This week was good, but
definitely a little different than normal because we had the massive
Korean national holiday, 추석, on Thursday. We had a hard time meeting our
investigators and such, so it was a good thing that President Shin had
us meet together as Districts and practice teaching for a few days this
weekend. In a lot of ways the meetings were really helpful and I
remembered a lot of things I need to be doing better to be a more
effective teacher of the gospel. This weekend we had a kind of
interesting and somewhat exciting announcement from our mission
president about a change in some of our focuses as a mission.
Previously, we were focusing on talking to a certain number of people
each way to help us strive to open our mouths. It had the right focus,
but it was too easy for missionaries to distort into a quota that had to
be met (whether or not it was effective), often at the expense of other
more important opportunities. So, we dropped that focus and now we have
a new one called "BRT 1-2-2." Usually BRT stands for Building
Reletionships of Trust which is definitely good and we are still doing,
but President Shin redefined it as Baptisms, Referrals, and Teaching. So
now, we are expected to strive for at least 1 baptism each transfer, 2
referrals each week, and 2 hours of teaching every day. The teaching
part has to be in 20 minute blocks of teaching, which is cool because it
makes us be sure that we always strive for meaningful extended gospel
conversations, whether with members, on the street, or with
investigators. I believe it is revelation from God through our mission
president and I'm excited to give it my all and see what blessing the
Lord has in store for our mission as we do.
As for the actual 추석 day on Thursday, it was just a P-day. We had
also done our e-mailing and shopping earlier (since everything is
closed), so we had a pretty open, relaxing day. Or at least so we had
hoped... We went to the church to play piano, play ping-pong, etc. and
Elder Brady, one of the other elders living with us accidentally dropped
the edge of the ping pong table on his toe. 안되요. It totally broke is
nail bed, split his toe pretty bad on each side and it was just nasty.
징그러웠어요. So we spent a few hours getting him the the emergency room,
getting him all patched up, cleaning the church, etc. before finally
enjoying the last hour or so of P-day. It was necessarily relaxing, but
it was definitely a memorable P-day. Poor Elder Brady.
Recently, I have realized that one of the things that would help me
progress most in the language and helping bring people to Christ is
that I need more confidence. As I was praying and pondering about how to
gain more confidence, the somewhat paradoxical thought "I need to be
humble enough to be confident," came into my mind. I realized that I
needed to be more humble, not so much because I was being cocky or
over-confident, but because I was refusing to let go of my imperfect
view of myself and accept God's. God really does know us perfectly. He
also sent His Son to atone for our Sins, our sorrows, and our
imperfections, so we always have someone to turn to who not only
understands us perfectly, but is the means of overcoming those
imperfections. So this week I am working on being humble enough to give
up my imperfect view of myself and to allow God to fill me with His
love, both for me and for those I serve. There is no way I, or any of
us, can do it all alone. The beautiful thing is that we don't have to! I
know that my Redeemer lives and I am so grateful to be able to proclaim
that truth to the world!
I love you all! Have a wonderful week!
Love, Elder Tolman
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