November 15, 2015

Annyeong hasqua! (That's Jeju island dialect, in case you were wondering.)

This has been the most incredible week. I'm not even sure where to start.

It's transfer week! That means I'm half way done with training. That's crazy. Of course, Elder O and I will be staying here in wonderful Goejong. Elder O is our new district leader, so this should be a fun transfer because that means I will go on an exchange every week.

I just got home from transfer meeting in Myeongnyu. Have I told you how absolutely incredible President Barrow is? He writes each of the missionaries a very specific, very inspired letter EVERY WEEK, and he's just super awesome. He knows all the missionaries by name (oh wait, maybe he just reads our nametags...). He gives life advice, relationship advice, personal stories... anyway, transfer meeting was awesome, and one of the best parts was seeing my amazing MTC district again. I missed them all a ton, so it was great to catch up.

Here's the answers to your questions.

The church building here is super nice. Two floors, but very small. It's about a solid 15 minute walk from our apartment.

The Goejong area is quite large. It takes us about 2 hours to walk south to the coast in Dadaepo, or 25 minutes by bus. Horizontally, it probably takes about an hour and a half to walk across. There are 2 Goejong teams, me and Elder O, and Sister Nielsen and Sister Yang. Our Sisters are wonderful, and we definitely couldn't do all the work that needs to be done here without them.

Yes, lots of meal appointments. Usually one every other day. The members love to feed us.

Mom, I'm not sure what would be best to listen to music on. I brought a flash drive with music, but only 2 of the 500 songs will play on our little DVD player.

It's so wonderful to hear from my friends in the mission field. We've set up a group email, and we share experiences every week. It's so cool to see the Lord's servants doing the exact same work all over the world. Knowing my brothers are serving beside me makes me so happy, and is a constant strength.

I told you a little about Bak Mingyu. We had a lesson with him on Tuesday and we taught about the need for a Savior and discussed baptism. Elder O bore a powerful testimony about the Savior, and before I knew what I was doing I was inviting him to be baptized. With barely a second of hesitation, he said yes. I was immediately so overcome with the Spirit and gratitude to God that I had a hard time (harder than usual) forming my next few sentences. I just kept thinking "I can't believe it, he said yes!" Elder O bore another great testimony, then turned and looked at me, expecting me to say something. I was a little dazed, so all I was able to stutter out was "I know this church is true with all my heart." Bak Mingyu looked right at me and replied "jeodoyo (me too)." So, his baptism is scheduled for December 13! He still has a long way to go until then, so we are praying super super hard that all will go well.

This work is amazing. I feel so grateful to be serving here, because I know without a doubt I'm in the right place. There's no where else in the world I would be learning so much. Even through the trials and the hardships, after each one I can look back and see how much I learned from them.

The language is coming. It's slow, but it's coming. The gift of tongues is real. I have moments when I'm talking to someone on the street, and after saying a sentence I have to go back and figure out what I just said. Having a native companion helps. My trainer, Elder O, is incredible, and he has become one of my greatest friends. I can't believe how blessed I am. Here's a fun fact about him: he has a phobia of expired food. He's terrified of it. When we go shopping, we buy stuff based on their expiration dates. Because of this phobia, he places EVERYTHING in the fridge to slow down the process. This morning, I even found the hard candy we bought in the fridge. When I asked him what it was doing there, he replied "so it doesn't expire!" He's a great guy.

Have a great week in Hawaii, fam! Soak it all up, and take lots of pictures. I love you all.

-Elder Sorensen