Service

There's a guy at church that always has his phone on a pole, mounted, to record sacrament. I asked him why, and he said there's an elderly lady in the ward that can't come, so they stream sacrament to her live, every Sunday. The high priests and young men go over every week to give her the sacrament, but once a month, the missionaries accompany. This week, they asked us. We went with the stake patriarch. She's no more than 60 or 65, and seems pretty lively, but has a hole in her throat, making it impossible to speak. All that she can do is mouth consonants. But we sat down, introduced ourselves, and she opened the organ she had in her home and began the meeting with a hymn. We had our own miniature sacrament meeting there, not just the blessing of the sacrament. It brought a wonderful spirit. Her home is sacred ground. Even though she can't leave her home, she spends all of her time studying the scriptures and practicing hymns to play for us, and enriching her home with the spirit and love of Christ. What a blessing it was to us to see someone with such great faith. It really helped me see what was really important. When old age comes with illness, and the new technologies of youth and fleeting friendships fade, here is this beloved sister, still clinging to the Lord. Despite her inability to do many things that would otherwise make the rest of us give up and wait for death, she spends her time learning and continuing to strengthen her faith and relationship with God. In this sister's eyes, I saw what really mattered. I saw what was truly important. I could see eternal truths. 

 

Just a short visit in her home left a huge impact on me, and she didn't even use words. I see her same example in people like my grandparents and parents, that truly know what's important, and are willing to sacrifice everything else for that. I only hope to be close to that stage when I reach that time in life.

 

Take a minute to think about or make a list of what's important in your life, and what takes the most time or priority in your life. Make sure that the things that are most important are taking up the most time. Those eternal things: families, your relationship with God, your faith, your knowledge, and your memories. Take care not to let those things that will fade away take the place of those things that truly last.

 

Elder Franchina

Namdaemun (Seoul Gate)

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.
 

NDY and CLN are doing well. We ate dinner at their house and finished the first lesson. CLN has her own view of God and he doesn't really have a shape or form, just a presence. We talked about making that personal relationship with God through prayer and the benefits it has for us, and also about reading the Book of Mormon and the Bible to know who God and Christ are better. The lesson was really spiritual and powerful, but when we invited them to pray, NDY straight out said no, and CLN politely declined, because it's been too long since she's prayed out loud. We invited them to church on the base, but they didn't come. I do think that lesson left a good impression on them, and they said that after they come back from vacation, they'll make time for us to come over again.
 

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.

We met a new old guy, Mr. AND, and he's nice, but all he does is talk about the war and way back when. He's over 70 years old and only speaks English with us, but he's nice and goes to church. When we brought up church, he just said, 'every generation thinks differently, so that's why there are so many churches' and that was about it. If we can meet him again soon we'll talk more about that.

 

We might not be making much progress with some investigators, but we've seen miracles with others. I know this is the Lord's work. I've seen and experienced a joy that you can't find in any other place in the world.

 

Just remember that you don't need to take my word on it, you can, and we encourage you to find out for yourself. That's the beauty of this message. You don't need to trust us, trust god. We put the future of this church in God's hands, and trust him to tell you if it's true or not. That's the reason this church is one of the fastest growing churches in the world.

 

Elder Franchina

SeBeh

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

114 BOM's With A Few Days Still To Go!!!

Thank you for the words of advice. This week we really saw miracles related to our goal of giving out Book of Mormons. We made a goal to give out 94 by the end of January, and we thought it was crazy, but we're now up to 114, and still have about a week left. My companion, Elder Bybee, is the muscle behind this whole activity. He's great at talking to people, and gives out books like candy. I can really feel his testimony every time he talks about the Book of Mormon, and I know the people he talks to can feel it too. We were able to meet with one of our investigators, MRK, who we haven't met with in about a month. He's doing great, and it was wonderful to see that he has progressed since we last met. He had so many good questions and insights about the plan of salvation, and he's eager to read and pray.

 

This week I've been able to feel the Savior's love so much. When it's hard to carry 16 books of Mormon in your bag, or when it's cold and you don't want to go out, you want to take a break. But if you put your own desires aside, and do what God wants you to do, he will make your burdens light, and through miracles, lift up your spirits. It's in those times where things seem hard that you find miracles. I know God lives, because he is a God of miracles, and there are miracles every day in the work of salvation.

 

Until next week, stay warm and remember to pray for an opportunity to introduce someone to the gospel!

 

Elder Franchina

16 BOM's in One Day!!!

This week was incredible. There's not much to report, most of our investigators were busy, but in the 4 or 5 hours a day we find between appointments, we were able to go above and beyond our goal of giving out books of Mormon. We were planning on giving out 4 a day, and by the end of the month, we'd have given out around 100. We thought the goal was crazy, but one day we decided to give out 16 books. I loaded my heavy backpack (maybe that was a big part of the motivation, the more I give out, the lighter it gets), but in under an hour and a half, we had given out 9, and by the end of the day, we were empty handed. It was incredible. Since the beginning of January we have given out 77 books, and plan to give out more before the end of the month. I didn't think we could do this, but it just proves to me that if we set goals with faith, the Lord will help us, and we can accomplish anything.

 

Thank you for the prayers of faith offered by those at home, they help us every day. We have trials on our mission, but there are wonderful members like you at home that take care of us, and there are wonderful members here in Korea that make sure we're taken care of. Thank you so much everyone!

 

Jordan

The Worth of a Soul

Hello everyone!

 

We met with a few new guys this week, the highlight of which is a guy named NDY, who is an American stationed next to us at the army base. He bought us hot chocolate and we had a really great discussion about..basically everything. From medical school to foreign languages to missions. He knows a ton about our church, some of the guys he's in charge of on base are Mormons, and he said he can really see the impact missions had on his RM troops. He was pretty straightforward that he's comfortable in his belief and that trying to convert him is pointless, but he started to ask really good questions, like how we study the book of Mormon to help us. Do we read a specific story that applies to us or do we just read from cover to cover?

 

We talked for a little over an hour, and thing I'm most grateful for is that when he started to talk about his faith beliefs, I could feel my testimony growing as he talked about examples of service from the scriptures, etc. He's a really good guy, and he and his wife will have us over for dinner later. We're really excited.

 

There's a less active in our area who's going through a really rough time with losing almost everything he has, so the church is stepping in to help, but I have to be the translator, the English branch is helping, but they don't speak Korean. So we've been with him a lot, and it's been kind of stressful, handling bills and forms, bank account numbers and such, but all of that stress goes away when he looks in your eyes and expresses his deep gratitude for what we do. When it talks about the worth of a soul in D&C, and how great our joy will be if we are to save but one soul, it's not just helping people make steps towards baptism, but also helping them endure to the end. This man was lost, and he's coming back, and it brings me so much joy to see him  at church, enjoying the atmosphere and the spirit.

 

Other than that, we just talk to people on the streets or subway. Our zone set a goal for us:

Give out 1,500 Book of Mormons by the end of the month. There are 16 companionships, so that evened out to 94 books in less than 4 weeks. We have to give out 4 books a day to make the goal. That seemed impossible at first, sometimes you can go weeks without giving one out, but as my companion and I focus on introducing the Book of Mormon when we talk to people, it becomes easy. We're well on our way to completing our goal of 94 books, hopefully we can surpass that goal. I'll send a picture of our tower of books, hopefully it'll be gone soon!

 

I love you all and hope you can find the opportunity to introduce someone else to the book of Mormon this week!

 

Elder Franchina

Reactivation Work

Time sure does fly, doesn't it?

 

The temperatures are rising and falling, but we're keeping warm.

 

Yes, my new companion, Elder Bybee, is very enthusiastic. We're both new in the area, so we're still trying to figure out our area, but we don't really get lost, we can always find our way back to a subway and get home if we do. We've only been here for 2 weeks, but we've already found around 5 people that are interested. Two of them show really good potential. One is the 84 year old guy I might have mentioned a while back, he's really nice, and the other is a guy we just met the other day for dinner. He studied in America for 10 years, and he wanted to meet with us because we seemed cool, but then he started to express a lot of interest in our church. He wants to meet and learn more about what we believe. We also met a guy who was born in New York, but his parents are from the Democratic Republic of Congo, and he's just the nicest guy in the whole world. We met him last night, and he accepted everything we said. Super nice guy. He doesn't live in our area though! He is here for a few days staying at a friend's place, but he will go back to start up school again soon, so we'll have to refer him.. Oh well. I'm glad I was able to meet him at least once. It was impossible to be sad or grumpy around him.

 

This guy, brother T, called us and he is here in that military branch, and they're trying to do some less active work. There's a Korean guy that is going through some rough times, so they want to go help him, start helping out with the bills, etc. but he needed a translator, so they called us. We went and visited, and he was so nice. He said he wants to start coming back to church. So we got some stuff worked out with the bills, then on Sunday we got a member to come out, pick us and him up, and everything. He loved church. There was even a baptism. I was super stoked about this because less active work in Korea is super hard. The apartment contracts can expire every 2 years, so it's almost impossible to trace less actives. But now we have been able to reactivate someone and he's already made friends at church!

 

This week I've been thinking a lot about the Atonement of Christ. It's so hard to understand and I'll never fully understand it, but this week I've been thinking a lot about how through Christ, we have our perfect example, but not only requiring us to become like him, he gives us the help we need to do it. Through the atonement, we can overcome addictions, receive that needed healing after years of pain, whether physical, mental, emotional, or social. There's so much love behind the sacrifice of the Atonement. He was perfect and didn't need to, but because he loves us, he gave his life so that we can receive eternal blessings.

 

Thank you for your support and love, I can feel it daily, and it helps me carry on.

 

Elder Franchina