[ HAPPY LUNAR NEW YEAR^^ 설날 ]

새해 복 많이 받으세요!! ^^

Happy New Year guys. :) It was the lunar new year here, basically the biggest holiday of the year, except for us missionaries haha. We just did our normal thing, Street contacting haha. I sure do love it though. As weird as that sounds, I really do. Sure some days are better than others, but I find real happiness just from opening my mouth to as many people as I can. When it's a tough rejection just shake it off or see if you can get them leaving with a smile. Its fun. :)

[ Overlooking my area ]

Church yesterday was great. It was just sacrament meeting and we had a much better turnout than expected. I'd say over 120 people were there. Lots of people in 한복s. We were still short though for the sacrament so I said one of the prayers. When Brother Lee (my Korean grandpa) walked in to church, he came up to me with big open arms and gave me a huge hug and kiss on the cheek. hahha. I sure do love that man. He sure does take care of us missionaries.

The day before we had a big conference as a whole mission which was SO good. We had a guest speaker, P.J. Rogers. This guy is in the presidency of the English district here in Korea. He's no ordinary guy to say the least. He is HUGE here. He's got tv shows and a radio show. Koreans love this guy and for good reasons. One, his Korean is OFF THE CHARTS. And two, he is hilarious. He is even funnier in Korean than he is in English. Great character. He was a missionary here some time ago and now lives here with his family making tons of money. He gave a great presentation on how to improve missionary work by adjusting to the Korean cultures to gain members love and trust and respect. It really was so good. I'll have to explain it better in person. :)

I think our most progressing investigator right now is Brother Beck (백). He has met us 4 times now and is soooo sincere. He really is searching for the truth and willing to put the effort in. He just is in a tough situation with his mother being so sick. We have tried to get him to commit to a date, but he just won't quite yet, however last time he did ask where we do the baptism at. He wanted to see the baptismal font. When he saw it he said, "it's kind of like a public bath house" hahhahahah. He has a funny sense of humor and has really opened up with us a lot. We have taught him some great lessons. I feel like every time we teach this man the Spirit guides it 100 percent of the time. We teach to his needs better than anyone I ever have and his understanding of the gospel and it's restoration is increasing. He is a great man.

Mom, a story for you. Just a short one. So on Sunday morning we were doing our studies and could hear a car really struggling to get out of their parking spot from all the ice and the car just wouldn't move. So my comp and I threw our jackets on and went out to "give them a hand." Do you know where I'm goin with this mom?? Anyways, we gave the car a big push and got it out and they were on their way. But before they were off I was sure to hand them the pass along card I just got from you in my last letter about giving a hand. I just translated it into Korean and wrote our number on it and handed it to them. Maybe they'll need help again some day. :)

Last but not least, all you friends and family who have wanted to write me but it just slips your mind. If you are planning on sending me a letter you should probably do it in the next week or two!! Otherwise you won't be getting a response from me. Thanks. :)

I love you guys have a great week!!!

--
Love,

메시크 장로
Elder Messick

[ The boys after b-ball ] 

[ My area after the snow ]

[ A Korean delicacy? Haha. It's cow sinews with some knee meat. Yum. ]

[ Me and Sister lee. She's dope. She'll be going to BYU-H after the mish. :) ]

[ Me and brother Song. He is a wonderful member. ]

[ This lady and her husband are people I wrote about a few weeks ago. They have a baptismal date for Thursday. They are the other missionaries' investigators but we have helped out a bit. ]