December 13, 2021 - Gimje
We Got One!
We started the week off with Zone conference! It was done through zoom on a per zone basis which was unusual. It was supposed to be a "part 1" meeting, with the second part happening at the mission home for a special christmas zone conference, but due to numerous complications regarding increased COVID regulations, several schedule changes were made in quick succession before eventually just dropping part 2. It worked out though, because part 1 was AMAZING! It focused on exactly what I wanted to learn personally as well as what we need to do specifically in 김제 (Gimje). It's almost like magic when you get messages you have been wanting without ever sharing that you want them. God really does know and speak to each of our hearts and it is awesome.
Later in the week I went on an exchange with Elder Kirschner. What a great elder! I was able to learn a ton. I got to see how the Stake English Connect class is taught, which was really helpful! Here in 김제 (Gimje), I have been solely responsible for the class, and considering how I had never seen it taught before, I have been making most of it up, and seeing how Kirschner runs it was educational. It was also very motivating to be able to struggle with the language with someone more at my level. He definitely has better Korean than me, but I normally exclusively talk with native speakers, and being able to express concerns with someone dealing with similar difficulties was very comforting.
Coming back from the exchange we had our first youth activity in 김제 (Gimje), and it was great! We had two member young men come, and we played Settlers of Catan, known as 카탄 in Korea. The environment was just what we wanted. It is the perfect ground for us to get our youth to invite their friends AND for us to strengthen the youth themselves.
That night we also found a new teaching friend! He messaged me on HelloTalk because he couldn't believe there could be a foreigner living in a place like 김제 (Gimje) and wanted to see if I was a real person. Surprise! I exist! And the best part is that he is not only interested in meeting with us more, but he has been considering joining a church recently, has a friend that already introduced him to the Book of Mormon, and was willing to share some personal experiences with us that will make our Plan of Salvation lesson very special!
Sunday was crazy. Note to all bishops and branch presidents: if you want the foreign missionary to give a talk in testimony meeting, give him more than 5 minutes advance notice. Korean is hard enough as is, but on the podium it seems to vanish into thin air! I survived, but I am not 100% sure anyone understood me. Afterwards I did a short writeup of what I tried to say, which is included at the bottom if anyone is interested. It's short and crude, but next time I am going to have something pre-prepared I can whip out the next time I have to spontaneously speak. We also made peanut butter cookies, which we delivered to families with youth tonight. They actually turned out really tasty, and we were able to meet with everyone we wanted to in order to give them the cookies. We even got our foot in the door of one youth we had so far been unable to meet due to his busy schedule!
Christmas is quickly approaching, and I had a chance to study the birth of Christ this past week. Every year I take away something new. This year I was reminded about the humble circumstances of the Lord's birth. There are no worldly celebrations, nor physical displays of glory. In fact, there isn't much of anything other than the Lord Himself. The simplicity helps us focus on the only thing that matters in the first place, the Birth of our Savior. He is all that is needed to turn the humble scene into something instantly recognizable across the world and something of eternal significance to our souls. If you haven't already, I invite all of you to study the account of the Savior's birth found in Luke 2. As you do, you can focus your Christmas celebrations on the one who brings the most Christmas cheer of all!
I hope you are all doing well! You are all in my thoughts and prayers. Keep on keeping on, wherever you may be! 화이팅!
월들 장로
Elder Wardle
P.S. Sorry I didn't get hardly any pictures this week.
안녕하세요! 오늘 저는 신앙에 대해 이야기하고 싶습니다. 먼저, 경전 구절을 나누고 싶습니다. 앨마서 32장 21절입니다. [...] 이 구절은 우리가 신앙을 있기 위해 지식 필요 없다고 해요. 우리는 아무신앙 있으면, 하나님께서 우리에게 축복할 것입니다. 하지만, 신앙은 믿는 것만 아니요. 신앙을 있으면, 우리는 행동해야 돼요. 신앙은 행동의 원리입니다. 우리는 기도하고 경전을 공부고 다른 사람에게 봉사해야 됩니다. 이 것을 하면 우리의 신앙을 커질 수 있습니다. 신앙을 커지면, 우리가 축복을 더 받을 수 있습니다. [testify and conclude]
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