Hand written letter

I apologize to one and all, I can't quite remember when I received this letter and I threw away the envelope. But it is a very lovely letter and I wanted to share it with you.  Micah is such a wonderful joy in my life and I hope that you have enjoyed his emails and letters as much as I have. (Mom)

Dear Mom,
Things here are great and there has been so much that has happened.  I never thought it could be like this.  The hard times, the good ones, always teach me more about myself than I realized before.  I know that I'm helping others, wither they're people from off the street or another missionary. Also I've come to know more about the influence of Satan in this world.  And I'm surprised of how many of the things in the Book of Mormon are still around.  There is confusion, pride and other types of wickedness that's all around.  I know that I was sheltered well from the chaos of this world.  I'm blessed with this great opportunity to serve the Lord and help others to know what true happiness is in this life.  Being born in the gospel, I never experienced the empty feeling that comes with not knowing the truth and I know that I have "goodly parents" who taught me well.  I don't understand many things of this life but I get to see others around me, come to ME for wisdom.  I never told you (I think) but at the MTC I learned a little about voicing my thoughts to others.  The other missionaries would listen and later they would come to me and encourage me to talk about things.  I know I'm a lot like you and I often put myself down, when I should be raising myself up.  I love you Mom and I will always try to be the son you need, want and deserve.  I pray that each day you will have the strength to over come your trials.  It seems that you have been given a lot to deal with, but you know that God will pay us a hundred times more than what we give .  Keep care.

Love Micah

Week 70 - Me a Trainer ??

So, Another weeks has come and gone. What could possibly 

be new for this week?! Well, if you are following you'll 

know that the transfer is almost over and that means today 

is one of the hardest days of the month. I don't know why 

but everyone has been teasing me, saying I'll probably be 

trainer this next transfer, but that's what a lot of the
missionaries told me the past two transfers though. The 

only difference is that this time I have convinced myself 

that it will happen for sure this time. Either way the next 

six week is going to test me if I stay. Our investigators 

are on the edge and could slip away. We’ve been thinking 

that sister Lee Young Rhan has been fairly ill since we 

haven't been able to get a hold of her this whole week. 

Also sister Kim Bo Ryoung has been pretty antsy, I believe, 

since she asked us about transfers. It surprised me when she 

said something about it almost being six weeks already. She’s 

really attached to my companion right now and it would seem 

that if he goes she will too. However, he has more faith in 

her than I, which I should work on. But the main point is 

that tonight it will determine the next six weeks of our lives.

    So, this week was also just as slow as it was the last 

one. We hardly meet a soul and only a single student showed 

up to class. It started out with us meeting with sister Kim 

Bo Ryoung on Tuesday. She seemed fine but not too interested 

in our message and she frequently asked English questions 

during our lesson. But when we were closing... I believe that 

our member made a comment about the Book of Mormon being
in English. And at that point she was more ready to listen. 

(well my computer is freaking out, I hate this place, it so 

messed up. luckily I saved half the message I wrote so far.) 

So What I said was that she wanted a English copy of the Book 

of Mormon but I have mixed feeling about it. The first thing 

that gets me is that she said she'd read it if it was in English, 

which was more than what she was willing to do with the Korea 

copy she has. Also we had a member suggest we do that last 

Sunday. However I'm still not sure how I feel about it. I get 

the feeling that she only wants to read it in order to learn 

more English. And that there is the possibility that she'll be 

turned off at the fact that it's in old English, which no one 

uses any more. Also the Book of Mormon is difficult to read. 

We're still thinking of what to do with her. Anyway, This 

Saturday we had English class and only Harry, an 80-some yr old 

man, showed up. But despite how difficult it is to work
with him, since he is so old and losing his marbles, he's 

such a fun old man. He was telling us how he likes the bible, 

but that he thought that the Book of Mormon is so much better. 

Then he began telling us a story from Alma in half English, 

half Korean. After that he told us that he would say the 

closing pray right at that moment in time then he went on 

explaining to us about Japanese ninjas for fifteen minutes

before he gave a pray.
 
  Well I hope thing are working out for you. And good luck 

with that job finding. But that reminds me that we need to 

plan out what's going to happen in the future. Either this 

next transfer or the one after that, they will begin asking 

me for things like; which transfer I'll go home on, the late 

or early one. I don't know how it was for Dad but the Korean 

Mission comes at an awkward time so we can go at one of two 

times. Which means that I can go home on April 9th or the 

transfer before that which would be Feb. 26th. Well I love 

you and I'll pray for you...

Bye...

Week 69 - Keepin busy

It's seems that there is a lot that is going on back there. 

It's just going to be a test of patients. As for Hannelle, 

that is a totally different story... Right now it's hard for 

me to understand the fear you have especially since I'm staying 

in Korea. I've gotten the sense that it’s safe even for a three 

year old child to run around the streets unsupervised. People 

here and people there are so different; I still can't believe 

what kinds of things go on. Anyway~ I hope that it works out 

for you two. And for Rhylie... just keep strong and do what 

you do, She'll still be that little airhead we all know.

  
   So for me.... This week has tried my patience and my strength. 

Out of all of appointments, we only had two come through. The 

first was the most difficult due to misunderstanding. We had 

finished our lesson with a sister Kim Bow Ryoung (김보령). And My 

companion had the thought to ask her about baptism. In our mission 

we call it a soft baptismal question. So he said," Sister Kim Bow 

Ryoung if and when you come to know that our message is true, will 

you be baptized". At that point she flipped out and went on how 

this was not what she was expecting nor what she came for. That 

she was happy with her religion and did not want to change. 

~I still can't figure out, how people think that they are getting 

something for nothing. Nor can I understand what they think when 

they find out that TWO MISSIONARIES are going to be teaching 

english. You'd think that they would understand that the first
priority of the missionary is to teach the gospel then serve the
people. Not the other way around...~ thankfully we had a wonderful
member there, our ward... mission... leader?, Who calmed her down 

and got to the point. That we were missionaries but were not 

forcing her to change but that she should try for herself and see 

if what we shared is not true. It seemed that she was alright with 

meeting again and that she would try to have an open mind. We are 

now waiting to see if she'll meet us tomorrow.
 
   Also this week we meet a new person in our english class. He 

has come in the past but this is the first time we've both seen 

him. He seems to be an upright person but doesn't take the gospel 

for anything but educational or a sort of hobby. But he's much 

more open to it then those who come normally. The strange thing 

was, he was the only one to show up this week. And as for sister 

Lee Young Rhan, she was sick Friday so she had to cancel this week. 

So nothing new with her. 

   This is so hard... I didn't realize how much work it would be. 

I'm thankful for this opportunity and blessing. I just hope I can 

stay awake for the Quarter or so. I love you so much and hope that 

things work out for you at home.
 
Bye...

Week 68 - No stres :)

Hey, Every one back home, how is it? I'm not sure if mom reads 

these letters out loud or just shares some of the details. I 

think it's the latter. I just wanted to say to everyone else 

as well. Hi... 

   So, another week is gone and as usual I’m not sure what to 

write about. This week felt as if there was a lot that went on, 

But, we only met a few people this week. We spent most of the 

time running here and there for this and that. I don't know 

what's going on but I’m tired all the time and feel like I have 

no energy. But on the bright side things could be a lot worse 

off than they are. This area has several people we are still 

meeting with and wonderful members that we can turn to for help. 

   So the week started out with our investigator cancelling on 

us and getting caught out in the rain. But we were able to meet 

someone we found before. He still wanted to come to church; 

however he wasn't willing to come out Sunday. Which really 

confuses me. It seems that the other churches here don't really 

require anyone to sacrifice their time. You can go anytime you 

feel you have free time, like some sort of hobby or something. 

I can't understand why people can think that they get anything 

out of going to that kind of church. Anyways, we also tried 

meeting the many less active members in our area. We were able 

to catch several people. One man was a hair designer. He seemed

to be doing well but I just didn't understand him at all. He's 

been less active for at least the past ten years or so. He reads 

and prays daily yet has no desire to come to church. Also this 

one member a couple of years older than I, wants to go on a 

mission but doesn’t want it enough to change. The saddest thing 

he said was a question, asking if he could still go when he turned 

thirty. I felt that meant, (I'll come back to the church latter 

when I'm older.) It was such a heart wrenching visit. Hopefully 

we'll meet him enough to help him find better help. But on
the bright side, we attended a baptism on Sunday. My companion 

is the District leader so he interviewed the person. It seems 

like they'll stay active too, they've already been attending for 

one year now and  they haven't really missed a day since. That 

brought hope to this week as well as our meeting with Lee Young 

Rahn 자매님. She has been a handful and she is so out spoken about 

her feelings and her actions say otherwise. The last time we meet 

with her, she talked about how praying was a sign of weakness and 

that placing faith in something you can't see is foolish. But at 

the end when we asked her to pray she said yes and then asked for

help on how to pray. She’s weird... but she seems like she’s just 

a confused soul looking for answers but too proud to openly admit 

to it.
 
  Well I've been fine and sleepy this week. I'm finally realizing 

that this time is short and that at some point there is an end 

to it. I love you Mom and I miss you too. Hoping for the best for 

you.
 
Bye...

Week 67 - It's official

Well, It's now an official change for us. We no longer have President
Lee, but President Christensen. He seems ok for... now. I'm not
comfortable about the idea of someone new being here. It still seems
unreal to me. However it is much easier to understand what he is
saying.
 
   So we've been keeping busy so far, but there seems to be this
reoccurring theme in the work we have here. That is, there is either
too much to do in one day, so we are overwhelmed or there is a nothing

to do, so we get stuck walk outside all day long. I guess it's good 

for us in some way. Like finding others to teach and sharing the gospel 

or it's good for our health. Because as of now, out of those we are

meeting with, only two seem to be going anywhere. And even then it's 

that we still a struggle to get them to calm down and listening to our 

message. Like this Saturday, when we meet sister 이영란 (Lee Young Rahn), 

our newest investigator. She seems like she is very curious about the 

gospel, but has no desire to admit it. I believe that right now she 

feels like she can't trust any church because of past experiences that 

she encountered with other groups. Her questions are so deep and well 

thought out, but she hasn't really given us much time to answer them. 

Most of them seem to be trying to prove that there is something wrong 

with religions. Like "How can this be our only chance? It doesn't seem 

fair that this is the only way there is to be saved, when so many people 

do not know about it..." That was the best translation that I could come 

up with, but the point she was making was about her mother. And she didn't 

have the chance in this life to be baptized. It was a hard lesson to teach. 

Our poor member the whole time was explaining to her brief things here 

and there. Then said," If you would listen to the missionaries you would 

learn more..." But it was alright in the end. And we are meeting again, 

later tonight. So I hope it goes better this time around.
 
   So this week has been fairly regular and there were not as many
changes that have happened lately. I can’t wait until summer is over.
It's been quite warm and unpleasant out this week. We've tried to keep
indoors as much as possible. However it hasn’t rained very much so
everything has been dry. In all everything has been good and I really
don’t have anything to complain about. But I was excited to read your
email. I hope that you are happy, and at the least... I’m happy for you. 

It doesn't seem like much but a good thing is a good thing.
Well I love you.

Bye...

Week 66 - RRrrrr it happened again !!

Well what I wrote before was that is that I'm doing good and my week
was great. We meet a few people on the street who were nice. Some kid
we meet wanted to come to church this week, but he wasn't able to make
it. He had trouble understanding the directions that we gave him. Also
the time that church began was difficult for him to attend and our
building didn't have an elevator, he was in a wheelchair. Then Sunday
evening we meet someone who had meet other missionaries before. He wants

to meet today but I feel a little hesitant since he is an Elder of 

another Church. He seemed nice enough when we meet yesterday.
 
  Well I'm sorry about this email, this computer deleted the first one
I wrote. ㅠㅠ  It sounds like this week had a little excitement for you.
I've been doing my best out here. The house has been getting better.
We have less unwanted guests in our house and it's been a cool week.
The temperature has quickly risen this past week and the rainy season

has just started. But I'm doing fine and I still don't absolutely need
anything yet. I love you and hope you are doing well. Miss you and pray
for you...
 
bye...

Week 65 - New Area / Super Ward

Hello again,

   It seems to me that it hasn't been long since the last time 

I wrote you. There have been a few changes since last week. I'm 

now in my new area and have a new companion. We're working in 

the 失害 ward, but I still have no clue of where it is in Korea. 

My new companions name is Elder Cobabe, and he is from somewhere 

in California near Los Angeles. He seems to be a good companion 

and we also have some interesting thing in common. Like how we 

both played the Saxophone... I can't remember the other things 

that came up.

Well this new area I'm in is pretty good and all. Start with the 

ward, which is super friendly and was very welcoming this Sunday. 

Also this area has several investigators. They are all fairly new, 

so it should not be hard for them to accept me. I'm glad that I 

have this chance to be in a new area, But I'm still feeling a 

little lost and far from home. At least for now, anyways. It hasn't 

been too hard though. I guess the only thing sad about this is the 

house. I have never seen so many bugs inside a house. Every night 

this week we've come home to find the floor covered in bugs. But 

it seems that the problem can go away if we try harder to be more 

clean and make sure to always wash the dishes after we eat. I'm not 

to used to the idea of living in such an unclean home. That is 

thanks to you^^. I can't wait until I'm in a home that feels like 

it's clean, that's one of the things I've missed the most so far. 

All I hope is that we'll be able to get it all clean and fresh.  

So it's been fun so far but it seems like there will be tons
of work for me to do in the future. This coming week we have every
night filled. It's going to be crazy.
  
It seems that the weather there is getting pretty hot. I know 

how it kind of feels. For the past two weeks it's been unpleasant 

and the rainy season hasn't even started yet. I'm all excited about 

that. But I'm glad to know that home is doing all right and all 

seems to be well. Has Stephen done anything lately or is he still 

sitting on the couch? ぞぞぞ! Tell him that I said that "You'll be 

big pudgy ball when I get back and that wouldn't be any fun for any 

of us." Well I've been keeping you in my prayers and I'm praying 

that my family will still be there when I get back. I'll make sure 

to write you more next week. I love you and miss you. Oh For some 

of your questions... Yes I've been taking vitamins, that is thanks 

to Kim Moon Jong. He bought us some for our health, But it's only 

vitamin-C. So I'll need to look for the others some where else. 

My shoes are ok... They are holding up alright. My last companions 

name was Elder Warren.

Bye...

Week 64 - Not much happenin'

How are you doing and how is everyone else? It doesn't seem that much
happened this week back at home. This week it seemed to be forever and
ended pretty stressful but it was ok. The first thing to happen was, 

Kim Moon Jong finally started calling us back and sending messages. 

For the longest time we heard nothing from him and it seemed that he had
dropped us completely and that we'd never see him again. After the
day he relapsed we stopped talking as much and it became harder and
harder to get hold of him until we just gave up. Right now he is up
set at my companion for some reason but he isn't willing to tell why. 

But this week it seemed to be a little better for him. He is still not
willing to meet with us so he asked if he could meet with different
one's (missionaries). He still seems uneasy with his decision but I 

think that it is the best thing for him right now. Other than that 

everyone is good. We are building better relationships with our other 

people. And it seems that they are growing in there interest in the 

gospel and willingness to listen to our message. Our English family 

surprised us with questions about religion and it seems that they have 

the typical worries about it as well. Like, why are there so many churches... 

why do some religions hate each other... and other really good questions. 

But the one question that stuck with me the most came from the son. He 

asked us, "Did that really happen?" he was asking about Joseph Smith 

seeing God and Jesus Christ. It caught me a little off guard to hear that. 

I hope that they continue to ask questions and are still willing to meet. 

The father seemed to be a little uncomfortable about what we answered. 

It may have been since we said so much to them that it was a lot to take in. 

Plus they don't have any religious background so everything is new to them. 

They are a wonderful family.
 
   But for our other family nothing has happened this week. We were not
able to meet them this week. I hope that they are doing well. And as for 

myself, I'm doing well. just a little uneasy about this week and what will 

happen, but I know it will turn out good. Well I still miss you a whole 

bunch and love you too.

Bye...

Week 63 - A First Try & a Retry

First email
 

Well it seems that your week was pretty hard and very crazy. And all of it seemed to have occurred on the same week. That is a lot to take in at once. I hope that your next week will be better. Also it was sad to hear about you not getting the job, but I know that you can find one. Our week seemed so slow but turned out to one of the best weeks I've had this whole transfers. We saw so many miracles as our phone was going off like mad. We had several people call us wanting to meet this next, which makes our schedule full. And Kim Moon Jong is alright but he still doesn't trust my companion so that has us a little worried. But for better news there is this new family that has been coming out to church. They have attended many times and are looking for a religion. There is a Mother and her two kids, a son and a daughter. They started coming with a friend of hers who is a member, about two transfers ago, but we only have been able to talk to her the past three weeks.

So other than that not much has happened. The weather is getting hotter and hotter each day and the sun gets up earlier and earlier. But I'm glad to see so much happen this week, even though my email is so short. I think my writing is out of shape. Right now everything is good and the only thing that worries me,  is that... well that is a selfish thought, forget it. Well I've been worried for you and everyone else. But it seems that every one is still a live.

I love you mom and miss you

Second email

Hey Mom,

 I wanted to write you more but I've gotten so lazy at writing I can't think of anything to write about this 

week. I've been doing well and I finally finished writing a letter for you and I sent it along with an old 

one I found. It still isn't as much as I need to send. It sounds like you are having an extremely stressful 

time right now and that you need a little help. I know that I can't do much from across the world, but 

the things that I can do, I have done with quality. So here is for a second try. This week was rough for 

the both of us and I know that I have the better deal. So I love you and pray that God will give the
strength so need to overcome the hard times. Then pray that you get a break now and then.
  

Right now a have few worries and they all point to Kim Moon Jong. He is a great person and has a 

Strong desire to change his life. But he’s driving me up the wall with his mistrust. He see’s me a lot 

as the help he needs to get and I go out of my way a little more since we are such good friends. So he 

doesn't see my companion as much and now he doesn't know if he wants to meet with him at all.  I know

that I worry too much but I'll worry until the day I know he and his wife are sealed in the temple. I don't 

have any doubt that he'll join the church and be baptized someday.  But I think until then I'll worry for him.

On A brighter side of things so many miracles have happened this week. All this week we've had many

people calling and asking to meet. It was surprising... I thought I was in Utah or something. Also this
was the best week we've had the whole transfer even though by the looks of it, it should have been the 

worst. But God helped us see success even when we could not see it ourselves. Also we now have two

families we are teaching. One mainly english and the other only the gospel. This lady we've been teaching 

the past two weeks decided that her children needed religion in their lives to grow up to be better people. 

So she talked to one of her friends, who is a member in our ward about that. So she started coming 

from about February. However she was shy and only came once in a while and only stayed for about 

half of sacrament. But now she has been coming every single week and has a strong desire to learn more. 

She also brings two children, a son who is twelve and a daughter about seven or six. With this family 

I've been able to see the best of our ward. They are so friendly and inviting that I feel that is what every 

new person needs when they walk into the doors.  Well I've ran out of time. I hope that this email was

better than the first I love you and miss you.

Bye...

Week 62 - Kim Moon Jong fell :(

6/03/12 

Hello, how are you? 

I hope that your week has been going well for you and that you are getting along at home. This week was crazy, there was so much that has happened and I don't even know where to being. I guess the first thing that happened was this Text message we received from some lady we meet a while ago. Her brother is in the hospital right now and it seems he may not make it. I'm not sure why she tried to contact us in the first place since she didn't really seem like she wanted our help. Right now we're praying for him, but it seems that it's only getting worse. She has been leaving us messages every other day to tell us about his condition. So that's been sad to hear. When we spoke it reminded me of Bishop Wadmen, and his condition, since they sound so similar. Hope for the best for them. After that our week went on slowly until wednesday when the Elders from SoeCho asked for everyone’s days the next two saturdays for some open house their ward is having. And on top of that the ward wants the missionaries to do everything. So we helped plan that out with them just to find out that their ward wouldn't listen and came up with this unorganized system were everyone will be spread out and the no connection to anything. That'll be fun to deal with next week or when ever they start. Also Kim Moon Jong got really drunk yesterday and almost dropped us. That was stressful, but that wasn't the only thing that happened at that exact time. Some crazy guy came to our chapel and was causing problems for us and the members. The worst thing was that we knew this guy from before, since he has been disturbing other wards around our zone. He keeps demanding help to find a job but he will only settle for what he wants. Then he turned down ten jobs or so. So when that was happening our ward missionary leader came out and told us that the missionaries were not supposed to be there dealing with this, but with investigators. Well that was it. I hope that your week went better than ours. I love you mom.
 

Week 61 - I'm Okay, everythings okay !!

If you are following Micah's emails ,  I apologize for not keeping up with it.  Here are his last 7.

5/29/12

Hello Mom,

Sorry for not telling you sooner that I was not going to be able to write you until Tuesday, here. There was a surprise holiday that came up, Buddha's Birthday. So I've been doing okay and not much has seemed to happen. A lot of our appointments cancelled or were changed several times. Yet we still found many people to teach some how. I was grateful for that. It almost seemed like we were going to have no one to teach, but a few times some one would call and ask if we had time to meet. So there is nothing that  I can complain about. As for Kim Moon Jong, I have no idea what he's going to do and how he plans on doing it. He still wants to move to a foreign company, but his chances seem to be very slim right now. Anyway that's not the important thing right now what is important is that he still wants to be baptized, but he won't set a date.  He's driving me crazy...grah... I really hope that he starts taking the gospel and receiving baptism more seriously.  The best thing we got out of him, as for an answer, was," um... June maybe..." It's been on my mind lately that we need to show him that we are serious about this and that we need to back away and let him choose if he wants to do this or not. It's been hard for me to know what his thoughts are and what is our friendship. I didn't know how much friendship can influence Koreans. I've been told that some companies make deals just because they have this  “Jung”   built between them. And now I know that it's true. I feel a little overwhelmed with how much he has given me. A stylish expensive tie, along with two handkerchiefs and He has taken me so many places. I feel really sick about it and I know that it's not bad but I just want him to know that what we are offering is something worth not waiting for. Well I still care for him and his wife and hopeful they'll come around.

   For you, it seems that you are doing good.  The puppy, the cute baby goats, and May be a new Job... Still praying for you. well we only have one computer and many appointments today. I love you... Sorry it's so short.