Monday, June 29, 2015

Revelation and Revelator

June 28, 2015

Things went really well with KH, we met, and it was really cool because we planned on teaching about baptism, but in the middle of the lesson, we both had the impression to teach the Restoration instead, and we were able to transition into that without saying anything to each other. It was so cool.

We haven't met Z or M for a couple weeks because it is like fasting month or something for them, so they're busy I guess. J actually lives on the other side of Daegu, almost a different city, so we are going to have to refer him to the missionaries in that area.

So a lot of pretty fun things happened this week, but I don't think I can remember them all. I'll try to give you some of the best ones.

So we were on the subway coming back from an appointment, and there was a guy, who when he saw us, immediately asked us if we were missionaries. He got super interested, and asked for our phone number right away. It was pretty exciting, especially when he asked us if he could meet with us later, maybe at our church. He asked us if we know the Bible very well, particularly Revelation. Then he started whispering, and looking over his shoulder every once in a while as the following conversation commenced:
"Do you know where heaven is?" 
"Not really." 
"I do. Do you you know when the second coming will be?" 
"No idea." 
"I do.  Most people think that they know Revelation, but they don't. Through Revelation, I can teach you the answers to these questions, and more."
I was like, okay, time to leave, this guy is creepy, but it didn't stop there. I asked him if, when we met later, it would be okay for us to share about our religion as well. He obviously didn't care at all about that, he just ignored the question and said: "Make sure you don't tell anyone else about what we talk about. Don't tell your pastor, don't tell other missionaries, don't tell anyone." I asked him why, and he said, "If you tell them about what I teach you, they will tell you not to meet with me anymore, since they don't understand Revelation."  But the thing is, this guy didn't seem crazy at all, he seemed like a completely normal person. It was super creepy. I have actually heard about this religion from Elder Payne, it's called "Shin-cheon-ji" which means "New World," and they are super obsessed with the book of Revelation, and try and prove tons of weird points with it. And they never listen to what you have to say, they are too brainwashed. Apparently they have to pass a test to prove their knowledge of Revelation before they can join the church. And they also sometimes try to infiltrate other religions and destroy them from the inside. Elder Payne heard about one guy who got baptized into our church, and then immediately started trying to convince all the other members that it wasn't true. So yeah, we won't be answering any of his phone calls any time soon :)

Yesterday in church, the missionaries did a presentation about member missionary work. It went really well, we shared the video, "You Never Know," and each of us talked a little bit about it. Then we gave each member a card thing to keep track of people they are trying to share the gospel with. It has a place to check off inviting them to do things like pray, read the scriptures, and meet the missionaries. It seemed like the members accepted it pretty well, so hopefully they get more involved in missionary work in the near future.

Love,
Elder Hines :)

Monday, June 22, 2015

Another Amazing Week

June 21, 2015

So the Filipino guy turned out to be a member, but he was really excited to have found a church he can go to. Apparently he was taking his clothes to get washed, and Z was there at the same time and saw his garments and asked if he was a Mormon. When he said yes, Z gave him our phone number. So it was pretty cool that he was in the right place at the right time, since he was having trouble finding a church. 

Not much happened with the doctor this week, because Elder Mitchell got sick and started throwing up in the middle of the appointment. But he took us to his hospital and was able to help Elder Mitchell out. He thinks it was food poisoning or something, but he wasn't sure. Haven't heard much from the other Pakistani since we weren't able to meet with him.

But something super cool happened this week. We went to meet T last night, and when he showed up, he had a Korean man with him. I recognized this Korean, and he recognized me, but we weren't sure where it was from. We finally figured out that we saw each other in Gumi (the city right next to Gimcheon). It was when Elder Payne and I were with the Gumi elders and were walking to a restaurant to eat, and he stopped us and talked to us. So the Gumi elders met with him a few times and taught him a little about the church, but then he moved to Daegu this spring. Anyway, so we had only met each other once before. Then yesterday he was looking for an English textbook because he is starting his own business of teaching English (he just goes by J) and he was hungry, so he stopped at McDonald's for dinner, and T happened to be there at the same time getting something to eat before he met us. J, for some reason, felt like he should talk to T, so he did, and when T told him he was on his way to meet with some Mormon missionaries, he asked J if he wanted to come with. So J came, and he told us that he thinks that it was God telling him to talk to T, because he wanted to meet the missionaries again but didn't know where they were. He is interested in studying the Book of Mormon, and so he wants to keep meeting with us. It was pretty amazing.

After telling you that, the rest of the week seems really boring, so I'll just leave it at that. The computers still are having problems, but I'll try sending pictures :) Have a great week!

Love,

Elder Hines


Spaghetti - Korean style
Service project: ripping the heads and guts off dried anchovies. Sister Park is next to Elder Hines; Elder Mitchell is on the right.
 'E World' Amusement Park - P Day visit






Monday, June 15, 2015

Amazing Week

June 15, 2015

So we're having computer problems again, so I can't email for very long today, sorry.

This week was really amazing, we saw so many miracles here in Jungni. One of the members in our ward is a secretary at a hospital, and her boss is really interested in our church. So we met with him last Wednesday, and he seems like a super golden investigator. The only problem is that apparently his wife doesn't like our church very much, but we'll see how that goes. He is interested in studying the Bible, and also seems to think that the Book of Mormon is really interesting. He was happy to read part of it, and we're going to meet him every week on Wednesdays. It's super exciting, I haven't seen an investigator this prepared since LYH.

The other thing that was pretty exciting that happened was our investigator from Pakistan (did I tell you about him?) is apparently telling all of his friends about us, and just in the past week, we've gotten two referrals from him. One is Filipino and is interested in seeing our church building. The other is from Pakistan and wants to learn English. It's really cool because Z has literally no interest in our church, he just wants to learn English, but through him, lots more people are finding out about our church.

So for the picture with the kids, we always take off our shoes when we go into a house since this is Korea, but the floor in there is kind of gross, so they have slippers for us to wear. The stake English class thing was last Saturday and we sang "You Raise Me Up" together, Sister Park played piano, and I played violin. Yeah, I'm pretty sure there are missionaries assigned to every ward/branch in Korea, in some wards it's more than one team. Apparently in Seoul there are some wards that have like ten or more missionaries.

Have a great week!

Love,

Elder Hines


Monday, June 8, 2015

Bacon is a Gift

June 7, 2015

We haven't been able to meet with KJ again, he's been too busy. And actually we didn't meet with T either, he couldn't meet this week. Not too much happened this week. In English class, we are getting a song ready to perform with the students next week at a stake English class party thing. We are going to sing "You Raise Me Up," so it should be pretty fun.

Actually now that I think about it, the best thing that happened this week was inspiration we received in order to make this meal we had a couple days ago. We were going to make spaghetti, but we decided to make more than just normal spaghetti. We remembered that we had a little bit of bacon left in the freezer, so we added that to the sauce, as well as some fresh bell peppers that we fried with the bacon. And then our inner Korean came out and we decided to throw an egg on it for good luck (Koreans like to add eggs to everything for some reason). I'll have to send you a picture next week, it was probably one of the best things that has happened to me recently. If you ask why, bacon is one of God's greatest gifts to mankind, and is literally fairy dust, so it turns anything into a gourmet meal.

It's kind of weird, I heard about Elder Perry from one of the YSA members, but other than that I haven't heard anything at all. That quote is super interesting though, thanks for sharing!

Wow, Indian food sounds really good, but then when you said you had chicken it just reminded me how good Korean chicken is, so I'm not jealous anymore :)

Sorry I don't have much to talk about this week, things are kind of slow as far as missionary work.  I hope you have a wonderful week!

Love,

Elder Hines

Tuesday, June 2, 2015

It's a Good Challenge

June 1, 2015

Dear Family,

Yeah, I can't believe how fast time goes, May went by like it was nothing. This transfer I will be in Jungni again, I'm so glad that I'm not transferring, I hate moving. Elder Koo left and went to Busan, and my new companion is Elder Mitchell. He is from Missouri, really likes UFC, and seems like a really good missionary. He is in his 4th transfer right now, so that means he went into the MTC last November. It's really scary not having a companion who knows Korean better than me, but kind of fun at the same time. It's a good challenge :)

Now that the Harry Potter party is over, it's been super nice to actually have time to think. And it was super lucky, because like three people called us and said that they have time to meet us last week. Normally people are just way too busy, so it was really cool that so many people in the same week could meet. We met with a recent convert who doesn't really like coming to church, and just ate chicken and hung out with him. We also met with an investigator at his house, his name is KJ, and he seems to have a lot of interest in the church, but he is really busy with his job. He works 24 hours at a time and then gets a 24 hour break. It's a really rough schedule, so it's really hard to meet with him. Hopefully we will be able to continue to meet in the future. For the Harry Potter party, no, it was just the Jungni missionaries that helped with it. 

Happy birthday tomorrow! You got my letter and didn't wait until your birthday to read it?  Wow, I expected you to be more patient :)  Anyway, I'm glad that it got to you on time, I send it kind of late.

Have a great week!  I'll try to send some pictures :)

Love,

Elder Hines

Elder Koo and the 'sorting hat'

District with Brother & Sister Kelly

Academy where the missionaries (try to) teach English