Thanksgiving, no baptism, Koreans can teach you english!

Nov 26 2018

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone that actually celebrated it! haha, we taught english on thanksgiving, and one of the koreans remembered it was thankgiving and brought nachos, so I guess I had my own thanksgiving feast, haha. Also during that class I got taught English by a korean... usually English class goes the other way around, but one of the Koreans went up and proceeded to teach everyone about Partial Negations, and if you're like me, you probably would have no idea how to explain that, or much less what it is, haha. So that was fun! 

Also just so you all know, there are only 5 more sundays of 3 hour church! So enjoy it while you can! :) Also this past sunday the missionaries serving in our ward, so Elder Gailey and I and 2 Korean Sisters, sang a song in sacrament, I don't know how I’ve gotten myself into so much singing here, cause I really can't sing all that well, haha

This is the Elder who likes & imitates the sound of my deep voice! 

We went on exchanges this past week, we actually did it twice, so I think I’ve done like 4 exchanges in less than 2 transfers, and they were all with koreans, haha. So it was good practice for my korean! And one of the korean elders in our district that I did exchanges with really likes my voice, so now he always imitates it and whenever we call him, he always answers in like a low voice and is like "Hello this is Elder Hanks" haha, so that's something I found funny.

I also finally played a sport!! haha, it was just ping pong though, haha. But still it was fun to finally play with a Korean, so shout out to my Dad for giving me some practice back home, cause I totally beat the Korean! It was fun, but I really want to play like one of the 70 year old korean grandpas who play it like every day.

Church Name of the week: came across a church the other day and the only name it had was "Dream Center" and then there was a cross. So I don't know anything about the church, but I’m sure they encourage naps in sacrament or something ;)

We're getting into the Christmas season!! So we are doing a christmas choir performance this sunday, and I just love the christmas season! Just having the opportunity to focus on Christ for so long is so great! 

Also with our person being taught, H......., we were able to contact him and he said he knows he needs to be baptized!! He's just super busy, so thank you for all your prayers so far, we are so close to getting him on the path, just a few more prayers of faith and I think we'll be able to get it!! 

The mission is great! the work of the Lord is so amazing! And the Savior is just the best!! It's really unfathomable to think of how great of magnitude his sacrifice was, but just take some time and think about how much the Savior really does just have to love you do to what He did. Ah, it just gives me so much joy! 

Love You all! 

Elder Hanks

Also because I have like no self control or just haven't learned I totally burnt my mouth again this past week, pray for me, haha. 

Nov 19 2018

What a week! I feel like I just say that cause I can't really remember everything that happened throughout the week.

So today we had choir practice, then after that Elder Gailey and I decided to head over to Costco for shopping! We just got back, and it was pretty good! We also happened to run into President Jeong there, so that was fun. We also got some Costco Pizza there and cause we don't think too far ahead, we bought maybe too much, cause now our hands are completely full of groceries, and we have to carry it back by bus and train, so it'll be fun. But we got some Costco Muffins! So it's all worth it
               

This week was kind of strange, a lot of our people being taught just like stopped talking to us, so we only had like 2 lessons this week. Also our baptism did not happen :'( we called him a few times, and he's too busy to meet, and hasn't been reading the Book of Mormon! Ah man, that was too bad to hear, but we are still trying to recommit him to baptism sometime soon!

We also went to a meat Buffet last week, which is exactly what it sounds like, so yeah it was good.

Also one of the guys we are teaching is suspicious that a baby like possesses his body because he experiences a lot of sleep paralysis, so that was odd.

Interesting church name of the week: Cotters Church. So if you were interested what a cotter is like I was, I took the liberty of looking it up for you. A cotter is a peasant farmer from the Scottish highlands. So I guess they made it over here and made a church! Who would've thought! 

Also, apparently the word for niece/nephew also sounds very similar to a bad Korean curse word, cause some sisters freaked out when I said I had a niece and nephew, haha. So I'm just gonna stay away from that word. 

But the work is good! It's going steadily! It's going a little slow, but no one ever said it went fast here, so it's all good! The lord went through so main pain and anguish to make life easier for us, but that doesn't mean our life is always easy! Just remember that someone else has been through it all, and knows how to help you get through it too! Being able to share this message with others is the greatest blessing in my life!

a cool church we found... not ours

 

D&C 15:6 "And now, behold, I say unto you, that the thing which will be of the most worth unto you will be to declare repentance unto this people, that you may bring souls unto me, that you may rest with them in the kingdom of my Father. Amen."

I don't know the last time any of you cracked open D&C, but it's so awesome! 

Also since there is no Thanksgiving here, I’ve started listening to Christmas music, so" Merry Christmas you filthy animals"

Much love, 

Elder Hanks 

Nov 12 2018

Well it's officially been a transfer (6 weeks)!! 

It's weird how fast and slow time flies here, like I think I'm starting to better understand how time isn't really a concept to God, cause sometimes i'm just like "well it was tuesday yesterday, and somehow I'm attending sacrament today" so it's just weird, haha. Also Elder Gailey is now our district leader! So that'll be fun for this next transfer!

So we have our baptismal date for this week, which we are really praying for!! but our person being taught couldn't come to his baptismal interview yesterday, so we are a little worried, because he should probably get that before getting baptized, so we're just kind of like scrambling now to make sure everything goes right. So any prayers would of course be appreciated! His name is H....... The work moves a little slower over in Korea, but it still moves along!!

We went on exchanges again this last week, and I probably stayed in one of the smallest apartments I've ever seen, there was literally barely any room for like each of us to do push ups or just exercise there, so I'm counting my blessings for what I have right now, haha.

Just some interesting fun stories:

So last week we were just walking and trying to find people, so we approached someone who was quickly excited to meet us, but none of us could understand him, and he couldn't understand korean. We think he was Vietnamese cause he kept saying what sounded like "Bietnam", so we took a guess he was saying Vietnam. We then attempted a small game of charades to figure out he was trying to buy some glasses, but the store was closed. So it wasn't going anywhere, so we waved goodbye, but he then proceeded to follow us down the street, and even when we turned he kept following us, haha. He offered a cigarette, which we just declined, and then he left. haha, it was a little weird.

2nd story "i'm Old Greg": So we had finished all our studies and were going out to find people. We maybe walked like 100m from our apartment when we saw this old guy with a recorder. So we started a conversation with him, and asked what he could play. He then played "Nearer My God to Thee" on the recorder!! Coolest thing ever! Haha, he then invited us into his house for Bananas and Tea (haha, I guess that's what they do here or something) so we did, just cause it's an opportunity, and don't worry we didn't break the Word of Wisdom, it was okay tea. But it was actually super cool, we shared about the Restoration of Christ's church and it was so awesome! He said he'd also feed us sometime, which are like some of the greatest words a missionary can here, haha.


            

So it's been quite a week!! Lots is going on, much more is needed! the work of the Lord is amazing. And I know that this is the true church, that we do have a savior who died for each and every one of us and through that power we literally don't have to worry about anything really! It's just so amazing!

Much Love,

Elder Hanks.

Also a request for all of you!! I don't know what to take pictures of anymore, haha. So send like ideas of fun stuff for me to take pictures of, or like picture challenges, just fun stuff to make my pictures better. Just anything fun!!

Here's this weeks pictures:

The wonderful exercise equipment here that is in the randomest places ever

A like food market that was super crazy, there is just so much random stuff here

Found some wise elderly dudes playing a classic game of chinese chess :)

I am legal here finally!

Nov 5 2018

Ah, it's been a great week!

First off I was able to get my foreigner card, so I’m like now legal to be here or something thankfully. So that was a relief, haha.

We also went on exchanges this week! So I went with our zone leader, 이해성  and it was great! first off because he is korean, haha, so I was able to practice a lot of korean! And he is just such an enthusiastic missionary, so it was a lot of fun. Also, we got some delivery Korean Fried Chicken, which is pretty famous here, but I hadn't had it yet, so that was amazing. Haha, it really is just so good!! So the exchange was great, I learned a lot and ate very well.

                 

Interesting Church name of the Week: The One Love Church of Busan. I think they are fans of Bob Marley, but I didn't have the chance to ask them.

             

Funny, Interesting lesson haha: So... in our mission, we are asked to basically just try to avoid teaching the opposite gender to avoid any possible issues unless we are teaching like a family or a couple. so basically we just can't teach girls alone unless we are with a member or in public place, especially because some girls in foreign countries just tend to just have foreigner interest. So we had planned this appointment with someone through just contacting them through a phone contact, and they wanted to get some pizza, and we were like "hey we like pizza, let's do it." So we go to this pizza place, order and wait for who we though was a high school aged boy... Much to our surprise, a 24 yr old girl walks in and sits down next to us. 

So at this point we are very surprised and not sure what to do, luckily there was someone else in the restaurant, but we just weren't prepared for this, haha. But of course we needed to teach the gospel, so we did. And we found out that this girl has 3 Books of Mormon (Book of Mormons), but hasn't' read any of them, but now wants to start studying the book an hour every day, so that was good, but odd. Then because of this new enthusiasm, we asked her if she thought our church was true, and much to our surprise again, she said she did! So we were like "wow, great! So are you wanting to be baptized?" and she said she doesn't like swimming. So we explained really what baptism, and now she wants to be baptized after one lesson. So we aren't really sure what to do because she may have just said she wanted to be baptized because two american boys asked her to. So needless to say, it was a very interesting lesson! and we are trying to figure out what to do now, haha.

So it was a great week! We are super close to getting one of the people we are teaching fully prepared for baptism, which is a crazy blessing! So his date is the 17th of November, his name is......... so if you want to pray for him to continue strong, that would be much appreciated!

I strange room we randomly found in the basement of the church

Much love for you all! This is the true church, I  know it with all my heart!

Elder Hanks

                     

Mission Tour with Elder Choi

Oct 29 2018

Haha, so I’m not a master at romanizing korean characters, so that's about how you pronounce the name, haha. But so we had a mission conference tour this past week, It was with Elder 최, who is currently serving as the Asia North Area President. He is such an amazing person, he's a native korean, (but thankfully spoke english, haha) and served in Busan, so he just really connected with all of us. There was a very great spirit in the meeting, and we learned a lot of lessons to apply to the mission! So it was a fantastic meeting!

One of the many slides we get to enjoy by our apartment.

Baptismal Date!! So we got one of the people that we are teaching a baptismal date commitment!! Apparently this ward has only had like 2 baptisms in a long, long time, so we are really hoping for this one. His name is.......... and something interesting about him is that he probably averages at one notification on his phone every second. Not an exaggeration!  Like I have no idea what it is from, but his phone is on vibrate and it just vibrates countless times, haha, it's just funny to me. But we got a date for him!!! We are really excited, especially because it isn't the easist to help someone find the faith here!

Funny church name of the week: We saw a church called "Light and Salt Church"... So yeah... haha

It was halloween week and all, but here's to our study time!

funny(ish) story with Members: first off, The members in this ward treat us very well. The other week we got like 40 apples from a member, which were great! And this past week we ran into a member and she offered to go buy us food, but we told her we already ate. So she said she would take us to get ice cream, so we of course accepted (cause who wouldn't right!) So she took us to Baskin Robbins. She told us she would get us a quart of ice cream, which we thought was perfect, but we didn't realize she meant she was getting a quart of ice cream for EACH of us... But when we realized she had already paid, so we ate

a quart of ice cream. Now you may not think that's very much, but really think about it, it's a lot of ice cream. And it was Baskin Robbins, "Baskin Robbins don't mess around" (-Ant Man) so they packed in in there and packed on top. haha, so I admit it was very delicious and we were so thankful, we love the members here!

Beautiful Korea! 

The gospel is true! If you want to watch an inspiring general conference talk, I would recommend "the Great Commandment" by Joseph B. Wirthlin in October 2007. And I would recommend watching it, not listening or reading it, it's better :)

Much Love,

Elder Hanks