[ 최성택 RECEIVED THE HOLY GHOST! ]

Hello everyone,

Another week has now gone by in Korea. Hard to believe that its already been 2 months for me here in Seoul. I was able to get my mail and got 2 packages from you guys! Thank you sooo much. And those socks are exactly what i wanted, thank you! The cereal is GREAT!

For our pday last week, we were able to play a big soccer game on a great AstroTurf field! We played zone-zone. The Book zone (mine) verse the Seoul zone. And we won by one! It was way fun. Some of the Koreans in our mission are so good! After the soccer game we went over to check out the World Cup Stadium. It was massive. There was basically a whole mall and grocery store inside the stadium! We weren't allowed to see the field sadly, but we did find something else...Jamba Juice!!! Yup, a legit jamba. It tasted exactly the same as America, but better since it has been so long. I thought that was pretty cool.

On the 24th, we had a special music fireside that we have been puting together for the last couple of weeks. It was 4 wards combined and we had people from the wards do special musical numbers and sing and stuff. Before the fireside, we had a one hour open house for investigators to come. It was super successful. We had about 10 investigators come with a bunch of ward members there to explain the things we had put up on the wall (like temples, the restoration, Christ ...). It went very well. At the end of the whole event I had to give the closing prayer in front of like 75 Koreans. Of course I was nervous, but i think it was ok haha. I guess i should at least mention this, but i was told that i shouldn't dwell on it. Before the event started, we spent the whole day dealing with this guy who is crazy. He has been giving the church trouble for about a year now. Anyways, he was just making some really harsh threats and ended up pretty bad. The APs had to come down and help take care of the situation. He was brought to the police station, but is no longer there. It probably will not be the last of him. Be sure to ask me about the full story when I get home in 2 years. It's a pretty crazy one.

At church yesterday, Brother Sung Taek Choi was able to receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. I had the privilege of standing in the circle as our bishop gave the blessing. It was very cool to be a part of. Thank you for all of your prayers for him and please continue to do so. I know that as I continue to work hard and strive to find the prepared, the Lord will continue to bless me.

Last night, I went on exchanges with the AP's which was interesting. It was crazy to see how much work they have to do, how many phone calls they get, and just how busy of a life they have as a missionary. They were able to help me out with some problems that were going on and I hope that I will be able to apply their teachings.

I know that all of you are doing great and that makes me so happy. I continue to pray for all of you every week. I know that as you do what the Lord requires you will be blessed. I hope you have a great week and that things continue to go well for you. I love you all. 사랑해요!!!

사랑으로,
Elder Messick
메시크 장로

[ 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
--
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 :)

[ BAPTISM JUST AROUND THE CORNER! ]

Well hello everyone!

I am sorry that it has been an extra couple of days since you expected the email. On Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday it was a holiday called 추석. That is pronounced chew-sok. It is basically Korean thanksgiving day. So because of this everything was closed. For this holiday, all of the Korean go to the part of Korea they were born in, eat lots of food as a family, then visit their ancestors graves to pay their respects. It is a very cool holiday. To celebrate this holiday as missionaries, we had a special conference on Monday. We received some very good council from our mission president and had a very spiritual testimony meeting. It was a great time. The conference was at the biggest church in ALL of Asia! The funny part about it is that it's about the same size as the Laguna Niguel Stake Center. Anyways, I just thought that was pretty cool.

Our baptismal date investigator, 최성택, is doing so well. Right now there is no official date though because we are still working on getting him to stop smoking and drinking wine. He has a baptismal interview with the Mission President this coming Saturday. Depending on how that goes, he could possibly be getting baptized on either the 18th or the 24th, maybe later. But, he is progressing so well. He is reading the Book of Mormon and has such a strong desire to do what is right. In fact, he has come from smoking a pack of cigarettes a day, to one or two a day. We call him 4 times a day to remind him not to smoke. Haha! Anyways, I am so happy for him. It is just incredible to watch him change his life around. He looks happy and he just knows that what we teach him is true. Please continue to keep him in your prayers.

I don't know if Grandma and Grandpa ever told you guys about their friend Jin, but I guess he is one of their good friends who owns one of their favorite restaurants. Anyways, he called me the other day and is taking me and my companion out to lunch tomorrow! We were pretty shocked actually. It will be nice talking to someone who has such close relations with my family. Thanks grandma and grandpa! You're awesome missionaries haha.

So I was wondering, how did you like the Korean food in the package? Was it too spicy? I tried to just send like junk food stuff so that you would like it all haha. If you want more of anything or want to try something, just let me know!

Our ward here has been loving my companion and I lately. They keep bringing us food and telling us that they want to have us over for dinner. I think it might just be because we are bringing investigators to church and they can see that we are really working hard. We have spent some time cleaning up our church and doing yard work on it. The ward is really starting to love us. It is great. haha.

Well, I hope you all have a great week. I love you all so much. Again, sorry this is so late, but it is always so great talking to you. CTR!

Love,
Elder Messick
메시크 장노

[ FAST SUNDAY #4 ]

Hey family and friends!

Well another great week has passed here in Seoul, Korea! I have not been transferred, nor was my companion. So, we have high hopes for the next 6 weeks here in Nok Boen.

We started off this transfer by deciding to clean our house! It is a pretty old apartment with some mold so we spent hours just going to town on it. I was doing the kitchen, while my companion tackled the bathroom. It was pretty gross, but definitely necessary. I hope we can keep it clean now!

The next day, I was able to pass off lesson 2 (the plan of salvation) in Korean. I was very excited about that. I plan to do "mid-way" pass off on Wednesday. "Mid-way" includes 4 random principles from the first 2 lessons, a basic contact on the street, a simple version of the first lesson, and reciting Joseph Smith's first vision.

Our investigator with a baptismal date, Chae Song Tek , is progressing very well, expect one problem. We taught the word of wisdom 2 days ago and he has some problems with it. He smokes and drinks occasionally. He has accepted the challenge, but his baptismal date has been moved back one day to the 18th because he was unable to attend church, due to his grandchild's 100 day birthday ( I know lame, they are huge here though). Anyways, please continue to keep him in your prayers. I know that he will be able to reach the waters of baptism because he has a strong desire and a real love for Jesus Christ.

I was able to get a letter from Thao (from the MTC) and she is doing great. Right now, she is in Vietnam but will be heading back to Utah soon. Baptism is not on the top of her priorities at the moment, but I have faith that one day she will know that it is the right thing to do.

I had two pretty incredible miracles happen this week. Since it is a new transfer, our zone leaders said that our goal for the transfer is based on Ether 12:12, which is about, without faith miracles can't happen. Anyways, we were walking on the street after visiting a member and we were trying to just get some contacts. We realized we had made a goal to teach one lesson on the street before we had to go home for dinner. Well, my companion said "ok, we are going to get a new investigator right now before we are home." Sadly, in my mind my first thought was, "ha ya right." But, right after that the scripture Ether 12:12 came to my mind. So, I told myself, "Alright Heavenly Father, I have faith that this can happen, I really do." Well right after that I got a really bad headache all of the sudden so we went to get a drink of water. Literally it was like 30 seconds after this whole thought process. Anyways, as I was drinking some water, this guy comes from out of his office and calls us into his office to talk. He gave us a drink and talked to us for about 15 minutes. We were able to give him a Book of Mormon and will be going back tomorrow to teach about the restoration in more detail. Now, that is the power of faith right there. I can testify to you, because I have witnessed it for myself, that with faith miracles can and WILL happen. I know this.

The second miracle happened on Saturday. We were on the street again, hoping for another lesson. Well, we met this guy at the bus stop and only had about 3 minutes to talk to him. He said he has walked by our church many times and was curious about our beliefs. Well, he ended up coming to priesthood session and brought his 3 daughters to primary! Pretty awesome! His wife wasn't able to make it, but he said he plans on coming for all 3 hours next week. AWESOME!

To wrap up my week, yesterday we had a member of our ward need our help with some translation. Let's just say that was one of the hardest things my companion and I have ever done in Korean in our lives! It was just some raw Korean with no rough English to edit from. It was about an old palace questionnaire thing, so we didn't know any of the vocabulary. We spent 3 hours just trying to figure it out with our translators. Anyways, it was a good experience because I learned a lot and it helped build good relations with the ward.

I am grateful to be here in Korea. Although it is hard sometimes, it is always worth it. I think of that quote a lot that Ryan, Elder Roche, said from Lance Armstrong "pain is only temporary, but quitting lasts forever" I hope you all know how much I love you. I love our Savior very much and I am forever grateful for him. I hope you have a great week and enjoy watching the big waves! I love you!

Love,
Elder Messick

The first 2 are with a member in our ward, Chore Lee, He is the one who lives in the crazy scary hospital. Then the others are just some fun ones. If you zoom in on the picture of my companion and i walking it kind of looks like we are glowing. Pretty cool :)

Pretty great huh!? We are supposed to preach to every creature right...haha

I love you,
Elder Messick

Sorry but I gotta go now. Have a great week! Travel safe!! CONGRATS ON THE GIRL AUBREY!

[ 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!

[ WEEK 2 IN KOREA! ]

Hello!

Well this week has definitely been interesting. Yes, we have received a TON of rain this week. A new record amount for Seoul actually. Nearly 500 mm in 2 1/2 days. My area definitely received a good amount of it. The streets were pretty flooded. They had to close some subway entrances to prevent the water from going down. There was one main street by our church that had about a good foot of water in 2 lanes. I would have taken a picture, but it was pouring at the moment. Sorry. So this week was much harder to do contacting because of the rain. People don't really want to talk to 2 people who don't know Korean very well when it is down pouring. BUT, we were still able to reach most of our goals, so that is good.

I am sorry that you guys weren't able to find the place I am serving on google maps. To be honest, I have no clue what the address of my house is, but the last picture that i attached is a view from the roof of our apartment, kinda cool. Pretty much the only thing I know about where I am is that it is somewhere within Seoul, it is more on the west side of it, so I would be in the Seoul West mission before they were combined. Other than that, I don't really know. I am still pretty lost here haha.

I ate a couple of interesting things this week that i have never had before. The first is duck. I was a little weirded out when i thought of what it was, but it didn't taste bad. I liked it i guess. Another interesting one was this like funky pasta stuff. The noodles were clear and i don't really know how to describe it. I had it at the restaurant that our ward mission leader owns. He is about 80 years old but is really nice. He says that we can eat at his restaurant for free whenever we want. When we went a couple days ago, i literally felt like i was going to pop. He would not stop bringing us meat. I can definitely say that that was the most meat I have ever had at one sitting. It was bulgogi (the meat we had at the Korean restaurant back home).

A lot of the people that meet us here are really only interested in talking to us to learn English. We love helping them and it is great, but they won't let us really teach the gospel. We do this thing called the 30-30 program where we do 30 min of English teaching then 30 minutes of gospel, but every time we say the English time is up and we will teach the gospel for 30 min, they always find a way to bring it back to English. It just gets a little frustrating.

So we have a new investigator and guess what, she is from VIETNAM, just like Thao!! Ironic, I definitely don't think so. She moved here from Vietnam 3 years ago. Her Korean is way good! Her name is Tan Tao and she is 18 years old. She has gospel interest, but it is just hard to teach her because she doesn't know any of the Gospel terms in Korean. We had a member from our ward there while we taught her though so he was able to explain what the terms meant for her. A Vietnamese Book of Mormon and pamphlets are on their way. It is funny how much she reminds me of Thao. I feel like it was such a blessing to be able to get to know Thao because i feel like it will really help me with teaching Tan Tao.

I think the hardest thing about being able to meet with people here are that they are just so busy all of the time. They are always working or in school. They never have a spare moment in the day. The kids go to school from 8 in the morning until 10 at night, no joke. The adults all work 14 and 15 hour days so it is just really difficult to find some who can listen to a lesson for 30 minutes.

On Saturday, our bishop "commanded" us to play basketball for 2 hours. Of course I was stoked! It was definitely needed to have some good old fun, but I swear Korean basketball is a different sport! haha. So start, the ceiling is way lower so i hit the top on my first 15 shots haha. Also, they just have weird little rules that just make no sense. So, I guess I got to learn to play to their style. It was definitely nice being a good 6 inches taller though haha.

Oh, something funny I did. So I was baring my testimony of how Thomas S. Monson is a prophet. However, instead of saying that, I guess I said "I know that Thomas S. Monson is blasphemy." WOOPS! I guess if you just change the word is (while speaking in testimony form) a little bit it becomes the word blasphemy. So, I won't be making that mistake again. Luckily, the person understood what i meant and it was all ok.



My testimony is stronger than ever. I have a huge smile on my face all day long as i walk along the streets of Korea sharing this happy message. I know that the only true source of happiness is through the gospel of Jesus Christ. I have a love for this work. I am doing all that I can to invite others to come unto Christ.

Well everyone, know that I am safe. There is no need to worry about me here. I am in the Lord's hands. He is watching over me. I love you all. Have a good safe week. I look forward to your question and emails next week. I love you.

Love,
Elder Messick

[ I'M IN KOREA!!! ]

Hi family and friends!!

Holy cow!!!!! This place is crazy!!!!! There are so many people here. Its nuts. So my companion's name is Elder Christensen. He is super cool. He is from Utah (of course haha). He has only been out for 51/2 months!!! We are a super young companionship so we kind of struggle through the lessons but that's alright because the spirit is the one who does the teaching. The name of my area nok beon (녹번). It is a little older, grosser, and dirtier than i was expecting, but i seriously love it so much. My companion and i stand out like a sore thumb here. Two tall white guys walking around in a white shirt and tie around millions of Asians. Its so awesome. We have so much fun with it.

It was so great to talk to all of you on the phone. Thank you for going though all the hastle with the phone cards and what not. It sure was awesome hearing all of you guys and how great all of you are.

The weather here is superrr hot and humid here. I am sweating like 5 minutes after my shower is over haha. By the end of the day i am soo tired, i just pass out. My body has pretty much adjusted now to the time change, I'm just so tired from all the walking. We walk a good 8 miles a day for sure. I will definitely be losing some weight haha.

We have only eaten at one members house since we have been here and that was the bishop's house. She didn't really have time to prepare the food so i guess when that is the case they just serve curry. So i lucked out and haven't eaten anything too extreme yet. But i made a total fool of myself at the bishops house because i was SO bad with the chopsticks!! It was the first meal i ate with them so i didn't get any time to get used to them haha. It was kind of embarrassing because i kept dropping the kim chee, but i think i got the hang of them now. I think the most extreme things i have eaten have been this like root soup and just some kim chee.

My ward is really small. There were about 45 people there yesterday and guess what!? I had to give a talk already! I was soo nervous i was shaking so bad up there. It was basically just an introduction of who i am and a simple testimony about Christ, Joseph Smith, and the Book of Mormon. I definitely felt the Spirit up there though because i knew that my message, although simple, was true.

So before i forget i wanted to give you my address, to make sure it's the same. I only get to pick up mail about every two weeks because it goes to the mission home. Well, here's the address:
Korea Seoul Mission
Gwanghwamun Po Box 210
Jongno-Gu
Seoul-si 110-602
South Korea

Moving on. Gosh there is just so much too tell I just don't know where to begin. There is so much that happens every day here i feel like. Right now we have 3 progressing investigators and one has a baptismal date for the middle of august, but none of them are too strong faith wise it seems like. Koreans kind of flake out on there appointments a lot. I think we had about 11 lessons scheduled this week and taught 4. So, we spend a ton of time just doing street contacting. It is kind of fun, but at times it gets frustrating because people don't give me the time of day to listen since my Korean is so poor. I feel like i look at my companion after every sentence the say to me to know that the said. Oh well, I know that it takes time and through my diligence the Lord will bless me. :) We aren't allowed to contact girls here unless they approach us. I guess its just a culture thing. It's a bummer because you see all these people around that i want to share this happy message with, but I'm not allowed too. I guess if the Lord has prepared them, they will approach us.

The amount of time for P-Day here is very slim. I have a total of 7 hours to do everything, including errands and eating. So, I won't get much letter writing time. My letters may be shorter now than they were in the MTC, but i do get 1 hour of email time so that's good.

My mission president is so awesome. He is really nice and i feel like he and i will definitely be getting along, which is good since he will kind of be like my second dad for his last year of service.

For our service hours each week, we teach English classes (not counting unplanned service of course). But we basically just teach them to read and stuff through reading gospel books, like the book Gospel Principles. Its good because they can learn of our beliefs while being able to learn English too. It is weird having to speak English so slowly and really pronouncing my words. It kind of worries me when i hear them speak English because i know that my Korean is nowhere near as good as their English and they still sound funny speaking English. That means i must sound pretty dumb. haha. One day I'll get it!!! You watch!

Our apartment is kind of old but its pretty big. It used to be a small 4 person apartment, but now its just us so its pretty sweet. I sleep on the top bunk. Ya that's right, we got lucky and have beds!!! Pretty sweet.

haha. The streets are super narrow and always crowded. People are always walking and ya it's just crowded. that's good for missionary work though because we always have people to try to contact.

We went door to door contacting in a big apartment complex on Sunday. Started on the 15th floor and worked our way down. We were only able to place one book of Mormon to this 19 year old girl. We will be contacting her tonight to see if she read any of it. Well, later during that door to door session, we actually got kicked out by the security guard. My companion asked why and he couldn't give us a good reason. After that, my companion was like, well since we have to leave we want to share a message with you. He totally contacted the security guard who was kicking us out. It was pretty funny. Anyways nothing really happened, we just had to leave.

Well, I'm not sure what else to really say so ask a ton of questions please. I love questions because it helps me know what you want to hear.

I just want to end with a little prompting i had this week. We had just left our apartment and we went to buy some tape to tape up some fliers for our English class. For some reason, i felt like i should just keep the plastic bag that they gave us when we bought the tape. 15 minutes later in the subway, there was a guy who was looking for a plastic bag. He was actually an English teacher. I was able to give him the bag and contact him for 15 minutes and get his phone number. I know it's super simple and not anything special, but it was just nice to know that God can still work though me even though my Korean is shaky. This is just one of the many spiritual experiences I have had in just 5 days.

I want you all to know that I love this work. I am having so much fun out here knowing that I am in the service of our God. I love him very much and there is nothing i would rather be doing right now than dedicating these 2 years of my life for him. Not only these 2 years, but the rest of my life. This mission has already changed me so much for the better. God has blessed each of us so much and i am so grateful for that. I know that this work is true. I love you all so much. I pray for each of you. Have a great week and I hope to hear from you soon!!! :)

--
Love,
Elder Messick