Just Let Me See A Miracle (37, 38, 39)

Hello, 

To start I want to apologize for the fact that I got this email out so late. But I'll go ahead and jump right into it.

Transfers

     So, we received transfers already. Its crazy how fast time flies. I've been living in Gongju for a little over 3 months now and its felt like only 3 weeks. But it looks like I am going to be staying in Gongju for another 6 weeks and ill be doing it again with the same companion Elder Curtis. Last transfer we didn't get a baptism but Elder Curtis and I are really hoping we can get someone baptized in this transfer. One of the biggest things we are going to try this transfer is SYL. Otherwise known as (Speak Your Language) where pretty much you try and only speak Korean as much as you possibly can with each other. Its pretty difficult and it requires a ton of patience, especially for me as my Korean speaking abilities are a little lackluster. But! We think this will improve our Korean by a lot which will be insanely helpful. 

Some other crazy news from transfers is that apparently there are now two Elders in the mission where all they do is go on exchanges/Splits with as many Elders as they can during the transfer. They aren't Zone leaders, District leaders, or AP's, they are literally there to just exchange/split with as many Elders as they can. Very Unique and I'm not entirely sure what the point of it is but cool nonetheless.

Other goofy news that happened this transfer was when they announced who were going to be the new Tech Elders. In our mission we have a companionship of Elders known as "Tech Elders" and anyone can get assigned to it. But they basically do a whole bunch of social media work and other computer/tech related things for the mission / Mission President. Usually if you get assigned to be a tech Elder you are in that position for a really long time. One of the missionaries who just got transferred from it was in there for 5 transfers. The guy who replaced him is a guy named Elder McBride. The funny thing about Elder McBride was that he was a previous Tech Elder not even 4 transfers ago and he was in the office for about 5 transfers and now he’s going back. Poor dude can't escape the office.

All in all Elder Curtis and I were one of the small few that didn't get transferred everyone else got new companions and/or new areas. So, we must be doing something good if we stayed together or maybe something good will happen. Who knows.

"What I need are disciples"

     Something unique me and Elder Curtis got to do this 5th Sunday was deliver an entire presentation to the Gongju ward about Love, Share, and Invite. The crazy thing about it was we had to do it all in Korean. We spent about an hour every single day for a week preparing this message to deliver to the ward and honestly I think it went well. But, the main reason I bring this up is because here in Korea, if it isn’t obvious, missionary work is tedious and difficult. Most people out here when they find out what church you're apart of either think we are a cult or just genuinely don't care. Now granted thats most of the world nowadays but in Korea its especially bad. What makes it even harder is the fact that you have to convey Christ's Gospel in their native language Korean. Now I get it, Korea isn't the only place in the world that has this problem which is why missionaries everywhere need all the help they can get. Especially from members. 

Elder Curtis and I have tried visiting, contacting, engaging with members as much as we can but instead of referrals or friends to meet we've instead been getting massive buckets of rice and Kimchi. Which is great! But its not what we need. To quote Elder Holland in a general conference address in which he referred to the savior and said, "Wasn’t it obvious then and isn’t it obvious now that if I want fish, I can get fish? What I need, Peter, are disciples—and I need them forever." ("The First Great Commandment", Holland).

I will continue to be a missionary and slowly speak and try to engage with as many people as I can in Gongju but it will be awhile before I start to see success by doing that. Instead Elder Curtis and I should be working with members on a daily level to grow this ward. But we need them to respond to the call to serve as well.

One of the biggest things I regret when I wasn't a missionary was the amount of people I could have easily referred to missionaries. Or even invited to church. Why didn't I do that? Because I didn't know what it was like to invite someone who desperately needs the gospel. I wish I could show that to these members and hear more stories about friends inviting friends to church or even friends baptizing friends out here in Korea. Keep up the faith and the prayers for us because Gongju is gonna need it.

Conclusion

     I really don't have anything else crazy to say. I know its been 3 weeks since my last email but there really hasn't been much happening. Gongju's font is still drier than the Sahara but we are still hoping for that storm to eventually come. Being a missionary in Korea has humbled me a lot. We set goals, make plans, and then when we act on them it’s rare for us to actually hit a goal. Humbled enough to make our goals lower so that we can reach them. So low sometimes that It almost makes it feel like we shouldn't even be setting them. But then out of the blue we see miracles happen and things start to change it feels like we finally have a firm grip on things and then boom it slips. Something just happens it always does. I've continued to ask myself, Why? Is this some elaborate prank by God to just mess with us. To make it look like we got the ball rolling only for it to go flat? Its felt like it sometimes but I know God is with us and everyone is watching over us. All we can do is just hope for that moment where we can finally get over the ledge.

Our goals for the Transfer are as follows:

New People Being Taught: 5

Lessons With Members Participating: 8

Non-members Attending Sacrament: 4

People On Baptismal Date: 1

People Baptized and Confirmed: 1

Its crazy to think that some of you who are serving or will be serving will be setting higher number goals than these for only a week rather than 6 weeks.

This is what Elder Curtis and I have to work with. We are especially hoping and praying for us to put someone on Baptismal date this transfer its going to be tough but I have faith it will happen.

Keep us in your prayers.

Pray for Reden

Pray for Go YeoungHoon

Pray for The GongJu Ward.

Lets see some miracles happen.

-Elder Christensen

Dynamic Duo Elder Christensen and Elder Curtis

One of their awesome Friends! Prayers for him.

Tate has mastered fried rice