Conference was Amazing!

April 10, 2016

Dear Family,

Things are going well here. Now that we've been reduced to one investigator (just JHB--everyone else is just too busy or has some other excuse), we've had a lot of time to spend looking for new investigators. Most people don't really want to talk to us, like usual.  Koreans usually tend to be shy of talking to white people.  But that's not always the case. For example, last night we met a drunk guy who was really friendly and walked down the street holding our hands for a good 5-10 minutes, telling us all sorts of stuff about his life, almost none of which we could understand because he was slurring his words so bad. We wanted to slip a Word of Wisdom pamphlet into his coat pocket for when he wakes up tomorrow morning, but unfortunately, we didn't have one on hand.

JHB is doing really well. When we met him, we talked about General Conference, and how he can get personal answers to his questions. For some reason it was really hard for him to understand, he kept thinking that it was going to be like a call-in question and answer session or something. He ended up coming for the Sunday morning session though, and he loved it. He said that it helped him with his questions about baptism, but before we could inquire further, he went off about how amazing the choir was, and then had to leave. So hopefully this week we will get a chance to talk more in depth about how it was for him and what he's thinking. Please keep him in your prayers! :)

I sang Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes in Chinese? I have no recollection of it.  Darn, that could have come in handy with those Chinese people who came to church a couple months ago. I'm pretty sure I could sing it in Korean, I've never tried though ;)

Conference was amazing! Some of my favorite talks were Elder Hallstrom, Elder Bednar, Elder Owen (Priesthood Session), Elder Hales, Elder Holland (I almost died it was so amazing), and Elder Eyring (Women's Session). I know that's a lot, but there were just so many good ones, and those are some of my very favorite. Before conference, President Barrow asked us to prepare for it by thinking of questions we want answered at least a week beforehand, write them down, and pray about them. I came up with four questions, and it was so cool because all of my questions were answered, some of them through multiple talks. There were even some questions I didn't specifically write down or think of, but were things I had been thinking about recently, that were also answered. It was a wonderful reminder that Heavenly Father will bless us with not only with what we ask for, but also with what we need, even when we don't realize we need it. For the first time in my life, I felt like some of the speakers from Conference we speaking directly to me--not just in a way that just generally involves me as a human and as a member of the church, but specifically to my personal thoughts, concerns, and desires. I know that Heavenly Father loves us more than we can comprehend, and cares about every little detail of our lives, and I'm so grateful for the privilege we have of living prophets and apostles who are inspired and directed by God.

Thanks for everything, for all your love and support! Have a great week!

Love,

Elder Hines