New Updates: October 22 - November 5

October 22, 2017

My Goejoeng Crew - I'll miss them

Pretty good week. It started off with my friend Steve from my old area coming down and taking me and Elder Haskell to McDonald's. Then on Wednesday we went to go find a new service project. Our Branch President referred us to this place and gave us their number and address so we called and went down there having no clue what it was. When we walked in the door there was a room full of handicap people dancing along with a program on TV. Elder Haskell and I helped them make some art projects and then ate lunch with them. It was pretty fun and we go back again tomorrow.

On Saturday we went to a play/musical that some other missionaries had put on.  We brought our investigator Yoo Jaeyoung and he seemed to like it even though it was really weird.

Yesterday our Branch had their primary program. It was very interesting since there is only three kids in the primary but they did really good. They all had to sing solos and do a bunch of speaking parts. Then the Primary President sang the last song and decided to sing a hymn in English. She sang "I Know That My Redeemers Rives," hahaha but she did really good too. The missionaries also had to sing in it but we didn't do very good. It has been really good serving in this branch and seeing their faith. They help me to want to be a better member my self.
좋은 하루 되세요!

October 29, 2017

Im writing a little bit early today because I still have to go pack so more of my stuff and go send it at the post office. I am being transferred to Jeju island. I catch a flight down there at 3 o'clock today.

Attending the baptism of the Sisters' convert

This week was pretty crazy. On Tuesday we went to our service project again and worked with the handicapped kids. This time we did yoga, sort of.

Yesterday Elder Haskell and I had a man come to church with us who we met on the subway. His name is Brother Son and he is about 70-something so he fit in really well with our Branch. He ended up really liking church and he also got to see some to the baptism of the Sisters' investigator right after.

Elder Haskell was the one to baptize their investigator and he was super nervous. Unfortunately the boiler at our church broke so the font was freezing cold. It made it worse that Elder Haskell had to dunk her three times because her knee kept coming out of the water. By the third attempt the whole Ward was around the font yelling, 'slowly! slowly!' as she went into the water.

After church we met with all the missionaries in our district at our church. Our district leader gave us our new smart phones and we all set them up together. We went from a flip-phone from like the 1800's to a new Samsung Galaxy and it's so weird.

Well I'm pumped to be going down to Jeju. It was an awesome experience serving down here in GoeJeong. I love all these members and I hope to see them again one day.

I cut Elder Haskell's hair

November 5, 2017

Me and my friend Lee Jaebok

Super busy week. It was pretty crazy getting out of Busan. Sending all my luggage was terrible. I met up with the other Jeju missionaries at a subway station. Lee Jaebok was there to say hi. I went with another Elder and two Sisters and not a single one of us had ever been to Jeju before. They just told us 'hop on the subway. Go to the airport, and go tell the front desk your name.' Those were all the instructions we received but we luckily made it here. The flight was about 45-minutes long and it was so weird being on a plane again.

Jeju is by far the most beautiful area on the mission. It was weird to see palm trees as we walked out of the airport. It is just like being in Hawaii, just not as humid. When we got here we went to the Jeju church to get the smart phones since the Jeju teams hadn't got them yet. My companion Elder Stout and I hopped on a bus to Soguipo. I'm not sure if that's how you spell it. There are two areas on Jeju. They just split the island in half and Jeju area has four elders and two sisters and the other side of the island is mine and Elder Stouts.

The legend, "James Bond" of Jeju Island

The bus ride to our side is about an hour and a half. We got off the bus and walked another 20-min to our house. By then it was about 8:30 p.m. Standing in front of the gate of our house was "James Bond." James Bond is a man that I have heard about my entire mission from any Elder who has ever stepped foot in Jeju. He is about 40-years-old and has a mental deficiency. He follows the missionaries around everywhere. Apparently he was waiting at our house all day. He offered to carry my bag for me and when we got to the house, since James Bond can't go inside, he ran around back to his hang out spot, which is our back window. We went inside and Elder Stout slid open the glass window so James Bond could talk to us. We ordered some pizza since I hadn't eaten since the previous day and we just sat there eating pizza talking to James Bond through the window until it was time to go to bed.

We met with a lot of people this week but my favorites are probably our Filipino crew. A Filipino called Mark was baptized in our branch a few months ago and now he always brings his friends to come meet us. On Friday they came over to the church and played ping pong and we ordered chicken. They always want to order chicken with us since they can't speak Korean to order it. They are a super funny group of little guys.

Me and Elder Stout in our area on Jeju

Yesterday at church Mark came so I had to translate for him and it was so bad. Im pretty sure he didn't understand anything. I felt super bad. I need a lot more translation practice. The advice I got from other missionaries was, 'If you don't know what they are saying just make it up.' But most of the members in Jeju are English-speaking so when I try to do that they just start laughing. Our investigator also came half way through sacrament meeting and knocked down all the chairs in the back on accident and it was super loud.

We also have been meeting with our friend John a lot. John is a 26-year-old Korean who lived in New Zealand for awhile so he is super good at English. He just opended up a resturant and invites us over to eat just about every day. We have also been helping them around their new buildings and restaurants.

Jeju is an awesome place and I am so grateful to be able to serve here. The members are also amazing as usual. I hope you all have a great week!

Elder Mica Matua

My Filipino Crew in Jeju

Beautiful little town in Jeju, sitting on a hand