Sweet Barbecue Party!!

05/08/16

안녕하세요, 여러분!

This was a pretty fun week.  I got to Skype my family today for Mother's Day, and that was pretty great.  The zone leaders busted in halfway through and shoved about a million cookies in my mouth, but besides that, communication went very well.  

This week, we were finally through a miracle able to visit with 백정환's (Baegjeonghwan's) family on a weekday.  We had been trying to visit with them for so long, and so we decided to just go up to the middle of nowhere, where they live.  We thought we would go try to find their house before we called to see if they were home, but then we felt like we should call them from right where we were.  We called them and asked if they had about 10 minutes to meet and talk and share a short message, and they told us that they had exactly 10 minutes right then.  It was their only free time of that day!  We were able to meet with them, and now there's definitely a reason why 백정환b (Baegjeonghwan) and I are best friends.

Then, on Saturday, there was a big 강원도 (Gang Won-do)Music Night, so the other 2 원당 (Wondang) teams had to do exchanges with 금촌 (Geumchon).  Then, all of us went to our ward barbecue party.  It was sooooooooo fun!  Pretty much our whole ward, plus some others came.  임상현 (Imsanghyeon) actually came, too!  But, regrettably, he came a little late, and left a little early, so we weren't able to teach him a lesson again.  After all the meat was consumed, we cleaned up a little bit, and then just conversed with all of the members and had some fun, like people normally do at parties.  Then, we all played some Korean games, which I actually cannot explain, because I don't really understand them myself.  It was an awesome experience!

Love you all!

Elder Tyler Conley

Fun Week, Eh?

05/01/16

안녕하세요, 여러분! 

This was a pretty fun week.  It started off with some interviews with President Sonksen, which really helped me out a lot.  He definitely has the spirit of revelation with him.  I really look forward with having interviews with him.  Later that day, we almost got ourselves lost.  We went to the far regions of our area, where I have only been once for an extremely short period of time.  We met a couple cool people there, including one old guy who critiqued our 전도.  He had some really good insights on how to do it, but it kind of confused us at first.  

Then, on Wednesday, we met with a less active named 박명진 (Bagmyeongjin).  He is a pretty cool guy.  He served a mission in 부산 (Busan) a while back, so he knows all of our rules, including the little loopholes.  He literally told us he wasn't coming to church because he was lazy.  He also rebuked Elder Peterson for studying grammar so in-depth.  He gave us a parable: "Dinner you afternoon my house five.  Understand?"  So, yeah, that's how it goes with grammar, I guess.  

On Thursday, we almost died, because we had back to back dinner appointments with some of our ward members, who really really like to feed missionaries.  The first one knew about it, so she told us she would go easy, and then brought out these two massive trays full of bread on them, then when we went to the second one with the bishop, he said, "We have a house rule here.  Three plates minimum."  So, yeah, our tummies were not very happy that night.  But the food was delicious.  

On Saturday, we had a music 전도 (proselyting) activity, where people brought some musical instruments and played them on the street.  Sadly, they don't really have trombones in Korea, so I ended up just talking to people on the street.  But, I got to see a couple people from my 동기 (MTC district), so that was fun.  

Then, for all of this morning, the zone leaders pretty much beat me up during all of studies.  They've totally lost it.  We have fun in Korea ^^

Have a good week!

Love,

Elder Tyler Conley

 With Elder Peterson

 With Elder Baird

With Elder Baird and Elder Polley

Exploration...

04/23/16

안녕하세요, 여러분!

This week was a pretty interesting week.  We kind of explored all over our area throughout the week.  We went up to some places named 내유동 (Naeyudong), 고양동 (Goyangdong), and 백석동 (Baegseogdong).  Kind of all over the place.  Going to that first area was an accident, though.  We were able to visit 박옹자 자매님 (Bag Ongja Jamaenim), who was so happy to see us.  She gave us this huge bag of food and told us how happy she was that we came.  It was pretty cute.  I also went on exchanges with Elder Davis, our zone leader, and explored 백석 (Baegseog) area.  We met a lot of cool people there, and were able to get two return appointments.  It was pretty exciting.  

Another exciting thing that happened this week was that 세준 (Sejun) got baptized!  But, I was a 바보 (?) and didn't bring my camera, so no pictures of that.  세준 (Sejun) was taught by the Elders in 일산 (Il-San), and is a really cool kid.  I was super excited for him to get baptized.  We pretty much spent all of church preparing the baptismal font for him.  It was a really cool experience.  Another great thing involved in that was that 임상현 (Imsanghyeon) came to the baptism.  He is one of the last people I would have expected to do so, but I guess that just shows how much he's changed since I first met him.  It was pretty cool.  He still has baptism on his mind, so we will do our best to prepare him for that.

That's all for this week!  Have a good one!

Love,

Elder Tyler Conley

And some extra from my email:

I can't really think of any exciting stories to tell you this week.  I can tell you all that bearing a testimony works miracles.  Elder Davis and I were on the street, and we were talking to a guy, and bore testimony to him about eternal families, and that is definitely the only way he decided to meet with us again, so that was a cool experience.  

Yep, Elder Peterson was Elder Baird's old companion, and is now mine.  He's super awesome.  We are already pretty much best friends.  We believe that we will see a lot of miracles this week.  I think that this week, we will find a lot of new people to teach.  임상현 (Imsanghyeon) is doing pretty awesome.  He came to the baptism, and asked if, when he gets baptized, he has to bear a testimony, so it still sounds like he's expecting it.  We haven't had a chance to teach him a real lesson since Elder Peterson's come yet, but he seems to be doing all right.  

New Companion

04/17/16

안녕하세요, 여러분!

This was a pretty great week.  This week was transfers, and every single team in our district switched.  We got a new Zone Leader, a new greenie, and Elder Peterson, our new district leader, and my new companion.  He came to Korea 2 transfers before me, so usually, if someone says something that we don't understand, we look at each other, and realize that the other one didn't understand it either.  This next transfer or two will be awesome.  I am actually really excited.  Elder Peterson is an awesome missionary.  I actually spent a whole lot of time this week telling about 원당 (Wondang) and about the ward and its members.  So, we did not spend a whole lot of time doing missionary activities, but we set ourselves up to do some super awesome missionary work for this next week.  We are going to see a whole lot of miracles this week.  

This week, I met with an investigator in 금촌 (Geumchon), as a goodbye visit for Elder Benson, with whom I had to go on exchanges with.  The investigator's name was 임현옥 (Imhyeonok), and he is a super cool guy.  Then, on Wednesday, I pretty much spent the whole day in a threesome with the zone leaders, because transfers were weird, so I ended up finally getting my companion at 5 in the afternoon.  It was pretty crazy.  Then, besides initiation for Elder Peterson, we visited a couple of members' houses.  That took so much longer than it should have.  We found one after an hour and a half, and found out it was literally a 30 second walk from our house, so that was embarrassing.  Then, the next one took us about 3 hours, with us walking all over our area to find it.  It was an adventure.  The rest of this transfer will be as well, because our goal for this transfer is to go to all of the places that are in the far regions of our area, and just explore everywhere in our boundaries.  It's gonna be fun! ^^

Have a good week!

Elder Tyler Conley

These will be much shorter now...

04/10/16

These will be much shorte

안녕하세요, 여러분!

These will be much shorter know because my email time has been cut significantly from now on.  President Sonksen has received revelation directly from God that this will help us missionaries become more sanctified and focus on the work.  I support this decision entirely.  He also received that we will wear suits for an extended period of time.  That one may be hard, but I also support this decision.

Anyway, this week, we got transfer calls, which will be effective Wednesday.  Our district is separate from 일산 (Il-San) again, and half of our district is leaving.  Elder Eggleston and Sister Preisler are getting shipped clear out to 강원도 (Kang-won-do), Elder Eggleston to 태백 and Sister Preisler to 속초 (Taebaek).  Elder Bradshaw is leaving to 신당 (Sindang).  My new companion will be Elder Peterson, who came to Korea only 2 transfers before me.  Pretty exciting.

This week, I also went on exchanges with Elder Paulsen, which was pretty fun.  I made up a promise to him by taking him to Ashley's, a fancy American buffet that missionaries love.  We met some crazy people, like a guy whose dog starting attacking some other dogs, and in an effort to get his dog out of there, threw the other dogs clear into the air.  It was pretty funny.  I'm pretty sure that we will meet again.  We also met a drunk guy inside a fancy apartment building.  He had obviously had the snot beaten out of him, because he had this massive black eye.  We were talking to him, and every so often, he would stand on his toes and stare at us in the eyes really close and use his hands to open his black eye, and then he would just say, "Understand?"  Pretty funny.

It's been a pretty great week!  I wish you the best!

Love,

Elder Tyler Conley

Exchanges and So Many Cookies!

03/27/16

안녕하세요, 여러분!

This week was an interesting week.  We had a massive zone streetboarding activity this week, and so our team was asked to make a whole bunch of cookies for it to give out to random people that walked by.  We spent a while making them, and our team ended up making over 200 cookies for this activity.  Then, we found out that people don't like taking cookies from strangers.  However, we were luckily able to give most of them out.  It took a bit of aggressiveness, but it worked out in the end.  We also received a bunch of people's phone numbers to contact, but through further investigation, sadly many of them were fake.  The activity was definitely a success, though.  We will be doing at least one more, in the far north realm of 금촌 (Geumchon).  This one will be the best yet! ^^

We also went on exchanges this week.  I went with Elder Flora, to 일산 (Il-San).  I was able to meet with their investigator that has a baptismal date, whose name is 세준 (Sejun).  He is super awesome.  We are pretty much best friends.  He is actually getting baptized into our ward, because one of his best friends attends our ward.  It is a bit of an interesting case, but by next week, he should be a new member of our church, which is awesome!  Besides that, on exchanges, we just walked around their whole area finding members' houses and we also streetboarded.  It was pretty great.  

Then, on Friday, we met with our new investigator.  His name is 정승이 (Jeongseung-i).  He is about 60, and is a super friendly guy.  He attended church when he was younger, but doesn't anymore.  He also stopped drinking alcohol when he was younger, too, which is a pretty great miracle.  We will be meeting him again this week, so we can find out a little bit more about him and try to talk about baptism with him.  It should be great! ^^

Then, on Saturday, we had our Music Night at 녹번 와드 (Nokbeon ward).  It was pretty great.   I was quite impressed.  They were actually able to make "That Easter Morn" sound good!  And, our investigator, 임상현 (Imsanghyeon), came with us.  I think he liked it, but Elder Eggleston and I had to leave pretty soon after, so we weren't really able to talk with him about it.  It was a pretty great night, though.  On Sunday, I was on exchanges the whole day, and we visited a couple of members.  It was also a pretty great day.

Have a good week!

Love,

Elder Tyler Conley

A really cute kid I met at the music night

A really cute cake that the Il-San Elders bought me for my birthday

Communications...

04/03/16

안녕하세요, 여러분!

This week was a pretty good week.  We were able to do a number of things.  Regarding the subject line, I have a kind of funny story.  On Friday, I was with Elder Eggleston, and we had a small chunk of time before we were meeting with a less active member at our church.  So, we were just walking around and talking to people for 15 minutes or something.  We saw a guy sitting on the side of the sidewalk, who was most obviously pretty drunk, and I didn't want to talk to him, but I also felt like we should, so we did, and wow, this guy was PLASTERED.  He couldn't even form complete sentences.  I had absolutely no clue what he was saying.  He would say something that was half of a thought, and then look at me expecting an answer, but I was just waiting for him to finish his sentence.  Then, he would try in English, and it was the kind of English that made me want to tell him, "Please switch back to Korean.  I think it was easier to understand."  So, yeah, that was a fun experience.

This week, we had dinner with our former ward mission leader, 양성일b (Brother Yangseongil).  He fed us some really good roasted chicken.  However, it might not have been cooked too well, because the next day, Elder Bradshaw was pretty much in bed all day because of food poisoning or something similar.  

We also met with 임상현 (Imsanghyeon) this week, and talked about faith.  He has accepted a baptismal date for May 14, so that's super awesome.  He has changed so much in the last few weeks, it's been quite impressive.  We were also able to visit 박현우b (Brother Park, Hyun - Woo), whose family moved in a couple weeks ago.  Their family is super cute.  They have 3 kids, 2 daughters and a son, ranging from 3 to 7 years of age.  Both parents are pretty much fluent in English.  전소연s (Sister Yeon ago), his wife, can actually say her "r"s and "l"s.  That is a huge feat for Koreans.  

We also had a massive skills workshop on Wednesday.  They brought in actual members to help us with different missionary skills, such as working with members and inviting investigators to church and to get baptized.  It was pretty cool.  I learned a lot from these members.  We also did our weekly trash pickup service this week, where we walk around in these super bright fluorescent yellow vests and pick up trash around the neighborhood.  The thing is, it's spring now, which means...

Bees and wasps.

And, if any of you know anything about these particular insects, you will know that they really, really love super bright fluorescent yellow...  So, it was a little bit like the four elders in our district were picking up trash and the sisters were running away from the bees.  It was pretty funny, but it really does work as a service activity.  A lot of people tell us that we're doing well when they see us, so people are noticing our efforts, which is important.

사랑합니다!  Have a good week!

Elder Tyler Conley