A Little Extra Something

01/09/16

I'm not sure when this happened, but I know it was in Tyler's first area.  A sister in our ward was doing a lesson about missionary work.  She sent an email to all the missionaries in our ward asking for an experience from their mission.  This is what he wrote to her, and then she gave it to me.  I don't remember him ever telling this story to us, so I'm posting it here.

"Last week, on an assignment from the ward we are serving in right now, we were searching for less active members or members who had recently moved in.  We went to a large apartment complex and the doorman there told us that the address we had didn't exist, but he took our card and promised to call us if the people we were looking for came to his building.  Then, unexpectedly, he invited us into his office.  It turns out he was a less active member of the Church.

This told me that we can't just give up after every little disappointment or roadblock that comes in our way.  We have to try to reach our objectives, especially the ones that God has given us."

새해행복많이받으세요! (That means Happy New Year)

01/03/16

안녕하세요!  Happy New Year!!

It turns out, New Years is actually a full-on holiday here.  I am pretty sure that New Years was just as fun as Christmas was here.  We had a ward party, where we ate some 떡국 (I don't really know how to explain it.  It is just some sort of super delicious soup) and ice cream, and played 육노리, which is pretty much Korean Sorry.  When you eat 떡국 on New Years Day, you turn a year older, so I am now 20 years old.  How crazy is that?  It's like I've grown 2 years older in the time I've been gone!  I am pretty sure that 육노리 is a traditional game, so the old ladies were playing it really hard and totally getting into it, and it was really cute and funny.  It was definitely a party

I can't really remember a lot of this week, even with the aid of my planner.  On Monday night, we had a testimony meeting for anyone who participated in the Music Nights, which includes me, I guess, even though I didn't do very much.  It was very cool to see how these Music Nights increased the faith of everyone that had participated in them, even the ones that came to watch.  It was definitely a great testimony builder, and good, wholesome music can touch the hearts of everyone that hears it.  It is truly wonderful.  Then, on Tuesday we had P-day, because it was our Temple P-day!  It is always a good experience to go to the temple.  Then we went to a museum about the Korean War.  I was with Elder Baird the whole time, which was really fun.  There was a curator there who walked up to us and told us literally everything about the Korean war.  It was really cool, but it made our heads hurt.  On Wednesday, we had district meeting, along with the 일산 district, because their district, due to recent events, has gone down from 8 missionaries to 4, so they were with us for district meeting.  Then, we met with our recent convert, 서우철, and ate pizza at Pizza Hut.  He is a pretty cool guy.  He studies at an Aerospace college!  Then, for Thursday, my planner looks like it got hit by a train.  We had to switch up literally all of our plans, because we had President interviews, and Elder Bradshaw had to go do LPP, and we had to meet an investigator at the same time.  It was pretty crazy.  President interviews were great.  I love President Sonksen so much.  We met with our investigator, 임상혀, on exchanges.  He is absolutely insane.  But, he is so funny.  He is a complete video game addict, and so we are trying to help him get out of that and find faith and stuff like that, and I think there will be progress soon.  Then we planned on Friday.  On Saturday, we had family home evening, but only two brothers in the gospel came.  So, the elders just took them out for chicken, and that was pretty fun.  I am the same age as 유민규, who is one that came, so that automatically makes us best friends.  Then, on Sunday, we had church and went street boarding.  I hope that all of you have had a great week, and have another great one next week!

사랑합니다!

Elder Conley

 A butcher shop

 Making gingerbread houses with the ward

Guess who!

I asked Tyler what street boarding is.  Here's his response:

Streetboarding is hanging out on a street with a board and asking people to stick a sticker to the board regarding which thing on the board they think is the most important.  It is a good way to get a lot of gospel contacts, which is very important in my area, since people can be scarce.  On one streetboard, it asks what the most important thing is, and has stuff like religion, money, family, education, etc.  On the other one, it asks if you met God, what would you ask him, and it says why is life so hard, where do I go when I die, what is life's purpose, and what do you want me to do.

Merry Christmas!!!

12/27/15

메리크리스마스, 여러분!

Well, this was a really crazy week.  I am not really even sure who I should call my companion for this week.  This week, I was with Elder Mattingly, Elder Sol, Elder Lee, and Elder Bradshaw.  It was pretty crazy.  I'll just tell you what we did for Christmas this year.  On Tuesday, we had a Christmas conference at President's house with two other districts.  It was really fun.  We talked about faith, had Danish pancakes, and sang Christmas carols.  We also talked about goal setting because it's also the new year.  It was a blast.  I got to hang out with 녹번 district even more!  Then, on Thursday and Friday, Elder Bradshaw had to go to two more Music Nights.  So, I went on some crazy exchanges for that.  Christmas was really fun.  When we woke up, we opened some presents that our families gave us, and then the rest of the day was a normal day.  We just street contacted the whole rest of the day.  Then, Elder Bradshaw was finally finished with the Music Nights, so we had a nice dinner on Saturday.  On Saturday, I got to Skype my family, so that was fun.  Then, on Sunday, it was church, and then two different members fed us dinner, and I felt like I was going to explode.  

That's this week, because I am pressed for time this time.  

Love,

Elder Tyler Conley

And a little more:

On Saturday night, I called some people from my first area to wish them Merry Christmas.  I called Mike and Sue, and John.  They were all really happy to hear from me.  John asked when I was planning to come back to Seoul, but I had to tell him that I don't really know.  I tried to call 김성민, but he didn't answer my call.  I also called the Elders in 화양, and they were soooooooooo happy to hear from me.  Elder Ellingford answered the phone, and said in a plain voice, "Hello Elder Conley,"  and in the background, I could hear Elder Carmen cheering because I called.  Elder Jeong was really happy to hear from me too.  He really misses me.  

Christmas Day!

12/25/15

When we spoke with Tyler on Christmas day we asked him to bear his testimony to us in Korean.  Here is the recording:

Tyler's testimony #2

A week of complete madness

12/20/15

안녕하세요, 여러분!

This whole week was pretty insane.  Not in a bad way or anything like that.  I was actually super happy this week.  I don't really now why, buy I'm definitely not complaining about it.  Let's see here...

On Sunday, the bishop asked Elder Bradshaw, a super good violin player, to do a musical number for yesterday, and he chose a pretty difficult piece to play.  So, we spent a lot of time at home and he practiced, and I studied Korean mostly, as well as other things.  Monday was P-day, as usual.  We pretty much sat around the house the whole day.  Nothing extremely interesting.  Then, on Tuesday, we had English class, and Elder Bradshaw pretty much practiced the rest of the day. On Wednesday, we had District Meeting, and then we went on exchanges.  I went with the Korean Elder 설현우 (Sol hyeon wu).  We 전오ed around for a little while, and it turns out that my area has approximately five people in it.  Of course, that's an exaggeration, but people are quite scarce here.  Then, we went streetboarding on Thursday after we finished exchanges.  We also met with a member during this streetboarding.  On Friday, we did a little weekly planning, and went to a community center English class, and then Elder Bradshaw practiced this song that he's put at least 6 hours into at the church with the accompanist.  Then, we saw a baptism of an 8 year old member.  It was very special.  Then, on Saturday, everything broke loose.  I pretty much only slept in my area for the past 2 days.  Elder Bradshaw had to go to 의정부 for another Music Night.  It's pretty far away.  So, I actually went to 녹번 with and Elder there, and helped with their English class and their Family Home Evening.  It was actually really fun.  Then we got home at about 10:20 because of some miscommunication at which station we were meeting at to switch back.  Then, on Sunday, we went to church, and bishop told Elder Bradshaw, after all of the work he had put into this song, to choose a different song that was quite as fancy.  Then went back to 녹번 again.  There was a Music Night there as well.  That was fun.  Yep, that was my week.  Thank you all!

Elder Tyler Conley

And, hello, 원당!!

12/13/15

안녕하세요, 여러분!

Well, for the first half of last week, not a whole lot of regular missionary work happened, because, since our area was closing, there was literally nothing effective that we could do, so we just cleaned our house, except for a couple of member meals that we got.  The meals that we got before transfers were pretty insane.  On Monday, for P-day, we ate at a sushi buffet, and then the next day, the previous bishop took us to VIPS, which is a really big fancy buffet, then on Wednesday, our stake president took us to a super high quality meat buffet.  I literally only ate lunch for 4 days straight.  Then, we said goodbye to everyone on Wednesday night, and then it was transfers.  So, I said goodbye to Elder Jarrett, and met my new companion, Elder Bradshaw, and we were off on our way to 원당.  Elder Bradshaw is a super duper good violin player, so he has to do all these music numbers all around Seoul, so I get to come with him for a lot of them!  Yesterday, there was a music night in 일산 that the Sisters from 화양 were also involved in, so it was good to see a familiar face.  But, this week, not a lot of regular missionary work happened at all, because our area was closing the first half of the week, and then we were really busy while I was Elder Bradshaw this last week, so there aren't a whole lot of really cool experiences to report on.  So, sorry.

Till next week!

사랑합니다!

Elder Conley

Bye, bye, 화양 (and Elder Jarrett)!

12/06/15

안녕하세요, 여러분!

This was a fun week.  On Monday, we hiked up a mountain, ("mountain") for an hour or so.  Then it was Tuesday.  Just like any other Tuesday.  Except, we picked up another pastor investigator, who sells coffee and phones and does his service all in the same building.  He was pretty cool.  Then, on Wednesday, we had zone training.  It was a good one.  It was all about Christmas!  I love Christmas!  We talked about a bunch of different ways we can do missionary work that is focused on Christmas.  We also set some really high goals for our stats this month.  After zone training, 이신진 장로님, our office elder, came to us and told us our house was going to be sold, and that our companionship area was closing.  So, I figured out that day that the chances of me actually getting transferred went up to like 85% or something way high like that.  So, we spent most of Thursday cleaning our house, and we met with John again.  Then on Friday we met with our other pastor investigator.  All we really accomplished with that meeting was that our churches were different.  We also street boarded, and talked to people on the street about our new Christmas video and gave out hot chocolate to people.  That was fun as well.  It also marked Elder Jarrett's two year mark, so this last week is an extra one for him. 

Then, it was Saturday.  Transfer call day, but they come at 9 at night.  John and 김성민 both fed us, with lunch and dinner respectively.  They were both very sad to find out that both of us were most likely leaving, and said they probably wouldn't meet with any other missionaries, which is really quite terrible.  Then, we got our calls, and I am going to 원당 (wondang), which is clear outside the other end of Seoul.  It's going to take somewhere around two hours of total travel time to get there.  Then, on Sunday, Elder Jarrett and I, along with Elder Song from our district, gave our goodbye talks in sacrament meeting.  We also took some pictures with ward members, and said goodbye to them.  It was a fun week, that's for sure.  

See you next week, in a different ward!

사랑합니다!

Elder Conley

 Previous bishop, 최일광, (Choi ear gwang)

황인성 (Hwang een sung) and family with me, Elder Song, and Elder Jarrett