MTC Week 5

I am still loving the MTC just not as enthusiatically as before! After 5 weeks of doing  the same things at the same places at the same time gets kind of humdrum! Luckily i have korean to keep me busy! I can't wait to get out to korea and start my field work! I look forward to that everyday!  In 6 days the older group of Koreans leave to Korea and we become the senior district, out of three! Its crazy to think that were gonna be the ones the new districts ask questions too! I've seen the way the older districts have helped me with my Korean, its motivating me to do my best so I can help them! Its really cool to look back on my progress and see how far i have come! In just 5 short week ive learned the; Missionary purpose in Korean, the First Vision in Korean, I can bear my testimony in Korean, I can pray in Korean, I can write talks in Korean, I can teach simple lessons in Korean, I have learned 200+ vocab words, and i am currently half way through memorizing Moroni's promise (Moroni 10: 3-5) in Korean!! Its so cool to see how far i have come with the Korean language! The MTC is the same, food is greasy, language is hard, everyone's always tired, the spirit is always very strong here, people are always happy, and miracles happen everywhere!On Tuesday Sister cook talked to us and she said something that i really liked!! " We need to note the miracles! everyday at least one miracle happens in our lives! We need to be able to reconize them when they happen! We need to see Christ's hand in everything or anything! Everything is evidence that there is a loving god in heaven watching over us and helping us along the path to eternal happiness!" That is so true! If you look for it you can find them and it will make you more grateful for your heavenly father! 

When I write about my week I usually use my journal to remember what I did each day buttttt this week I forgot to write in my journal soo I will try my best to remember what I did! 

UMM Its starting to get cold here some days and other days its really hot! Its getting so much harder to wake up in the morning! On Thursday our teacher Sister Goodwin shared with us her testimony on the B.O.M and how while she was on her mission she realized the didn't have a 100% testimony of the B.O.M she then told us that if we don't have that strong of a testimony yet she encouraged us to follow Moroni's challenge and pray about and really ask god about it! Well i thought that was cool but didn't give much more thought about it till sunday! We watched ephraims rescue and it was so cool! The spirit was so strong there and it got me hyped for my mission and motivated me to make sure i was always worthy to be able confer a priesthood blessing when needed! I was reading in "Our search for happiness" and it talked about giving priesthood blessings and how its not us with the power to heal. But rather we are just a gateway for heavens power to pass through! We need to listen to the spirit in order to confer heavens blessings on to people! WE NEED TO BE HEAVENS HANDS! That night I went back to my dorm and was really feeling the spirit strong from the movie! And Elder Peacock shared a story with me! Elder Peacock lives in Ireland and was very very sick about a year before his mission. The doctors had no idea what was the matter with him but all they knew is that it was very bad and life threatening! They kept doing tests to try and figure out what it was that he had! The Doctors were going to start a very risky surgery and there was a small chance it could of killed him if it didn't go perfect! His parents were very worried and so was he. He asked his dad to give him a blessing before the surgery, so his dad asked the doctors to leave for a second and his dad and brother gave him a blessing, his dad told him that he would go into surgery and the doctors would quickly find out what was wrong and it would be a quick easy surgery! After the blessing Elder Peacock told me really felt the power of the blessing go through his body and he said he had never felt anything like it before! And sure enough the surgery was quick easy and the doctors were shocked it was so easy and smooth! It was such a cool story! I love elder peacock to death! and He told me that after my mission I have a free place to stay in Northern Ireland and New Zealand so thats pretty awesome! Anyways after that i went to my room and felt the need to start my prayer right then, which was weird because it was only 10:05 and i usually don't start my prayer till 10:30 at the earliest, but i listened to the spirit and started my prayer! About 5 minutes into my prayer I suddenly recalled what Sister Goodwin had told us 3 days prior to this, so I prayed about it and asked god to help me gain a stronger testimony! That lead to me feeling like i wasn't giving this mission my all and if i did that i would get a stronger testimony in doing so! So i told god that i was sorry and would give my all to him! anyways I prayed for about 50 minutes ( so thankfully i started earlier than usual!) I got up from that heart to heart with my heavenly father feeling really good! I felt him as if he were right there with me saying it would be ok and with time i will gain the testimony that i want, and he told me i would get the language down and would be a helpful tool in his hands as long as i tried my best! It was the first time i had ever prayed like that it was definitly a life changing moment! I am so grateful to be on my mission and have the chance to become so much closer to my father in heaven! By the time i get off my mission i will be 20.... so since im giving 2 years of my life to him at that point in my life that would have been 10% of my life! So my mission is basically like my tithing on my life! HAHA 

On Monday we had gym time in the morning but Elder Vongsayo was feeling sick so we stayed and he slept, but instead of sleeping i felt like i should study "Our search for happiness" so I did that! I was reading about faith and it mentioned a scripture in the paragraph i was in. At the end of the scripture it showed where it was in the B.O.M I felt prompted to go there even though i had just read the scripture because it had it in the book. I went there anyways and felt like i should read the whole chapter! It was literally an answer to my prayer that I had the night before! Im so grateful to have a god in heaven that loves me enough to answer my questions! On monday I decided to go on an english fast for the whole day! It was hard but I did it! I only spake korean for the whole day! It felt so good and gave me hope! however towards the end i really wanted to speak english! haha  anyways i love it here! Such a cool enviroment! 

Quotes

"All trials can be turned into blessings" - Sister Mehr

"If we give it our all, then through the grace of god IT WILL BE ENOUGH!" -Sister Cook

"You can't start the next chapter of your life, if you keep re-reading the last one" -Unknown

Love you all

-Elder Stagg

Dont break our concentration

Elder McKenderick and I taking sick pics

My temple walk

 Elder Allen (our old zone leader)

Elder Allen and Elder Roe, they leave on Monday

I am all that

MTC Week 4

Hey everyone how are you all doing!?! I am loving the MTC still! It gets harder and harder to wake up in the morning but we had a talk by Elder Ballard on Sunday and he told us that we need to wake up every morning at 6:30 excited to spend another day serving the lord! Ever since i've been following his advice the mornings are slowly getting better!!Sorry if my spelling is getting bad! I think everyday in korean, I speak every day in as much korean as i can! and there are even times when i am writing things down I will accidently spell an english word but using half korean alphabet and half english its weird! haha Umm  Its crazy to see how fast time flies by! The days go by slow but the weeks fly by!! But today marks my One month mark!! Only 23 more to go!! I am already 1/24 the way into my mission! Some highlights of my week have been:

Thursday

I started reading Our Search for happiness and love it so much! The book is talking like I am an investigator and its cool to kind of see the way they see! It puts things in a really cool prospective! So today in class i was kind of goofing around with our district and we weren't focusing on studying and learning in our class times! The spirit wasn't really in the room anymore because we were kind of acting like highschoolers again! About an hour later we had to teach one of our investigators and we went in to the lesson prepared. During the lesson I had forgotten almost all the korean i know and struggled to say even simple sentences! we just got wrecked! after the lesson we evaluated ourselves and determined that because we weren't being obedient the spirit wasn't with us! It was a very humbling experience, i thought that i had learned so much korean and it turns out that I had learned almost no korean, but god had given me some of his knowledge of korean to help me out! It reminded me of the pride cycle in the Book of Mormon, they would be having hardships (trying to learn korean) then god would start blessing them and make them prosper (gift of tongues) and then they would get prideful and boastful and forget the role god played in there success (me not using my time wisely because i thought i could do it with out help) And then god shows them what they really are without him (me getting destroyed in my lesson! So that night i prayed about and the next day tried my hardest to have the spirit to be with me and when we taught our lesson it was a night and day difference!  We were able to understand the general idea of the questions and answer them! it was soo cool! and it helped my testimony grow on the power of the holy ghost and the gift of tongues! Im glad i had that experience in the MTC instead of the temple! if i go into someone house to teach them without the spirit i won't be successful and i could of missed the one time in that persons life where they were ready to hear the gospel! So i can't let that happen again! 

Friday

Today was elder Golden's Birthday! And it also was service morning! so i got assigned to vaccum the third floor which was where our class room was, i quickly did it and then went in and decorated our room for him! I figured it was better than doing more cleaning! haha it was pretty cool! ill post pictures below! Today we had to teach or lesson with out a script in korean, we could only bring what we wanted to say in English then needed to translate it in our heads! Since the spirit was with me i surprised my self and did a very good job! It was felt a lot more like a lesson rather than me trying to read korean to him and then he says random noises back to me where i just nod and say nay! (yes) This felt like an actual lesson it was so cool! Its fun talking to the new korean missionaries it makes me feel so smart and old! haha its very rewarding to see! Well today my district finally convinced me to buzz my head! So I used Elder Minsons hair buzzer thing and shaved 4 the top of my head down to a "3" then let Elder vongsayo do the rest! IT looks really weird, really bad, and really funny! But its so nice not having to do my hair! 

Sunday

I love sundays!! Its very relaxing, we get to go to the temple and walk around! Its just so peaceful! For our devotional we had Elder Ballard talk to us a lot about being happy and smiling and letting our light shine forth to influence others! Turning over our life to god, he said " If we can forget ourselves, and replace that with the love of Christ. We can become a useful tool (or instrument) in heavens hands!" and i loved that! I feel like all i ever here from people here is to forget my self... so i think that might be kind of an important thing for me to do! He said "we needed to be aligned with christ! Its hard, its tiring, but when we know, and we are testifying of christ, it becomes a part of us!" I loved his talk so much and related to it a ton! We watched the new meet the mormons tonight and i loved it! I strongly advise all of you to watch it its amazing! The last one talked about this popular japanese band and was showing japan and stuff, it got us all hyped for korea cause japan and korea are basically the same thing! haha 

Monday 

Tonight we had our TRC's again, and we went in with no script! we talked about the book of mormon, spirit, and prayer. We invited them to continue to read the book of mormon and pray about it! The spirit was so strong in there! I love TRC's becuase it feels real, they aren't out teachers, they are REAL people!! It gets me hyped for korea! Elder Kowal left today, even though he got here a week after me! Im excited to share our expierinces when we get back!

Tuesday

Tonight Elder Cook came to teach us for our devotional! He talked about how we need to rejoice over this call that we got from the lord! That hit me deep! I have been excited to go on a mission i have look forward to it! But i don't think I've rejoiced at the OPPORTUNITY that i have to serve the lord!! He said we need to know 4 things on how to become a disciple of christ, 1 Love your companion, we need to always find something to learn from our companion! 2 We need to love the people! Its essential that we respect the people, respect the culture, and love them!! 3 Love your mission president!! He said something really cool that I have never heard before! He said that sometimes when they are  picking missions that they don't get inspiration that this missionary needs to go to korea... but rather that this missionary needs to be with this mission president! I thought this was soo cool!! and 4 Love the lord!! If we love the lord and try to make him happy it will make us be good missionaries! 

So In the past week we have had 3 apostles speak to us!! We were talking to the President of the Korean Branch and he said that they usually only get one apostle every 3 months, and that they have never had this many apostles come in a row! He said most missionaries will go there whole MTC stay and not see one apostle come to a devotional! So we are greatly blessed!!! Its been soo cool!! They all have such good talks and all of them have made me change things so i can get better!! 

Quotes from this week:

"We are disciples of Jesus Christ, we've been called to preach his word, or to be his instruments" -Sister Cook

"As missionaries we are our first converts!" -Sister Cook

"Expect nothing, but appreciate everything" -Ron Stagg

"Failing is essential for growth" -Sister Goodwin

"Doubt your doubts, not your beliefs!" -President Uchtdorf 

I love my mission so far! I love seeing how far I have grown in the Korean language. Can't wait for the adventure ahead of me!! 

Love 

Elder Stagg

We made a fort in our room

All of us celebrating Elder Golden's birthday

My birthday decorations for Elder Golden

Shaving my head

My new haircut

My presidential shot

Mountain behind the temple.  Fall has arrived!

View from the temple

Saying good-bye to Elder Thorp

Final moments with Kowall

Farewell to Kowall.  He leaves for Ghana in the morning.

My district

My district

MTC Week 3

안녕하세요!!!!! How are you all doing?? I am loving it here at the MTC!! I am almost 1 month into it!! The schedule now feels normal to me and its weird to see my friends that came in on the same day as me already leaving!! When I still have 6 weeks left!!! The language is coming along and I have our purpose memorized in Korean and am 1/4 of the way done with the first vision! I can read a page of the Book of Mormon in about 8 minutes now... even though i have no idea what i am reading! It was really cool to notice the other  day that when i look up and see a korean letter on the board that instead of having to remember what that stands for i just automatically think of the sound that it makes! 

Some highlights of my week! 

Thursday

 So for the past 2 week we have been teaching an investigator who turned out to be our second teacher. This week our first teacher Sister Goodwin became our second investigator! Our first lesson with her we taught about god and how he loves her and just went over that basics then we asked her if she would prepare to be baptized on oct. 15 and she said asked how she could prepare and we answered her question to the best of our language abilities allow! It was really cool to see how strong the spirit was there even though it wasn't a real investigator! 

Friday

So Elder Johnson has been having very bad pains in his stomach so he went to the doctor to get it checked out, and the results came back and they said he needed to leave the MTC and go to the Provo hospital to get more tests, so today he and Elder bunker got to leave this place and go to the doctor! Which happened to be 5 minutes from Elder bunkers house! haha Turns out his gal bladder has something wrong with it and they are gonna do another test sometime this week and then if they need to cut it out they are gonna send him home for a while! 

Sunday

Today was fast sunday!! I don't know what it is but as a missionary you are constantly hungry?!? so this fast was harder than usual! but we all made it through and it was one of the most spiritual fasts ive ever had! But most things i do in here are the most spiritual then they ever have been before! Its a spiritual powerhouse in here!! We had a devotional tonight from our MTC Leadership! Sister Snow talked about asking and how it is a commandment! Something that i thought was really cool that she said was "Satan doesn't need to be invited to enter your life, however god, jesus, and the holy ghost respect our agency and wont interfere unless we invite and ask them to! And then Sister Burgeous talked about growing our spiritual roots! And giving them constant nourishment like a tree or else the roots will grow week and it will soon die! Today all the 9 weekers left and i got to go say bye to all of them! they all have been an example to me of where i want to be atin 6 weeks! It was cool to see Elder Green (one of my friends from highschool) ready to leave to korea! 

Monday

Mondays are awesome!! We get to wake up and then study for an hour in our dorms then go eat and then workout! So we don't need to start learning korean till like 11!!! They had Chick-fil-a catered for lunch! Now a quick sidestory, I have never seen more greasy food then what the MTC has! Literally everything is just soaked in grease!! So we all look forward to mondays because they cater in food!! But somehow the MTC even managed to make the Chick-fil-a sandwiches super greasy!! The buns were literally soggy in grease! I couldn't even finish one!! so instead i just ate captain crunch for dinner! LOL Tonight we had our second TRC which is where we teach members! Me and Elder Vongsayo decided to teach on family's! We talked about how god loves family's and how they are an essential part of his plan! Then we showed him pictures of our family and bore our testimonies! Usually during our Korean lessons I will feel the spirit in the room helping us speak and helping them understand what we are trying to say! But when I bore my testimony in Korean i felt the spirit so strong in the room! and i didn't mess up once!! It was soooo cool!! 

Tuesday 

Tuesdays are like fridays in the outside world! You have a full day of schooling but you have the night off and we have a devotional! and the next day is P-day or (saturday in the oustside world) Tuesdays night devotional was really cool! We had D. Todd Christofferson from the quorum of the twelve come and speak to us!! The spirit was so strong in the building! They showed it live to all the other MTC's in the world! Elder Christofferson talked about True repentance! And how when we are out teaching we need to understand how amazing that gift we offer is! we are the only church in the world that can provide that! He said that when we go to the door we need to realize that we bare the kingdom of god in our hands.... Baptism, but without repentance you can't be baptized! Repentance is the foundation of all our ordinances in this church! It was such and awesome talk and changed my outlook on my mission! 

Wednesday

Today was P-day and we went to do Sealings at the Provo temple! Ive never done them before and it was such a cool thing to be able to do! I kept thinking about me and my wife kneeling there in who knows how many years and it was really cool! (after 2 years of course!) then we went and did our laundry. On our way back from lunch we saw our mission presidents son, he had just got here and is going to the marshal islands! He told us that he had lived in Busan for the past 2 years and we are going to love it! He talked with us for a while but it was so cool!! I mean what are the chances that we met him??!! Also today we get a fresh new batch of Koreans and we are know the intermediate group! I remember when I first got to the MTC and looking at the 3 weekers and how much they knew i was convinced they were all fluent and i was never going to be like them! well here i am and i know just about as much as they did! so know we get to be the example and teachers!! Its so weird how fast time flies by here!! 

There are 2 quotes I want to share with you guys cause they are awesome and are gonna help me change my outlook on my mission! 

 "Don't just endure to the end rather always strive to improve to the end!" That was from Elder Bunkers, best friends farewell talk!

"you only have 2 years to serve a mission, but you have a life time to think about it" - President Perrington!

I am still loving it here and know I am always going to look fondly back at this time of my life!! I know that this call to serve the people of Busan Korea came directly from my father in heaven! I know that the gift of tongues is real and that if i do my part god will do his! Love you all 

Elder Stagg!

Kowall + Stagg

Stagg + Kowall

Elder Green Who left to Korea on Sunday! 

My companion and I with the son of my mission president in Korea.