Tuesday, April 23, 2013

week 4 in Korea

Week 4 in Korea

Hello, Hello!
 
Before I talk about my week, I just want to express my love and gratitude to all of you! Thanks for your love, your consideration, and your support. It means a lot! You are all wonderful!
 
This week has definitely been better than last week, but the progression is still slow. We have a lot of people who are mostly interesting in English, but who are hopefully taking on more interest in the gospel. It is difficult to make the switch, but we are working on it. Our member referral is SO quiet and so it is really hard to understand his current situation, but he listens intently and is opening up more. I have high hopes for him. We also had a cool miracle happen this week. We took a bus to an appointment about 45 minutes away and we got there about 30 minutes early, so we just sat in a nearby convenience store to stay warm. While we were there, some guy a table away from us said "Are you missionaries?" We were happy to say yes and talked to him for a bit. He was heading to an English class and was mostly just practicing his English. But then he said "I want to go to church." I was way surprised that he invited himself. He also knew where are church was too, so we think he met missionaries before, but didn't really take lessons or anything. But we told him the time, got his number, and headed to our appointment. Then yesterday, he actually came! He felt bad and apologized because he was late, but I was just happy he was there at all. We taught him a little intro lesson at the church and will try to meet during the week. I hope it all works out!
 
As for me personally,  I am doing really well. I am beginning to comprehend more and more (although I still only understand about 5 or 10% probably). But the language is slowly coming. I also had the chance to give the special musical number for our Zone Conference. It was fun, but it was at like 10 in the morning and I hadn't warmed up at all, so it was pretty bad. But I did my best and at least tried to bring the Spirit and it was fun.
 
Here are a couple fun stories. Yesterday morning while we were studying, there was a mini earthquake! It only lasted about a second and it was really small, but it was kind of exciting to feel. When we felt it, we couldn't help but wonder if it was a nuke or something, but all is well in Korea and it must have just been some tremor or something. Hopefully it wasn't a side-effect of something worse somewhere else.
 
Also, I learned a super interesting funny thing about Korea this week. As we were waiting for a bus, we saw this tow-truck drive by, but it was the nicest tow-truck I had ever seen in my life. It looked pretty cool, was shiny, was all "suped-up", and had (what my companion confirmed to be) a big tank of NOS in the back! It was crazy! The funny part is that all the Korean tow-trucks are the same way! The reason is that the tow-trucks are all individual businesses and when an accident happens or something, all of them are notified at the same time. After that, it's just first come, first serve. So it's pretty much like fast and the furious, but with tow-trucks because whoever gets there first gets the job. And Korea seems to be a lot less strict in enforcing traffic laws, so they can actually do it. I even was able to witness it a little later because there was a little accident near our apartment and the tow-trucks just kept zooming up to scene hoping they were quick enough to get the job. It's kind of crazy, but super funny.
 
I am so grateful to be a missionary and to have a knowledge of this gospel in my life! Sometimes I think I forget that the God that is a God of miracles and of power doesn't just exist to prophets and in Ensign articles. He really is a God of miracles to each and every one of us personally! I am beginning to realize that and to become better at remembering that more and more. One of the best ways to remember that is gratitude. A great example is Nephi and Laman & Lemuel. When God delivered them from destruction in Jerusalem, Nephi and Lehi thanked the Lord for the absolute miracle while his brothers completely missed it as they focused on what they had lost rather than the miracle they gained. It's important to have the faith that God can bless us with miracles, but we also need to have the gratitude and ability to see those miracles.
 
Thank you all for everything! That is a really broad statement, but I really do mean it! You all mean so much to me! I love you all!
 
Love, Elder Tolman

No comments:

Post a Comment