January Updates

7 January

Dear friends and Saints in Jeju

Pretty slow week. It's been super hard to find new investigators here. Especially when its new years and everyone is just partying. but we're doin good here in Seoguipo. We got to go over to the Navy base and play basketball again. This time we played some of the soldiers. We also helped our friend John out with moving some furniture into his new school building and I realized how out of shape I am.

We had interviews with President Jeong in Jeju city this week. It was really quick but its always a good time meeting with President Jeong and Sister Kim.

Pretty boring email but not to much goin on. Hope you guys have a great week.

14 January

Great times with this guy

Super cold week. On Wednesday elder 이인영 came over to Seoguipo for exchange and we barely made it over the mountain. It was snowing so bad. Strait blizzard. I thought Jeju was only supposed to be hot. It was super weird to see the beach and all the palm trees covered in snow.
While on exchange we met with elder 이인영's uncle for lunch and I felt super bad making him walk in the snow storm cuz he's like 75 years old. After that we tried to proselyte but there was no one outside. Except for James Bond. We tried to get him to go home since it was so cold but he thought it was really fun.

Then when we got home and tried to order some food all the restaurants said there bike guys can't come because of the snow. We thought we were gone die. We ended up having to actually cook our own food.

We didn't have too much else go on last week. This week is week 6 the last one of the transfer. We get calls on Saturday, hopefully. So we will see what happens.

Everything's going good in Korea and i hope ya'll have a great week. 안녕

21 January

I don't really have any time to email. I got transferred to a place called Gimcheon in Degu Zone. It's super country side but it will be fun. And I'm District Leader and have some super fun missionaries in my district. It was super sad to leave Soeguipo but I told all the members I'll be back to visit after my mission. We got to hop on the subway right now then onto a three hour train ride. Hope you guys have a great week.

28 January

Gimcheon is soooooooooo cold. and it is like the most remote place in the whole mission. but it is Korea so there is still probably more people in this small city than all of Utah.

My new friends Hasan and Saeed

We actually had quite a few appointments this past week. Lot of old crazy people but a few good ones. We had lunch at the branch presidents house two days in a row.  They kept inviting us over since it was negative a thousand degrees outside. We also met with a police officer who is taking the lessons. super nice guy and he also took us out to lunch. then we met with a guy who runs a study room and he is trying to find a career for me.

One Saturday we met with these two guys named Hasan and Saeed who are from Iran. They really want to learn about Jesus and Christianity. They don't really speak any English and very, very little Korean so we communicated by passing Hasan's phone back and forth saying stuff into Google Translate. I also learned some Farsi or Persian... I think its the same language. Then they took us out to eat at a meat restaurant. They are super cool.

Our district is super fun. We have to travel pretty far to get to the other areas which is sort of hard. But one of the teams in our district has to travel three hours just to get to district meeting and then three hours back.

We pressin on here.

Hope ya'll have a great week. 

I'll really miss my friends in Jeju

December Updates

Once again, we have totally failed at posting Elder Mica Matua's email updates. Here are the email's we received in December.

With James Bond at the Branch Christmas Party

10 December

I'm in Busan right now meeting up with my new companion. I have to catch a flight back to Jeju so I don't have much time. My new companion is called Elder Braswell. We are in the same MTC group so we both already know each other.

This week was super fast. We got a bunch of lunch appointments since it was the last week. We met up with our Filo's and ate chicken. They also brought a few of their Indonesian friends. There was sort of a language barrier but it was fun.

I would write more but I have about no time.

Love ya'll

17 December

First week done. It was a good week but we had a lot of appointments cancel on us. Which sucks because we dont have to many appointments in the first place. So we did a lot of proselyting. Plus it snowed here a couple days so its been really cold.

Decorating for the party

At our English class we only had one person come and also James Bond but he just sits there and acts like he knows what we are saying. But we did start a new English class this past week. Well actually someone else started it for us. Our friend John, who owns a restaurant, his mom Lisa set up a free English conversation class in Johns restaurant. We thought we would just be sitting in and helping Lisa when she needs it but when we showed up at the restaurant Friday morning we found out that Lisa wouldn't even be coming and we were supposed to run the whole class. It was a little awkward at first but turned out pretty good. We had six members show up and they were all young moms but they are really cool.

We have also been preparing our Branch Christmas party. Its gonna be good besides the fact the Elder Braswell and I have to do a performance, and the performance our ward mission leader has in mind is... gonna be interesting. James Bond has offered to do a performance as well but I think the members sort of shut it down hahaha.

We will be heading to Busan tomorow and having the mission christmas party on Wednesday. Hope you all have a great week and Merry Christmas!

31 December

Heppi Christmas and Heppi New Yea!!!
I was pretty sick over christmaz but we still had a good time. Its always good to Skype the big fam on Christmas and New Year. Our ward also had a really good Christmas party. Elder Braswell and I had to sing and we totally bombed it. #fail. James Bond also came and brought the party with him.
We aren't doing anything special today for new years but the district president invited us and our Filipino friends over for dinner tonight.

We don't really have anyone to teach at the moment. We were teaching an old couple and even set a baptismal data with them but they moved to Seoul last week. We referred them to the elders down there and they said they would get baptized there.

Besides that not to much else goin on here in Seoguipo. Its crazy is already 2018. is gonna be a big year.

Hope you guys all have a great week and year.

Loving the Christmas hats

When I get bored at night (Christ)

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 

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

Catching up: September 24 - October 15

September 24, 2017

Pretty average week. Don't have too many investigators right now so we do a lot of proselyting. One of the only meetings we had this week was yesterday after church with our friend Chang. He is a Chinese guy that moved here a little bit ago and can't speak any Korean. He ordered some beef from America and barbecued it at his house for us. We had a great time but he was really confused why we wouldn't drink with him. The word of wisdom is definitely going to be the hardest part for him.

Besides that not too much else going on. We haven't heard any more threats from North Korea lately but then again we don't really hear anything. Hope ya'll have a great week.

October 1, 2017

Pretty good week. We got to gone down to a baptism In Yoengdo with one of our investigators which was really cool. Our investigator has known the missionaries ever since he was a little kid and that was the first baptism he has ever been to. And he said he really liked it. The person getting baptized was a members boyfriend and we also got to go to their wedding the next day. They just had it in the chapel and it was very simple. During the ceremony all the old ladies were preparing the food in the back of the room so it was really loud.

Elder haskell and I got kicked out of our house for two days for remodeling but our apartment looks really good now. Not too much else goin on around here. We are all excited to listen to general conference next week. And also next week is a big Korean holiday so we will be getting together as a mission. hope you all have a great week.

October 8, 2017

This week was good. It was general conference week and also a huge Korean holiday week. On Thursday every district in the mission was instructed to go to a museum in our areas. We also had to find certain people and take pictures with them.

On Wednesday the mission got together to do a huge sports day. We played soccer and did relay races. It was nice because it was like the first time I had run in a few months. Then we played one ball dodge ball which was pretty fun.

Elder Haskell and I just watched General Conference at the church by ourselves. Except for Wunday we watched it with the ward. Actually they watched it up stairs in Korean and we watched it downstairs by ourselves again.

Its always really cool to watch General Conference as a missionary. And also a lot easier to stay awake. Every thing here is going great. I hope you all have a great week.

October 15, 2017

Pretty interesting week. We met Iron Man again and he took us out for some lunch. He had to come check up on me and make sure I was doing my part as Black Panther.

Elder Haskell and I sat at the immigration office for like three hours to get our visa extended since we have been here for a year. I went well though. Except for when we tried to walk out the rotating doors and Elder Haskell got stuck in between and the whole building saw it.

Yesterday we had a social media meeting with the Busan youth and young single adults. They announced to all the missionaries that we will be getting smart phones in the next month or two so we were being trained on social media missionary work too. They had all the missionaries help the members but they knew how to work the phone a lot better than we do. It should be really helpful to get the smart phones since all of Korea runs off of them.

They taught us a new term yesterday at the meeting which is smombie, smart phone zombie. Which was funny because we get run into on the street about five times a day by smombies.

Hope ya'll have a great week.