August 29, 2022 - ChungJu

 This is another two week email, and keep buckled because it's been busy!


I'll start with Zone conference, which if you have read my comments on previous zone conferences, it will not surprise you to know that it was fantastic. I went in with two specific questions and proceeded to get 4 trainings to specifically answer them. I got to spend time with other phenomenal missionaries, hear the good word of God, and revisit Daejeon two weeks after I left it. The city is still as comfortable as I remember, missionaries continue to be the best company, and the Word of God continues to be the lifeblood of my time as a missionary.

The big takeaway from zone conference was to work with and through the members of our areas, and as me and my companion returned to Chungju, we thought of effective ways to do that. The next day, over the course of several separate ideas, line upon line, that were then combined, we came up with our foolproof Chungju Member Missionary Work Program (tm) and got to work. The plan involves writing our testimonies on the back of a printed picture of Jesus Christ, visiting with youth, giving them our picture as well as a blank one, and asking them to write why they believe in Jesus Christ and give it to a friend. It has been great so far and wwe have just gotten started! I'm excited to do some member visiting all this next week.

One night this week in particular stands out to me tonight. We had had a lovely meal with the Bishop's family, which was a miracle on its own, but we left that appointment and found ourselves in the middle of nowhere 6 kilometers from home. We had taken a bus to the apartment, but we didn't have any other appointments that night so we decided to walk home, despite the fact that we were not in the boundaries of the city proper. By sheer chance, we began almost in stride with an elderly couple who were out for their nightly walk. We started chatting and discovered that the man had been a pastor for his church years ago! We had a lovely discussion about our favorite hymns and scriptures, and they asked if we could share a meal sometime, which of course we will do! This got us to the boundaries of the main city, but it was getting late, so we decided to take a bus the rest of the way there. Yet on the way to the terminal we ended up chatting with 4 different people and exchanging numbers. We finally get to the bus stop 2 minutes before the next bus, but curiously the bus does not come. The person next to us is having a conversation in full english, which of course grabs our attention. She gets off the phone and before we can even say hello she asks "Hey, are you the mormons?" Turns out, she had been baptized 5 years ago in Australia and had moved to Chungju 3 months ago! She seems to have been inactive for a long time, but she told us, with tears in her eyes, that she had been missing the peace that church brought. We exchanged information and she will be coming back to church this coming Sunday!

God is a God of miracles! I have come to know that that is even more clear when we seek for and expect miracles. This week, as you live your best lives, go and do some miracle seeking! I know you can find and enjoy all that God wants you to as you do so. Have a great week!

Elder Wardle

Pictures: Beautiful Chongju, Elder Smith and I living our best lives













Location: Chungju-si, Chungcheongbuk-do, South Korea

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