Elder True DeMille

Elder True DeMille

Sunday, February 23, 2014

Week three, complete! Holla from SoKo!‏

So, this week has been... well.. crazy!

First of all, this is going to be short. I've already spent quite some time replying to loved ones, but I'll give you what I've got!

..Let's see. If I could explain this week in one word it would be..  .... Unorthodox. Hahaha! Starting with one of our new investigators, we are now teaching the Gospel in English to ..well.. Americans! We have two right now, and the first really threw us for a loop. ..You see, Elder Chow has been in Korea for so long that he actually can't really speak or teach in English very well, so as a nice surprise I was able to somewhat take lead on teaching this investigator. We were just trying to get to know him, and we were tripping up all over the place. It was crazy. We finally resolved the whole mess by talking about the Legend of Zelda, which relates because the Triforce is engraved on his wedding ring. .....Hahah.. what? SO cool! On the inside is the famous Zelda quote, shared by both rings, "It's not safe.. ...to go alone". ..Cute or what?
 View from our apartment on the 10th floor

This week I finally came to the realization that every car here in Korea is smaller than in America, and Hyundai and Samsung make just about everything. Also, if you'd like to come to a place where the Elevator buttons actually work, this is the place! When you push the "door close" button.. ... well.. ..It closes! You can select and deselect floors you'd like to visit, and it literally blew my mind, haha!
Piano stairs in the subway. You step on one, and it lights up and plays the sound of the key!

Next, we had an Exchange week this week and it was absolutely bizarre. I went to the Kaesan area, and absolutely died! Elder Brewer, my new companion for that day, gave me ONE house rule I could not break. He looked me in the eye and said, "Elder, OTL." ...I was SO confused. Then, he drew it on a mirror for me with a whiteboard marker, and drew a circle around it, then crossed it out. In Korea, OTL is text-lingo for an emotional/physical breakdown, as OTL looks like a guy on his knees with his head on the ground. He wrote it in my planner, and made me promise not to break it, while.. .. only a few hours later.. I contracted food poisoning. ...Yikes. ..I spent all day at this new companion's house sleeping and tossing my cookies left and right while a few other Elders went and bought me various drinks and things like Gatorade, Sprite, and Tea to help calm my stomach. ..Nothing worked! I was absolutely sick for two days. I went back to our house after the first night and continued to rest the rest of that day. I was finally healed and restored by Friday. ..Just in time for our Zone Leadership meeting!
Korean emoticon expression for desperation / disappointment / failure
(image of man kneeling down with both hands to the ground, crying)

Zone Leadership was really fun, and well, just a bunch of Zone people talking about missionary work. We, as a district, placed a goal to give out 100 Book of Mormons this week, and just barely missed it by 11. Elder Chow and I placed 25 of those ourselves, and 13 of the 25 last night alone! We do work!! Let's see... what else.. ..I apologize for the scattered thoughts, hopefully this is making sense to you! On Sunday we sang "Because I have Been Given Much" in Sacrament meeting, and later in Mission Conference that night we sang "Called to Serve"! ..Lots of crazy opportunities this week!
A Valentine's gift from the sisters. We all got one and I'm the 'tame tiger' 
because I'm being trained.

Saturday morning the pipes to our sink broke while we were doing the dishes, and water flooded our kitchen, so we made a mad dash to three different stores and bought a bunch of electrical tape and patched everything up nice and tidy. Scott would be proud :) Then, Sunday morning, while it was still super dark out, our light in the bathroom died. So.. we set up a bunch of various lights we had in our suitcases (bike lights, headlamps, candles) and had a .. rave-type lighting system. Haha! Too funny.

Also, a few days ago, I was showing an investigator the picture book my sister Phoenix had made me (which I use ALL the time, THANK YOU!) and he was trying to figure out what kind of dogs we owned (Shih tzu's) but couldn't think of the name! He was CONVINCED it was a Pikachu. ..Hahahaha I was dying!
True & Izzy, our Shih tzu                Ash & Pikachu from Pokemon

Other than that, this week has been an adventure! Placed 25 Book of Mormons, talked to 91 people, and hopefully have J and another sister's baptism next Sunday. I'm crazy excited, and totally nervous. The Bishop has asked Elder Chow and I both to do the baptisms if they are both baptized that day. ..Elder Chow still hasn't had one. ...How crazy! The Lord sure loves us, and no matter how frustrated I get, I can always press forward. I love you all, and wish you the greatest week ever!! Until next time! 

Elder DeMille

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