The Hardest Thing I've Ever Had To Do...

Was to squeeze in time to get this letter off to you.

This week here on the whole was pretty great,

We met Tel and his family for a daaaayyyaaayyyate.

Or at least it sort of felt like it. Tel payed for some pretty spectacular chicken...cabbage...things...닭갈비. 

 

Super good to see them. Sister Dyer was SYLing harder than most missionaries and Brother Dyer had some great drunk Korean stories. Tel was having an even worse time of the English than I do. We swapped stories, feasted, I heard about what was going on back home, heard the best of things about my family, found out about some airplane related tragedy, and just generally made some good memories.

 

 

 

Elder Dyer, Elder Whitlock, and Elder Whitlock's companion

The only other thing I'll say about this week before I go is that we have been getting punked in epic proportions. In a row, we had 19/20 people who we had appointments with not show up. Suggestions?

Sorry that I didn't throw more down but I love you! Til next week!

The New-s

Lots of new stuff going on in my life. Like I said last week, I ended up transferring to a new area outside of Seoul called Chuncheon. Honestly, the days right before transfers are super hard for me. The transfer itself is exciting, but the days right before where I was still in Gileum were rough. As happy as I am to be here, I was sad to leave my friends there.

The last few days were a blur in which the following happened, though not in the order that I'm about to recount it. Elder T hasn't seen Lord of the Rings, so, to my slight regret, me and his companion, who has read the books and knows far more about things than me, recounted the entire story with background information to him through the Two Towers whenever we had time (usually during meals). We went to Outback for one last hurrah. There isn't one in Chuncheon, which might be good for me, but makes this memory all the sweeter for the scarcity. I finally ventured outside of ordering steak, which is oddly enough the least desirable part of an Outback meal for me, and ordered some sort of grilled chicken with bacon and honey mustard on top under a layer of melted cheese. Also, of course, the Cheese fries and Chocolate Thunder from Down Under. Divine. Finished off the P-day with a couple rounds of Bang. Last game of the transfer stretched into the last minutes of P-day. With time running out, Elder V declared automatic volcanics for everybody and then was killed within minutes, followed shortly thereafter by Elder A, leaving me dueling Elder J for the win. Actually a fairly intense duel. We got some dynamite going, which after some give and take that left us essentially at full health with two minutes to go, exploded on Elder J, killing him. Elder J kept fighting through, downing the three beer cards that had been in his hand for the whole game, smirked triumphantly and the battle recommenced, but only for a turn before I slammed him with 5 bang cards, using my auto volcanic, as fired from Slab the Killer. To survive, Elder J, would have had to lay down at least 6 misses. He was mega dead.

Alright, so I guess that was an Epic P-day to me.

Later that week, Me and Elder T (on exchange) discovered a 4$ combo deal at Burger King with one of the greatest bulgogi burgers that either of us has ever had, so we went twice. Also took a trip to Venusta's (which is a mega fancy buffet) courtesy of our ward mission leader, who in his own words, "Can't help with missionary work, but can supply a lot of money." Sort of a food based celebratory week, but it was great.

Then everything changed when the fire nation - cough - ahem

when transfers came.

My new companion... is ... from Canada and he's a freak at Korean and a really hard worker. Really hard worker, but in a fairly chill way, so we get along pretty well. We are also doing great work together so far, probably because we are pretty similar in a lot of ways and are both pretty good at jundo.

Chuncheon is a really nice little city. Actually it isn't that small, but it isn't Seoul. I think that may have damaged my perception of what a city is. It's a little more quiet and laid back than Seoul is, with more of a countryside feel to it. The people here are incredibly nice, for the most part, more so than anywhere that I have served thus far. The ward is about as small as a ward can get, but full of really solid members, so I think there is room for growth. There are also a couple of colleges, so there are still students to talk to, though there isn't as much English as there is in Seoul either. I guess that's for the best, it will help me learn Korean better.

We haven't had any major appointments since I've got here, but we should be a bit more busy with the stuff that we set up this week. One of the guys that I jundoed to was one of the Olympic short track speed skaters in the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake. I think that means I watched one of the worst moments of his life. That's what he says anyways....

That's all I can think of for now. Thanks everybody. Love you!

March On!

Doing good! I would send more of an update if there was more of one to send. We found a new investigator named Bruce Lee, which is significant because everyone in this country is named Lee but no one else that I've met has made that joke.

 

Our most progressing investigator said that he wants to get baptised (when he is ready) and serve a mission, so we will keep on that, but he also was unable to go to church this week because he was on a road trip with a bunch of his college friends...including females. We'll mention the Law of Chastity in the near future, perhaps.

 

I went on an exchange with Elder H (greenie) which was enjoyable. He's a nice guy who loves 18th century Britain, drama (which I found out after he asked if I had heard of the Pirates of Penzance ;)), and random puzzles. I'm on something of a psychoanalysis kick, so I asked him a lot of questions about things and got to understand the way he sees the world a little bit better. Probably a little more of a realist than me. I'm trying to decide whether to adjust accordingly.

 

Also, President stopped in for church yesterday and I found out that the reason that I black out so much when I stand up is because, brace for jealousy, America, my blood pressure is too low. He advised eating more salt. Check and mate, where's my popcorn?

 

Also, I had an extreme trial yesterday. We were jundoing and as I walked past a cell phone store (all of which blast music, usually Kpop) I got a full blast of "M m m m m m m m mad madness" (Madness by Muse for the ignorant) that literally stopped me in my tracks. So good! So not ok! Moving forward felt like I was towing a car behind me.

 

That's about my week. Loves!

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!