Baptism!

This week was  both the weirdest and best week of my entire mission thus far! Actually, it was the absolute worst week of my mission, until yesterday when it became the best: Byeun SoYun got baptized and she asked me to baptize her.

This was the first chance I have had to see someone through the entire process:  from when the first time they were found all the way to the font. It was the coolest, most spiritually humbling experience in the world to be in the water with her. I feel so so lucky to  have been able to do that.

About 3 months ago, we met her at English class. At that time, I remember feeling like I had never seen such a sad and hurting person, a person who truly was in need of help. So I started talking to her and we became friends. One day after class, I invited her to go with us to get something to eat (which is the common way to talk with someone in Korea). She agreed, and so my companion and I met with her and it was the most spiritual night of my mission. She told us all about her life and the hardships that have come with it, and she admitted that because of those times, she had decided that God wasn't there for her and so she came to hate God. It was the saddest thing to hear! But my companion and I did the best we could to explain and to mostly just testify of the reality of God, and His role in our lives. And she changed. Right there, on the spot. And she kept changing!

We met her a few more times, taught her a little bit, gave her the Book of Mormon in the middle of April, referred her to the sisters, and prayed for the best! And only 6 weeks later, she believes in God, she loves God, she is all the way into Mosiah in the Book of Mormon, she knows it's true, and she was baptized! Oh my gosh!!!!! The coolest thing in the world. And I was so lucky to see the whole thing.

If there is one thing that I know, or at least that I have come to know very well, it is that this Gospel changes peoples lives. And it changes it for the best. I know that it is true. I love it so dang much. And I love getting to see it work in the lives of these Korean people.

I guess I mentioned it was a bad week and so I should explain: we had 11 cancelled appointments this week. That is my mission record.  I guess that is missionary work for you: 11 cancelled appointments and a baptism all in the same week! This work is really something?

Anyways, I love you all! Have a sick week! 

Elder Jenkins

Staying in Sinpung!!! I love Sinpung!!!

P-Day fishing trip with our investigator

Okay, I have literally 5 minutes, so this will be quick.

This week was crazy sick! We taught quite a bit, went to the ocean which is in our Ward area searching for a member, went fishing with our investigator, played Chocu (mix of soccer and volleyball) a few times, and got suuuuuper sunburned. Ugh, it has gotten super duper hot. Today was like 30 degrees (87) out at the lake--which says nothing about humidity. I think from now on, in most of my pictures, there is going to be a nice glimmer off of my face. WHOO!

Tide was in and covered the road to Jebudo Island

Okay, sad news now: our two progressing investigators were not baptized yesterday. We honestly don't know what happened. They just stopped answering calls and texts. To be honest, that is kind of a Korean thing to do. It happens all of the time, and usually you never find out why. We are working hard to pick them back up and get them back on track!

Pot Bing Soo!  Soo Delicious and Sunburned!!!

I love the way the Lord does His work--even though we may not always understand fully. I don't always understand Him, but we can choose to follow Him and love Him anyways! 

You guys are amazing! Have a good week!

Elder Jenkins

 
 
 
 
 
 
• After fishing we stopped for lunch and had "Sundae." I guarantee it is not what you're thinking.  Sundae is Pig intestine soup!  It is so flipping delicious, I mean like absolutely out of this world delicious!!! (and I can't believe I am saying that)
•  Pot Bing Soo:  Super popular Korean dessert made of Oreos, strawberries, cream, shaved ice, ice cream, chocolate powder.  Delicious.

And HUGE!

Biking along the Han

Reunited with friends from the MTC

The Football game

This week went by super quickly and it was really really fun. The biggest highlight came on Thursday: it was our Temple P-day, so we went all the way up to the Seoul Mission, which takes like an hour and a half from our area. But it was sooo rewarding! Something cool was just recently announced: missionaries in our mission can now do Baptisms for the Dead.  As a result, a bunch of missionaries got to take part in that, but because of our long travel time, we didn't get to.  Maybe next time! Another cool thing was that we actually got to the temple at the time of a Korean Session, so that was a real test of my Korean ability and I made it through.

Afterwards, a bunch of missionaries went to a place called Yoido and rode bikes along the Han

Zone bike ride along the Han

River! It was super fun.  I also got to
play football, which is super duper rare in Korea. You cannot find a football here, but one missionary had one, so we played around for a while.  Man, it was so fun! 

Then this weekend was Stake Conference and it was a really fun experience! It was held at our church, and there was a bunch of members from the other wards in the Stake. But to be honest, it kind of just felt like a normal size congregation back in Manti 8th Ward.  Although the church isn't huge in numbers in Korea, it showed yesterday that we have some really really strong members over here. It truly is very hard to be a member of the church here. Everything in Korean culture points the opposite direction of the church's beliefs, but somehow these faithful people keep on grinding. It is so stressful as a missionary to keep track of them all and to try and help them all with soo much fighting against them, but it makes it even more rewarding seeing those that we try so hard to help show up to church each week. I love this incredibly unique work in Korea. I love it more than I have ever loved anything before! I surely do know this is God's Work and that He is the boss...The best boss.

Finally, a funny story:  last night I had to give a talk at a ward conference about the blessings of a mission. When they were announcing who was going to be speaking, the person conducting said, "First off, we get to hear from Korea's most handsome missionary... Elder Jenkins!" haha The talk actually went a ton better than I thought--my Korean seemed to work pretty well for it!  Then after I got done speaking, the bishop spoke and he started talking about his mission, but he was kind of just talking about missionaries for a little bit, and then he said "Elder Jenkins sure is a handsome and good looking missionary isn't he?!" And then proceeded to tell them how when we played screen baseball that Elder Jenkins "was just different, like kind of unreal." "Because of him," he explained,  "their team destroyed mine...." hahaha It was sooo funny! 

It was such a good and humbling week for me. I hope all of you had a nice one as well! God is Great! Don't forget it!

Elder Jenkins

Two of our investigators!

Statistically speaking, this week was incredibly busy, especially for our mission. But even though it was busy, it was like sooo relaxing! All we did was talk to people about the wonderful message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and it was so so fun.

Some wild things happened this past week--some were absolutely hilarious and then others were extremely spiritual. It really was crazy.

Because of time (since I spent most of it talking to you over facetime for Mother's Day), I will just tell you some of the uplifting things that we saw this past week. So last week on Saturday, I called a Less Active member who we used to meet with on a weekly basis, but then he did a pretty normal Korean thing and just stopped answering the phone. It was the same response on Saturday. I decided on Sunday night that I would call him again, and this time the phone was picked up. But then no one said anything for a long time! I just waited and I heard arguing in the background; I quickly figured out that his mom who is a very active member, had picked up the phone because she knew he wouldn't and she was trying to make him speak to me. I guess he was just kind of embarrassed that he hadn't answered in such a long time, so that is why he had kept doing it over and over again. But she got him to talk to me and then we set up an appointment for Monday night. When we went over there to meet with him, we found out that he was taking a test the next day to see if he needed to enter into the military or if he could go to BYU this fall. Obviously, the family wanted BYU, but they were really hoping for some sort of help (like a blessing) to get them all to relax, so we taught them a lesson and they asked me to say the closing prayer at the end.  I prayed for a calming influence and when I finished, the relief in their faces was really visible. But I still didn't think much until the mom was walking us to the elevator and she explained what had been happening: Everything that had happened that night was like a complete answer for what they had been looking for, and it was all at the "perfect timing." The fact that they wanted some comfort, then I called literally minutes later, then the fact that they actually picked up for the first time in 3 months, and we were able to set up a meeting. It was just one of those moments where you know that God had to have played a part or it wouldn't have happened. Testimony builder for me! 

 

Also, that woman I told you about that said she hated God told me this week that she knew God loved her and her attitude toward God had changed.  She said that knowledge made her so happy.

Then this weekend was a special one for Koreans! It was a three day Holiday, highlighted by Children's Day on Friday and it was sooo cute.  It really is one of the few times you see Korean families all together! Then yesterday was Parent's Day, and that also was super cute to see at church. And more than anything else, they really just helped me to remember how important our families are, and the happiness that we can find because of them! I love my family!!! 

Some other super cool things happened this week, but my fingers are tired and I have an appointment soon! Talk to you next week!

Elder Jenkins

 

 

Lotus Lantern Festival

This week we actually didn't have the number of appointments we would have liked, but we still met a fair amount of people and I felt we had great success!

First off: SaeHee Lee and DaOon Kim are on track to be baptized on May 22nd. So exciting!!! We met with them twice this past week, and finished the third lesson which is really centered on Baptism and The Holy Ghost. During that lesson, I wanted to make sure they were still cool with getting in the water and they were affirmative in the answer (and no having to worry about their hair getting wet and that being a problem).

Then this past week I went on exchanges with our Zone Leader, and we had such a good time.  But we really didn't have any appointments set up which was a problem, SO we went proselyting--all day! While we were out, I thought of a long-time investigator who loves meeting right when you call, so I contacted him and sure enough he wanted to meet. Not surprising, when we got over there, he was SWAMPED! I watched him work while thinking "why did you just tell me that you want me here NOW?" We just sat there and watched him argue with some salesman, and then he proceeded to go back behind his little office and he started cooking this ugly cow meat. I mean he was just like HACKING away at this meat with us just standing there watching with puzzled looks on our faces. It was super weird and gross, but he did let us teach him with gross cow fluids all over his arms and hands--haha guess I can cross that one off the list! 

But I really don't have much time to share with you my other experiences from this past week. Sorry! Until next week, enjoy the pics and just know that things are being held down here in Shinpung! 

I love you, and have a good week!

Elder Jenkins