[ TRANSFER #1 ]

Hey family!

Well I officially made it though my first transfer! I don't think that I will be transferred though. We will find out tonight. The way we find out is if we get a phone call from President Lee at 9:35 then we one or both of us is transferred and packs up the next day. If no phone call, then I'll be here another 6 weeks at least. Pretty quick huh?!

This week was pretty fun. Last week for p-day my companion wanted to go hike a mountain by our house. It was a pretty awesome view overlooking the city. It was very peaceful up top and was nice to be out in nature away from the city. I included some pictures of it for you to check out. The only downside to the hike was it really made me miss the hikes that i went on in Hawaii! haha. But oh well...

Thank you so much for the packages Mom and Dad and Grandma and Grandpa! They were awesome. It was exactly what i needed! I have been eating those power bars like there's no tomorrow!

Earlier this week my companion got really sick from some of the food here. It only lasted for about 2 days, but it made it a little hard for us to go out and contact people since he just didn't feel well. But, he is doing better now and i think he's back to 100%. Korean food... :)

We were able to have a VERY successful end to our week. We met a new investigator last Sunday named 최성택 (Ch-A-song-take) (sorry i don't know how to write them out in english, its hard). Anyways i met him on the street while we were just contacting. He had some english interest at first, but once he heard about the Book of Mormon he really got interested in our gospel. He is already a christian so he knows all about Christ and the Bible. Well he came to church yesterday with us! It he loved it. it was so cool. After, we were able to teach him a lesson about the plan of salvation. At the end we gave him the commitment to be baptized on Sept. 17 and he accepted it! He is very excited about it. The spirit was so incredibly strong as the commitment was being given. I have never felt it in that kind of a way before. I know that he is being prepared by our Father in Heaven and this is the time for him. He does need to understand a little more i think. Also, the requirement is that they come to church 3 times before they get baptized so he can't miss a Sunday! So please, keep him in your prayers that all will continue to go well with him. My companion and i hope to try to meet his wife so that they will be able to go though the conversion process together.

We have been meeting with a couple other of people we met on the street that seem very good, but we have no more baptismal dates set. We were able to give a soft baptismal commitment (basically just saying as you learn that this is true will you be baptized) to an 18 year old that we just had our first lesson with on Sunday. He has no religion and so we pushed him to really say the closing prayer. Well he did and it was just unbelievable. He prayed saying "I want to know you God. I want to learn of this truth" "Bless these missionaries with happiness". It was so good. I really have high hopes for him. As for Tan Thao, see has been super busy and just hasn't had time to meet. It is also difficult with her since she is a girl because we have to have a male member present to teach her. It just makes it hard to get a good time to teach. The work is really progressing here in 녹번!

I am sorry I can't fill you in on everything and everyone. I just don't get all the time i want sadly. I know that the work i am doing here in Korea is God's work. This is His only true church on this earth. He loves each of us so much. I know that.

Have a great week everyone. I love you all!

--
Love,
Elder Messick

This first one is a palace by the mission office and the other is my ward mission leader's scriptures....nuts!

[ 1 MONTH! ]

I can't believe I have already been in this country for over a month. It feels like I just got here yesterday still. My first transfer is approaching, but I am pretty sure I will be in this area for a while.

This week was a pretty incredible week. I was able to see lots of results and blessings from the hard work we are doing here in 녹번, but I will touch on that later. First I want to talk about the temple here in Seoul. The temple here is so incredible. It is pretty small, but that's ok. It was a great time for me to relieve some stress and feel some peace and comfort.

While talking about the temple, we were able to take one of our investigators, 조길찬(Joe Ker Chan) to the temple to learn about the ordinances. He is 78 years old and his wife passed away about 3 years ago. We were able to meet him through english class. He is a christian, but when we taught him in previous lessons he sort of puts up a wall with some of the things we teach. However, when we were at the temple he absolutely loved it. We were able to have our Ward mission leader come with us to explain as well as had some temple workers explain all about the ordinances. He mentioned to me that he felt as though it was a clean, pure, reverent place. It was some awesome to me to see that someone who doesn't even know about the place he is in can recognize those things. The next day he even mentioned to me that the temple felt like heaven. It was a powerful experience for both myself and him.

Like I mentioned earlier, our hard work has really payed off this week. We have gotten about 4 really good new investigators this week. That is really good because apparently before my companion got to this area there were 0! We have really been trying to talk to everyone, especially myself. I have been trying to just but myself out there and say hi to anyone and everyone. Of course, sometimes people just look at me funny and walk away, but other times my companion and I have been able to have a really good conversations and set up appointments with people we probably wouldn't have otherwise. I feel like my Korean has improved so much because of this too. The Lord has seen that I am doing all that I can, so in return He has filled my mouth with the words that the people need to hear. I have really started to learn that if I do my part, He will do His, guaranteed!

I have realized the I didn't learn a whole lot of Korean in the MTC. I think it was more of a preparation to learn Korean. haha. I don't think I really use too much of what I learned there, but without it, I would totally be lost!

I was able to get a lot of letters last week so thank you everyone! It was nice to finally get some since it had been a month! haha. I am going to try to reply to everyone as fast as possible, but as I have already mentioned, we literally have almost no letter writing time. But be patient, I promise it will come! :)

Well, I am short on time this week so I am sorry is not as long as normal. I just want you to know that I have a strong, firm testimony of this work. There is NO GREATER WORK, than this work. I am grateful to be able to doing it 24/7. I know that our Savior lives. He loves us. I hope you all have a great week. Work hard! I love you.

사랑으로,
메시크 장로
Elder Messick

[ HEY EVERYONE :) ]

Hi guys!

Well it is actually not p-day today, it will be tomorrow because we will be going to the Seoul, Temple tomorrow. Every time we go to the temple, that is our p-day. We get to go once a transfer (every 6 weeks). I am really looking forward to going to this temple and be able to feel the Spirit. The session will be in english, such a benefit.

Well the work this week has been hard. We have had to drop a lot of our investigators because they either won't answer their phones, have no interest, or are just too busy to meet. That being said, we have a very productive contacting day yesterday. We met a grandma who was very interested and will be meeting with us on Wednesday. We also met this teenage girl who has a lot of interest in the plan of salvation and is meeting with us on Friday. I am really excited because we haven't really been able to teach many lessons yet.

You wouldn't believe what i ate yesterday! Squid. Full on tentacles and everything. It was pretty tough for me to put down, but luckily they were small. They were in this mixed rice type thing. Not quite as good as a Ruth Chris steak ;). Following that squid experience, we went to go visit these awesome members in our ward. They made this, I hate to say it but disgusting, shake thing. Anyways, my companion couldn't put the drink down, so I had to drink his too! I had an upset stomach the rest of the night, but I'm ok now!

I have a really funny story about the guy Dwayne that we met last week. Well he ran into us in the street and we were talking for a little. Now, this guy is about 6'7" and at least 250 pounds and he was in a Shaquille O'neal jersey. So, a Korean noticed him, drove his car up on the sidewalk and asked my companion, "Is that really Shaq!?" We all got a good kick out of it. I just love Koreans!!

The next day, we were able to go and get lunch with Dwayne and he is actually a really spiritual guy. We were able to just give him a summary of our beliefs. He was interested. We got talking about how our bodies are temples. It is so true how we need to respect the temple. Just like how temples are were Heavenly Father and Christ dwell, our body is were the Spirit can dwell. If we don't respect our bodies we won't be able to have him with him. Our eyes the window to the temple. Be careful with what you let them see as well as make sure that what people see inside is bright and shining. Be an example to others.

While serving a mission, I have learned how important faith and diligence are. Through these, we prove to our Heavenly Father that we deserve His help. I have seen that when I don't work my absolute hardest, I am less successful. If I lack faith that something wont happen, it probably won't. However, when I work as hard as possible and when I have faith that we will have a certain number of lessons or contacts, it happens. These two concepts are so essential to prove to our Heavenly Father that we are worthy of his blessings. I am learning the principle in Luke 9:24 as I am trying to really lose myself in this work. These 2 years will go fast and there really won't be another opportunity in my life to have nothing to focus on but the work of our Savior. I am really going to try to give it my all here so that i will come home with no regrets.

We went knocking doors on Saturday evening in a 18 floor apartment complex. Before we started we went up on the roof and WOW! It was such an incredible view. It just amazes me how big this place is, yet what i see is just a pinch of how big this city is. It's was such an awesome view. Pictures just can't do it justice.

So is there anything any of you guys want from Korea!? I should be getting a package of tomorrow to both you (mom and dad) and the masters. But, if you want some cool Korean things i can definitely send another. Just let me know!

That is awesome that you got to see where i live on google earth! I am curious what my area looks like. I'm not even sure haha. If you want to look up Eungam station (subway), that is the subway station by my house and you can see the stream that we run on and everything. Kind of cool.

A random thing that I just think is hilarious. Koreans like to rub American's arm hair. The little kids in church came up to me and just rubbed it and said WOW. It was so funny. Just because they don't have any and they think it's so weird how we do.

I know that what i am doing our here is our Savior's work. This is what He did when He was on the Earth. I am grateful to be His servant and sharing this happy message. I have grown so much already and I am so happy as i do His work.

Well, please try to keep me and my ability to learn Korean in your prayers. I know you do, but I just know that I really need His help with this one. I was able to pass of the 1st lesson (The Restoration) last week, but I have a lot of work to do. Thank you so much for all that you guys do for me. I love you soo much. Have a great week and I hope to hear from you again next week!
--
사랑으로,
메시크 장로
Elder Messick

[ Week 3 in 한국 ]

Hi Family and Friends!

I had a great week here in Korea. Most of our time was spent out contacting. For contacting we have 3 main different ways. Our first is to street board. Basically, we just have 2 posters with summaries of the plan of salvation and the restoration and we try to stop people of the street to let us teach them. The second way is subway contacting. We just ride our subway in a circle for an hour or two and try to talk to people. The third way is do just ring door bells of apartment complexes. We go up to the 18th floor and then just work our way down. It is funny because all the door bells have little video cameras. The people will talk to you for like a good minute just through the microphone. It's pretty funny. When Koreans don't want you to talk to them they have this funny saying and the direct translation of it is "oh, that became" It kind of just makes me laugh every time they say it because it just makes no sense to me.

My companion and I were supposed to go on a hike today, but we got a phone call from a member in our ward saying that a typhoon was going to hit us today, but don't worry, I'll be fine. It just changed our plans a little bit. haha. Not sure what we will do now.

There was a little miracle that happened to us that I wanted to mention. My companion and I got on the bus to go to a district meeting 30 minutes away. It was blue skys so we thought there was no need for an umbrella. Well, when we get on the bus to head home guess what? Yup, it starts pouring! We had a ton of contacting fliers with us (like 300) because we just had picked them up and everything was going to get ruined. On the bus, my companion and I decided to say a little personal prayer. It was raining when we got to our stop, bummed of course. Right when we got of the bus, the rain just stopped. It was so weird. Little miracles like that happen every day. God is real and he does hear our prayers.

I have a funny story for you. We were eating at a member's house and she served us some chicken, kim chee, and a bunch of like random things that i don't even know what they were. Well, i was doing a really good job with the kimchee and the member even mentioned that to me, so i was pretty stoked. After every piece though i had to have a sip of water because it was so spicy. This was really lucky though, because Koreans NEVER have liquids with their meals. They like having their food make them sweat. Well, i went to go pick up a carrot with like this sauce on it with my chopsticks and i totally dropped it right in my water. It was so embarrassing. Anyways, she never brought me another water so I couldn't eat anymore kim chee. haha.

It is unbelievable the Spirit that the members have here. My companion and I got in a bit of an argument right before we had to go to visit a member. We still we upset with each other before we got there and we just didn't really have the Spirit with us. Well, while we were in the house, the members are just so nice and the spirit in the home just lifted my companion and i right up. It is so true that the closest place to heaven other than the temple is the home. This experience really taught me this principle. When I have a family of my own I will make sure to have a home where my children can learn and grow in the gospel and be able to feel the Spirit.

I was able to get that dear elder from you dad! thank you so much. You always know how to lift my day. I would have gotten the letter much sooner I'm sure, but we only get mail once every 2 weeks. It's a big bummer, but it teaches patience i guess. So basically don't send cookies. hahah. I haven't been able to send you you're package yet because there is this place i want to go to get a bunch of ties, but it is closed for summer vacation. Apparently like 1/2 (not really) of Seoul's population goes to the ocean this time of the year because of the heat. Anyways, i should be able to go get them next Monday and your package will be in the mail. :)

I wanted to end with a quote that I love. "There is no cure for the ills of the world except the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Our hope for peace, for temporal and spiritual prosperity, and for eventual inheritance in the Kingdom of God is found only in and through the restored gospel. There is no work that any of us can engage in that is as important as preaching the Gospel and building up the church and Kingdom of God on Earth." - Joseph Fielding Smith. I know that this work is so important. I am giving it my all to find His lost sheep and bring them back to His fold. I love the scripture Alma 17:31. It is a joy to be involved in His work.

I hope you all have a great week. Be safe. I love you all! 사랑해요!!
--
love,
Elder Messick

P.S. I totally was able to eat taco bell!!! Wasn't the same though.

Pictures above: The first 2 are of this old wall that i guess used to be something similar destroyed during the Korean war. I don't know I couldn't really understand i just think it looks cool haha. The next one is of our investigator Tan Thao from Vietnam. Lastly is me in my Fast Sunday attire. Hope you wore your tie dad!