April 20 - Black Day!!

Hey Hey Hey another week! Tons of fun things to share this week.

Last Monday was what they call Black Day. So in Korea, Feb 14 is Valentines Day, but only Girls give candy to Guys. One month later, on March 14, there's White Day which it switches and the Guys give Girls candy. Thennn, there's Black Day, April 14. It is the day where everyone who is still single and didn't get anything on the other two days go with their friends and eat chinese noodles covered in this pitch black sauce called Ja Jang Meon. It's SOO good. So all the missionaries got together for p-day and ate together to celebrate no dating!!

We had a really good Easter yesterday. Our ward mission leader asked us in Gospel Principles what in the world does a rabbit have anything to do with anything to do with Easter or Jesus. My initial response was because rabbits lay eggs, but almost immediately after I realized that made no sense. After that I, had nothin. Mom, let me know what you come up with so I can inform my ward members! We got to dye eggs that night so it still felt like Easter.

Last Monday, I called a less active that I really had never introduced myself to and only seen at church once so we could go visit and practice teaching the missionary lessons. He said that was fine and then told me he lived in Bong Choen!!! So I got special permission to go back and have dinner with him. It was so fun to go back. Brother Kim's convenience store was on the way. I even got to stop in and say hi and visit with him. He is doing really good. He's a wedding photographer on the weekends so right now is his busiest time, but he is still meeting with Elder Veerothai when he has time. I forgot how much more crowded Bong Cheon is that Geum Cheon. We had a good lesson with him and he fed us all kinds of crazy spicy food.

All of our investigators have gotten so busy lately that the only one we are meeting on a weekly basis is Brother Jeong, who I talked about last week. We had a really good lesson this week teaching about the restored gospel and priesthood. Brother Jeong and his wife, Young, are so nice and so willing to listen to us and think we're doing great things, but they are struggling to apply it to themselves. She goes to another church and thinks that as long as you go to any church and do what God asks you will be okay. It's a really common viewpoint here because there are so many churches here people really loose sight that there is any difference between any of them. They are still great though and I think will be able to progress if they are willing to try.

So I got the chance to sit down with President Morrise this week for an interview. The more I spend time directly around him the more I love him. We had a really good talk about things we liked in conference. He gave me his Elder Dallin H. Oaks impression quoting a line from his talk and it was spot on! He gave me lots of good advice and listened to my concerns with a lot of love and care. He just decided to start what is called "the 40 day fast" as a mission. For 40 days our whole mission is going to further consecrate ourselves and every day for the 40 days at least one set of missionaries will be fasting for our mission as a whole. I love the idea and am really excited to see what comes of it.

On our way to meet President for interviews, we were sitting at the train station waiting when I sat down next to this guy and started talking to him. He was one guy that was so excited to speak Korean with an American. (I love those guys.) We had a good talk the whole train ride and by the end he was more than willing to meet again he said he would come to church! I put in his number and asked for his name and he tells me 빵형, which means Bread Brother. He then said that he was a bread maker and its more common in Korean to go by your title than your actual name so that is what he was to us, our Bread Brotha...ha. He came to church on Sunday and seemed to have a pretty good experience.

After Church, I was trying to find a place to sit at the ward lunch and the only two chairs open were by all the Relief Society ladies. If you ever wonder what you should talk about with middle aged Korean women, the answer is FOOD. Right when I sat down one sister said to the other "This Elder eats Stingray and Dog and Silkworms, can you believe it!?" For the next 20 minutes, they just gabbered over my diet and that fact that I eat everything. It was really funny.

Every Sunday afternoon, we love to go to this river right by our house and talk with people that go for the good weather. We walked by this canopy with about 7 grandpas talking in it. Elder Fowler dared me to just walk in and start talking to all of them. I said, "DONE". I ran up and they were so excited to talk. They all sat down on one side and we sat on the other. After getting to know them a little bit, we taught about Easter and Jesus Christ's Resurrection. They weren't church going grandpas but they were happy to hear our message. I named them the Grandpa Club and determined that they will be my next "family investigator". They meet in that same canopy every Sunday, so it would be cool if they all went to church together. We'll see what we can do...

Had a great week full of miracles! I see em everyday and I'm so thankful for them. Thank you so much for the support peace n blessins

From 금천,with love. Elder Nixon