Hello everyone,
I'll quickly address the subject to relieve any worries some
might have. With the new church announcement about properly addressing the
church by the name given by our Savior. So we had Elder Christofferson come to
the MTC and give a devotional about it, which was pretty cool how he explained
the importance and meaning behind the name given to The Church. So i'm a member
of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, but i'm not mormon
(especially since Mormon died like 1600 years ago or so) :)
But what a week!! I don't know where to start! but I'll try
to make it not too long. On like tuesday, Elder Gonzales twisted his ankle
pretty bad playing volleyball, so we had to get crutches and our walking speed
was cut in half, so that wasn't good. After a bit, he said is was just hurting
too bad, so he asked to have a priesthood blessing to make it better. So I gave my first priesthood blessing this week! it was pretty cool! and now he can walk
just fine!
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| Elder Guthrie carrying Elder Gonzales around until we got his crutches! |
Being the zone leader has been a really cool experience! I've been able to talk to and grow closer to all the elders in the zone. Also,
we got new missionaries in our zone this week!! there were 11 new missionaries
who came into our zone this week, one native korean, and two Filipinos. So
we had to opportunity to show them around the MTC and give them like a welcome
orientation. We are basically here to help them and answer whatever they need,
so it's been a pretty cool experience here.
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| Our mighty Korean Zone! |
The korean is still coming along, it's still not easy!
Korean grammar is just really messed up. If for example I wanted to say that
"I know Joseph Smith translated the Book of Mormon through the power of
God" the Korean grammar would change it to "I through God's power
Joseph Smith Book of Mormon translated know" so it's pretty messed up. but
it's a work in progress!
The weeks go by so slowly here, I feel like it's been
months, and in truth we aren't even halfway through our 9 weeks in the MTC,
haha. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing, we all would just rather be in
Korea!
Story Time: It's not so much a story than it is just
something that keeps happening. So many times while I've been here, I've
repeatedly been asked "what is your ethnicity?"... by my companion,
other elders in my zone, just a bunch of people! Haha, so of course I just tell
them that I'm completely American, and very few believe me! There was one Elder
this past week who asked me the question and "what ethnicity are my
parents?" to which I told him that we were all just American. Haha, after
that he just asked me "Why?" hahaha, I was so confused! I was just
like "what do you mean why?" haha, they just don't believe me here I guess! so that's been happening, and will probably continue to happen for the
next few years or so!
(Max has Swiss, German, Swedish, English & Scottish ancestry - so you decide which one fits!)
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| At choir practice! |
Much Love!
Elder Hanks