Ulsan (Bangeojin)

So much email love this week. Thank you!

As you may gather from the subject of this email, I have indeed been
transferred to Bangeojin, which is in the Ulsan area and the Shilla
Zone. Charlotte and Matt, which ward were you in when you lived in
Ulsan? Bangeojin is where the Hyundai factory is, I believe, and it
has all the fun of a factory town. I am excited to learn about it and
do my best to turn things around there. They haven't really had any
progressing investigators for the past two transfers, but I'm excited
for a new opportunity to find people and plant seeds, as hard as it
may be.

My companion is Sister Foy. She grew up in Utah, but then moved to
Tennessee when she was 14 or 15. She was studying Elementary Education
at BYU and has about a year left there. She is really happy and fun.
I'm looking forward to serving with her. She just finished receiving
training, so this is her third transfer. I will really have to take
the Korean reins this time around, as I'm without a Korean counterpart
to help me, but it's a good thing Heavenly Father knows every
language.

We are currently at the bus station near Busan waiting to take the
hour and a half bus ride to Bangeojin.

Leaving Jinhae was both good and bad. I really hadn't felt all that
sentimental about leaving. Unfortunately as hard as I try to overcome
it my personality still normally dwells in two extreme spheres:
anxiety or denial. Ha. So I chose denial for the past few days, but
yesterday at church I really realized I was leaving and that I might
not see any of these wonderful people and places ever again, or if I
do, it will be a long time from now. I was able to give a short
farewell talk, as were the Elders who were being transferred. I really
have come to love some of these members a lot and will miss their
spiritual presence and general happiness. I'm sure there are more like
them in Bangeojin.

Both of our investigators who are currently progressing came to
church, which I was really grateful for. Brother B. and Sister
O....they are both a little overwhelmed, as I mentioned before, but
persevering quite well in their faith.

Korea is a gift giving country. It is their love language here. It is
really not my love language at all, but because it is so much a part
of the culture, I recognize it as a great sign of their appreciation
and I too am grateful. Sister O gave me a scarf and a few of the
other members gave me cards and things. It was really sweet.

This week was really really interesting as far as investigators go.
While I've been serving with Sister Yeon we rarely had the opportunity
to meet with more than maybe one or two investigators per week. This
week we were able to go visit a man who we talked to outside his
restaurant and we talked with him about the gospel. He called
learning about the gospel "fun" and accepted a copy of The Book of
Mormon. We went back and visited him later this week and he again
invited us back. When we went back on Saturday someone else was at the
restaurant and told us to not come back...that no one there was
interested. It was a heartbreaker, but I think Sister Yeon will
continue to go back. She put her foot literally in the door to prevent
them from closing it. I appreciated the uncharacteristic boldness
behind that gesture. It showed her sincerity in wanting to help people
accept this gospel.

We went back to the church and prepared to teach English class. One of
the members brought her friend who is in her late 20s. It was their
second time at English class. After class the member sister told us
her friend was interested in learning about the gospel!! Wha?? So, we
were able to teach her the first lesson after English class. She
really does seem prepared to receive our message and we are really
hopeful about her. It was a really incredible opportunity.

On Sunday we also were able to teach Brother Bak again. This is really
only the second "official" lesson he has had with us, so we planned to
teach about The Plan of Salvation. As we sat down with him we followed
up on how he was feeling about everything and if he had been keeping
his commitments. He has been busy so he hasn't been reading The Book
of Mormon much, but he has been praying every night and has come to
church for the past three weeks. He said he still doesn't know exactly
how he feels, but he feels like God is guiding him. Suddenly Sister
Yeon started teaching about the commandments, specifically The Word of
Wisdom. In my heart I was kind of panicking. I thought to myself that
if he doesn't have a personal witness that this is the spiritual path
he needs to take these new commandments are definitely going to seem
like ridiculous rules that are impossible to keep and he will leave!
Without the plan of salvation and a personal witness it seemed to me
his motivation for keeping these rules would be wanting. He actually
does almost all of the things the Word of Wisdom commands us not to
do--drinks alcohol, smokes, drinks green and black tea. He mentioned
he has thought about quitting smoking and drinking, but that it would
be hard. He seemed once again, overwhelmed. I felt the lesson was
taking a turn, but was hoping Sister Yeon was following the spirit. I
then tried to ask him if he had received a personal witness about our
church being true. He said he hadn't, or if he had he wasn't really
sure. We had a member of the bishopric in the lesson with us. He
explained his conversion story and how he recognizes the spirit.
Sister Yeon also explained about baptism and committed him to, if he
felt he had received an answer by that time, be prepared to be
baptized on March 10th. He said he would, although he didn't know if
he could receive an answer. He also committed to live the word of
wisdom. We asked him to close the lesson with a prayer. I wasn't sure
how the lesson had gone, but as he prayed with honestly all the
sincerity of his heart, the spirit seemed to boil over in my heart. I
too was praying to Heavenly Father to please answer this good man's
prayer. He just kept saying "I know I'm not really worthy to talk to
you, but I need to receive an answer if this is the right path for
me." He began to weep and had a hard time finishing his prayer, but
eventually did so. He is really logical so he was shocked by his own
emotional response to prayer. We tried to help him see that it was
part of Heavenly Father's answer to him and he was really grateful to
us and for the experience. It was incredible. Later that night he text
messaged us to ask what he was supposed to read in The Book of Mormon.
He had begun reading Moroni 7 and told us that he thought what he had
experienced while he was praying was repentance and he was really
excited about it. It really is a great opportunity to teach him and I
hope if he gets baptized that I will be able to come back to Jinhae
and see it.

Really cool. We had plans in Jinhae to teach 6 people: two member
referrals, one person we found on the street, one English class
referral, one person we found knocking on doors and one person who
keeps coming in contact with the missionaries "coincidentally"...etc.
I am learning that there are many many ways to find people and it
doesn't matter how we find them as long as we find them.

It is kind of hard to leave right when all these people have interest
in the gospel and it has been seemingly dry for the last 12 weeks, but
I am so grateful to see the diversity of finding techniques. I am
grateful to see that people's hearts are prepared and as I live
worthily, I too can see and recognize miracles. It was a good week,
but it's on to different things. I'm excited about this new
opportunity too.

Love you all!

Nick and Meg, will you send me your address?

Love,
Julia