Time is a slippery fish

~H E L L O   E V E R Y B O D Y~

It's been another week and we're officially already halfway through our transfer. We tried our best to manage our time well and do some good work before this next week hit us (because we have mission tour this week with President Choi Yunhwan and it takes a pretty big hit to our schedule for the week). It was one of those weeks where a lot of stuff didn't work out but we tried our best. In my own imagination, I see the time we have as a slippery fish thrown into our hands, flipping and flopping all over the place, falling down onto the dock, and desperately trying to wiggle it's way back into the water. This is the best way I can describe a missionary's schedule when appointments don't go through, people can't meet, or other random stuff gets thrown at you. But it's good in the end, because at least we learn how to fish. And if we know how to fish we don't have to worry about the fishes that got away since we know how to catch the others. So it was a stretch but that's your missionary metaphor for the day (and probably the last, I'm not good at these haha). I hope dad was proud of my efforts to link fishing with missionary work.. ANYWHO, here's a little of what we did:

- We met with Darwin again this week, twice actually, but he didn't end up giving the letter we wrote to his parents which can be a problem in the future if his parents find out he's meeting with missionaries. BUT, on the bright side he's still willing to meet and listen to the stuff we teach him. He's still too embarrassed to pray with us out loud but we got him to do a quick little five second prayer by himself this week which is a big step for him. Elder Kim and I are currently thinking of ways we can get in contact with his parents, wish us luck~~~

- We're planning a Halloween Party for our Oncheon Ward and the neighboring Yeonsan Ward. We went hard on the thought and preparation last week and now we just need to put it all together and make sure people come to it. We got one of the people we're teaching 김영철 Kim Youngcheor, and the youth of our ward to come help us out too.

- We went super hard trying to find people to come to our EnglishConnect class to finally start it up and only one person came out of all the people we contacted. Oops. But now we know that we need to do something more or something different thanks to our failure. We'll get'em next time~ 

- We had district meeting this week and at the very end we each had time to share something we learned from General Conference. It's amazing to see that every person can have various questions and still get answers to them through the words of our prophets and apostles. One of my questions this time around was, "How can I forget myself and seek the Lord's work first?'. And my answer was: just do it. It doesn't sound like much but as I listened to Elder Brough's talk about "hard things" and Elder Ballard's talk about the hard times and sorrows of Joseph Fielding Smith I realized that those who overcame their personal troubles to serve the Lord just trusted and made the decision to put Him first. So all it really takes to forget yourself is to make the conscious decision to do so. We won't be able to completely ignore or forget the hard things we face but it's made easier when we seek Him first and let the rest be added to us.

- We went on exchanges with the Suseong Elders! But destiny still hasn't called me back to my home in Daegu, I was left in Oncheon for another exchange ㅠㅠ But we had a good time doing some proselyting and I was able to pick the mind and wisdom of one of the few missions left in this mission that are older than me. Elder Stein. And during some Book of Mormon 전도 that we did with the B-team and Sisters that night, there was a pack of high school girls that fell in love with Elder Reiley and stuck around for like an extra 20 minutes to gaze at him. One of them stood right next to the board I was holding and grilled me for information on him. I told him that he won't be available for another year unfortunately but that they could come see him at church on Sundays. The Sisters got their contacts and they were committed to all meeting up at the church next week but all the numbers turned out to be fake *bummer*... We were going to fill up the font and dress up Elder Reiley in white and everything. But it made for a fun proselyting time and Elder Stein and I had a precious moment of becoming the leaders of Elder Reiley's fan club for a few minutes earlier this week~

- We finally had interviews this week (us Elders who serve here at the HQ)! It's pretty convenient to not worry about having to schedule our interviews for the transfer since we're always just boolin' here in the office. Sister Kim was also really nice and make us some spaghetti for dinner while we waited for our turn to be interviewed. It's nice to serve next to President Jeong and feel his love for not just me as an individual but for all the missionaries in the mission all the time. He's the best~

- We met with JJ this week and taught him about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and he's really into it. We read 2 Nephi 31 together and by the end of the lesson he was talking about how he could start moving his work in Sundays so he would be able to attend sacrament meeting and prepare for baptism. He's heading back to the Phillipines soon but he's looking to be baptized on November 10 before he leaves~

That was the week! Next week should be real busy. Don't let those slippery fish get to you when they end up slapping you in the face with their tail, just keep your hook in the water ^^ (I'm not giving up on my fish metaphor, it's starting to grow on me) 

~ H A V E   A  G R E A T  W E E K ~

-Elder Metcalf

1-2) Some pictures from last last week on exchange with Elder Wright (Boof of Mormon 전도 and well desrved ice cream from McDonald's 3-5) Halloween Party prepartion

MORE PICS 

1) Halloween Prep meeting with the youth 2) Family dinner 3) Our friend JJ Santos 4) Elder Kim and I can't meet Darwin alone in the church (since he's too young still) so we need to meet him in the parking lot because it's technically considered a public space; makes for a fun memory 5) Elder Stein doing his best action figure impression 6) "You're the best!"

Conference and nice weather

This week was a little bit of a busy one. But the weather was on our side so that made our lives a lot easier. It's literally the P E R F E C T weather in Korea right now. It's like an automatic boost to the mood of the day. And it makes me remember the unforgettable times I had in this season last year in Gyeongsan. And just like those times, we're still continuing to see some miracles~

Alright here's the weekly table of contents for ya:

- Two exchanges; I stayed in Oncheon for both of them. One with our Busan zone leaders (I did my exchange with Elder Wright) and one with our Changwon zone leaders (with Elder B. Giles). And they were both pretty darn fun. There's something about exchange days that I can just never grab an appointment so you know what that means? GRAND 전도 EXCHANGE PT. 3&4. Except we didn't actually have the copious amounts of proselyting time that we had the last few times. We had a ward picnic on my exchange with Elder Wright at a local arboretum (like an outdoor nature exhibit) and three of our people that we're teaching came. Not a lot of time to teach but I finally got some time to know our friends and members a little better. And with Elder Giles we had to come back and forth from his area in the Changwon zone, and we visited our super cute ancient couple here in Oncheon to invite them to do a Book of Mormon challenge that we're working on in our mission. Cool people met on the street in between and fun times had. 

- We did some sticker boarding this week to find some buds to come to our English class that we still haven't started yet. But we got a handful of contacts and we'll have to find out who will end up at the end of this week when we try starting it back up again. But we found a cool kid named 다윈 Darwin during the time and we had a Family Home Evening type of thing with him this week at our Mission President's home and met him the next day to play some more games a little bit and share something that was helpful to us when we were his age. He's got a lot of time so it looks like we'll be able to meet him pretty often~

- We got to meet with our Bishop's younger brother again, both at the ward picnic and at the church for a lesson. He totally read a little bit of the Book of Mormon since the last time we saw him! And another good thing is he's starting to warm up to the missionaries a little more. and ask questions in lessons. He's still got a bit of a way to go but we think that we can get him to start coming to church here soon too. 

- We did a morning hike up the mountain behind our HQ and a breakfast with our Mission President and Mission Mom this Saturday before General Conference. It felt like home and it's nice to feel some parent-like love all the time from President Jeong and Sister Kim. It's a privilege to be able to spend so much time with them and I'm thankful for my Korean mom and dad (I still love you too Mom and Dad, don't worry). Also General Conference was A W E S O M E. I got a bunch of answers to some stuff I had been thinking about recently and it was nice to have some time this week to sit back and just hear what our Heavenly Father has prepared for us to hear through His chosen servants. Too many good talks to name them all off but I'm going to focus my best on looking back through all the talks and notes to put together some actions and commitments I can make to put these things into practice. I would also like to testify that the Lord blesses his missionaries because back when Elder Metcalf didn't have 'Elder' in his name he just slept through conference everytime but now I am spiritually restrained from doing so. He knows I'm a tired 장로, thanks for the extra and needed strength. It sounds silly but you have no idea how seriously I take my sleep these days haha

That's it for ya! Shout out to my cuz Will for finishing his mission in Mexico City, there's one less Elder Metcalf in the world now~ I haven't seen him for a while but I know he absolutely reefed the past two years. You're the best. 

You're all the best too. Have a beautiful autumny week~

-Elder Metcalf

 STUFF I MISSED FROM LAST WEEK (pictures from meeting and stuff)

LAST WEEK cont;d

OFFICE ADVENTURES

Christmas is coming early in Busan. I refill Elder Kim with a bagel. We get a "Joop" belt from that ancient member in our ward (it's supposed to be "Jeep").

MORE LAST WEEK (Elder Kim and I walking around proselyting)

*btw the first few pictures were our new missionaries this transfer

P-DAY WITH PRES. AND SISTER KIM LAST WEEK

MORE LAST WEEK P-DAY

AND MORE

SHOULD BE THE LAST ONE

AND A CUTE PIC OF MY KOREAN PARENTS + tired

ALRIGHT AND HERE"S THIS WEEK STUFF

                         Elder Wright and I. Conference morning hike. Thug Elder Reiley.

       

We finished transfers week!

I don't have a ton of time right now but I'm happy to say that we finished transfers week! Woo! 

What I mean when I say transfers week is a whole bunch of meeting and other crazy little side things that always happen at the beginning of every transfer. With getting the returned missionaries home, training the trainers, picking up the new trainees, having the training meeting for the trainees, training the district leaders, training the zone leaders, training the sister training leaders, having a mission leadership council, and district meeting the schedule for the week a little wrecked on time. BUT, don't get me wrong it's a ton of fun. I got something from each one of those meetings and the time I have to serve here and have so many opportunities to learn is super cool. It can just get a little exhausting after having two weeks of hectic planning and meetings and whatnot. I could also work on getting some better sleep... 

But that's behind us now! We have time to apply some of the cool things we learned in a whole lot of meetings and get back to the regular missionary grind. Elder Kim and I are pumped to go hard for these next three weeks when we have the most time to just focus on the missionary work in our area. And speaking of the work in our area, we managed to find some time to meet some of our buds this week! I'll tell you a little story~

So Elder Kim and I had one day this week that was relatively free, on Saturday, and we had it well-planned with appointments and stuff to do and all that good ole stuff. But then a typhoon and ran away with our schedule. We had three appointments canceled and we needed to devise a new plan. So we finished all of our studies and did some office work to wait out the storm. And then finally around 2 PM, the sun was out and it was starting to look friendly enough to try some classic street proselyting outside. But according to that random plan that we devised earlier, we were going to try some contacting first. So we went through our list of people to contact. Elder Kim got done with his list and was waiting around a bit to get going but eventually proposed that we just forget about the rest of the people we could contact and get going. But I was so close to the end of my list and I knew it just wouldn't be right to quit now, so I asked him to let me just do one more before we get going. Well he picked up! He was a high school student I met during one of my GRAND 전도 EXCHANGEs. I told him that we were the missionaries he saw earlier and asked if he still had interest in learning English from us or why we're here in Korea. Funny enough, he had just come back from a vacation and was thinking to himself just the day before that he really needs to start learning some English. And so he was down, and we were down, and we grabbed an appointment for that night. And although we were late (due to another appointment, which is another long story), we had time to drink some Powerade outside of a convenience store, get to know each other, talk about meeting next time, and playing some soccer next week with some of our other friends. 

The moral of the story is: God knows the weather. 

Nah, but really: when things get tough or messed up, we need to keep trying and seek His will. And in that monet we can see miracles, like our new homie.

I'm out of time! I'll have to send pictures next week~~~ Have a good conference week, I'll be seeing it later this week!

-Elder Metcalf

One transfer down in the Boo

HELLO~

We were reaaaaal busy this week, as we always are. But it was the last week of the transfer and I think we ended on a good note. The HQ is starting to feel more and more like home as time goes by. And speaking of time going by, it doesn't even feel like I just did a transfer here. It feels like it was just a week ago that I got moved here. This place must have a built-in time machine or something. Alright, I'm going to summon all the mental strength I have to remember what we did last week~

- WE FINISHED UP ZONE CONFERENCES! We did Busan and Ulsan zone conferences this week and they were tons of fun. It was still Chuseok season so we had time to do some fun activities/games at both of the conferences. The Busan conference was held outside and we did some sort of a relay with a bunch of Korean traditional games. The Ulsan conference planned a game of 인간 윷놀이 "human yutnori". Yutnori is a Korean traditional game that involves throwing some sticks that act as dice to move your piece from start to end on a board. But the pieces on the board were real people this time around, and there were minigames on different spots of the board. The actual meeting part of the conferences was great too. We learned a lot about repentance last week and I got to have two more rounds of it this week as well. 

- We met a few people this week, including some new ones! We met a man named JJ earlier this week, who is from the Philippines, who approached us last week and wanted to meet us again. We're not sure how sincere his interest is yet but he's super open and accepts the things we taught him pretty easily. Only bummer is that he travels often so it'll be hard to nail down a time for him to meet us next time. We also met another guy for the first time named 송무현 Song Muhyeon, and he's someone who wants to learn English from us. But he's SUPER nice and seems to be willing to hear what we have to say about what we do here in Korea. And another cool thing about him is that he owns a super tasty hotdog stand so I don't think it will ever be a chore to go visit him. We also met a guy named 김영철 Kim Youngcheor for the second time. We weren't able to teach him much this time because of the setting but he took us to the fanciest omelet place I've ever seen in my life. Also met our Bishop's younger brother for the second time and he is SOOOO good. We straight up asked him this time if he would think about joining the church if he found out that it was all true, and he told us yes! He accepts what we teach really well, keeps commitments, and we plan on meeting him every week.

- TRANSFERS HAPPENED! But nothing changed for me. It was pretty neat to be on the other side of transfers though and knowing ahead of time where everyone is going. I got to give the calls to the transferring missionaries too so that was a ton of fun. The real fun part though is making the travel plans for the missionaries after the calls are all done (a little sarcasm in this one since it's a little complicated and time consuming but it actually was kinda fun to draw up and plan the missionary goose chase). 

I can't remember anything else to save my life, sorry. There's a lot of work to do over here but I'm having fun! I'm excited to be here for another transfer with Elder Kim, and we're hoping to tear it up over here in Oncheon. Have a beautiful weekend!

-Elder Metcalf

1-2) BUSAN ZONE CONFERENCE 3-4) More Busan zone conference; we played a game where one companion hides and the other companion finds him but he can only see out of the small hole at the end of the party hat (our mission president and his wide did it too, fun stuff)

MORE

1) We cleaned a house this week to prepare it to be reopened for some whitewashing missionaries to use and THERE WAS SO MUCH TRASH (no one got rid of trash for three transfers) 2) The fanciest omelet ever 3) Good angles with my boy Elder Reiley 4) 김영철, our fancy omelet bud 

EVEN MORE

1) We got punked by a guy that we planned to meet in front of McDonald's, so we celebrated our cancellation with some real unhealthy burgers 2) A picture we took at our Busan Stake President's house last week for Chuseok 3-4) We visited the oldest couple of the Oncheon Ward with the sisters yesterday; they're SUPER nice and love pictures so they sat us down and showed us pictures for the majority of the time we were there 5) Staying up late after transfer calls but being refueled by some ramen that Pres. Jeong gave us 5) We were fed a quick dinner last night by President again after our new office elder Elder Oh came in

Shout-out to Elder Oh and Elder L. Giles for making us breakfast this morning while we were still crawling out of bed