HELLO!!!!!!!!!
So I'm just going to start off with our huge miracle of the week because I have been so excited to tell you all about it!!!
We were at the church on Tuesday working on some boards for our little visitors center when the church moves and we had planned to go do something else, but felt like it was more important to stay at the church and finish what we were doing. A little bit later the phone rang and they asked if they could speak in English so I got on the phone and said "Hello?" It was a man who told me that he lived in Pungi Up (Town) which is part of Young-Ju, the city above Andong which is part of our area, and that he was baptized last week in Tahiti on vacation and would be attending our branch, so wondered where he could have his records sent, and if he could bring his wife ,who is Korean, to meet the members. WHAT?!?!?!?!?!?! So we keep talking. He is French, but lived in Australia for a long time and learned English. He has been in Korea for 15 years teaching English in the little town of Pungi and been married to his wife for 10. We talked for a bit longer, and he said if we were ever in Pungi or Young-ju to give him a call and he and his wife would love to meet us. Well we didn't have any plans for Wednesday yet so I said, "Well, we have time for lunch tomorrow. Does that work for you?" He said that was great and that he would meet us at the train station. He said he would probably be the only foreigner there so would be easy to recognize. I said I would be the other and that we would meet tomorrow! (Obviously we are totally freaking out about this as I am frantically trying to explain everything to Sister *** in Korean and call the elders to tell them about it.) So we go to Young-ju for lunch and we get to the train station and this man looks EXACTLY like John Locke from Lost. Seriously. I was laughing so hard inside. Australian accent, scruffy beard, bald head and probably like 50. His wife is about the same age, and is really pretty. So we sit down for lunch (enjoyed some nice Goorl Gook-Bab, which is basically Oyster and rice soup. It was actually pretty good) and I ask him about how in the world he found the church in Tahiti. He told me that he has been a part of basically every religion you can think of searching for the truth. He was raised Christian, but in his adult years, he has traveled to India to learn about Hinduism. He almost became a Buddhist monk. A few years ago, he went to Australia to study Christian Science, and after that gave up and decided he would never find the truth. His wife just followed him through all of these. They have studied the Bible together every morning for a really long time. Anyway so he went to Tahiti because he and his wife want to move there. He said at the airport, he met a member of the church, but didn't think much of it. He had seen missionaries in Australia (not in Korea) and had always thought they were kind of weird. But on Sunday, next to the place he was staying was one of our churches and he felt that since it was Sunday, in order to be a good Christian, he should go to church. He went and said that the moment he heard the man who was speaking's testimony, he felt something different and genuine about it, and immediately knew this was the true church. So he talked to this brother for a while, and then went to FHE the next night at the church. The next day (Tuesday) he had an interview with the mission president, who said that he should just get baptized while he was in Tahiti. So he received all the lessons (in French which is his native language), and got baptized on Saturday, AKA General Conference Saturday. Then he got confirmed on Sunday (Or as he said Received the Holy Spirit), came back to Korea on Monday, called us on Tuesday and we had lunch with him and his wife on Wednesday. WHAT?!?!?! Seriously. I still can't believe it. He has been listening to conference every morning with his wife, as of Wednesday, had read through 2 Nephi, read parts of the Doctrine and Covenants and Pearl of Great Price, and is going to start Jesus the Christ. We talked to his wife about religion and she was raised Catholic and then after high school, never really attended church. She has always heard that our church is a cult, so was a little worried when her husband came back from Tahiti saying he was baptized into this church, but wants to learn all about it. He has explained lots to her, but he learned it all in French, and they are talking about it in English, which they are both REALLY good at, but it is neither of their natural language. And I have a firm testimony that people need to hear the gospel in their native language. She has read online a lot, which obviously not everything online is good, so had lots of questions, especially about what we think when people say we are a cult, and how we overcome that, so we were able to testify about that. We taught her the first lesson, and she was really touched by Joseph Smith and his story. We gave her a Korean Book of Mormon so that she could study along with her husband and she was so excited. We told her she can pray to know for herself as well, and not just follow her husband again, and taught her how to pray in the name of Christ. She said that is the way she has always prayed anyway. We also gave her the pamphlets, and he turned to the back and said "Look! There's homework you can do too. Read these scriptures and write the answers!" Haha it was perfect. We usually have a hard enough time getting people to even read the pamphlets, let alone look at the questions in the back. I am so excited for her to learn about the church and really know for herself. So there's our big miracle of the week. This morning, the mission started a new thing that we will be doing every week-a mission wide conference call to share all our miracles. We were the first ones to share, and we were so excited about it. It was so fun!!!
Haha our other funny story of the week. We were teaching the two little girls we are doing Family English with. We were talking about baptism and showed them a picture of Christ getting baptized. *** randomly asked us if we have a boyfriend. No we both said. Then she thinks for a minute and says, 남자 친구 사귈때, 예수 그리스도와 같은 사람 만날거에요? "When you get a boyriend, will he be a Christlike person?" Hahahahahahahahahaha we were laughing SO hard. Good investigator. Good investigator.
I also LOVED LOVED LOVED conference. Of course!!! I especially LOVED the focus on LOVE!!! I have studied a lot about it, and have really tried to work on having more Christlike love for others, and HOW I can have true charity for people. So I was so excited to hear HOW exactly from the mouth of the prophets. I made a list of questions and every single one was answered. I also loved the focus on always being worthy and prepared to feel the spirit, and help others feel the same. I haven't had a chance to look over many of my notes yet, but I will share some highlights with you in the future I'm sure! I also liked Elder Ballard's suggestion to talk about Preach My Gospel in our letters. I didn't prepared today, but get excited for my PMG insight of the week from now on!!! We watched it with the branch at the church. They all watched it in Korean, but Elder *** and I had headphones listening to the sound in English. So I had once ear listening to English, and one to Korean. Later for more language study, I really want to listen to it all in Korean. I feel like I will learn lots of different things!!!
I think that is all my really exciting news of the week so we will just leave it at that!
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