Week 33 - Happy Halloween Everyone !!

So far this week nothing special has happened. Our only really good investigator didn't go to church this weekend and he still hasn't read the Book of Mormon. I guess I can see what you are going through, through him. Moving takes a lot time and energy and after everything is moved things still need t o be placed in a good place. He is almost done, so he should have more time to read.  I'm hoping that as soon as he reads he will understand the importance of the gospel. Well as for the rest of our investigators. One has stopped answering our calls and we have not seen them in the longest  time. However a member has told us that that is how she is, she doesn't really answer her phone. So, we have been trying to reach her son on his phone, which we have found recently. No luck so far. We hope that he will want to go to the Halloween party tonight. Or else I don't know how we will ever meet with him. Next.  One man we have been meeting with we dropped. He's a good guy but he has told us that he is not going to go to our church. I think he needs a little more time and he needs to read more of the Book of Mormon. Other than that there doesn't seem to be much we can help with. A family we meet a few times seems to be doing poorly. Even after going to church for five years they still don't see the reason for receiving baptism. It's so hard to tell what is going on with them though. They live an hour away from us and most of the time they are not home. Also we just can't wait there all day for them since there are very few people who live or hang around there. Last of all, an old man we tried meeting with told us that he didn't want our book. Sad, it seems that the biggest problem we have is that none of them really want to read the Book of Mormon.
Our Halloween party didn't get planned so we aren't holding one. sad, However another companionship is holding a party at the church, same place that we meet Sunday. hopefully we can get someone to that.

   Anyways I loved the package that you sent. and from your E-mail you sent it sounds like you need more details. The first thing that I liked the most is the candy that was inside. Ha Ha... it was such a funny joke to read that there would be church books. I saw that someone ate some of the Kit-Kats. Ha Ha... also it was nice that I got the body wash and deodorant. Thank you. Also I was glad that there was no shampoo. Otherwise I would have too much. I love the Halloween window stickers you sent. I couldn't put them on our windows so I put them on my desk, there's a large piece of glass on it. I took pictures of it. Well things are good and I'm finding that I understand more than I think. So this next transfer I'll be moved somewhere?  Either in 가정, or a new area, that's on the 22nd of November. Hey that's a few days before my birthday. Hum??? - so... I don't know what I would like from you for my birthday but, Stephen " I would like another picture... Please!!!"   I'll need a little time to answer for now. Well, it sounds like life is busy right now. I'll do
all I can to help you out.  I don't know where I put the tape recorder so I'll try to find that today. Also I'll send you a letter or else. I wouldn't want to disappoint you. I love you and I pray for you daily.

Bye...

Week 32 - Very Mysterious

Thing are going great here. Our new investigator is doing great and has called us every single day this week. He is keeping us busy. He is such a nice man and is so willing to listen. Too bad he’s not progressing too much, he's not reading the Book of Mormon. He’s been busy with the move and it's been hard on him. He’s almost done though, so that is good. He really likes us. He has told us that we could come by any time and rest if we had a break. He gave us the password to the door and he said he would give us a key. I think he thinks that we don't have any free time and that we work all the time. Wow, he is such a mysterious guy. We still have no idea what he does for work and why he has traveled all around the world. It’s crazy. Also He was telling us today about his high school. I guess he lived there during that. Anyway he's doing well and he is still willing to meet with us. He is the coolest investigator I think I’ll ever find. Knowing French, Russian, and English... Wow. This week he told us that he would come to church and that he would begin to read the Book of Mormon. He seems to be well prepared. But, he drinks a lot of coffee. That and smoking may be the biggest problem he'll have to face. Coffee more than smoking, though he wants to quiet and this might just help him to do that.

   Other than that not much has happened. Pass off is at a stand still for now. We can't seem to find a day that we can meet. Either we have an appointment or they do. Well I'm glad to know that there are others that haven't passed off yet, and they have been here longer than I have. Sorry the letter is so short I can't think of anything that we really did this week besides help 이두환(형제님), (brother) Ee Doo Hwan. The language is slowly coming, I guess. I've tried not to second guess myself and I find that 60% of the time I can guess what members are asking me. Other than that it's still hard. I guess I just need more practice and patience. I’m loving Korea and the people. Also I know how to make two types of Korean foods, 떡보기 and 김치지게..? I don't know how you spell them. (Tteokbogi  and Bae Choo Kimchi , Hot and Spicy Rice Cakes and Spicy Cabbage Soup) Well, Things at home seem to be a little sad with the computers, etc... Well I’ll pray that you can make it through these hard times. OH!!! Thank you for the package. I loved it !!! This week we had president interviews and the mail came earlier than it usually does. Well, it seems that my typing skills have not improved over this short time. Anyway. I love you and miss you too. Hopefully I will get the time to write you this week.

Love you. Elder Westarp

Week 31 - Flying by

This week seemed to fly right by. I can't remember if I told you about the man we meet last week, 이두환. Sunday of last week we meet him in the streets. It was the strangest experience I’ve  had so far. We were walking to a Less-Actives home for a surprise visit when this man, 이두환, stopped in front of us. He got off his motorcycle and began to speak with us. It was weird at the time to have some stranger stop to talk. After a few moments we introduced ourselves as missionaries. He took it so well, in fact he took it so well he practically told us to teach. We began to teaching him the first lesson. He said that he understood what we said. I still don't know how to react to that. He asked questions about Joseph Smith and other Questions. Later on he started taking notes. It was unrealistic to me and one of the best things that have happened so far. Right, so far this week he has called almost everyday to see if we have time to meet. Other than that things have been quiet. OH, never mind they haven't. The first day we were going to meet he never showed up. It was awhile after that same day we found out that he had gotten  into a road accident and that he was going to the hospital. That was a shock, finding out that he needed to see a doctor. Luckily it wasn't too bad, he was sent  home that day and meet with the doctor again the next day. That was confusing to us. Well the day after that we got a call from him asking if we could meet.So we meet at the Bishop's home. The poor man, we use him so much. He has told us that being a bishop has made him so busy that some days he doesn't eat, or something like that. Anyway after that we have meet him three other times. Right now he is getting ready to move. That scared me for awhile having the idea of another really good investigator leave us. It's so good that he is so willing to give us everything to find him. Like the first day we meet he gave us his address, phone number and Email address. We found out where he is going and... it's still in our area. In fact it's closer to the center of our area. Well he has kept us on our toes.

  Other things that have happened this week? Well I haven't passed off the rest of the tests yet. With transfers. oh, I'm still in Inchon, Ka Jung 동.(인천, 가정-or 서구) well i love you mom and miss you. Also I'm still with Elder Gardiner. Thing are good and I'm still happy. The members are still feeding me well. Tell everyone I  Love them and that I pray for them each day. And tell Sister Fay that I will write her soon. bye. Oh thank you for the package.  It should be easier to get the package from the zone leader... He's now my companion. Well it seems like we are going to try to have a Halloween Party to get some of our younger investigators to come to church. But it might be weird. Since their parents may or may not know they are meeting with missionaries. Well I  hope that you and the house are doing good it sounds like so much has been done on it. Oh I found an extra tape in my luggage. I'll send it home next week. love you mom.

Week 30 - Newest News

This week was ok. We went on splits or exchanges Wednesday; I was with an Elder Christensen who was Elder 베's companion before me. It was a crazy day. We had service at dream start, we teach english to small children, and it was out of control. I didn't know how to talk to them and Elder Christensen had no idea what we were suppose to do. Screaming children running everywhere. However, the rest of the day was more relaxing. We had an appointment scheduled for seven, which normally takes up the whole night since it is so far away from where we live. I guess the saddest thing is that they dropped us all together. We knew that it was going to happen at some time. We just didn't know when they would. The whole story is funny to a point. Their main interest was for their little girl to learn english. She was hard to teach since she didn't even want to learn English at all. So she made no progress with us. During this time we were looking through old investigators and calling to see if they had any interest. One of the names was 김미숙, kim mee suk. She is a teacher of an English program for after school learning. She's meet the missionaries before so she knew about us teaching english. She wanted us to teach or help her with her english. She feels like she is losing her ability to speak english. So we meet one day to explain what the 30/30 program was. It was then when we found out that 손태영, the little girl’s mother, had enrolled her in 김미숙's English program that same day. Sad but funny, we are now teaching the teacher who is teaching 손태영's daughter. Okay, with them canceled we went with the back up plan. Which was searching for former investigators. It was tough looking for people I had never seen before and hoping that by chance they would be there. The first man was in the weirdest place to find. Unlike the others which had the location of their home, he had the location of the pharmacy he worked at. After much time we finally located where it should be. We searched and searched but no matter where we were, it was the wrong area. It wasn't until the third time we past when we realized that area we were in was smaller than it looked. Even though it seemed like we spent too much time looking for it, it turned out to be a blessing. With in that time we meet two kids at two different times. They were the coolest kids I've meet so far. They both listened to what we had to say and they agreed to meet again. They also both asked for a copy of the Book of Mormon. We were going to meet one yesterday but, we didn't have time. Luckily he also had some unplanned thing that came up so we are meeting this week. Oh, as for that kid we meet before... nothing. We tried to call and text him but, we receive no answer. Hopefully we can meet later.

I'm not passed off yet. This is the hardest point for all missionaries... Getting an appointment with the AP's.  Plus the Zone leaders didn't have time to finish the test with them. But on the other hand, the 박시온 got baptized. It was great. What I heard was that he felt so bad that he missed church that he quit his part time job. Wow, that was amazing now we need his father to follow his example.

Well mom how are you? It sounds like the house is almost ready and you can move in soon. It’s nice that things seem to be getting along at the house. I love you mom and I miss you too. Hope that the house is everything that you expected.

Love you,

Week 29 - AaaaaHhhhhh !!! (that's how he titled it)

Well this week ended pretty bad and good. The good thing is that I'm about done with the pass off tests so I can be a senior companion either this next transfer or the one after that. On Sunday I made it half way through the hardest part of the test, and I only have a few things left to do.  Wow, I just realized this makes very little sense to you since you have no clue what pass off’s are.  Well, it is just a simple group of tasks, which we do. Like teaching one of the lessons, reciting certain scriptures, and showing we know so many words in Korean. I'm excited about almost being done with that! The bad news... one of the investigators who were going to be baptized never showed up, 박시온.  It was sad when we got a call from the Elders in 김포's asking if he came to our chapel. I guess the main reason why they called was that 박시온 wanted to go to church where we were at first but, they convinced him that it would be better for him if he went to the same church building as his father. Anyway, we began to panic since earlier this week his father decided to back out of his baptismal date. He said that he felt too much pressure from us or something and that he needed more time to think about it. Which is weird, he’s the one who told us that he wanted to be baptized. It wasn't until the middle of the day when we found out that his job 갑자기 ,suddenly called him to work that Sunday. Well that was sad news for us. We need to keep more in touch with him, find out how he is doing, and if he needs any help with anything.

So to answer some of your questions. first no!!! There is not a holiday like Halloween in Korea nor do the members celebrate it. However, some sort of holiday came around yesterday, or the third. But it wasn't any thing special at all. The only thing I could tell is that too many places were closed. Sad, so I couldn't Email then. The next holiday isn't for awhile unless, you want to count Pepero day, November 11th. What I've been told is that it is going to be one of the biggest Pepero Days ever. WHY!? 11/11/11... but it's not going to be that exciting since it's like a Korean Valentine's day or that's what I understand about it.
  Oh... that kid we meet has time this week and has agreed to meet with us this Thursday but, we have no idea where we will meet him. Our church building isn't an option and there are no members that have time that we could meet with. Pray for us that we can find a place and soon.  Ah... I don't know, we think we might meet at a park or something but it is getting colder here or it feels like it's cold. I don't know why!!!  It's only getting around 18C (64F)  at night which should be perfect.
  As for pictures... it's been harder since I got a really ... um... rule enthusiastic, (I spelt it right!!!)  companion who some times goes a little overboard. Also I'm not good at standing up for myself. Ugh, I'm lazy that's the problem. Well I love you mom and it's nice to hear that you and the family enjoyed conference. I get to watch it this week which will be exciting.
  So what's with the yellow house? and what does that mean??? ㅋㅋㅋ Well I love and miss you too. Hope to hear more good things this next week. BYE....

Elder Westarp,
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