Guess who's Senior companion? Yep, it's me. :D Since I passed off last week, they decided to leave me in Il San and ship my old companion out so he can be a zone leader. It's a good and a bad thing--I didn't like a lot of things about him, but he really knew how to be effective, and we did a lot of good work there. My new companion is Elder Pulsipher, and he has been in Korea the same amount of time as me. That's right, we were in the MTC together. Therefore, they've basically stuck two greenies (one with slightly better memorization skills) in the same area, and they expect us to do missionary work. I hope they knew what they were doing....
I'll get to that later. My old companion's cousin just got called to the Ogden, Utah mission, so if you see a korean ask him if he knows Elder Choi! Also, we have the first Korean missionary in our ward. Crazy, huh? He translated most of the early Church material, and he was pretty awesome. He was a bishop, Branch President, Area 70...the whole shebang. But after they re-translated the Book of Mormon and other things, he basically went on a "retirement" stint, and now he only comes to sacrament meeting and refuses to take a calling. He's pretty prideful, I hear. It's prophesied that in the last days, men's hearts will fail them...go figure. He's a pretty cool guy, though!
I hope I'm not losing my sense of humor out here. I feel like I'm not a very fun person to live with, and I',m really bad at talking to people. Really. I can barely make small talk to my companion. How do I work with people better? How do I have fun if it's not in my personality? and where do you cross the line into worldly things you shouldn't be talking about on a mission? It's a grey area. I just wish I were the kind of person that could always find something to talk about, instead of having awkward silence prevail most of the time.
My new companion, Elder Pulsipher, is pretty cool. He was in the Army before he came, so he's a little different than me. I'd describe him as a very army-ish guy. :D It's nice to be with an American, though, and we'll figure out how to get along better as time goes along.
We're slowly losing our investigators. Our baptismal date one hasn't answered our calls or texts for almost a week; basically we have two investigators that we're meeting with on a regular basis, and only one speaks any English (and it's not that great.). Sorry I don't have any good news to tell you about the work; since we're both so new, we're still trying to figure out how to be effective. Our mission is very stat-driven, so it's hard. Lots of stress. But I'm doing all right with it. We'll learn slowly, I suppose, but until then the stats will just have to be goals, not quotas.
We're going to a public bath house today, though! That will be fun. And my comp will teach me guitar, too. He made a lot of money in the army, so he bought a nice guitar here. I'm looking forward to that for sure!
This week I've learned that I need to ask more questions. Even when I go to conferences or talk to leaders, if I prepare questions the Lord can teach me through the Holy Ghost. Questions are so important! I've also learned that I need a stronger foundation on Christ. I've kind of just taken Him for granted my whole life; this is a good opportunity to really get to know Him and feel Him in my life. It's one of the best opportunities, actually.
Ok, now for your questions! I only paid tithing on my net pay, so if you could pay it for me that would be awesome. Thanks! There's no daylight savings time in Korea, which is kind of nice. you just go at it, and the clocks will never change. :D Our living conditions are really really good. Just think of a nice apartment in America, and that's how we are. No rats, no roaches; we filter our water so it tastes good, but unfiltered is drinkable. Good stuff all around. We mostly proselyte on the street; knocking on doors isn't often that productive, and the security guards don't like it. We have lessons, but we're encouraged not to memorize the whole thing--just the main points. Then we go by the Spirit. It's a little more stressful than memorizing lessons, because you have to plan really well and to their needs, but when I figure out how to do it, it'll be really effective. The new PMG is supposedly not organized into lessons at all, but it's just a pool of doctrine that you pull from to meet people's individual needs. All I've heard are rumors, though. Aaron Hoggan's farewell invitation was pretty fancy! :D But guess what? We chose the same scripture! That's the one that's on my plaque, though I've never actually seen my plaque, now that I think about it. I'll have to email him and tell him about it.
There's not much other news...I'm just trying to stay positive in the face of this trial of not speaking Korean, and not having anyone else to turn to that knows what people are saying. But I will write you my testimony, and maybe I'll have time today to send pictures.
Here is my testimony for the Camp Helaman slide show: "I know that Christ lives. Since I know this, I want to follow Him and His words, which tell us to go on a mission! It's super-hard, but my testimony has grown more than ever before. As we share His gospel with others, He blesses us in ways we never thought possible."
I love you all, I'll talk to you next week!
~Elder Matt Dean
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| Elder Dean's new and 2nd companion, Elder Pulsipher |
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