Elder Spencer John Edwards: 이동 전화 왔다...

Translation courtesy of Elder Edwards: "Transfer calls came"
Translation courtesy of Google translate: "The mobile phone has been..."

Well... it's been an unexpected weekend. A good weekend, but unexpected. We got transfer calls, and everything pointed to me getting transferred, but I'm staying in Wonju!! Weird, huh? This'll be transfer number 6. I will have served here for 2/3 of the time that I've been in country by the time next transfer rolls around. Our district (and my companion) will be staying the same except Elder Gardner (the Elder who cooked us delicious things for the past 2 transfers) will go to Gangneung to be one of our new zone leaders. I'm really happy to stay, but it's a little awkward... I was kind of already saying goodbye to people before we got transfer calls. We usually get calls on Saturday night and then leave for Seoul on Tuesday evening, so there's never enough time to say goodbye to people. So I was doing it beforehand because I thought I was leaving for sure, and now it's just going to be a little awkward when I see them again. Oh well. This makes transfer number 6 in Wonju and transfer number 8 in Gangwondo zone, otherwise known as the countryside of Korea. I'm pumped to stay, but it's a little lame because I was also pumped to go serve in the city, closer to Seoul.

Making calls.

This week was good. We made a lot of calls to potential investigators in the evenings, trying to make appointments with them. We got a few appointments, but most of them don't have a whole lot of interest. :/ Our investigator pool is currently dwindling (in unbelief hehe) right now, so we're proselyting hard in the hopes of finding some people who are ready to hear the message of the restored gospel!! One of our investigators kind of dropped off the face of the earth a few weeks ago... Figures that he's the only one without a cell phone so we can't contact him. But we know where he works, so we visited a few times this week. No luck yet with him or new investigators, but we're searching super diligently!!

The candy store.

We went to a foreigner candy store again this week. They have a whole American wall stocked with everything that flows so freely in America but is nowhere to be found here in Korea... Oreos, starbursts, Rootbeer, Dots, Twizzlers, Tootsie Pops, Skittles, Milk Duds, Reeses... it was all there. And mindblowingly expensive. I settled for a 5 dollar box of Dots and walked away from the store with a heavy heart for lack of money. But the Dots were super delicious.

Our poor drunk friend napping in the bushes.
It was around 4 in the afternoon.

We also helped out a drunk guy this week. He was staggering around on an intersection because he was wasted, and he got in a bar fight or something so he was a little bloody. We sat him down by some bushes before he biffed it, where he promptly laid down on a flower bed and took a nap. The lesson of the story: Don't drink alcohol. It's not good for you.

The language is coming along fine. It's kind of frustrating not being even close to fluent, but it's okay. I've been a little frustrated with my pronunciation recently. I don't sound bad, but I don't sound like a Korean either. Do you have any idea how hard it is to change every "j" sound that you make to more of a mixture of "j" and "ch", with just a little "z" sound sprinkled in there? It's hard. But it's kind of cool to be at the point where I can be a little more nitpicky with the language, instead of being at a general "woah that guy definitely isn't speaking the language I learned in the MTC." :)

Korea is cool still, and time is cruising.

I love you all!

Love, Elder Edwards