So Glad I Stayed in Korea!

Dear Family,

I'm a little low on time today, but this is the weekly e mail that I sent to President Lee. I hope the Korean comes out in your emails.

Elder Lambert and I had a great week! We got to interact with our ward a lot over the weekend. On Saturday we had a ward picnic at the church and then played volleyball with ward members and some non members. Then on Sunday we had choir practice, church meetings, and then more choir practice. It feels like we have a really good relationship with our ward. It's too bad I can't stay here for longer!

We picked up a new investigator last week from an English flyer. His name is 엄창식 and he's 70 years old. He came to church yesterday for all three hours and he had a good time. 조병갑 회장님 has taught him with us and he fellowshipped him really well at church. 엄창식 형재님 is really humble and has been progressing a lot already. We are planning to set a baptismal date with him this week!

김지훈 형재님 and his family are all doing well too. They all came to church on Sunday and his sons brought their friend named 기완 who is 7 years old. 김준혁 형재님 and 김준범 형재님 are planning to get baptized next week! Their mom, who was a less-active member, has been coming to church almost every week lately. She still won't pray on her own though. She thinks that it's too hard for her to gain a belief in God because she's too old.

Elder Lambert and I were a little frustrated that we haven't been able to get any English flyers from the office for the last 5 weeks so we made some of our own on the computer at the church. They are very simple, but we've been having a lot of success with them. I've received a lot more calls from these than with the ones from the office.

All they say is: FREE English!

무료 영어!

010-7274-6928

예 수 그리스도 후기 성도 교회

My personal study lately has been great! I read the Book of Mormon every day for about 30 minutes and use the rest of the time to prepare for lessons or to study the doctrines of the lessons in Preach My Gospel. I definitely want to continue to have personal study every day when I get home-even if it's only 30 minutes a day.

Elder Lambert and I have seen a lot of success from applying the training from our district meeting 3 weeks ago. Yesterday before a dinner appointment we had about 15 minutes of time to 전도. We stopped and set a goal to teach one person on the street and set a return appointment with them. Then we promised Heavenly Father that we'd be diligent and totally focus on achieving that goal if he would help us to achieve it. We were able to meet some 20 year old kids on the street and teach them and set a return appointment with them! Later that night we had another time period before an appointment and we set a goal, asked for Heavenly Father's help to achieve it, and promised him what we would do. We were able to meet a nice couple on the street, teach them, and set a return appointment with them too! It was great! It confirmed my faith that Heavenly Father will help us to succeed if we do our part.

I'm glad that I was able to stay in Korea for this time and that I can work in 영등포. This has been one of my best transfers!

Love, Elder Lufkin

First District Meeting as District Leader

Dear Family,

Another good week in HanGook! Yesterday, after church the Elders that we live with baptized a Sister named Ee Sun Joo. It was a really good baptismal service, especially because she seemed so grateful to Heavenly Father for sending her friend to introduce her to the church and sending the Elders to teach her. It reminded me of President Monson's conference talk where he said that gratitude is the mother of all other virtues. I think by being grateful it helps us to improve in every other Christlike attribute.

Kim Ji Hoon and his two sons and one of there friends named Gi Wan attended church and then stayed after for the baptismal service. The two boys are excited to be baptized and there friend also wants to. He's only 7 right now, but he said he wants to keep coming to church and be baptized when he turns 8. We met his grandma after the baptism and she was in favor of him joining the church even though she's Buddhist. She could see from the example of Kim Ji Hoon and his kids that living the standards of the church helps out families a lot. Kim Ji Hoon's wife, Sister Gang Hyae Sook, told us that it's too hard for her to believe in God, but she still wants her kids too. It kind of makes it hard for the kids, but they're doing pretty well.

Last week I had my first District Meeting that I was in charge of. It went pretty good and our district's stats went way up this week! We talked about making promises with Heavenly Father about what you'll do to achieve your weekly and daily goals. For example: talking to everyone, avoiding bad thoughts, etc.

Today we're going out to a meat buffet with our ward mission leader. He told us not to eat breakfast so that we can eat a lot!

I gotta go now!

I love you!

Elder Lufkin

Another Awesome Week!

Hey everybody!

It's been good to hear from all of ya! I can barely keep track of how many nieces and nephews I have anymore! I'm excited to see them all though!

Elder Lambert and I had an awesome week! We received training at a meeting last week about planning and using time effectively and it's helped us out a lot. I'm going to talk about some similar stuff in District Meeting tomorrow. About setting goals and plans and then promising Heavenly Father that you'll do your best to achieve the goals you set. It'll be a good meeting!

This week P-day was on Tuesday because we also went to the temple. It was really nice. Now we're going to a custom suit store to get a suit. I'm going to get a light gray one I think.(Thanks Mom!)

Brother Kim Ji Hoon and his family are progressing well and his two kids, Joon Beom and Joon Hyeok, are planning to get baptized on March 13th. The mom, Sister Gang Gyae Sook, said that she'd start praying individually every day and night to try and gain a personal testimony of Heavenly Father. When we met with her and her family, Elder Lambert and I, and her husband all shared experiences with her about getting answers to prayers and I think it helped her.

Last week we picked up two other new investigators that were previous investigators. One was from 7 years ago! And then yesterday I met with and old investigator that I met for like 4 months in my first area named Joey. He's a really nice guy and he wanted to come to church with us this week in YeongDeungPo ward. We quit meeting him then because he wasn't progressing, but hopefully he can now.

Last night was FHE at the church and we played secret signs! Missionaries play that a lot with members here so they all pretty much know what it is.

That's about all that's happened lately...

Have a killer week!

Love,

Elder Lufkin

We Love Our Ward!

Hey! We had a way good week! It felt like we were being tested a little bit though. We worked hard and talked to lots of people all week and set lots of return appointments with people, but we kept on getting punked! Then on Sunday night we finally met a kid at the church that wants to keep learning about the gospel. We originally met him at the convenience store where he works. It was way cold so we went in there to get some hot chocolate and gave him a Book of Mormon and set a return appointment with him. Also on Sunday night we visited an active member in our ward whose wife is less active and his kids that are 8 and 9 aren't baptized yet. He and his wife want us to teach their kids and help them to get baptized on March 13th. The wife will also be there while we teach them so hopefully we can get her back out to church too. The Father's name is Kim Ji Hoon and the Mom's name is Gang Hyae Sook. We're supposed to meet two other new investigators tonight too! We're really liking our ward and our area. Our ward does lot's of activities that strengthen the members and help to find people. Every Monday and Friday morning we play basket ball at the church with our Bishopric and a couple other members. We also started a basketball tournament from 12:30 to 2:00 on Saturdays to find new people to teach. We made some flyers for it to and pass them out to kids on the street and to members. On Monday nights there is a single adult Family Home Evening at the church too. We have a couple new investigators coming to that tonight. Our members are really good to help us teach too. Elder Lambert and I love the ward. He wants to stay here his whole mission he says.

Well that’s about it...have a great week!

PS In the picture our freezer is full of Subway sandwich turkey that our bishop gave us cause he's the CEO of Subway in Korea. We eat it like EVERY meal!

New assignment---Trainer and District Leader

Thanks for all your emails and pics! Things are going awesome here! To answer your question, this transfer I'm serving as a trainer and a district leader. It's really nice! I've never done either one before. The area we're in already had two missionaries but we're starting from scratch. Things couldn't be going better for us. We have way good members that help us a lot and we have a good relationship with them already. Our area is great too. And our church is the biggest church building in mainland Asia! It’s got a full size basketball court so that’s been fun! There's actually a pool table too!

We had a goal to find six new investigators this week and we prayed for it and worked way hard and we were able to get it! 5 of them are 17 year old students and one is a 47 year old guy.

Last Tuesday while we were visiting some members we saw some kids playing pool on the sidewalk with rocks and a broom and we went and talked to them. After we talked for a little bit we found out that two girls that were with them lived right across the street from our church and have wanted to go. We made an appointment with them and 5 of them came and met us at the church the next day. We taught them about the gospel and the Restoration and 3 of them were pretty interested. On Sunday, those 3 and 2 of their other friends came to church! We're really excited about them. The two girls that live right across from the church seem especially good. They are Ji Oon and Min Sun. We're meeting with them and their friends again this Wednesday and our Bishop is going to buy pizza for all of them!

We made a plan with our bishop and high priest group leader to get home teaching done in the ward. People in Korea usually work 12 hour days so home teaching doesn't go very well so we plan to visit 6 members a week and we're going to get their home teachers to drive us or meet us there and give a message! I think it'll really help to activate and strengthen our members. I feel like a hypocrite though because I didn't do my home teaching too well when I was at home! I hope you're all doing it!

Have a great week! Love, Elder Lufkin