Hello Family and Friends,
Happy 추 석 (or Korean Thanksgiving)! It really is
nothing like our Thanksgiving but it is all about family and remembering the
blessings in life. It was so much fun; our most progressing investigator, 유 민 호
(sounds like You Mean Hoe, who should be getting baptized the end of this month
or the beginning of October) invited us to celebrate with his family this
morning. He picked us up and we went to their apartment (where the whole family
gathers because it is tradition for the family to gather from all over and go
to the home of the eldest son). It was such a neat experience, they had the
names of several ancestors written in Chinese characters hanging on the wall,
and he lit incense and there was lots of bowing and other respectful rituals
that I didn't understand at all, but it was all so amazing. I felt so honored
to be a part of such a special moment. 추 석 (sounds like chu suk) is a big deal here
in K-town. Most shops close down and all the native Korean missionaries get to
call home. Celebrations go for about three days, I think, and because everyone
travels to the home of the eldest son there are a lot of people out of town and
a lot of visitors from all over. The rest of p-day should be relatively calm
and quiet. We aren't really supposed to do much proselytizing and will stay
inside or visit members. We visited out investigator's house, and the other two
elders in our apartment were invited to go hiking with a family in the ward. The
good times are for sure rolling here in 천 안 (Cheonan)! The work is moving and the city
is bustling; it's good to be a missionary here.
Where was I?...
Oh yeah, this week we had a baptism!! Our friend 김 두 훈
(kim du hoon) got baptized on Friday! He is our ten year old friend. Both of
his parents are members and they have been less active or inactive for a long
time. The missionaries have been teaching 김 두 훈 for awhile and his mom and sister now come
out rather regularly. I hope that as we continue to meet with him that we will
be able to help all of them come to full activity.. The baptism was terrific.
Elder Hollingsworth baptized him and because he got baptized on his birthday we
had a little party at the church. It was so fun. And oh my goodness, I have
never eaten birthday cake with chopsticks before. (Really I'm so happy I can
even use chopsticks! I had an irrational fear that I would never learn and
would starve. But hey, that's what spoons are for--and they use them at every
meal too! And if you're an elder who is really struggling sometimes they take
away your chopsticks and hand you a fork. I haven't earned that one yet so I
think I'm doing okay.) I must really be in Asia. Funny story: we didn't start filling the font
early enough and we couldn't get the boiler on so we were heating up water in
rice cookers and frantically running back and forth from the kitchen to the
font to add more water. It was comical and wonderful!
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| 김 두 훈, Elder Hollingsworth and me |
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| Baptism and Birthday Celebration |
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| You can eat.... |
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| just about.... |
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| anything with chopsticks... |
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| with enough practice! |
This week English class was fun. Teaching English to Koreans
is the best. It is so funny. Most all of them can't really speak at all so we
do a lot of basic conversation practice and teach them expressions and such.
This week was exciting because the sisters from the neighboring city came and
they wore traditional Korean clothes in honor of today's holiday. Sister
Matheson is one of our sisters from Australia and we had a fun time teaching
"Australian English" g'day mate" and "bonzers" I was
learning as much as the Koreans I think.
2.0
This week has been a great one for study. Can I just say
that the Book of Mormon is true! I read from is everyday and everyday am just
so blown away by how much I can learn from so little. The details are so
amazing; and it all points to Christ. It is true. I also love PMG. Every church
member should be studying it because we need to all be missionaries but also
because the doctrine in it is so simple and so easy to understand. I learn so
much from its pages--both about the gospel, and being a missionary, and just
becoming who God wants me to become.
Time is short but my study activity for today was reading
about Abinidi and comparing his trial to Christ's. There are so many
similarities. All the prophets relate to Christ: I love it!
My helpful scripture for the week is D&C 112:10. I like
to be lead by the hand so this meant a lot to me
I love you all, Onward and Upward!!
Elder Tucker
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| The church |
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| Me and the boys in a super reflective mirror. There are so many mirrors in Korea! |