July 24, 2011

Hey Family!
     Yep, I'm still in the Il San area that I've been in my entire mission. :D It's kind of nice, because I know the area really well and I don't have to pack up my stuff. But I want to see other places in Korea, too. Hopefully I don't get to the next area only to find that Il San was actually pretty awesome and I didn't appreciate it.
     Our family with baptismal dates are doing ok. They have some persecution with their family, but I think they will be all right. Just pray for them, please, and pray that we will be able to know how to help them. It's kind of a sticky situation right now, but with faith we can all get through it.
     I bought a chromatic harmonica, which is something I've always really wanted to do. It's so great, I love it. I have to be careful not to be distracted from the work I have to do, though, it's easy to waste a lot of time plugging out tunes on the harmonica. That's one thing this mission has been teaching me--how to use time effectively. I'm still not that good at it, but I'm getting there. :D
      We get to go to a special mission conference this Friday. About half the missionaries will go Thursday, and our half is on Friday. We will go to this cool place in the forest and play games or something, I don't really know what to expect for sure. But I heard they did it a couple years ago, and everyone says it was awesome. I'm really excited for that, and I'll let you know how it goes.
      I've started to read the Book of Mormon in Korean. It's really hard, actually! Korean writing style is pretty difficult. But I can still feel the power of the words, and new insights I didn't see before have been popping out at me. It'll probably take most of my mission to complete, but I want to do it before I go back to America.
     I'll think about what I want in the next package. I don't need one for a long time, though, you don't have to send them super-often. :D Thanks for all the news about the ward and stuff, I find that really interesting still!
     I am the Lord's missionary. that knowledge has given me a lot of comfort lately. He loves me, and He will help me get throught whatever I need to get through!
     I love you all. Thank you for being such an amazing family. I don't have time to write a ton today because my companion wants to go do stuff, but I'll write more next week. I love you!
Elder Matt Dean