March 11, 2012

Hey everybody,

So it was pretty nice weather here last week, but yesterday and today were pretty cold relatively. I think it's usually warmer here by now, so it's a little unusual, but I'm enjoying it before the summer heat and humidity hits. It only really rained once so far this year, which was nice. Last summer in Il San we had rains basically all of June and July, sometimes torrential rains that covered the road in three inches of water. Crazy times, for sure. :D

This week was normal in that sometimes it was really good, and sometimes it was not so good. We finally found some investigators with real interest in the Church instead of just English! Their names are Kwon Yong Won and Seon Su Hyeong. The first one is a retired Army general who's about 61 who met us because of english, and the second one is a college kid who's 26. Actually, he met us for English too, but they both have a lot of curiosity about the Church, and they both accepted invitations to keep learning and to work toward recieving a confirmation from God that the Church is true. And they said they would be baptized if they found that confirmation, which is awesome!

We will teach them at their pace from now on; I think we kind of slammed them both with a lot of doctrine last week, but they both said they liked it at least. I'll keep y'all posted on what goes down with them in the upcoming days.

This week we had dinner with an old guy I contacted on the street last September named Lee Geon Ho. Since he is old, he likes jeonggukjang, which is a soup made of fermented beans and other things. I don't think I want to know about the other things. :D It has a way bitter and strong taste, and it makes your breath smell bad. This is another food that even some Koreans say they can't eat. But he treated us to a free dinner, so we couldn't not eat it. I am more used to Korean food than Elder Greer, so I got mine down, but he only made it 5 or 6 bites before he "hit a wall." Guess who ended up finishing his? :D But I survived with no adverse side effects (yet). I think after some of the things I've eaten in Korea, my stomach could probably handle anything.

However, Korean food is not as bad in general as the average food i put on here as my "food of the week" is, I promise! :D I just have been putting the interesting things on.

This week I'm focusing on develping the attribute of virtue in myself, though I don't have a problem with it obviously. :D I had to clear that up with Elder Greer too; he tends to assume/pretend to assume the funniest or most ironic viewpoints. Side note on Elder Greer: He really has been teaching me how to be relaxed and happy and laughing during missionary work. That is a great skill that I've been trying to develop my whole mission, and he's helped me get a lot closer. We always laugh at things, and we basically just have a great time.

Anyway, I've found that a higher standard of purity and cleanliness in thought and action leads to more self-control and discipline. Through making right choices in general we maintain our freedom of choice, but through making wrong choices we make our happiness dependant on things that don't actually make us happy in the long run. So that's what I'm thinking about this week in case you wanted to know. :D

That's about all I know. The food of the week will be kimchijeon, which is basically kimchi and other vegetables mixed into a flour-based batter and fried like a pancake. Koreans usually refer to it proudly as "Korean Pizza" or "Korean Pancakes." It's pretty good.

The reason I'm mentioning it now is because Elder Greer tried to make some this past week, but he didn't put enough water in it, so it kind of turned out to be deep-fried kimchi cookies. :D But next time it will be way better!

Thank you all for all you have done for me in my life thus far. You all have made a big difference to me, and I'm excited to be able to do what I can for you when I come back in a few months. I hope you all have a good week!

Elder Matt Dean