haven't progressed. It's so hard to drop an investigator. As a sister missionary told me once, it's like breaking up. I laughed at it, but when I really experienced it, I realized she was right. You know how break ups go, when you plan on doing it, her dog died that morning, so you can't do it. Then the next time you plan to break up, turns out it's her birthday. And it goes on...and on. So we were going to drop our investigator, and he says, 'first, I brought you some bread.' How nice! He requested 'fresh water', so we went to our house to grab some water our of the fridge and a knife to cut the bread. We wanted to talk about the gospel quickly so we could talk about his progression in the gospel, but he said, 'well you must eat all of the bread first.' He's so nice, but I felt bad snarfing down his gift while planning our breakup. Also, there was a miscommunication between him and the missionaries he first met, because they didn't establish expectations with him. That's a crucial step, letting them know that we're not English teachers and our main purpose is to teach the gospel of Jesus Christ. There's a few reasons we  needed to drop him, but it wasn't easy. And it's hard to have everyone part ways still friends. It's just like breaking up. I thought I'd get away from relationships while on my mission!

This Sunday at church was insane. We had investigators show up, so we had to do splits and teach with members. I got our 13 year old investigator. Her other friend usually comes too, but she didn't come yesterday. So we taught her with her member friend, named xxxxx, and a return missionary. It's really different teaching kids. But it's really fun! I love it. It's hard to come up with creative ways to simply explain deep doctrine, but with the help of an experienced missionary and visuals, it was really fun. Our other investigator that showed up is interesting. My last companion met him in his last area a few months ago. He's met with missionaries all over Seoul for a few months, having them translate, line by line, slowly, a drivers license test manual from Guam. I don't know why. Maybe he plans on moving to Guam and driving. But a lot of missionaries know him and his little red driving book. He's nice though, and said he likes coming to church.

I really like Elder Gardner. We really teach well together. My other companions have been great, don't get me wrong, but he's the first companion I've had that hasn't been out on his mission longer than me. But that doesn't mean I'm better. He's just as good at Korean, and really willing to learn. He's a great teacher and we work really well together.

Today isn't our pday, so we're just emailing, then going out to work. The reason is tomorrow is temple day, so we get to go to the temple, then pday until 6! Fun! After the temple we'll go to the president's house and make cookies. I'm really excited! 

I love Dongdaemoon, the ward is huge, and it's great to work with them. There's people everywhere, so you never run out of people to talk to, even though it's always really hot.

Love you all and hope you have a good week!

Elder Franchina

HOT in Seoul!

The gate that leads into the church.  Yep, it feels like a castle!

Yeah, it's really hot here... Really hot. But after a while, you get used to being wet 24/7. Seriously, you're always wet. You weren't lying Dad, it's like you showered with your clothes on. Then when it rains it's still hot, and you get even wetter. But it's awesome, I love it here. Things are doing well, we've met with a few investigators, some progressing, some not. We picked up a few investigators that are....about 10 years old. It's a lot different teaching kids. But it's so fun. We sat in on Primary and did activities with them and taught about a principle or two. They seem to really like it!

Our apartment is on the church property, surrounded by a fence and the "castle" gate

Elder Gardner is great, and so is the ward. Yesterday we had 120 people at church! It was crazy. We also went to "America" the other day....Our ward mission leader is American, married Korean, but still misses America sometimes. So he took us on the army base for taco bell. It was weird. It's like America inside Korea. The base is HUGE, and it even feels like America. The buildings are low and spread out, park strips, white people, black people, all speaking English. You can understand EVERYTHING! It's wonderful. But a very strange feeling. Taco bell was nice, but I got a little sick afterwards... I'm too used to Korean food.

Our next door neighbor: the church building!

We watched the missionary broadcast yesterday after church, and it was really good. We're still not sure when we can use Facebook or if/when we'll get things like iPads, but all in good time. It might be towards the end of my mission, but it'll be nice.

There's not too much to report this week, we've been crazy busy with talking to everyone on the street, and meeting people. We met a Korean who lived in the Philippines for 4 years, but roomed with Brits so he speaks with a really thick British accent. It's hilarious. He also is practicing his Japanese accent so he can fool people into thinking he's Japanese. He's a really funny guy. He's also really curious about the church, there's a bunch of falsities online and spread by word of mouth, and we cleared some things up with him. He was surprised at how...normal... we were. We're actually cool, not a cult or people with horns and stuff.  Seoul is great  :)

That's about all. The area is nice, it's hot, the house is even hotter than outside, so we have fans going all night, but it's definitely worth it. 

Love you all!!!!

Dongdaemun!

Dongdaemun is awesome! It's SO hot. But awesome. I miss Sokcho, but I feel like it was time for me to move on to a new place. First off - The ward is huge. We had 85 people yesterday. Guess I won't have to be first councilor anymore! The people are super awesome. They're all really nice and friendly. There's 3 meetings, like usual, instead of the 2 we have in Sokcho, so church is longer than I'm used to now. But I love it. More time to listen to Korean and feel the spirit! We live in a 4 man house with two Koreans, and they serve in the area next to ours, in a different ward. But we have a lot of fun together. It's so nice having your house on church grounds, because you can go play ping pong with the Koreans for your morning exercise^^

Elder Gardner is great, he's in his 3rd transfer, and I'm in my 5th (not including the MTC). He's REALLY good at Korean, and even a better teacher. It's wonderful. We really work well together, and we really get along. We have a lot of similar interests and such. He's from Oregon, and will turn 20 right before my year mark on the mission, so I'm almost a whole year older than him. We haven't taken many pictures, we've been too busy working! But we hurried and took one picture this morning for you guys.

Being new in a HUGE ward has some benefits - they all want to meet you so they invite you over for dinner, and they want to help teach! Lessons with a member make a HUGE difference. One being that they can actually speak Korean.

Our investigators are doing well, we have one guy from Nepal that we teach in English, and he's really prepared. I'm excited for him. The others are doing well, some progressing faster than others. The ward has really high expectations for the missionaries here, so we'll work super hard, like always! We're also trying to work with a few less-actives; they're all really nice.

I love it here! There's still one street that has fish, so I can get that good ole' whiff of Sokcho sometimes, and there's a few universities, including a foreign university, so there's a TON of foreigners. But since foreigners aren't rare, they're not too excited to see another white person. But oh well. There's PLENTY of people to talk to!!

I love my new area, even though it's SUPER hot, and I know we'll do some good work here.

Well, that's about all I have for the week.

Until next Monday,

Elder Franchina

Father's Day & A Transfer!

Father's Day Package!

By the way, Happy Father's day. I'm sorry I can't be there to say it in person, but I know you'd rather me be out here than home. You know how valuable this experience is. I know you miss Grandpa, and I'm not sure why I wrote those words, but now I do. Never worry, Dad, this is only a brief blip in the span of eternities. And Christ, according to the scriptures, suffered not only for our sins, but also for our sicknesses, sorrows, infirmities, etc. This is why the pain was too much to bear. Every sorrow you and I feel, along with the rest of the world, was felt before we experienced it. That's why we can receive so much help through Christ. He knows us, our sorrows, etc, because he experienced them already. Because he knows how we feel, he knows what kind of help and comfort we need, so he can run to 'succor us'. In any time of discomfort - sickness, sadness, grief - turn to Christ. He knows how you feel. 

The Korean word for grandpa is 'haraboji- 할아버지', but that's not what I wrote (on the piece of wood pictured) I wrote '영원' which means 'eternity, or eternal'. This word has been echoing in my mind for a while. Even though our most loved people will pass from our sight for a time, keep an eternal perspective. We'll see them again soon.

WHY in the world were you specifically looking for a bobble-head on the internet? You're too weird. I guess that's where I get it from, as soon as I saw that, in a game machine, I might add, I had to win it. You know me. Super pro at claw games and such, I soon had that bobble head in my hands. And I knew this would go well on your desk :) (Gangnam style bobblehead on gray horse in picture)

So, on to transfers. I will transfer to 동대문, Dong Dae Moon (you'll actually be able to pronounce this right^^), tomorrow. Tuesday night we'll go sleep in Seoul and meet with all of the missionaries for transfers Wednesday morning. Giving my parting words in sacrament yesterday was hard. I love the ward so much. But I know that DongDaeMoon is a really good place, and there are people waiting there for me. It's right in the middle of Seoul. I'm not sure exactly where, we don't have a map, I just know it's right by the subway stop 제기동 Jaegidong. It's a 4 man house, and the other two missionaries are Koreans. My new companion will be Elder Gardner, he's just finishing up training in DongDaeMoon, so he's a little younger than me. It should be really fun! When I come back (when, not if), I need to go back to Sokcho. These people here are wonderful.

Oh, by the way, since I'm in DongDaeMoon, I'll stay in the North Mission, with President Christensen. I'm happy about that. That means I won't ever be able to visit Gangnam or SeoCho, the rich cities right below the river until after my mission, but that's okay, I like it up here. I am pretty excited to experience the city life though.

Not much happened this week, just a bunch of travel to our Zone leader's area and back, just for meetings and such. 

 

I love you all and hope you have a wonderful week!

P.S. dad- you look pretty good in Korean Ties  :)

Now for the week's events:

We moved P day to Wednesday and went to Seoul in the morning. We went to the biggest bookstore in Korea and I bought two books that teach Korean. While shopping, a Korean guy came up to us and in perfect English starting asking us where we're from. He served a mission in Australia, so he got along well with elder Ghergori. He liked us so much he wanted to grab some dinner with us. He was really nice.

We were running a little late for the temple so we ran back to the subway station, got to the temple to find that we missed our session by a few seconds. But they held one 15 minutes later, so that was fine. We slept at the temple, and the next day went to 화양, to a huge park with a church nearby for a big mission conference. There's so many missionaries here now! But I don't know any of them because I've been stuck in the boonies my whole mission. When I get transferred they'll all think I'm a greenie (brand new missionary) because no one knows who I am! But that's okay. I like Sokcho. (pronounced soak-cho, not sock-cho ;)  )

They talked about the mission split, and two transfers after the split, they're going to have 55 greenies coming in. And since the mission is splitting, there will only be 64 missionaries available to train, the others will be zone leaders, APs, ect. So basically everybody in the Seoul North mission will be training in 2 transfers' time. CRAZY!

Jordan, Eric and Friend

We played some games and went to the public zoo next door, and we saw Eric Boothe there! It was so good to see him. Also, he knew a few of the missionaries there! One Korean in my district in the MTC who's my good friend knows Eric well. He lived across the street from the missionaries in DaeJeon, and Eric served there for 10 months. They played basketball together a lot. COOL!

We then went to Costco, but it was pretty disappointing. I got delicious chocolate muffins and sharp cheddar CHEESE!! But I was also looking for cheap sunscreen and American toothpaste. But I can just get sunscreen here at the medicine stores. As for toothpaste? Korean toothpaste is grossly sweet. Ew.

Anyway. We had to go to WonJu, my MTC comp's area that night, because the next day they had a baptismal interview, and since it takes 3 hours to travel there from our city, we slept the night. Elder Ghergori is District Leader so he has to do the interviews. It went well! While we were waiting for the bus back to Sokcho, we were talking to people, and this guy comes up to us and speaks REALLY good English, and asks where our church is! Woah. He lived in the UK for 2 years and found Christianity, and wants to come to our church, because other churches in Korea seem like there's something missing. So we got his name and number and referred him to the WonJu elders! (He lives in WonJu). SWEET!

Saturday was just a normal day, and yesterday was a good fast Sunday at church.

Anyway, that's about it! Today we're going to the bath houses to relax for P day, that should be fun.

I love you all!

Elder Franchina