[ INVITING OTHERS UNTO CHRIST! ]

Hey family!! :)

Well this was an amazing week. I will start with the hightlight! Our investigator Kim Hway Seung, or Mr. Bong, is no longer an investigator. He is a member!!! As you know, his scheduled baptismal date was for the 29th, but we had some sudden changes. On friday, I got a text from him asking to change it to the 28th, the next day. The reason being is for a big family situation with his wife. He needed to leave at 2am on sunday to go to Busan. But he still really wanted to get baptized so after lots of quick planning and getting calls for approval, he was baptized on saturday and then confirmed at the service. It was so great guys. It was such a feeling of peace at the service. He told me after he was baptized that he is a new Mr. Bong. He gets a new start. And he is exactly right. I had the privilage of baptizing him. That was my first time ever doing that and it was something else! In the water with my hand up I just felt like I was doing exactly what our Savior wants me to be doing. Our water boiler broke so the water was cold, but it didn't even bother Mr. Bong nor I. What an experience.

Some other good stuff for the week. So on Monday we had our investigator Jeen Meen Jung and her fiance take us into Seoul and we went to Seoul Tower. It was pretty cool! We could see over all of Seoul. I got some good pictures for you :)

On Tuesday was our temple day. We had a great time as always. I love the temple and I am so grateful to have one in my mission so I can go once a transfer. What a blessing.

I got some SWEET family pics this week from Gma and Gpa so thank you to you two for that! It is always sooo good to see you guys. I wouldn't mind some more pics from anyone hahah :)

We have met lots of new investigators this week. One specifically is Kim Nam Me. He has soo much potential. He has told us how he really wants to know the truth, but when he prays he just doesn't feel anything. He is fully committed to try Moroni's challenge. Read, ponder, and pray. I promised him that if he would do so, he would get an answer. We will meet again this week. :)

Transfer calls are tonight!!! I don't think too much will happen though. Crazy a transfer went by that fast!

Well I love you guys sooo much. I hope all is well for you back home. Stay safe and healthy please. I'll talk to you next week. Love you!

Elder Messick

[ WHAT A BUSY WEEK! ]

Hey family!!

This week just seemed to FLY by for me because we have been SO busy! One of the most successful weeks for me as a missionary. It's so true, the harder we work, the faster time goes, the happier we are, and the more rewarding everything is. :)

Well I guess I should start with the highlight of the week, Mr. Bong or Kim-Hway-Seung. He is awesome. I don't know any other way to say it. Seriously we has been prepared by God over the last 3 or 4 years of his life. He has had lots of bumps in the road and wants to have a fresh start. He came to church yesterday. He was supposed to come for all 3 hours, but only could make it for a little of sacrament because he had a big problem with his work, which is understandable. Anyways, he has been doing so good this week. For example, he has come from smoking 20 cigarettes a day to only 2! How awesome is that! It is such a terrible and awful addiction, VERY common here in Korea, and I am so happy and grateful that the Lord is helping him to overcome. He has a baptismal interview set for this Friday with the zone leaders and then if all goes as planned he will get baptized after sacrament meeting (since it's the 3rd hour) and confirmed the next Sunday. Also, this week Elder Bacarro and I gave him a priesthood blessing to help him with overcoming smoking and to feel at peace with his family situation. After he said he can't describe it but just felt so good. I can see the influence of the Holy Ghost coming into his life and I know that once he receives the Gift of the Holy Ghost he will be able to receive its guidance.

One of our other investigators is named Ha-Suck-Sheek. He is about 65 years old and is SUCH a great man. He switched to Christianity 7 years ago and now is so diligent in his beliefs. He wakes up at 4 o'clock so that he can read 10 chapters every day out of the bible. How about that! Anyways, he really likes The Book of Mormon and said he believes it is the word of God. The only problem is he can't see the connection that if it's true then our church is true, the ONLY true church. Hopefully we can help him with this when we meet again this week.

I met quite the interesting guy. So there has been kind of an investigator here in our area for quite some time. He is from Myanmar and is here for school. Well he is a member of a church called The Church of Jesus Christ. Ever heard of it? Anyways, it is veryyy similar to ours, except the whole being true part. Haha. Anyways, he is really high up in the leadership of this church. He has been learning about our church and really likes everything, but I am pretty sure he just wants to apply the things to his church. However, my ward mission leader has told me that somehow Elder Holland knows about him! So we can't drop him haha. It was pretty intense. I basically was telling him how his church has no authority. I asked him where their "authority" comes from but he just didn't know how to answer. It was intense. Hopefully he will see how our church is the true church and will be baptized.

For my one year in the country, me and Elder Jones and a few of our friends went last p-day to celebrate at On the Border, Mexican food!!!! It was soooo good. The only bummer is that I got something that would be 5 or 10 dollars in America, but instead it was 20 hahaha. well worth it :)

So today isn't pday because it's temple day tomorrow, yet it will kind of still be like pday! We are going with one of our investigators and her fiance who is a newly reactivated less active out to a place called een-cheun to go to china town and stuff. It will be way cool! And don't worry we have permission to do so :)

Well family, I love you guys all so much. Things are going great out here for me. Continue to keep Mr. Bong and Korea in your prayers. I love this country and the people here. It has a very special place in my heart. I am so grateful to be here.

Have a great week. I love you. Stay safe and be healthy!!!!

love,
Elder Messick
--

[ I love rain season ]

[ Trash system in Korea. That's what happens when you don't have public trash cans. ]

[ My friend Ju-Hang who is going to America today! ]

[ KANG-SEO STAKE IS ON FIRE! :) ]

Hey guys! 안녕하세요? How was everybody's week?? As you can assume from the subject of the email my week was great! We really are seeing so much success here. Like I said a few weeks ago, when I came it was pretty stagnant, but over the last few weeks our whole zone is really just tearing it up. This week we found 3 more investigators again! The rest of the zone is also finding and has many progressing investigators. But the biggest news of the week; Mr. Bong or his real name, Kim-Hway-Seung. He is the man we met about weeks ago now. I just started talking to him and it is turning into a bigger and bigger miracle every day. We met with him Saturday and taught the second lesson, the plan of salvation. We made it clear how essential baptism is to receive God's greatest gift. Then I extended the commitment to be baptized on the 29th of this month. He has accepted. Not only did he accept, but he asked what he could do to prepare! How cool is that. Well on Sunday he attended sacrament meeting and loved it. He said it always brings him a feeling of comfort, especially for the situation that he is in. After church, we met and taught the commandment we are worried about, the word of wisdom. He has smoked for the last 3 years. Oh he is 29 years old by the way. Anyways, as we taught it he completely saw how his body is a temple and needs to keep it sacred. He said he will quit smoking to be baptized by the 29th. Later that day on Sunday, we were invited to eat dinner with a member in our ward and another family also. They told us to bring Mr. Bong. He gladly accepted the offer. We ate together and the ward members did AWESOME!!! We talked a little more about the word of wisdom and then they helped explain what the temple is. He loved it! Even though I knew the answer, I asked our former bishop, so how long after he is baptized does he have to wait to do temple baptisms. When he heard he can go almost right after he got SO excited! He truly is one prepared from God. I am sooo incredibly grateful and humbled by the fact that God led me to him and how God has prepared him for this Gospel. What a miracle.

Another thing that happened this week was our first president interviews with our new mission president, President Christensen. He is such a great man and has a real deep knowledge of the Gospel. I wish I was that smart. And his wife. She is just the nicest lady. She brought some American candy for all of us while we waited to go have our interview :) Our president is called of God. I know it. Ya things are going to be REALLYYY different with an American now, but it will be good for the mission and I think that the whole mission is just going to reach a new level. I have faith that Korea will just start accepting the Gospel like it's a free Holiday edition Reese's (the best candy ever!).

I love you guys so much. I am so grateful to be out here in Korea. I have been called here by God to teach them the Gospel in their tongue and that's exactly what I'm doing. I never thought this would be possible 1 year ago. But hey, God doesn't break his promises if you do your part. I know that's true. I love you guys. Be safe this week and stay healthy. Talk to you next week!

Love,
Elder Messick

P.S. Happy birthday DAD! I love you. And also a big happy b-day to E. Roche!!!! I love you bud. 생일 축하해!
P.P.S. Happy 1 year in the country to me :))))))

[ Thanks G'ma I'm living the high life :)) ]

[ Ping pong ]

[ A wonderful family in our ward. The Lee's. ]

[ My buddy in our ward. He is leaving for America to study next week. :( ]

[ An old random tree that is in the middle of the road. ]

[ HI!!!!! ]

Hey everyone! Well this is quite the busy email sesh. I've been sitting here for quite a while and I'm just getting this started so sorry if it's a little short. This week, although full of personal trials, was incredible!!

So as I said, I had a bit of a rough week last week on Monday. As I went home that night I made a new commitment to find, teach and baptize. As we went out to contact that night I had SO much fire. I was just sharing testimony with everyone. I wanted to tell EVERYONE! Then I saw a man sit down by a store. I went over to him and asked if I could sit. We started to talk. I told him who I was and what I was doing. He really started to open up with me and told me a really tough situation he was in. I testified SO powerfully though the Spirit that I KNOW our message is true and that I was sent here to tell him this. He said this. "I believe you. I believe what you're telling me. I can see like a light beaming around you. I feel something special right now." This just blew me away. God had led me to him and him to me. We met again on Friday. Taught the restoration and accepted a "soft" baptismal commitment. He ended the meeting with a wonderful closing prayer. He came to church yesterday and the ward fellowshipped him really well. He said he felt very comfortable there and really enjoyed it. 

This kinda leads to another problem. So his situation. He and his wife had an argument 3 weeks ago and she left to Busan with no way to contact her.  He told us he wants to make up for his mistakes. Anyways, at church he saw all the "mommies" and it made him a little sad. But he feels like everything is going to work out. I know this story was really scattered but it's quite the miracle. I am so grateful to God for helping me follow the Spirit in who to talk to and what to say.

Dad, you won Ryan Sheckler's golf tournament!?!?!?!? Are you serious. That is the sickest thing ever.
You are such a stud. Definitely worthy of a shout out :)

I should go so I can attach some photos. I love you guys soooo much. I know this Gospel is true and that this is His church. I know that as we all follow Tanner's example and enter into a covenant with God we can open the gateway to eternal life. I testify of this. I love you all. have a great week!!!!

--
Elder Messick

[ HI FAMILY!!!!! HAPPY 4th OF JULY!! ]

WHAT'S UP!

Happy Birthday America! Happy 4th of July to all of you :) This week was a bit longer than most, but still great nonetheless. So all of you guys are livin it up right now on the sands of the Pacific. How is it?! That's my all time favorite family tradition! Soak it all in for me :)

So I am not feelin so hot right now so I will probably keep this email a little bit shorter than usual. Sorry!!

Our area is seeing a lot of success. When I came it was pretty stagnant, but we are working hard to find, to teach, and to baptize. We have found 3 new investigators this week. One came to our English class. One was a referral of a girl serving in SLC temple square. her parents aren't members and so we met the mother. COOL! And the last one is quite the miracle. Let me explain. So while we were contacting on the street I got a phone call from a guy who told me he attended english classes from the missionaries over 15 years ago and would now like his kids to meet with us. So on Saturday, we me, him, his wife, his two daughters, and their baby son. This is the first family I have taught my WHOLE mission! I am soo excited. While we met he asked me questions like so what makes this church different from other christian churches and what our service meetings were like. I am so excited to meet them again this week.

I renewed my visa this week! I hit my year in country in just 2 weeks! Time is just flying on by.

I got to go back to my old area, Geum Cheon, for a meeting. They have completely redone their English program and it is really successful so they were teaching us what they did. We hope to apply some of those principles. It was great seeing all the old faces again too.

We have had SO many meal appointments here this week. The ward really loves the missionaries :) Hope I don't get toooo fat ;)

Well family. This Gospel is true. It is there for you in the thick and the thin. I love our Savior and I know that He lives. Sometimes it may be harder to feel His love, but that's when you need to seek Him the most. He's just around the corner calling your name. I love you all and hope you have a great week.

Love,
Elder Messick

[ Gotta love the streetboarding. ] 

[ A couple of ward members we ate on sunday with. ] 

[ Kind of a lame view part of my area. The roof was locked so it's from the window. ]