"Illuminated by the light of faith, adversity becomes a vehicle for growth and death becomes a doorway from one phase of our eternal existence to another" (Elder M. Russell Ballard).
Life can be hard sometimes. When you encounter a challenge, don't back down, and don't feel sorry. Let that challenge become a part of who you are. Let it help you to be a better person. Let it bring you closer to Christ.
*************
Sorry for the shortness of this letter, but I had something important that I had to take care of this week.
Big things that happened this week:
1. We went to Dongdaemun for P-day. Dongdaemun is a massive market/flea market sort of area with a ton of really cheap stuff. I got a bunch of surprisingly nice 3$ ties and some 10$ cuff links. Because why not. My companion bought a lot of grandma pants (or harmony baji) and a suit, which cost him a little over a hundred dollars. So it was a pretty sweet day. This day, I also made one of the worst decisions of my life by deciding to diet super hard. For the next couple of days, I existed just a bit over starvation. I could handle the discomfort, but not happily. So my missionary work went straight down the tubes, especially while trying to jundo to people.
2.Meting with President was on this last Wednesday. I think. The date is irrelevant, I suppose. It was super fun because I got to see my MTC district buddies again. I love those guys. Also, a lot of the talk was about not wasting a single minute and being happy, so I took that as permission to cast my diet down to the abyss from whence it came and regained my happiness. Later that day, I was able to set up my first appointment! (Said appointment has now fallen through, but that is to be expected out here...)
3. My diabetic investigator, 신선배, has dropped off the face of the map. He probably decided to drop us, but I'm not ruling out vengeance from a wrathful ajuma. This brings our investigator count down to zero.
4. We did get a meeting in yesterday with a guy named 헌 (Hun). We got down to business, to go meet...that hun, but things didn't go great. We were all fairly sure he had robbed me for the whole meeting, he shouted the f-word at God, and has an extraordinarily skewed view on what a good father is and on the the potential moral correctness of school shooters. I actually led out in the conversation (English), but it was a rough ride. I poured out my soul to that guy, tying everything back into something that he'd said, and he didn't give a crap. Though he did eventually give me back my thirty dollars.
5. I also learned how to do calls. This is the process of going through old records and trying to reconnect with people. No luck thus far, but it is kind of fun. I like calls.
Spiritual thought for the week comes from Elder Ballard. In his book, Our Search for Happiness, he says, "Illuminated by the light of faith, adversity becomes a vehicle for growth and death becomes a doorway from one phase of our eternal existence to another."
Life can be hard sometimes. When you encounter a challenge, don't back down, and don't feel sorry. Let that challenge become a part of who you are. Let it help you to be a better person. Let it bring you closer to Christ.
Whitlock out.
