First Report from Korea

Well i made it to the great land of korea!! I got reassigned to Elder Snyder and I am serving in sowgypo on the ISLAND OF JEJU!!!! It is so georgeous here!! Our church is about a 20 second walk to the ocean and you can see it from the window in the sacrement room!

K so I left the MTC early monday morning. From there i went to slc airport then we flew to seatlle had a 2 hour layover there and then went on a 12 hour plan ride to japan!! Stopped 5 hours there and then flew to Busan korea! We had to say by to Elder Zaugg, Elder McKenderick and Elder Barney Early monday morning becuase we had different flights! It was really hard, we have all grown really close with eachother! So when we landed in korea we were met by President Barrow and Sister barrow. We quickly drove back to the church in busan where we slept that night! The next morning we woke up ate breakfast and had interviews with President Barrow. Then we had some orientation! After that we got assigned to a trainer for 30 minutes and went out and prosolyted, we got assinged to 3 trainers 30 minutes a piece and prosylited. It was really cool but hard, It is super hot and humid (I thought that was bad.... Jeju was 20 times worse!!!) Then when we finished the prosolyting activity we went back and had a korean feast!!! I LOVE KOREAN FOOD!!! Then we had some Personal study while President Barrow finished assigning us our trainers! He finally came out and we got assigned! In the MTC me Elder Vongsayo and Elder WInters always were joking around that we would serve on JEJU for our first area and Everyone, including me, was super suprised when i was the assigned to Elder Snyder to serve on Jeju!! And then even better is that Elder WInter was also assinged to serve on jeju!! So Jeju is split into 2 areas! There is the JEJU city half, and they have 2 companionships of Elders and 1 Sister companionship and then there is the other half which is in the city of sowgypo which has me and my companion and thats it!! So we have half an island to preach to! and its a pretty big island! So after we got assinged we couldn't go to jeju until Saturday because elder bednar was coming to talk to us on Friday! So we went and served in busan for 3 days. During those three days we did lots of prosolyting, helped a member move and taught english class! Finally Friday came, we went back to the main church and all had to get flu shots and then we went to A church where Elder Bednar talked to us! It was such a good talk! His main message was to be "AGENTS NOT OBJECTS" then we all got to shake his hand then we went back to the apartment we were staying at and prosylited some more! The next day we finally were able to get on ANOTHER plane and fly to jeju! The flight out of korea is amazing because there are 100's of islands everywhere! When we got to Jeju first thing i noticeid was that the humidty was at least double what it was in korea! But there are palm trees and its very tropical! My trainer doesn't let me talk photos unless its p-day so i don't have very many but i will have more next week! After the 3 hours of plane travel ( including waiting time) we had to get on a bus to take us to our half of the island and that took an hour and a half! Since then we have done lots of prosyliting! WE don't have very much succes but we try hard! We have had a couple people give us there number but usaully they just say go away, dont even talk to us, or say im buddhist over and over again! When people see us they either start running, put there heads down and walk really fast or just completly ignore us! Its awesome!! Becuase the more suffering we go through in christs name the more blessing i recieve!! I mostly find it funny but i can see my trainer has lost a lot of hope in ever having success! So i need to try and rub some faith and hope into him! Ok well i have no time to write today so you all have fun back in america!!

Love

Elder Stagg​

Final MTC Entry

안녕하세요 모든 사람들! Well i leave to Korea in 3 days!! I leave here at 3 in the morning and i leave SLC at 8:46 then I go to Seattle and from there to tokyo for 5 hours and then finally I arrive in Busan Tuesday night at 9:45!! So I am way excited and nervous for that! Also this is probably my last long post  because i have so much more time to write in the MTC then i do in the field! So sorry if they start getting kind of short! Everyone keeps telling me that the korean i learn here is Seoul Korean and Busanites speak completley different!! So yay!!! I already know  nothing but its good to know that i am going to get there and have to restart my learning!! haha keep me in your prayers i can definitly use them! but other than the language part i am so ready to go to korea and teach them the gospel of Jesus Christ!! Korea has the #1 highest suicidal rates in the world and they, from what i have heard, are very depressed! In the last general conference the general theme was joy. and the gospel of Jesus Christ is the best way to experience true joy on this earth!! Elder Bednar came to the MTC Tuesday night for our devotional and he talked a lot about how to study General confrence! Apparently he was here exactly 45 years ago and he talked about how different conference was since he was in the MTC! I was able to relate so much! Something that he said that i found very cool was that, they don't plan the talks with each other but what he said was "The apostles don't coordinate talks, heaven does, Heaven orchestrates the theme." Then he talked about how he takes notes during conference. He says he makes 4 columns: 1) The speaker 2) The Doctrine or Principle 3) Invitation 4) Promised Blessings. I found it very cool to think that even ELDER BEDNAR takes notes during conference, it made me feel kind of bad that I never take notes! So i was glad i started taking them since i got here! 

Thursday! 

Today we got our Korean name tags!! We were all so excited!! My companions name tag translates exactly over to Elder Service (Bongsayo)! Today we taught simon again, we taught him about families and god. When we started asking him about his family and reading scriptures we noticed that he started getting teary eyed! His family lives in Seoul and from what i could make out he doesn't talk to them very often but after our lesson he felt very strongly that he needed to call them up that night! The spirit was so strong in the room me and elder vongsayo walked out of there feeling so awesome! It got me excited for teaching in the field! 

Sunday!

Today was my second fast Sunday in the MTC, it is crazy to see how my fasts have changed from since I left!! For the Past 2 weeks i have been looking forward to leaving so much that i never realized how nice this place is! The spirit is always in abundance here and its just nice! I am going to miss it! I can see how much better i have gotten at the language but at this point i would trade it all for being able to understand them! Because when they speak i have no idea what they are saying! haha they sound like I did when i spoke english but on steroids and speaking nonsence!! haha so that should be fun! I am way excited to see where i get assigned to serve, it is almost like waiting for my call again! haha There are some spots that are very very poor in busan and very cold, there are spots that are very rich and huge cities, there are warm coastal cities and then there are islands! So I could literally go anywhere! Lol I see my friends that are on missions and i read there stories and look at there pictures and my heart yearns for that and now its finally here!! I can't wait! 

Those were the two days that I wrote in my journal for this week! I got to get better at that! 

I challenge you all to go back and study the conference talks like the way Elder Bendar counseled us to do! 

"Make conference your'e walk and talk for the next 6 months" -Elder Bednar

My next post will be in Korea!! 

Anyonghegasyo!!

Elder Stagg

My name made it on to the T.V (every missionary's goal)

Final temple trip with my district

At the temple with Elder Vonsayo

Final days as companions

 These cars they have all over the MTC that me and my district always plan on taking and driving around if we ever need to get sent home!

Just got issued our new name tags for Korea.  Wont be needing the MTC name tags anymore.

The Korean name tags dont contain any English letters.  That's how my name appears with Korean spelling.

Good bye English.  My name is now pronounced Suh-tag-guh

MTC Week 7

Anyonghasayo yuraboon!!!! I am 11 days away from leaving the MTC and going to KOREA!!!! I am so exited to leave!! Umm the MTC is very small, very boring but we are finding things to do for entertainment! Lately we have been laying down on the ground and turning the drinking fountain towards us and pushing the button and seeing how long we can drink while laying down! right now the record for our floor is 28 seconds (elder Bunker) and second is me with 23! ill send a video of it to you its very funny! but its also like water boarding yourself because you kind of drowned at the end! i stood up one time and saw a bunch of flies everywhere than i realized that they were dots just everywhere! that lasted for like 20 seconds! then i couldn't stand up for a bit! haha it was lit! General conference was awesome so glad i was able to be in MTC for that! 

Friday 

Today was just a normal day in the MTC Except we have skype TRC's now. We basically need to teach members in korea over skype! Sadly our member didn't answer the call so we had to leave a video of our lesson to them! But we get to do that again on Friday! We are teaching Simon right now who is an actual investigator! Its kind of scary but its really cool! We have taught him about the Book of Mormon and invited him to follow Moroni 10: 4-5 and pray about it! He told us he would and then next time we taught him we checked up on that and he said he did and he felt something he hasn't really felt before! And then our last lesson was on Jesus Christs ministry, the apostacy, gospel dispensations, and the restoration! I recited the first vision to him in Korean! It was so cool and the spirit was really strong in the room! We teach him again tomorrow and i am excited! 

Saturday and Sunday 

General confrence weekend!! I loved being in the MTC for that it was so cool! I didn't sleep at all! I think that might be a first! lol! I was able to relate just about every talk to missionary work! It was really cool! they talked a lot about joy and as a missionary it is my job and duty to give the people of korea joy! Korea has the #1 most suicides in the world and so they can use some cheering up! My companion was in the MTC choir which was really cool! Sunday night Vocal Point came and sang for us! Sunday night we watched a documentary on Thomas S Monson's life and it was really cool! He is such and aweomse 

Monday

We taught Simon about the Restoration. I started memorizing 1 Nephi 3:7! So lets see how that goes! Me and Bunker memorized Moroni 10: 4-5 last week! Thats about it for monday!

Wednesday 

We went and did sealings today in the Temple! I love them they are soo cool! After I baptize people my goal is for them to be in the temple a year later! So it is cool to be able to see what will go on in there! Anyways we were doing some of the names and I thought he skipped one of the names so i asked him and he said that he didn't so i said ok! but the thought wouldnt come out of my mind and so like 10 minutes later i asked him if he could just redo it and so he did! but after we got out of the session Elder Johnson came over to me and told me that he saw him skip it he was just to scared to say anything! I was kind of nervous when i asked him to redo it cause there were a lot of people in the room and i didnt want to seem rude! But I felt the Spirit telling me that if I didn't say anything this person would miss his opportunity to be sealed to his parents! I almost didn't say anything but I am glad I did! I hope I can be intune with the spirit on my misson so i don't miss opportunities!

Qoutes

"live every day like its your last, because it very well could be! Tomorrow you could die and how do you want to go to heaven?"

Love you all! My Emails will become more interesting once i get to korea i hope! For now you're gonna need to stick with this! 

Elder Stagg

MTC Week 6

Well everyone, its been 6 week here the MTC!!! The MTC is a really cool place and i love it! but lately ive been realizing just how much Korea is! lol I am 3 weeks away from leaving! And am so excited to do so! On Monday the older Koreans left and today we get new ones! so we are now officially the senior group in the Korean branch! And we are one of the top dogs in the MTC! This week has been fun, when you are here for 9 weeks you start to get bored and do some crazy things to have fun ill explain some of the things we did later! 

So my cousin chastized me the other day and told me I need to write in my journal more! so ive done a little better lately! So last Wednesday after we finished soccer i walked in to take a shower and found half my district shaving there legs... so after some talking and bribing they finally convinced me to do it! So our whole entire district shaved our legs! haha Elder Johnson was really bad at it and was bleeding everywhere which made him cut himself worse! haha ill show pictures at the bottom! I also got a huge package from my parents today full of food and treats and ramen noodle! My companion also got a package full of microwavable thailand noodels! so that night we sat down to noodles and mountain dew! ahhh I love the MTC! 

Then on thursday I got a package from my grandparents of just straight food! So ive been eating like a king! although im not sure if its gonna last! Thursday night it poured and i mean poured!! So we all ran back inside and got out of our suits and ran around in the rain., jumping in puddles for like 30 minutes! the only problem was is that it was so cold we could see our breath! So now 3 elders in our district our sick! haha but it was so worth it! 

So on Friday we had a lesson by our teacher about how to recieve divine questions! We need to use heaven to our advantage! We need to be intune with the spirit so we can receive the questions that will make them think! We learned that we need to stop sometimes to think of a divine question because that can make the difference! I need to work on that definitly but it was such a cool lesson! 

Saturday we had to teach our teacher the law of Chastity... that was fun!! to make it even worse my korean failed me and i told him some very wrong doctorine on accident! LOL i love all the mistakes that we make because of the language! Ive shared a lot of those already but the other day Elder Bunker told there investagator that christ crucified all the jews, then elder johnson told him that after christ died he got ressurected and elder bunker said after he got ressurected he conntinued to crucify everyone! haha he kicked them out! but its better that that happens here then in the field! haha good times

Sunday we said by to all the elder leaving to korea, we had a great devotional! Sundays are just awesome because its so peaceful and your brain gets a break from the korean language! yay! 

Monday we had our TRC's but didn't know we did so we went in completely unprepared! And since we have been here for 7 weeks they are now actual koreans and they are real life investagators!! It was cool to see how much the spirit helped me teach! we had no prep time and i was able to go in there and teach about the B.O.M and he committed to read moroni 10 and pray about it! it was awesome! 

Well i am out of time so real quick here are some qoutes! 

Have no regrets! -Sister Schwitzer

"You are not converted until you desire to follow christ's commandments" - "Brother Schwitzer"

Loving the MTC! Loving my mission! Loving the Lord!!

Love Elder Stagg

Finding my inner Korean

The bowl of Kimchee was this big

Finally have an excuse to wear my new rain coat.

The big rain storm

The side-effects of 14 hours a day in a classroom

Now that we're drenched, the fun is quickly dissipating.