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!



January 24, 2012

Note from Matt's mom: So it was the Lunar New Year, not the Chinese New Year.

Hey all,

I'm sorry I didn't email on monday, all the stores were closed because of the Lunar New Year. Life is good here, though, in almost all respects.

So it turns out that my email time got cut very, very short this week, so I have basically no time to write again, sorry. :D

However, I had a great Lunar New Year over here, and things are going really well right now. We found an investigator who is our age, and he already said he would be baptized if he found out this is all true! He has great real intent. I love meeting people like that. We're meeting him again tonight, and we're planning on extending a date to him for next month sometime. Please pray for him, his name is Kim Hee Guk.

I didn't get to go to the palace last week, because it turns out that Tuesday is the only day of the week that it's closed. Grr. But we will probably go in the next couple weeks. Guess what? It snowed today! We have like an inch. I think that makes 5 inches total that I've seen in Korea in 12 months. I did get a decent camera too, and I'm really glad I did. It's got nothing on the one Grandpa gave me, though.

The food of the week is called samgyeopsal, which is like really big, thick bacon that you fry right on the table and eat with lettuce and other things. It's super good, we had it this afternoon. Contrast that with the other stuff I've told you about, and this seems amazing. :D

That's about all I know. I love you all!

Elder Matt Dean

January 24, 2012

Note from Elder Dean's mom: We did not receive a letter from Matthew yesterday because (we are assuming) all of Asia is celebrating the Chinese New Year, and he did not have access to a computer. Just think, about a year ago today, he was just arriving in Korea!

January 15, 2012

Hey all,

So, I'm here at the Gwanak City Office, which has four public computers with the rule that you can only use them for 10 minutes at a time before you have to switch off, because there are a lot of people that want to use them. So, this one will be fairly short, sorry. :D

This week was ok. Our investigator with a baptismal date, Lee Jun Jae, wasn't able to make it to church this last Sunday, so we have to move his date back to the 11th of February. I really hope I will be here to see him get baptized, because that's right around transfers....but in any case, the important thing is him getting baptized, not me seeing it.

Other than that...tomorrow we are going to the Gyeongbokgung, which is the palace right by the Blue House, Korea's version of the White house. It should be pretty awesome. I'll take lots of pictures and send them to my parents ASAP. We also have the temple visit tomorrow, which should be amazing too. I love the feeling of closeness to God that we can recieve in the temple. I have a feeling I'll grow to love it even more when I can go more often, but for now the amount that I can do is enough. As I heard a missionary in Utah once say, "We're here to do work for the living right now, not the dead." Kind of strange, but true.

Laziness is always a struggle. We all know how easy it is to only do 80% of what we know we can do, instead of 100%. Or how easy it is to keep almost all the commandments. But I've found that even though it's really hard, the blessings that come from obedience are worth it. The trick is finding a balance between concentrating too much on the rules and forgetting to have fun, and letting the rules go to the wind in favor of having a good time. That's one of the fundamental things I've been working on for a while, but the older I get, the closer I come to finding the answer.

Well, time is running out. I know that God lives, more than everything else, and with from that fact we build our lives and our faith. Thanks for all you've done for me, and for all you continue to do.

The food of the week is mook, which is acorn jelly about the consistency of jello. When you have it with soy sauce as a side dish with rice, it's really awesome. :D

I love you all, and I hope you have a good week. Anyeonghikaeseyo!

Elder Matt Dean

January 8, 2012

Dear Everybody,

Things are going so good here right now! One of our investigators with a baptismal date, Lee Jun Jae, came to church for the first time yesterday. Someone tapped me on the back of the shoulder as the Sacrament was ending, and I looked back and saw him in the back, and I was so happy. :D I went and sat by him, and i could just feel that he was really happy or content or something, some positive feeling coming from him. It was way good. And then after the meeting, a bunch of our members came up to him and introduced themselves, and generally showed interest in him, which is so important to someone new to the church. One of our members who I know fairly well, Sister Jang Mi Sook, even invited Lee Jun Jae and me and my companion to dinner on Wednesday! We are really looking forward to that. That whole day was just one big success story, and I'm really happy right now.

By the way, I'm staying in Bong Cheon for another six weeks, in case you couldn't already tell. :D For those who don't know, it's a residential area near downtown Seoul that's right near Seoul National University. It's pretty metro, lots of people, lots of cars, lots of civilization and all. Unfortunately, it'll probably be my last six weeks here, because I've been here for a long time and they generally don't leave us in an area for super long. I will really miss this ward, as much as my greenie ward. They are all so nice and generous, and I can feel their love almost every time I talk to them. I will be sure to live these last weeks up as much as I can before I have to head out.

The weather is getting pretty cold now, but things are good. I have lots of warm clothes, and the gospel, and an amazing family and lots of friends here in Korea and in America. It's always good to look at the positives if you can, because there really are so many. The Lord has helped me so much to learn Korean and gain charity and work hard, and most of all, to repent. I'm so glad I have this gospel in my life, because through the gospel I have the assurance that my life has a purpose, that I can live with my family forever, and I can be peaceful and happy in this life. And that's why I'm a missionary right now, so I can tell everybody about it and help them see the happiness and the good things I have. The great thing about the gospel is, it applies to everybody and it will help everybody that will open their heart to it. I don't blame anyone who doesn't, though, because we can all make our choices and live our lives the way we want. That freedom means a lot to me, and I'm learning more and more not to infringe upon it while still making my message clear. I love this missionary work, I love the Lord, and I love all of you!

So, lately, it's been hard to come up with "You Know You're In Korea When..." moments, so I'm going to change to "Food of the Week" for a while. This week, it's soondae. To make soondae, you basically take cow intestine and stuff it full of stuffing or something, and then fry it or eat it with sauce or just eat it with saltiness on it. I had two of the three this week, and I had the third method a long time ago in my greenie area. It takes a little getting used to, but if I were really hungry it'd be awesome. :D The end.

Thank you to everyone for all you've done for me. I can't take the time to thank you individually, but just know that I appreciate all of you so much. Have a good week!

Elder Matt Dean

January 1, 2012

Saebong mani badeuseyo!

Happy New Year! This past year was pretty good for me, seeing as how i was a missionary for the whole thing. :D It's been a year of speaking Korean, a year of being around another person 24/7, a year of learning more about myself and about this gospel, a year of miracles, a year of missing my family, a year of receiving so much love from the Korean members of the church, a year of growth, a year of service, a year of hard work. In short, it's been the year of a missionary.

This week was pretty normal, actually, in that there wasn't very many exciting or awesome things that went on. Just a normal week. It's good to have those every once in a while, though, becuase it makes you appreciate the awesome things a little more when they do happen. Actually one awesome thing happened--one of our investigators came to church finally! We were so excited! I think he liked it fairly well. His name in English is Kwon Jeong, and he's about 28 or so. He's learning English from us as well as about our church, and he's a way funny guy. I'm excited to be able to work with him.

Other news...we are also teaching a guy named Lee Jun Jae, who is about 60 or so and works as a taxi driver. He has been working on Sunday, so he hasn't ben able to come to Church, but recently he said he can change his work schedule so he has Sunday as his day off! I think he is the farthest along of all our investigators, and as soon as he comes to church everything will really pick up. In our mission we have the rule that you can be baptized only if you've come to church 3 times, so as soon as that happens everything will be awesome. He agreed to work towards being baptized on the 28th of this month, so we're really excited about that, and we'll do our best to help him get out to church.

That's about all I know. :D I got lots of presents and things from my immediate family and grandparents, so I have lots of food and all, and life is really good. I'm working on being more positive and not complaining, and I think it's a really good change to make. Oh, the ward gave us lots of food too. :D One of the older members who i'm friends with said that she's glad me and one of the sister missionaries that's serving in this ward were able to stay for Christmas, and it meant a lot to me. I worry that I'm one of those missionaries that everyone forgets two weks after they leave, so I was really glad when she said that.

Ah, one more thing--transfer calls are tonight, but I'm pretty sure I'll be staying because I'm only halfway done with training Elder Greer, my companion. I'll let you know what happens there though. I don't have a "you know you're in Korea when..." list this week, sorry. Things were busy with the year ending and everything. I'll work on it for next week, though. :D I love you all, thanks for being such good influences in my life. And for anyone who isn't family who is reading this on my blog, the same goes for you. :D happy new year!



Elder Matt Dean




Elder Dean with his current companion, Elder Greer

 




Attending a Lantern Festival

 


Who's grumpier?! Olympic Park east of Seoul that was built for the Olympics in the 80's.

 

Sitting on an Anti-Aircraft Cannon at the Korean War Memorial







Elder Dean on the street



December 25, 2011

Hi! I think it's Christmas evening for almost everyone this email is going to, so 메리 크리스마스! That's merry christmas in Korean. My Christmas happened yesterday, and it was so good. I'll start from last Thursday: we had a Mission Conference from 9 to 3, and then P-day from 3 to 9. So awesome. :D At the conference, our Mission President, Lee Yong Hwan (Lee is the surname) spoke about Christ and His mission, and how that ties into the work that we do. Also something I learned that was really deep came from listening to one of the missionaries who is going home next week. He is a professional-level piano player, and he said that one of the comments that gets made all the time in music is whether or not somebody plays with feeling. You can practice for hours to be able to get the technical stuff down with any intstrument, and that results in people being able to play crazy-hard pieces perfectly. But then they have no heart in them. You have to play music with feeling, and the same goes for missionary work. you can concentrate on numbers of lessons taught, how well you proselyte, etc all you want, but if your heart's not in it, it's really not what it's supposed to be. I realized that in the first half of my mission, I was concentrating just on all the technical stuff, and my heart wasn't really in it. That's something I want to work on from now on. After the speeches, all the zones in our mission (a zone is a unit of missionaries with about 16-20 people or so) came up and did a skit and musical performances. Our zones' skit was a fake district meeting where we did impersonations of some of the funnier missionaries in our mission, and it was so funny. I'm pretty sure people laughed the most at ours. :D I'd explain all the jokes in it, but you don't know any of the missionaries, so it's kinda pointless. Rest assured, however, that ours was the best. :D The other skits included one about Harry Potter becoming a missionary and converting a 전도사 (other church's missionaries) named Voldemort; a bunch of missionaries playing a board game in real life that involves Old West style shootouts; and just funny skits about hard things or awkward things or fun things about missionary work. It was awesome. We have some real musical talent in our mission, let me tell you! It was a great conference overall. Then after the conference we went to a nice restaurant and partied and stuff till we had to go home.

Then on Friday, our local church group had a party. I played solos on the trumpet, which was awesome, and I played them almost perfectly and with feeling. My companion got a video of me, and maybe I can send it home somehow. The Christmas party involved just a lot of musical performances and dances; the sister missionaries that work in our same area had been doing a dance class with the members that we participated in, and we got up to do our dance and we completely botched it. It was awesome! It was just a really fun party. Right before we had to leave they had one of the members come out dressed up as Santa Claus, and about 5 seconds later one of the little kids that had gathered around him said in Korean, "Hey, you're not santa, you're Park Jin Woo!" It was really funny. I got lots of vidoes from that and I'll try to send those home too.

Then on Christmas, me and my companion made bacon and eggs (not a common breakfast in Korea) before going to church. Our toaster handle doesn't stay down on its own, so we have to put a wire on it to hold it down while the bread toasts; I put some in and promptly forgot about it. A few minutes later I was wondering why there was so much smoke in the room, and then I realized that all the smoke was coming from our toaster, not the stove, so I had to run over and get the blackened cinders out before they lit on fire. :D But it was ok, I didn't burn the house down. We went to church and handed out the cookies we had made the previous night, and had our musical Sacrament meeting. Then we went to the Stake center (a larger unit that multiple wards meet in) and had a Christmas concert with the whole stake. I was in the ward choir, and I also played the trumpet with the choir for a couple songs. It was such a good night. I felt the Spirit so strong as we were singing up on that stage. I may be really, really far from my earthly family here in Korea, but I felt much closer to Christ than I ever have before yesterday. I'm here doing His work the best that I can, and He isn't leaving me alone.

The best part of the night was when we went to a subway station with about 15 other missionaries and sang carols! There was a drunk guy that apparently loved the attention, because he was jumping around and trying to sing and just being ridiculous while we were singing. He wasn't violent, just drunk. He did attract a lot of passerby, though; at some points there was a considerable crowd watching us. It was so fun just to stand there and sing. I sang "거룩한 밤" ( O Holy Night) as a solo while everyone else hummed, and it was so awesome. Then we went home for the night. So all in all, I had a good Christmas, and got great presents from my family, and I felt the love of God very strongly. What more could I ask for other than being home for it? But in a way, I felt like I was home to some degree. Anyway, my Christmas was good, and I hope all of yours was too. :D Merry Christmas!

Elder Matt Dean