그리스마스!

Hello! Today is a good day... Elder Murdock and I ran to the computer place to email. I haven't run in a really long time. I'm out of shape. But it's good to get outside and get running every once in a while.

It was Christmas! Christmas was so awesome. Because we're in the outskirts of Korea in Kangwondo, we traveled to Seoul on Christmas Eve and went shopping and ate McDonalds that night. I haven't had McDonalds in 7 months. My stomach wasn't happy with me for that, so that night was less fun than most nights. But we slept at the temple, which I really like. The next morning we traveled to the Sheendang chapel and had our Christmas conference with the mission! It was super awesome. Afterward we traveled home and had a little Christmas with us 4 Elders living in the Wonju house. It was pretty fun. Elder Diede got a little basketball hoop and ball, and I must say that I've gotten PRO at dunking. Pro.

Christmas was great. But it's kind of nice to get back in the routine of missionary work. Breaks are welcome, but they throw off my groove.

Elder Chio and I. He's awesome.

At church yesterday, we had two investigators come out to church! It was super cool. That hasn't happened since I served in Changwi, so I was pretty happy. One is a pretty old investigator (missionaries have been teaching him for a long time), and the other is a brand new one. I hope they progress!

Life is good. Missionary work is awesome. 6:30 comes earlier and earlier every morning. I figured waking up would get easier, but I think it did the opposite.

Happy New Year!

Love, Elder Edwards

Christmas dinner.

For Christmas we sent Spencer a book of pictures of the last
19 years of his life. I've included the link below if you would like to see the book. :)

Click here to see: The Life and Times of Spencer John Edwards

메리 그리스마스!

Merry Christmas! It's December 23rd... That's really really weird. I'm not entirely sure where that last month went.

I'm in Wonju!

I'm in Wonju! It's different from Taebeck. SUPER different. Mostly due to the fact that there are people here. My new companion, Elder Murdock, is awesome. He's a year younger than me in real life and a transfer younger than me in mission life. It's interesting making the switch to having completely fluent companions to having someone who is also trying to learn Korean. He doesn't talk too much, so it's mostly up to me to talk to people! I'm trying to help him out with that. I figure it will be a huge growing experience for both of us. Hopefully I'll be fluent by the end of this transfer (jokes.)

Shoveling in Taebeck.

Wonju is super great. There's not as much snow as Taebeck, but it makes up for it by having TONS of people. The Elders who come from Seoul to Wonju say that there are no people in Wonju... But there are tons. I think every missionary should serve a couple transfers in Taebeck to put missionary work in perspective. It builds character. Our branch has about 30 people who come out to church on a regular basis. I really love them all a lot. We had a branch Christmas party with them all on Saturday, so I got to get to know them a little bit. On Saturday night, the branch president asked me to give my introductory talk in church the next day (which is normal for leaving/arriving missionaries)... but then told me that the main speaker was sick for Sunday, so I needed to give a 10 minute talk. *sigh* Sunday morning was a little stressful, but I managed to prepare well enough (I hope.)

Our (new) branch president w/ family in Taebeck.

I'm the district leader here. And part of the district leaders job is to pass people off (Pass-off is the language/lesson program in our mission.) And there is a new Korean sister in our district who is doing pass-off. So she passed off the 3rd and 4th lessons to me. HOLY BALONEY BATMAN THAT WAS SO TERRIFYING. She's fluent in Korean and I'm supposed to be able to understand everything and answer questions and give positive feedback... in Korean. It was scary. But I did okay for myself :)

My new companion, Elder Murdock

Wonju is great. I'm excited for a new area and a fresh start. The members are cool, my companion is easy to get along with, the language is coming (slowly), kimchi is still spicy and delicious, and the church is true! God lives, he sent his son, and through Jesus Christ we can overcome all things. I know that!

Merry Christmas!

Love, Elder Edwards

The chicken guy and his son. We ate chicken there probably
3 times a week. I hate that chicken now.

The nice dog that we met. I think his face was melted.

Elder Fronke and I on exchanges. I miss that kid.

Probably my favorite family in Taebeck. The kid on the left
is our lone priest, and the lady on the right is his mom.

Snow!

Korea's good. It finally snowed hard. I love snow. But because our branch is so small and snow plows only plow main street, we had to shovel the church parking lot. That took FOREVER. And it was still snowing hard the whole time, so we had to shovel twice. It was a long time. It was also super cold this week... because the summer was so hot, I thought the winter would be a little more enjoyable, but it's still really cold.

 

Elder Fronke and I went on exchanges this week to a little town called Gohan about 20 minutes from Taebeck by train. It's kind of a ski resort town, so we knocked on a couple of resorts that were full of 25 year old ski bums. One of them actually let us in, but only because we looked pretty miserable because it was so cold. We tried to talk about the BOM, but he had no interest. And then they called the authorities on us after we left (we could hear the phone conversation through the door.) So we hoofed it out of there and went and found an apartment with more families. That wasn't working too well, so we hiked up a super long mountain road to a bunch of old Korean houses on the mountain. It was super cool. We had to hike through a bunch of snow to get to most of the houses/cabins. And we found this sweet dude! I don't really know why he let us in... at first he told us to go away, but then he asked us if we wanted coffee (being miserably cold looking is a way to get into people's houses, I guess.) I said we don't drink coffee, but he invited us in anway. He's totally a 55 year old ski bum who just chills in a cabin all by himself and skis everyday. Sounds like an awesome life. We talked for a while and shared the BOM and set up a return appointment! Super cool.

 

Transfer calls came! I'm leaving Taebeck, and going to an area called Wonju, which is in the same zone, so it's still a pretty small city. But a lot bigger than Taebeck. I'm super excited! My new companions name is Elder Murdock, and he is an American missionary one transfer younger than me. I'll move to Wonju tomorrow. And I'll be the district leader there! Weird. I feel way to young in the mission to lead anyone. But it should be fun, and I'm looking forward to help the people in Wonju. I loved Taebeck, and I'm a little sad to leave because things were just picking up here, but I'm definitely ready to leave.

 

I gave my goodbye talk in sacrament yesterday. Someones phone went off. It was SUPER loud. And a rock song. Totally ruined the spirit. And no one was turning it off! Then Elder Jang who was sitting on the stand kicked me and told me it was in my pocket. That was kind of embarressing (<-- I can't figure out how to spell that. And there's no spell check. Sorry.).

 

Life is good! I eat lots of eggs and I'm excited to serve in Wonju!

 

Love,

Elder Edwards

All my heart and Seoul.

Good week this week!

 

Elder Fronke and I went on mini exchanges yesterday after church, and we went and visited a less active and an english class member and knocked doors. It was actually really fun. And while we were knocking doors, we found a lady who was super interested!!!!! That's never happened to me before while knocking doors. She opened her door, we told her who we are and that we wanted to share a message, and she invited us right now! But, she lives by herself, so we couldn't enter her house (as a missionary, we need at least another man present.) That was a huge bummer. But we got her number and we will be reffering her to the sisters. Awesome. I was on a missionary work high after that experience.

 

On Tuesday after planning, we were getting ready for bed when a knock came on the door. It was the Assistants! Which was kind of scary, mostly because one of our Assistants is 6' 8" and he kind of towered in that dark hallway. They came for Zone training meeting the next day, so they slept at our house and traveled with us to Zone training. AND, I got to do my final pass-off to an Assistant, which means I'm done. SWEET.

 

There was a wedding in Taebeck on Saturday. A church member who used to live in Taebeck got married to a non member. In Korea, it's tradition to get married in your hometown. So we got to go to a wedding. It was in Korean. So I didn't get a whole lot out of it. But there was a sweet buffet afterwards, so I guess it was worth it.

 

I gave a talk in Sacrament meeting yesterday on families. I discovered a fool proof way to not rush when giving a talk in Sacrament meeting. Do it in another language! It was kind of terrifying, but I think I killed it. Maybe. Preparing the talk in Korean was suprisingly easy. I only needed about half the material for a normal 15 minute talk because I can't talk nearly that fast. It was sweet.

 

I read this poem in one of Jeffrey R. Hollands talks this past week:

      It darkens. I have lost the ford.

      There is a change on all things made.

      The rocks have evil faces, Lord,

      And I am sore afraid.

 

That talk and this poem hit me pretty hard. The talk was about enduring trials and hoping for "a better world". Taebeck hasn't been super easy, and so I felt like this talk applied really well for me. How grateful I am for Jesus Christ, who is our light. "I am the light which shineth in the darkness", "I am the light of the world", "I am... the bright and morning star", "... a light that is endless, that can never be darkened." Christ knows us perfectly. And he atoned for all so that we may be happy. He knows our trials and hard times, and he lights the way, no matter how dark. I know that!

 

Korea is still great. I like kimchi. I miss eating real vegetables, though.

 

Love,

 

Elder Spencer Edwards

감사하는 날! (Thanksgiv​ing)

Hello from Taebeck! Taebeck was good this week. We finally got some snow, which was super awesome. But it's all melted now, which is less awesome. I want more snow.

A magestic view of Taebeck and yours truly.

This week was a week of many exchanges... On Tuesday night I went on exchanges with the Zone Leaders to Gangleng (I butchered that romanization), and had an opportunity to go teach some of the Zone Leaders' investigators... That was SO cool. That may have been the first time on my mission where I could walk from one appointment to another, teaching people with genuine interest. I felt a little bit more like a missionary then. One kid we taught was so interested and asked all of these great questions, and I felt the spirit so strong! It made me so grateful for people who are prepared and want to accept the gospel.

Taebeck district!

 

Elder Fronke have also been on exchanges for three days now (which is not normal, they're usually just a day.) On Saturday was our planned exchange, which went great, and then the Zone Leaders called and said I needed to come finish off a last little bit of pass-off with them, so I had to go back to Gangleng right after church yesterday. Elder Fronke came with because Elder Mills and Elder Jang had to do church and tithing stuff. So Elder Fronke and I just got back to Taebeck this morning. Bleh. Around 10 hours on the train total this week. But, I got Pass-off done with the Zone Leaders, and the Assistants might be coming to the Zone Training Meeting this Wednesday, so I will probably be able to finish completely by then. Good stuff.

 

Our thanksgiving dinner.

Thanksgiving! Thanksgiving doesn't exist in Korea. :( Sad day. But, President Christensen loves us, so he usually arranges for every missionary companionship to go to an American members' home for Thanksgiving dinner (there are a lot of army bases in Seoul with lots of Americans, so we have quite a few American members.) But... Those Thanksgiving dinners are for every missionary except for the missionaries in my zone because we are too far away. SAD. So our Thanksgiving dinner was pizza. It was good pizza, I guess.

 

Well... not much more to say. We visited our drunk friend this week, and he was sober for the first time I've ever seen him! It was cool. We had a nice conversation. But he was only sober because he was out of drinking money... we're trying to get him off alcohol. Don't drink! It messes you up.

 

I hit 6 months the other day. That was weird. I'm not sure what to think about that one.

 

Life is good! I love you all!

Love, Elder Edwards

The ocean!