First email of 2014!!

Did McDonalds in America start selling curly fries too?? I walked past the poster and didn't believe it! They just released curly fries here along with something called the "Prosperous" burger which resembles something of the McRib. I made Elder Veerothai go in there with me that night and try it. The burger was alright, but the curly fries were spot on. Is that in the US too??

Another week here in the Land of the Morning Calm. This week was our temple week. I think I've mentioned in a previous letter that Elder Westbrook and I really wanted to do an endowment session in Korean, but never could. The thing is they only let you go with the Korean missionaries if the English session is full, so we always hang out at the back of the line in hopes that that it will fill up and send us to the Korean session. So I did that exact thing Thursday and it worked to perfection! My old AP Elder Whitt and I got to go through in Korean which was soo cool. We just put one earbud of the English translation in so that we could listen to both English and Korean. I was actually surprised how much I understood. I guess since I've heard it so much in English, I at least got the idea of what they were saying every time.

I want to talk about our convenience store less active. Upon visiting him this week at the smallest convenience store in the world, we figured out that he in fact is not a member and just a former investigatorㅠㅠ. There was sort of a miscommunication between him and the first missionaries that found him. Nonetheless, he still loves us visiting and tells us he wants to come to church. I feel bad because just like the majority of Korean people, he suffers from overworking and being constantly busy. They call it "Korean Work Hours". And they are crazy long so that the only time you are not at work your recovering from fatigue so you can build up your energy to get back to work. I've met so many people that hate it, but just tell me thats the way it is. It's hard to hear as a missionary because fulfilling our purpose involves meeting with them which means making them more busy. From a positive perspective, I can see members of the Church here who despite being busy make time for their families and make time for their callings. I hope we can meet him outside of work this week so we can be in more of a teaching setting.

So Wednesday was New Years Day! In Korea, they play a traditional game called Yut Nori which is somewhat similar to yahtzee, but with sticks and on a white cloth. We walked into the Chapel after study only to see they had turned it into a Yut Nori stadium complete with a tournament bracket board and all. I have never seen some many grandma screaming at each other. We had 2 or 3 different members come up to us and reassure us that they weren't fighting but it was just fun, hah. Everybody was sooo into it and competitive about it...to the point that since everyone was playing nobody really wanted to explain the game to us. So, we tried to pick it up just by watching. I said it was like yahtzee, but that's just a guess.

Yesterday I got something that every missionary serving in Korea wants but not very many actually get, a family investigator!! I talked about them a little bit last week. They're the Jo family, Mom and Dad and a 11 year old son and 14 year old daughter. They came to Church again yesterday. The 2 kids have been coming to youth english as well. So after church our young womens' president invited them to her house for lunch.They came and 2 member families came and we had a huge feast! They were so kind to the Jo family and showed them so much love. They helped us explain the whole 5 lessons system and how they could take them all together (we tried that last week but ended up only teaching the dad the first lesson). They also said they would come to the baptism this Sunday of the Bong Choen Sisters' investigator! I don't know how I got this lucky to meet them! They were a referral from a member who is in his 60s and the only member in his family. Yesterday was the first real interaction with other families in the ward and it went so well. I feel like I talk more about how my ward is doing missionary work more than how I do missionary work every week in these letters, but it's because they are so amazing! While we were at the meal yesterday, they brought up 홍오 (hongoh). Apparently it's really strange Korean food, this is what it is:a really flat stingray looking fish that they ferment (or let rot) then eat it raw...so as a foreigner, it's always fun to just say oh wow!! I want to try it that sounds so cool!! Yesterday my 2nd counselor in the bishopric said okay! let's eat it together this Thursday! uhhh okay? So we asked more people and apparently it's so bad even Koreans hate it. Someone told me it tastes like dangerous chemicals or soap. So yea pray for me! hah. I will take pictures.

This week I get to get to give my first baptismal interview to the sisters' investigator! I'm a little nervous, so pray that I do good!

Thanks for everything I love you! From 봉천 with love. Elder Nixon