Elder Nathan Stagg: Jeju: Persecution by Taxi

Hello everyone!! How is good ole Merica? One of our less actives told us that after trump got elected he became more normal? haha Love hearing about trump from koreans! The Presdent here was involved in a scandle so there are protests everywhere! haha

Ok so last monday we went to some waterfalls in our area becuase it was raining to hard to hike the giant volcano in the middle of our island... I will send pictures of those but it was super pretty and i love Jeju!! After 6 we went out and were proslyting when this person in a taxi pulled over slammed his door into me as he opened it and really bruised my collorbone! Not sure if it was on purpose but both him and the cab driver thought it was really funny becuase they were laughing well i couldnt carry anything in that hand for about 2 days cause it hurt so bad but its pretty much all good now!

So we Prosoltye ALL day EVERY day and it gets really boring! haha so we we tryed to think of other things we could do we decided to make a 잔도 board or a (jundo board) which basically is a large carboard board that we put pictures and questions like "is there a god" or "how can i keep my family safe" or "why is Christ important" stuff like that and then people come up and put stickers on what question they want answered it works in other areas so lets see if it works here! haha

Friday morning we met with Regis a less active, we have been teaching him since i got here and before me the other missionaries also taught him for about 4 weeks, he wasnt showing any progress so we were going to drop him this lesson, we talked to him and told him that if he didnt come to church this sunday we wouldnt be able to keep meeting with him, but he could start coming to our english class (thats all we felt he was interested in) we taught him and he said he would go to church but we were skeptical becuase he had said that in the past.

On friday night we were out prosolyting like usual getting rejected and mocked and people yelling at us telling us we were blasphamers, fun stuff but we were coming back home for dinner when there was this guy sitting down on some steps and we went up and talked to him he had us sit down and we taught him the whole first lesson gave him a B.O.M and a pamphlet then we asked if we could visit again he said he has a break usually f rom 3-4 and meet him in the same place (outside of his work) so we now had an investigator!! (both my and elder snyders first!) We were super happy becuase our mission has a goal to get a baptism by christmas for every companionship! But our area is the "hardest area" in the mission so when we got this investigator we thought it was an answer to our prayers! The next day we went to where we met him but he wasnt there so we called him and he said he was delivering food so we went home and called him that night to set up a meeting and he didnt answer and since then we have called 2more times and nothing! So thats sad!

There are lots of drunk old men in korea! haha we talk to lots of them and they are very friendly in my 1 transfer of being here i have had 3 drunk men try and buy me alcohol but we always talk them into buying us a soda or icecream! Love it! haha this paticular time we were talking to him and he kept slapping elder snyders but haha it was great!

Saturday we had zone confrence!! Presdient Barrow and his wife flew out to talk to us with the A.P's it was areally great confrence lots of awesome testimonies and talks were given! Our president is such an awesome guy! He gave up a Multi-Million Dollar Raise and a leadership postition at a really large company in there efforts to keep him there at the buisness, however he chose to rather come here and be our mission president! Awesome man! The whole time throughout zone confrence the spirit kept telling me I had to try harder on my mission! In learning the language in being exactly obedient to the missionary rules and times in having faith we can turn this area around! So my new mottow for my mission is "WWJD" or What Would Jesus Do? In every thought and choice i have i want to think of that and act accordinly becuase we are his representives!

Sunday came and we had met this guy on saturday night who said he would come to church. so we called him sundaymorning and he said he would be there at 11 so he would miss sacrement but we just wanted him to come so we could meet with him and being at church was an extra perk! During Sacrement we kept waiting for regis but nothing... finally about 1 minute before it started we gave up and assumed he wasnt going to come again! So we started to spiritually prepare for the sacrement! As i looked up once the meeting started i looked around and there in the back i saw him!!!! HIs first time back to church in 6 years!!! I was so happY!!! He quickly left after sacrement becuase i think he feels awkward, he knew all the members from before and i think i feels guilty he stopped attending church! But i called him that night to remind him to read the Book of Mormon and pray (like we do everynight) and he told me that at church he felt gods love for him and he would go next week and he either said he would go to sacrment meeting or all the meetings i couldnt quite understand but he is planning on going back so thats good! Finally some progress!! The guy never showed up to church and he wouldnt answer our calls so another potential investigator gone!

I love this mission so much!! We have been given the assignment to read the B.O.M as a mission in one transfer (13 pages a day) and wow it has been awesome!! I find my self looking forward to reading the B.O.M it is such a good book and i have made a goal that after this transfer i want to read it once every 2 transfers and read it with a specific question in mind! Love the B.O.M! I used to sleep during my extra time after meals but now i have been either reading the B.O.M or Our Heritage or My grandmothers booki about her mission (My mission of Miracles) such a good book! i have read 123 pages in a day and a half! haha This mission has increased my testimony 100 times! I love this work and I love the person it is transforming me into!

-Elder Stagg