Cinder blocks and a few visits to the hospital ( not related, don't worry)

HEY!

Email wasn't working earlier today so we just carried on with our P-Day but now it works for the last five minutes so I'll send a microscopic email:

-We had nothing to do one day but then a member asked for our help and we lugged 100 cinder blocks and a couple bags of sand and cement for some construction he was doing at his house. My body still feels it. It took a while but we have a good relationship with him now, he helped us visit a less active afterwards, it was fun, and he fed us meat after it was all over. A good miracle for an empty schedule day.

-We got contact from America through our Bishop, who got an email from a member in America asking us to help his sister and her husband at a hospital in our area. The husband fell off an escalator during a tour and cracked his skull open (ouch). His condition isn't too great. Also the wife doesn't know any Korean so she's a little freaked out. But we've gone over to help and translate a couple of things and help where we can. We also were able to give them priesthood blessings. She's a great lady. They're both nonmembers but boy they appreciate the missionaries now haha We're continuing to visit and help and we hope to share about a church little by little. They'll be stuck in Korea for three weeks~

-WE TAUGHT A FAMILY. And it went well. We're going to get another appointment. Also they're related to an Area Seventy (Pres. Choi) so the pressure is on. My Mission President called me beforehand and told me to do good. No pressure right? More updates later on them...

NO TIME! PICS NEXT WEEK! CALLING FAMILY IS FUN! BYE~

-Elder Metcalf

New Year's: the Sequel

HELLO~

This week it was Korean New Years! So we had another round of festivities over the weekend and for the first half of the week. It's actually not too different from the regular stuff they do during regular new year's except for the part where every member in the family goes to the oldest son's house to meet and eat food and chat and whatnot. They also pay respects to their ancestors during the holiday. Meanwhile, the missionaries walk the street wondering where the heck everyone went. It wasn't too bad though, we saw a lot of miracles this week~

THE FILL IN:

- We had zone conference over at the HQ. It felt like I was going back home for a day haha. We all dressed in our Korean traditional clothing to attend the meeting and it was really interesting to see everyone's unique clothing. Most of them were borrowed pairs from members but back when I served in Daegu I bought a pair with my old companion Elder Sayer for like $20 at a thrift shop so I was already prepared. We learned about our purpose as missionaries and the blessings of obedience and following our basic missionary guidelines. We also played a bunch of Korean traditional games afterwards. One of them was a game where you toss a wooden block off of different parts of your body to knock down another wooden block. It doesn't sound like a ton of fun but it's pretty darn interesting to some missionaries who don't play games too often~

- We had a member and his family take us out to eat on the last day of Korean new year's and they were super nice to us! They took us out to a nice restaurant and then afterwards they offered to drive us home but instead they took us to the ocean to look at some pretty night views. One of their sons is currently on a mission so they wanted to show a lot of love to the missionaries that serve in their ward. And we got close enough with their other son to ask him to help us with an appointment ,later that week! 

- Fast forward to later that week, we meet one of the people we were teaching 경민 Gyeongmin, and taught him the rest of the Restoration. He listened well, he accepted a Book of Mormon, and we he prayed to end the lesson. We invited him to our Family Home Evening tonight and we're hoping that he can continue to make some friends in the church and get baptized soon!

- We also went to Yeongdo this week to visit Brother Park Myeongho again. His wife was able to join us but we were able to have a good spiritual discussion with him. We're hoping to meet his wife next week and when we visited this time he says that he thinks he could refer one of his guitar students to us later too!

- We got even more random referrals this week! One of them we met this week and we'll be trying to meet him on a weekly basis, teaching English and explaining our church. We also got in contact with our family referral this week from that member that brought his uncle to church last week! We'll be teaching them this Saturday over at their house, and we are PUMPED. We also got some less-active and part-member family referrals from a member this Sunday so we're looking forward to that as well.

- When I first transferred to the area, I mentioned that my birthday was oon and he immediately invited us over to their house for that week's Sunday. And so we went over their and they were actual angels. And they bought us a cake from Baskin Robbins and sent us home in a taxi (that's expensive stuff too). Too much love~

That's all I got for the week! Thanks for reading and writing~

-Elder Metcalf 

PICS:

1-3) Elder Hunzeker and I going shopping. Elder Hunzeker bought some thriftshop traditional clothing too but it looks like he's dressed as a young padawan. One of the Elders in the office went all out and made a hat with a beard (the hat was made out of a electric fan's front grate).

1-4) Misadventures while outside proselyting. We went to the top of the Lotte Mall (it's the second largest Lotte Mall in Korea I think) and met some nice Filipono guys and got their contacts. The view was nice too. Also we stopped at a park on our way to fix our phone. 

1-4) Our really nice family in our ward that took us out to night views by the beach 

1-4) That other super nice family who invited us over for dinner yesterday. They gave us a cake and told us to eat it by ourselves at home. So we ate it together with our friend that night when we taught him at the church. We made sure to send to the member that it was well enjoyed.

Spontaneous Tours and 소개's

HELLO~

Being a regular missionary is amazing and so is my new area! I'll tell you a little a bit about my new area and my new companion before I give you the weekly update. THE BUSAN WARD: It used to be three different units in South Busan but each of them were struggling a ton so they mashed them together about 6 transfers ago. And thus the Busan Ward was born. This area is LARGE. We have the majority of the biggest parts of the city in our area too so there's always people out on the street no matter where you go. We also have a beautiful island part of Busan called 영도 (Yeongdo; FUN FACT: they filmed a part of Black Panther over there when they were shooting the movie) where there used to be a ward so we get to go there at least once a week to visit less actives and find and teach people. There are about 50 or so active members and they're all the people I've met so far are super nice. They also have a bunch of youth that the missionaries here spent a lot of time focusing on, so that's something to look forward to. Elder Hunzeker is a fantastic human being. He's obedient, he wants to work ward, he's willing to follow his goofy senior companion, and he's just an all-around loveable guy. He's a great companion to have in this area and he's done an awesome job introducing the are to me last week. We're gonna go hard this transfer~

QUICK UPDATE:

- We visited the 대신 할머니 (Daeshin Grandma; she's a living relic of this mission) because she loves the missionaries and wanted to meet Elder Hunzeker's companion as soon as possible. She's in a nursing home these days cause her legs aren't doing to good so we come to talk to her every now and then and also give her the sacrament on Sundays. 

- On the way to meet our Korean grandma we met two homies who were taking a tour of the nearby museum type place. So I asked if we could tour with them after talking and having a conversation with them and they were down. They live up in Seoul but after talking to them during the tour I offered to 소개 (introduce/refer) them to the missionaries up there and they were down for that two. New friends are easy to find than we thought. The tour was interesting too. It was a place where the South Korean government moved their HQ during the Korean War (because Busan was the capital during the war time).

- We went to Yeongdo and helped a less-active sister set up here 뿡어빵 (fish-shaped street pastry?) stand. And then she gave us one of her famous nutella flavored ones and it was darn good. Afterwards we met another famous less-active, Brother 박명호 Park Myeongho, someone who my old companion Elder Minson found and baptized! He's got a long story that I'll go into more detail next time but he was super nice and fed us some Korean BBQ for our first meeting. We'll be meeting him next week too because we asked him to refer his wife to us (someone the missionaries tried teaching a while ago but stopped meeting) and he thought it was a good idea and worth trying again. 

- We got another 소개 from one of the people Elder Hunzeker and Elder Wright were teaching English to last transfer. He introduced us to his son and we met him for the second time this week and taught him something for the first time. We taught a simple Restoration message and taught him how to pray, and then prayed with him! We're going to try and meet next week. And then we got another referral from someone we're currently teaching yesterday! I don't think we'll forget to ask our friends for referrals anymore aha 

- MORE 소개! A member from Pohang (a city on the northern east side of our mission) came to our fast and testimony meeting and randomly brought his uncle with him too. He introduced him to us after the meeting and gave us him and his father's number to set up an appointment with his uncle later. The random miracle 소개's are always the coolest so I saved it for last. Hope it turns out well~

No time to write much more but next week is 설날 (Korean New Year's) and our Zone Conference (out of nowhere). Should be busy and full of more miracles~

Thanks for reading and writing!

-Elder Metcalf

PICS:

1) Daeshin Grandma 2) Elder Hunzeker and I in front of this rock (I don't remember where we took this picture) 3-4) Waiting inside of our member's fish-shaped-street-pastry shack while she shows up 5) Our tour friends from Seoul 6) Sharing the gospel with statues

LAST AREA OF THE MISSION

HELLO FAMILY AND FRIENDS,

Yup I transferred! After four transfers (literally half a year), I have left Oncheon Ward and moved only 30 minutes away to the still somewhat recently formed Busan Ward. It's not where I expected I would be but I'm excited to be here! I'm mostly just excited to be back in the field, it's been a long time since I've been just a regular missionary and I'm ready to go out and work hard for the last 3 months of my mission~

Here's what happened my last week in the office:

- We picked up our new office couple, the Durrants, and spent our P-Day with them along with Pres. Jeong and Sister Kim. We walked around a really large park that has really spacious fields (those are not common in Korea by the way, I felt like I was in America for a minute) and then at copious amounts of Korean BBQ for the Durrants first meal in Korea. It was probably a little too much meat actually, for everyone involved. But it was super tasty and I haven't heard any regrets so far.

- We trained the Durrants on how to do their office work! I was with Elder Durrant in the Finance Secretary Office for a good chunk of the week unloading all of the financial secretary knowledge that I accumulated over the past two transfers (it was A LOT). Luckily, Elder Durrant has been the financial secretary in two other missions before so he's got a good grasp on what needs to happen with the mission finances. Unfortunately, on those two missions he wasn't too savvy with computers and most of the complicated stuff we do had to deal with the computers so that took a bit of time to explain. But the good news is, I'm only 30 minutes or a phone call away, and he has at least three other people available for contact if he has any questions. It's a humongous blessing to finally have the Durrants and they're going to do great in the office!

AND THAT'S IT! Yup, that finance training kicked our schedule's butt this week. That and all the studies we still hadn't done by then. We also had to deep clean our house. And we prepared for transfers. And I trained my new replacement as the foreigner assistant! His name is Elder Soffe and he's my best bud. He's going to soar like an eagle over there in the HQ. 

SPIRITUAL THING:

Here's a scripture that I found during personal study this week that I shared to the Oncheon members in my farewell talk: D&C 123:17 "Therefore, dearly beloved brethren, let us cheerfully do all things that lie in our power; and then may we stand still, with the utmost assurance, to see the salvation of God, and for his arm to be revealed." There's things we can do, and there are things we can't do. I often get a little stressed out about the things that can't do, the things that "lie in our power". Remembering our limits and still pressing forward while trying our best is something we can do cheerfully. After all, our best is all we can offer. And when we do, we can "stand still" and know that God is right there with us ready to "reveal his arm" to us. It's a comforting scripture to me, and I hope it brings some comfort to you in those times that you worry a little too much about the things we can't control. 

THANKS FOR READING AND WRITING~~~

-Elder Metcalf

PICS:

1) The Office boys sprinting to the Durrants house to give them their luggage 2-4) The magical meat buffet we went to on P-day

MORE PICS:

1) I invested in a five dollar hammock last P-Day as well. We broke it out while we were deep cleaning to see if it works. (It works) 2-4) We had to stay up a little later to finish the travel plans after the transfer calls went out. So we did it in style.

1) Our Bishop called us out of nowhere to feed us. He's a great man and I'm going to miss him

AND NEW COMP

His name is Elder Hunzeker from Arizona. I went on exchange last transfer with him when he was still a trainee. He's adoreable and I'm excited to be with him for the next 7 weeks (this transfer is one week longer because of a Korean holiday)