[ TRANSFER #4 ]

Hey! :)

Well this last week was transfer calls and both my companion and I are still here in 금천. However, one of my house members was transferred, so now Elder Seo has a new companion, Elder Gardiner. He is really a good missionary and a nice guy. Also, the sister missionaries in our area were white washed so we just got 2 new ones. They are awesome.

This week was sooo awesome! Guess what!? 김미량 (kim me ryang) came to church yesterday!! I was so happy. She was super nervous about coming, I'm not sure why, but eventually she committed to come and kept her promise. The best part about it was it was the primary program yesterday. The kids were all so adorable and I think she really liked it. We had a lesson with her last Thursday where I gave her the soft baptismal commitment, and she accepted! My companion plan to give her the commitment this week of being baptized on December 17th. Please keep her in your prayers.

I was able to finish the New testament this week and it was incredible. I LOVED reading Revelation ch 21 about the Celestial Kingdom. It was such a good description and it just makes me want to work that much harder help other's come unto Christ and achieve the Celestial kingdom.

I am sorry that this letter is so short but I'm short on time. I am sending lots and lots of pictures. i hope it makes up for it. I am sorry!

I love you guys so much and hope thanksgiving was wonderful. Talk to you next week.

--
love,
Elder Messick

Thanksgiving Day family dinner!

P.S. These are the old sister missionaries that left, Elder Seo's b-day, and also this is a pic of the big Han river through Seoul.

[ HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL OF YOU! ]

Hey fam and friends!

Well happy thanksgiving to all of you. I can't believe that it's already the end of November. Wow how time is flying. We as missionaries are actually going to be able to have a thanksgiving. All of the missionaries will be going to the American marine bases to eat with different member families. I am super excited about it.

This last P-Day we were able to go to the temple. It was, as always, a great experience. I always feel at peace there and it gives me more strength to keep going. I was lucky enough to be the first one into the Celestial room. It was only for a few seconds, but wow there is just power in that room. It really is a house of the Lord.

A few days ago my companion had to go take an english test for getting into BYU-H along with a few other people. While he was taking the test, us american companionships met up and did a contacting activity. Guess who I was paired up with, my MTC companion, Elder Porter! It was way cool seeing him and how far he has come in korean. Since we were both new missionaries it was tough to try to answer people's questions, however it really was a testimony builder to me of the power of the Gift of Tongues. I noticed that if i really just always had a prayer in my heart and was listening intently, God was able to help me in understanding them. Of course, my responses weren't perfect, but I was able to communicate. That is truly such a little miracle to me.

Our investigator 김미량, is doing well. She kept the commitment of reading the intro to the Book of Mormon and we are meeting again tonight. When she read, she told me she had a good feeling of peace. It is definitely going to be a slower process, but i am excited to watch her testimony grow.

The weather is officially entering into winter. It's not super cold yet, but the wind is just SO cold it like stings. I am scared because people say this is just the beginning. I feel like such a wimp when i think it's cold though because i think of what Aubrey went though and how miserably cold that must have been. The weather is definitely making the missionary work a little different. Yesterday, we tried to streetboard for 2 hours, but people just didn't want to talk to us at all because it was cold. Our contacts were maybe 1/4 of what they usually would be with that amount of time.

My companion is just the best. We are getting along so well still. Tonight is transfer calls and I really hope we both stay. He actually told me the other day that I am his favorite companion yet. It really meant a lot to me. He really is such a stud.

Sorry this email is scattered and kind of short, but there was a lot of back and forth emailing today.

I want to end with just a little urge for each of you to do missionary work. During our District meeting this week. I just got thinking and really was realizing how important this work is right now. We have been told several times that these are the last days! God trusts us to do His work. We need to do all we can to help Him in fulfilling His work and His glory "to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man."

I am grateful to be a missionary is Seoul, Korea. I have been sent here with a purpose. I am to find, teach, and baptize. I am working my hardest every day to do what He wants done.

I love you all and hope you have a great week! Eat some cream corn for me Kenzie!

--
Love,
Elder Messick
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P.S. Happy B-day to Matt and Mark this week. I love you bros!

P.P.S. One of the picutes is of me and my companion and the other is of our AP Elder Bailey who just went home last week.

[ COMING UP ON TRANSFER #4 IN A WEEK! ]

Hey everyone!

I had such a good week her in 금천. I am really loving this area, especially as I am getting to watch it grow and progress. There were, as always, many miracles that happened this week. As a missionary, I get to witness miracles every day. It's just incredible.

Right now we have two investigators, 안기천 (An-Key-Chun) and 김미량 (Kim-Me-Ryang). Brother An is 14 years old and he is just so awesome. His father wanted us to start teaching the 30-30 program with him. Since he is still young, the progression is slow, but he is keeping his commitments. He is reading from The Book of Mormon stories book (like a simple explanation of The Book of Mormon) and he is praying. He hasn't come to church yet, but maybe next week. Sister Kim is 26 years old and right now is really interested in learning English. We have only met once but she was already asking questions about the word of wisdom so she definitely is curious. We have another lesson with her tomorrow evening so hopefully we can begin the testimony building process with her then.

There has been a bunch of teenagers that have been coming to our church parking lot after school for the past couple of months to smoke cigarettes and they have been trashing the parking lot. The other day, my companion and I saw them so we went and talked to them. I was really frustrated with the kids and was just mad at what they were doing. However, my companion had his head on strait and handled the situation really well. He was really friendly and even invited them into our church to play some ping pong. They accepted and we hung out for a half hour. I think this was a really good learning experience for me of how i need to love everyone. We were able to leave a good impression of our church with those kids, rather than an impression of us just being jerks.

Tomorrow is temple day, which i am soo exited about. I feel like i haven't gone in forever since it was in the beginning of my last transfer and at the end of this transfer. It is always so peaceful and stress relieving there. So, because it's temple day tomorrow that means p-day is tomorrow too, which means I'm going streetboarding today! haha.

I have really been able to see some miracles as i tested my faith this week in giving bold commitments. In our weekly planning session every week we make some personal goals and mine was to work on my commitment giving during contacts. I felt like i was treating a contact too much like a routine instead of taking each one personally and really having the the faith that each person i talk to could be baptized. Well, because i made this mindset, i was able to do something i have never done before. I got 6 street lessons and 9 phone numbers. I have never done that, ever! Normally, my companion had to ask for the return appointments because i was just shy, but as i exercised my faith, the Lord really blessed me.

It is incredible the joy that comes with doing missionary work. It is something so special, being able to invite souls to come unto Christ. I am so grateful that I am able to wear Christ's name over my heart each and every day. I am forever grateful for Him and is infinite sacrifice for us.

I love you guys so much. Have a great week. Talk to you then!! 사랑합니다!
--
Love
Elder Messick

[ 6 MONTHS! ]

Dear Family,

It is hard to believe how fast this week has gone by, not to mention the last 6 months. I still feel like it was just yesterday when I was sitting in the MTC trying to learn the alphabet. haha!

We had a pretty good week here in 금천. In fact we now have an investigator! His name is 안기천. He is only 14 years old. His gospel interest is still low, but little by little right. We began teaching him because his father wanted him to do our "30/30" program with him, which is 30 minutes of English and 30 minutes of Gospel. We have only met one time but have set up a schedule to meet every Tuesday and Thursday. His family is super nice. I want to be able to meet with the mom and dad too, but right now it is just a little hard. We'll see how it goes.

Want to hear something kind of cool? So do you remember the Korean girl (Boo) that I used to home teach at BYU-Hawaii? Well, my companion knows her! And even weirder, my companion's brother was dating her about a month ago, but not anymore. I thought it was so cool that he knew her. I told him to ask his brother to tell her I say hi this week in his email home.

On Friday, all of us elders in our apartment decided to treat ourselves to an all you can eat meat buffet to "celebrate" my 6 month. It was soooo much meat, but dad you would have loved it haha!

Also this week I was able to pass off lesson 4, the commandments. I was really happy about that. Now I just need to do final pass off with the Zone Leaders and the APs. Once I do that, I can become a senior companion.

I was reading in the New Testament this week and came across some really good chapters. I really liked Ephesians, specifically ch 6:11-18. In these verses it talks about the importance of putting on the WHOLE armor of God. In the world that we live in today it is so important to put on EVERY piece EVERY day. If we leave part of our "body" exposed without being shielded it is so much easier for the adversary to get to us. In verse 18 it mentions one very important way to keep ourselves fully shielded, "praying always." As a missionary I have really learned the importance of praying to our Heavenly Father about everything. My companion this morning gave a really good analogy of this during companionship study. He said, "when you have a question about math, you ask you math teacher because they are the expert on the subject. This applies to missionary work. Any time I have a question, I need to ask my Heavenly Father, because this is HIS work." I can testify that prayer is real. He wants to hear from us about everything. When we come to Him asking for the answer to something, He will give it to us, if we are willing to listen.

Make sure that you put on the FULL armor of God EVERY day. I love you guys so much. Have a great week. I'll be thinking of you and praying for you. 사랑합니다!

Love,
Elder Messick