Seoul Chaser: Nokbeon Week 18

Dear Family and Friends,

This week has been quite the experience. One of the biggest highlights came on Saturday when P.J. Rogers, a missionary who served here and became a Korean Celebrity, came and taught us about the Korean culture and learning this difficult language. He was super hilarious and gave out tons great advice on how to really build the trust of the members and the people you meet. One thing that really distinguishes Korea is the level of its relationships. To some level, all of the Koreans practice Confucianism in their deep respect for their ancestors and the way that they interact with people older than them. One of the things I love about Korean culture is how the older generation has a deep responsibility to take care of the younger generation and the younger generation has to respect those who are older. Even when they address others, they refer to them as brother, sister, mother, grandfather, and so forth. To conclude our day on Saturday, we had a music night at the church which was super fun. The missionaries sang "Nearer My God to Thee" and Elder Jeong ended with a sweet solo.

This week we spent some more time with our great investigator Gyeong-Min who accepted the Word of Wisdom and the Law of Chastity. He is such a prepared kid who has tons of potential. Our other investigators met with us this week too and we spent some great quality time teaching. Unfortunately, one of our older investigators fell asleep during the restoration video... We also met a 70 year-old man who is super awesome. He attends a Presbyterian church, but he was super open to read the Book of Mormon and really kind. He had an amazing conversion story to Christ that he shared.

This Sunday, we spent a ton of time with the Bishop after church. Church ends at 1 here in our ward and after the bishop finished with interviews, we met with him and our recent convert Jee-Hoon. He's been having trouble getting to church because of his health, so we spent a lot of time discussing how to help him find a job and get in shape. Our bishop is awesome, and he shared some sweet advice. After that ended, we went with the Bishop to visit an older lady who is over 100 years old! Although she can't attend church because of her health, she is still one of the strongest members I have seen, just constantly talking about Christ and asking how the church is doing. Her husband was a patriarch who used to be a pastor for another church over 40 years ago. I could just feel how legendary she was. We took the sacrament to her and talked with her daughter who is not a member. After that, we visited a less-active member who didn't answer. So I called her and asked if she would like to talk with the bishop, and she declined quickly, which was disappointing.

On this past Thursday we headed over to our ward mission leader's house for Missionary Correlation Meeting and for a delicious dinner. He fed us so much food which included some very well flavored chicken... Apparently, they personally killed the chickens in their backyard, but I'm not sure if I believe that. Our ward mission leader could also possibly be one of the three Nephites. He's over 80 but still going strong and helping tons of other people.

Thanks for all the love and support this week! It was well needed.

Your Favorite Missionary,

Elder Wheeler