Elder Daniel Jackson Picard : Week 15 October 20, 2014

Twas a good week over here in Gangnam! I reread through a few of the conference talks and man how much farther do I need to go before this next 20 some months is up. I am really trying to give it my all and do the very best I can but sometimes as a missionary you just get tired. I have been trying to really focus on my time here in the mission field but man have I been struggling. After reading the talk on self-doubt this past conference it really stuck out to me how much better I can do along those lines. As a missionary, I get thoughts of unworthiness that can bite at my faith and make me really feel down. Who would of guessed a mission would be as hard as it is? Satan is real and he never stops trying to get us down. Especially as a missionary. So my advice to everyone in preparation for a mission is to start now in building up your spiritual strength and faith. I have came a long way since I have been out and have changed quite a bit. There is no stopping now though I just have to keep chugging for the next 20 months. Lucky for me with help from the Lord and the enabling power of the Atonement I can do it!! I mean all I really have to do is have faith as strong as the brother of Jared and I wouldn't have anything to worry about.

We placed a few Books of Mormon this week and had a pretty successful week. Our 1 investigator is progressing but said he will probably get baptized in 10 years or so but who knows maybe I with the help of the spirit can change that. As long as I am planting seeds for the next missionaries who teach him and know I did the best I could that is really all I can do. Getting a lot of baptisms in Korea is tough and I have come to find out that it is not about all the baptisms you get but about all the people you help and aid in their later on conversion and realization of the truth. We went to a really good pasta place with a potential investigator that we met at KFC a few weeks ago. We had a good talk with him over dinner about life and everything. He didn't seem to interested in the gospel but sometimes as a missionary you just have to think baby steps and just be a friend.

So my thing I started up with my companion is that I randomly go through the phone and call people who we can try and meet. I start off the conversation but then hand it to my companion when I get confused. Well this week we succeeded in doing that and ended up going to lunch with a man name Rodry Kho. To our astonishment this man happened to have gotten baptized in the 80's out of curiosity in the church. Since then he has been less active :( He was really reliant on the bible and said he hasn't really read the Book of Mormon. He had a lot of questions about life and why certain things happen that were really hard to answer. Then he asked us a question that blew our minds. He asked us if we knew about the grasshopper story in the Book of Mormon, me nor my companion knew what he was talking about. So if there is such thing please let me know family. After we met him he called us and wants us to meet with his daughters and get them to believe in the doctrines we teach. He said he liked our life style and respected us a lot and that he wanted that kind of lifestyle for his family.

Our English class treats us well and it is really fun teaching English to Koreans every week. They bring us treats and take us out to eat is their way of saying that we deserve pay so it is always like a thank you kind of thing. We explain to them that we don't need treats and we just like to serve but they insist on getting us stuff. Like on Saturday they took us out to a really good Chinese restaurant and then out for dessert!

I finished the Book of Mormon for the first time on my mission this week!! The Book of Mormon is great and every time I read it I learn something new. I haven't received a huge confirmation that it is true but I don't really need to because in all reality we don't need something BIG to confirm a belief for it to be true. That is where faith comes in and the power of the Holy Ghost. It is as simple as if you feel good and happy when you are doing something then it has to be right. So in that case if you read the Book of Mormon and feel happy what more do you need to know it is true (Ether 4:12).

We encountered a church that had a bunch of people out of the street in bright orange vests who were protesting another church. They were yelling some chant and were quite angry with this one church. In Korea a protest that you don't call to set up before hand are illegally so the cops chased them off. We encountered these 2 women who were part of the protest and they said that only the NIV bible was true and that we weren't sanctified and are going to hell... We left without a fight or a bible bash but man can it be frustrating sometimes.

We taught our 1 investigator about the sacrament and the role of Jesus Christ. I used the parable of the 100 sheep and the 1 sheep that goes missing and how Christ cares so much for his sheep that He will leave the flock to go get the one lost sheep. I related it to how much Christ loved him and would never let him get lost. We then took him up to the chapel and explained the sacrament to him. That went very good and the spirit was definitely there helping us teach.

My stomach almost blew up on Saturday, we had so much food!! We went out for a late lunch with those English class members and to dessert where I ate a ton. Then after that we had another dinner appointment with a man that we randomly called who took us out for the super thick Korean bacon. He talked 100 miles per hour in English with chopped up words and was really hard to understand. He was probably the happiest man I had every met and was super excited that we brought him a present. That present was the Book of Mormon. He was hesitant to take it at first but we said that God wanted him to read it so he took it and said he would. We hope to meet him again but he lives in a different area so we will see what happens.

Ether 12:27 is starting to become my favorite scripture and I look to it pretty much everyday. I really appreciate all of the inspirational quotes all of you send me and I hang them up around my desk so I am always reading them. This gospel is great and I am happy to be here in Korea right now. I haven't found out why I am here yet and sometimes question why Korea but I just have to keep pushing on. If The Lord knows I will be able to master Korean then I guess I just have to trust him. Korea is me for the next 20 months so I just have to embrace it as much as possible. Like my dad always says I just have to be an eagle and rely on the Lord to renew me with strength. Thank you everyone for being so awesome and for supporting me along the way. I love you all so much!!

Love,

Elder Picard