Honestly! Elder Boden and I are on doing EXTREMELY well! Not only is it pleasant to be with him, we both are making sure that we are one in how we go about doing the work. You know, things just get done when you learn how to be on the same page. And, since we are determined on being united,, it makes rowing our little boat to the Lords WAY a lot easier and quicker! I know that we have started off on the right foot here. It is as if we are in a three legged race together, and we've just got to keep communicating openly with each other!
If I may, I will list a couple of the changes that we have decide to change in our work!
1.) Exact OBEDIENCE! (Still a lot to work on, but I feel I am improving daily)
2.) We are working on being TIMELY in all things (We only have a limited amount of time here!)
3.) Maintain the SPIRIT of our home, keeping it spic-n-span - I have spent all of my down time, like mornings and nights, deeply cleaning our home, at the expense of reading 20 pages of the Korean Book of Mormon. You know what? I already feel the Spirit residing stronger in it. After all, we do believe that heaven is the continuation of the ideal home, right? I am not sure about you all, but I don't picture heaven being cluttered up. So, I changed that and tossed out A LOT of junk from the house. It now feels like OUR haven. It is hard to reflect and ponder, on how we did that day, if we don't have revelation to guide us. If it is not clean, the voice of the Spirit is muffled out. If that is so, we as missionaries can't have the sufficient amount of revelation that we need for the work of salvation.
4.) We are only speaking in KOREAN to each other!!!!!! - It actually turned out to be a whole lot more fun than I had previously thought. And, I feel that I have been increasing my ability to communicate a lot faster than I've done in the past. Our motive behind this is to work out all the kinks of communication with ourselves in a safe and loving environment, before it gets to the real deal, out on the streets, where people's salvation is at stake. Sort of a bold way to put it, but it is just the truth!
5.) We are trying to pull new people with interest from our CONTACTS! To keep contact and better connection with those we are teaching as priority and also with those who have interest. - To find those with interest, we don't need to always be sifting through the people on the street. Previous missionaries have already made a bank of people who all have/had interest to some degree or another. Why go mining for that gold hidden in the vast mountains, when people from the past have already been found and put aside in our phone? It is up to us to clean up the mess and cleanse the raw gold of its impurities, by taking the time to really sit down and polish up and refine it. But, missionaries want to be "outside" sweating to swing there picket with their might. "He that thrusteth in his sickle with his might" (D&C 4) as the scriptures put it. But, sometimes we forget what the reason is behind our task. We need to be careful of the "busy" disease. Don't ever mistake momentum for progress!!! The image of always keeping in motion is very appealing to the the inexperienced. Take my word, I am not trying to pick on those work who work in the field, but we need someone who can take a step back and look at the end goal. We want to fill our daily lives with tasks that lead us to our goals in life. We need to finish the process, look at what we need to do to reach the end goal. Sometimes, those valuable fruits from the first steps have a limited lifespan.
Anyways, as PMG puts it, nothing happens in missionary work, until you meet with people. Usually the way our missionaries go about that, especially those in Seoul, is by talking and finding people on the street. And, from that point you have gotten a phone number to follow up with. Something that I have noticed is that we struggle in moving forward to the next stage, actually meeting with people. Whether it be the we forget them and don't follow up, or we just don't know how to follow up. However it maybe, when that happens, the missionaries have no one to meet and think to themselves "Alright then, I guess I ought to find new people to teach." And, they turn straight back to street contacting. I have found this to be a loop that we get our selves stuck in. And, of course this is not true for every missionary, but from what I have seen it is a common thought process that we circulate through and to which we are often we are blind. (We don't know what we don't know. )
This last week when Elder Newton left to America, we were supposed to give back the second phone. But, Elder Boden gave his petition to President Taylor to keep both devices here in Taebaek. President told him that he would let us keep it on the condition that we live 90% to 100% according to the technology safeguards. 1.) Be in tune with Spiritual Promptings 2.) Be focused on your missionary purpose 3.) Be Disciplined 4.) Be one
Because we don't want him to regret leaving 2 phones here in Taebaek, Elder Boden and I really have been trying to live 100% according to the safeguards. And, I HAVE seen a change. President Taylor's counsel to Elder Boden is constantly playing in my head. The idea surprised me in the moment, but a little while later, the Spirit confirmed with me that what he said is truth. He said something along these lines, "Even though living completely according to the safeguards may seem slower or unnatural to us, doing things the Lord's way which may seem slower to us as mortals, WILL in the end bring about more results than if we skip a rule here or there from the safeguards." I feel like that is very applicable to more than just following guidelines in use of technology. What do you think?
I am excited to pay really close attention to what God wants me to learn tomorrow at our Zone Conference. They are always full of inspiration! Our leaders always seem to have the right thing to say. I am so thankful for all our leaders do, and especially President Taylor's watchful eye as God's spokesman for the great work to be done here in the Seoul Korea Mission!
I love the work of the Lord and all I want to do is make sure that I am doing it the Lord's way! It is the one thing I constantly worry about.
Sorry for the extreme detail, but I just never want to forget. That is what records are for right? (3 Nephi 23: 6-13)
Love you all! God bless!
It's been in the upper 90's here. Everyone is melting in the heat!
Goodbye Elder Newton
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