SPRING BE COMIN! March 2

SPRING BE COMIN!

For the first time in Gum Choen, I felt like we actually had a busy week! it may have just been the fact that we had some new missionary meetings, zone conference, and companion exchanges. Nonetheless, it was good to feel busy. So I decided I was going on a diet this week. That lasted about a day. We were walking down the street one night and I spotted a high school aged kid wearing a hoodie that read "BYU cougars" in red on it. I ran straight up to him and told him that I go to that school. I don't think I ever freaked someone out so bad. He just said in a really scared voice "no no no". I asked him if he knew what college that was and he just ran away. I think it is cool here if you wear American college gear, regardless if you know the college or not, ha.

We called and met a former investigator this week who is from North Korea. Not only is he from North Korea, but he used to be a general in the army and his son is in the army there. So I brought up his name in PEC meeting and the bishopric remembered him, he came to church a couple times two summers ago. They said that the Korean CIA was monitoring all his activities. I then asked if it was dangerous if we met him and they reassured me I was fine...

We met Brother Bae again this week! He accepted a commitment to be baptized if he knows it is true. It's a soft commitment, but nonetheless a commitment! We are working on his testimony of The Book of Mormon right now because he still thinks it's too hard to understand. He showed a lot of interest in the plan of salvation our first meeting and that is what we plan on teaching next week. We're excited for that.

Last night we had a ward dinner at our Bishop's apartment. It's amazing to me how our whole ward, 30-40 people, could squeeze into one apartment. We all got in a circle at the end and they pulled out a scale and decided to guess the weight of all the Elders. It was kind of weird because we had to stand in the middle of the circle after they guessed and get weighed and then they would all shout ohhh! You all know I've put on a little since I've got here so, I just stepped off the scale and said "buy me more food!" ha.

We had a huge miracle this week. It started two Sundays ago and I forgot to include it last week. We were on our way to an appointment but had quite a bit of time before the appointment. We decided to walk around the area to get to know it a little better and talk to people. We ended up getting pretty lost. We were in this tiny neighborhood on a little street with no clue where we were. Then this guy walks up to us and asks us if we are mormon. We get talking and turns out he was baptized in Australia 17 years ago, but had no idea the mormon church existed in Korea. He said that he has forgotten almost everything, but he remembers liking it. We met him yesterday and showed him the church and introduced The Book of Mormon to him. He said he'll come to church next week! It was such a miracle! He has a family with two boys in middle school right now that I hope we get to teach in the future.

We had lots of meetings but I felt like the week was really good timing for me to hear what I heard. In zone conference President Morrise was talking about all the practical demands of missionary work, he included things like learning the language, making sure everything is scheduled and confirmed, keeping the house clean, doing records and paperwork. He was talking about how sometimes the practical demands can cause us to temporarily forget how much we need to be seeking for the spirit. I feel like this is something members feel all the time that we get so caught up in our everyday lives doing day to day things that we can forget to look for the influence of the spirit. I'm pretty positive when everyday members think about missionaries, they think they don't have this problem at all but it turns out I do!! hah. As a missionary, we are always praying and seeking guidance but I know I'm not perfect at it. Something I thought of while he was talking was the Korean language. I love to study Korean, I love having fun with people talking in Korean but I like it so much sometimes it makes me forget why I'm really studying it. Our AP Elder Woodford, who goes home in about a month, mentioned that he still feels like he is a new missionary, and that he feels he is learning just as much as he did at the start of his mission. I hope this is an attitude I can have. I don't ever want to act like I have missionary work "figured out" or that I've mastered it. I'm learning more and more that this work isn't something you can really figure out per say. It's so cool that it is not that way though!

Thanks for all the love. I really do love all of you and am thankful for all the support! From 금천 with love. Elder Nixon