July 27- DOG DAYS OF SUMMER

Yeah, it's really hot this week. There is a big super department grocery store in the middle of our area. It got so bad that if we passed the store, we would walk in one of the side doors, walk through and enjoy the A/C for the 3 minutes it took to walk from one end to the other, and then walk out the other side door. Wow, what a good three minutes.

Well this week it really happened, I kicked Elder Huffman out of the area and stayed with Elder Seong. We're still not sure if he leaves next Monday or in a month. It was really likely that it was going to be next Monday, but they're waiting for his passport in the mail and it still hasn't come so we're not sure. I'll definitely know next week! So here is a little recap of the Golden 21st B-day. We spent a lot of the day at the embassy, but on our way back I made us stop at Costco for some good ole pizza and hot dogs. It was great, but not nearly as great as the 6 pound bag of gummy bears I bought on my way out the door. I had to do something crazy for the 21st, but I'm a missionary, so I was a short on options. So, we went for the live octopus! It was really fun, the legs stuck to your tongue and the head spilled black ink all over my mouth. It was so weird! Initially, we weren't able to order the live octopus because it is egg laying season right now..? Anyway, the owner said he had a secret shipment coming in that day so it ended up working out okay.

Things are crazy with just me and Elder Seong. He is pretty fluent in English, but I asked him if it was okay if we just spoke Korean and he was totally okay with it. Whenever I did it in our 3 sum, I felt kind of bad since Elder Huffman didn't understand. It was almost like I was talking behind his back, so we didn't speak Korean very much but now its about 90% Korean 8% English and 2% Spanish (you know since he is going to Arizona). It is so much fun! I haven't done this my entire mission and I love it. I am learning all kinds of new stuff since it is all I hear from him. It's really pushing me in new ways, like I've never had to explain to someone in deep detail why I chose my major in college or other random topics like that. So my record at the riverside Chinese Chess hut has gone up to 2 wins and 2 losses with a recent victory over one of the Grandpas on Saturday. I am climbing up in the rankings, but I am scared that the competition is about to get really tough!

Okay okay! now for the actual update of my week. Sorry I guess today all the random stuff came out first. We met with Brother Shin twice this week and had sort of a good lesson and bad lesson. The first one was the bad one. It was all over the place between the Ammonites and King Laban story to The Plan of Salvation to the word of wisdom to the Law of Chastity! Talk about a really long lesson full of randomness. He thought the commandments made the lifestyle of a person in their 20s merely impossible so we have some work to go there. After describing our church building and how the meetings are set up, he said it sounded just like all the other churches. So, yea that was the first one. We decided that our lessons with him were going way too long and too much content based rather than based on feeling the spirit. Our second time this week, we decided to make it just 20 minutes short and to the point with a lot more testifying and asking questions. It went so much better there was so much more opportunity to feel the spirit.

Other than Brother Shin this week seemed really hard. We had lots of cancelled appointments and little success finding people to teach. I really felt like I was falling short and that I wasn't working as hard as I should. I hate what missionaries call "getting trunky", which is slowing down towards the end of your mission, but I felt like it was happening to me this week. I felt really bad Saturday night and in my prayers I sort of told God that I was sorry I couldn't find it in myself to work harder. I think one of the reasons of the slow down is that its been months since I've been able to get an investigator to sacrament. I felt like right when this particular sacrament meeting was starting, I sort of thought to myself, "Well I guess it is what it is", in a sort of give up kind of way. Not 10 minutes later, a random guy I've never seen walked in and sat down. I introduced myself and found out he had just come in off the street because he lived in the neighborhood and was curious about Mormons. He stayed for all 3 hours and really enjoyed it. He agreed to meet with us and take the lessons! His name is Brother Lee. I really feel like this experience was God's way of saying, "Hey! I still need you!" After a trail of faith, it was just the experience I needed. It was a really remarkable answer to a prayer that I think I'll always remember.

Peacen'blessins From 금천,with love. Elder Nixon