August 26, 2012

Hi everybody!

So I know I misspelled the subject line of this one, but I left it because it's funny. :D (the subject line reads: 'Hurrincane time!') But really there's a typhoon coming. For everyone who wonders what the difference between a typhoon and a hurricane is, I looked it up because I wondered too: There's basically no difference. Just that if it's in the Atlantic, it's a hurricane, and basically everywhere else is a typhoon. Why? The dictionary wouldn't tell me that. But just in case someone wonders if it'll be dangerous, don't worry, it's hyped up way more than it will be. It's not even raining here. The rain is going to be the problem here anyway. So don't worry, we'll just be getting wet, pretty much just like monsoon season a few weeks late. 

This week was really good. We had our first Zone Conference in the time that I've been in the office, on Wednesday and Thursday. It went really well! Actually other than getting 1 and a half hours of sleep the "night" before Zone Conference, the week went really well. We worked on preparing the conference from about 6 on Tuesday (that's when P-day ended) until 5:20ish  on Wednesday morning, got some sleep, and then got up at 6:30 to prepare and travel to the conference site. Yep, I'm never doing that again. :D There was a lot of stuff that I didn't think would take that long that actually took 5 times as long, like my companion having to translate the newsletter, and putting the agenda together. We're going to do things a little farther in advance next time. :D 

Then the day of the conference came. I foolishly decided to conduct the first day, and I started off the meeting by saying I was presiding and then realizing it and tripping up on my words, and everybody including me laughed. It was a funny way to start a conference, I guess. :D The rest of the conference went really well, though, except for not really having enough time for the missionaries to practice our training and having two of the speakers speak for 40 minutes each instead of the 10 we told them to do. First day: lots to improve on. Second day: almost literally perfect. We got there early enough to set everything up (like projectors, TVs, computers, etc), I didn't have to conduct (haha), we planned the training out better so we had more time for roleplay, and the Spirit was so strong, it was awesome. I like giving trainings when I'm prepared for it. :D 

That was the big event of the week for me. Now that that's done we have more time for normal missionary work. We are meeting a high school kid named Frank, and he says he wants to get baptized in September! We're working on getting him ready for the 8th. He's really, really good at English, and he's been meeting the missionaries for a long time here. He's the on in the picture I attached (he's holding Orange Julius that we made at President's house last weekend). 

That's all I know for now. Hope everyone has a good week, don't dry up out there!

Elder Matt Dean

Frank

August 20, 2012

Hey all,

So I've decided that my subject lines are really boring, but luckily they don't mean that much anyway. :D This week was markedly better than last week. The missionary ended up going home after all, his parents came to pick him up and everything (he's Korean). He said he'll come up to the office to see us sometimes before he heads off to his mandatory army service. It's kind of funny, he went home from missionary work to spend like three months at home before he has to go to the army for 2 years. I think he thought he was getting a break, but that sounds to me like going from best to just ok to awful. Hopefully everything works out with him.

So after all that jazz on Monday, we went to eat samgyetang which is like Korean chicken soup, with ginseng.  Ginseng is really bitter but they say it's really good for you, and it's kind of a Korean taste. Then we went to the public bathhouse! Woo!  I don't think anyone but my dad knows how awesome those are. Seriously, when you're having a super stressful weekend and missionaries are going home left and right and you're super cranky because you skipped lunch AGAIN, there's nothing better than the bathhouse. Then we went to a big bookstore and bought more flash drives. I remember when having like a 1 gigabyte flashdrive was super expensive, and now we get like 16 gigs for 20 bucks or less. And we have terabyte external hard drives. Craziness! What happened to dialup Internet and the blue screen of death?

I learned something about myself this week: if I skip a meal, I get really slow, tired, and unhappy. Most people can skip one jut fine, but not me. I also learned that I need to make eye contact with people more--bad habit from learning Korean and not knowing what to say for a year, though I wasn't the best at that before my mission either. It's interesting how much you learn on your mission, both practical and spiritual.

So on Friday night, we had dinner at our bishop's house. It was the first time that Elder Lee has been there since he came in February; usually you're pretty close with the bishop (the leader of the local unit of the church which consists of up to a couple hundred people), but ours here in Samcheong is pretty busy. However, he had time randomly, so we ended up getting to go to his house for dinner. During dinner his kids came home (two boys, 3 and 6), and the younger one started messing around. He's a stinker, and he knows it; he's really fun to play with, but I think I encouraged him a little much, and so his dad took him into the other room for some discipline. Oops. :D I learned my lesson there. But anyway, that's not why I'm telling you this story. After dinner, we gave a short spiritual message; it was the one with the teabag about faith. I've done this like ten times. So you put an emptied-out, straightened-out teabag (which is in tube shape) standing up on someone's hand. I did it to the bishop. You tell them that if they don't move, it won't hurt, and say "Do you have faith?" Of course they say yes. So then you light the teabag on fire! The fire goes down and down, and the person's like, "Uh oh, should I move?" It gets almost to their hand, and then the last little part flies into the air before it burns up. Its super cool. Only this time, as I watched the fire burn down towards the bishop's hand, I thought, "Hm... it usually flies by now...." and then the bishop was like, "ouch!" and jerked his hand away. I burned the bishop's hand! Just kidding, it didn't even leave a mark, but it still hurt for a second. I learned that if your activity fails, trying to tie the lesson into it really fails too. :D I had to end up by saying, "Well, my promises don't work out all the time, but God's do." :D me and Elder Lee were talking about it on the way back to the house, and he said, "Well, they might not remember who you are after you leave, but maybe the kids will be in their teens and say, 'A long time ago there was some missionary that came over to our house and burned my dad's hand...'" I thought that was pretty funny. It was a good friendship building experience with the bishop because we all laughed about it when it happened. 

Other than that we've been really busy preparing for conferences and stuff. I'm still getting the hang of all my responsibilities, but it's coming along. And I enjoy being here. Hope you all have a good week!

Elder Matt Dean

August 12, 2012

Subject line: Wow, crazy weekend

Yeah, so this weekend has been one of a kind. There's a missionary that is set on going home early, and he's been having a really rough time. So we've had him up here with us at the office trying to help him. what he doesn't understand is that his rough time and indecision about whether to go home or not is making a ton of people have a hard time too, having to babysit him. It's a good opportunity to serve someone, but it's sad to see someone who doesn't understand what they are missing by leaving early, and what kind of a homecoming he can expect. Missionary work is never easy, but it is always, always worth it, whether in the moment or a little later. I wish I could talk to every missionary who wanted to go home early and tell them what's on my mind right now.

So because of that, I don't have time to write a big email today. We've had so many things to do because of him, and I need a Pday really bad at the moment. So I love you all but I'm not writing a ton this week, sorry. :D have a good week!

Elder Matt Dean

August 5, 2012

Dear everybody, 

This week has been a pretty crazy week, for sure. Just like last week. :D We have a big meeting tomorrow when we meet with the next tier below us of missionary leaders to discuss plans and goals for the mission for the upcoming month. It's called Zone Leader Council. We've been spending a significant amount of time every day preparing for that and just keeping the office running. Here's an example of that from my journal, which I am now typing instead of writing (which is a great perk of being in the office :D):

"We’re trying to do study this morning, but Elder Lee Gyeomjin (from now on Elder Lee) had to translate between a mission president in America and the stake president of one of his missionaries from Korea. The sister missionary has some severe mental problems and she needs permission  from her parents to get medication, so her president had to call us on Presidents’ phone and Elder Lee called the stake president and translated. It sounds like everything went really well. This is probably going to happen a lot. :D "

Here's my journal entry from last Friday:

Friday, August 03, 2012

Today we went to the embassy and the Korean driver’s license division to get my license. It was a crazy day. We finally got my license after having to go back to the office to get my passport, and the picture came out super well. I really like it because my eyes look super blue for some reason. :D but they misprinted my name on the card so it says MEAN MATTHEW TYLER. I thought it was really funny. :D I really appreciated the efforts of the ladies working at both buildings; they were really nice even among stressful situations. I want to be the same as I work here in the office.

That took the entire day and it was a headache, but I can now drive on the crazy Korean streets. :D Actually driving in Korea seems kinda scary, but  there is a method to the madness. I just have to learn it. :D 

Let it be known that from now on, you can just assume that I'm really tired every day. I just won't be typing it anymore. :D One good thing that happened today was that I got four letters from people! Woo! Now I have nine people to reply to, so that'll be an adventure. It was hard enough to find time to write letters when I WASN'T in the office... 

I gave my self-introduction talk at Sacrament Meeting at our ward (Samcheong) yesterday, and it went really well. I was up on the stand trying to think how I could get them to laugh, and then I remembered that Koreans have a great national pride for the Korean language, so I decided to mention how my Dad would always say "kapshida"and "kidohapshida" instead of "let's go" and "let's pray" as I was growing up, and sure enough, they laughed. :D I think that first day went really well, and I can tell that I'm going to have a good time with them. I just have to figure out how to get close to them so I can help them. 

The thing that's keeping me going right now is that Zone Leader Council ends tomorrow. :D There will always be another big meeting after that, but next week should be relatively normal. I think that I need to find out how to do more things in less time, like study, good planning, and my journal, on top of all the other things I do. The biggest challenge to that is having to do it all while attached to another missionary who has some similar responsibilities but some other different ones too; matching schedules isn't always the easiest thing. But I'll figure it out. 

Well, I'm off to have lunch before we do some other crazy thing at the office. Zone leader council is over tomorrow....yes..... :D Have a good week, love you all!

Elder Matt Dean

July 29, 2012

Hey everybody,

So I got a call two days ago, on Saturday morning. It was our Mission President, President Christensen. After some small talk about what we had scheduled that day, he asked me, "Elder Dean, I was wondering if you would come up and be an Assistant to the President." After a second I said yes I would. There are two APs in our mission, and one of them is going home this Wednesday, so I was called to fill the spot.

For those who don't know, AP is kind of a lot of responsibility. It's not something easy. The APs are the ones who basically help the President with everything and advise him on issues in the mission, particularly concerning missionaries' problems and how that factors into transfers--the time we decide who will serve with who and where for another six weeks. To get an idea of how much thought we have to put in that, just think about how there are 63 companionships in our mission right now. You have to have at least two missionaries in an area. Seven missionaries are going home in a week and eleven are coming in, and when you move one missionary you have to fill that space in with another one. And there are vacancies in leadership positions that have to be filled, and missionaries who don't get along, and missionaries of all ages and experience levels, and missionaries that are having a hard time and need someone to help or need to be stretched or need a break, and missionaries that have been in the same place for seven months and need a change of venue, and then sometimes missionaries that are blatantly disobedient and don't care about anything.  We have to know all of that and try to make the best combinations for the missionary work in each area, and also taking into account what will help each missionary to grow in the gospel and build a solid foundation for the rest of their lives. That's what we've spent most of my time in the office so far doing, is arranging transfers, because we have to call everyone tonight so they can start the new transfer period. There are also other miscellaneous responsibilities we have to take care of, on top of doing missionary work. So it's not a light thing. It's a responsibility that requires me to be a perfect example and to have good relationships with every missionary, regardless of how much they care about missionary work.

After I got the call, i didn't really know what to do. I was pretty torn, because I didn't want to leave Sindang and all the people there that I've grown to love, and I definitely was nervous about being AP, for a million reasons. But all the previous week I had had a weird feeling that it would be me. Of course I was like, "Wow, nice prideful thought, myself," and then thought about something else, but it actually happened! And I think it'll be good. Because I prayed about it and felt the Spirit,and I know that through the Lord I can do all things.

So on Saturday night I packed up all my stuff, and on Sunday morning before church we rode in a taxi to the church building and hid my luggage. (I have way too many things, and I have to send a package home soon. Seriously, my luggage was super heavy!) Actually on Saturday night me and Elder Jeong had a heart-to-heart about how we had both been a little prideful the previous transfer, and he gave me a lot of really good advice on being AP. Lately me and him had been pretty distant, so that was good. I'm really going to miss serving with him. On sunday evening, there was a fireside for the new mission president, and after that we took my stuff up to the office in Samcheong Ward. Usually missionaries switch areas on Wednesday, but they needed me up here early to get trained. We have a lot of office work to do too, so I can't guarantee the length of my emails from now on.

So here I am, confused and nervous and all sorts of things. But I'm excited too, I think it'll be good. If anyone has any advice on leadership, just let me know.:D I love you all, thank you for your prayers!

Elder Matt Dean

July 22, 2012

Hey all,

Wow, it's been almost 5 weeks since I got to Sindang. Time flies when you're having fun, I guess. 

So, the kid that we baptized last week...he didn't come to church yesterday. In our church we believe that without an ordinance where you receive the Gift of the Holy Ghost, baptism isn't complete and doesn't mean anything. He was supposed to get that yesterday, but he didn't show, and he hasn't answered our calls or texts for a couple days. We're working on contacting him, but we think something might have happened. We're not really sure. It's sad, though. 

But other than that our week was really good. I'm having a fun time with Elder Jeong. He's such a funny guy. We were talking about girlfriends the other night before we hit the sack, and the girlfriend of another missionary came up. Her name is Gretchin. So we spent  about five minutes straight just laughing about it. :D He said it sounds like a monster name; that was probably the hardest I've laughed in a while. So fun! (sorry to anyone named Gretchin out there, but missionaries need laughs when we can get 'em)

We found a cool investigator the other day. His name is Cha Ji Hyeon, and he's a sophomore in high school. He spent like 7 hours with us on Saturday--for a lesson, and then a basketball activity with our ward, and then dinner, and then the weekly Friendship Night activity, and then just playing random sports after that in the gym till we all had to go home. Then he came to church the next day, and we're meeting him AGAIN today. I think he likes us, which is good. :D If we can help him get permission from his grandma to come out to church on a regular basis things will be great. 

It was really good to see all the kids just playing random sports for a while after the meeting on Saturday. It reminded me of the stories the older members tell about the good ol' times. Back when the Church started in Korea, and really got some momentum, the kids and young adults would just hang out at the church. They played ping pong or other games and just chilled there, every day. It sounds way fun. But slowly the times have changed; because of the increasingly competitive economy and job outlook in Korea, study has taken the role of the focus of the Korean kid's life. These days junior high and high school kids in general spend from 8 to 5 at school and then from 6 to 11, 12, or sometimes 1 in the morning at "academy," which are private institutions that help your kid learn math, an instrument, social studies, etc. So now the church is empty and dark every day except Sunday, sadly. BUT--after our activity, the kids just all grabbed a ball and started hanging out. Some people played basketball, some threw a baseball, some played dodgeball, all packed together in the gym of our church. It felt really cool to see that again, to see Korean kids just being kids instead of college students.

Tomorrow for Pday we're probably going ice skating and then eating dog soup. I love Korea. :D Hope you have a good week!

Elder Matt Dean

Note from Elder Dean's mom: Matt just sent us a whole bunch of pictures on an HD card, and I will get some posted as soon as we can go through them!

July 15, 21012

Hey, so as you can see, our investigator named Yang Heeyeong got baptized yesterday! We are super excited for him, and he's doing well. He doesn't have a super amazing testimony yet, but he wants it, enough to get baptized and want to pay tithing from the first week on. He's really cool and really good at basketball. :D We will confirm him the coming Sunday.

Actually I have no time to email today, so that's all you get to hear. But it's the best news since my last baptism, so hopefully you'll be content. :D Love you all!

Elder Matt Dean