Without Limits

I used to think that charity meant giving without expecting to receive. Now I realize that it goes past that. It includes giving without expecting your gift to be received. Love. Give.

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Some kid is rocking out to Daughtry this week...and so am I. I'll repent later.

This week was the first baptism that's happened in a district I've served in since the start of my mission. Huzzah! The zone leaders put one of the old men that they were working with under the water.

That's about all that's happening with me. We are still dramatically renovating English class. I've spent a lot of the last couple weeks convincing small buisness owners to let us advertize in their companies for free.

I'll skip all of the boring stuff and give a spiritual thought.

I had two days the past week where all the rejection that we got on the street got to me. It was worse than usual. Almost every single person that I talked to gave me the hand from the start of "hello".

Fastforward a few days and I'm in personal study reading Alma 36: 5 (ballpark) where Alma talks about how he was visited by the angel "not of any worthiness of himself." I realized that the people of Korea don't deserve or want my help. But then again, that isn't what the gospel is about. None of us got it because we deserved it. We got it because Christ gave it to us anyway. I used to think that charity meant giving without expecting to receive. Now I realize that it goes past that. It includes giving without expecting your gift to be received. Love. Give.

Got to go.

Elder Whitlock

Some pictures...

Elder Whitlock with Elder T on exchange. Jundo approach at the ramp leading to Korea University. 

Elder Whitlock and Elder T watching Elder H do his belly dancing.  What was that President Uchtdorf said about  Judging?

with the District, minus the Zone Leaders, at the Temple

with District Sisters

with Elder P

The District at the last transfer

Week number...RRraaGHhah!

Hello everyone. It's a vacation week from school right now apparently, and the little kids are all over this computer room. I've got assault rifles, Katy Perry, and a whole pack of kids whose zerglings just got nuked in StarCraft ruining my life right now. Welcome to Migraine City, Sheriff Whitlock.

Outback was a success to say the least. I didn't end up hitting my goal (story of my mission) of blowing a hundred bucks, but I did get through 75$ or thereabouts. A plate of cheese fries, a steak, two different versions of potatoe side dishes, mixed veggies, corn chowder, mangoaide and a chocolate thunder from down under... 

After that we went home and played a couple games of Bang. That's actually about all that we have planned for today as well. Finished of the Monday with my last visit with 임상환 before he took off for the real Outback. 

This week we have been on something of a walking jundo kick. We get more contacts, give a lot of Book of Mormons out (personal record is fifteen. You can feel free to ask all of your other missionary aquantainces how much they do and then humble me with their results), and got one person with interest this whole week. He is a student at Korea University who we got walking around on the border of our area. Take that Dongdaemun. When we met him on Saturday, he had already read the introduction page and four chapters of the BoM, which has hooked him in spite of his inability to understand it, and also researched the Church, the Book of Mormon, and Joseph Smith on the internet. Fail, right? WRONG! He read a bunch of anti-mormon stuff, but still said that this seems like a really good church, setting up a regular meeting time with me of his own initiative and inviting himself to church and English Class. I don't want to disappoint anyone, but this one might be golden.

I also rather randomly ran into someone who knows Nicee Villamil. Apparently he is friends with her husband (she's married?), Jake Muller. His (the friend's) name is Kendall and he came to my church with another of his friends who he is training to be an English teacher with. What is that I always say about the size of the Mormon world?

On a less relevant note, I feel like my life is getting increasingly ridiculous. We meet the most bizzare people on the street all the time. There's one kid who we see all the time who just dances with everything that he does. He's like a stock character in some cartoon. So is the guy who I talked to at The Women's College of the Holy Ghost the other week. I walked up to him and complimented his Mickey hat, looked down and realized that every article of clothing on him had Mickey Mouse on it, was shown the flip book he keeps in his jacket that has a picture of him at every Disneyland in the world, and then was farewelled with a cheery, "Merry Disney!" Before I could give him a card. Elder V talked with a man the other day who claims both to have seen god and be one of the two witnesses from the Book of Revelations.

Actually you can scratch that guy from the list. I'm a believer.

Loves,

Elder Whitlock

When Arrows Block Out the Sun

When the arrows of life are sufficent to darken the sun, when all hope is gone and all light is gone, do we fight on anyway?

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I don't have a ton to say this week. We had zone conferences with trainings from President and the APs. I jundoed a lot. We taught some lessons, met some new investigators, went to a bathhouse again. Pretty average week for the most part.

Only one thing to really report and that's a concept that I can't really get out of my mind.

I was listening to a talk from Elder Maxwell about something that I can't remember anymore. The part I remember is an allusion that he made to the Battle of Thermopylae. Typical history major, huh?

Anyway, the part he referenced came at the start of the battle. If any of you are unfamiliar with the Battle of Thermopylae, which, by the way, is Greek and therefore incredibly tricky to spell for someone who hasn't cracked a history book for a year, the battle took place a few hundred years before Jesus was born in a small mountain pass on the Greek coastline. The Persians had assembled an army of hundreds of thousands and traveled hundreds of miles hell bent on burning Athens to the ground. Every major city state in Greece besides two surrendered to Persian messengers long before the army arrived. Only Athens, who were faced with destruction, and Sparta refused to surrender.

Leonidas, a king of Sparta, tried to rally his forces to the defense of the Athenians, but was refused by other Spartan leaders from leading the military against the Persians. So he took his three hundred "body guards" to a little pass by the sea to stop the march of the Persians, aided by only a handful of allies. Here's where Elder Maxwell comes in. Before the onset of the battle, one of the Persian messengers made a comment about the impossibility of victory that went something to the effect of "Persian arrows are numerous that they will block out the sun." In response, some unnamed Spartan retorted, "Then we shall fight in the shade!"

One of the most epic one liners in history. But what does it mean for us?

What follows is the reason why the Spartans are more legend than man.  In the face of overwhelming, even impossible odds, the Spartans fought anyway. For three days, the little band of three hundred held their pass, repulsing the most powerful army that had ever been assembled and slaying tens of thousands of the best Persia had to offer. And then they fell. Victims of treachery, surrounded and hopeless, the Spartans fought and died to the last man.

When the arrows of life are sufficent to darken the sun, when all hope is gone and all light is gone, do we fight on anyway? When we are truly alone and can't see far enough to put one foot in front of the other anymore, do we turn around and go back? Or do we stumble on anyway until our light, too, is extinguished?

I ask because I'm not certain, and leave the answers to you.

Elder Whitlock

Twas the Week Before Christmas...

And all though my house, not an Elder was stirring til the sound of a mouse...or a whole chorus of them sqeaking our "miceappella" wake up tone at 6:30am. As accompanied by our bike rider ringtone and Elder Vomocil's clock, which go off simultaneously to form the Cacaphony from Hell. My life.

Anyways.

Last week started off in a buffet. A meat buffet. You grab a lot of raw meat then cook it as you go and dip it in this awesome sauce then hork it down. Heaven turned Hell as it turns out. Theres a rule where you have to pay an extra five bucks if you don't eat all the meat that you grab, and a couple of the Elders who had never been before got a little gung-ho. We all left sick and went to a bath house to sweat it out. Bath houses are the best, and we should absolutely have them in America. Maybe I'll start one when I get back. Who knows?

My companion, Elder L, moved out and Elder A moved in from his room down the hall. Honestly, he's not great at Korean, but who is their third transfer? Or even their fourth (self conscious cough)?

We had a ward christmas party this week. The missionaries sang White Christmas and Elder V performed a solo of Let it Snow that we had to edit to remove romantic overtones. "But after we pray tonight, all the way home I'll be warm!"

Our most progressing investigator is still on track to get baptized, which process included him accepting a commitment to live the Word of Wisdom. Thanks to my companion, who brought tears with his experience, and my awesome ward members who taught him. We will be pushing back that date though. He's going to visit family over the weekend so he won't make it to church.

The exciting part of this coming week is the Christmas Conference. I can't say that Christmas is a super big deal to me this year for the most part, whether it be because I'm away from you guys or a missionary or because I'm in a country where it isn't a big deal I can't say. But the Conference is exciting, if for no other reason than that I'll eat something besides boiled chicken and carrots. Me and Elder V have started a diet. We don't actually know what else to eat, so every dinner this week has been boiled chicken, carrots, and half a potato. Not actually a half bad meal, but some variety would be cool. After the Christmas conference, it is a regular missionary day, so I'll probably go and jundo at the Holy Ghost Women's College. Our favorite spot.

That sounded predatorial. We still just talk to men. There are a lot of them there, and a lot of them are college students that speak English.

Love you all, bye!

And a Merry Christmas!

Grandpa Woes and Wins

Well, the palace was a no go. We went, it rained, it was closed. Same story for plans B and C. So we took plan D...which was go back to the house with an hour left and just eat dinner. Epic P-day, right? So, no pictures, but once my missionary friends send me some recent pics I'll forward them on.

 

This week I had two different exchanges and transfers. For exchange number one I went with Elder V and put down a record of 8 lessons. 2 scheduled, two street lessons from me, and four street lessons from him/us (like I was there for two and said maybe 10% of what we said. Those were his.). Miracle. We also ate at a little cafe called the Windy Chicago, which plays a steady stream of Christian rock music, serves melted chocolate as a drink, and includes real bacon in their panini sandwhiches. Paradise. Until Paradise, Piano Guys and Alex Boye edition, started playing and I started getting trunked out and so we got out. I can't help but wonder if the African tribal stuff that Alex sings has any actual meaning or if he is just making it up as he goes.

 

I also took another exchange with Elder R in his area. We tried visiting a grandpa. I found out that I really don't speak Grandpa. I helped a blind guy find his way home in the snow. Did I mention that it snowed? The sky did work. The frozen equivalent of a downpour, really. People weren't super in the mood to talk to us, so it was less than miraculous, but it was fine.

 

I had my first clash with a Jehovah's Witness this week. He's another grandpa. I didn't understand much of what he said, but since a lot of it was about religious stuff I could catch some of it. He liked to kind of just sit there and yell at us. My companion was constrained by Confucian etiquette to be polite and just take it, but I'm an uncultured and inconsiderate foreigner, so I was able to jump in there sometimes and do my thing. It turned into this sort of back and forth thing where we both taught each other lessons that were completely unconnected to each other and neither person was affected or even understood the other. I got through HTBT and the first lesson and he said something about God lying to Eve, then he gave me some pamphlets in Korean and I gave him a Book of Mormon and we called it a night, and, I think, a draw. Yikes. Turns out I have no idea what JWs believe, does anyone want to hook me up with some sort of overview?

 

On Sunday, we taught our most progressing investigator.... He's a 57 year old guy that just moved to Seoul from the countryside about two months ago. We found him together and met him a couple times and he came to church a couple of times. He has been twice, and that would be three, but he got lost the first time and ended up at another church. I think I told that story, yeah? Anyways, we commited him to baptism on January the 5th. I say we, but really it was my companion. He's a stud with the Grandpas. I don't know what they say.

 

The bad news with that story is that my companion is leaving to be a district leader and train somewhere. I'm going to be working with fresh out of training Elder A who has been living with me for the past two transfers. Neither of us speaks Grandpa, so I need to learn quick. Maybe figuring out regular Korean along the way would be a good idea too. I'm pretty excited about Elder A actually. He's a ball of energy from Arizona with amazing legs. Very smiley and active and sporty. I wonder why I keep working with jocks?  Does God want me to stop being such an introvert? He's a very hard worker, so I'm sure we are going to be able to get some work done, but I will miss 이종채 장로님.

 

This week I've been revising my definition of charity. Here is my problem. I love people. I love everyone in the whole world, regardless of their background, regardless of their past, right up until the moment I meet them. Then I usually don't like them. Seems like I'm sort of missing the point right? In my head I measured charity in terms of what you are willing to give when someone else needs your all. There, I usually measure up pretty well. If someone is in a dire situation and I can possibly help them, I'll do whatever I can to help them. I don't do a very good job of being there for people when I'm not needed. Until hell itself is knocking on the door, I think of myself first. Things have got to change.

 

Not really a mind blowing spiritual thought, but something that has been burrowing its way into my mind for a while now.

 

Whitlock out.

My Life

This week involved some teaching (we even have, for the moment a progressing investigator!), a lot of study (I've kicked things up a notch), and other assorted triviality.

I'm also going to be in a movie I guess. Some film student showed up during English class. I talked to him and he wants two foreigner missionaries to play the part of missionaries in his final graduate movie. It's a movie about a Korean girl from America who comes back to Korea and has some sort of identity crisis. We are supposed to jundo to her about English class or some such as missionaries. Since distribution is just his school and a couple of film festivals, President gave me permission to make the call. I'm not all convinced, but when we meet him tomorrow, I'll make my choice.

We had a Kimchi making service project this last week. We showed up at this Buddhist temple and sat on the ground wiping dirt off of onions with our fingers for about 6 hours. I think they gave us that job because it was easy and we were foreigners, so they didn't have to interact with us that much. It was fun. Beautiful temple and decent conversation, plus they fed us like champions. We also got a free book that I can't read, but I'm sure had some great wisdom inside of it.

Today I'm cutting my email time a little short because we are making a run to the Palace for P-day. I remembered my camera, so I'll try to take lots of pictures for next time. 

"Look not on his height, nor on his stature," no matter how tall and devilishly good looking he may be,"because I have refused him; for the Lord seeth not as man seeth, for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart."

Jesus Christ

I don't know where to begin to express...well, anything about the Savior. What more is there to say that hasn't been said a million times about the defining charactor of humanity? Heck, the message has been repeated so many times that it's starting to get stale in this part of the world. The lips of angels and demons have extolled the virtues of Jesus of Nazareth, what more can I say?

He was born a perfect gift to save a dying world. He grew and lived and died shoulder to shoulder with his human brothers. He loved them as they betrayed him. He captained the cause of peace in a world torn by war. He taught love instead of hate, healing instead of destruction, light that was rejected in favor of darkness. He was tortured, humiliated, and murdered a... sacrifice in behalf of a flock that prefered the wolves. He gave us everything that he has, willingly suffering the most horrific ordeal in the world so that we wouldn't have to, even though he knew that we would rather drive nails through his palms than accept the promise of his hands.

He was persecuted on everyside, abandoned by every ally, and cast into the depths of the dark so that he could pull people like me out of it.

The world hates him, but he has overcome the world. Sorrow to Joy. Loneliness to Love. Darkness to Light.

I will follow you, my Brother. My Captain. My King.