January 29, 2012

Hey all,

The Korean Lunar New Year went really well here. We had a huge missionary conference with half the mission, and we got training on recieving revelation to do missionary work. After that we just hung out and played games with other missionaries. Around the new year here, you see tons of people walking around with gift sets of food or whatever, to give to their families. A large percentage of people leave Seoul to go to their family's ancestral home or just their parent's home to be with each other, so on the New Year the streets are kind of dead. Koreans play Yunnori on Lunar New Year, a traditional Korean game that resembles Sorry, only you throw dowels into the air and see how they land instead of dice. Yunnori is definitely better than Sorry. :D Some ward members wore their Hanbok to church, which is traditional Korean clothing. The New Year is celebrated from the day before the actual New Years Day till the day after, and the dates of the three days change from year to year. This is because the Lunar calendar has only 29 to 30 days per month, while the Solar calendar has 30 to 31. I don't know how the Lunar new year ends up being around the same time every solar year if that is the case, but whatever. :D It was a good week this week, but it already feels like it was forever ago because a lot has happened since then.

I think the best things that  happened this week were our investigators being awesome and my studies going really well. Firstly, our two best investigators, Lee Jun Jae and Yun Hi Guk, both came to church! Woo! that's the most investigators I've ever had at church at a time. It was awesome! They both liked it, they said. I might not have mentioned Yun Hi Guk before, but he is a college kid of 22 years in American age, and he's studying to be an environmental engineer. We met him on the street, which involved a miracle all by itself. Me and Elder Greer were going streetboarding, which involves putting up a sign about the Church and trying to get people to talk to you and look at it, and we couldn't find a spot. So we wandered around in the cold for half an hour looking for a spot, getting slightly discouraged. we finally settled on one by the exit of a subway, which we assumed would give us a few people to talk to. but as soon as we got set up, these two drunk old guys across the sidewalk from us started yelling at us, because they were selling random junk and baked potatoes to people and they thought we'd mess up their business. So we fought back the frustration and anger that comes from people treating you like dirt and moved to another spot. By this time we were pretty discouraged, but we kept on trying. And it was lucky we did, because I ended up talking to Yun Hi Guk! We set an appointment, he took it all in really well, and he now has a date to be baptized. It was a real testimony builder to me that the Lord can and will use tough situations to lead us to the people who are prepared to hear the message. We are followers of Christ; we have to be able to deal with getting rejected, because who else got rejected? He did. If you're not willing to get rejected, you're not really following in His path. That's what one of our leaders told us in a training. Hard truth, but it's true. And when we do sacrifice and try to be like Christ and work really hard to do what we know is right, that's when the blessings really flow. God doesn't leave us alone if we truly try our best. I was humbled by that experience, and I'm glad the Lord gave me a chance to come here and serve Him and my fellow man, and become a little more like Christ.

My fingers kind of hurt now because that was a lot of typing really fast. :D It's the fifth week of my fourth transfer/six week period here, and usually the average staying time in one area is three transfers, so it's unlikely that I'll stay for another one. However, I'll go where the Lord wants me to go. I'll have to live up the time that I still have left with the awesome members here, and try to serve them as best as I can.

By the way, I sent out a bunch of pictures to everyone, but some people's servers wouldn't accept the messages because the file size was too large. But my mom's email recieved them, I think, and you can view them on my blog if she ends up putting them on there. (Note from Matt's mom: see below for the pictures).

Because lunar new year was this week, the food of the week is ddeokguk, which is a soup made from dok that Koreans eat on this holiday. Ddeok is a really chewy, firm, soft rice cake made from ground rice and other things. It's basically bread made from rice without yeast, actually--the Korean analogue of bread. It's pretty good, there are lots of ways to eat it. Ddeokguk is a cream color, and it usually has miyeok (seaweed) and eggs in it. Very delicious soup.

:D

So, in short, this is about the happiest I've ever been on my mission.

me and Elder Greer get along great, we have awesome people to teach that actually are willing to experiment on the message and try praying about it, the weather is not as brutally cold as it was last year, and I can speak Korean fairly well. I've got to make sure to glory in this good time in case some hard times are coming up. :D I love you all, thank you for your prayers and your emails. Have a great week!

Elder Matt Dean


Note from Matt's mom: I found out that the side-ways 'Peace' sign means 'Love you' - that's why Elder Dean and Elder Greer are always making that sign in their pictures.

Matt's companion, Elder Greer. "He doesn't usually dress like that."




Elder Dean and his recent convert, Choi Heyon Chang. "He's doing awesome!"





Elder Dean in the trunk of a member's car. "There wasn't enough room to ride in the seats
because there were too many people."



"This sister lived in our ward, but then she went on a mission. Her visa was delayed, so she is serving in Seoul right now, but she will go to Temple Square eventually. She is wearing Hanbok, traditional Korean clothing."

Elder Greer, their Mission President, Lee Yong Hwan, and Elder Dean

Elder Greer and Elder Dean in front of the King Saejong Statue in Gwanghawamun Square.
"King Saejong invented the written Korean language. He's pretty much like George Washington or the
Founding Fathers here in Korea."



"A typical street in Korea. This one had a market on it."





Matt said he and Elder Greer were waiting for an appointment and chatting with
the sister missionaries (who were making something). "Random, but we thought it was
funny." Looks to me like they were being weird more than anything!



Elder Greer - in missionary clothes this time!