Where is Your Wife?

January 11, 2015

My week has been pretty good. Lots of traveling. We had a zone meeting in Daegu, which was pretty fun, especially since I got to see Elder Trentman and talk to him. I went on an exchange with the district leader, Elder Jung No Young, who happens to be Elder Suter's trainer. So that was pretty cool. It was fun because it was a good test of my Korean abilities . . . pretty much a fail. That was the longest I have been with a Korean, he is decent at English, but is really shy about speaking it, so I tried to use Korean as much as possible. It was maybe half and half that we spoke--pretty fun. :)

District p day was pretty fun, we actually went bowling again, and had pig intestines for lunch. Other than that, not much else happened. What have I loved most so far? Good question, I haven't really thought about that. I could try and be spiritual, but I'm just going to be honest. Probably when I can understand what someone is saying to me, and I am able to respond. It doesn't happen very often, but when it does, I love it quite a bit :)

I haven't heard about the new missions, that's really cool. So there is going to be a Logan Utah mission now?

Zone Meeting was pretty good, we just listened to talks and stuff. What do you want to know about President Barrow? He is really unselfish and always doing things for our benefit, which is super cool. He reminds me a little bit of President Cook, maybe that will give you an idea of what he's like.

So when I was on exchange, this super old lady stopped us and started talking about how handsome I was (that's completely normal, they think all white people are really handsome, it has nothing to do with how I actually look) and it was really funny because she asked me where my wife was. I said that I don't have one, and she was like, "yes you do!" Elder Jung gave her a pamphlet about the gospel of Jesus Christ, and then she started talking about how I look like Jesus. It was hilarious :)

Not a lot has been happening; we still don't have any investigators. We have one person who might become an investigator, she used to live in Andong, but moved here, and she was meeting with the missionaries before she moved. Since we can't meet her by ourselves, we met her with the Sisters from Andong, and we talked a little bit about Christ's ministry and baptism. It was really cool, because when we talked about how we can have our sins washed away through baptism, she got really excited and said she wants that a lot. That was the first time I have ever heard something like that from a Korean. So she has a lot of potential, hopefully everything works out well.

Have a great week, I love you!

Elder Hines

Elder Hines and Elder Jung No Young

Letters!

Yay for letters! We received this one on December 30:

November 10, 2014

Dear Mom & Dad,

You’re right, the MTC does feel like it was a dream. And then everything before the MTC feels like a dream within a dream. It’s so weird.

I don’t think it’s a liking for kimchee that I’ve developed, but maybe more of a tolerance. Actually kimchee in Korea is way better than the stuff I had in Utah. It doesn’t taste bad to me, but not exactly good either. I only eat it when I go to a sit down restaurant or to a member’s house for dinner, which is only once or twice a week usually. Koreans always eat it with every meal, so yes, they eat it quite often.

We have 12 in our district, it is one of the biggest districts, but also one of the most spread out. If you look on Google maps, the main cities in our district are Tongyeong, Geoje, Sacheon and Jinju, if that helps at all. We have district meeting once a week, so we see each other fairly often. I keep forgetting to tell you, but Elder Trentman got transferred and Elder Porcaro took his place. It was really sad, but that’s okay, it’s good to see Elder Porcaro more now.

We do a lot of walking, especially when we want to save money, but we also use buses pretty often, and taxis every once in a while.

The language is slowly getting easier, I’m starting to be able to pick out things here and there and understand parts of what people say. All I’ve heard is that Korean is one of the hardest languages for English speakers to learn, harder than Chinese actually. Korean, Japanese, and Finnish are supposedly the three hardest. Missionaries almost never become fluent in Korean during two years they are here. The grammar is just so complicated, it’s crazy.

Did you ever find information about that famous Korean General? If not, try different spelling. I’ve also seen his name spelled ‘Yi Sunshin’ and ‘Yi Sunsin’, or maybe ‘Yi Sunsheen’. I thought the story was pretty interesting, and he is something Tongyeong is famous for, along with gulbang, which is like a honey roll filled with different things. Some fillings are pretty good, others are pretty gross.

Anyway, I hope everything is going well, we’ll see how long this letter takes to get to you. J

Love,

Elder Hines

From a letter to his dad received January 2:

December 1, 2014

I recently finished reading The Book of Mormon, and some parts I really liked are Moroni chapters 7 and 10. Both of these chapters have a ton of really good things you can learn from every single verse. Some advice I’ve recently received is to pray to gain a testimony of The Book of Mormon regularly . . . for two reasons. One, your testimony can always be stronger, but also, regularly praying for that spiritual confirmation will help you better understand people who are not part of the church. Then you can better testify to them in order to help them gain a testimony of their own.

And from a letter to the family:

December 1, 2014

Dear 가족,

Thank you for all your letters, I love hearing from you, especially in letters. I got spoiled in the MTC, I just expected letters. Now that I’m so much further away, whenever I get letters it feels like it’s my birthday or something. :)

I think I might have already said this, but Korea is starting to feel pretty normal, so I have no idea what you want to hear about. I’ll try to make it interesting though. :)

Yesterday, President Barrow and his family came to my ward in Tongyeong. It was him and his wife, his son Ben, who is in high school, and his daughter Nikki, who just got back from her mission in England. They all gave talks, and Elder Suter translated for them. President Barrow actually gave his in Korean. He wrote it in English and had a Korean translate it a couple days earlier, but it was still really impressive. After church they were talking about missionary work in Korea compared to England. I always assumed missionary work was hard in England . . . but they have more baptisms than we do in Korea. Their baptismal rate is one per month per companionship. In Korea, or at least the Busan mission, the rate is 0.9 per quarter per companionship. I think Elder Suter said he has had three baptisms his whole mission. And everyone knows missionary work is about the number of baptisms you can get, right? Just kidding, I think how hard missionary work is here is why it’s so satisfying. Everything satisfying in my life has been difficult, like learning to whistle. :)

I started reading the New Testament, and something I decided to do was mark all the Joseph Smith translations in the footnotes so that in the future they will be easier to recognize. It is amazing how different the bible is without Joseph Smith’s translations, no wonder there were so many groups that broke off from the Catholic Church. The changes make it really confusing, as well as seem contradictory. Something funny I noticed is when Christ is teaching the Beatitudes in Matthew, it says that someone who gets angry without cause is in danger of judgment. The footnote says both JST and the 3 Nephi version omit ‘without cause’. So [someone] was reading through, read that, and must have thought, “Anyone who gets angry is in danger of judgment? That’s a little harsh, it must mean if you get angry without cause. I’ll just slip that in there . . . ” I can’t believe someone would think that’s okay. Okay, I can believe it, it’s just dumb. Thank goodness we have modern revelation.

To close this epistle, I want to share my testimony with you. I am so grateful for this opportunity I have to serve the Lord, and for all my friends and family members who support me. I know that “the truth of God will go forth until it has . . . sounded in every ear”, and that God is overseeing this work. I know that if we can bring one soul unto Christ, even if it is only ourselves, our joy will be greater than we can imagine. I know that Joseph Smith restored the gospel of Jesus Christ to the earth, and by the power of God translated The Book of Mormon. I know The Book of Mormon is the word of God, and that it contains the fullness of the gospel. Through studying and applying the principles taught in it, we can become perfect, even as our Father in Heaven is perfect. I am so grateful for the gospel, and for all the blessing of being a part of it.

Oh, here are some Korean words that go with this:

간증 – Ganjeung – testimony

증인 – Jeungin – witness

I might have already told you testimony, but I recently learned the word for witness, and I thought it was interesting how the two words are related.

Thanks again for your letters! I love you!

Love,

하인스 장로

P.S. See, my theory is if I slowly incorporate Korean words more and more into my letters, you will all be fluent by the time I get back. :)

January 4, 2015

I'm so glad you finally got those letters and they weren't lost in the mail!

Today I don't have very long to email, we are having a district p day in Gumi, and the train leaves at 10:15, so I have until about 10:00.  But we're going to go bowling again, so that will be fun.  It's pretty much the same as American bowling, I actually can't think of any ways that it is different. 

I guess it's convenient that I don't have very much time today, since I don't have too much to say about this past week.

I love you!

Elder Hines

Elder Laney, Elder Hines, Elder Jung and Elder Payne

Christmas in Korea

December 28, 2014

Christmas was pretty good, we visited a lot of the members, and they gave us a ton of food.  No kimchi or rice, unfortunately.  We now officially have no investigators.  There were two here left from the previous missionaries, one left to go to the US, and the other just informed us that he doesn't want to meet anymore.  So basically all we do now is visit members and less actives.

There are quite a few less actives that we visit, one super old guy who is North Korean who lives in a rest home, and a guy who lives in the middle of nowhere on the side of a mountain, as well as a couple others here and there.  

That's so cool that you got to talk to a missionary from Korea.  She has a friend in Gimcheon and you didn't find out who?  I can't believe you :)

So as far as missionary work here, there's not much at all to talk about.  It's pretty boring, very little to do.  But because of that, we have been able to visit members fairly frequently, and they seem to like us a lot.  We planned the Christmas party [we played some games, sang together, and ate dinner, basically that's it.], and they liked that a lot too.  So if we keep this up, we're never going to have to go shopping again :)

Have a great week, I love you so much!

Elder Hines

Gimcheon

December 21, 2014

My companion is great, he's super funny. He's from Oklahoma City, but unfortunately doesn't have a cool accent :)

Gimcheon is great, no complaints, except how cold it is and that the elders before us left us with only one investigator.

So yesterday we went out to eat as a branch after church. Yeah I know, pretty weird, but I guess that's just how Korea is, they don't see the Sabbath the same way that we do. The food we had was what I like to call "mystery mash." It was a ton of bean sprouts, with random stuff mixed in, mostly seafood. It had crab legs, with the shell (which was super annoying), oysters, and the spine, brain, and other organs of some unknown creature. Yeah, pretty disgusting. I just tried to think of the organs as crab meat, since they were white and a similar texture, and that help a lot, especially since the lady sitting next to me kept putting more on my plate. The brain wasn't half bad, kinda salty actually. Somehow I managed to get full and not feel too much like throwing up.

We have bikes in this area, it's one of the only areas in the mission with them. They are pieces of garbage though. The brakes don't work, the seat is terrible, the back tire has to be pumped up before every use, and they sound like they are going to fall apart any day. So we probably won't be using them too much.

I already told you about Skype, so I will call you around 8:00pm for you. Talk to you then, I can't wait!

Love, 
Elder Hines

First Transfer!

December 15, 2014  

I got transferred to the city of Gimcheon, and my new companion is Elder Payne. We are whitewashing the area, which is pretty stressful. I assume you don't know what that is, so I'll explain. Normally when people transfer, one stays in the area and the other leaves. But for various reasons, usually if the area isn't doing very well, the president will take both missionaries out of the area. So Elder Payne and I don't know the area at all. Elder Suter and I whitewashed Tongyeong, so I guess I get two whitewashes in a row...fun. My companion has been in Korea for almost a year, he came to the MTC last year in November. He is from Oklahoma. I like him a lot, he's pretty funny, and seems like a really hard worker. Elder Suter stayed in Tongyeong, and is actually training again. He's just such a good trainer :)

I've heard a ton about Tie Guy. He's in Busan though, so I haven't had a chance to visit yet.  I can't wait though, it sounds like heaven on Earth :)

I got your package yesterday, thank you so much! I'll definitely put those delicious seasoning mixes to good use :) And Elder Payne got from his parents a paper Christmas tree to put on the wall, so our new house is going to be very festive with those window clings as well :)

I love you too!

Elder Hines

Ward Conference

December 7, 2014

So I'm not sure if it was snowing this morning in the city of Tongyeong, but it was on a mountain next to it. We left at 5:00 this morning to get to the top before the sunrise, I'll send you some pictures. It was basically a blizzard for a lot of the time we were up there, it was the most snow Elder Suter has seen in Korea before. It was really fun, but I'm pretty tired now.

For lunch today we went to a meat buffet. Meat buffets are really cool because they have a ton of meat set out like a normal buffet, then you go and get what you want. In the middle of the table is a grill and you just cook the meat yourself. They are actually pretty popular in Korea, which is funny because Koreans always think Americans eat a ton of meat, but there are no meat buffets in the US. Koreans stereotypes of Americans are pretty funny. We were eating at a place called Mom's Touch for lunch (chicken sandwiches) and a guy sitting next to us leaned over and asked, "Is that small for an American burger?" It was about the same size, but made me really self-conscious of how much I was eating for the rest of the meal. 

I ate a whole octopus for the first time at the meat buffet, when I had it before it was just the legs. It wasn't too bad as far as flavor goes, just really chewy and hard to eat.

Ward conference was really good, we had almost double our usual church attendance, there were 44 people there! The musical number was pretty good. The people singing were pretty off-tune, but I thought the piano part sounded okay :) It was nice to finally be appreciated in this ward, since almost no one else has musical knowledge.

Have you seen the "He is the Gift" video yet? If not, you should watch it, it's pretty amazing.

There are two senior couples in this mission, one in the office, and one at the military base in Daegu. There are three districts in my zone, and six zones in the mission. There used to be five, but Jeju was just made it's own zone last transfer (Jeju is the island south of Korea). We have a gospel art book in our apartment, but we haven't used it for teaching before.  

Have a great week, I love you!

Elder Hines

Elder Hines and Brother EYH

Tongyeong at night

Elder Suter & Elder Hines

Early morning hike

Pretty sure this was staged to gross us out. Ew.

Thanksgiving in Korea

November 30, 2014

Thanksgiving was actually really good, I wasn't homesick at all. We had a "Fall Party" for English class, which happened to be on Thursday night, so that worked out well. We introduced them to American traditions, I think they liked it a lot. The sisters even obtained a pumpkin pie through means that can't be discussed over email since it could possibly have been illegal. Just kidding, it just felt that way since they are so hard to come by.

Okay, here's updates on the investigators:

EYH comes to church every week, and he meets with us once a week, but he doesn't feel ready for baptism so we're just waiting on that. Which is fine, I'm happy just being friends with him, I'm confident that he will be baptized eventually.

EM got busy and stopped meeting us, but he said he can start again this week, so we'll see how that goes.

KS is as awesome as ever, but we're just waiting for him to start his senior year of high school so he can try asking his parents about baptism with a chance of success.

We starting teaching a new investigator recently, KS. He is 16, and just showed up at English class two weeks ago. We have been teaching him twice a week, and in the last lesson we had with him he accepted a baptismal date for December 21! There's a good chance it might not work out, since we have to get permission from his parents, but it's awesome he accepted it. He has literally no Christian background, so we have to go really slowly when we teach him. He doesn't even know words that seem simple to members of the church, like "prophet," "apostle," or "holy ghost." And he has hearing aids, so he's hard to understand, which makes it even harder. But that's okay, it's good practice for me :)

Lately I've been trying to focus less on the language and more on teaching and the gospel. And the lesson when we gave a baptismal date to KS, I was able to say almost everything I wanted to, without having to struggle to find the words. The more I realize that my ability to speak doesn't matter, the less frustrated I am, and I'm more satisfied with the lessons I teach.

Want to hear about something disgusting I ate recently? A lady from English class gave us some oysters. Apparently Koreans think that they taste best when you eat them raw, so we tried some raw. It was probably one of the most disgusting things I've ever eaten, worse that raw beef and pig intestine. Yeah, we're only cooking those from now on :)

Ward conference is this upcoming Sunday, and the missionaries [Elder Suter, Sister Johnson & Sister Hill], along with the 4 primary children in our ward, are doing a musical number. It's the first verse of "I am a Child of God," and then all three verses of "Teach me to Walk in the Light." I'm playing the piano, and they had me make a transition between the two songs. Once again, the things I learned in AP Music Theory came in handy. I'm pretty sure I've used my knowledge from that class more than anything from any other class I took in High School.

They only wait to give us letters if we will be going to the mission home sometime soon, I actually got your letter on Thanksgiving, they just forwarded to me by mail. Of course I still want you to write me letters, why would you think I don't? I haven't heard anything about another 5K, hopefully not, it's too cold for that.

I hope you have a great week, I love you!

Elder Hines