This week was pretty good. It was a pretty slow week so we spent a lot of time all over our area confirming addresses of less actives. We were doing this last Monday night when we had a random miracle happen. We were deep into some old neighborhood I'd never been to before when a man came up next to us. I was sick, so the Korean came out all weird sounding and I was pretty sure he couldn't understand me. I got about 3 lines out that pretty much any new missionary coulsay and then he immediately told us to visit his office. He said that he wanted to help us. We didn't really know what he meant by that. So, we asked and he had to run and catch his bus, but we got his business card and found out he was the head manager of the neighborhood office building. We tried to visit his office a few times this week, but we wasn't there. We are going to try again next week.
So this week, we told Brother Jeong that we would have to postpone his baptism. Going into the lesson, our main goal was to get an appointment to meet his parents and that's what we focused everything on. We got in there and he told us just as he had before that they would never allow it and that it wouldn't work. At that point, the lesson took a really interesting turn that we didn't plan for at all. We just started talking about his relationship with his parents and whether he talked with them about his future plans his hopes and how he feels. He said that he never really did and never really thought about it. I feel a little dumb looking back now thinking we were so focused on getting his parents permission so that he can be baptized that I never even thought to talk about the bigger problem with him. Baptism is such an important step in coming closer to Christ, but should never be something that separates someone from their family. I'm sure that's why the church made the rule requiring the consent of spouses and parents. For now, we decided to focus on his faith and going back to the basics of coming to church, reading and praying. At the end of the day, he's still amazing and progressing well.
We also met Brother Park this week. He's the one who likes to study religion all day long. Our lesson this week compared to the the first one was much better. Every time we brought up the Book of Mormon the first time, he would just say 'I don't study that' and not really care. But all of the sudden, during the second lesson all he wanted to talk about was the Book of Mormon. He has clearly read it because he was reciting themes of stories and characters names, but the question that he had was, ' What does the Book of Mormon have that is missing in the Bible?' I immediately turned to Alma 40 and started talking about the spirit world and he loved it. He then asked for more, but everything else we seemed to find was at least mentioned in the Bible and brought into greater detail in the Book of Mormon. It was a really cook experience to see how much the Bible and the Book of Mormon support each other. It helped me realize once more that the Book of Mormon that we study is not bringing all these foreign concepts into Christ's gospel, but merely enlarging and clarifying it. Brother Park still may have a ways to go, but strangely enough, he is progressing.
I read a simple quote by President Hinckley this week: "Sacrifice is the very essence of religion." I thought this morning about what I was forced to give up in order to come out here on a mission and what blessings have come of it. Surely there are missionaries that have been forced to sacrifice so much more than me, but I realized today that I've gotten so much more in return, way more than I have given up. I loved how President Hinckley refers sacrifice as a fundamental part of having any kind of belief. I've seen so many people on my mission that have sacrificed and been blessed whether it be investigators members or missionaries. This photo is from my front door this morning!!
I love you all! stay warm. From 수원,with love. Elder Nixon
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