Mehri Kuhrisuhmahsoo~~~

메리 크리스마스!!!

It has been so. darn. busy. these last week with all of the Christmas stuff going on. I'm going to try and remember all the stuff that we did this week...

So the beef of our missionary work here in Hogye has been all focused on visiting members, calling members, members, members, members. Ever since Elder Minson and I have been dropped in, we've been trying our best to pick up all the responsibilities that the old B-team left for us and the largest one was tryiong to get members to bring people to the Christmas party and Christmas meeting. So we've been working like crazy to hit all the people that we have on our list, and then hit them again to follow-up, and then hit them up again because our Branch President wants this thing to be thorough. So we visited a wide range of members this week; ranging from youth, to the mission president's daughter and fiance (and the rest of their family; it was a FULL house, super fun), to 96 year-old men. And everywhere in between. 

We also did a lot of service this week. A little different from the usual service too. I'll keep it short: I was Santa Claus THREE TIMES IN A ROW. It was so tiring. Kids are merciless. They also don't believe I'm Santa Claus (and I can't blame them, my belly is more like an empty plate of kimchi rather than a bowl full of jelly). But it was fun! I'm going to see if I can go four days in a row next year and break the record I just made, 

This week we had our Mission Christmas meeting down in Busan! It wasn't crazy awesome but there were some great testimonies shared, some funny performances given, and a lot of missionary friends to chat with (which is always the best part). And we got our Christmas packages while we we there, so it was a nice way to feel like a regular person for a little bit and remember what Christmas is all about.

We put on a Christmas party and a special Christmas Sunday meeting for the members to bring friends and family to. It was a success in execution: everything was super fun, the members loved it, people were brought to both events, it was stellar. But even then, Elder Minson and I failed to rake in a referral from the events. We were able to talk with a lot of the members and the friends they brought but nothing was able to get set up. Which was pretty discouraging but after the Sunday meeting we were able to go home and plan for the week and we realized that one event isn't the end of our efforts to do member missionary work. There are still members in our ward who have prepared friends and family waiting, we just need to be able to enter their hearts, ignite the importance of what the gospel means to them, and help them to share it. There are still tons of opportunities to harvest and labor with the members. And similarly after having this realization, I remember that after Christmas is over, it doesn't mean we're done remembering Christ. Jesus is here all year round and we always should strive to remember him and find ways to keep him in our thoughts always. It's my goal to be able to strive in always remembering Christ, what He means to me, and what I should be doing more with those feelings. So remember to continue to Light the World, all year round!

It's been a fun first Christmas in Korea, and I'm really grateful I could talk with my family today and be able to continue serving here in this corner of the vineyard. ^^ Thank you for reading/writing, and HAVE A MERRY CHRISTMAS!!! 🌲🎅🌲

-Elder Metcalf

1) Myself as Santa Claus; I'm happy I don't have to wear it again for at least another year. 2) Elder Minson was Santa Claus with me once too, this time we were at a member's daycare 3) Our Korean Elders (they wanted the foreign missionaries to be Santa so they became our little helpers haha) 4) Elder Gil and Elder Minson as we travel to the Christmas meeting in Busan (they didn't have any heat on the subway that day)

White Washed

Sorry I missed last week's email but I got transferred out of 경산 (Gyeongan) and into a different zone in 울산 (Ulsan) in an area called 호계 (Hogye) and I literally was traveling all of last P-Day. I get to more on my new area that but if you couldn't tell by the title of the email: I've been white-washed in to my new area (both of the past Elders got moved out, and two new Elders got put in). We white-washed as a B-team though, which is great because if we didn't have another set of Elders in the house to help us out we'd be running around with our heads chopped off... But now I guess I'll just try and fill you in on what happened during my last week in Gyeongsan...

-For P-Day we went to Daegu Tower in the middle of the city with half of our zone. There was an ice skating rink at the bottom floor so we did that and then got to go to the top and take a peak at the city. Super fun to see missionary friends and have a fun P-Day.

-I went on back-to-back exchanges. I started an exchange with our zone leaders right after P-Day ended and I got to go over to 수성 (Suseong; big city part of Daegu and a coveted area among missionaries) with my zone leader Elder Redford. It's always nice to see different areas and be able to pick the minds of other missionaries; it was a fun exchange. And then I went back to Gyeongsan to start exchanges with the AP's (Assistants to the President). I got to spend a day back in my area with our Korean AP, Elder 이재진 (Lee Jaejin), which was another awesome experience. We taught both our our main investigators (박상민 and PJ) and they both made some great progress. We found out that 박상민 needs some more time until baptism (which is good, because we don't want to rush anybody) and we found out the PJ finally got his answer on if our church was right, he came to church the next Sunday, and I got to call him this week and he's going to get baptized this transfer!!! It's a bummer I can't be there for a convert's baptism again but it was so amazing to hear how happy he is with his choice to follow Jesus Christ. We ended the exchange on a good note and I got to pick some more missionary brains. Fun stuff.

-The last Sunday in Gyeongsan we had three investigators and thirty-five people (which is a big win for Gyeongsan) come to church on Sunday. Transfer Sundays make the miracles happen.

-Elder Seely and I said goodbye to a returning-to-home Sister Johnson, who was a die-hard consecrated missionary and absolutely killed it in Gyeongsan (where she served for nine months until she died last week). And then Elder Seely and I went down to Busan on Monday to split up and grab our new companions. I'm going to miss the guy a ton, but there are high chances I get to see him again during the mission. 

Aaaand now we're almost caught up. Long story short: last Monday was us running around Busan, trying to figure out where we're going, and a handful of snafus. But eventually we got our other transferring missionaries all together, traveled to Ulsan, and arrived in Hogye at exactly 6 PM (the time where P-day ends; oh the irony). And now I'm here with my new companion, Elder Minson, who is from Salt lake City and is a swell, goofy guy and a truly consecrated and obedient missionary. This week has been wild trying to figure out where everything is, how to approach the area, juggling all of the dumped responsibilities that the old B-team left us and more. But we have some amazing missionaries in the area and some amazing members. We're in the middle of focusing on the members as of now because the history of the baptisms in this area has been mostly through the members and secondly we have some Christmas party and Christmas Sabbath to focus on. We're trying our best to get the members to bring as many people as possible. I also live back in a four-man house now which is a ton of fun. We live with two Korean Elders named Elder 이해성 (Lee Haeseong) and Elder 길찬휘 (Gil Chanhwi), and Elder Gil is actually a new missionary so Elder Lee is training him.

There's more to say about the area and white-washing and everything else but I'll fill in more as the transfer goes I guess. I'm really excited to be working here in Hogye with Elder Minson; I don't know why we're here specifically but i'm excited to find out as time goes on. Thanks for reading and writing~~~

-Elder Metcalf 

1) Daegu Tower is right behind E-World (the theme park here in Daegu). We can't go there on P-days but at least we can say we went. 2-3) Ice Skating 4) Myself and some of the other Elders that went to the Tower with us, my father Elder Fox included.

1) My little brother (Elder Fox's other trainee) Elder Soffe 2-4) Views from the top of the Daegu Tower 5) Baby Daegu Tower (scale model)

1-2) Showing some companion love 3) My old zone leader Elder Redford, who I went on exchanges with 4) Our Korean AP, Elder Lee Jaejin, who I went on exchanges with also 5) Last transfer's Gyeongsan missionaries

1) New companion, the lovely Elder Minson, bearing snacks for us to eat on the ride to Ulsan 2) The crew that was transferring into our district in Ulsan, including my old MTC classmate and fellow trainee back in Jungri, Sister Raju 3) Our A-team Elders 4) One of our awesome youth and one of my first district leader's (Elder Lunt) converts, 원준일 (Won Junil)

The unexpected..

Hello

Again, a lot has happened this week. I'm going to try my best to make this coherent without making it too long...

So we have an anvestigator named PJ (I don't think I've mentioned him before), he's 21 and he's a Chinese exchange student who's attending our neraby college. This guy loves Jesus. He's super pure. So pure that he was afraid to deviate from his own church and the Bible that he was about to dump us but we asked if he's be willing to watch a video with us one week and we showed him the Restoration. Flash forward to now and he is legitimately confused on what church is true after witnessing Joseph Smith's experience. And the breakthrough that I want to share is that he's finally giving the Book of Mormon a chance! He even prayed in English with us this last time and he is truly and earnestly praying and seeking for the answer of which church is true, and now the reading of the Book of Mormon is going to be able to speed that process up. We gpt him committed to some to church next Sunday too, so that's some awesome progress.

Alright, here's the shocker: my investigator died. In the literal sense. He has passed into the spirit world. I'll explain more... This man's name is 장제영 or just Jay for short. The Elders before Elder Seely was here met him and said he was experiencing a change of life and wanted to learn about our religion. Elder Seely and I hit him up and met him twice. He was sincerely interested and undertood everything and asked questions; this man was going to get baptized. But before district meeting one day I got a text that said something about "사망" on 11월28일 and with my limited knowledge meant that it new something about "death" on November 28th, showed it to a Korean missionary in my district and turns out that Jay had died of a cerebral hemmorage that day at the age of 40. I waited until after district meeting to show Elder Seely (he's got emotions), and then we went over to his funeral. We met his friend, older sister, and older brother. We got to see his tradtional Korean shrine-thing, offered prayer, chatted, left our information, and headed back to our area. It's awesome to have the knowledge of the gospel and know that he's doing great up there right now, and definitely getting some great lessons from some missionaries better than us. A nice testimony builder of the Plan of Salvation. R.I.P Jay~

We taught 박상민 this week for the first time since he's reappeared. We went to his new pad, ordered some chicken together, met his friends, got a little trunky when I got a peak at the Star Wars trailer on TV (I'm so jealous, words can't describe), friends left, and we got down to business teaching a monster lesson: the Law of Chastity. The Spirit was present, and we taught the lesson to the best of our abilities, addressed his concerns as they came up, but he's not ready to keep it. He just doesn't want to lie to us and he doesn't completely grasp the 'why's'. So we're hoping for a blast from the Spirit in one of these next lessons. He came to church this Sunday too. Love that man.

And the last big thing we did this week was pretty fun actually. We got a message from the Elders in our neighbor area about a less active far-off in our area that needed our help to paint his house. It turns out, in an area called 영천 (Yeongcheon) there used to be a branch a long time ago and this guy had served a mission and was crazy active but the branch got eliminated and so did his activity I guess. So we, our Sisters, and the other Elders went an hour into our area (our area is WAY bigger than I first thought I guess) to go paint his house. He is so kind and cool, his name is 이명식 (Lee Myeongshik) and he paid for a taxi for the other two teams and drove us over top his house. We stained all the wood on his house over the span of three hours, he fed us all inside (super nice house by the way), paid taxis for us back, and said he's invite us over again soon. A nice way to serve as a missionary that's was different from regular 전도. So that was fun!

That's all I got! Next week is transfers; I have no idea where I'll be. Not even any guesses.. Thanks for reading and writing!

-Elder Metcalf

1) Our chicken party/lesson with 박상민 2) Painting the house

He's Back!

It was a good week everybody but I got to get straight to the point on this one: HE'S BACK! 박상민 IS BACK!!!

So our golden investigator that we had this past transfer that disappeared after he had a motorcylce accident and made another appointment to meet us has come back into our lives! We were in the middle of P-day and for some reason that day (I don't even remember why) we decided to just stay and Gyeongsan and not really do anything for the day. Well it turns out that it was actually the Spirit because halfway through our P-day the phone started ringing and it was none other than 박상민 (Sangmin Park). So we flipped out, answered the phone, he said he would be at the church in five minutes, we met the man, and then we talked. Turns out that after he had that accident and made an appointment to meet us again, he had some sort life crisis thing happen where he was just crazy confused about life. Like why was he 21 and working at a pizza place, why he couldn't get into the college he wanted, why he broke up with his girlfriend, and so forth. So for over a month he didn't contact anyone. Not his best friend, not his exgirlfriend, not us, not even his mom. So he told us that he didn't really pray at that time but he always kinda had a prayer in his heart, like questions for God. And the day that he came to us again, he had a feeling that he should come tell the missionaries what's going on, and that he should tell his mom everything too. But long story short, he's okay! He missed us, he still loves us, he still wants to meet with us, he still has his testimony, and he still wants to get baptized. We need to teach him and solidy his faith a little these next few weeks but he's for sure getting baptized next transfer. I'm not sure I'm going to be there for it, but I'm super excited to meet with him and teach him again these next two weeks. Miracles do happen and the church is true.

That's the best news right there. Aside from that, we had mostly a normal week, aside from zone conference. We had our zone conference on Tuesday this last week and we were sharing the zone conference with Ulsan zone. But the other twist was that Daegu zone had to travel this time, which is something that never happens apparently. It ate up our entire day actually, but I'd say it was still worth it to see some friendly missionary faces and recieve some spiritual nourishment. The only thing new that came out of the conference was a revised list of mission specific rules, what's the deal with our smartphones not having any apps, and a new mission goal to have 400 new investigators by Christmas (7 per team). The rules are fine (some missionaries aren't happy about a few), the phones will get apps "eventually" (we're all still really confused about that), and Elder Seely and I already have 3 new investigators out of 7 so we're pumped to try and find more.

Nothing else worth mentioning really happened this week. We met all of our investigators. We had an awesome Sunday with 박상민 (it was primary program day too, so that was super cute and hilarious). And we're still trying to figure out how to help our branch more...

Thanks for reading/writing!

-Elder Metcalf

1-4) HE'S BACK BABY

MORE PICS:

1-2) Elder Seely and I found some fun advertisements during a 전도 sesh 3) I FINALLY GOT MY WINTER STUFF AND I'M SO HAPPY 4) It snowed in Gyeongsan! Apparently it NEVER happens. (It melted super quick though)

Two blocks, zero coats

Heyyyyyyy~~~~

It was a pretty busy week this week, not a whole lot of time to 전도 actually. Lots of random things, some happy things, some less than happy things. All fun though; I love this missionary stuff.

To start out, Elder Seely and I got our haircuts and it's super Korean.They call it a "two block" over here but if I had to explain it without pictures: it's a glorified bowl cut. When they first cut it they left my hair up too so I looked like a rooster for a day. Had to fix it later and put part of it down so I don't look like a punk on the Lord's errand. I'll include pictures at the bottom. The Koreans love them though, so as much as I hate it I might just keep it. I definitely don't plan on rocking it in America though...

Other stuff that happened this week:

We went an hour on bus to an area called 하양 ("Hayang") that was still somehow part of our proselyting area of Gyeongsan. Turns out our area is huge, just full of a bunch of countryside where's there's not a ton of people to proselyte to. Anyway, Elder Seeling and I decided that since we had such a large block of time on Tuesday, and we probably wouldn't have a day as empty as this, that we should go out of way and try to 1) visit the less-actives out there that were on our list 2) see if there were any areas worth coming back to often 3) find the elect. Unfortunately, none of those things were accomplished, haha. The less actives didn't exist, and we didn't find anyone with interest way out there. But it sure was fun proselyting on a Catholic university's campus. None of them were actually Catholic though. The staff definitely was. We got some looks and a security guard coming up to us. We left right out of there after he looked at our name tags and went back to his booth to make a call. Good thing w 전도'd the whole thing before we got out. There's another substantial college out in Hayang too, but we never made it to it, so I guess we can half-check off #2. We also felt an earthquake that day. My first earthquake ever. Super fun. Definitely one of my favorite 전도 days.

I went on exchange with 설진영 장로님 (Elder Seol Jinyeong), and it was my first time spending a whole day with a Korean. And I gotta say, nothing makes you feel more insuffienct in a foriegn lnaguage than to serve a whole day with someone who is fluent in that said foreign language. But it's okay, because we got along great actually. I was good enough in Korean and he was good enough in English that we could talk in half Korean and half English. We went hunting for less actives in another far away sector of our area that was crazy countryside. If it wasn't for the towers of apartments and green mountains far off, I would've felt like I was back in Iowa. Those less actives also didn't exist unfortunately (I'm starting to really not trust this list we have). But we had an appointment with a guy Elder Seely and I met once, ate some Korean food, I helped him with some English, we built some relationship and trust, and he's down to meet more often and said it would be fine if we talked more about our church with him. So I'd called that a successdul exchange. But I did have to blow a lot of money on some expensive Korean food, for both me and Elder Seol. RIP MSF... And then I lead our ward correlation meeting without Elder Seely, and our ward mission leader totally understood everything I said. Another win. Ended the night blowing money on chicken, as exchange tradition.

I HAD THANKSGIVING IN KOREA!I am so blessed to be serving in the same district where there is an American military branch. They invited us to their Thanksgiving party and it was amazing. I almost felt trunky for a second with the turkey and cranberry sauce. Oh boy, so good. Fun to talk in English, see other missionaries who got invited. It was just a nice time. A good tender mercy of the Lord.

We got three new investigators!!! That's my favorite one. We've been dry for a long time and we're finally meeting with people. The trick now is to try and meet more often and see how much potential they have. We're really shooting to give Christ a baptism for Christmas. I have a feeling it could definitely be one of them.

Aside form that, we're still doing missionary work. Actually right now our main focus is to just try and get these members happy her in Gyeongsan. We'd love to bring investigators to church but our members aren't prepared for it yet. And we can't prepare or ask them for any big help yet before they're ready to do that. So we're starting from the ground up. We're going to pump these spirits up and see if we can get Gyeongsan poppin'. Just like it says in Mosiah 4:27 "see that all things are done in wisdom and in order; for it is not requisite that a man should run faster than he has strength". And it's super true. I'd love to be impatient and just ask for referrals and fellowshippers right off the bat but that's just not the right way. We have to show patience and love in all aspects of the work, even if it doesn't show immediate fruit. Even just being a chipper at the sculpture of Korea is good enough for me. I know that everything I do with this calling is consecrated to the Lord for the hastening of his work.

Also it got really cold all of the sudden. And I still have no winter wear... Shout out to my baller companion Elde Seely for lending me his out shell coat to save my life. <3

That's all I got! Sorry it's so long! Thanks for reading and writing!!

-Elder Metcalf

1-3) My two block, when it was first received

1) Some BOMB homemade chicken 2) Elder Seol and I 3) One of the sisters drew me on the whitboard 4) Fixed haircut, still getting used to it

Middle of Nowhere:

When miracles happen

Hello hello hello~ 안녕하세요~

This week was a little difficult to be honest, but the Lord definitely noticed because he blessed us a bunch this week. Great experiences this week. And we managed to stay warm, thanks to some nice weather...

Where to start? We had a goal from our district meeting last week to make a goal everyday, then tell another team to be accountable, and then inform God to consecrate the goal and let Him help us. And every daily goal we made this week got accomplished! We had a few good ones I'd like to share real quick... We made a goal to give a Book of Mormon to a family on a day where we had a lot of time to proselyte. We had nothing the whole day, and by the time it was about thirty minutes before we needed to head home, we met a family by the river who were really friendly to us, didn't want to meet, but was happy to take our book and would find us if they wanted to know more. That was the daily first goal that we made as well, so after that happened we figured we have to keep doing it, so we did! The next day we had a goal to see a less-active. We have been hunting for the less-actives in our branch for the last transfer and a half and we have not seen a face yet. But after walking all the way to the other side of the area, knocking all the doors and getting nothing, we had one left. And it opened! Sad part was we couldn't do anything since we can't be in a place alone with a female. But she invited us in, we politely explained, and she had a smile on her face when we showed up. The sisters are going to go visit her this week and hopefully we can see her at church. But the very best one happened on Saturday, when we made a goal to find a new investigator. The area has been dry for a few weeks. We only have two investigators and that's only if you count our disappeared one. We had been praying to find one for a few weeks now and it came to Saturday, and this goal-making thing seemed to be working, so we made it and hoped for the best. The day went on and stuff kept popping up but nothing that would lead to finding somebody. So we went over to set up for church, practiced a musical number for church, and had only an hour to go out and find. So we went out the door and there's a man that attended our English class last week and he felt like even though class already ended that he should just come and see if anyone was there. Long story short, this man (이도양) is a new investigator! He told us his life story, he has dreams to come closer to God, we taught the Restoration, he accepted a Book of Mormon, and he even fed us dinner because he thought he was bothering us. Super sweet guy. I can see him in white for sure. He gave us some miracles when we really needed them. I hope I'm humble enough to try and always remember them.

Other than that, we just had random stuff this week! It was 빼빼로 Day on Saturday as well so people kept giving us candy and whatnot. I love that Koreans show their love through food. We also had district meeting this week. And they're starting to change some more stuff in the mission but we won't find out until zone conference. But they did tell us that there's a new rule that we can't email back and forth. Just one sent, one received. No more chatting. A lot of missionaries aren't happy about it. I'm still figuring out to even email effectively so it doesn't affect me too much. And Elder Seely hit his year mark! I forgot when we celebrated but the man is half way done already. Another wake-up call for how fast this thing goes. 

That's all I've got! Thanks for reading/writing!

-Elder Metcalf

1) Elder Seely and I eating some good food this week (it's called 찜닭) 2) Elder Seely celbrating a year in Korea with his favorite food: Korean BBQ 3) A little clown car we found meeting a member for lunch one day

Changing Seasons

Helloooo~

We're a week into the new transfer and it looks promising! Still sad about 박상민 though. We have tried calling him on multiple phones and he won't pick up anything. We just hope he's okay at this point. But we press on! We have found some people to teach these past few days and it looks like we might start really getting the ball rolling here in Gyeongsan the next few weeks. Here's the big stuff that happened this week...

Elder Seely and I went down to Busan for DLTM (district leader training meeting); which is two hours of talks, training, and announcements for district leaders, and two hours of 전도 (street proselyting) for the junior companions. But it was super fun to be honest. I just love being with missionaries. I got to 전도 with my older brother too! Elder Fox's first trainee Elder 송우성, who is awesome and a ton of fun to be with. The Korean missionaries always compliment my Korean too, which is nice because heaven knows I need the confidence, haha. Got to see my father Elder Fox as well. Fun times, good training, nice change in the regular swing of things.

We had district meeting where we got all the announcements about our new phones. And the announcements are.... no announcements! It's just a pretty brick with easier texting and Gospel Library. All the same rules apply; which is a bummer because we can't take pictures with them now. Oh well. We talked a lot about goals too. Our zone here in Daegu has a goal for 15 baptisms; one for each team. Missionaries when making goals often shoot for the stars when it comes to their goal setting but this transfer and up until Christmas, President Jeong wants us to fully attain our goals, work towards them, and give Christ some baptisms for Christmas. Talked about when we make goals to actually think about them and look at them EVERYDAY, because whenever we make them they get trapped in our planners and never become anything. So we've started making not just attainable long term goals, but a daily accountable goal. Like just yesterday, Elder Seely and I made a goal that we were going to give a Book of Mormon to a family, called the sisters for accountability, and had it in our focus the whole day. And we did it! Twenty minutes before we had to head home! Awesome testimony builder. Goals make the magic happen for sure. 

Also this transfer. we've been challenged to read the Book of Mormon cover-to-cover focusing on "How can I be a better missionary?" up until Christmas Eve. I looooove it. Before my mission, I tried to prepare to be a missionary to the best degree that I could, and one of the simple things I did was read the Book of Mormon. I had hard times staying awake, understanding, and getting far into the book but I found that as I read everyday, my concerns slowly faded and I felt the beginnings of my testimony. As I've read it everyday of my mission, it just gets stronger and stronger. I feel nurtured and ready to go. I'm not too far into the challenge yet but I'm already loving it, this book is a book of comfort. 

Other than that it's just starting to feel like there's a palpable change in the work. I can't really put my finger on it. But it might just be because it's starting to get freezing over here. Fun fact: I was in the hottest area in the summer and now I'm in the coldest for winter. Hah. I just hope I get my winter stuff in the mail soon...

Thanks for writing/reading!

-Elder Metcalf

1) My older brother, 송우성 장로님 (Elder Wooseong Song) 2) A picture from the top floor of a high-rise while me and Elder Seely were hunting for less-actives