The Temple & Obedience

In front of the Seoul LDS Temple

These are ALL of my companions in the mission so far! (Minus my trainer, he got put in the other mission...)

That's funny you mentioned obedience, that has been the topic of my study for a few days. That's one of the Christ-like attributes I want to work on. Speaking of which, the reason why I wanted to work on it, is that I'm going to become a father, so I need to set a good example for my son. Seriously, I'm going to be a FATHER!

...Oh, sorry. For those of you that don't get 'missionary lingo', your trainer is your father, when you are a greenie, that's where you're born, your trainer's trainer is your grandpa, and when you go home off your mission, you 'die'. Fun fun fun! So we got transfer calls, and Elder Gardner is going somewhere else, and I'm getting a greenie here in 동대문! And I need to set a good example for him, so I've been studying obedience. It is a big responsibility and really stressful, but it should be fun.

There's not a lot to report for this week, we've been busy just talking to people on the street, and riding around on the subways introducing the gospel! Elder Gardner took French for 5 years in school, and last night I saw a black man, and decided to talk to him (there's not many of them here). He had a sweet accent, and said he was from France. I immediately called my comp over and said, 'He speaks French!!!' But after learning so much Korean, he forgot a lot of French. But it was cool, he was really excited to see a white guy in Korea speak a little French. He was really nice. That was a fun experience.

Our teenager that speaks British English isn't back in town yet, he'll get here at the end of this week. I'm excited to meet with him!

Anyway, back to obedience. I think the best benefit from obedience isn't the blessing that comes with obedience. In my opinion, it's confidence in the Lord. What could be more comforting, knowing that you live in such a way that you can be confident in the presence of the creator of all? Also, with obedience comes blessings, like increased guidance by the Holy Ghost, and a strengthening of our testimonies. Sometimes we don't really understand the purpose of the commandment until after we have obeyed for a long time. Ex: the word of wisdom.

I can't wait to do Grandpa's temple work either. That will be an incredible experience.

Brad mentioned in his letter that it was 31 years ago he went to Japan on his mission; felt like 30 years ago...
 

Only 31 years ago? Feels like 30? That's the dry humor I miss :)  Don't worry, my companion gets enough dry humor from me :)

Anyway, I'll have plenty of stories of me and my new greenie next week!

Love you all!

Elder Franchina

It's always good to know that PSY (Korean singer/rapper) is still popular.