Elder Daniel Jackson Picard : Week 55 July 27, 2015 "Be faithful and diligent in keeping the commandments of God, and I will encircle thee in the arms of my love."

Another transfer is yet almost underway we get transfer calls Saturday and then will transfer Wednesday if I do. I am not sure what will happen because we have 3 missionaries already going home in our ward so I don't know how much more will change. I think I most likely will get a new comp because I have been with Elder Ely for 2 but I could also just stay with Elder Huffman because I have only been his comp for 1. The weather was pretty rainy this week with a breeze here and there so it was nice to get a break from the heat. Although it is impossible to escape the humidity even when it is raining I can manage to get a break from the heat produced by the sun :) I pretty much just sweat all of the time and am almost used to it so that's good. I hope all you guys had a crazy fun pioneer day in Utah because they didn't even mention it here haha.

We didn't have pday on Monday because we got to go to the temple on Thursday but with all the appointments we had Monday was pretty much still a pday. We went and helped a lady in the ward move a super heavy old school piano and a bunch of other stuff. They were throwing out some cabinets and her sons wanted to go outside and smash them all up so we went out and helped them. We then proceeded to see who could throw the cabinet the farthest which may or may not of made a lot of noise... We were under the impression that what we were doing was okay because the lady in our ward said we could but then the apartment guard guy came out and started having a fit because we were being loud. We apologized, cleaned up our mess, and went back inside. I guess you can't have as much fun destroying stuff and being loud in Korea as you can in America. The lady in our ward made us lunch and it was super tasty. They had a pull up bar in their house and I got on it thinking it was strong enough but right around the 5th pull up I broke and I fell on my bum. The whole family and my comps had a good laugh so it was worth it I guess. Later that night as we were traveling to our next appointment I met this really cool guy who works in China and knows some Mormons there so we were able to have a really good talk. I am not sure if I will able to meet him again since he works in China but oh well I did what I could. We had ribs for dinner at Brother Lee's house and they were super tasty. His wife made them in this big pot roast kind of thing which made it really good.

We had Zone conference this week and this guy named PJ Rogers came and talked to us. He was awesome! He served in Korea many years ago and gave us a bunch of really good pointers. He taught us culture, how to learn Korean better, how to build better relations with members, and more stuff like that. I learned a ton and lucky for me I have a little under a year to go apply all that I learned. Some of the relief society from one of the wards made us lunch and it was bomb. I went up to get 2nds and man is that not a good idea when there is a bunch of Korean ladies by the food because you go back to your table with way more than you expected haha. I met another really cool guy at a grocery store called Homeplus and had a really good talk with him about families. I got his business card and will have to follow up and see if we can start meeting him.

After the temple this week I went with Elder Dewey and Elder Corona to a buffet in Yeong Deung Po because my comps were going to Gangnam and I couldn't go back because I would of got way too trunky. Man did our day turn out to be not what I expected... I ended up having to jump into a fight and protect this little old lady from some crazy drunk old guy. We also met this super cool lady who wanted to take us out to eat then and there but we had already ate. She also said anytime I am back in that area to call and that she would buy me food haha. She really wanted to get us something so we said that we could drink smoothies but it was raining outside and she had to go. As she was leaving she pulled 30 bucks out of her purse and insisted on giving it to us. We said we couldn't take it but she just threw it at us and ran off. Good thing we got her number so that we can contact her and give her money back. We helped at an English School this weekend that was hosting a summer camp. We have a LA in our ward that works there and said they needed help so of course we said yeah we will help. It was way funny since it was an English School you couldn't speak Korean all of the kids had to speak English to me. If any of them spoke Korean they would all point fingers and say teacher he or she spoke Korean haha. We got put on teams with kids and one of the other teachers and my team was the Cool Kids. We ended up winning! We got the most points after all the games and just destroyed everyone else. After the camp on Saturday we went out with James and all the teachers to lunch and ate a lot of meat! James' mom loved us all so she offered all us a job and told us to come back after our missions haha. She also said to stop by her school anytime and she would buy us food. People just love to give us food, it's great!!! :)

I started reading this book called "The Infinite Atonement" by Tad R. Callister and man is it an amazing book! I usually hate books but definitely not this one. I was reading about why Christ will be the gatekeeper of Heaven and why He doesn't assign someone else to do it. The obvious reason is because He loves each and every one of us so much and wants to be the one to welcome us in to His presence. Reading this just reassured me, Christ is there and we can experience the blessing of being encircled in His arms of love by doing just this, "Be faithful and diligent in keeping the commandments of God, and I will encircle thee in the arms of my love." (D&C 6:20)

Love,

Elder Picard

P.S. Go read The Infinite Atonement. The book is amazing!!!