sām gwa gwa

This week was pretty slow. Still teaching a ton. But we've had a lot more doors slammed in our face than usual. Still love talking to all the crazy people on the streets. Staying in there. 

This weeks video

 

Love you all,

Elder Quinn Matua

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Updates: 4 November and 11 November

4 November
Traveling (again), Exchanges in Ivano-Frankivsk, MLC and the temple!

Sorry folks but this one is going to be very short because I forgot till now.

We had a really long week full of a lot of traveling and not a lot of sleeping but that's ok because that means we working hard right? I hope.

Had exchanges in Ivano-Frankivsk and I got to work with my old companion Elder Petersen! It was really fun and we got a lot done. We had a lesson with an investigator of theirs who is getting baptized soon and he is awesome! We also got to meet the new missionaries again and get to know them better and they are awesome!

We went straight from Ivano to Kyiv for MLC. We got to do baptisms and a session at the temple the day before though and it felt so good. I also got to see a returned missionary and it was so funny and so good to see him again.

It was a really good week and we are just trying to soak up every minute we have here. Time is going by wayyyyyyy to fast and I don't like it. I love this work and the blessings it brings!!! So great!

11 November
President Goldens visit, Investigators and the Funny Things They Say

The stress is over!!

This week took so much preparing and stressing. We had been getting ready for a couple months now for the area president, President Golden, and when the beginning of this week hit, I realized how much more we still needed to prepare. We had heard so many stories about how strict he would be so we had everything perfect. The good thing is, it all went well. Everything went the way it was supposed to and I was so happy. President Kumferman and President Golden addressed us and we got a lot of counsel and guidance from them. President Golden also held a fireside for our branch members here in Lviv and it went really well.

We had exchanges this week with the elders from Rivne. It went really well and we had a lot of fun. Unfortunately, the weather is getting worse and worse. And Elder Laney and I also had four lessons planned for that day and none of them went through, so that was pretty depressing. We got in contact with all of them again though and set another time.

We finally got to meet with our good friend Artiem. He has been meeting with the missionaries for 2 years almost and has just had so many difficulties with baptism. It started with his parents being very against the church, which is still holding him back now. But, on the lesson, Elder Taran bore a very strong testimony of his path to baptism because he is only a convert of about 3 years. He told Artiem that his parents were against him being baptized but he prayed for help and for them to have a change of heart and SLOWLY but surely they started to change. That opened Artiem up a little more to talk about his parents and he shared with us how they have been changing as well. It's very slow, but they are changing. So we invited him to pray and fast for strength to ask his parents again and he accepted and seemed excited to do so again.

Our friend from the Congo, Emmanuel, came to church! I really enjoyed it and everyone made him feel so welcomed. It was perfect because it just happened to be the day that our friends, the Hunters, from Utah, spoke! It was hilarious because after Brother Hunter spoke, Emmanuel leaned over to me and said, "Matua, is no one gonna clap? That was amazing!" I couldn't stop laughing.

There was a verse that President Golden kept bringing up and that was Alma 7:7 which says, "For behold, I say unto you there be many things to come; and behold, there is one thing which is of more importance than they all -- for behold, the time is not far distant that the Redeemer liveth and cometh among his people. "

It is so important that we take the things of God seriously. If we take them lightly, the sacred things and gifts He gives us, He will take them away. We have to understand the most important thing in our lives, or rather who is most important in our lives  and that is our Savior, Jesus Christ. We have to understand that His coming is nigh at hand. And we especially have to understand that God is preparing us and using us to prepare those around us. God works miracles through ORDINARY people just like you and just like me. He is preparing you to share the gospel with those around you, so do it!


I love you all and hope you have a great week!
Elder Kenyon Matua

Updates: 19 August - 26 August

19 August

A Story Worth Reading
I dont have a lot of time today so I just wanted to share a story with you. Have a wonderful weekend you all.

There once was this turntable bridge which spanned a large river. During most of the day, the bridge sat parallel with the river, allowing ships to pass freely on both sides. But at certain times each day a train would

come along and the bridge would be turned across the river allowing the trains to cross. A switchman sat in a small shack on one side of the river where he operated the controls to turn the bridge and lock it into place as the train crossed.

One evening, as the switchman was waiting for the last train of the day to come, he looked off into the distance through the dimming twilight and caught sight of the train's light. He stepped to the controls and waited until the train was within a prescribed distance when he was to turn the bridge into position. He turned the bridge, but to his horror, found that the locking control didn't work. If the bridge was not locked into position securely, it would wobble back and forth at the ends when the train comes onto it. This would cause the train to jump the track and go crashing into the river. This train was a passenger train with many people aboard.

He left the bridge turned across the river, and hurried across the bridge to the other side of the river where there was a lever he could use to operate the lock manually.

He could hear the rumble of the train now. He took hold of the lever and leaned backward to apply pressure to keep the mechanism locked. Many lives depended on this man's strength.

Then, coming across from the direction of his control shack he heard a sound that make his blood run cold:

"Daddy, where are you?"

His four-year-old son was crossing the bridge to look for him.

His first impulse was to cry out to the child, "Run, run!" but the train was too close, the tiny legs would never make it across the bridge in time. The man almost lifted the lever to run and snatch up his son, and carry him to safety, but he realized he could not get back to the lever in time. Either the people on the train or his little son must die.

He took just a moment to make his decision.

The train sped swiftly and safely on it's way, and no one aboard was aware af the tiny, broken body thrown mercilessly into the river by the rushing train.

Nor were they aware of the pitiful figure of a sobbing man still clinging tightly to the lever long after he train had passed. They didn't see him walking home more slowly than he had ever walked, to tell his wife how he had sacrificed her son.

Now if you can comprehend the feelings, which went through this man's heart, you can understand the feeling of our Heavenly Father when he sacrificed His Son to bridge the gap between us and eternal life.

How does He feel when we speed along through life without giving a thought to what was done for us throughs his Son, Jesus Christ? Can there be any wonder that He caused the earth to tremble and the skies to darken when His........only Begotten Son died?

26 August

Interviews and Zone Conference
Had another amazing week out here in L'viv. We were blessed to have zone and district conference. It was my first time presenting something at zone conference but I think it went really well. It was really cool because President's segment, the STL's segment and our segment went pretty much hand in hand and it wasn't planned. We all talked about how we can work more with members and Elder Blake and I talked a little bit about unity.

We also had exchanges with the elders from Khmelnytskyi. I got to be with Elder Frasier and we had a blast.

I had a really long interview with president and we talked about a lot of neat things. He gave me tons and tons of advice that I cannot forget.

Elder Blake and I had a very interesting experience this past week. Lemme just tell ya my testimony of the Priesthood has been strengthened immensely. I will just share with you the end of my journal from that day: Through all of this, my testimony of this gospel has been strengthened. My testimony of the priesthood has been freshly renewed. My testimony of God and His timing and His plan and His hand in my life has been restored. I HAVE a powerful and lasting testimony of my Savior Jesus Christ and his divinity. And ONLY through the incomprehensible act of charity that he performed, the eternal and everlasting gift of the Atonement, do I know this is true. In HIS name, Jesus Christ, the Beloved Lamb of God, amen.

I know, I know it doesn't sound like me... because it wasn't. That night I had gone through so many emotions that it wasn't me writing in my journal but it was the Spirit writing in it so I will never forget what I felt that day. Jesus Christ loves YOU! Don't ever forget it. Please, please, please don't forget that He is there and WANTS to bless you. Have a great, uplifting week.

Love you all,
Elder Kenyon Matua

New Updates: 21 July - 5 August

22 JULY

Yes, yes we finally got them and we are loving it and it is paying off so much right now. We haven't been able to stay in touch with our recent convert much but now that we have these phones it's constant communitcation and the list just goes on and it's only been 3 days with these phones.

Zone conference was great! President's segment was about repentance and what it really is and how we can teach it better. He shared a quote from Howard W. Hunter that I loved, "Repentance is the homesickness of the soul".

We had exchanges with the AP's the day before conference and I got to spend the day with Elder Eller. He used to be in our zone before he went to AP so it was good to see him again and serve with him.

The branch had a primary activity on Tuesday to celebrate pioneer day. It was small but it was fun. We had an awesome game night as well that night and so many new people came!

We started teaching another new Roman and he is SOOOO cool! He started explaining a 'what if' in his words about where God lives right now and how He has an influence on our world. He legit started explaining the Plan of Salvation and what prophets are as if it were an alternate universe. It was so cool! We told him that he is exactly right and that it is REAL! It's not just a 'what if'. It ended up being a super cool lesson!

Super, super busy but fun week. Love yall and have a wonderful week!

29 JULY

Sad couple of days because Elder McGrath was here and I had to say good bye. Weird seeing him and Elder Swasey go. It kind freaks me out watching these older missionaries leave, especially my trainer. Time is FLYING!

We had exchanges this last week in Chernivtsi. It was where I was serving before I came here to Lviv so it was cool to go back. I got to serve with Elder Crabtree, from Tennessee. I loved spending the day with him and listening to his southern accent. We got to meet with Andriy, who Elder Tuttle and I had the oppotunity to baptize. He hadn't been coming to church ever since I left so we talked about it and he promised he would come this week. The worst part of this week was coming back from Chernivtsi. There was no trains and it's a 6 hour train ride which means a bus ride will take 8 hours but it was our only option. We bought tickets for the bus and when we went out to get on the bus we saw it was a marshrutka which is a super ghetto city bus. We both looked at each other with fear in our eyes. We had no choice so we got on. It was supposed to be 3 and a half hours to the city in between and it ended up taking 5 hours. So when we got to that city, which was Ternopil, where we've been a few times, we said bag it and we got off. We went to get something to eat and then found a train from there at 8 pm which got us into Lviv at around 11:30. So ya, it was just a really long day. I don't even know if anything I just said made sense but  хай буде.

These last couple of days have been fun because it transfers and there is a lot of switching going on and some people getting stuck here in Lviv with us. I didn't get transfered and neither did Elder Blake so we are both staying as zone leaders here. We are excited because we have a feeling we are going to be here for a while.

I was reading in Alma 53 this morning and noticed something cool.Obviously these are the war chapter so it is hard sometimes to find spiritual things to take away which is what had been happening to me these last couple of studies so I asked Heavelny Father to just give me something this morning during Book of Mormon reading. Of course, the amazing Father He is, he gave me an answer in the 5th verse I read. Cap Moroni was talking about how he captured a lot of Lamanites and was going to use them as laborers "because it was easier to gaurd them while they were at labor". That immedietly hit me. It doesn't sound like something that you would immedietly think is like a spiritual revelation but I took it as one. I kind of related Moroni's situation to God and the laborers to ours. No, He doesn't force us to work but as we are BUSY and WORKING and MINISTERING, it makes it easier for our Heavenly Father to watch over us. It reminded me of the quote "an idle mind is a playground of the devil". As we stay busy in the work of the Lord as members of His church, He will continue to bless us. I LOVE this work, HIS work, and I love all of you. Have an amazing week.

5 AUGUST

This week was so good but so tiring. Mostly because we had to go to Kyiv and the travel there was not fun. Our first train was Wednesday night at 11 pm and it got in at 7 am Thursday morning. Then our train home was Thursday night at 11pm and we got back home to Lviv at 7 am. So ya it was a tiring couple of days but totally worth it.

We were in Kyiv because we had MLC at president's house. We got to their house super early because our train got in so early and we felt so bad but Sister Kumferman is just the best and she made us four breakfast. MLC was really good. President's training for us was awesome. He focused a lot on going back to the basics which is "Our Purpose" as missionaries. It was really humbling for me to see how busy president is and how overwhelmed he probably is but for him to be so focused on us as leaders helping us understand that it all comes down to the basics was amazing. I love that he read from Matthew 28, the Great Commission, and he related it to us and exactly what we are doing. The work I get to be a part of is AMAZING!! That we all get to be a part of!

We also found time to go to the temple and man was I grateful for that. I definitely felt spiritually fresh and restarted for this next transfer.

We met with a kid named Ross who is about my age and he is awesome!! He came to English practice a couple months ago but then we lost contact after that. Out of the blue, 2 months later, he called me! He asked how I was doing and said that he wanted to meet. We taught him the message of the Restoration and he seemed very open and accepting. He mentioned so many times how much he loves to learn more and he asked so many questions and we are praying that he will continue to grow spiritually to accept the invitation to come unto Christ and His gospel.

We got to meet with our man Roman again and we discussed the Plan of Salvation. He was so into it that he stood up around the board and asked us to draw it out for him and he was so interested. He really seemed to like it and I was glad. At the end he mentioned how most christians believe that we were somewhere before this life and now on earth and after we will go to heaven or hell. Then he said, "That's what I know. Well I guess that's what I KNEW". SO COOL!

Really cool line that popped out while I was reading in Alma this last week was chapter 50 verse 19 "And thus we see how merciful and just are the dealings of the Lord, to the fulfilling of ALL his words unto the children of man". His word will ALWAYS be fulfilled. He has a plan and it's real. Love you all and have an amazing week.

Week One with Elder Peterson - April 22

Russian Escape Rooms are so fun!

First week is always a bit of an adjustment. Elder Petersen and I get along super well and we are so excited to serve together. The only thing that took adjusting was getting settled in this apartment, and this apartment is, eh, so we did a lot of renovating and fixing this place up. We replaced around 30 lights...I don't know why but there is 67 lights in this apartment so we didn't need them all but we can actually see now it's great. We had a super good P-Day last week. We ended up doing an escape room after we went bowling and it was way fun. We were pretty proud of ourselves because we got the fastest time of the month and it was all in Russian, and we hardly know Russian.

I got to do a lot of showing Elder Petersen around the city and it was actually good because I haven't been here for very long so I got to see a lot I haven't seen before. It was interesting because we were walking around Thursday night and we saw a ton of Indian people all dressed up in like celebration clothes and they were all taking pictures and stuff. There are a ton of students here studying but we had no idea what was going on, they were like driving around, hanging out the windows with the Indian flag and they were all cheering and yelling these chants back and forth with all their friends on the streets, it was pretty crazy. We still have no idea what it was.

Our favorite Georgian food joint

We met with one of our new investigators for the second time and it went really well. He had some interesting questions but for the most part we were able to stay on topic. He has a hard time getting carried away and talking about random stuff but he seemed a little more interested this time. He also prayed at the end and it was one of the best prayers I have heard from an investigator. He just said everything he was thinking and asked Heavenly Father to help him know if the Book of Mormon is true and if Joseph Smith was a prophet. A really cool experience.

Elder Petersen hooked me up with some shoe glue!

Finished off the week with celebrating Easter and my birthday yesterday. Elder Petersen and the sisters here in Chernivtsi made it a good one. Huge props to the sisters, they made doughnuts that tasted just like Krispy Kreme and Elder Petersen and I whipped up a super good dinner. Thank you for all the birthday wishes! I hope you all had a wonderful Easter and had the opportunity to spend some extra time thinking about the Savior and His life and ministry. I love my Savior Jesus Christ and everything He did for me.


Love you all and have an amazing week!
Elder Kenyon Matua

Updates for 4 March and 11 March

Washed our clothes old skool

Transfers!

We got transfer texts! I will be serving as the new district leader in Chernivtsi! I will be serving in a trio with 2 trainees that are just finishing being trained by my trainer. I am excited to go to a new city and excited to see what serving in a trio is like.

We had a fun family home evening at the restaurant that one of the members sings at. She invited us all there, us and the Polischuk family, to have dinner and talk but unfortunately she wasn't singing. But it was still super fun.

I taught everyone how to play the card game kems on Tuesday. After years and years of playing it I still don't know if it's called kems or kemps but whatever. It was super fun and we all got into it. The last English practice here was fun and I am sad to be leaving such cool people.

Our washing machine was broken all week but luckily we had the other apartment and ran over there a few times to do laundry. The only bad thing is it takes almost 30 min to get there so it was a pain, but worth the clean clothes. We finally got ours fixed but we haven't even tried to see if it works. The repair man came in here and messed around with it for like 20 min and then left....but I'm sure it's fine....

Elder Stott finally won a game of Phase-10

We got some super super super exciting news yesterday. We will finally be getting smart phones!! Everyone is super pumped. Except of course the few that are leaving soon. We are all super excited to have 8 new missionaries in our zone and get  to know all of them.

I am so excited and so ready to go to a new city. I am sad to be leaving but also very happy, bittersweet.

Chernivitsi

Chernivtsi is a cold, bleak place

This week was very busy and very tiring. I got into Lviv last week, Monday night at 11:30 and then had to catch a train here to Chernivtsi at 4 am. Got in around 10:30 am and met my new companions Elder Taran, from Ukraine, and Elder Tuttle, from Highland Utah. It has already been interesting serving in a trio, makes cooking on a little tiny stove fun. Chernivtsi is a super cool city. I wish I was here in the summer because it will be twice as cool but its getting there.

We are working with some very cool people right now. One of them is named Andriy and he has a baptismal date for April 6. We had a lesson about the Word of Wisdom because he has a small problem with smoking but he hasn't smoked since last week and we are trying super hard to keep him going.

We had a good sacrament meeting, I spoke and both sisters spoke as well. The branch is very small. Only 18 people came to church. But that just means we got a lot of work to do. We did some Less-active stop-by's which went really well. One of them was about an hour out of the city and it was a really good stop by. We were able to take them the sacrament and they were so grateful for it. They can't really come to church every week because they can't afford a bus to get down here so it was really cool to see how grateful they were to receive the sacrament.

I am excited for whats ahead in this city. It'll take some getting used to especially because everyone starts every conversation in Russian. But might as well start learning now. Have an amazing week!!


Elder Kenyon Matua

Transfer Calls

English practice

This week was a very slow one to be honest. It was still good, just slow. Mostly because Elder McGrath got super sick which was not good at all. He had a hard time functioning for a couple days. So I got a lot, a lot, a lot of studying and cleaning in. Well, mostly studying.

Good news is, he is feeling tons better and we had a good last week together. Yes, we got transfer calls and sadly Elder McGrath is leaving me. Well he says he's finally escaping me, whatever that means. I am gonna miss serving with him so much and I'm gonna miss all the fun experiences.

Paper plane activity

Our investigator, Kate, is doing awesome right now. She came to church again yesterday and had another good time. We really hope she continues to come and continues to grow. She called while Elder McGrath was sick and asked if he was doing OK. She is just super nice and super amazing. And so is Vika! Also while he was sick she brought us a bunch of fruit and snacks! She is such an amazing member and an amazing friend. We have seen her testimony grow so much.

The rest of the week was pretty normal. Elder McGrath said a lot of good-byes and we ate at a couple of his favorite restaurants here before he leaves. We will be splitting up tomorrow and traveling alone, which is going to be super weird. But I got news that I will be serving with Elder Stott! I am super excited to be serving with him and I am excited for what's in store this next transfer.

Wanted to leave you with another thought! I was reading the temple dedicatory prayer for the Kyiv, Ukraine temple. In it, it says, "The Atonement brought about by Thy Son gives us purpose to our being and turns our thoughts heavenward". I  love that so much. The Atonement of Jesus Christ, our

A random pic of Rivne

Savior, is what gives us PURPOSE in this life. And because of it, our thoughts should always be turned to Him and to our Heavenly Father. I am so, so, so grateful for the Atonement and the role it plays in our lives. Especially for the role it plays in mine. I know that if we continue to strengthen our relationship with Him and with our Heavenly Father, we will be blessed in ways we can't imagine. I love this gospel and I love this work!

Sorry for another short email but limited on time now so they won't be very long anymore. But I love you all and have an awesome week!


з Любов'ю,
Старійшина Матуа

More games on activity night

Lesson with Tina and her grandma

The Polischuk family (my fam ... LOL)

Sister Timochko and Bohdan

The last week in the MTC

The best zone ever!

Heading out this coming Monday and couldn't be happier. All of us are so ready to leave. Not really ready to go to a foreign country where we don't understand the language though. But we all just wanna leave this place.

Nothing too exciting this week. The most exciting thing was getting our flight plans. It was like Christmas morning. As soon as one person saw them, everybody rushed to the computers. We fly to Portland, then Amsterdam, then Ukraine! Got an email from the mission and they are pretty excited for us! Can't wait!

We also are leaving the MTC undefeated in soccer. For like 27 weeks now. Eastern Europe be taken dubs out here.

Leaving the MTC undefeated soccer champs

Had our last Skype TRC yesterday and it was super fun! We taught a native Ukrainian named Irop (Ihor). I went really well. He was super funny. Gonna miss Skyping them but hey, now it'll be for real. Super Nervous.

Very small email because once again, nothing to write about.

I will share what we heard last night in our last Tuesday devotional though. President Robert C. Gay, a member of the seventy presidency, spoke to us. One thing he talked about that stood out to me is that faith is a daily decision. We have to decide everyday to choose to be faithful. "Faith has a short shelf life". We also mentioned that we have to "Decide to decide". We need to decide that we will start making decisions in our lives on a daily basis. Chose to show your faith in Christ every. single. day. Choose to follow His example. I know He lives. I know God lives. I love them so very much and look forward to returning to their presence.


I love all of you and thank you for the support!

Старійшина Матуа

Elder Fanaika left for St. Louis

My last 5AM laundry day

Getting ready for the day

Week 7 - MTC

Been waiting for this dude - Elder Stosich!

Can't Believe Its September!! What's even worse to think is I've been here since July... I can't wait to get out into the field. We are all at that point where we are all so ready to leave but not ready to go. If that makes any sense. We just all wanna get outta here but we are all scared to go to the field because then it's real.

Another part of being here for so long is we really do the same thing everyday. I mentioned this in my last email but it really is true. Our lives are on repeat. One of the most exciting things was probably that we got chick-fil-a for dinner Monday night. And also super jealous of Elder Chappell and Elder Black (both elders going to Estonia). They are in New York right now picking up their visas.....THEY FLEW TO NEW YORK and they come back tonight!! And they get to go on splits with the missionaries in New York!!! Ah so jealous.

We had a really good Sunday this past week. Every Sunday after the devotionals, they show films in a bunch of different rooms around the MTC. This week our district went and watched a talk given by Elder Holland to the MTC a few years ago called "Open Your Mouth". He talked about so much and it was so hard to take notes cuz he just kept going and it seemed like he didn't take a breath. One

We're bored - so we drew on the board

thing he talked about that stuck with me, was he shared that one of the greatest 'open your mouth' passages, that most people don't think about often, is The First Vision. As Joseph was started to pray, he made an account that an evil spirit had come over him and HIS TONGUE WAS BOUND. Elder Holland went on saying Satan can't kill you. It's impossible for him to kill anyone. He also said that if Satan could kill anyone, Joseph would've been the first person he targeted. But because he couldn't kill Joseph the next thing closest to it was binding his tongue. "Just short of taking a life". And that's how important it is for us to Open our Mouths. It is the best tool we have out here besides the Spirit. Which was what last nights Devotional was on. Elder Kyle S. Mckay spoke to us. It was an amazing devotional also. He talked a lot about how we need to teach with the spirit always. There is too much I could share from his talk but one thing that stuck out to me was he said "We need to stop saying 'how can I better teach with the spirit' and start saying 'how can I better invite the spirit to teach with me'". A little confusing at first but it makes total sense. We need to start inviting the spirit to be present with us while we teach. Let him observe and fill our mouths while we teach.

Sorry not very much to talk about other than devotionals because thats all week look forward to because it's one of the only things thats different every week. And we look forward to choir. Everyone loves choir.

Love you all and thank you for the support and the emails. It is so nice hearing from all of you! Please continue to do so and share you experiences with me.

My recreation clothes!

Week 5 - MTC: 5 Weeks = 5 Years

District temple visit

I have been here for 5 weeks!! It is still so weird to think that. The worst part is knowing I still got 4 more. I just wanna get out into the field but at the same time I am so nervous because I can't speak a lick of Ukrainian to save my life. And because I am 5 weeks in there isn't much to write about because there is nothing new.

Mom you saved my life this last week. It had been a pretty long week already and a stressful one. But then to get a package with a whole pan of panipopo was the best thing that could have happened. That night I heated them up and they were gone in less that a minute. Everyone was a little nervous to eat them at first but as soon as Elder Chappell did and said they were amazing, everybody swarmed.
   
This Sunday we had the opportunity to have President and Sister Martino with our zone all day. President Martino is the president of the MTC. It was super cool. They spoke in our sacrament and we just got to talk to them all day.
   
On Monday, the group that we came in with 5 weeks ago, will be the oldest ones here!! It's pretty fun and kinda weird again that we've been here for so long. We get another group of Russian missionaries in two weeks and I am so excited because we are getting some fun new people! Including Carson Stosich!! Can't wait to see him.
   

Best Zone ever

Finally I can close with the most exciting thing that happened this past week. We finally had an apostle come speak to us!! Elder Christofferson!! It was so cool! The whole time he talked pretty much about how bad we are doing at calling ourselves The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, the word "Mormons or Mormon" is done. We are offending the Lord. And not only that but we are offending Mormon himself. He would be the first to say that this isn't his church. It was pretty crazy. Elder Christofferson is too nice but you could tell is message was a little like directed at us and how bad we are doing at it. He also told us we will be told plenty more at General Conference. So I can't wait to hear what they are gonna say. It starts with us. We can't control what other people say but we can fix what we are saying first. Awesome devotional and we sang Joseph Smith's First Prayer and it was super cool. It was broadcast to all the other MTC's so I think that made everyone sing 10 times louder. Super awesome.
   
Love and miss everyone! Thank you for the love and support!  Sorry the emails are getting shorter and shorter but not much to write about bahahah.

Study time LOL!

April Updates

Visiting the Black Panther again

April 8

Heller!

We are on our way out the door to go to the beach with our zone so I have to email on the phone. This week was really good. Was great to watch conference again. Pretty crazy that it's my last one on the mission. Nothing else really interesting happened this week. Maybe I'll have some fun stories next week.

Have a good one

April 15

Whats up!

Today is transfer day but no one in our house got transferred so its just like a normal Pday for us. Actually most of our mission stayed the same which is really weird. I will probably finish my mission here in Gwangan since I only have this transfer and one more after it. Which is okay since its a really nice area.

Enjoying dinner with some friends

This week went by really fast. I cut like our entire districts hair this week. And I let elder Evaga cut mine so it looks sad but it will grow back...hopefully. My friend Yoo Jae Young from Geujoeng come and took us out to dinner on Saturday. And he brought the convert who Elder Haskell and I met.

Yesterday one of our members brought his nephew who is a non-member to church and he became an investigator. He is a really cool kid and he's a sophmore in high school. He seemed like he really wanted to go home during Sacrament but the last two hours he really enjoyed it. And when he stood up to introduce himself in Priesthood he said he's gonna come to church every week to prepare for baptism.

Nothing else really exciting happened this week. I think I am just used to weird things now so I dont even realize it when they happen.

April 22

Hello, Im still alive. not too much to write about today. Pretty normal week.

had a great day at church yesterday. We played soccer with our district on Saturday and our investigator came and also came to church yesterday. We had an inactive member come to English

The District

class and at first I didn't know he was even a member but then he started talking about his mission that he served about five years ago. Then we found out that the book and teaching materials we were using in our class were all made by him. And I actually know his family because they are in Hogye ward where I served. We are working with him to come back out to church but he just has some problems with our ward members. skrrt!

Well hope yall have a great week.

New Updates: November 12 - December 3

November 12 

With Elder Stout overlooking our area in Jeju

We just got back from a place called sunrise peak with an investigator. His name is Mr. Campbell. an american with a Bulgarian wife and Korean daughter who has been living in Korea for the past like 30 years. They were nice enough to take us to sunrise peak with them which is a huge crater about an hour away on the east side of the island.

This week was really good. Last Monday we went down to Jeju city to hang out with the other missionaries. We went down to the beach and played soccer for a little until Elder Lee kicked the ball into the ocean. We got some fishers to try to fish it out for us but it didn't work. They kept telling us to swim out and get it but we explained that we cant. We ended up using the emergency life saver tube thing. The circle thing that floats and has a rope attached to it so you can throw it out to people. We used that and eventually saved our ball.

We met with a few of our investigators this week. The one that came to church last week is scheduled to be baptized on the 26th so hopefully he will be ready.  We met with our Filipino friends at their house with brother yoon. They cooked us some filipino food then we invited them to the ward dinner the next day. It was funny when we walked in with them because no one know they were coming.

In church yesterday the member who was teaching in 3rd hour made me and Elder Stout get up in front of the ward and do a proselyting role play. It was so awkward, but it was funny. He made some of the youth get up and help us. Also James Bond came to church which is always fun. It has been awesome serving on Jeju and I hope I get to stay here a while.

November 19

Stocked up on tangerines

Another great week on Jeju. Its starting to get a lot colder around here but its nothing like Utah. On Thursday we went over to one of our investigators farms and picked tangerine for a couple ours. It was just me, Elder Stout, and a bunch of old Korean ladies. They would always yell at us if we picked any that were to small or too big or the wrong color, but it was fun.

Also every Friday we go over and half dinner with our Filipino friends at their house. They all live together in a small house on the work site. There is also some Indonesian guys who live right next store and came over to eat as well. They cook us some Filipino food and then we teach them a lesson right before we leave. The stake/district president, Brother Voon, also comes with us and uses his very basic English to communicate with them.

Yesterday I had to speak in sacrament... again. But I think it went well. And then we went to Jeju city for a social media meeting. And James Bond begged to come with us so he rode with us down there. and back. Then last night while me and Elder Stout were walking down the street in downtown, we walked past a tied up plastic bag that started moving. We went back to it and it had stopped moving so we kicked it and it just started floppin around. Neither of us were down to open it up to see what was inside though. Probably a human hand. J/K. But yeah good week. Sogwipo is doing great and the work is movin. Hope you all have a great week.

November 26

With our buddy, James Bond

Pretty fast week. We had zone conference on Saturday which was a lot different than all my other zone conferences since there are only 8 missionaries on the island. President Jeong popped in on us for a surprise house inspection Friday night. Luckily our house was clean. We did get roasted for the 8-XL pizza boxes we had ordered though. Then the AP's slept over and we all stuffed in the back of presidents car for an hour ride to Jeju.

Thursday we played basketball with our Filipino friends and our branch president. We had to find an indoor court since the Filipino's said its too cold outside. We found a navy base with some nice courts and we will start playing weekly with them.

When elder stout and I went looking for the navy base the day before we were stopped by a korean lady that lectured us for thirty minutes about how evil the navy base is and how it needs to be taken out.

We are preparing Soeqwipo's Christmas party which is in a few weeks. Are branch president gave us the assignment and when we asked what we should use for decorations he just told us to use the ones from Halloween. He also asked me and elder stout to perform something but we have no idea what to do so that will be interesting.

Chillin in our flat

The branch here is doing awesome. Its a little bit hard finding people here but we have recieved some awesome refferals. We have two weeks left in the transfer and hopefully I can do another on the island.

December 3

Really fast week. I cant even remember anything that happened. But saturday night our gas ran out so we had to take freezing cold showers sunday morning and cook all our food at the church with james bond. We have also been sitting at home all morning waiting for thd gas guy to come on a p day.

But it was a good week. The old couple that we have been teaching came back from seoul so we have been ablw to meet with them again. Unfortunately they will be moving to seoul at the end of the month.

Finding in our beautiful area

We are getting ready for our Christmas party which will be very... interesting. But helps that we just got a new ward mission leader who is awesome.

This is the last week of the transfer so we will see what happens on Saturday. hope you all have a great week.

What the....? C'mon McDonald's