Week 50 June 22, 2015 "Everytime we increase our knowledge of the Atonement we are growing closer to Christ."

  I would first like to start off by saying Happy Father's Day to the greatest dad in the world, my dad!!! His name is Daniel Clarence Picard and him is great!! He is brown so that's cool. He can do nun chucks and even in his late years could still probably ball me up in basketball!! He may not be able to drive without his knee going out of place but man does he still got that trey ball!! Dad you are the best. Thanks for raising me so well and ever since day one for getting me excited and ready to serve a mission. My dad is a convert to the church and if it weren't for him reading the Book of Mormon those 3 consecutive nights in the U of I's library I would not exist on the earth right now and would not be on a mission. If that were the case I don't think I would be happy and would probably be lost. Lucky for me I have the family I do and it all started with my dad's decision to read the Book of Mormon and for that decision I am forever grateful. This church is true and I am so happy and lucky to be serving a mission right now sharing the joy I have received from this church with as much of Korea as I possibly can.   

I just must be the king of food because this week we managed to get 7 meal appointments with members! Now I don't serve in America so that is pretty impressive. I have to work to get fed I am not just handed meals like all of the missionaries in America with their meal calendars that get passed around church every Sunday haha. Along with all those meals we were able to teach a lot of practice lessons. It is good when you get to teach a lot of practice lessons and definitely tests and helps your Korean. I definitely am grateful for all that the members do here in my ward. They help us out so much, they are awesome!! Well we got transfer calls but I am not going anywhere so woo hoo I don't have to pack. Elder Ely and I are going another transfer together but with a new buddy too!! Our new comp's name is Elder Huffman and he is a big boy but a nice one. He originally was in our house last transfer but a Korean elder in our district went home early because he hurt his ankle so Elder Huffman's comp E. Smith got switched over to another house to be with Elder Lee. So now in our big house we just have 5 so it's great and there is lots of space! I look forward to going this next transfer in a 3 some it should be fun. We all get along really well and have a great time so that definitely is a plus. The whole house all has really good relationships with each other so we all great along great. We have one Elder, E. Dewey, who goes home after this transfer so we all always tease him about running out of time and going back home. He is a good sport about it and just laughs so that's good. 

       Last P-Day we went to a bathhouse. It was the second one I have been to because for the longest time  I didn't care to go again but my house convinced me this time. It was a lot better than the one I went to as a greenie that's for sure. It had monkey bars!! So cool. They were over a cold pool and we did relay races on them so it was really fun. Once we started doing them everyone else started laughing, clapping, cheering, etc. haha I am guessing they first were just confused because we were all foreigners plus we didn't have clothes on so... and then we started being crazy monkeys so yeah haha. This bathhouse had roof access so we could go outside and get some sun on our white missionary bodies except for the fact the sun really wasn't out so that was a bummer. It definitely is cool being in one of the only missions in the world where we can swim and tan. Korea is the best!! Maybe it was all the pull ups and monkey bars I did but after going to the bathhouse man was I pooped. Lucky for us right after we had an appointment and some members took us out to eat!! I pounded because the bathhouse made me hungry too somehow. Yeah so last Pday was a good day. 

        The heat and humidity is still killing me so it is pretty rough some days and hard to stay smiley. I sweat like crazy here! My face is constantly dripping with sweat. So I pretty much just have to get used to sweating all of the time I guess. I haven't been as tired but the humidity and sweating doesn't help. I guess this is just one of the trials I gotta get through on my mission. It might take a while to not be tired all of the time but whatever it takes I gotta do it. 

        We met this old guy who had met missionaries a while ago and had a lot of questions. It was kind of hard to teach him because he couldn't really understand us. Plus everytime we tried to answer his question he wouldn't wait and ask another. He told us to refer him to the Korean missionaries so they can teach him. He was a super nice guy and I would love to meet him again but I think the Koreans will do a better job probably haha. 

         Well to end this morning I was studying about the Atonement and read one thing I really liked. It said "Everytime we increase our knowledge of the Atonement we are growing closer to Christ." You all have probably thought about this before but it really hit me this morning. The crazy thing is the mortal brain can't even come close to understanding the power of the Atonement. It literally is infinite!! I am so grateful for my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and for His Atonement. I know Christ lives and will help us in all our times of struggle!!

Love, 

Elder Picard

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