Elder Daniel Jackson Picard : Week 18 November 10, 2014 "I am in Korea, that's crazy!"

It is starting to cool up quick over here in Korea so I probably should get a coat soon before the snow flies so my mom isn't worried about her little guy freezing all winter. I will get one so don't worry mom. Well you know you are in Korea when you are walking down the street and all of the sudden get hit in the face with the stinkiest cloud pocket of fart smell. I am starting to adjust to the smell more and everything so that's good. It honestly still is just so crazy to be walking around and think to myself that man I am in Korea, that's crazy! It makes me happy when I get to talk to people in English because Korean hasn't clicked yet and I can speak English well enough to hold a conversation haha. Korean sure is difficult and I don't know what it is with me, I can speak pretty well but can't understand worth beans. So I essentially know what I can say but not when to say it. I guess I just have to be patient and keep practicing. Then also the most important thing I have to do is trust in the Lord and let the gift of tongues work through me.

Last Monday after we emailed, my companion and I weren't sure what we wanted to do. So I requested that we could go for a run and my companion agreed. What I didn't know was that he didn't want to run and it just turned into him personal training me haha. I would run up and down hills while he yelled at me to go faster. Then he would have me do push ups, wall sits, tricep dips, and pretty much whatever he wanted me to do. He was definitely having a good time watching me struggle towards the end and was like man you have to let me do this more often. So I think I probably will let him keep doing it so I can get back into shape. After that we met a member for dinner and he took us to Chinese.

We met with a potential for dinner one night this week. After dinner he told us one sec and went and took a quick smoke break... Then we taught him a quick lesson. I went ok but I don't think he was interested. I went on an exchange with Elder Black that went really well and we had a lot of cool things happen. Our appointment that night cancelled so I started calling people to try and get another one. I felt impressed to call this one guy and we ended up being able to meet him and he wanted to take us to dinner. He apparently has met with the missionaries a few times and loves Mormons. His son lived with an LDS family in the states and that LDS family happened to be related to one of the missionaries that used to serve here so that's pretty crazy. He said that he wants to go hiking with us so hopefully that will work out and we can continue to teach him. The next day of our exchange Elder Black and I met with a member for lunch and he took us to Outback Steakhouse. He said we could get whatever we want so I got ribs and then he kind of got mad at Elder Black when he just ordered a burger instead of getting a steak haha. The member had a really cool conversion story and advised us to not be pushy with our investigators and to just befriend them first. Later on that day we went to COEX which is like this huge convention/shopping place and happened to walk into this shop that I am sure glad we walked into. The man in the shop just blew up in excitement that we were Mormons who could speak Korean and he said that he has been to the temple in San Diego and thinks it is the most beautiful building ever! We proceed to go him a Book of Mormon and committed him to read it. He then had us sign our signatures in the Boof of Mormon and write our phone number. We went back and tried to teach him later on in the week but turns out that he isn't to interested in the gospel and just liked the fact that we were two white dudes who spoke Korean. It's all good though because he has a Book of Mormon so hopefully he keeps reading it.

At Zone meeting this week we got trained on the importance it is that we help our investigators every step of the way like Christ helps us. This part is sadly missed a lot when missionaries are so focused on just getting an investigator baptized then not helping them after. So I am going to learn from this and always be there for my investigators even after they get baptized to help them continue on their path to eternal life!!

Yesterday we went to Brother 조's house and taught him a practice lesson and that went well. Except for the fact I messed up and said in Korean "That we take the sacrament every day on Wednesdays" luckily for me it was just a practice lesson haha. We ate lunch with them, played a board game, then shared a message. The message we left with them is that we have to rely on Christ as our source of hope. For lunch he made this eggplant lasagna that he has never made before he just loves to feed us new creations and always tries to make something new. So yeah that was my week. Korea just gets better and better. I love you all so much!! Serving the Lord is wonderful and I am loving every last minute of it!

Love,

Elder Picard