Season of Change (54)

Hello There!

     I can't think of a creative way to start this email so I'll just go ahead and get started.

Jecheon Is The Coldest City In Korea

     I am not sure who told me this but a Jecheon native once said that Jecheon, for whatever reason, is the coldest city in Korea. Now I don't know what it's like in the winter yet in Jecheon but I can say the weather is starting to cool down. Because of that I am getting excited for one of my favorite seasons of the year Fall! I am especially excited for Fall because I have yet to experience Fall in Korea. One thing I can say is that it will most certainly be better than Summer. Summer in Korea is horribly hot and it feels like I just climbed out of a swimming pool after an hour walk toward the church building. I am mainly excited for Fall because it’s the season of change. In other words I hope to change as a missionary and ultimately change for the better. To do this I have focused on Christ this week and I've noticed the many miracles that have happened. One specific one was we've been meeting over the phone with a young man named Michael from the Philippines. He has been super curious about the church and we've been teaching him how to pray and even feel the spirit. He recognizes it and wants it. Pray for Michael.

Every Day Is Unique

     Being a missionary for one year i've seen a lot of different days, over 365 of them to be exact, and one thing has started to stick out to me. It’s that each day is unique and each day brings new opportunities to learn new things. It’s our job to really decide if we can take what we learned from that day and apply it. The more I've thought about my mission and what I have accomplished as a missionary, I've come to realize that my skills and what I have done did not come in the span of one day. The daily grind of waking up and going to do the work has helped me notice the uniqueness of each day has helped me define myself and my skills. I think often a lot of us don't like change and if it happens we want it to happen immediately. Unfortunately, it’s not that easy, and serving in Korea for a year now has taught me that. Speaking Korean every single day for over 365 days has not made me fluent but I have seen growth. 

I spent a decent conversation today with my Father about what it means to be me. What makes me unique and what do I bring to the table? The follow up question to that is what do I want to become? I had a dream, now I don't know or even care if it was by divine intervention that I had this dream but, it was this. I was home back in Bountiful I was no longer a missionary, but I still had the knowledge from my mission and I still held strong to my purpose as a missionary. The issue was I was regretful because I feel like I came back too early. I felt like I hadn't done enough, or rather I didn't know enough. Then I simply woke up.

I thought about that for a while. This feeling that if I were to be home right now and my mission was over, would I be regretful I didn't do enough? I guess in my mind I felt I haven't done enough yet, which might make sense as I am only 50% of the way there.

So, I want to really give it my all this year and really find what defines my success. Really ask myself and God the question, 

"Who do I want to be by the end of my mission? And what am I going to do?"

Conclusion 

     If you couldn't tell not much happened this week, as there wasn't really much to talk about other than how I've been feeling. I've enjoyed Korea, a lot more than when I first got here. It seems my joy for the people and the culture tends to keep growing the more I just throw myself at it.

On a bit of a sad note, our beloved Maverick, Mavvy, Mavvy buns, or whatever name that cat received at one point or another has sadly passed away. I'm not sure of many details but supposedly it seems a Coyote got him. I was bummed to hear the news but it has been especially hard on my Mom. So please send lots of love her way. He will definitely be missed. 

Fly High Buddy.

Anyway, I've liked getting emails from you all so keep it up. Get excited for Fall.

Love Y'all

-Elder Christensen

Maverick was Tates cat! He lived Tates the most and slept with him every night. So after Tate left he became my Velcro cat. I was annoyed sometimes and he drove me nuts at night, but now that he’s gone, another soul is missing from our home and it just feels lonely. Thanks Tate for thinking of me. Mom