Pretty much the entire time I've been in Korea I've only heard Korean songs with the occasional Korean song that's in English. Way back when in my first area I was walking past some sketchy businesses in an alley when all of a sudden I realized the speaker to my left was playing "Who's Crying Now" by Journey, specifically at the solo. I don't think many of you know how crazy that is to me, literally one of my most favorite songs and guitar solos and bam.. right then. But it happened again this week. I was on an exchange with my zone leader Elder Monney and we were ripping through a subway station trying to get somewhere on time, and passing a business I definetely heard the bass line and guitar solo of "New Light" by John Mayer and something died inside of my while I was running away from the source. So yeah... the two American songs I've heard so far are:
1 Who's Crying Now - Journey
2 New Light - John Mayer
How.
Anyways, the exchange was absolutely fire. I went to Daejon and spent the night there. In the morning we went to a Samgyeopsar restaurant for a member appointment, then went and played board games for another apointment, and then that night played some basketball.
In between the board games and the basketball there were a few hours of finding, and not gonna lie neither of us were very motivated and everyone was rejecting us so it was kind of annoying. Elder Monney asked me when I felt the most motivated and I said after a fervent prayer, so we both took a moment and said some prayers. Before we started our finding we had held a companionship council, and Elder Monney told me that I should prioritize Jesus when finding, because a lot of missionaries (me) frequently resort to English when they're finding. He told me that that wasn't why any of us were actually in Korea, and that I would be blessed in focusing on Christ.
With that in mind after our prayer, I was feeling much better. The first guy I saw walking to the subway I started talking to, and he got on the same train as me. We talked for a very long time and I ended up talking about Jesus and bearing testimony of the Book of Mormon. He gladly took a book of mormon, and then started reading it. Before he got off I got his number so we can meet with him and talk some more about it. After he got off, I went over to an older lady who I noticed was watching the whole time and talked to her for about 10 minutes, she was very interested in English class and literally had me take her phone and sign her up, which has never happened to me before lol. While talking to the lady, there was a girl about my age across the train that watched the whole thing too. At some point every seat filled up on the train and I hit a missionary pro-gamer move (I stood up and told an old lady to sit down) which might not seem like much but lowkey koreans don't be doing that much and every time you do it every grandma on the train or bus that sees immediately loves you. At the next stop an old man got on the train and that girl I was talking about jumped up out of her seat so he could sit, to which I gave her a massive thumbs up and face of approval. She walked over to me and we talked until I had to get off, she was interested in a little gospel and English and gave me her number. After the train ride when we were back up on the street, we were waiting at a crosswalk when I looked at Elder Monney to talk to him and noticed a girl that thought I was trying to talk to her and had taken both headphones out (a miracle) and was waiting for me to talk to her. That was mediocrly awkward so I looked to my right to give her a moment to put her headphones back in and think I didn't notice, and theeen I tried talking to her. Mad smooth lowkey. Anyways, got her number too. It was absolutely crazy, getting rejected by everyone to getting four contacts in basically one train ride. We got 7 new people in that exchange. Definitely a miracle.
There's a lot of indicators that you can look to to measure your improvement in a language, and I have found that my favorite one is understanding more of Gangnem Style every time I hear it lol.
Sejong is sooo weird. This place is literally an ant hill. There's an absolutely massive government building in the center of the city and a million people will file into it at 8 in the morning, and then you won't see anybody on the street until 5. Not quite ideal for finding people but we have ways. Also weird that every adult moved here cause this city is only 10 years old. Also the architechture is fire, there's so many sick buildings here. We even have a rip off Seoul Tower.
I played some guitar and sang at a member party last night, and I think it's funny how different some of the hymns are when you translate them into Korean. Can't quite fit the same meaning into the text haha.
This summer heat is killing me. One of my go to sentences for starting a conversation is "yo why don't yall sweat" because Koreans don't sweat. They think it's funny because I always look disgusting cause I'm literally dripping and they are dry. I don't understand it. It's so dang hot. I sweat more standing at a bus stop than I did shoveling trenches all day at work in Idaho. Humidity was definetly introduced post Garden of Eden. Dang it Eve.
My chemical burn is still making my hands look nasty so I feel bad shaking people's hands lol.
We met with a man named 민 for the first time this week. That was honestly the best first lesson I've ever had with someone, you can tell when someone is super prepared for the gospel. He's come to church two weeks in a row now, and he's been to every ward activity we've invited him to, including family night last night. He bore a testimony last night, and I didn't understand a most of it, but I understood the end when he said, "I have been to many churches over the years and stopped. But I am going to put my best efforts into this church because something is different." I looked at my comp and we shared a silent fist pump of celebration. He also took us out to get food Saturday night, and it was gas.
Spiritual thought:
Prayer is crazy. You have the creator of the Universe on speed dial. I saw several more miricles through prayer that I didn't mention this week, take the time to say more meaningful prayers this week and I know you will be blessed.
"If we “ask not amiss,” there are no limits to when, where, or about what we should pray. According to the revelations, we are to “pray always.” We are to pray, Amulek said, for “those who are around you,” with the belief that the “fervent prayer of a righteous [people] availeth much.” Our prayers ought to be vocal when we have the privacy to so offer them. If that is not practical, they should be carried as silent utterances in our heart. We sing that prayers are “motion[s] of a hidden fire,” always to be offered, according to the Savior Himself, to God the Eternal Father in the name of His Only Begotten Son." - Elder Holland
I took this advice this week and said my prayers out loud when I could. Man it changed a lot. Give it a try.
Speaking of which, thank you all for your prayers. I have been feeling very blessed.
Love y'all
- Elder Moser
Current Weight: 195.8
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