Monday, March 6, 2017

Week Twenty-three

Dear People,

I am really sick of males. My sense of humor is all gone now sorry, I'm just going to give up and embrace Korean humor which isn't funny to anyone besides Koreans. 

We met a 22 year-old Chinese guy who is has been here a year and is pretty good at Korean, but almost no English. It feel super good to understand every word he says in his simple Korean. His name is Ryu-Joon-Wei and he has never heard of Jesus Christ. That is a slap in the face. They did role-plays like that in the MTC, so I've heard the words "No, I've never heard of Him." but hearing that from a real person trips brain circuits. Chinese people are super famous in the Korean mission for being super awesome and accepting and humble, so I'm super excited to meet with him more. When we invited him to church he asked us how much it costs to come.

Here's a quote from a book:
In the mission field, my companion and I were teaching a Harvard University student. After we told him the Joseph Smith story and bore our testimonies to him, as we had done many times before, he said, “Wait a minute. Are you telling me you believe God and Christ appeared to Joseph Smith and told him he was to set up a new church?” We said we did believe that. He continued the interrogation: “You also believe an angel gave plates to Joseph Smith, who translated them into the Book of Mormon, and that the Savior appeared to the people on this continent?” We said we did. “You also believe the president of your church is a prophet who receives revelation from God, as did Adam, Noah, and Abraham?” We said we did. Getting more animated by the minute, the investigator said, “That is the most incredible story I have ever heard. If I really believed all of that, I wouldn’t be able to sleep. I would run down the streets screaming it to everyone. Why aren’t you more excited about it?” That was a penetrating question.

Why aren't we more excited about it? 

There is kind of an apathetic culture in our mission because baptism expectations are really low because it's such a low baptizing country we hear "Baptisms aren't what's most important" a lot and that is true, but this scripture kind of sums up how we should feel about hard missions:

Moroni 9:6 And now, my beloved son, notwithstanding their hardness, let us labor diligently; for if we should cease to labor, we should be brought under condemnation; for we have a labor to perform whilst in this tabernacle of clay, that we may conquer the enemy of all righteousness, and rest our souls in the kingdom of God.

A low baptizing mission should mean you work harder, it's not an excuse to be more relaxed with your time and wait for the random miracles. I've been sucked into some relaxed habits and I've got to change. 

Another one of my favorite scriptures this week is 
James 4:17 Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.

I want to get to the point where this kind of sin is the only thing I have to repent of each night. Where my only struggle is not doing as much good as I am capable of. 

I left my side bag with my camera at a bus stop in a different city yesterday, the Elders there are going to try to find it, but for now I am without a camera. At that bus stop I talked to a SUUPER old guy, the oldest person I've seen in Korea, and surprisingly I understood just about everything he said! He thanked me for learning Korean, and asked what the word for Missionary was in English. He looked me directly in the eyes as we were talking, I sensed so much wisdom in him and felt so much love for him. I love old people.

Life's good, I'm loving everything. Don't apostatize until I get back.

-Elder Brown

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