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

Multiple Updates since June 2017

July 16, 2017 - Food stand lady

This week went by really fast. We had our first zone conference with our new mission president. He is really good at English and he told jokes for like ten minutes that you would find on the back of a Laffy Taffy. He has about six missionaries here who are from his same ward. 

We have been told to stay indoors until after 1 o'clock because it is so hot here. I never new how humid it was in Korea. We are basically drenched in sweat 24/7. We've been walking around all day proselyting because we need more investigators so I'm gettin a real nice farmers tan. 

Last night we were walking around proselyting through a market that comes by our house every five days when we were stopped by a lady standing by a food stand. then she just kept telling us to eat and we cant turn down food so we started eating. Then she pulled out here phone and showed us that she had all the missionaries phone numbers but they were all old so we gave her the new ones. after we talked for a while we found out that she came to church a long time ago and her daughter got baptized five years ago. She told me and Elder Proffit that she would call us later and take all the missionaries her out to eat. 

We have three weeks left in the transfer which is crazy because my companion will go home and I will be at my year mark. Its been a crazy but amazing experienced and I cant wait for the next half. I love this church and I know that it is the restored gospel of Jesus Christ.

Going to do some archery

Yeah that's far

Call me Bulls Eye

July 9, 2017 - They give me no nutrients

This was our first week with our new mission president. He is Korean but fluent in English. He ran the headquarters for the church in Korea or something. But on Saturday our investigator got baptized, who is president Jeong's nephew, and we got president Jeong to come down to baptize him. It was the first time we ever met him so I think we started off on a good note. 

After the baptism we went to our weekly soccer with our youth and their friends. We had 22 people come out and a bunch of them were non members which was really cool. We played members vs non members and we lost 4-5. 

Yesterday we had a bunch of people come out to church. A lot of less active members and our investigators. We have to little chinese kids who got baptized last month in another ward but then their family moved to hogye so they come to our church now. They are 4 and 8 years old and their parents aren't members so they come to church every sunday by themselves and sit with the missionaries. The 4 year old ones name is sung yoon and he literally climbed on top of my head in the middle of sacrament meeting.

Last night we had a ward BBQ at the branch presidents kindergarten that he owns. It is sooo hot in Korea right now. and it is super humid. So the whole time at the BBQ everyone was dripping sweat but it was still really fun. Hogye is a really awesome place to serve and I feel so lucky to get to serve with all these amazing people.

July 2, 2017 - Some random pics

The District

The soccer homies - Ward youth

June 25, 2017
We got our transfer calls yesterday and both me and Elder Proffit are staying in Hogye. I'm pumped I get to stay here. Yesterday we had two investigators come to church. They are both about 13 years old and one of them is our new mission presidents nephew. We set his baptismal date and are planning to have president Jung baptize him.

I went on exchange with the zone leader and he came here to Hogye. We hopped on a bus in the morning to go to out service project and got a little lost. We were talking on the bus and after about an hour and a half elder finch looks out the window and says, this is my area. So we got off and headed back the way we came on a different bus. turns out the place was only two stops away from our house.

We have found a few more investigators. Hoyge is a really small town, for Korea, and almost everyone here knows us. A lot of our new investigators have met the missionaries years ago. and we see the same people on the streets everyday. We try to talk to them when we can but most of them don't want to here it but we keep looking for the ones that do. at least the know who we are. Besides that not too much else going on this week.

Alma 26:15

Throwback to the skating days

Homie still got it

Two updates in one - Goodbye President Barrow

Dinner with Ward Mission Leader

Yesterday we got to go to president Barrows farewell for the Ulsan stake. We get a new mission president in two weeks. He is a Korean guy from Seoul. A lot of the missionaries know because they are from the same ward and he is the father of one of the sisters in our mission.

Last week we had a stake sports day which was really fun. We had a soccer tournament and our ward won. We got all of the kids that play with us every Saturday to come which was cool since they are almost all non members. Yesterday we met with one of our investigators who brought four of his friends and we are now teaching one of them who lived in Texas as an exchange student.

One of our investigators runs an English academy and we met with him on Thursday. He was really busy so we sat there for a while. But the whole time we were waiting we were talking to this kid and teaching him English, and about our church. English is actually a big way we find people. Besides that nothing much else going on.

#thechurchistrue

Laughs with little Giungmin

Elder Profitt couldn't hang

2nd Update

Sweet az ride

Anther crazy week in 한국. On Tuesday I went on an exchange with elder Youngblood over here in Hogye. Our plan was to un-exchange Wednesday morning at zone conference since we were having it at our chapel here in Hoyge. But on Wednesday morning, when we woke up and started showering we get a call from the zone leaders telling us to get our 72-hour kits and our passports and head to the mission office. We were really surprised for the change of plans since we live 3-hours from the mission home, but we got our stuff together and hoped on a train. When we got there the whole mission was gathered. We ended up having a huge mission conference for President Barrow's farewell. It was really good to see all the missionaries that I haven't seen in months.

President Barrow instructed us to start doing companionship and language study outside, at the library or in a cafe so we can be around the people more. It has worked out really good. We have already met several people just while studying. We have had a few people just walk up to us in the library and ask if we teach an English class, which we do. a little bit racist but its chill.

We had a little boy get baptized on Friday since he just turned 8. There was some drama between some of the family members and some of them ended up leaving but it still turned out to be an awesome baptism.

I hope everyone is doing good back home.

#예수그리스도 후기 성도 교회


Love you all,
Elder Mica Matua

Visiting one of many Buddhist temples here

Korea-Busan Missionaries farewell President Barrow

Another week in Hogye

Exploring and climbing The Dragon
King rocks in Hogye

This week was pretty neat. A lot of nature around these parts... but anyways it was a good week.

We haven't really been able to meet most of our investigators because they have all been "busy" but that's just the Korean life style. But we did meet a really cool kid who is 22 and loves the NBA. We played basketball with him and the whole time he ran around yelling, Lebron! or Curry! in his Korean accent every time he shot or dribbled the ball. He just finished military service and said he wants to starts meeting with us.

Up here in Hogye its just a branch but the members are awesome. We just got assigned to teach the primary once a month and we still do a lot with the young men. Tomorrow we have a stake sports day where we are going to go smash all the other wards in soccer.

Besides that the mission life is going good. Hogye is awesome, the church is true.

Mosiah 2:21


Love,
Elder Mica Matua

My Korean style kicks

Exploring with the Elders from the pad

Pausing for a photo op

Some random Inca street performers

Visiting a Buddhist temple

Flat mate Elder Jaebok

Hogye is awesome

First week in Hogye (May 28 Update)

Exchanges with JaeBok

Another great week in 호계 (Hogye). Not too much happened this week but we did get a visit from Elder Oaks. The whole mission met up in Busan and we got to hear from Elder Oaks, his wife, the Choi's, and Garret Gong from the Seventy. They all gave really good talks. and Elder Oaks roasted Texas since that's where President Barrow is from.

On Saturday we played our weekly soccer game with the young men. We have four young men who are recent converts and their families all hate the church, But they are really good members. they have to leave their church clothes in the missionary room and change when they get to church so that their parents don't know that they are coming to church. On Saturday they brought a bunch of friends to soccer. we had about 20 people there. We played non-members vs members. We are actually teaching a few of them right now.

We are still working on finding new investigators and trying to help the ones that we have. Its a really nice area, a lot smaller than Busan, a little bit country. But still has more people than the entire state of Utah. Things are goin good here.

Check out Mosiah 5:15


Love you all,
Elder Mica Matua

Hogye is country!

Pretty cool street art here

Sportin that Granny Yeezy gear

Exchanges with the Zone Leaders

Out and about with Elder Profit

Transfer #6 (May 21 Update) -- Hogye

Final investigators in Yunsan

Sorry we're late updating the blog. We were so excited to speak to Mica on Mother's Day that we've been slacking ever since.

I just got transferred to 호계 (Hogye) up in Ulsan. It is a lot different from the big city Busan. Me and one of the new Elders had to take a 30-min train to a bus station and then take a two hour bus to our area. It was a miracle that we didn't get lost. It was both our first times in Ulsan.

My new area is a lot more country. It takes us over an hour on bus to get to district meeting. The Branch here is really awesome. They have quite a few young men but not any young men leaders so the missionaries are in charge of that. We teach Seminary, Sunday School, and play soccer with them every week. Most of the young men are recent converts and are the only member in their family and their parents hate the church but they still come ever

y week. And they are really good at bringing friends along with them.

Failed final Zone pick before
leaving Yunsan

Yesterday when me and Elder Profit were proselyting we were walking through this huge market and we heard a concert going on. We walked down the street and there was a huge crowd of old people watching a concert of some old Korean singers. As me and Elder Profit walked past we just started clapping. When the song ended the man who was hosting or the Emcee said in Korean, "Everybody get into it like these two foreigners back there." Then he asked us where we were from and when we replied in Korean he was so shocked. When the next group started performing he ran through the crowd, grabbed us and pulled us up on stage and made us dance. It was pretty fun. Hopefully we get some investigators out of that since we're famous now.


Love you all,
Elder Mica Matua

Final pic with the homie Steve-O