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

A Very Special Day...

03/20/16

안녕하세요, 여러분!

It is indeed a very special day today!  It is...

The First Day of Spring!!  Yay! and by that I mean it's my birthday...

We have had some fun today.  Just because it's a special day today, we've been listening to Christmas music for the whole day, and all of the other Elders have just been rolling their eyes at me because of that, but it's okay! ^^ Also, today, we are going to go to the 일산 (Il-San) elders' house to play some board games with them, and they just called us while we were emailing asking what kind of pizza we wanted from Costco.  We didn't believe them at first, but hey, I am always up for some pizza.

This week, Elder Eggleston was my companion for a lot longer than Elder Bradshaw was.  The Music Nights have begun for real now, so Elder Bradshaw and 이호현 장로님 (Elder Yihohyeon) are going to start getting pretty busy.  We also had Temple P-day again this week, which I don't really mind having it again already.  I really like going to the temple.  We also visited a good number of members this week.  Our relationship with the ward is getting really strong, and it's pretty awesome.  원당 와드 (Wondang ward) is super awesome.  We ate very well this week ^^  

The only 2 appointments we had this week were with 임상현 (Imsanghyeon) and with John and 산하 (his family?) while I was on exchanges with Elder Eggleston.  I'll talk about John first.  We were able to meet his wife this week, which is really good, because we were a little worried about her, because last time, we weren't able to meet with her, and John said that all the alcohol in the house is for her.  But last week, when we met, she was just as greatly prepared as the other 2.  We actually met with them for 2 and a half hours.  Not because we were just idly talking, but because they had so many questions.  We were planning on just teaching them the first lesson, about the Restoration, but we weren't even able to get halfway through it, because they just kept asking us so many questions.  It was awesome!  We ended up teaching doctrine from every lesson while we met with them.  If they don't get baptized, I will be super sad.

Next, we have 임상현 (Imsanghyeon).  We had an awesome miracle with him this last week.  He's finally trusting us a lot with everything about his life.  So, long story short, he pretty much testified to us for the entire lesson.  But that leaves too many questions, so I'll tell the long story.  When he was young, he had a dream.  He saw heaven and felt the peace He brings.  He knows that he lived with God before he was born.  He really liked that dream, and his only goal in life is to make it back to that place that he saw.  We were quite dumbstruck, to be honest.  It was a pretty awesome story.  We were just talking, and he all of the sudden asks us if there's anything in the Book of Mormon that tells about how to get back to heaven.  We were just like, "Well, the whole thing, but we'll give you 2 Nephi 31 to start."  He was extremely excited about that, and we were just out of it the whole way home.  Thank you all for your prayers concerning this wonderful child of God!

Love,

Elder Tyler Conley

 Elder Polley, Elder Conley, Elder Baird

Elder Bradshaw and Elder Conley

I asked Tyler if Elder Bradshaw lived through that hug.  This was his response:

Elder Bradshaw barely lived through that hug.  He barely lives every night, because I always make sure to give him a hug for 30 seconds to a minute.  He hates it, but I think it works out pretty well.  I think he secretly needs it.  Our companionship seems a lot closer since I started doing that.

The Age of Sarcasm is Over...

03/13/16

오!  안녕하세요, 여러분!

This week was quite a week.  It was a very exciting one, but it seemed to last forever.  I'm just looking at my planner at what we did this week, and I'm just so surprised that I haven't emailed since these things happen.  I suppose you all are wondering what the subject line refers to...

This week we had zone training.  I knew it was going to be pretty great, because the zone leaders came back from their meeting on Tuesday, where they learn what zone training will be about, and we asked them how zone training was.  Elder 이호현  (Yihohyeon) just said it was pretty good, but Elder Eggleston leaned over me slowly said, "We just got grilled for 5 hours."  What happened at zone training is that President Sonksen has decided that sarcasm needs to be completely done away with in our mission.  I agree with him, but that also means I have to pretty much completely change my personality, sort of.  The day that happened, our house was very quiet, because we didn't know what we could say without being sarcastic.  It's getting better now, though.  

Tuesday morning, we were able to meet with 김종우 (Kim, Jong-Woo), our investigator who we thought had disappeared off of the face of the earth.  He can only meet in the mornings now, so we need President's permission to move our studies around.  He told us that we have two chances, and if he's not progressing by then, we have to drop him.  So we met with him, and now, he has a huge desire to quit drinking and smoking, he wants to read the whole Book of Mormon, and he has a baptismal date for April 30th.  It was a huge miracle.  We had another miracle this week when we met with 임상현 (Imsanghyeon).  We were afraid he wasn't going to want to meet with us anymore, but we met and ate chicken together.  After our small lesson, he said that our words felt right in his heart, which is the first time he's ever said anything of that sort since I've come to 원당 (Wondang).  

On Thursday, I was with Elder Eggleston for the whole day, and we met with a family, whose father's name is John.  He is Korean, but he's really good at English, so we taught both of them in English.  We just met with him and his son, and I do believe that they are the most prepared people I have met during my whole time in Korea.  They are asking all the right questions, and our message can help them out so much, and they are so ready for it.  I'll be meeting them next time as well, because Elder Eggleston and I need to go on exchanges again next week so the other elders can do their music night practicing.  

About Music Nights, they have begun again.  I pretty much won't have a companion this week, except for Elder Eggleston, and that's probably the way it will turn out for the rest of the transfer.  

Some other fun things that happened this week:

We got a bishopric change.  Our bishop is the same, but the counselors changed.  They're all still really awesome.  The second counselor became our ward mission leader, and he's a really great guy.  He really wants to help us.

On Saturday, we advertised our English Class.  The whole time we were doing this, I just had this strange desire to say, "What's up, man?" to someone.  I can usually find at least one person who will be able to that when we hand out flyers, but this time, I was rather flustered with it all, and it was frustrating me.  But, then, Mark passed by.  He is black, and was born in Cameroon, but grew up in L.A.  He was like, "Hey, what's up, brother?" and came and gave me the bro handshake.  It made me whole week absolutely wonderful.  

Last night, we had this  massive streetboarding activity with the whole zone.  What ended up happening is Elder Benson, Elder Baird :) and I all went around with a streetboard and just talked to people and told them they were really handsome.  Koreans get really happy when you compliment them, so that worked out pretty well.

Fun week, right?

Love,

Elder Tyler Conley