August 6 and 13 updates

August 6th

My last time with my best buddies in Hogye

I have just been transferred back to Busan but this time its South Busan Zone. I was pretty bummed to have to leave Hogye but I'm excited to serve in 괴정. And my comp is one of my best friends from the MTC so its gonna be really fun.

My last week in Hogye was awesome. On Wednesday night we went with our investigator down town to go play some basketball. We played a bunch of pick up games and won all except for one. Our friend that we went with was probably the best one there. The courts filled up once the sun went down and fortunately I didn't look to bad because they were all Korean, and because I dunked it (the rim definitely wasn't ten feet but I don't think anyone knew that).

Our youth all had youth conference this week so we didn't see them too much but we got to say by to them at church yesterday. They all got up and bore their testimony which was really cool. Every one of them broke down into tears and it was really spiritual, but then the crazy old man got up after them and rambled on about some "doctrine" that I've never heard of before and killed the vibe. classic fast and testimony meeting.

Second hour we just listened to the branch president talk about his trip to utah and about how amazing the bishops store house is. That was literally one of the reasons he went to utah.
After church we said our good-byes and went home to pack until it was time to go to dinner at the branch presidents house where we got to hear all about the bishop's storehouse again. The home teachers also came with us and shared the message at the end which was weird not having to do it.

It was really sad leaving Hogye but I am excited to meet some more amazing people in my new area. I have been in korea for a good while now but I still feel like a greenie, hopefully that will change before I go home.
D&C 93

August 13th

Me and Elder Stagg on the top of the mall

Was a pretty crazy week in ??. It is a lot easier to switch areas and get to know the ward when you can speak the language a little. Every time we get transferred to a new area we have to get an introduction talk in sacrament meeting. I learned that in my new ward I will be giving a talk every other week. yay!

Yesterday, before I gave my intro talk, the first counselor got up to conduct and said, "We will first be hearing a talk from our new missionary, Elder Maki, from South America," and everyone was like, woah. When I got up I said, I really like the name Maki but my real name is Elder Matua and I'm from Lehi, Utah and everyone started busting up.

On Saturday we had our weekly English class but we didn't have a very good turn out. about half way through the class we get a call from a kid asking if him and his friends could come to class. we said yes and a few minutes later three high school kids walked in. apparently they saw the banner outside and thought they would try it out. they were pretty funny but all the English they knew was swear words from TV and league of legends so we had a lot of teaching to do.

After the class we we had planned to go play soccer of at the junior high so we invited our three new friends to come with us. They told us that they were planning to go play soccer at the same exact place at the same time, so we all went together.

They told us that their high school had challenged another high school to a game of soccer. When we got there, there was about 60 or more kids warming up to play soccer. right when we got close to the field our three new friends started shouting to everyone, "Aye we got some American friends! look at us!!" The entire field went silent and everyone stop and stared at us as we walked in. It was super awkward but pretty funny. After a few minutes we noticed that the Deshin Elders were already there and were watching us the whole time. They walked up to us and were like, that was quite an entrance. They split up the elders between the two teams and we played until it was too dark to see. After the games we got a bunch of the kids contacts and a few of them said they would meet with us next week.

It is gonna be a really interesting transfer but every day is interesting here.

#thechurchistrue

Last time with the best Zone in Hogye

Updates: July 23rd and 30th

July 23rd

One of my little homies who comes to church alone

This week went by really fast. I had two exchanges in a row and they were both in the same area. It was down in 신정, which is so terrible at night because their A/C broke. So we all slept around one little fan. On the first exchange I got to go to 신정's English class. I met this guy named Yoon HeDuck who is sort of a legend to the missionaries here. He is a little bit special but he has a crazy good memory. He remembers every missionary he's ever met and where they're from, their full name and when they go home. When he met me and I told him I was from Lehi he told me all the missionaries he's met from Lehi and around it. Then he asked what my full name is and I said, Mica Nu'ualiitia Matua. And he said, oh Mica Nice-To-Meet-You Matua.

On Saturday we played ping pong with our investigator who is 13 and got wrecked. But it was good because he brought his two friends who are twins. It was impossible to tell them apart. After we played ping pong we taught a lesson to our investigator and his friends wanted to sit in. It went really well and hopefully we can get them back for more.

The brothers who come alone

Our Branch president is still in Lehi for another two weeks. He ran a lot of the stuff over here so its been pretty busy without him but I think we'll make it two more weeks.

My comp leaves in two weeks and yeah I love serving in Hogye. We almost had dog soup with our ward mission leader on Wednesday but the restaurant was closed.

July 30th

It was a pretty crazy week. Last Monday we went to a massive Buddhist temple which was pretty cool until it started pouring rain and we had to ride a bus back that was packed full of French people.

Visiting a massive Buddhist temple

On Thursday the young men had a "camp out." They just slept at the church. But it was good because they invited us to come eat dinner with them. Then on Saturday we had our weekly soccer with our little homies. The cool thing was that our two young men that usually come couldn't make it but all of their non-member friends still showed up to play with the missionaries. We had 25 people come out which is a new record. and out of that 25 we only had 9 members and the rest were non-member high school kids. Five of them drove 45-minutes from a different city with the Bongojin elders.

Unfortunately when we got to the field it was all taped off because they were redoing the track. But there was another school about ten minutes away so we all walked to it. When we got there we realized that that field was also taped off and being redone. The next closest field was on the other side of town so we had to take a bus. When we got to the bus stop, the bus we needed to take was just driving away, but when it got about 100-yards away it had to stop at a red light and we all took off running to catch it. We got there just as the light turned green and started slapping the side of the bus and it luckily stopped. We had finally arrived at the field when we noticed that it too had been taped off, but the track seemed to be dry so we got on and started playing. After about two minutes this old "guard" man came and kicked us off. We were on a compound of about five schools with three fields so tried all three but the other two were currently being worked on. and the old guy followed us around yelling at us, telling us that we would not be able to step foot on the fields until next week.

We were in the worst situation. We had 25 people, most of which were non members, no where to play and it was getting late. We sat there for about 15-minutes not knowing what to do. Then got all our stuff and started walking away when one of the construction workers called us over and asked, Where is your leader? Elder Kim TeHoon volunteered and had a conversation with the other workers. They told us to wait until the old man left and we could play on the field as long as we were careful of the track.

Good times visiting Buddha

We thanked the construction workers about a thousand times and then started playing. It was a huge miracle. All the boys had a lot of fun and the ones from Bongojin told us they want to come again next week.

We have one week left in the transfer. It will be probably the most interesting transfer yet since we have 19 missionaries leaving including my companion. It'll be crazy and I hope everyone back home has a great week.

Alma 29:8-9