Doing What Missionaries Are Made To Do

So.. this week was incredible.

Possibly the longest, fastest week ever, Elder Johnson and I are still buzzing about how much we've done this week. We are conquering the world! ...Alas, we did get transfer calls this past Sunday morning at 6:30am (literally the second I started to pray), and found out that Elder Johnson will be going to Bongcheon, and I will be training! With just one short transfer together, we're already splitting! ..But, let me tell you what this dream team has accomplished.

It started with Zone Conference on Tuesday. (Well, actually we had a sweet family home evening with the ward on Monday but.. it's unrelated) ..We received various trainings on how to improve productivity and effectiveness when using Service, Family History work, and English Class as finding opportunities. We were told to revamp and redo things in a way where it's not pressuring anyone to listen to our message, but rather incorporating good vibes and morals while letting others (guests) exercise their curiosity and give them opportunities to ask about our church. Super good. So, back to these crazy events - When we were taught about Service, and told that Missionaries should be serving a lot more and finding service opportunities in the community, Elder Johnson and I basically caught fire. Haha we were so pumped! We left the training, convinced we would try to serve more (since we still don't have any investigators ... depressing, right? No way! There are other things to be done!), and that night spent so much time talking about what we wanted to do; walking into huge corporations, offering to teach their employees free english, checking out parks and planting trees, doing all kinds of service... ..big ideas, right? ..Right.

So, on the way home, we passed a wall we pass every night that is right across the street from our house. This wall ... is terrible. It's vandalized with terrible words and pictures, and every time Elder Johnson and I walk past it, we talk about how someone should cover it up. ..But, this night, since we were literally walking around ignited with some crazy random service spirit, we decided we'd waited long enough. The next morning, we got up, bought paint, and talked to the Apartment manager. He found the owners of the wall, and asked them if we could paint it (just to make it renewed.. restored..? My english.. ay yi yi..) and they came out looking at us like we were gonna destroy some of their property! We explained that we wanted to make the wall look brand new again (there it is...) and once they understood what we wanted to do they were blown away! So, long story short, we started painting, some people commented on how well I was painting.. (solid grey, I know, I'm quite talented and moving the brush up and down, haha..) and Elder Johnson told them I paint all kinds of things!

They went crazy and wanted me to paint some art! I figured there was no better way to prevent graffiti than putting beautiful art on a wall, so.. I took a picture of a sunset that my girlfriend Abby sent me from her time at Newport, and ... put it on the wall. Haha. It's not quite done, but they even wanted me to put one of my robots on it too! How insane is that?? My robots, and my art, will now be in Korea forever! It's not done yet, it's taken two days, and we'll touch it up on Tuesday, but the Manager already has another wall he wants us to paint when we have time. Crazy, right??

Not only that, but in our spare time, we DID approach big corporations, waltzing in their front doors asking for service opportunities. We met the Executive Director of the visual work of KBS (Korean Broadcasting System), as well as the Administrators of this huge park in our area where we picked up trash for an hour or two, and even met with the big guy at the KSA - the Korean Scouting Association! Haha! They want us to become volunteer Pack leaders and teachers! I doubt we'll be able to, but man, I promise, if you go looking for opportunities to serve, you WILL find them. (Steven (Pops), I got you something sweet from the KSA store, haha. You'll love it, and it should be on it's way soon! Always thinking about you!)

Then, on Saturday we hosted a huge musical event, and last Sunday I sang in Sacrament meeting if I didn't tell you that.. but it was incredible. Elder Light even did a song with one of our deaf members. Seriously, the week doesn't get any better.

So, this was the bang that Elder Johnson and I went out with. I hope you all enjoyed hearing about it, and I'll report to you about my new companion (fresh from el MTC) next week! Gotta talk to the beautiful girl and family! Love you all! Stay fresh, and selfless!!

Love,
Elder DeMille!

(Remember, the painting's not done yet..)