Week 97 May 9,2016 "We do not doubt our mothers knew it."

     I love my mom, she is great!! My parents are the best and they raised me so well. Even in times where I was a little rascal they still loved me. They always pushed me to become who they knew I could become. They loved me no matter what. This is the scripture I shared yesterday when I spoke in sacrament and it is the one I want to share today. It is Alma 56: 47 Now they never had fought, yet they did not fear death; and they did think more upon the liberty of their fathers than they did upon their lives; yea, they had been taught by their mothers, that if they did not doubt, God would deliver them.48 And they rehearsed unto me the words of their mothers, saying: We do not doubt our mothers knew it. 

Love, 

Elder Picard

Week 96 May 2, 2016 "Lots of love, multiple cakes & most importantly an interview with President for my 21st birthday!"

My message this week is just this scripture which I read this morning in personal study. It is D&C 81: 5 Wherefore, be faithful; stand in the office which I have appointed unto you; succor the weak, lift up the hands which hang down, and strengthen the feeble knees. I believe this scripture to be a big blessing. As we serve others I know the Lord will bless us and that we will find happiness. We have to make the choice and say "Yes, Lord, I will follow thee." The choice is ours and no one will choose for us. We have to take the first step. As we take that first step I know the Lord will help us take the following steps. 

Love, 

Elder Picard

He had an awesome birthday! So many people showed him love, thanks from his momma in Utah!

We have been placing this special Barbie on birthday cakes for almost 20 years, a fun family tradition. We figured Barbie needed to travel and mailed her all the way to South Korea to celebrate with our missionary.  He is very good at taking good care of things, and I have every confidence in the world Barbie will be back July 12th to celebrate Dan's 54th birthday :)

Another awesome family taking good care of my boy.

Special permission to attend the wedding of someone he friendshipped in Seocho.

He was so worried about this picture he wrote me "Mom I had no idea I was standing this close to her, it looks like I may have my arm around her and I promise I don't." So funny he thought I would be worried, she is married DJ you're good.

Week 95 April 25, 2016 "Bummed about my cyst"

      This week was a party. You know why? It is because I got a cyst on my bum and had to go to the hospital. Yes I did get an ultrasound of my bum and then a shot to follow. They almost had to do surgery but lucky the inflammation settled down after a few days. I probably was blessed because I have so many people back home praying for me everyday. Thanks everyone. Elder Yates gave me a blessing because the cyst was pretty painful and I couldn't really sit down comfortably. I just hope my cyst doesn't get an attitude and inflame again because that was not fun. This past week overall was a pretty slow one. We didn't get too many lessons or meet many people. Hopefully this week comes around and we can find some Korean investigators! 

      The military branches had district conference in 영등포 and we watched it here at the Pyeongtaek ward building. One of Elder Whiting's counselors gave a really good talk. I can't remember his name but he is the one who is not Korean. He compared a testimony to a bike. There was a guy whose bike maybe wasn't in the best shape. The handlebars were a bit crooked and the seat wasn't right but he was still able to ride it and enjoy himself. It wasn't until the tire blew out that the fun was gone. He didn't want to go out of his way to change the tire so he just put the old bike in the garage. Sadly that is what some of us do with our testimonies. We must keep our testimonies in check and constantly working on them. There will never be a time where our testimony reaches its' peak, we must always have our testimonies under construction. I hope that made sense haha. Also we as members need to help those who may have their "bikes" broken in the garage by always having our tools sharp and ready to go. As I listened to that talk I received a thought that really hit me. Satan always wants to be a Wreck it Ralph and make people miserable. The Lord needs more of us to be like Fix it Felix! He needs us to help those who are in need of repair. Just like Elder Wong said a while back in one of his talks "As we help in the rescue of souls we too are saved in the process." I know this to be true and I myself am trying to be more like Fix it Felix!!

Love, 

Elder Picard

My dream Happy Birthday car!!!

Week 94 April 18, 2016 "I will just simply share my testimony"

     Well my first week of my 15th transfer was a good one. Kevin and Grace are on date for June 18th so that is pretty exciting. Kevin is straight up golden and so ready to enter the waters of baptism. Grace is a little more hesitant but she will for sure come around.  Zach Brown is doing well too. We taught him the Plan of Salvation this week and the lesson went super good. We have still been trying to figure out how to proselyte here because there is like nobody on the streets ever. Well there is one place that people always are but we don't want to go to the same place every single day to tract because that would get very boring. We are still trying to play basketball and soccer with kids and that is going well. We haven't been able to teach much but we are getting known and a lot of the students around here recognize me every time they see me so that's a good thing. I feel like a celebrity sometimes here, it is great. Like right after school this week I ran into some kid I have met before who was with a bunch of his friends and they all freaked out when they saw me. Plus right as that was happening a group of girls walked by and when they heard we speaking Korean they went crazy and started telling me I was so handsome. Yeah the struggle is real for sure ;) haha. 

      I will just simply share my testimony. I know Jesus Christ lives. I know we are all children of a loving Heavenly Father. He wants us to be happy and will never leave us in times of trail. I know the footprints in the sand message that my Mom has hanging up at home in America is reality. In our hard times we look and don't see anyone walking next to us but what we don't do is look hard enough. He isn't walking next to you helping you along, instead He is carrying you. I know the Atonement is real and that it truly is infinite. I cannot fully understand the Atonement but I know it can make you clean just like it has cleansed me many times. We are so lucky to have a Savior that suffered beneath ALL things for us. We must repent or the Atonement is useless in our lives. I know that as I have repented in my life that I have seen a huge change and was always able to progress and live that much more happily!! 

Love, 

Elder Picard

Week 93 April 11, 2016 "Loved Conference, so blessed!"

     I hope you all had a great week because I sure did. I watched my last conference as a missionary here in Korea! I can't believe the time has flown by so fast and that next time I watch conference I will be in America. Who knows maybe I will have a girlfriend by then too ;) I will be staying in Pyeontaek until I go home and we will be getting sisters back this transfer. One of the sisters is Korean so it will be nice having a Korean missionary around. They are always great to have because they speak Korean so well. We will for sure be trying a lot of group proselyting activities now that we have a big district again. A missionary named Elder Miller who is in my group that came to Korea with me is transferring in to greenie break Elder Yates. I will miss having Elder Doyle around because he is a funny one. Next transfer will be my 15th and then I will only have one more left. I guess we will see if I get one more companion. I am hoping I get another companion because I want one more before I go home. 

       My message is simply that the Lord loves all of His children and I know that for sure. As I listened to Elder Holland's talk it opened my eyes on things I haven't either noticed or thought about for a long time. The Lord knows what we are going through and He will not get down on us if we fall. However, He for sure will be disappointed if we stop trying. God loves us and is proud when we keep trying each and everyday. We must live for tomorrow like Elder Holland said and not let failure get the best of us. I think that is what he was trying to say but if I didn't get the whole message my bad. 

Love, 

Elder Picard

My little saver worked hard saving his msf and know can live like a king the last two transfers.

A little break between conference sessions, I believe he said this is the Ricks family.

Getting food ready for the Priesthood session.

All the brothers to enjoy the Priesthood session.

Priesthood session in the background. Love conference!!!

All the little guys.

Week 92 April 4, 2016 "23 days til my happy birthday!"

The weather is starting to warm up, in Korea. We actually had to break out our short sleeved shirts! I am not looking forward to the heat and humidity.  I am looking forward to turning 21, in just 23 short days!! That is wild, that I am going to be so old.

We have picked up two new investigators, which is great. One of them is actually American, from the Base nearby.  We gave a lesson in Korean, this past week.  It was kind of difficult, and took awhile, because we have been teaching mostly in English lately. We are in a primarily English area right now.  We watched a video, with our investigator, that was centered on Baptism.  She enjoyed the video, especially the part where Jesus Christ gets baptized.  She is coming to the realization that she too, may need baptism, if the Savior himself was baptized.  So, that was good for her to see.

Osan Ward is planning a get-together this week, which should be fun.  We will be playing ultimate frisbee, plus having a bar-b-que.  I am especially looking forward to the food and bar-b-que.  Yumm!!

The Mission Home informed me, yesterday, that they will be purchasing my airline ticket for my return flight home, this coming week!!  It just makes me realize that I am short on time here in Korea. Not so much to be going home, but to know that I have to lengthen my stride and do all that I can for the Lord, in the few short months that I have left. Time sure has flown!

We had a chance to play basketball, this past week, with some Korean investigators. That is always fun, to show off my skills!  We have also been working really hard to improve our relationships with folks in our Ward, and this has been going well. We are currently working with a lady Korean investigator, whose husband was baptized a few months ago. This is nice, because I can work on my Korean again.  We are also working with the wife of Christian, a recent convert, it has been hard. She was raised Southern Baptist, so we have interesting discussions.  We will keep it up, though.

Oh, one funny thing.  We were out knocking doors this past week, and accidently came upon a "red light district" in the area.  It was kind of funny at first, but then we thought, man we better get out of here.  So yeah, intersting proselyting day!

Well, love you all.  Until next week, this is Picard, signing off.  

Love, Elder Picard

Week 91 March 28, 2016 "Happy Birthday to the best big brother EVER, I love and miss him the mostest!"

    "Ever since I've been eating this stuff I have had diarrhea since Easters." For those of you that don't know what movie that is, it's from Nacho Libre. The Picards like to quote that movie a lot. Well we quote a lot of movies so yeah. I just wanted to start my email off this week with that because I miss laughing and watching movies with my family. Hopefully you all got a good laugh reading that quote because I laughed typing it. 
Easter as a missionary is the best. It was especially great getting to teach an investigator the Plan of Salvation and testify of Jesus Christ. I hope you all had a great Easter because I sure did. I even got to hide eggs for an Easter egg hunt! They wouldn't let me find them because I am too big but I got to hide them :) Sometimes I wish I could go back to being a little kid because Easter egg hunts were so fun! All kids do is have fun. All you kids out there enjoy it while it lasts. Before you know it, you will just have to work work work. I like being a big missionary guy it is fun but definitely in a different way. As a kid you get the thrill and fun by eating candy and looking for eggs but as a missionary you make things fun by serving others and being able to teach about Jesus Christ. I had a cool experience yesterday talking with a guy on the bus. I felt like I should talk about Jesus Christ and bear my testimony so I did. He took it really well too. We fear things sometimes that shouldn't be feared. Sharing your testimony of Jesus Christ shouldn't be scary. I mean who wants to light a candle and put it underneath a bushel? I sure don't. That is no fun. We gotta shine the light and pull our candles out from underneath the bushel if they are. I know that as we testify and shine our light that we will receive strength and courage to do so. With conference this weekend and still in the midst of Easter season it is the perfect time to testify of Jesus Christ to our friends and invite them to watch conference!! 

Love, 

Elder Picard

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