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

 

By Their Fruits Ye Shall Know Them

We are still working with Brother JNG, and with our new bishop, we're working on helping him get his wife back to Korea. Our new bishop is passionate and super gung-ho about missionary work and families. He brought our less active into his office and said, you've got to do two things right now. Most importantly, you need to contact your wife and tell her sincerely that you love her, every day. You need to get her back here and start a family immediately. And secondly, you've got to find a job that will allow you to take Sundays off. You have to have Sundays off.' He walked out of the office bouncing on his heels, happy at the outlook on life. We're so happy we have a great leadership structure in the church that cares so deeply for each member, active or not.

 

We were able to meet the Nigerian, CRS, but only briefly. But we had our ward mission leader and his wife with us, and he seemed to impress everyone with his Korean and how he talked so fondly about his Korean wife. He was planning on coming to church, but he didn't answer our calls yesterday and didn't come.

 

 I went on exchanges this week and while I was away, my companion and Elder Bell met another potential investigator from Nigeria, named JOE. They said the lesson went super well, and that he has a lot of potential. On the way to church the next day we saw him, and he was with his friend eating chicken. His friend asked where our church is so he could come next week, and they shared their chicken with us. I guess the lesson went better than I thought, because they were super happy to see us! 

We had quite a few lessons fall through this week, but we planned to go street contact as a backup plan, and we ended up meeting a guy from Srilanka. He said he had time now, and invited us into his home. He's strong Buddhist, but was very kind and listened closely to our message, and asked good questions. He wants to learn more about our church, and he says he likes all religions. We set an appointment to meet with him later this week. That was a huge miracle for us to have someone immediately invite us into his house.

We now have investigators from Ghana, South Africa, Nigeria, Srilanka, and more!^^ 

The highlight of the week happened last Monday, when we went over to a member's house to talk about missionary work. When we got there, they had plates laid out, but no food. They apologized, and said because of the accident, they've been too busy and sad to do anything right now, so they'd order us food from a restaurant. While we were waiting for the food, the mom fidgeted awkwardly, and said, 'I need to ask a favor of you.' She proceeded to tell a story about how the neighbor next door was an old couple, and the grandfather died of cancer last year. Around the same time, the grandson living with them got into some work with the devil, and it brought an evil spirit into their whole small apartment compound. The son moved out, and the grandma couldn't sustain herself with two small dogs, so this member took in the dogs, and the grandma moved out. But even though the house is empty besides two small puppies, she said there has been an evil spirit lurking there the whole time, and it's affecting their family. They're going to start renovating it soon, and asked me to bless the house to be safe, and in turn, cast out the spirit. I immediately said we'd do it, but then when we walked into the house you could definitely feel something. It just felt sad and dark. A soft weight pushing on your chest that made you want to leave. We knelt, and I started praying in Korean. After we went back next door the mother said how much better she felt, despite the disaster in the ocean that killed over 300 people. She said she knew the spirit was gone and the house was protected now. She was so grateful she proceeded to make a list of names for us to teach. She gave us two less active teenagers that need to prepare for missions, and an elderly non member man that lives on the first floor. After leaving their house I looked at my companion and we just said, 'What just happened?' We just cast out a spirit. The love of God flowed into her house and gave her the confidence she needed to refer these people. It was such a neat experience for us, and it made me so grateful to have the priesthood. I know that our house was protected when I was a kid because my father held the priesthood and exercised it in complete righteousness, and I am grateful for the opportunity I have to hold the priesthood and prepare now in order to protect my family when that time comes. 

By their fruits ye shall know them.

Naturally miracles follow any believer of Christ, but only in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints do we not only have the power of God, but the Authority to use it, and miracles happen daily in our church. I know that in this church my family will be safe and protected from the evils that lurk in our world. And for this, I am eternally grateful. 

Elder Franchina

Two Koreans, one Nigerian, and an American

This week has been slow, we dropped most of our investigators. Or, more like they dropped us, but we're still trying hard with everyone. 

 

EDD is.....gone. He hasn't answered the phone since we last met. But, I can be happy knowing that when they're not in our hands, they're in God's hands, and he'll take better care of them.

 

When I street contact, we say jundo, the most important thing I've found is to be happy. When you can't take confidence in yourself, take confidence in the Lord. I've met people on the streets of Seoul, with 15 million people in it, and they say, 'I saw your people a few years ago. Their faces were literally shining.' They remember you. So just make an impact. 

We haven't had much success with reactivation, but we did help this guy who's about 40 get back up on his feet. He went from complete inactivity and separation with his wife, to hopefully getting back together, starting temple work and baptisms for the dead, starting a family, and later sealings. He baptized his wife about 10 years ago, so it's super sad to see them torn apart. But it's glorious to see him back at church, wearing an old suit, fitting in with the members in activity. Wonderful. How great shall be your joy, right?  We're doing the Lord's work, and we're trying to trust Him to do things His way.

We met tons of Nigerians and Ghanaians this past week, and a few have followed through with return appointments. I'm trying to learn basic greetings in Igbo, their dialect in Nigeria. One guy, CRS, came for work, married a Korean, now she's pregnant with their first daughter. He's been here for around 10 years, and he speaks Korean so well. We met on the street a week or two ago, spoke in English, then I turned to his wife and spoke in Korean to ask a question.  CRS looks so surprised, turns to me, and in fluent Korean, asks, 'wah, hangulmar chincha char hashineyo' which just means, 'woah, you speak Korean?'

He proceeded to start speaking fluent Korean to me which surprise me, so there was just a group of confused and surprised people. Two Koreans, one Nigerian, and an American, all speaking Korean. He's going to invite us over to his house to teach him and his wife later, so we're really excited!

This is the Lord's work, and not only does it change the people we share it with, but it changes you.

Elder Franchina

Conference - April 2014

That's really cool that you were able to meet Brother Rudd

This week's miracles were many, but I'll choose only two to discuss. 

 

We met a guy named EDD, who's Korean, and studied in New York for 2 years. He's really nice, and we weren't sure he'd have a lot of interest, but we called him and set an appointment to meet. When we met, it turns out that Christ plays a huge part in his life, and after explaining the restoration, he said he really liked it. We asked him if he had been baptized to follow Christ, and he said no, but he really wants to follow Christ, so we invited him and he said yes! He has a date for May 4th. He's really great, we're just hoping he makes time to meet with his busy schedule.

 

And of course, conference was a big miracle. It answered many of the questions I had, and provided a lot of information that we will use to help our investigators. One thing that stood out to me was how they stressed the importance of three things:

Family and personal prayer, daily.

Family and personal scripture study, daily.

Family home evening once a week.

They said those things are fundamental for families to remain strong and will provide an anchor for them in rough times. It immediately made me think of you two. I remember those nights laying by the fireplace, not wanting to read the scriptures with everyone, but looking back, those are some of the best 'family memories' that I have. The whole family was together, reading and studying about Christ. 

 

I'm also grateful for the testimonies that you and mom have borne to me and Zach. You both had so much patience watching us grow up, and now I can see the trust you had, that if you bore your testimonies frequently to us, we would always remember it, and it would help us stay close to the church. I  remember mom sometimes using scriptures to relate to my real life, and I would roll my eyes in frustration, 'Mom, this is now. those are old stories. Boring.' Well humble pie sure tastes good. I realize now that those stories are crucial to help us understand and avoid certain pitfalls, and to show us a better, happier road. I'm grateful for your patience that, even though we may not have listen much at first, those testimonies weren't in vain. I know Zach and I both remember them, and they will always be with us to help us come closer to our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. 

With a new refreshed love for our prophet and apostles, fueled by conference, go out and share it! After all, faith has a short shelf life, it goes bad fast if not used. 

Elder Franchina

Red in a Sea of Black

Missionary work is going great over here. Even though we had almost all of our investigators drop in the past week, that just frees up our time to find more!

This week I went on exchanges with Elder Killpack, who's from, guess it, Draper. Lives on the other side of Fort Street, I guess. Corner Canyon stake? He's the greatest missionary ever. He's only been here for about 8 months, but he's taught me so much. He's so fun, and we got a lot of work done in the 24 hours we had together. This past week was good, we got a lot of return appointments from street contacting and found some people that might be interested, and we've started an even bigger project: Saving 삼청. 

So a brief history on our ward (Shin-dang). It used to be 3 wards, and they thought, 'oh, if we combine 3 wards, it'll be big and huge and everyone will be stronger members, and it'll be just like the utah wards.' But little did they realize that because some people's houses were too far away, many became inactive, and we were left with a slightly larger-than-average ward of about 70 members that were mostly all new members and inexperienced. No one knew what to do. So there are binders and BINDERS full of member records that are less active, inactive, and impossible to find. But all 14 of us missionaries in this ward think we can do something, so we're going through all of the records to find each and every person if they haven't moved or died, and we're going to resurrect the other two wards back to inactivity. The only thing is.....we don't really know how to do less active work. But we'll follow the Lord's plan and do what we need to. 

I can't believe I only have 6 months left, it feels like I should have a year left or more. I should be better at Korean by now :P 

But this time is precious and I can't waste it. 

The Lord's work moves on swift and powerful, and I'm honored to be a part of it. 

Elder Franchina