Hellur (29 June 2014)

Hello, World.

 

I am still in Korea. Ha.

 

This week was pretty good until I needed a head transplant. Hahaha. I have been sick the past three days. I think when I catch one disease I get 3 together. Ha. But I am getting better. I think. Don't worry about me!

 

This week.. Oh. I remembered a story I wanted to tell you.

 

So.. People think that missionaries are all great. But sometimes there are just ones that are a little weird. That just don't have many social skills. They may literally be autistic. Well, we have one in my district. He is very sweet, but not really that functional about certain things. Anyways. He bore his testimony in sacrament one time in really broken Korean. A few weeks before, one of the recent converts got baptized. Well, after this the convert said that one of the crucial moments in her conversion was this testimony. That she felt the spirit very strongly and came to know that these things were true. It really testified to me of how we may feel incapable, other people may even feel incapable, but the Lord can still use us. We can still be His tools. He is the best at using imperfect tools. He has never had anything better to work with.

 

Anyways! One of our investigators committed to baptism this week. Hahaha. But he hasn't yet come to church. So we have to fix that first!

I'll keep it short this week! Stay tuned for next week! I love you all!

 

Love,

렌프로 장로

Rainy week (22 June 2014)

This week was great!

It began with a random guy we met on the street. He said that he gave up going to church because he didn't know what was right. That is was too hard to know for himself which church is true. We told him the story of Joseph Smith and how he too was confused and felt that there was no way to know for himself except to gain the knowledge directly from God. When we told him about Joseph Smith, he said "someone like me!" We then went to the church and have met him twice now. He is really great! Miracle! 

After that... I ate raw beef. It was delicious.  

I think we live in the loudest neighborhood in Seoul. And because it is Korea, we don't have air conditioning. Which means we have to keep the windows open, which means it is even louder! Haha. So. This is how things work in Korea. Outside of convenient stores... Middle aged men tend to congregate as they drink alcohol. There is one of these right outside of our apartment. There is also a preschool right below us filled with 3-year-olds that scream a lot. Especially during singing hour. And there is a method of advertising quite common in Korea that I don't think exists in America. Trucks that sell stuff. Trucks run around neighborhoods with vegetables and stuff in the back. But they have a speaker on top of the truck to advertise what they are selling. They drive really slowly and just repeat the same thing over and over. It is so peaceful. Hahaha. When I go back to America, I am going to live in a forest. 

I had steak and shrimp marinated in coconut milk at a rich member's house. It was glorious. 

It also has rained a lot this week! Thunder and lightning all over the place! 

This week, I have been reminded of some new/old things. The importance and changeability of our hearts. Our hearts are the measure of who we are. That sometimes is a very scary thing. Because they can be so unwilling and hard sometimes. But, ultimately, they can change and we can yield them back unto Heavenly Father. We can choose to lean on Him, we can choose to change. And it begins with and also ends with our hearts. That is what he wants from us. And it is ultimately the only thing we can give Him. Our heart. Our will. 

Anyways! I love you all! Keep me in your prayers! 

Love,

렌프로 장로

Hello, World! (15 June 2014)

Guess what.... I am still in Korea! And there are still lots of Koreans. Ha.

 

I found out something funny about Korean culture this week. So... When the moon is full, in western culture we say that animals go crazy and stuff. Things go weird. And wolves. Of course. Want to know what happens when the moon is full in Korea??? Rabbits make rice cakes! Hahaha.

 

What else... Our neighbor randomly came into our house without knocking. To tell us to turn off a light in front of our door. Excuse me?? Haha. Now we lock our door all the time because we are in fear that our neighbor will come in uninvited.

 

This week was pretty good. It is getting really hot... Ha. But it is good. I don't have a lot of time! We have to go into the Office today. So, I have to leave pretty soon.

 

But. I love you all! You are all wonderful!

 

This week, I have thought a lot about a lot of stuff as usual. Hahaha. Specifically, something that I say to nearly every person on the street. Are you ready? Here's my line.... "We aren't those people that just tell you to go to church or to just believe in Jesus because you have to, but we just want to help people know for themselves because they can know."

God and truth and knowledge and all of those sorts of things are not these unattainable things that only weird people believe because they have no where else to go, but God is real and has revealed Himself to us. He is guiding us and He loves us. And everyone can have that knowledge because He will tell them.

 

But anyways! I love you all! Keep me in your prayers!

 

Love,

Elder Renfroe

렌프로 장로

Hellur! (8 June 2014)

Hellur, How is the life, my people?

 

If you didn't know, I am still in Korea. Don't worry.

 

It is great here. But really hot. During the days, I take lots of water breaks. And Korea has a nice supply of ice cream bars and the like. Don't worry. I am living in style.

 

I went to the temple, and met a new investigator this week. Those 2 things were great. He is a really nice guy and it was really nice to just teach. Because we are starting a new area, we haven't had that many opportunities to just teach like that. It has kinda been a while! Hahaha. But it was great and showed me some of my weaknesses to work on.

 

I don't have that much time this week! I am going to a zoo today! The same zoo I went to last year. I am sorry this letter is boring. It was just a normal week!!!!!!

 

I am learning lots of things recently. Specifically about reliance. Sometimes things are just really hard. And sometimes they are so hard that even relying on Heavenly Father seems too hard, or impossible. But humility is such a powerful thing. Sometimes we get a little bitter or upset at God for the things He has done to us or the things He has withheld from us. But if we go back deep enough, and we are humble enough, we can learn. God doesn't desert us or hurt us. But we do it to ourselves and the adversary wants us to put the blame in the wrong places. Humility is such an interesting thing. It is just about seeing things as they really are. The acquisition of real spiritual truths. And that can only come from the guiding influence of the Holy Ghost.

 

Anyways! I love you all!

 

keep up the prayers for me.

 

Love,

렌프로 장로

Ola (1 June 2014)

Hello!!!

 

I am still in Korea. Today is now 15 months as a missionary. It is really weird to write that. The time is going by really fast. And I still basically feel like I have no idea what I am doing! Yay! That means I have 9 months left. Just like a baby. I am due in 9 months. I hear the first trimester is the hardest. Ha

 

Anyways. We had a wonderful week. We had a combined mission conference with the Seoul South Mission. Elder Quentin L. Cook came and spoke to us. It was pretty cool. The second he walked in the room, I felt the spirit confirming that he was a man that held the authority of God. That he is a special witness of Jesus Christ. I often think of the significance of the restoration. The significance that God is not some being that revealed Himself to mankind ages ago and left us alone to figure Him out, but that He speaks and He leads and He guides today as He did in any other time. The heavens are not closed. They are open to all of us. To say anything else is to deny the unchanging character of God. He was never done revealing His word. And never will be either. Because He loves us and He speaks.

 

But as he spoke to us, I couldn't help but just feel the power of truth. That is really all our message is about. Truth and the recognition thereof. We all can know truth through the grace of God and have a firmness of knowledge based upon faith. That is really the power of our message to me. No other place offers that sort of knowledge. Textbooks and charts and graphs offer us knowledge, but there is something different of knowledge that comes directly from God. It is more trustable.

 

So I had someone tell me that I don't pray, believe in God or Jesus Christ this week. He was a Pastor from another church. So I told him how much I believed in Jesus Christ. So he yelled at me and told me I was lying. He kept making an "X" with his 2 index fingers and saying I was a cult. It was great! He ran away and I couldn't say much.

 

Quentin L. Cook's wife is a hoot! I loved her. Hahaha. They should have all of the Quorum of the Twelve's wives get together and do something fun.

 

I love you all!!!!!! Keep me in you prayers!

 

Love

렌프로 장로

Weeeeeek Something? I lost track a long time ago.... (25 May 2014)

Hello.

 

This was a good week. We talked to lots of people. Lots of them! Haha. I think the most I have ever done on my mission so far. And we will do more next week!

 

I discovered some snacks that I am going to send home. They are delicious.

 

Also. There are some DARN cute babies in my ward. I need to take pictures with them. But they have the greatest, fluffiest cheeks in the world. So, I call them Mandu cheeks. I don't know if you'll understand that. But the next time I eat my favorite mandu around here, I'll take a picture for you. But it is a lot more fun to say Manducheeks in Korean. It sounds like this.... ManduBBBBYAM!

 

Oh yeah. It is Election Season up here in Korea. They go hard. Real hard. There are people everywhere wearing sashes and screaming candidates' names. For example, at nearly every entrance to every subway, there are like 10 middle aged ladies lined up and they all scream hello and their candidate's name to every person that comes out of the subway. Hardcore.

 

Have I told you about the sashes they wear here in Korea? It is pretty crazy. Basically when they want to look official, they wear the sash thingies that look like they are about to sell you some Girl Scout cookies. When I first saw them, I was excited at the prospect of eating some Samoas, but then I realized they changed the name for racial reasons and it was just some guy working at a bank. So sad.

 

Everyone thinks my companion is not a Korean. They just assume we are both foreigners. All the time. Hahaha. Some guy just went off on him in English the other day after he introduced himself to him in Korean. Hahaha. Not mean, he was just talking about some business meeting. But then he wouldn't stop. He even told him where he was from in Korea, and then the guy asked him where he was from in America after that. Hahaha. My companion does not speak English.

 

This morning I was studying and read a talk by D. Todd Christofferson. The divine gift of repentance. Something stood out to me. He said something along the lines of... the Savior has not said that much about his suffering in the Garden of Gethsemane. The Savior has not given us that much information about it. He just hasn't. It is an interesting concept to me. That what we do know is only a fraction of the reality of it. And there is so much more to learn and know of His Atoning sacrifice.

 

I will end with a hymn I wrote 9 months ago. Hahahaha.

 

Oh, Spirit sweet, Voice of the Lord
His voice to us in Peace, discord
That gentle touch of Heaven's rays,
That soothing sound, no man betrays.

A privilege, Rare? No reason Such!
Dawn's burning gleam, why not as much?
To that soft soul in dire straights,
Manna unbound, e'er unclosed Gates!

Our desert wood, to mind unseen,
A pleasant grove, if thou but lean.
His ample arm, His sturdy rod
Succor unfeigned, in all paths trod.

I love you all! Send me your love and prayers! I sure need them!

 

Love, 

렌프로 장로

 

 

 

 

Hellur. (18 May 2014)

Hello, the People of America.

 

I am still in Korea. Worry not.

 

This week was a good week. We had a ping pong tournament. I was on the team with our Bishop. We were undefeated. But then we stopped to give prizes to all the kids and stuff. It was fun! One of our investigators came.

 

I also ate raw beef. Woo. I feel like some of you would get a kick out of that. Ha.

 

A Korean told me that I am living in the Harlem/Brooklyn of Seoul. I don't know how true that is. But it sounds fun.

 

I went to a wonderful Bath House this morning. It was glorious. Lots of different pools with pressure pumps and stuff. So relaxing! Hahaha.

 

Today I am going to the NamSan Tower of Seoul. I don't know how exciting it will be. But because we are going there, I have to hurry up and finish writing!

 

This week. I have been learning a lot from the scriptures. I have noticed recently how my study style has changed. I don't just read the scriptures anymore. But it takes a really long time. There is so much to think about and apply in each verse. If you choose right. Hahaha. You should all try it. Don't just read. But choose to be taught!

 

I will try to write more next week! I love you all. The work is good.

 

Love,

렌프로 장로