January 3, 2022 - Gimje

 My 21st Birthday


This week is going to be two weeks worth of content, because somebody forgot to hit send on last week's email and it ended up sad and alone, sitting in my outbox for a week. I don't know who that was, but I've rearranged the info to fit in this week's email.

We have slowly been losing our minds doing Facebook finding all day, so one thing we have started doing is just traveling to random locations and talking to people along the way. We are still unable to do street contacting, but we are absolutely able to say hello to everyone we meet, and if they engage us in a conversation we are able to talk! We have visited a few of the satellite villages in the area, but without much success, considering these "villages" aren't much more than a gas station, a cafe, and half a dozen houses that may or may not be abandoned, so we will likely be sticking to the main road in 긴제 (Gimje).

Christmas was also way more simple than I'm used to! Christmas is definitely celebrated over here, but in the same way that memorial day is, where the most exciting thing about the holiday is that you don't have to go to school. That being said, it is an excellent opportunity for us to serve others, and that is exactly what we did! On Christmas Eve we took a trip to the apartment complex in the middle of nowhere where basically half the ward lives and shared a brief Christmas message. On Christmas day we went with the Branch President to visit some less active members and give them cartons of egg and bags of rice, and the light in their eyes when they saw us visit was absolutely amazing!

On New Years Eve our mission had a mission activity in 전주, and it was really fun meeting all the missionaries from the other zones! I got to meet a lot of the new missionaries, and they are all fantastic. It really is a great spiritual and motivational recharge to meet up with other missionaries, talk about how everyone is doing, and just have fun. New Years was also fun! Here in Korea, age is measured a little differently. You start at 1, and you age up at the start of the New Year. That means I am now 21, which is crazy considering I was only 18 when I started my mission 6 months ago! 

Considering it's the start of the new year, I'm sure many of you have set up some new resolutions to go along with it. Maybe you have a long list of things you want to do, or maybe you kept it to a brief list of things you want to accomplish. I've been able to take this opportunity to step back and think about what kind of things I want to accomplish as a missionary. One of the more powerful realizations I've had as I've been pondering is that in God's eyes, what I become is much more important than what I do. I still can't do many of the things I want to or even have to do as a missionary, and at times that is incredibly frustrating. But while I may be lacking in the "do" category, when I think about how God feels about what I have had a chance to become here in Korea, I feel nothing but peace and encouragement. This coming year I have resolved myself to continue to become a better servant of the Lord, to become more focused on others, and to become more like Christ. I invite all of you to ponder and pray about what the Lord wants you to become this year, and when you receive that answer, take steps to accomplish that!

I hope you all have a fantastic 2022!

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Elder Wardle

Pictures: Areas in Gimje, Christmas gifts and phone call, Zone activity









Location: Gimje-si, Jeollabuk-do, South Korea

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