Sleeping on the Job?

I don't even know where to start because this week was flipping awesome. On Saturday, we celebrated New Years--Chinese New Year that is, but in Korea it is also a huge holiday! As a mission, we had some conferences where there was a new missionary schedule announced and some cool new training from several Apostles. We also went to a New Year celebration in an old Folk Village and enjoyed celebrating Korean traditional culture. It was super fun.

But, actually, my favorite part of the week happened Thursday after the world wide missionary broadcast: as a Zone, we went to the famous Suwon Train Station and had a sick proselyting activity. It was centered on the Book of Mormon, so some sisters made a life size BOM and we hit the streets hard. It was super effective! Soo many people would be walking by rather quickly and then all of a sudden hit the brakes and just stare at the huge Book of Mormon. That, of course, is when we swooped in: we did well that night and actually (from what I can gather) passed out the most copies of the Book of Mormon in one day in the history of our mission! In an hour in a half, 15 missionaries worked together to pass out 85 copies. It was so flipping crazy! After that, we celebrated with chicken and pizza!  I was pleased.

I got really sick this week, but because we had a lot of appointments I was just trying to push through it--especially because we had an appointment with an investigator who is scheduled to be baptized pretty soon. I just quickly want to introduce this guy: he is a man that knows a little bit about a lot of things, and he is always wanting to do something more. For example, he once thought that Koreans needed an easier way to learn English, so he made an English study book and started pawning it. On another occasion, he thought people needed nicer and cheaper pants, so sure enough, his house is full of home made pants which he also pawns. Haha he is one mad, motivated, industrious man! Most recently, he has been wanting to is learn how to make bread. And guess who loves to cook? Elder Olson!! So, we set up an appointment that was designed around cooking and then a little lesson at the end.

Well I might have not been the most interested in making bread and also I was dying--remember my illness--so I excused myself and laid down on the couch. About 10 minutes later, I woke up and Elder Choi was sleeping on the floor right next to me (haha). I guess bread making isn't his thing either, so we both passed out while Elder Olson and the investigator had some home cooking lessons. I woke up like 30 minutes later to the sound of Elder Olson saying things like "repent" and "baptism by immersion," so I got out of bed, grabbed the wall for balance, and quickly got myself into the lesson. Elder Olson is a baller! I learned that he had been solo teaching the investigator for about 25 minutes (while they were cooking) about the lesson we had planned to teach. We had planned to be sure he was going to be ready for baptism. So I just sat down, looked a little confused I am sure, and said "yeah well, I know my companion's words to be true!" And then we prayed and that was that! Certainly one of the more interesting lessons of my mission for sure.

Don't worry, though, I healed. But then I nearly lost my voice again preaching about the Book of Mormon at our activity (haha). I think I have finally fully recovered! 

This week was so fun. I love missionary work and the funny little moments and challenges that come with it.

I hope you all have been well and that you have another splendid week.

Love,

Elder Jenkins