Korean Escape Room

First few days in 강남 were great, I'm living with 5 other people and the apartment isn't huge so it's a little tight but we make it work. I'm in the YSA branch which is super fun and we do activities all the time. One activities we had this week was an escape room they put together. I can't even do an escape room in English so it was pretty much impossible but it was still fun

We have 3 actively teaching friends, which is about 3 more than we had in 부천 so that's good. One of them is named Victoria and she's from Uzbekistan and speaks pretty good English. It's nice to teach someone in English because I can do a lot more teaching than usual. If we get to the point where we invite her to be baptized, we're thinking about learning how to ask her in Russian haha since that's her native language. One of our other teaching friends is doing great but is going on vacation to Thailand for a few weeks so we're hoping he doesn't ghost us after 

Spiritual Thought: "Successful marriages and families are established and maintained on principles of faith, prayer, repentance, forgiveness, respect, love, compassion, work, and wholesome recreational activities" (The Family Proclamation). I read this quote earlier this week and really like it. When I think of those qualities, like faith, love, respect and compassion, It makes me think of Jesus Christ. And I believe that if we center our homes around Jesus Christ, we will have happier and more successful lives and families. There is always a difference in Korea entering someone's home who is a member verses someone who's not. And I think those principles being taught in the homes are the difference. So my invitation is to think about ways you can include these principles and teachings in your homes this week!

Gangnam Style

This transfer was shortened because of Thanksgiving, so transfers are this week. And I'm getting transferred out of 부천  I'm so sad that I only got to spend 5 weeks here because I loved this area and the ward. But I'm going to 강남 (Gangnam), which is apparently the bourgiest city in Korea, and also the inspiration for the song "Gangnam Style" which I'm sure you've all heard. So I am super excited and I'm sure it will be just as good as 부천! 

This week we mostly visited members and proselyted on the streets, but we also had one lesson. It was with a guy we met at a park, and he turned out to be 80 years old. He wouldn't stop talking about the history of Korea for like an hour and then we had to go, so that lesson wasn't too successful. But we did get quite a few people to English class this week so that was good

Some other highlights:

- I got my alien card this week, so I won't get deported now 

- went to a bathhouse today

- completed my first phone call in full Korean

- ate a lot of rice. Pretty much only rice. Every day. Sometimes for breakfast, lunch, and dinner 

Spiritual Thought: 

Alma 5:15 - Do ye exercise faith in the redemption of him who created you? Do you look forward with an eye of faith, and view this mortal body raised in immortality, and this corruption raised in incorruption, to stand before God to be judged according to the deeds which have been done in the mortal body?

I like this verse because it puts into perspective how important it is to look forward with an eye of faith, because God is the one who created us after all. And it is also an eye opener that makes you wonder if you died today, and stood before God, would you be ready to receive judgement based on the life you've lived so far? If not, then maybe there is something you can start to work on! I know I have things to work on too

젠슨 장로 

Do You Have Time For God?

Koreans somehow stay so active at such old ages. I don't know if it's the kimchi or what but I swear the older the Korean, the more powerful they are. Some examples of this that I witnessed this week:

- Elderly Koreans riding bicycles in the streets (usually 60+ years of age)

- 80+ year old grandmas high up in trees picking fruit (seen this one many times - one lady that was cutting branches up in a tree today didn't even have teeth)

- Old people in full sprints to catch the subway

I think it's so funny to see that, but obviously Korea is doing something right if they're that active at such ages 

This week we had a teaching friend say that he couldn't do any more gospel discussions because he "didn't have time for God". That made me really sad because he told us how he's been struggling and I really think the gospel would bless his life. He said he is too busy and didn't have time to read a chapter of the Book of Mormon like we asked him. I don't have much time to write this email, but I want to promise that if you make time for God in your life, even ten minutes of reading the scriptures a day, you will start to have more control in your life, and actually find that you have more time, not less. If you are doing your absolute best to make time for God, He will make it possible for you to receive that time 

젠슨 장로 

This week's highlights in 부천 (Bucheon)

(11-4-2024) I titled this email "this week's highlights in 부천" cause I will talk a little bit about this week's highlights in 부천. The past 7 days we've done a lot of finding but didn't have a ton of success. However, we did play basketball with one guy the other night and then taught him about the restoration after. He promised us that he would read the Book of Mormon and we're meeting again next week so I'm excited to see what happens with him! He spoke English really well so we mostly just taught in English. That's honestly how a lot of discussions are in 부천 cause so many people can speak English

One of my favorite parts of the week is Saturdays because we get to teach English classes at the church to Koreans who want to learn English. We usually only have like at most 10 people there but it's still super fun and in my opinion one of the most effective ways to find people! Because once you can get people to the church you sometimes spark their interest or have them stay after to have gospel discussions. Also a ton of our current ward members have said that they found our church through the English classes. So I'm hoping to gear my efforts more towards that in the future

Yesterday at church, a happy old man walked up to me and linked arms with me so we started walking together. Then he turned towards me with the most cheerful smile and said, "Merry Christmas!!" And then he walked away to spread his Christmas cheer elsewhere. He looked so relieved that it was Christmas that I didn't bother to correct him haha

Spiritual Message: It's officially november! Which means it's the month of gratitude or something. Dieter F. Uchtdorf said in a talk one time: "those who set aside the bottle of bitterness and lift instead the goblet of gratitude can find a purifying drink of healing, peace, and understanding." So I would challenge everyone this month to choose to be grateful and obtain healing, peace, and understanding!

Jensen 장로