Feb 16 220
The more I serve out here, the more I
am convinced that time changes in some way for missionaries. Cause
somehow another transfer has come and gone and i'm just confused. I think
that cause time doesn't really exist for God, He's just giving us a little
taste of what that feels like
The weather's also whack too, it was like almost 70 degrees
the other day, so we were just in white shirts and it was great. But then today
it's a blizzard outside and it feels like 30 degrees. So there's just no
standard here.
But ANYWAY! It's transfers today!
And last interviews president told me, my companion, and another missionary in
our area that I would be training this transfer, so I was pretty sure that was
gonna happen but that's not the case! SO it's kind of fun cause it just shows
that God has another plan, and President Jeong received some updated
revelation! SO now I’ll be serving here on the island with an Elder ...,
yall can just call him Elder Lee. But he's from Seoul, cool guy, we'll have a
fun time together. but this is also like my 6th Korean companion, and like my
15th or 16th companion, I’ve lost track now I gotta go back and count them up
again. So the work is just crazy fun!
We meet a lot of Foreigners here too, one day we had an
appointment with a member from Pakistan in the morning, then an Indian dude at
night, and then these 2 people from Nepal. We probably meet just as many
foreigners as we do Koreans here!
Last week we went to this lava tunnel thingy, and we found
the largest known lava column in the world! And I knew ALL of you were super
curious where the largest lava column was, so you're welcome now that you know!
Now you can go tell ALL your other curious friends that are wondering about
this.
But one cool miracle!! WE were just walking on the street
(as we usually do) and just thought to get some inspiration for where to go. So
stopped for a bit, crossed a street, then another street and ran into this guy
who was going back to work. We found out he was a police officer and we was
like "follow me to my work, I have something I want to ask you guys"
and so I was like "ah sweet this guys wants to talk to us!" and I
looked back at Elder Clark and his thought was that of (and he told me later)
"well I got my foreigner card and certificate of ministering thing so we'll
be okay" haha. He thought the officer was gonna like interrogate us kind
of, haha. But turns out he was just curious about our church! SO we got his
number and will try to get an appointment for this week. Heavenly Father is
just so kind!
Last thing (then you guys can all go to whatever busy lives
you have :) )
we were talking with a member about like seminary cause her
daughter just graduated from Seminary. And she was saying how they would do it
every morning before school and she was the only member in her school. AND then
she asks me what seminary is like in Utah, haha. So I just explained that Utah
is, well, a little different. Cause she was just blown away that there was a
separate seminary building on school grounds for the over 2000 members at the
high school.
So just made me realize how special it is, and it's really
so lucky to live in a place where the church is so strong and everyone helps others
out. The gospel is so great. This same member was just talking about how
members of the church just have a special appearance to them. They just have
that happy glow, you know? SO just always remember who you are and that people
are watching you! You are a witness of Christ! Remember to act like it :)
Love you all,
Elder hanks
Baptism phone call
Feb 23 2020 - KUNG FLU
VIRUS !!
I'll put the big stuff down at the bottom though so you have
can go through everything else 😉
Pretty funny experience: So first off me and Elder Lee went
Less-Active finding one day (we have this huge list of like 400 people who were
members at some point of time, so we go find their house to see if they are
still in existence). So we go to one house and an old lady answers and we asked
if there was a Sister Kim there. She asks who we were, so we explained we were
missionaries from Sister Kim's church. And the old lady says "ah, nope
there is no one by that name here" BUT then right behind her was a little
boy (clearly her grandson) and he says "but that's my mom's name..." 😂
and the grandma's like "Shhh! Sorry he doesn't know what he's talking
about".
So to confirm we were like "so you don't know anyone by
this name?" And she was like "nope!" But the little boy was like
"that's my mom's name, try going to our house!" 😂
so you just gotta love the innocence of little children, they always tell the
truth 😂
Also if you guys remember from my last area, there was a
father and his son who almost got baptized while I was there... well they got
baptized yesterday!! So I was able to call in after the ordinance and
congratulate them, it was so awesome! I called and he was just like "I got
baptized today!!!" Ah it was so great!!
AND for the big news!!! 🥁🥁🥁
So you all know that Kung Flu thing right? I believe the Learned
are calling it Corona? So turns out some guy that had it walked into a church
(not our church, some other worldly church) and like 40 other people got it. So
now some like 150 people have gotten it in Korea, a few people have died I
think. So it got pretty serious.
So we were having breakfast with a recent convert when we
get the news that we were asked to go buy 2 weeks worth of food and then go
stay inside at home!
So for the past 4 days all missionaries in Korea has been on
house lock down! Which is just about as exciting as it sounds...
So that's exactly what we've been doing, we stay home all
day, do extra studies, contact A LOT of people, and try not to go crazy 🙃
Also all church meetings have been cancelled in Korea, so
all the missionaries prepared bread and water in their homes, then we had like
a conference call and 2 elders did the sacrament prayers and then there was a
testimony meeting.
I also called 2 foreign sisters here who needed the
sacrament blessed and got to bless it over the phone with them.
We're not sure how long it will be like this, but to my
knowledge, the church meetings are expected to be cancelled till about the
middle of March! So I could see it being the same for us!
And so for all you reading this and thinking "ah I wish
there was something I could do for them" I'll be glad to tell you that you
can!
First off you can always pray for us to stay safe ~
And if you feel so inclined, here's an address you can send
a care package/letter too! 😁
Elder Max Hanks
No. 201, (Contact Max's Mom for the rest of the address! )
And we cant go outside today, so this preparation day I
would love to talk to anyone who wants to have a conversation 😁
Anyways, love you all!
Elder Hanks
when you have to do church business but can stay in your pjs......
Just a sunday pic
Us buying our 2 weeks worth of food
appointment at the hair salon
E Lee just trying to pass some time
