No News is Good News

Hey everyone,

Well it sounds like not much is new in St. George. Kadin is broken. Kylie is exercising. The ward/stake is changing. And they're building another church that's a stone's throw away from a pre-existing church. Literally. I love Utah.

As for Korea, the weather has been different every day. It was sunny on Monday, snowed on Tuesday, rained on Wednesday, foggy on Thursday, cloudy on Friday, and windy for the weekend. It was crazy. It also makes the street contacting tough. When the umbrellas go up, the numbers go down. At least there wasn't any radiation, as far as I know. 

We get transfer calls tonight. That's pretty exciting. This transfer went by so fast. It feels like it never happened. I have no idea if I'll stay in Tae Baek again, or if I'll get transfered. We're pretty certain my companion will be here for a while since he's the branch president. Luckily he likes it here and doesn't mind staying here a long time. That is why he is my companion. I'll be honest, I'm a little nervous for transfers. Tae Baek is great and things are looking really good, but I also wouldn't mind a change. So we'll see. Heavenly Father knows where I need to be and so does my mission president. If I've learned anything from this transfer, it's two things: trust and communication. They are so important in any companionship. Because of the lack of communication, I had to trust my companion that much more. I didn't always know what was going on or what we needed to do, but my companion did. The road to success begins at the companionship and that companionship needs to have a unified purpose and goal. All of that depends on communication. If we're not on the same page, we're less effective. The whole communicating thing is something we're still working on, but it's been a good learning experience. I was slightly apostate this week and read President Hinckley's new book. I figured it fell under the "words of modern prophets" category of the missionary library. One of our members wanted it and I read it really quickly before we gave it to him. President Hinckley is so awesome. Not even death can keep him from giving the world much needed advice. Me ranting just reminded me of that. I suggest reading it. It's chuck full of great quotes and one liners. And who doesn't need advice every once in a while?

Well that's about it here. Perhaps next week I'll have a little more to report on. Oh I just remembered something else. We picked up another new investigator this week. She asked some really good questions and seems interested. I like her questions a lot more than our former-missionary, Bible-loving investigator. She asked me if Jesus has a girlfriend. That was fun. We're meeting her tonight and teaching her the plan of salvation. It should be good.

Talk to you next week! 

Love, Elder Dorius

Pictures

1. Our baptismal recipient. Way cool.

2. Our branch. Somewhat. Actually most of these people aren't the actual members. I think some of them are from another area in my zone but their church collapsed from all the snow. So the members have to go to different wards for now. And some others are from Seoul but they're moving out to our zone for work. Or something like that. All I know is that we have a few extra people coming to church now.

Enjoy!

PS sorry they aren't the best. A little girl was taking these pictures. My companion had a little better ones but he forgot he had his camera when he went into the baptismal font. So it's kind of fried. But you get the idea. Loves loves.

Baptizing in Tae Baek!‏

Hey everyone,

Thanks for all of the emails. It's the best when I get on the computer and see a few emails. Sounds like the piano recital was good. Hopefully Allyson didn't say anything embarrassing about me. You should tell her I'm getting really good at the hymns now. She'd be proud. Why are you always sick, Kadin? Maybe you should eat more kim chi. The spiceyness will kill all the bad germs growing inside you haha. Let's see I think Dad asked a question regarding the food and being sick. I had a little cold a while back and there was another day I wasn't feeling too good, but other than that I've been quite healthy and the food hasn't bothered me. In response to your other questions, no we didn't feel anything from the earthquake but there have been a little concern with the radiation. It was rainy a while ago after the quake and we heard to not let it touch you because it was radiated. Or something like that. So that was exciting. But other than that, nothing much happened. The Korean is getting a little better. I suppose. My companion is getting really good at English and he said my Korean is coming along too. So that was nice. Happy anniversary/graduation Danielle! That's super exciting. I'm glad you'll have a little extra time to fix up my room at your house haha. And also find me a wife. That would be nice too haha. I'm also glad everyone is feeling better this week. I'm telling you. Eat kim chi. For one thing, it's delicious and also it keeps you healthy.

So this week has been great. Probably one of the best yet. First of all we got our boiler fixed. It needed some oil. So that was pretty easy. We even bought it while we were on exchanges so I didn't have the luxury of having a native to help. I went on exchanges with Elder Rayes, the rock star, again, but this time we were in my area. It was way fun. I also leveled up from movie star to super star. So we had to go back to Elder Rayes's area to end the exchange and because all of the areas in our zone are so far apart we usually have to spend the night when we travel. Anyway, when we pulled up to the train station coming back to Tae Baek, there were huge groups of girl students waiting at every stop. Now I've had some interesting experiences with girl students and they aren't my favorite thing in the world. They just weird me out. So I knew this was going to be very interesting. The doors opened up and some people got off in front of me and everything was normal. And then I stepped off. They went nuts. All of them started screaming and reaching out trying to just touch even the hem of my American-ness. It was crazy. There were even a couple guys with big, fancy cameras taking pictures. I don't know what they were doing there, but it added to the effect. So normally I'm not too fond of this kind of stuff, but this one was kind of cool. Haha. 

We picked up a new investigator this week. He was actually a former investigator that met the missionaries once. He served a mission in Australia for his church awhile back so he's really good at English. He's also pretty good at the Bible. He won't accept the Book of Mormon. Like he won't physically take it. He likes discussing gospel stuff but he's not quite willing to change. So hopefully we can find his real need and concern. I think he'd accept everything like that (snap) if he did. We'll see. Also we had a baptism yesterday! I don't know if I really told you how big this is. Tae Baek hasn't had a baptism in over two years. It's probably one of the smallest baptizing areas in the mission. So this is really exciting. He also brought two of his friends to his baptism that we've met a few times, so they're the next target. Hopefully we get a nice little snow ball effect going on here. That would be so good. So to say the least I'm doing really good. Thanks again for all the emails/love. I'll talk to you next week.

Love, Elder Dorius

Conference in Korea

Hey everyone,

Sounds like you've all had a busy week, as usual. How long does Kadin and Kylie's soccer season go for? It seems like every email you've sent me has a report of their games. They sound fun though. Some of the bigger wards in Seoul play soccer every week too and the missionaries go play with them. One of my buddies from the MTC bought some sweet cleats. I won't lie, I'm kind of jealous. I think it would be so fun to play soccer with your ward every week. But my ward here is good too. In response to your questions Dad there are quite a few christians in Korea. I'm not sure the percentage but I'd say your Korean girls are about right. The other main religion is probably Buddhist. We usually just start teaching the first lesson with everyone. We talk about the restoration and the Book of Mormon and sometimes talk about our purpose as missionaries and stuff like that. It's pretty good. There's a section in Preach My Gospel that basically teaches you how to begin teaching. Preach My Gospel is amazing. It has all the answers. My companion is still good. Communication is still hard but it works out for the most part. It's definately a patience builder though. And I still don't feel very confident with my Korean. English is becoming a crutch that I don't want to give up. But I think this is just one of those "line upon line" type of things and "a watched pot never boils." It takes a lot of time and practice and it's hard to see my own gradual improvement. So maybe by this time next year I'll be dreaming in Korean.

Conference was awesome. As usual. I actually got to watch a couple sessions in English. On Saturday it was just me and my companion and this super old guy in our branch. His name is Chang Lee in English. He's hilarious. Anyway, he speaks fairly good English and my companion didn't mind watching some in English so we watched the afternoon and Priesthood session. It was weird to hear talks about families and marriage. President Monson's talk isn't really the type of talk missionaries want to hear though haha. He basically told all the young men to go get married. So that was cool. It's kind of nice when the Priesthood session talks don't apply to you and you don't feel like a vile sinner. Ha. I guess that means I better get on the ball when I go home. Mom and Danielle, go ahead and just find me a nice wife and get all the plans arranged. That will save me a lot time. Haha. Anyway. Sunday we actually had our ward members come and watch and we had a meal between sessions. It was great. We've been wanting to have meals after church with our branch to try to get our members closer together. If we can't play soccer, we might as well eat. Our baptismal date investigator came to the Sunday afternoon session too, so that was good. We're still planning on baptizing him next week. Except we were just at the church and our water heater isn't working. It says the water is low. But I don't know what to do. Can Russ come over and fix it? So hopefully we'll have some warm water for him. 

Well other than that, things are still the same. Still good. Still working hard. Mom, get well soon. Talk to you all next week.

Love, Elder Dorius

Such success can only come from heaven‏

Hey everyone,

Sounds like you've had quite the week with the triathalon and all. I bet that was way fun. Haha I love the picture of Jeff getting his medal. That's hilarious. So how was conference? I don't watch it until next week. They translate it and then send it as a DVD a week later and then we just watch it at our church at the normal times (10-12, 2-4, etc.). I'm pretty excited. Unless of course I have to watch it all in Korean ha. What the heck Danielle? You're graduating in two weeks! That's so cool! No wonder you're so busy. I thought I was busy during my graduation, but this is like my graduation on steriods. Study hard! 

Well this week has been pretty good. Except I was out of my area for about half of it. We had our temple trip and interviews with the mission president on Tuesday and then we had zone conference on Wednesday and then I went on exchanges with my zone leader on Thursday in 강릉 (kang nung). So I've kinda been all over the place. It's fun though. I like traveling and being in different parts of the country. The weather is so nice today! I'm not wearing my big coat and I have a short sleeve shirt on. After conference we can take of our suit coats. I'm way excited for summer but everyone keeps telling me how horribly hot it is. Oh man I heard some stories of these nasty huge bugs that fly around and make loud noises. I'm not too excited for that. I don't know if I'll see more bugs and critters since I'm in the wilderness or not. I guess we'll see.

So I guess Elder Holland, Elder Cook, Elder Rasband, and the Area Presidency have been traveling around the Asia North area visiting the missions. Except us. And a couple others. But anyway, they're last stop was in Japan and Elder Holland gave a blessing on all the missionaries in this area and we got a copy of it at zone conference so I thought I'd share part of it with you guys.

"...I do bless every one of you that you will feel the urgency of the work and the love our Father in Heaven has for you in laboring in His vineyard. I bless you  that the Spirit of the Lord will be with you in your duties, guiding you in your study, leading you in your prostelyting efforts, comforting you regarding any concerns you have here in the mission or with your families at home. God will bless you and all for whom you pray.... Angels are dispatched to attend you and those about whom you care so much.

"I bless the nations of Korea and Japan, and the other island locations of our missionaries in this area. Father, bless the people that they will be responsive to the Spirit, that they will feel a hunger in their heart to find the truth, and that they will recognize these missionaries as being agents from Thee when they present Thy truth to them. To aid in that, I bless political leaders, the economy of the nations and any other forces that sometimes disrupt the work. May stability and tranquility come in those social and cultural forces. I bless members, priesthood leaders and investigators - including the less active - that a major thrust will go forward from this apostolic visit to this land. I turn the key again, as keys have been turned before, to bring a new chapter, a higher achievement and greater success in this most important work in the world. Such success can only come from heaven..."

Way cool! The only thing that could make it better is if he said it in Korea. But it still works. Because one of our investigators has a baptismal date. April 17th. His name is 문정곤 (moon jung gon) and he's 17 years old. He's pretty golden. He loves meeting with us and accepts everything really well. So we're pretty excited about that. Our newest investigator is really good too. They met him while we were on exchanges so I haven't met him yet, but we have an appointment with him tonight. So things are warming up for little Tae Baek. I'll keep you posted on how things go. Thanks for all the love and prayers. Talk to you next week.

Love, Elder Dorius