ELDER LUFKIN ARRIVED IN SEOUL, KOREA !

Hey I'm here! Sorry I couldn't call you from LA. We barely got to our flight on time so we had to get right on the plane. It took longer than we thought because we had to go to another terminal and we helped this old lady get to her flight. She latched onto my arm and we walked like .0001 mph the whole way so it took a while. Ha! The flight was good. We slept at the mission home last night and today we all ate breakfast together and are taking care of paperwork, interviews, bank stuff, and training. I'll know who my companion is tomorrow and we will go to our area. Tomorrow is P-day so I'll have more time to e-mail. I'll email you again tomorrow and give some more details. Love ya!
Elder Lufkin

Phone Call to Mom

Elder Lufkin departed SLC Airport at 9:45 AM, Monday, March 30, for Korea. Before leaving SLC, he was able to call me and visit for a while. We had a plan that he would call from Los Angeles Airport around 12:00 PM, so when the phone rang at 8:30 AM I wasn't expecting my missionary! I answered the phone and some stranger was talking to me in what I thought was Spanish. It was Jess with a Korean greeting. It was great to hear his voice.
Jess said there were 11 Elders traveling with him to Korea.
His luggage was over weight, so he had some last minute adjusting to do...he threw a few things away, gave some things to the other Elders and was finally ready to check his bags.
Jess said when he arrives in Korea he is sure the communication (or lack of) would be pretty overwhelming. At the MTC he could understand his teacher, but the Korean investigator he spoke with, spoke faster and with an accent that was was MUCH harder to understand. Overall, he said the language has been easier than he thought, but the sentence structure is difficult-subject, object, verb. I've heard from many returned missionaries that it takes about a year before you feel that you can communicate adequately, but the Korean people are patient and tolerant with those attempting to learn their language.
Jess promised to send pictures soon and said he will be calling on Mother's Day :).

Elder Lufkin and District at MTC

From: Claudia King, (Elder Jorgensen’s aunt and volunteer at the MTC)
I hope you enjoy this e-mail with your son and his district singing in the Korean language. I called you after meeting your son when he first arrived at the MTC, I have visited with them each week and seen the progress they have made with the language. They would sing a hymn each week in the Korean language-it was truly a great experience seeing the spiritual growth. They are anxious and ready to go preach the gospel to the Korean people.
Last week they came and sang "God Be With You ‘til We Meet Again”…many tears were shed. I hope you enjoy this. Claudia King

03.24.2009

8:30 AM
We take off Monday morning! Pretty exciting!
We leave Monday morning at 9:45AM. We fly to LA then to Seoul. It is about a 2 hour flight to LA then a 12 hour flight to Seoul. I can call you from the airport when I'm leaving. If I call you from LA it would be about 12 noon your time. Would that work for you? I'll buy a calling card here at the book store. And should I call your cell phone?
There is one other thing that I need.. Could you mail my Leatherman Wave? It was on my tool bag in the back of James pickup when I left. I'd really appreciate it!
I'm about half way through Joseph Lee Robinson journal. I'll finish it and mail it before I go. It’s interesting and fun to read.
Thanks for the last letter. Sounds like you are having fun! Is the snow all melted then? It’s all gone here but we've had some cold days lately-kind of depressing weather. Well I'll log back on here probably around 3-3:30. Shoot me an email if you can and then I'll send you another one back. I've still got 12 min of email time! Thanks!
Love
Jess

6:00 PM
We get into the LA airport at 11:45 Idaho time so it will probably be around 12:30 Idaho time when I call. That would be sweet if they (James and Jacob) could be there when I call you. If they're not, I'll probably call them on their cell phones too. I was planning to call your cell so let me know if I should call you somewhere else. Thanks again you’re awesome! I got 3 min left so write me back when you get this! Love ya!

03.20.2009

From Elder Lufkin's Mom:
Elder Lufkin sent a voice recording with many great messages. He introduced himself and bore his testimony in Korean. He said he is VERY excited to leave for Korea on March 30.
Elder L said he has actually enjoyed the MTC and is definitely glad he is serving a mission. Elder L's companion is Elder Pearson from North Carolina. His father is in the Air Force, so their family has traveled throughout the world. He is fluent in Italian and doing well with the Korean Language. Elder L says he is a great companion, very smart, helpful with the Korean language, and they get along well. He says they have an awesome district and like to 'hang out' together, which isn't the case with all the districts at the MTC.
Elder L has the opportunity to attend the Provo Temple each P-day and takes advantage of the opportunity.
Last week, L Tom Perry, of the Quorum of the Twelve, spoke to the missionaries. Elder Lufkin said it was awesome.
I look forward to his phone call from the airport on Monday, before he leaves for Seoul, Korea!

03.17.2009

Hey! How's work? I hope you get this before you head home...I'm doing a hundred!
As to your questions:
My favorite scriptures are Alma: 48:17 about Captain Moroni and Alma 26:27-30 about missionary work.
Favorite hymn Spirit of God, and Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing (this one isn't actually in the hymn book anymore)
Anyways...The TRC went well Saturday. We taught a R.M. from Korea about the Plan of Salvation. We do need to work on a couple things for next week though. For our task, we explained to him that the ward mission leader couldn't be there because he was sick and had a cold, but we bought him some drugs. We also shared a personal experience. I told him about how paying tithing has blessed me with financial and spiritual blessings. That worked out quite well because we had to commit him to keep the Law of Tithing during the lesson.
Sorry I took so long on that recording. I recorded on it today so I'll mail it tomorrow for sure.
Thanks for all the goodies and stuff that you sent! I love you!
Elder Lufkin

03.10.2009

Hey how's it going? I had a good week. Thanks for all the goodies and the recorder! It was good to hear from everybody! I'll probably send you one back today or tomorrow.
So Sunday I gave the lesson on knowledge for our district meeting. It was pretty fun. We had a good discussion. I read a little bit of the paper Jake sent me on getting a good education. D and C 84:85 is a really good scripture too. You should check it out. I also talked about Ammon and King Lamoni, how Lamoni thought Ammon was the Great Spirit because he knew his thoughts and had great strength. Ammon said something like," no I'm not, but a portion of his spirit dwells in me and gives me power and knowledge according to my righteous desires." We went over a lot of scriptures too; I wish I had them with me..Oops. I think one thing was in Proverbs 10:13-20 or somewhere close to there. It gives a lot of blessings that we receive through knowledge, wisdom, and understanding.
We did pretty well at the TRC Saturday. We taught our investigators about the Plan of Salvation and the Word of Wisdom. We didn't get through the whole thing, but they committed to keep the Word of Wisdom. This week we are teaching the Plan of Salvation again and the Law of Tithing. That's definately something I can testify about! Its crazy how many things have popped up out of no where since I have been paying my tithing! Apx, insurance, gun, and probably lots of other things that I don't even realize.
We had Elder Kikuchi from the 1st 70 come last Tuesday. He's a really good speaker. He talked about how he was converted. I guess his whole family got killed on a fishing boat by a U.S. sub during World War 2. He was the only survivor, and later he worked and took night classes to try and get an education. He got really sick and he was close to dying. He was 14 at that time. Some missionaries came and asked if they could teach him. He said “I hate Americans, you killed my family!” They said we have a message about a boy that was 14 just like you who saw God and Jesus Christ. Can we talk to you? He said they had ten minutes! They taught him and 2 weeks later he was baptized!

03.03.2009

Hey,
Did you get my email last week? I sent it with like 5 seconds left on my time so I wasn't sure if it went or not..
We got our new Korean Elders and Sisters this week. They are way cool and it’s been fun to have them all here. It seems like forever ago that I got here! I'm still lovin’ it though.
We had 6 awesome talks on Fast Sunday for our Mission Conference and the Sunday night devotional. This Sunday I'm teaching the lesson on ‘Knowledge’ in our district meeting. I always take lots of notes at the devotionals and it comes in handy when I have to give talks or lessons. I'm excited to get the recording from you! It'll be good to hear from everybody!
Everything has been going good here. Last Saturday at the TRC we got to teach a guy that was really an investigator. He was a Buddhist guy from Korea that was here working. His wife and two kids are still in Korea. We spent a lot of time teaching him about God and eternal families. We taught him how to pray and he took notes and said the prayer at the end of the lesson. We gave him a commitment to pray that night to see if Heavenly Father was there. It was a cool experience, especially when I shared my testimony about Heavenly Father at the end of the lesson. This Saturday we are teaching the Plan of Salvation and the Word of Wisdom for the first time and so there’s a lot of new vocabulary I've got to get down.
Sounds like you’re having fun with all the nieces and nephews! I miss hanging out with all of you! Have you been able to drive my truck once in a while? Or will it even start? Ha ha
Anyhow....that’s about all the new stuff that’s been going on. Tell me if you want to know about anything else.
I love you,
Elder Lufkin