[ FIRST BAPTISM 최성택 ]

Hey everyone!

Well this was an amazing week here in Seoul, Korea! Yesterday, my companion and I had our first baptism! As I have mentioned before, his name is 최성택, and the official spelling of that in English is Choi Sung Taek. It is pronounced a little bit differently in Korean than English, but that's ok. Also, in Korean the last name is said first. Anyways, the baptism took place yesterday after sacrament meeting (since that's our last meeting). It was such a special experience for me. During the closing song of sacrament meeting I had my arm around him as we sang and my heart just became SO full of joy. I have witnessed first-hand someone who really came unto Christ. He really changed his life around. He had the most sincere intentions and I can tell he will be an awesome member. Elder Christensen was able to baptism him and it was just so awesome to watch the smile on his face when he came out of the water. I am so happy for him and the direction his life is heading.

Sadly, his wife would not attend the baptism. She is involved with another Christian church and so I think she might just have a hard time with coming to our church. However, Choi Sung Taek did say he will try to be an example to her and invite her to come. I think that when she notices the changes in her husband's life and how he has become a better man she might change her way of thinking about our Gospel.

Sung Taek will be receiving the Holy Ghost next Sunday so he has a whole week span from his baptism to when it will be completed with the confirmation. Please continue to keep him in your prayers. I am not quite sure what happens if he smokes a cigarette between now and the confirmation, but I do know that we have to do all we can to keep that from happening!

On Thursday this week, grandma and grandpa's friends Jin and his wife took us out to lunch at a little Korean restaurant. They are so nice. It was so cool to be able to talk about grandma and grandpa and San Clemente with them. They are really nice people and I'm so glad I was able to meet up with them. Before they left, I gave them a Korean Book of Mormon. I didn't get much time to discuss what it really was though. But, I told them that I would make sure you ate at their restaurant, so maybe in a couple weeks you should head over there and maybe discuss a little about the book :)

My companion has been having some health problems lately so that has really been slowing down our contacting efforts. He is having some of the same stomach problems that he was having a couple months ago. Also, he had to have something removed from his foot so it's tough to walk for long periods of time. He is really fighting though it well and I know the Lord will bless him for his efforts.

Other than Choi Sung Taek, we have 3 other progressing investigators. We were able to have one attend church with us yesterday and he even got to see the baptism. I think he liked it because he wants to meet again on Wednesday. His name is Yuri. He doesn't have a whole lot of religious background in his life, so the way our church worked was a little confusing for him to understand, but he seems very sincere and interested.

One other investigator we have is 황승현 (Hwang - Seung - Hyong). He is such a nice guy. We met him about a week and a half ago. He is very good at English and is trying to get into school to become an interpreter. He is 33 years old and has a wife and a little 8 month old baby. Sadly, his wife moved down south for 4 months to live with her mother because she is struggling raising the baby. I can tell that he really misses them and gets lonely. Gospel wise, we have taught the restoration and a little bit of the plan of salvation. We committed him to pray about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon. When we followed up on this commitment in our next meeting, he said that after he prayed about it he looked in the mirror and he said that he looked brighter and just feel calm and at peace. Pretty awesome! Also, when we taught about the beginning of the plan of salvation he said that he was very interested and is excited to learn more. I think that he has definitely been prepared by the Lord. He may take a little longer make the decision to be baptized, but i truly feel like one day he will.

The weather in Korea is finally starting to cool down! It's about 65-70 and really quite nice. We don't get blue sky here very often so it's always great when there is some blue in the sky.

Anyways, it has been another wonderful week. I am always so grateful to be one of our Lord's servants. It is a wonderful privilege to be here. I am learning so much about the Gospel, our Savior, and myself. I wouldn't trade this experience for the world. There shouldn't be a doubt in any young man's mind about serving a mission. It is what God has commanded us to do. So many blessing and treasured memories come from this. I am grateful to be a part of building the Lord's kingdom. I love you all so much. Have an EPIC week.

Now its time for some soccer! Woo
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Love,
Elder Messick

Dad, guess what's just around the corner!? Triple Crown of Surfing. Anyways, when it starts up, do you think you could get me some updates in my email of how that goes. Thanks!

Also, this week i bought a sweet plant! Hawaii style :)