March 4, 2012

Annyeonghaseyo!

This week was pretty good. We saw some success in our missionary district this week (that means the 4 companionships of missionaries that I'm assigned to lead as District Leader). The missionaries in the next area over baptized three people of a family of five! The dad was already a member, and the last kid was too young. They were all super happy, I hear. It's always good to see success anywhere, even if it's not in our area.

What else happened... we found some new people to teach this week that were pretty cool. They have read a lot of philosophy and debates on the existence of God, though, which gives them some ideas that are a lot different than everything we believe. For example, one guy who's in college and meeting us for English said that he believes that God can exist and not exist at the same time. Something to do with quantum theory or something like that. It doesn't make sense to me at all, but I have to remember that it makes sense to him, and of course we respect that. I just don't know how atheists would rather believe that after death our souls disappear and turn into nothingness or whatever. Believing in religion is harder than not believing anything, because religion gives you a lot more responsibility and it's not based on scientifically provable facts, but it gives you so much more purpose and meaning and fulfillment out of life. I can't prove religion logically, but I can testify to people that I have felt evidence for myself that God is real and that religion is true, and that our lives mean something, and hope that they feel the Holy Ghost in their lives. My words don't convince anybody, only the Spirit.

The food of the week is kimchi jjigae, which means kimchi stew. It's a really basic dish that probably everyone likes. You put kimchi, meat, and assorted vegetables in what's called a ddukbaegi (a small earthenware bowl), and then you heat it to like 4000 degrees or something. I don't know, but it's definitely boiling when it comes out. :D It's so good in the restaraunts, but me and Elder Greer haven't been able to duplicate it at home yet. Maybe less water would help, ours generally turns out as soup rather than stew.

Well, that's about all I know for this week, Just enduring to the end out here. :D I love you all, thanks for everything, and have a good week!

Elder Matt Dean