Typhoon Exchange

September 20, 2015

I'm glad you enjoyed the story, because I enjoyed it too :)  I haven't heard anything back from the lady yet, but the other guy just called us a couple days ago to ask if we can come back to his church sometime. We will probably visit him this week, and we're planning on showing the Restoration video, since you can't really argue with a video :)

We got to go on exchange with the zone leaders last week, and that was pretty fun. Except I'm pretty sure a typhoon was coming in or something, because it was really windy and rainy all day. I was in Haeundae with Elder Jacobson for the day. You can probably find Haeundae on the internet, it's a pretty famous area, and it's like the richest area of Busan. Anyway, we walked around to a couple different appointments, and our umbrellas were completely destroyed from the wind. Eventually we just gave up and stopped using the umbrellas once the fabric part was mostly broken off. And the metal rod that connects the handle to the top on Elder Jacobson's umbrella bent in half. Maybe that gives you an idea of how strong this storm was. And the best part was that none of the appointments worked out, so we just walked around in that for nothing. 

Next week is Chuseok, which is the Korean version of Thanksgiving, and we are having a "Mission Fitness Day" where we will do a 5k or 10k and play sports. So I probably will email a day later. Have a great week!

Love,

Elder Hines

God is Our Loving Heavenly Father

September 13, 2015

Okay, I have a pretty good story for you this week. So my first day in this area three weeks ago, we met this 24 year old guy who seemed really interested in us. We talked to him for a little bit, exchanged phone numbers, and he said he really wants to meet with us again. We didn't hear too much from him again until last week, when he called and said he really wants to meet us, so we set up an appointment for last Friday night. For some reason he wanted us to come to his church to meet him, so we were kind of wary about that, but we decided to go at least once to see what it is like. We got there, and he took us in this little room, and brought in this lady for a translator. When the lady found out that I can speak Korean and my companion can speak English, she left, but came back in a couple minutes later saying that she just wanted to listen. So the guy started off talking about his church and stuff, and then asked us to give him an introduction to our church. We started teaching the Restoration, but couldn't get past the first principle, "God is our loving Heavenly Father," without him trying to argue with us about it. The point he was trying to make is based on a scripture at the end of Revelation that says that if anyone adds to this book they will be cursed, and since we have more than just the Bible, we can't be the true church. He even went so far as to say that we don't believe in the true God, somehow we believe in a different god than he does. I still don't understand that part. Anyway, at the beginning of the conversation/argument, the lady asked to look at some of the materials that we brought, which were a Restoration pamphlet and a pamphlet with Joseph Smith's testimony. While we were talking to the guy, she wasn't really paying attention and was just reading the pamphlets. A couple times she interrupted and asked us questions in English, which was nice because the guy doesn't speak English at all, so there wasn't much he could do. She saw Elder Seo's Book of Mormon, and asked if there was a book store she could buy one at. We just gave her a copy that we had with us, and she seemed really excited about it. She said she has heard about it, but never actually seen one in real life. We went back to talking with the guy, and the rest of the time she was reading the introduction, testimonies, and the beginning of 1 Nephi. She told us that it is really weird that we would show up, because just a couple days ago she was wondering about our religion, and was searching about it on the internet, but couldn't find very much about it. She had so much interest, and she seems like she is really prepared. It's funny because every time the guy talked, the Spirit immediately left the room, and every time the lady interrupted and asked us a question, the Spirit came back immediately. We weren't able to get her phone number or anything because of the situation with the other guy, but she has enough information now that if she wants to she can contact missionaries. It was an amazing experience. At the beginning, we thought we were wasting our time because that guy's only interest was in arguing with us, but by the end, we realized that we were led to this woman through him.

We had mission tour this week, which is just an all-day meeting at the mission home where a seventy came and spoke to us. It was Elder Yamashita and his wife. If you didn't guess, they're Japanese. They don't know any Korean, but were decent at English. It was really good, we talked a lot about applying principles taught by Book of Mormon missionaries like Ammon, Alma, Aaron, and Abish. I would tell you specifics, but that takes too long and I don't have my notes either :)

We also had stake conference this weekend. It was funny because President Barrow, Sister Barrow, and the Stake President were the last three speakers for both the Saturday evening session and the Sunday Morning session. I guess they couldn't find anyone else willing to speak.

That's about it for the week, not much else happened. I love you!

Elder Hines

Faithful Members

September 6, 2015

Dear Family,

Church was pretty good yesterday. It was fast Sunday, and I expected Sacrament meeting to end really early from the lack of people to speak, but it actually took up the whole time. There were seven people in attendance yesterday, including two missionaries and the Branch President and his daughter, who are from a different ward. So three actually members of Daeshin. We just have some really long-winded people who each spoke for 15 minutes or so. Honestly, this branch is pretty depressing. It's almost completely dead, that's probably why you can't find it on the internet. It was actually the very first branch and meeting house in Korea, and apparently that is the reason why it hasn't combined with another branch by now. But I heard that when it was a new ward, there were 600 members​ who came. Who knows what happened between then and now, because we have like four, three of whom are old. So give it 5 to 10 years and we won't have a branch anymore. But on the bright side, all of the people who come are really faithful members, and have really strong testimonies. The one younger lady used to live in Daeshin area, and moved to another area. But she still comes to Daeshin branch each week to help support it.  Another lady, who is maybe upper 70s, brings flowers every week and puts them in a vase on a table in the foyer, and in another vase at the pulpit in the chapel. Then there is a man who is 77 who comes to the church pretty often to clean up and do yard work, and always sets up the sacrament. I have a lot of respect for each of the members here, because it would be really hard to stay an active member of the church, but they each have such strong testimonies and are so diligent in everything that they do. 

And yes, we have to make our own food just about every meal. Elder Seo is pretty good at cooking though, and really likes to cook. So the only problem is when we run out of ingredients. Last week, one of the lunches he made was steamed cabbage and rice...that's it. Scrumptious.

Have a great week!

Love,

Elder Hines

Thank Goodness for the Missionaries

August 30, 2015

So we had church yesterday, and I'll tell you about that. There were a total of 11 people in attendance at sacrament meeting, and of those, four were actual members of Daeshin branch. Then my companion and I, the two sister missionaries, the branch president (who is a member of a different ward), a lady from the neighboring branch, and a random drunk guy who apparently is a member of a different ward in Busan. So that was kind of sad.

I'm sure there are a ton of inactive members, since this used to be a pretty big ward. I guess Daeshin is where the church started in Busan. As far as things we do to run the branch, I passed the sacrament and played piano, Sister Kim led the music, and then Sister Nielsen and I gave talks since we are new, and Elder Seo gave a talk to fill the rest of the time. We also came to church two hours early to clean and set up, and stayed after for a little bit to do ward clerk stuff.

We have a few investigators, mostly English learning interest. One of them is a Pakistani who wants to learn Korean from us. Then we have two Koreans who like learning English. We only met with one last week and we just read out of the Book of Mormon together in English. He actually had a lot of questions about the actual doctrine and history, not just English questions, so that was good.

There isn't much of a theme for this transfer, but next week we have mission tour with a Seventy from Japan, and in preparation for that they asked us to read in the Book of Mormon about missionaries and think about how they helped others to come unto Christ. So I guess that is kind of the focus this transfer.

Have a great week!

Love,
Elder Hines

Daeshin Branch

August 26, 2015

​Well, I got transferred, if you didn't figure that out yet. Right now I am in the city of Busan, serving in Daeshin Branch​. It's actually the south Busan zone, so we're right on the ocean. My companion is Elder Seo Jeong-beom, and we have been given the assignment to be co-district leaders (normally there is only one district leader per district, but "co-district leader" is a new thing that President Barrow just started this transfer, he thinks it will be more effective). So I've suddenly received a lot of stress because now I am responsible for more than myself and my companion, but I'm excited :)

Daeshin is one of the most famous areas in the mission, for multiple reasons. The church building is the oldest in Korea (not the first, just the oldest). There is such a lack of priesthood holders that the branch president isn't even a member of this ward. So the missionaries basically run everything here. There are only ten people at most who come every week. Oh, and do you remember "tie guy?" Well he's in my area. We have one of the biggest shopping areas in the mission, and that is where he is. The missionary house is also probably the smallest in the mission. It's literally one room, and it has a bed in the corner that takes up a quarter of the room. The kitchen takes up another quarter, and all our stuff is crammed in the remaining space. It has a comfortable feel to it though, so it's okay :) Anyway, that's all I know about the area so far, but let me know if you have any questions.

We weren't able to meet Z again last week, and he didn't come to church. I'm sure he will keep meeting with the missionaries, but I don't really know anything about that. So BH is this guy we met who is the owner of a coffee shop. He has been Buddhist most of his life, but he lived in Utah for a little bit, as well as other places in the US, and since he has been back in Korea he has been wondering about religion a lot. He said that the day we walked into his shop, he was thinking about the things he heard about Mormons, and thought it would be cool to learn about their religion. What a coincidence, right? So we have been visiting him once a week for the past three weeks or so, and he always has a ton of questions for us, and basically asks for reading assignments from pamphlets or the Book of Mormon. He said that in a couple months he won't be as busy with his job, and then he wants to come to our church meeting.

Haven't been able to meet with T for a while, and he is going back to Canada for a couple months, so that will be a while before the missionaries meet him again. We still meet KH, regularly. When he found out that I was leaving, he drove to our house and brought us pizza and some t-shirts as a present for me, and introduced us to his family.

That's all I can think of for the week, whenever I transfer, my short-term memory of the previous area goes out the window. I can barely remember last week at all, so hopefully nothing interesting happened... :)

Have a great week!

Love,

Elder Hines