Hey Family!
I sure had a good Christmas! It was really nice being able to call home, too. Last week we had our Mission Christmas Conference on the 23rd, the Sam Cheong Ward Christmas party on the 24th, and then on Christmas Day we just had our zone all come to the mission office right by our house and we ate together and played games. It was a really fun and really busy week. Now I'm looking forward to just having a normal schedule and being able to focus on our investigators better.
We've picked up some really good new investigators lately. One lady named Song Young Mi called the sign by our church to meet with us. She wants to learn English and learn about the gospel with us. I guess she actually attended a baptismal service at our church in Australia a couple years ago and she said she felt a warm feeling and she received a good impression from our members. Also, the other night, I saw an old Investigator Progress Record in our area book and I called the first name on it and a girl answered and wanted to start meeting missionaries again. Her name is Jo Yoon Suh. She came to church on Sunday and we're meeting her again tonight.
Today we took some furniture and other house stuff to a couple of sister missionaries and moved some stuff out of their old house. Fun day! Ha ha. Well, now we're going to eat dinner. Have a good week!
Love,
Elder Lufkin
Monday, December 27, 2010
Mission Christmas Conference and Christmas Parties
Sunday, December 12, 2010
Preparing for Mission Conference and Transfers
Lunch with the Zone Leader
"The front of our house. In the background you can see our neighbors Buddhist temple thing"
Hey Family!
It's getting cold here! I've got my scarf and gloves back out again. We had a good week last week. Kim Myeong Sae is doing great and is planning to get baptized before the end of the year. He has to sacrifice a little bit though because the job that he is doing right now is tied in a lot with Buddhist stuff, so he feels like he needs to quit before he gets baptized. It's been pretty cool to see his conversion. He really already has a strong testimony that this church is Christ's church. It was only like 5 months ago that he thought Christianity was just some made up story from people, but he has changed a lot...especially through reading the Book of Mormon and praying daily and attending conference. He said he'll try to introduce some friends to us too.
On the 24th of this month were having a Christmas conference! Right now Elder Lee and I are getting ready for that and for transfers and the new missionaries that will be coming next week.
Everything here is going good!
I love you,
Elder Lufkin
PS Here's a scripture I read this morning that I really liked: Jacob 6:5
Sunday, December 5, 2010
"I will be extending!"
I've heard that most people think that Korea is a dangerous place until they come here and see what it's like. The crime rate here is like zero and nobody's really concerned about North Korea. It's just a regularly occurring thing to have problems with North Korea.
President Lee's house is right next to our church which is about 5 minutes(by car) away from our house and the mission office. In the mission office we share a big office with the office Elders and then President Lee and a senior missionary couple each have their own office. The office Elders and us live together in a house that is next to the mission office. There's a church building right by our house too, but it's not being used right now. We have a bunch of trees so lately for exercise in the morning we've been sweeping leaves.
The leadership in the mission is like this: President Lee and 2 APs
10 Zones with one zone leader for each zone
2-3 districts in each zone with one district leader for each zone
So the district leaders report to zone leaders and then they report to us about stuff like: stats, training, permission or rules, and needs of missionaries. We just take care of everything that we can without asking president because he's so busy, but sometimes there are things that we don't know or that we need permission from him for. We still need accountability for our work, too, though so we still report to our district and zone leaders.
Shoot I've got to send a x mas package too! Time flies! I'll try and find you something good.
I heard back about the extension and they said yes!! They let me and Elder Hatfield, but denied another missionary.
Thanks, but I can't think of anything else that I need for Christmas.
Hope you have a good week!
Love,
Elder Lufkin
President Lee's house is right next to our church which is about 5 minutes(by car) away from our house and the mission office. In the mission office we share a big office with the office Elders and then President Lee and a senior missionary couple each have their own office. The office Elders and us live together in a house that is next to the mission office. There's a church building right by our house too, but it's not being used right now. We have a bunch of trees so lately for exercise in the morning we've been sweeping leaves.
The leadership in the mission is like this: President Lee and 2 APs
10 Zones with one zone leader for each zone
2-3 districts in each zone with one district leader for each zone
So the district leaders report to zone leaders and then they report to us about stuff like: stats, training, permission or rules, and needs of missionaries. We just take care of everything that we can without asking president because he's so busy, but sometimes there are things that we don't know or that we need permission from him for. We still need accountability for our work, too, though so we still report to our district and zone leaders.
Shoot I've got to send a x mas package too! Time flies! I'll try and find you something good.
I heard back about the extension and they said yes!! They let me and Elder Hatfield, but denied another missionary.
Thanks, but I can't think of anything else that I need for Christmas.
Hope you have a good week!
Love,
Elder Lufkin
New Investigators
Hey Family!
We had another good week here in Han Gook!
We have been finding a lot of new investigators lately and are helping them to progress. Kim Myeong Sae is planning to get baptized on the 25th (yes! Christmas day).
He's doing really well, but we haven't had too much time to meet with him. He always shows up for church though! Among the new investigators we met are the office couple's next door neighbors who we visited with the couple missionaries and asked if they wanted to meet. Also there's a guy that we met on the street who goes to the "Unification Church" which is a really extreme Korean church. We also met a guy on the street named Go Suk Ir. He's a college student and is progressing really well right now.
My companion and I are doing awesome. It's nice to work with him because he's so diligent and is really obedient.
I heard that I'll be able to extend my mission one more transfer (a month and a half) so I'll be going home in March! That will give me about a month before school starts. I'm really glad. I'm excited to go home, but it would feel too early to go in February.
Well, have a great week!
Love,
Elder Lufkin
We had another good week here in Han Gook!
We have been finding a lot of new investigators lately and are helping them to progress. Kim Myeong Sae is planning to get baptized on the 25th (yes! Christmas day).
He's doing really well, but we haven't had too much time to meet with him. He always shows up for church though! Among the new investigators we met are the office couple's next door neighbors who we visited with the couple missionaries and asked if they wanted to meet. Also there's a guy that we met on the street who goes to the "Unification Church" which is a really extreme Korean church. We also met a guy on the street named Go Suk Ir. He's a college student and is progressing really well right now.
My companion and I are doing awesome. It's nice to work with him because he's so diligent and is really obedient.
I heard that I'll be able to extend my mission one more transfer (a month and a half) so I'll be going home in March! That will give me about a month before school starts. I'm really glad. I'm excited to go home, but it would feel too early to go in February.
Well, have a great week!
Love,
Elder Lufkin
Sunday, November 28, 2010
"I'm not blown up yet!"
That's pretty crazy about North Korea! A missionary called the day it happened and said a member told him that North Korea was invading! So I called President Lee to see what was up but he said there wasn't anything to worry about. I haven't heard too much about it since then. We're kind of in our own little world and it didn't really affect our mission very much. I really hope all the members here remember the promise from President Hinckley and attend the temple often! I'm not too worried about it though.
Thanksgiving was really nice. We went to a families’ house that is in the military and they had 4 other families over too. It almost tasted as good as our families’ Thanksgiving dinner!
Work in our area is going really well. Last week we picked up a family that lives next to our senior missionaries as investigators, and also met a guy on the street that became a new investigator. It's been hard only having about half the time to work in our area as a regular missionary, but we're still seeing lots of miracles and having a good time.
I gotta go get a hair cut now and wash and service the car and clean our nasty house!
Have a great week!
Love,
Elder Lufkin
Thanksgiving was really nice. We went to a families’ house that is in the military and they had 4 other families over too. It almost tasted as good as our families’ Thanksgiving dinner!
Work in our area is going really well. Last week we picked up a family that lives next to our senior missionaries as investigators, and also met a guy on the street that became a new investigator. It's been hard only having about half the time to work in our area as a regular missionary, but we're still seeing lots of miracles and having a good time.
I gotta go get a hair cut now and wash and service the car and clean our nasty house!
Have a great week!
Love,
Elder Lufkin
Sunday, November 21, 2010
FHE- campfire, hotdogs and s'mores
Good news! Kim Myeong Sae finally decided to get baptized! He has a strong testimony of the gospel already, but it was just hard for him to make the commitment to leave Buddhism and some other beliefs that he had. He told us he wants to get baptized before the end of the year. It will probably end up being on Christmas day and then he will get confirmed the next day. He has been progressing really well for a long time. He felt the spirit a lot when he went to General Conference and as he read the Book of Mormon. He especially liked the part in Mosiah where the people are baptized at the waters of Mormon and he wanted to have the same experience and blessings as them. We are going hiking with him today. Hopefully next week we can meet with his family too. I think his kids are all moved out, but hopefully we can at least meet his wife. He's a really good guy. He's kind of retired I think or he only works a little so he does different service projects almost every day.
We have family home evening every week on Wednesday night and we play a game and eat some food and have a lesson. Last week we went in the trees by our church and had a campfire and cooked hotdogs and s’mores. It was way fun! Kind of a new experience for most of the Koreans.
Me and Elder Lee are having fun and working together well.
Everything here's going good. Have a good week!
Love,
Elder Lufkin
We have family home evening every week on Wednesday night and we play a game and eat some food and have a lesson. Last week we went in the trees by our church and had a campfire and cooked hotdogs and s’mores. It was way fun! Kind of a new experience for most of the Koreans.
Me and Elder Lee are having fun and working together well.
Everything here's going good. Have a good week!
Love,
Elder Lufkin
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Seafood Buffet
Bishop and family
P-Day-Pruning Trees
Temple day! Elder Lee - Elder Lufkin
Elder Kim - Elder Lufkin
Here's some pics of what I've been doing lately. Since Elder Kim left and I got a new companion we've had a lot of meals with members to say good bye and to welcome Elder Lee Yoo Jin. We went to a way good sea food buffet that I sent a picture of and then there's a pic of us with our bishop and his family too. The one that we're wearing normal clothes in is from when we went to help out an old single lady prune her trees. We got to go to the temple the last two weeks in a row also!
I like my new companion a lot. Elder Lee You Jin or Eugene Lee. His parents are Korean, but he was born in Rexburg, then moved to Provo and then to L.A. He's got a lot of fire still so that's really nice. We did some training together at the start of the transfer and it went really well and we're finding a lot of new investigators too.
Now I'm planning to extend my mission for a month and a half if possible. At the time that I was scheduled to go home there will be a lot of new missionaries coming in so a few people will be extending one transfer to help train them. Originally I was planning to go to the 2nd block of school at BYUI winter semester, but now I'll probably just go to the spring semester.
Kim Myeong Sae is still progressing and thinking about baptism. He says next time we meet he'll tell us the date that he wants to be baptized on! He's progressed a lot. When I first met him he wasn't sure if the Book of Mormon is true or if God really exists, but he's consistently read the Book of Mormon, Prayed, attended church and conference and he's had a lot of "deep impressions" as he's done those things so now he feels that Heavenly Father is there and that our message is true. Now he's just figuring out when he needs to get baptized.
Time's flying by really fast! I can't believe it's Thanksgiving again! We're going to Thanksgiving dinner with some American members on the 25th.
Hope you're all doing well!
Love,
Elder Lufkin
Monday, November 1, 2010
Overnight Trip to the Mountains
BBQ Supper
Sheep Ranch
Condos we stayed in
Sorry I didn't get any time to email last week. It was haircut and groceries or e-mail! Right next to our house is a church building that’s not currently being used and we got invited by the administration office to a mandatory church cleaning party! We had to move out a bunch of old furniture and junk and it took most of our p-day time. A lot of stuff has happened over the last two weeks though.
On the 22nd and 23rd we went with our stake on an overnight trip to the mountains! We left Friday on buses and traveled for about 3 hours and got there after dark. We had a BBQ and hung out for a little bit then slept in some condos that the stake rented. They were really nice! Then on Saturday morning we played chokoo (tennis with a soccer ball) with the young men and at 10:00 got back on the buses and went to a cow/sheep/emu ranch to hike around. It was pretty cool, especially for the Koreans who had never been to the mountains or seen a ranch before. They had huge windmills up there too just like the ones by I.F. Around 3:00 PM we got back on the buses and came home. To be honest I was surprised that president let us go, but it was really fun and we got a lot closer with our members.
On the 30th we had a big stake Halloween party. The missionaries were in charge of it and so we put up decorations, got the food and music, and prepared a bunch of games. Elder Kim and I did pumpkin bowling. It was way fun and lots of investigators were able to come and some members brought there friends.
Elder Kim and I are pretty busy lately. We're helping President with transfers and preparing for conferences that are coming up. I'm learning a lot! Things in our area are going pretty good, but we need to find some new investigators! I told you about Kim Myeong Sae, the guy who's read the whole Book of Mormon already, he came to church yesterday and he's still progressing pretty well. He originally had no belief in Heavenly Father but thought there must be some kind of God out there. He told us that as he's met with us and done the things we asked him too that he's starting to believe. We're trying to help him recognize the feelings that he's received from the Holy Ghost and have the faith to get baptized and receive the Gift of the Holy Ghost.
I'm excited to get out and find some good new investigators this week!
I hope you're all doing awesome!
I love you,
Elder Lufkin
Sunday, October 17, 2010
I had a really good week. Elder Kim and I have been out trying to find some new investigators. We've met some good people through contacting on the street and from English class. It's been a fun week, but I'm pretty beat from walking around talking to people so much! We are meeting a few investigators that are progressing. Only one new grandpa was able to come to church though. We're working way hard so hopefully we'll be able to find some prepared people here pretty soon.
Starting next week we'll have to start preparing some training for the transfer so hopefully it doesn't take to much time away from working in our area. Things here are going really good though.
I went on exchanges with another missionary last week and got a really good idea from him on how to have the spirit more. It's a 40 day fast from things that keep you from focusing on missionary work or having the spirit with you. You do a normal fast from food and water for 24 hours and make a list of things that you want to avoid. Then for the next 40 days you pray morning and night to have the strength to avoid the things on the list. I put the list of things that I want to quit doing in my planner so I can look at them often. It's been really good and I've felt better lately. I've also felt like I've been able to discern investigators needs better in lessons.
I hope you all have an awesome week!
I love you,
Elder Lufkin
Starting next week we'll have to start preparing some training for the transfer so hopefully it doesn't take to much time away from working in our area. Things here are going really good though.
I went on exchanges with another missionary last week and got a really good idea from him on how to have the spirit more. It's a 40 day fast from things that keep you from focusing on missionary work or having the spirit with you. You do a normal fast from food and water for 24 hours and make a list of things that you want to avoid. Then for the next 40 days you pray morning and night to have the strength to avoid the things on the list. I put the list of things that I want to quit doing in my planner so I can look at them often. It's been really good and I've felt better lately. I've also felt like I've been able to discern investigators needs better in lessons.
I hope you all have an awesome week!
I love you,
Elder Lufkin
Monday, October 11, 2010
"General Conference was awesome"
We had a really busy day today so I don't have much time to write! We went to a meat buffet with some members then they took us to Coldstone for ice cream! It was pretty fun, then we went home and cleaned our house.
Elder Kim and I are doing well. It's a lot different working with a Korean, but I'm learning a lot and it's nice to have a companion who understands everything. We've been really busy with office work from President Lee so we haven't had as much time in our area as we'd like, but it's been fun and we've still seen a lot of blessings as we've been out working and teaching people.
General Conference was awesome on Saturday and Sunday! I just downloaded it so I can listen to it again during meals! We had an investigator named Kim Myeong Say come to conference with us on Sunday. He loved it. He has actually read the whole Book of Mormon.
Thanks for all your emails and salang (love)!
Love,
Elder Lufkin
Elder Kim and I are doing well. It's a lot different working with a Korean, but I'm learning a lot and it's nice to have a companion who understands everything. We've been really busy with office work from President Lee so we haven't had as much time in our area as we'd like, but it's been fun and we've still seen a lot of blessings as we've been out working and teaching people.
General Conference was awesome on Saturday and Sunday! I just downloaded it so I can listen to it again during meals! We had an investigator named Kim Myeong Say come to conference with us on Sunday. He loved it. He has actually read the whole Book of Mormon.
Thanks for all your emails and salang (love)!
Love,
Elder Lufkin
Sunday, October 3, 2010
AP- Elder Lufkin
How are you all doing? I had a really fun and busy week!
I came to my new area last Monday to figure out how to do everything that I need to at the office. We've been really busy with picking up new missionaries, training them and their trainers, sending home returning missionaries, and making new training for the mission. We get out and do missionary work whenever we have time, but we spend a lot of time doing office stuff too. It was cool when we went to get new missionaries at the airport because the TaeJon Mission president was also there to get new missionaries and my MTC companion Elder Pearson was there because he's an AP in that mission.
Things in our area are going pretty good. My new companion Elder Kim is a way good missionary. He didn't know much English before his mission, but he's pretty good now. We talk a lot in Korean so I'm getting better at that . We have a lot of investigators, but I haven't been able to meet that many of them yet. There's on guy named Kim Young Sae who has read the whole Book of Mormon and has come to church quite a bit, but he just won't get baptized yet. It seems like he wants to get some big answer or sign like Joseph Smith did. I talked to Elder Heyrend and he said that in my old area, our investigator Kim Jin Young that had a baptism date was able to almost totally quit smoking! He's planning to get baptized on the 17th!
The weather here is getting a little cold so we started wearing jackets again.
Everything here is going good!
Love,
Elder Lufkin
Sunday, September 26, 2010
New babtism! I'm transferring! We won in Soccer!
• New baptism! I'm transferring! We won in soccer!
Dear Family,
We had another killer week in Sin Dang!
Kim Jin Young, the 21 year old kid, set a goal to be baptized on October 10th! He has a lot of desire to follow Jesus Christ and keep His commandments, but it will be hard for him to quit smoking. We're going to try and meet up with him every day to help him stay strong. He came to church on Sunday and had a good time and learned a lot from the lesson in Elders Quorum. We will also meet up with him today and eat lunch together.
Pak Rae Un and his family are doing well too. He and his wife can't come to church yet because they have an English class on Sundays for the next two months, but they sent their kids to church yesterday and they liked it pretty well. They are 10 and 13 years old. The older kid actually was already friends with another member in our ward.
Elder Heyrend and I have been having a good time serving together. He's pretty laid back and he's a really easy person to get along with. Our zone has all been doing really well too and we're all pretty tight. It's too bad that the transfer's over and our zone will be changing up a lot. I heard last week that I'll actually be transferring tomorrow. I'll be serving as an assistant to President Lee in the mission office area called Sam Chung. It's actually in the same zone that I'm right now. I'm pretty excited to serve around President Lee and see how everything works. I'm gonna be pretty busy though I think. I'll get to drive for the first time in a year and a half, so that'll be fun! My companion is a Korean Elder named Kim Joon Young. I'm excited to be able to work with him. Back when I was with Elder Rigby, he told me that Elder Kim is the best teacher he ever served with.
Last week on P-day our soccer tournament was awesome! Our zone won the soccer tournament so we got prizes from the other zones then we played ultimate Frisbee and our team took it too! My legs were pretty sore for a couple days, but it was worth it!
Everything here is going awesome. Time has been flying by like crazy. I hope you're all doing good!
Love,
Elder Lufkin
Dear Family,
We had another killer week in Sin Dang!
Kim Jin Young, the 21 year old kid, set a goal to be baptized on October 10th! He has a lot of desire to follow Jesus Christ and keep His commandments, but it will be hard for him to quit smoking. We're going to try and meet up with him every day to help him stay strong. He came to church on Sunday and had a good time and learned a lot from the lesson in Elders Quorum. We will also meet up with him today and eat lunch together.
Pak Rae Un and his family are doing well too. He and his wife can't come to church yet because they have an English class on Sundays for the next two months, but they sent their kids to church yesterday and they liked it pretty well. They are 10 and 13 years old. The older kid actually was already friends with another member in our ward.
Elder Heyrend and I have been having a good time serving together. He's pretty laid back and he's a really easy person to get along with. Our zone has all been doing really well too and we're all pretty tight. It's too bad that the transfer's over and our zone will be changing up a lot. I heard last week that I'll actually be transferring tomorrow. I'll be serving as an assistant to President Lee in the mission office area called Sam Chung. It's actually in the same zone that I'm right now. I'm pretty excited to serve around President Lee and see how everything works. I'm gonna be pretty busy though I think. I'll get to drive for the first time in a year and a half, so that'll be fun! My companion is a Korean Elder named Kim Joon Young. I'm excited to be able to work with him. Back when I was with Elder Rigby, he told me that Elder Kim is the best teacher he ever served with.
Last week on P-day our soccer tournament was awesome! Our zone won the soccer tournament so we got prizes from the other zones then we played ultimate Frisbee and our team took it too! My legs were pretty sore for a couple days, but it was worth it!
Everything here is going awesome. Time has been flying by like crazy. I hope you're all doing good!
Love,
Elder Lufkin
Sunday, September 19, 2010
Korean Thanksgiving Holiday-Chu Suk
Hey!
Thanks for all your emails and sweet pictures! All my nieces and nephews are changing a ton!
We had a really good week! We're meeting 2 young guys and a family right now that are all progressing well and are really interested in the gospel. Especially one of the two guys. He is a 21 year old named Kim Jin Young. We ate dinner with him last night at our stake president’s house and had a reeeaaaally good lesson. He felt like living the gospel is what he needs to do and is going to try and find out if it's true or not through prayer and reading the Book of Mormon. He hasn't been to church yet, but he's committed to come next week and I think he'll probably be able to be baptized in about a month.
We saw a lot of success at a college earlier in the week with finding people to teach, but as we met a couple of them for the 2nd time they turned out to not be very good. One of them was actually a pastor from Africa and when we met the 2nd time he tried to teach us a sermon! We had another experience that was kind of similar last week too. It seemed like Satan was working extra hard to try and discourage us, but it actually motivated us to go and find some people that were actually prepared to hear the gospel. It also strengthened my testimony of the doctrine of the gospel as I studied about some of the things that other churches don't believe like the need for prophets and the qualifications for a prophet.
Next week is a holiday here called Chu Suk. It's like Thanksgiving and it is 3 days long. Most Koreans go to there hometowns during it so a lot of our investigators won't be able to meet. Our mission is having a soccer tournament and a training meeting/dinner during the holiday. For the soccer tournament each zone is a team. Our zone ordered some sweet soccer jerseys, shorts and socks for 20 bucks a piece. If we don't win, at least we'll look good! I'll send ya some pictures!
Have a good week! Love,
Elder Lufkin
Thanks for all your emails and sweet pictures! All my nieces and nephews are changing a ton!
We had a really good week! We're meeting 2 young guys and a family right now that are all progressing well and are really interested in the gospel. Especially one of the two guys. He is a 21 year old named Kim Jin Young. We ate dinner with him last night at our stake president’s house and had a reeeaaaally good lesson. He felt like living the gospel is what he needs to do and is going to try and find out if it's true or not through prayer and reading the Book of Mormon. He hasn't been to church yet, but he's committed to come next week and I think he'll probably be able to be baptized in about a month.
We saw a lot of success at a college earlier in the week with finding people to teach, but as we met a couple of them for the 2nd time they turned out to not be very good. One of them was actually a pastor from Africa and when we met the 2nd time he tried to teach us a sermon! We had another experience that was kind of similar last week too. It seemed like Satan was working extra hard to try and discourage us, but it actually motivated us to go and find some people that were actually prepared to hear the gospel. It also strengthened my testimony of the doctrine of the gospel as I studied about some of the things that other churches don't believe like the need for prophets and the qualifications for a prophet.
Next week is a holiday here called Chu Suk. It's like Thanksgiving and it is 3 days long. Most Koreans go to there hometowns during it so a lot of our investigators won't be able to meet. Our mission is having a soccer tournament and a training meeting/dinner during the holiday. For the soccer tournament each zone is a team. Our zone ordered some sweet soccer jerseys, shorts and socks for 20 bucks a piece. If we don't win, at least we'll look good! I'll send ya some pictures!
Have a good week! Love,
Elder Lufkin
Sunday, September 12, 2010
Stake Conference
Hey everybody!
It's been an awesome week! Yesterday was our Stake Conference and it was really good. Elder Choi from the 70 was there and also a Japanese guy that is from one of the quorums of the 70. They talked a lot about member missionary work and attending the temple. In one of the talks they said, "It's the member's job to find investigators and the missionary's job to teach them." Ee Gyung Bok came to it and sat with us.
We've been teaching a really good new family. The father's name is Pak Lae Un and there is a mom and two sons. They are the ones that walked up to our church a couple weeks ago and asked if they could park in the parking lot and then they asked if we could teach them and their kids some English. We've been meeting them twice a week and are teaching them English and about the gospel. They really like the gospel so far and have started praying together as a family almost every day. They had a negative image of churches before, but they can see that our church is a lot different than other churches here. They can't come to church yet because they have an academy on Sundays, but hopefully they will be able to cancel it in the future.
The weather here is getting better. Not so hot anymore. It is still raining a lot, but my Hush Puppies are still pretty water proof. My Eccos have a tear in them though cause I wore only them for over a year. Do you know if Eccos have a warranty?
Me and Elder Heyrend are doing good. It's been a fun transfer so far. We've found some good new investigators lately. We find a lot through calling old investigators, street contacting, English class, and we get some referrals once in a while.
I hope you're all doing well! I love you,
Elder Lufkin
It's been an awesome week! Yesterday was our Stake Conference and it was really good. Elder Choi from the 70 was there and also a Japanese guy that is from one of the quorums of the 70. They talked a lot about member missionary work and attending the temple. In one of the talks they said, "It's the member's job to find investigators and the missionary's job to teach them." Ee Gyung Bok came to it and sat with us.
We've been teaching a really good new family. The father's name is Pak Lae Un and there is a mom and two sons. They are the ones that walked up to our church a couple weeks ago and asked if they could park in the parking lot and then they asked if we could teach them and their kids some English. We've been meeting them twice a week and are teaching them English and about the gospel. They really like the gospel so far and have started praying together as a family almost every day. They had a negative image of churches before, but they can see that our church is a lot different than other churches here. They can't come to church yet because they have an academy on Sundays, but hopefully they will be able to cancel it in the future.
The weather here is getting better. Not so hot anymore. It is still raining a lot, but my Hush Puppies are still pretty water proof. My Eccos have a tear in them though cause I wore only them for over a year. Do you know if Eccos have a warranty?
Me and Elder Heyrend are doing good. It's been a fun transfer so far. We've found some good new investigators lately. We find a lot through calling old investigators, street contacting, English class, and we get some referrals once in a while.
I hope you're all doing well! I love you,
Elder Lufkin
Sunday, September 5, 2010
Standards of Excellence
We had such a good week! It started out pretty bad because pretty much all of our investigators but 1 or 2 dropped and we had no appointments really planned out during the week. But...we saw some miracles in finding and met a new family that we are going to start teaching and we also met this kid named Jin who is 21 and wants to learn about our church.
Sister Ee Me Oak, who was planning to get baptized next week was one of the ones who dropped. Hopefully later on she'll change her heart.
Ee Gyeong Bok is a grandma that really likes learning English from us and really enjoys having some friends. She is reading the book of Mormon and comes to church every week as long as we pick her up. She's not ready to get baptized yet though.
The rest of our zone did really awesome last week too. Last week our zone's stats averaged above what is called the "standards of excellence" which means everybody worked really hard and saw a lot of success. It's the first time I've heard of an entire zone doing that so Elder Heyrend and I were pretty stoked!
I gotta go buy a soccer jersey now for our mission soccer competition in a couple weeks. I love all you guys!
Elder Lufkin
Sister Ee Me Oak, who was planning to get baptized next week was one of the ones who dropped. Hopefully later on she'll change her heart.
Ee Gyeong Bok is a grandma that really likes learning English from us and really enjoys having some friends. She is reading the book of Mormon and comes to church every week as long as we pick her up. She's not ready to get baptized yet though.
The rest of our zone did really awesome last week too. Last week our zone's stats averaged above what is called the "standards of excellence" which means everybody worked really hard and saw a lot of success. It's the first time I've heard of an entire zone doing that so Elder Heyrend and I were pretty stoked!
I gotta go buy a soccer jersey now for our mission soccer competition in a couple weeks. I love all you guys!
Elder Lufkin
Sunday, August 29, 2010
"Dream Team"
Elder Lufkin and Elder Heyrend at Seoul Temple
Hey everybody!
Things are going awesome in Korea! Elder Heyrend and I had a really good week. The other missionaries in our zone are doing awesome too. There are 8 other missionaries in our zone and Elder Heyrend and I think they're pretty much the "dream team." We are all meeting up at our church today, since we have a gym in ours, to play some games and eat some lunch during P day.
Lots of cool stuff happened last week. A lady named Lee Mi Oak randomly showed up to church last week and afterwards told us that she wanted to meet with us to learn English and learn the gospel. During the week we met her and found out that she had already met with missionaries before and she believes in Jesus Christ and that Joseph Smith was called as a prophet and that the Book of Mormon is true. We set a date for 9/12 for her to be baptized through the priesthood! She does have some weird concerns about things like the word Jehovah being used in the bible and stuff, but we should be able to resolve them.
Another cool thing happened when we went to meet our investigator from South Africa named Earnest. We went to his hair shop and he wasn't there yet, but the girl that was working told us that she had been baptized in Nigeria and was looking for our church in Korea. Her brother is actually a Stake President in Nigeria! She plans to come to church at the English branch next week and she's going to refer one of her friends to us! Pretty sweet huh!
The Lord is definately guiding people to us that need the gospel and us to them.
Elder Heyrend is pretty good at making Korean food so we made some good stuff last week. One thing that was really good is called Boo Day Chee Gay. It has hot dog, spam, onion, green onion, Raman noodles, rice cake, Kim Chi, and Tofu in it with some other Korean seasonings and rice on the side. It was soooo good! We usually still eat American food for breakfast though. I'm not hard core enough to eat Kim Chi right when I wake up.
Well that’s what I've been up to. Have a good week!
Love,
Elder Lufkin
Sunday, August 22, 2010
New Companion-Elder Heyrend
Hey Lufkin’s,
Here's a pic is of Max. He had a great baptism and is doing great. A guy that he knows in his new branch baptized him. He goes to the English speaking branch which ends an hour after our church in a different area. We plan to keep on meeting him about once a week to teach him the new member lessons and also to help him learn some Korean. He works at a textile plant with a bunch of Koreans so it will be helpful for him.
We met some other new investigators from South Africa last week named Earnest and Lorita. They were a referral from the missionaries in South Africa. They had met the missionaries right before they came to work in Korea and Lorita has really wanted to come to our church. We meet them during the week and they're coming to the English branch for church next week.
Elder Wade is outa here and my new companion is Elder Heyrend from Ontario, Oregon. His dad is actually an anesthetic nurse and he is planning to do the same thing just like Jake. His dad enjoys it a lot. Elder Heyrend is way nice and easy going. He's been out for about 3 months less than me and was in the old Seoul mission before we combined. He and Jake have got me thinking about going into nursing too. It sounds like a pretty good deal.
On weeks that we go to the temple our p day moves to Tuesday in case you were wondering why I'm late e mailing you. We got to go to the temple today and it was really nice. I was able to think of some things that I want to improve on as a missionary and some goals/standards for when I get home. Afterwards we went to the mokyoktong which was really relaxing. Next we got some groceries to make some good Korean food at our house this week! We're teaching an English class every Tuesday night at our church so I'm going to prepare for that in a second. It's been pretty fun and we've found a lot of new investigators through it. The English class members even threw a party for elder wade last week when he went home.
I hope you're all doing well. I love you guys,
Elder Lufkin
Sunday, August 15, 2010
Hey family,
It's been a good week here in Shin Dang! Yesterday at church Eem Sam Nyae got the gift of the Holy Ghost and her and her son already have tons of friends at church. Our investigator named Ee Gyung Bok also came to church yesterday for the first time! She's like 63 and doesn't have many friends and was never married so she enjoys meeting a lot and we help her learn English too. She doesn't want to be baptized yet because she feels like she got forgiveness from the father at her catholic church. Max from Uganda is doing great and his baptismal interview is today then he'll be baptized this Sunday. He has a really strong testimony of the Book of Mormon and wants to follow Christ so as we taught him commandments like The Word of Wisdom and The Law of Chastity he wanted to keep them even though it will be a little bit of a sacrifice for him.
Elder Wade is off to Utah this week and I will get a new companion on Wednesday. He has been really good to work with and has helped me round off some of my not so good personality traits. I think our whole zone will have a sweet new transfer.
I hope you all have a great week!
Love,
Elder Lufkin
PS Am I looking skinny?
It's been a good week here in Shin Dang! Yesterday at church Eem Sam Nyae got the gift of the Holy Ghost and her and her son already have tons of friends at church. Our investigator named Ee Gyung Bok also came to church yesterday for the first time! She's like 63 and doesn't have many friends and was never married so she enjoys meeting a lot and we help her learn English too. She doesn't want to be baptized yet because she feels like she got forgiveness from the father at her catholic church. Max from Uganda is doing great and his baptismal interview is today then he'll be baptized this Sunday. He has a really strong testimony of the Book of Mormon and wants to follow Christ so as we taught him commandments like The Word of Wisdom and The Law of Chastity he wanted to keep them even though it will be a little bit of a sacrifice for him.
Elder Wade is off to Utah this week and I will get a new companion on Wednesday. He has been really good to work with and has helped me round off some of my not so good personality traits. I think our whole zone will have a sweet new transfer.
I hope you all have a great week!
Love,
Elder Lufkin
PS Am I looking skinny?
Sunday, August 8, 2010
Hey Family,
I and Elder Wade sure saw a lot of miracles last week!
Sister Eem Sam Nyae's baptism went great yesterday. Her son Kim Joon Hee who's been baptized for about 6 months baptized her. It was a really good service and she has real desire to live the gospel. She said at the service that she was grateful to be reborn and have a clean start on life.
We also met an old investigator named Max yesterday that Elder Wade was meeting with his old companion and we set a baptismal date with him for the 22nd. It's a pretty cool story how we came back in contact with him. He was meeting with the missionaries about 6 months ago and he understood the message of the restoration of the gospel and felt like he needed to read the Book of Mormon to know if it was true or not. However, one day he just quit answering the phone and never called the missionaries back. Then, about a week ago, I was calling a guy from our English class named Max to set an appointment and to invite him to church and I accidentally called Max the old investigator. When he picked up he was really excited to talk to me and said that he couldn't meet, but that he'd come to church on Sunday. Later we found out that while he was meeting the missionaries 6 months earlier he had lost his phone and all of the numbers in it so he didn't know how to get a hold of the missionaries. Even though he wasn't able to meet with the missionaries he continued to read the Book of Mormon all the way through and felt that it was definately the word of God and that our message was true. Yesterday, when we asked him if he'd follow the example of Jesus Christ and be baptized by some one holding the Priesthood authority, he said, "ya of course, it's true!" It was a pretty cool experience! Max is from a place called Uganda or something like that in Africa. His family is still there and he was pretty excited when we told him that the church was there and that if he got the Priesthood he could go back and baptize his family into the Church. It's pretty cool how the Lord works sometimes!
That was the highlight of the week, but we also were able to find a lot of new investigators last week. Some of them have a pretty strong desire to learn too. Our zone is all doing really well too. In the past this was one of the least baptizing zones in the Mission, but everybody is doing great now! I sure am glad to be here.
I know that the Lord is helping us and guiding us. It's hard to recognize when things aren't going well, but He's still there. I've really come to recognize that and the blessings that come from following His gospel.
I hope you guys are all doing great!
Love,
Elder Lufkin
I and Elder Wade sure saw a lot of miracles last week!
Sister Eem Sam Nyae's baptism went great yesterday. Her son Kim Joon Hee who's been baptized for about 6 months baptized her. It was a really good service and she has real desire to live the gospel. She said at the service that she was grateful to be reborn and have a clean start on life.
We also met an old investigator named Max yesterday that Elder Wade was meeting with his old companion and we set a baptismal date with him for the 22nd. It's a pretty cool story how we came back in contact with him. He was meeting with the missionaries about 6 months ago and he understood the message of the restoration of the gospel and felt like he needed to read the Book of Mormon to know if it was true or not. However, one day he just quit answering the phone and never called the missionaries back. Then, about a week ago, I was calling a guy from our English class named Max to set an appointment and to invite him to church and I accidentally called Max the old investigator. When he picked up he was really excited to talk to me and said that he couldn't meet, but that he'd come to church on Sunday. Later we found out that while he was meeting the missionaries 6 months earlier he had lost his phone and all of the numbers in it so he didn't know how to get a hold of the missionaries. Even though he wasn't able to meet with the missionaries he continued to read the Book of Mormon all the way through and felt that it was definately the word of God and that our message was true. Yesterday, when we asked him if he'd follow the example of Jesus Christ and be baptized by some one holding the Priesthood authority, he said, "ya of course, it's true!" It was a pretty cool experience! Max is from a place called Uganda or something like that in Africa. His family is still there and he was pretty excited when we told him that the church was there and that if he got the Priesthood he could go back and baptize his family into the Church. It's pretty cool how the Lord works sometimes!
That was the highlight of the week, but we also were able to find a lot of new investigators last week. Some of them have a pretty strong desire to learn too. Our zone is all doing really well too. In the past this was one of the least baptizing zones in the Mission, but everybody is doing great now! I sure am glad to be here.
I know that the Lord is helping us and guiding us. It's hard to recognize when things aren't going well, but He's still there. I've really come to recognize that and the blessings that come from following His gospel.
I hope you guys are all doing great!
Love,
Elder Lufkin
Sunday, August 1, 2010
Hey I hope you're all having fun at Lopez!(and Leslie and John in Norway!)
I had a way good week!
Yesterday Sister Eem Sam Nyae came out to church again with her son. She had a good time and is prepared to be baptized next week. She told us as she's studied the gospel and tried to repent her heart has changed and she has become more comfortable and peaceful in life. We also had a couple teenage girls named Pak Sun Young and Kim Yae Un come to church yesterday. The sister missionaries that used to work in this area referred them to us and they are doing really well. They read the Book of Mormon together and feel like its true! We plan to set a date with them for baptism next Thursday.
Our zone is doing really well lately. We have 4 assistants to the president and 2 office elders in our zone. In the past they hadn't done much missionary work because they felt like they were too busy with their other duties, but this transfer they have been doing pretty good. We have some sister missionaries in our zone that are really ripping it up. They have a desire to share the gospel with everyone and are seeing a lot of success in their area.
Lately we have received a lot of training on teaching by the spirit. It's seemed to help me a lot. Now I try harder to slow down and ask more inspired questions when we teach. It helps a lot to bring out people's concerns and help them to understand better.
Today Elder Wade and I are taking a subway for about an hour and a half to this place to get a custom made suit. I guess you can get pretty much whatever you want for about 110 bucks! Elder Wade really wants to go because he's only got 2 and a half weeks left in country. I'm not planning to get one though.
I've been kind of stressed out lately about different things and I read this scripture in the Book of Mormon that I really liked. It's Mosiah 4:11-12. I wrote it down on a piece of paper and taped it on the wall and I read it whenever I get stressed or frustrated about something. It's pretty good. There's an answer to pretty much any problem in the scriptures.
I love all of you!
Elder Lufkin
I had a way good week!
Yesterday Sister Eem Sam Nyae came out to church again with her son. She had a good time and is prepared to be baptized next week. She told us as she's studied the gospel and tried to repent her heart has changed and she has become more comfortable and peaceful in life. We also had a couple teenage girls named Pak Sun Young and Kim Yae Un come to church yesterday. The sister missionaries that used to work in this area referred them to us and they are doing really well. They read the Book of Mormon together and feel like its true! We plan to set a date with them for baptism next Thursday.
Our zone is doing really well lately. We have 4 assistants to the president and 2 office elders in our zone. In the past they hadn't done much missionary work because they felt like they were too busy with their other duties, but this transfer they have been doing pretty good. We have some sister missionaries in our zone that are really ripping it up. They have a desire to share the gospel with everyone and are seeing a lot of success in their area.
Lately we have received a lot of training on teaching by the spirit. It's seemed to help me a lot. Now I try harder to slow down and ask more inspired questions when we teach. It helps a lot to bring out people's concerns and help them to understand better.
Today Elder Wade and I are taking a subway for about an hour and a half to this place to get a custom made suit. I guess you can get pretty much whatever you want for about 110 bucks! Elder Wade really wants to go because he's only got 2 and a half weeks left in country. I'm not planning to get one though.
I've been kind of stressed out lately about different things and I read this scripture in the Book of Mormon that I really liked. It's Mosiah 4:11-12. I wrote it down on a piece of paper and taped it on the wall and I read it whenever I get stressed or frustrated about something. It's pretty good. There's an answer to pretty much any problem in the scriptures.
I love all of you!
Elder Lufkin
Monday, July 19, 2010
Hey Family!
I sent you some pics of the "Blue House" which is where the president of Korea lives and a subway that is like 5 stories underground. My area and our zone are pretty cool as far as cultural stuff goes.
It's been a good week for me and Elder Wade. Before I came to this area there were Sister Missionaries and Elders both, but the sisters aren't here anymore so we are meeting all of their investigators now. One of the investigators that we got from them is Sister Eem Sam Nyae. She is 44 and her 18 year old son has been baptized for about 6 months. Elder Wade and I met her and her son a couple times and we set a date together for her to be baptized on August 8th. It was a really cool lesson when we asked her to be baptized. We read about baptism in 2nd Nephi 31 together and talked about it with her. It really seemed like the spirit was there and helped her understand and know that it was the right choice. We are also teaching a lady named O Jung Un whose boyfriend is a member in a different ward in our stake. She came to church on Sunday with us. We're really trying to help her with her belief in God. She said that the solar system and nature are so amazing and in such perfect order that it seems like there must be a creator behind it, but she doesn't really know for sure.
Well anyways, I gotta go because we are going to the temple today. I hope you all have a good week!
Love,
Elder Lufkin
I sent you some pics of the "Blue House" which is where the president of Korea lives and a subway that is like 5 stories underground. My area and our zone are pretty cool as far as cultural stuff goes.
It's been a good week for me and Elder Wade. Before I came to this area there were Sister Missionaries and Elders both, but the sisters aren't here anymore so we are meeting all of their investigators now. One of the investigators that we got from them is Sister Eem Sam Nyae. She is 44 and her 18 year old son has been baptized for about 6 months. Elder Wade and I met her and her son a couple times and we set a date together for her to be baptized on August 8th. It was a really cool lesson when we asked her to be baptized. We read about baptism in 2nd Nephi 31 together and talked about it with her. It really seemed like the spirit was there and helped her understand and know that it was the right choice. We are also teaching a lady named O Jung Un whose boyfriend is a member in a different ward in our stake. She came to church on Sunday with us. We're really trying to help her with her belief in God. She said that the solar system and nature are so amazing and in such perfect order that it seems like there must be a creator behind it, but she doesn't really know for sure.
Well anyways, I gotta go because we are going to the temple today. I hope you all have a good week!
Love,
Elder Lufkin
Sunday, July 11, 2010
New Companion-Elder Wade
Elder Lufkin and Elder Wade
Hey Family,
The exclamation point button doesn't work on this computer so if I don't sound too excited then please understand ok ha.
My new companion is Elder Wade, the same elder that I went on exchanges with a couple transfers ago. He is awesome. He's from Salt Lake and this is his last transfer. Elder Wade's really humble and easy to get along with and he's good at teaching by the spirit. The consolidation is going good so far. Last Tuesday we all met up for a mission conference and President Lee had the Seoul Mission sit on one side of the chapel and the Seoul West Mission sit on the other side. Then we moved to the middle of the chapel as he paired us up into our new companionships. Every companionship except for one or two has a missionary from the Seoul and Seoul West Mission. My new zone is the Seoul Zone and it’s pretty much in the center of our mission. Besides ours there are only 3 other areas in our zone so it's pretty small, but all 4 of the President's Assistants are in our Zone. My ward/area is called Shin Dang. It's like a dream area. The ward is pretty big(about 95 people come to church), we have an awesome ward mission leader and bishop, and there are lots of people in the area.
President Lee is great too. He always is happy and smiling. He puts a lot of trust in the missionaries as far as rules and stuff go.
Things were going great when I left Yeon Su. Hopefully Kim Un Jung and a couple other new people we were teaching will be able to get baptized in the next couple months.
Here in Shin Dang we have quite a few investigators, we just need to help them to get progressing. Our zone really needs to progress too. Me and Elder Wade are stoked for this transfer (Exclamation Point)
I love all of ya,
Elder Lufkin
Monday, July 5, 2010
Korea Seoul Mission -New Mission President Lee
Hey Everyone,
Wow I forgot it was even the 4th of July till I heard about all the fireworks and stuff there.
Last week we had a combined Zone leader council on Tuesday to talk about the new mission rules and guidelines and to report on our zones. Then on Thursday President Lee came to our zone and had a conference with us and interviewed all the missionaries. He is way nice and a loving guy. He talked a lot about baptizing and being happy while you do it. He's a really humble guy. He said when he was put in as Mission President a year ago, the Seoul Mission was having a hard time with some phases of missionary work so he came and asked president Burton for solutions. He was a Professor at one of the best schools in Korea for 38 years and he joined the church with his family a few years after they got married.
So now our missions are combined and tomorrow we will have a mission conference with about 130 missionaries. This Thursday is transfers and every companionship in the mission is going to change. I've noticed that the missionaries from the Seoul Mission have really good teaching skills and our missionaries have a lot of other strengths so we should be able to learn a lot from each other and make a pretty killer mission.
Have a good week!
Love,
Elder Lufkin
Wow I forgot it was even the 4th of July till I heard about all the fireworks and stuff there.
Last week we had a combined Zone leader council on Tuesday to talk about the new mission rules and guidelines and to report on our zones. Then on Thursday President Lee came to our zone and had a conference with us and interviewed all the missionaries. He is way nice and a loving guy. He talked a lot about baptizing and being happy while you do it. He's a really humble guy. He said when he was put in as Mission President a year ago, the Seoul Mission was having a hard time with some phases of missionary work so he came and asked president Burton for solutions. He was a Professor at one of the best schools in Korea for 38 years and he joined the church with his family a few years after they got married.
So now our missions are combined and tomorrow we will have a mission conference with about 130 missionaries. This Thursday is transfers and every companionship in the mission is going to change. I've noticed that the missionaries from the Seoul Mission have really good teaching skills and our missionaries have a lot of other strengths so we should be able to learn a lot from each other and make a pretty killer mission.
Have a good week!
Love,
Elder Lufkin
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
P-Day activities
We had a lot of stuff going on last week. Last P-day we went out to Wormy Doe. It was pretty much like going to the state fair. ha. Fun day though.
The pics are of Wormy Doe last week, a cool bridge in my area, and Nam Dae Moon market that we went to today. It's a really famous market that has cheap clothes and souvenirs and stuff.
Monday, June 28, 2010
Consolidation! Seoul and Seoul West Missions
KSWM with Elder Christofferson and Elder Choi
Seoul and Seoul West Missions
Sunday, June 27, 2010
Final Counsel from President Burton
Hey Family!
Here's my new adress for letters in Korea:
Korea Seoul Mission
Gwanghwamun PO Box 210
Jongno-Gu Seoul-Si 110-602
South Korea
So tomorrow President Burton leaves and President Lee becomes our new president! Pretty exciting, but I'm gonna miss Pres. Burton a lot. Tomorrow we'll have a combined Zone Leader Council as the new Seoul Mission, and then on Thursday all of the missionaries from our mission will get to have an interview with President Lee. It's all in Korean too!
This week has been a good week for us. Yoon Byeong Shik meets new investigators with us now and he even helped us with a proselyting activity on the street one day. We're meeting with a 28 year old girl named Kim Un Jeong right now too. She had no belief to start with, but she says she feels peaceful when she prays and she is starting to believe that God is there. She started meeting us to prepare for her job interview at GM that is in English. She told us last night that she got the job!
Last Wednesday we had Zone conference at our mission headquarters. President Burton gave us some good last council. This is something he has told us that I think is important to remember," Do not allow yourselves to ever become casual in the area of obedience. Remember, God cannot bless you if you are not qualifying for his blessings." That’s something that I've really found to be true. As I've done missionary work the way that Preach My Gospel and our leaders instruct us it just works and we see all kinds of miracles as we're out working. It's the same way outside of missionary work. I remember how before my mission I started paying tithing regularly the way that the Prophet has said. I had all kinds of bonus checks, and insurance and refunds come in the mail that I wasn't even expecting that helped me pay for the things I needed for my mission. I also got a lot of help from all of you! It shouldn't be too surprising though because we're promised that we'll be blessed spiritually and temporally if we do what the Lord asks.
Today is P day and we're meeting up with the rest of our zone and going out by the ocean to a place called Wormy Doe. I guess there are rides out there and a little China town and stuff. I'll send ya some pics next week. Also tonight we are going to the Bishop's house for a singles party. Kim Un Jeong might come with us too.
I hope you all have a good week!
Here's my new adress for letters in Korea:
Korea Seoul Mission
Gwanghwamun PO Box 210
Jongno-Gu Seoul-Si 110-602
South Korea
So tomorrow President Burton leaves and President Lee becomes our new president! Pretty exciting, but I'm gonna miss Pres. Burton a lot. Tomorrow we'll have a combined Zone Leader Council as the new Seoul Mission, and then on Thursday all of the missionaries from our mission will get to have an interview with President Lee. It's all in Korean too!
This week has been a good week for us. Yoon Byeong Shik meets new investigators with us now and he even helped us with a proselyting activity on the street one day. We're meeting with a 28 year old girl named Kim Un Jeong right now too. She had no belief to start with, but she says she feels peaceful when she prays and she is starting to believe that God is there. She started meeting us to prepare for her job interview at GM that is in English. She told us last night that she got the job!
Last Wednesday we had Zone conference at our mission headquarters. President Burton gave us some good last council. This is something he has told us that I think is important to remember," Do not allow yourselves to ever become casual in the area of obedience. Remember, God cannot bless you if you are not qualifying for his blessings." That’s something that I've really found to be true. As I've done missionary work the way that Preach My Gospel and our leaders instruct us it just works and we see all kinds of miracles as we're out working. It's the same way outside of missionary work. I remember how before my mission I started paying tithing regularly the way that the Prophet has said. I had all kinds of bonus checks, and insurance and refunds come in the mail that I wasn't even expecting that helped me pay for the things I needed for my mission. I also got a lot of help from all of you! It shouldn't be too surprising though because we're promised that we'll be blessed spiritually and temporally if we do what the Lord asks.
Today is P day and we're meeting up with the rest of our zone and going out by the ocean to a place called Wormy Doe. I guess there are rides out there and a little China town and stuff. I'll send ya some pics next week. Also tonight we are going to the Bishop's house for a singles party. Kim Un Jeong might come with us too.
I hope you all have a good week!
Sunday, June 20, 2010
Many Blessings
Dear Family,
Hey how are ya? Thanks for your e mails! I had a great week. Yoon Byeong Shik got baptized last Sunday and received the Gift of the Holy Ghost yesterday! He's got a really good fellowshipper at church who is the Elder's Quorum President. He really enjoys the lessons in Gospel Principles Class and in Elder's Quorum.
The consolidation is only 8 days away now! It seems pretty crazy that President Burton is going to be gone! I'm excited to get to work with all the Seoul missionaries though!
I got an e mail from my last companion Elder Turley. He said he went and taught with the missionaries a couple of times, but it’s a lot different and he misses being a missionary.
Elder Bogner and I are seeing a lot of blessings. Yesterday we sat down with a guy and his two sons that were having a picnic and taught them about the restoration of the gospel and the dad really liked it. We're meeting them again this week. Last Monday we stopped at a bakery to get some dinner and this guy came up and said he wanted to buy for us and asked us to come sit with him. We told him what we're doing in Korea and gave him a Book of Mormon and he's planning to meet us again on Tuesday! We're teaching a couple of other people right now that have a lot of potential. Hopefully they'll be able to be baptized in the next few weeks.
I hope you're all doing well! Have a good week.
Love,
Elder Lufkin
Hey how are ya? Thanks for your e mails! I had a great week. Yoon Byeong Shik got baptized last Sunday and received the Gift of the Holy Ghost yesterday! He's got a really good fellowshipper at church who is the Elder's Quorum President. He really enjoys the lessons in Gospel Principles Class and in Elder's Quorum.
The consolidation is only 8 days away now! It seems pretty crazy that President Burton is going to be gone! I'm excited to get to work with all the Seoul missionaries though!
I got an e mail from my last companion Elder Turley. He said he went and taught with the missionaries a couple of times, but it’s a lot different and he misses being a missionary.
Elder Bogner and I are seeing a lot of blessings. Yesterday we sat down with a guy and his two sons that were having a picnic and taught them about the restoration of the gospel and the dad really liked it. We're meeting them again this week. Last Monday we stopped at a bakery to get some dinner and this guy came up and said he wanted to buy for us and asked us to come sit with him. We told him what we're doing in Korea and gave him a Book of Mormon and he's planning to meet us again on Tuesday! We're teaching a couple of other people right now that have a lot of potential. Hopefully they'll be able to be baptized in the next few weeks.
I hope you're all doing well! Have a good week.
Love,
Elder Lufkin
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
KSWM Last Temple Day Before Consolidation
KSWM at Seoul Temple
Hey Family!
I've had a great week! Yoon Byeong Shik was baptized on Sunday and it was a great service. Now we're trying to help him and the other members establish a good relationship!
I got to go on exchanges with a zone leader from the Seoul Mission last week too and he was actually in the MTC with me. It was pretty fun and I learned some good new ideas for finding people to teach from him like putting English ads in the paper and some other stuff. Yesterday, Yoon Byeong Shik, took us to the Korean War museum that is in our area. There was some pretty cool stuff to look at and I learned a little more about the Korean War. Koreans are still really thankful to America for helping them out. Today I got to go to the temple which was really nice and afterwards we went to a Korean public bathhouse! It was awesome! There were hot and warm and cold pools and different types of saunas that you could sit in. I hope you're all doing well! I love you,
Elder Lufkin
Elder Chung and Elder Lufkin
Monday, June 7, 2010
Last Zone Leader Conference with President Burton
Hey family!
Man last week was busy! We were still able to get most of the goals that we had set so that was good.
Monday, we had Zone Leader Council at our mission head quarters which was awesome. It was the last one with President Burton so he shared with us some of the lessons he has learned about leadership through the years. Tuesday, I went on splits with another missionary named Elder Hoffman in my area. We had a killer day and were able to set a lot of appointments with people that we met on the street. Thursday we spent a couple hours planning for our combined district meeting which is just like a training meeting for the missionaries in our zone. Friday we went to our mission headquarters again to learn from the church doctors about health stuff and then afterwards we had our combined district meeting. Church on Sunday was great. It was fast and testimony meeting and three of our investigators were able to come. One of them is the girl in the picture. Her name is Kim Un Jung and she is progressing really well.
We also met Yoon Byeong Shik a couple times during the week and he's doing awesome! Still planning to get baptized this Sunday. We explained about the Fall of Adam and Eve and it was really different for him at first because he has always attended the Presbyterian Church, but he felt that what we told him was true. He said, "You guys are pretty good at Korean, but more than that I can just feel that what you say is true because of your heart." I think the Spirit has really helped him to understand and to realize that what we are teaching him is true. We also taught him the Word of Wisdom last week and he accepted it very well. It's pretty cool that he just found our phone number on the internet and called us up!
I love all you guys! Have a good week!
Elder Lufkin
and thanks for making my b day so good!
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Monday, May 31, 2010
Meetings, Meetings, Meetings
I had a great week with Elder Bogner. The pictures I sent are from different meetings that we had the last few days. The one with all the Koreans is the stake presidency and the ward mission leaders from each ward in our stake and President Burton.
Stake presidency,Ward Mission Leaders from each ward in our stake, President Burton and Elder Lufkin
The other ones with the missionaries in them were from our last zone leader council with president Burton. It was a really good meeting and we all got some really good council from President Burton about missionary work and about life. We also got training from the Assistants that was really good.
The other pics are my companion Elder Bogner and our investigator, Yoon Byeong Sheek's, son.
He's a way cute kid and he and his dad both came to church on Sunday. Yoon Byeong Shik liked church and thought it was really calm and reverent. He's reading the Book of Mormon and says it’s been interesting. He's progressing really well and is planning to get baptized on the 13th.
Oh and thanks for everything you guys sent me for my b day! It was a good one. President Burton told the Stake President it was my b day on Sunday and so they all sang to me after the meeting! Ha! It was pretty fun.
Have a good week!
Love,
Elder Lufkin
Stake presidency,Ward Mission Leaders from each ward in our stake, President Burton and Elder Lufkin
The other ones with the missionaries in them were from our last zone leader council with president Burton. It was a really good meeting and we all got some really good council from President Burton about missionary work and about life. We also got training from the Assistants that was really good.
The other pics are my companion Elder Bogner and our investigator, Yoon Byeong Sheek's, son.
He's a way cute kid and he and his dad both came to church on Sunday. Yoon Byeong Shik liked church and thought it was really calm and reverent. He's reading the Book of Mormon and says it’s been interesting. He's progressing really well and is planning to get baptized on the 13th.
Oh and thanks for everything you guys sent me for my b day! It was a good one. President Burton told the Stake President it was my b day on Sunday and so they all sang to me after the meeting! Ha! It was pretty fun.
Have a good week!
Love,
Elder Lufkin
Message from President Burton
Hey everybody!
My P-day is on Monday from now on. Sorry I forgot to tell you last week!
President Burton gave us more information to send to you about North Korea:
Dear KSWM missionaries,
With your P-Day on Monday, I wanted to share the following update received today from the US Embassy: The U.S. Embassy Seoul transmits the following information through the Embassy's warden system as a public service to all U.S. citizens in the Republic of Korea: "The North Korean sinking of a South Korean Naval vessel on March 26, 2010, has raised concerns and inquiries regarding security for residents and visitors to Korea. The Embassy's current assessment of the security environment for U.S. citizens in Korea is that recent events do not pose an imminent threat to the public safety of the American community at this time." We hope sharing this with your families will put their minds at ease concerning this matter. News media outside Korea is making this much more serious than it is in the eyes of those whose job is to monitor activities that may have an impact on our health and safety. Thank you for your faithful service.
Love, President Burton
Anyways, doesn't seem like there is much to worry about with that. Elder L
My P-day is on Monday from now on. Sorry I forgot to tell you last week!
President Burton gave us more information to send to you about North Korea:
Dear KSWM missionaries,
With your P-Day on Monday, I wanted to share the following update received today from the US Embassy: The U.S. Embassy Seoul transmits the following information through the Embassy's warden system as a public service to all U.S. citizens in the Republic of Korea: "The North Korean sinking of a South Korean Naval vessel on March 26, 2010, has raised concerns and inquiries regarding security for residents and visitors to Korea. The Embassy's current assessment of the security environment for U.S. citizens in Korea is that recent events do not pose an imminent threat to the public safety of the American community at this time." We hope sharing this with your families will put their minds at ease concerning this matter. News media outside Korea is making this much more serious than it is in the eyes of those whose job is to monitor activities that may have an impact on our health and safety. Thank you for your faithful service.
Love, President Burton
Anyways, doesn't seem like there is much to worry about with that. Elder L
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Mountain Conference- New Companion-Elder Bogner
Hey Family! I had an eventful week so far. We went on another hike with our zone (about 14 missionaries) on Monday, and then this morning I dropped off Elder Turley and got my new companion Elder Bogner.
He has been in country for 18 months and is from the San Fransisco area. He has 7 people in his family and he's the 2nd youngest.
Elder Bogner and Elder Lufkin
We had a good time on our hike on Monday. It rained the whole time and was pretty cold, but we had a good experience. When we got to the top Elder Turley shared some scriptures from Mosiah ch. 2 about King Benjamin handing the Kingdom over to his son Mosiah. It was pretty cool how much the whole chapter relates a lot to us getting a new Mission President. You should read it! After the hike we all met together under a shelter and had a group discussion with President Burton about the conference with Elder Christofferson. It was really cool.
Anyways, we have an awesome investigator right now named Yoon Byeong Sheek. He got our number off the internet and called us to learn English, but he has a lot of interests in the church too. He really loved the Plan of Salvation especially. He really liked learning about the spirit world where everyone who hasn't had a chance to hear the gospel during their earth life can choose to accept it. It was such a cool lesson! I felt like the spirit really helped him to understand and to feel that it was true. His wife is actually Presbyterian but he wants to come to church on Sunday even though she is kind of opposed to it. Hopefully we'll be able to meet with her too in the future.
He has been in country for 18 months and is from the San Fransisco area. He has 7 people in his family and he's the 2nd youngest.
Elder Bogner and Elder Lufkin
We had a good time on our hike on Monday. It rained the whole time and was pretty cold, but we had a good experience. When we got to the top Elder Turley shared some scriptures from Mosiah ch. 2 about King Benjamin handing the Kingdom over to his son Mosiah. It was pretty cool how much the whole chapter relates a lot to us getting a new Mission President. You should read it! After the hike we all met together under a shelter and had a group discussion with President Burton about the conference with Elder Christofferson. It was really cool.
Anyways, we have an awesome investigator right now named Yoon Byeong Sheek. He got our number off the internet and called us to learn English, but he has a lot of interests in the church too. He really loved the Plan of Salvation especially. He really liked learning about the spirit world where everyone who hasn't had a chance to hear the gospel during their earth life can choose to accept it. It was such a cool lesson! I felt like the spirit really helped him to understand and to feel that it was true. His wife is actually Presbyterian but he wants to come to church on Sunday even though she is kind of opposed to it. Hopefully we'll be able to meet with her too in the future.
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Life goes on as usual in Seoul
President Burton sent a message today about North Korea and that ship that was sunk.
"As we discussed at the Mountain Conference, there are many reports circulating about the sinking of the South Korean warship last March. The South Korean President, Lee Myung-bak has charged North Korea with the torpedo bombing of the ship. There has been a lot of press analysis regarding the current state of play between the North and the South. We are in regular contact with reliable sources who have readily pointed out that the State Department has NOT issued any travel warnings to South Korea, and though the rhetoric is accusatory and threatening by both sides, we have been told that there is no perceived or actual threats that would affect daily life here in Seoul. It is expected that there will continue to be a lot of press and diplomatic activity in the upcoming couple of weeks, especially because elections are coming here in Seoul, after which it will diminish. Those we talked to say that they believe that the South Korean do not want an escalation; so there will be some continued public blustering but in the end, it is not expected to amount to much. We will keep you apprised of any new developments, and ask that you not concern yourselves with this matter, and continue to do the work that you were called to do here in this beautiful land."
President Burton
"As we discussed at the Mountain Conference, there are many reports circulating about the sinking of the South Korean warship last March. The South Korean President, Lee Myung-bak has charged North Korea with the torpedo bombing of the ship. There has been a lot of press analysis regarding the current state of play between the North and the South. We are in regular contact with reliable sources who have readily pointed out that the State Department has NOT issued any travel warnings to South Korea, and though the rhetoric is accusatory and threatening by both sides, we have been told that there is no perceived or actual threats that would affect daily life here in Seoul. It is expected that there will continue to be a lot of press and diplomatic activity in the upcoming couple of weeks, especially because elections are coming here in Seoul, after which it will diminish. Those we talked to say that they believe that the South Korean do not want an escalation; so there will be some continued public blustering but in the end, it is not expected to amount to much. We will keep you apprised of any new developments, and ask that you not concern yourselves with this matter, and continue to do the work that you were called to do here in this beautiful land."
President Burton
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Elder Christofferson from the Seventy Visits
I've had an awesome week. I've been kinda sick lately with a sore throat and stuff so I couldn't talk very good for a couple days, but I'm good now. I just went on exchanges with the President's Assistant Elder Folsom and had an awesome two days. We were able to find some good new people in their area that want to learn about the gospel and we had a really good time. The other Assistant, Elder Yu, came to our area with my companion, Elder Turley and they saw a lot of success too. They met some people who want us to teach their kids English and about the gospel. Elder Turley goes home next week! I'm anxious to see who my new comp. will be.
Elder Christofferson came on Monday and we got to hear from him! He talked a lot about how important it is to use the B of M in conversion. He said it's the "sickle" that we're supposed thrust in with all our might in D+C 4 and that we need to "insist that our investigators read it." He also gave some time for questions at the end and as he was answering a question about obedience he said,"remember that it is Christ's perfect obedience that makes him one with Heavenly Father."
I got the new conference on my translator from a member and we listen to it a lot. Anyhew, have a good week!
Elder Christofferson came on Monday and we got to hear from him! He talked a lot about how important it is to use the B of M in conversion. He said it's the "sickle" that we're supposed thrust in with all our might in D+C 4 and that we need to "insist that our investigators read it." He also gave some time for questions at the end and as he was answering a question about obedience he said,"remember that it is Christ's perfect obedience that makes him one with Heavenly Father."
I got the new conference on my translator from a member and we listen to it a lot. Anyhew, have a good week!
These pictures are from a hike that we went on with all the leadership in the mission. It was way fun. We did a bunch of stuff as we hiked up the mountain like guiding our comp. while he is blind folded and other stuff and we related it all to missionary work and the Atonement and talked about what we can learn from it. When we got to the top we heard from President and Sister Burton and ate lunch together. We also had a little time alone for study or whatever we wanted. It reminded me of the scriptures where Nephi would "go to the mountain oft" or something like that to get revelation from the Lord. We went to learn what to do so that we can take all the other missionaries on the same hike next Monday.We're getting pretty close to combining our mission with the
The wall in the pictures is about 400 years old!
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