Monday, July 10, 2017
"Those who lose their life shall find it (and a sofa)."

Minh came to church again this week! He actually invited himself. I sent him a text on Saturday night asking him if he was coming to English class. He responded, "I have another appointment, but I will see you at church tomorrow morning." He is super awesome. We plan to meet him this week and give him a baptismal date.

We met with a 15 year old boy who was originally the other Elders' investigator. We had a GREAT lesson with him about the restoration, then invited him to be baptized, to which he readily agreed. When we gave him the date, August 5th, he said that because of school, he won't be able to meet with us again until September, but he wants to be baptized then.

Some background about Korean schooling: during the testing season (right now), students are required to stay at school until about 10pm, sometimes later. So school goes from 8 am until 10 pm, every day. And then on Saturday and Sunday, almost all students attend academies. It's nearly impossible to get appointments with students during this time of year.

We also met a man in his 70s named Mr. Ahn. This man attended college in America and has worked as a professional translator for 40 years. So, needless to say, he's VERY good at English. In 1985 he toured temple square and received a Book of Mormon. He tried to read some of it, but said it was boring. Several months ago he met some missionaries on the street and invited them to his office. While there, the missionaries noticed an old English BoM on his shelf. He's been meeting the missionaries and reading the BoM ever since.

We had an amazing lesson with him. He's been studying the BoM in depth and comparing it with the Bible as he reads. He LOVES the Book of Mormon. He told us that as of yet (he's into Alma), he cannot not see how the book can be anything but true because it supports the Bible so accurately. He said that the detail the BoM contains can in no way be fabricated by one person.

He showed me his old copy of the BoM he recieved in 1985. I flipped open the front cover, and on the inside was a personal note and the address of the man who gave the book. And he lives (or lived) in Murray! Mr. Ahn asked me to try and put him back in contact with the man so he can thank him for the book he received 32 years ago.

Basically, Mr. Ahn believes everything we have told him and wants to be baptized, but is hesitant to mention the idea to his wife because they have been attending the Catholic church together for over 40 years. He'll just need a little time.

It's really expensive to throw things away in Korea, so people will usually put the things they don't want outside on the road with a sign saying "up for grabs." Well, this week our neighbor across the street decided to give away their nice leather couch. By the time we saw it, it had been sitting out in the rain for a few hours and was pretty soaked. But that didn't stop us.

After taking all the cushions apart, cleaning them, and leaving them hung around the house with fans pointed on them for a few days, the reconstructed couch makes a perfect addition to our enormous house.

It's been a pretty long p day. Last night we were riding a bus home from a city called Yangsan, and some airhead left our phone on the bus. After apologizing to my companion (yes, that airhead was me), we ran around for a bit trying to find it. Because we weren't able to report that we were home, the APs basically sent a search party out looking for us. A man found our phone today and left it at the customer help desk at a subway station about 45 minutes from our house, so we spent some time traveling today to pick it up.

That was a pretty scattered update on my week, sorry. The weather is getting very hot and humid, and I'm looking forward to another great week with my lovely couch. 

Love,

Elder Sorensen