Wednesday, January 20, 2016

First Baptism!!!


Yes, it finally happened! He was able to be baptized this week and he will be confirmed a member next week :-) I guess I should kinda tell all that happened from that and how it ended it up happened and I'll get to that but I want to first say that I witnessed a miracle. He truly changed his life, I don't think I could ever express how much he changed or how much he sacrificed to go down this path but I do know that he has never made a better choice. It makes me want to see it again and again. I guess I'll just start with my week and kinda explain how it got to that point :-) 

 

So this week was full of so many different things and ups and downs. So I don't know if I mentioned this investigator last week but last Sunday he called us and asked if he could meet us, so throughout this whole week we've met him a total of 5 times I think and we've taught him the first 3 lessons and has been doing almost everything he can to learn more about the church and about everything that we can teach him! One of the lessons we began to teach him about the Word of Wisdom (which is probably Korea's biggest problem) and we told him that smoking was against it. He then sat there for a moment and looked at us and asked, "Where is the trash can?". He pulled from his pocket a full box of cigarettes and a lighter and threw them away. I was completely shocked! Normally when you have to tell them that they've gotta stop smoking they think you're crazy!!! But we experienced a miracle and watched him give up his habit so quickly and so obediently, that is what faith is. I don't know if I mentioned this but I believe this transfer is the transfer of baptismal dates! So far that is ringing true, including the baptism that happened this week we have 4. 4 people who are closer to God, 4 people who are changing their lives to become happier, 4 people that I've watched become happier. I can't really explain it but in Korea it is really stressful for people because you have to study your hardest to be able to find a stable job, but I've seen that worry and stress lightened because of what we teach, it's a miracle within itself! :-) 

 

Every week we do what's called a district meeting which is with a couple areas and we get together to just talk and hear announcements, classic meeting stuff. Anyway I was in charge of the spiritual talk that was supposed to last about 20 minutes. Now the kicker was they wanted it all in Korean. I've learned a lot, and I know that 2 months ago that would be impossible for me, but it was still nerve racking! I mean I was one of the youngest in the district so my Korean isn't where it will be, so it made it difficult. However I did make it through it alive and had some great things for them to think about, I'm starting to get a little more comfortable talking to people, I can talk to people on buses no problem! But having a talk, haha, still kinda scary!

 

Mom wanted to know about english class so I'm going to explain that real quick! So Every Wednesday and Saturday we do a free english class open to whoever wants to come, it's designed for service and meeting new people. Ya they teach english at school for the kids but I don't think any of you understand when I say that Koreans study a lot. I mean A LOT. I know a college student who studies upwards of 10 hours a day. Competition is fierce in Korea for jobs. So there are all ages at the class, there is no average age, all kinds of people. It also is so fun! We teach the way we learned, having a teacher only speak the language to you! Haha so ya we for the most part only have to help them understand if it's a weird word or a expression that doesn't really make sense.

 
So as for the baptism! We drove with (SongJuneYoung) and (ShinManSheek) to Busan in order to receive a baptismal interview from President Barrow. It went perfect, he was passed for baptism and President Barrow asked us to try and get him baptized that Sunday, it was Friday that day... As we drove home He played some music (He loves american music), I swore I listened to 10 different versions of Star Spangled Banner haha :-) I also got to hear some Jack Johnson which made me feel right at home! 

 That night consisted on calling a million people getting it planned, that next morning we went over to the church to clean out the font (hasn't been used in over a year...) And after 2 hours it was finally ready!!!

 That Sunday came so quickly, the night before he asked me to perform the baptism so you can understand that I was extremely nervous, I really worked on my pronunciation of the Korean so I didn't mess up :-) It went pretty smoothly except the water was a little lower than normal so I had to practically lay him down and then push him under haha :-) Afterwards he just kept saying how great he felt and that he was so happy. He came in a suit today and he practically blended in with the members. I couldn't be more happy for him :-) I swear I'll send more pictures, I am going to have to try and steal them from other Elders though!

 Mammas and Pappas your package came and since there were 4 elders in the house they were practically devoured in a day. They were so Good!!!! Thank you so much :-) They tasted just like home even though they were stuck in customs for a month ;-) 

 Misty and Ryan, please know that I am praying for your family and Deegan, don't worry to much, I know that everything is going to be okay, don't ever be too scared to ask for help from my family or anyone else because I know that they'll gladly help :-) I love you!!!

 Thank you so much for the support, I promise I pray for all of you daily. Please keep me in your prayers so I can serve more and be put in the paths of others. I love you all so so much!!! Keep writing :-) 

 
All my love, 

Elder Fox

 

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