January 17, 2022 - Daejeon 1st Ward

 I survived my first week in 대전 (Daejeon)! I've got a ton of content to get to this week; this has been by far the busiest week of my mission so far; we arrived home before 10 only once!


Transfers happened on Tuesday, and I met my new companion Elder Zito! He's great, with a very action oriented mindset. I think we compliment each other well, because our skills don't overlap, so we are going to really have to rely on each other. This is the first companionship of mine where my companion isn't just universally better than me, and carrying my own weight is both rewarding and terrifying, particularly because my Korean is the better of us two, and that's not because I have passable Korean. Good news is is that I'm temporarily in a trio with Elder 성현(Seonghyeon)! He is serving in the 대전 (Daejeon) 2 Ward, and will be companions with one of the missionaries currently in quarantine so we will be in a trio for the first 2 weeks of the transfer. He is a legendary missionary ㅡ attended Seoul University, Cambridge, and BYU, wrote and published his own book on raising teenagers, a convert to the church, got 8 baptisms his first two transfers, etc ㅡ and there is SO MUCH I can learn from him. He is very blunt with his feedback, and I wouldn't want it any other way. 

Wednesday was MLC, where all the zone leaders gathered to talk about the missions needs and successes, and Zito and I tagged along because 성현 is the 대전 (Daejeon) zone leader. We have some fantastic leadership in the mission, and it was a bit intimidating to be among them, but the spirit was so strong, and I came out of that meeting so inspired. The following day was District Leader Training, but rather than attend two meetings back to back, we left district leader Zito by himself in there and 성형, Elder Harmon and I went out on a split and did the work till they were done (work entailing getting fed lunch by someone we thought was interested in learning English but really just wanted to recruit us into her pyramid scheme, and playing basketball with a teaching friend).

That night was very special. It was the baptismal interview for a sister in our area who had been taught by the sisters, and as Zito is the new district leader he was able to give the interview. My companion made a decision I disagreed with, and it was causing me great stress. I stayed out of it because I had no experience nor authority to deal with it. And I am so glad I did. I was having difficulty feeling the spirit due to the stress I was feeling, but a few minutes after leaving, it hit me so hard and testified to me that Zito had made the right decision. It was a huge testimony to me of how through the callings and authority given in this church, God's plan can come into fruition, even when my poor attempt at logic and reasoning feels otherwise.

Friday was district council meeting, which meant our district was able to fully assemble in person for the first time, and it is an awesome group. We have senior missionaries in our district, which is a blessing in so many ways I didn't even realize. 

I'm out of time, which is a shame, because I didn't even get to talk about many of the teaching friends I met, or the baptismal service, or the fact that our ward set a baptism goal for the year of 40 (thats four with a zero at the end, what?) I'll try to write what I forgot next week, but I have to go! Have a great week!!

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Elder Wardle





Location: Daejeon, South Korea

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