Monday, September 8, 2014

Week 9 September 8, 2014 "Good food helps with missionary work :)

 Well this week was great! I can slowly see my Korean getting better and I can understand more than last week. The only thing that is frustrating is when I don't understand one bit and am completely lost. Especially when I spark conversations on the street and half the time whoever I'm talking to just goes off and says words or using forms I have never heard before and don't understand. I know I have only been here for a week but I just felt useless and my companion pretty much does all the talking. It has been hard not to get impatient and think I will never learn this language. Everyone in my district has done a great job of encouraging me and lifting me up. I just feel like they were a lot farther than me at this point but to my astonishment they said that I'm way farther than they were. That was nice to hear, now I just have to stop worrying. Missionary work is sooo tiring and during studies it is hard not to fall asleep. I think I am getting better at staying awake but man it is hard! Especially in meetings where I have no idea what is going on because I don't understand. It is just time to suck it up I guess and go to work. Who cares if I'm tired, hungry, or whatever I'm not here for me. The Korean people need me so I have to find those looking for God. I must find all the Lord's lost sheep no matter how long it takes.
   
   You know how I was telling you about the bathhouse I was going to after I was done emailing last week? Well I went and it was extremely weird at first because I was surrounded by a bunch of naked old dudes that kept looking at me like they had never seen a big white dude before haha. A bathhouse is pretty much a giant spa for men. They have saunas, hot tubs, and cold baths. My companion got a massage because he is crazy and was having back pains. Then he tried to make me get one but I didn't want to. I finally agreed to get this thing where they scrape off all of your dead skin so he would stop bugging me. I'm never doing that again... it hurt like crazy and wasn't relaxing. Afterwards it was time for dinner! We went to this place and I had this crispy cheesy pork with rice and veggies. It was pretty yummy. Then we went and got me some herbal life I can take as meal replacement for breakfast and dinner to save money. Lastly we went street boarding on Gangnam Daero which is like the main street of Gangnam so there is always a ton of people walking around. A big american dude holding a board attracts so much attention! We worked really hard so on the way home we got some ice cream. 

   On Tuesday we had mission tour. It was good but super long so I kept drifting off. We pretty much just sat there and listened to talks for 4 hours. The part that was super cool was that Elder Aoyagi, a member of the area 70 in Japan. He spoke on the joy we can find through missionary work and the fact that I'm here to help others. The Lord will direct and bless me if I am obedient. I need the spirit to be successful and I must be willing to give up everything to this work. If I pray to God in faith he will help me and I will master Korean. President Morrise talked about not being prideful and foolish because pride is a monster. Don't let humility disguise itself as pride. Don't ever say "it's ok" or "it's not a big deal" to things I know I shouldn't do because that is pretty much telling the Holy Ghost to get lost. I need to be peaceful not angry. I can't justify anger so I need to work on ways to avoid anger and steer towards happiness. For lunch we went to a Korean restaurant and had some soup. Sitting on the floor while eating is weird and I need to get more flexible. At night we had english class and it went really well. We teach free English to Koreans on Wednesdays and Saturdays.
   
  One of the ward members took us to a really expensive Brazilian grill and man how I have missed steak and other delicious meats! We had the idea to use basketball to teach but there aren't many places in Gangnam to go play. We went to the Nike store and got come contacts but haven't been able to set anything up yet. We had Zone meeting this week and I had to introduce myself to the zone in Korean. We ate at Pizza School and I had a half sweet potato/ half bulgogi pizza, it was nummy! They talked about the importance of protecting your companion and how I have to lock my heart for the next 2 years and more things along those lines and the conference. On Saturday we helped a family from the English branch move stuff around their house. The dad works at costco so after we were done moving we ate this delicious chicken pesto pasta from costco. I was in heaven, pasta is the best! English class was ok but only 3 people showed up because this week is Korean Thanksgiving. Everybody leaves the city for it pretty much but we will see how many people we can talk to this week who didn't leave. For dinner we order chicken from this place called Mexi cano. Food here is great! Lastly we went street boarding and talked to over 200 people! Elder Hastriter and I got told we were the most handsome guys these two Korean girls had seen all day so they came and stood next to us to take a selfie haha. Then some crazy drunk dude came over and started yelling around asking us for help to find his gf. He saw we were holding a board with stickers on it and started yelling at everyone to come pick a sticker and put it on the board. Then he starting high fiving every single person that walked by and asked everyone what there name was haha. He thought my companion's name was Elder and told his gf he was here with Elder. Then E. Hastriter took the phone to talk to his gf so she could come find him and take him away. The drunk guy claimed he was from Mexico but he didn't know how to speak Spanish and was utterly confused when I asked him in spanish where he was from. Luckily his gf showed up and they left. On our way back to the house that night we had a really good conversation with this couple and I really felt like they were lost and truly need our help. We gave them our card so hopefully they call :)

  Yesterday was my first fast Sunday in country. I was tired pretty much all day. I bore my testimony at church and I was told I did good which is nice to hear. After church we went home to study and I memorized a lot of sentences that I am required to memorize. We have this program called 12 week and it is a training program on how to begin teaching in Korean. I was pooped after I had memorized all that stuff and fell asleep :( Then I woke up and made myself dinner to break my fast. I fasted for all of my family so hopefully there are blessings coming your way! Being here has been great and I will just have to continue to push on because it will only get harder. I love you all so much! You are the best family one could ask for. The Picards are number 1!

   One more thing, there is no speed limit here in the city so everyone flies!! The other day these 2 Lambos were racing and they were going so fast! I have to constantly watch out for cars. They don't really care that you are a pedestrian so you pretty much just have to watch out. Everyone just does whatever they want here haha. Everyone is super friendly and honest here so it is not scary at all just crazy to see how unregulated everything is. 

   The gospel is true and I am blessed to be a representative of the Lord for the next 2 years!

   Live Long and Prosper! :)
                                                                    
                 Love, 
                         Elder "Captain" Daniel Jackson Picard       P.S. Everyone here calls me Captain it is pretty funny and my companion ordered me a tag that says Elder Captain in Korean 


Elder Hastriter and President & Sister Morrise

So many nice cars

My Korean name tag and me in Korea!

They even mis-use Native symbols here, I am a little native boy and definitely don't look like that.

At the Nike store getting contacts.

Hard to get a good picture because cars actually fly here!

Beautiful day in Korea.

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