Goejeong: Life in the City (with photos)

안녕하세요!! I am already one week done with my 6th transfer!! This is really weird because my trainer was in his 6th transfer and he seemed so old to me.... but the 6th transfers is still very young! At least I feel young still! This new area is so different then my old area, in just about every way possible! Its a huge city, there are always people to talk to, lots of young people, the branch has a lot of people (34) and its a super strong branch! We have lots of investigators and are working with lots of less actives, and our area is huge!

So to start of with I will just mention some of the lessons we have had this week, I still am not great with the names.. 

 

So first, Tuesday we met with an investigator. We taught him the first lesson,  focusing on the book of Mormon. I felt like it was a good lesson. Then on Wednesday we met with another investigators who has had multiple baptism dates but doesn't keep commitments. He recognizes that he needs something different in his life but is not willing to do anything about it. When we were teaching him I felt the spirit so strong! We showed him some Mormon messages and invited him to read the book of Mormon and pray about it again. We ended with a church invitation. We really didn't think anything would come of it.Well he came to church this week!! For the first time! He stayed for all 3 meetings and during the last one (priesthood) we did a member-present lesson with him at church. We asked him how he felt and he said he felt really peaceful and enjoyed it! During the lesson we were just kind of talking when he randomly points to a picture on the wall of Christ getting baptized and asked us some questions about it. We showed him the video of Christ getting baptized and were able to teach a lot about baptism! He seemed to have some genuine interest! He moves next week to another mission area, but he told us  yesterday that he might change his mind and stay in our area still!! So please pray for that!!

Next was another really high potential guy. He is 60 ish and catholic but has an open mind about religion. He has been to a bunch of churches but none felt right. He said the catholic church felt the most familiar to him. We taught him about the restoration but only had 30 minutes so we gave him the restoration pamphlet and told him to read Moroni 10 3-5 and pray about it. He said he would and seemed really interested! I have a good feeling about is him!

 Its been a really good week.  I have seen Gods hand in my life so much!! From the very first day in my new area when we met a less active sister on the subway that said hi to us first. She told us she was baptized a long time ago but stopped going to church and then said she wanted to come back to church. I love when you come out of a lesson feeling the spirit so strong! Its such a good feeling and it makes all the hard times worth it! Especially seeing it help people in their lives! 

We have a lot of other investigators but those are the high potential ones!

 I know that our heavenly father lives and because he loves us so much he sent his son, Jesus Christ down to earth to provide a way for us to live with him again! I know this is Gods work and he is in charge of it! I can see him helping out in everything that we do! Whether its putting prepared people in our paths, giving us strength when we have none or putting words into our mouths that help people want to listen! Its such a cool feeling!! Being a missionary is AMAZING!! Its sad to think than in about a year I need to stop being a missionary (WRONG NATHAN! from mom :)... I love this Gospel so much. I want to bare my witness that whatever problem, concern, question, pain, or anything you can imagine,that it is included in the insurance package that God gave all his children! We can take whatever damage, mistake, pain, or wrongdoing to Christ, who has already paid for the cost, and he will not only forgive us but make us better than we were before!! HOW COOL IS THAT!

Love  you all tons!!

Talk to you next week!

-스태그 장로!

Here a bunch of misc photos from the past 2 months...

Tongyoung: Last day in Tongyoung

Hello Everyone!!! Transfer calls came!!! I am moving to downtown Busan!!! For those of you who dont know Busan is the 2nd biggest city in korea!! In just the city of Busan it has more than double the population of the entire state of utah! haha Its going to be huge!!! I am super excited to move! My new companion is E Soon Hoe Yup he is korean! haha super excited! I have heard a lot about him and turns out he is a super super awesome missionary!

So since I am transferring today I cant send a lot but let me just quickly go over what happened this week! 

1st is Kang Meen Jay, we are still meeting with him and gave him a baptism date for the 11th of june and he accepted!!!! His grandma just died about a week after we taught him Plan of Salvation so he came back with some questions and we were able to answer them and help him feel more at peace and it was cool to see it working through him and helping him in his life!

Next is Kwahk Song Jay we sat down and talked with him about baptism and he expressed he wanted to receive it! But he said its a big promise to make! And he wants to make sure he keeps it so he is nervous to make a commitment. But we told him we can work through it with him and he said he is willing to keep meeting with us and prepare for baptism! Super exciting!!

Outside of that! Me and Elder Johnson are getting  along super awesome! It is going to be sad leaving him but all good things must come to an end! I am super excited for my new companion!!

Have a happy mothers day! 

Elder Stagg!!

Tongyoung: The Sacrament

Hello! This week not a tone has happened outside of the ordinary. Kahng Meen Jay is still progressing, although I am kind of worried for him!  We met with him and taught him plan of salvation, and it seemed like it was a lot for him. It was just a lot of new information and he wasn't answering our questions really good so it kind of felt like we were lecturing him. We had a meeting with him for yesterday but he never showed up and when we called he said sorry he was playing league of legends (a computer game). So hopefully we can meet with him again this week, but he did say he would get baptized! When we meet with him again  we need to make sure he is reading and explain what baptism is a little more and get a date for him! Super cool kid though and he has tons of potential!

Oh and this week was Buddhas birthday so it is kind of like Buddhas Christmas. So it was a vacation for Korea and all of Korea was in tong young because it is a tourist city, so it was packed!! But it is hard to proselyte because everyone from tong young leaves because it gets so busy so everyone we talk to isn't from here. We were street contacting on Saturday with the sisters for about 3 hours and we didnt talk to one person who was from tong young.... haha its crazy!!

Well outside of that nothing has happened except my testimony has continually gotten better and stronger! We have been focusing on the sacrament this week and in my studies I have found some questions that have made sacrament better for me.

1) what is the purpose of the sacrament meeting? 

2) What does the ordinance of the sacrament mean to me?

3) In the sacrament prayers, what does it mean to "bless"?

4) what is the purpose of the emblems of the bread and water?

5) what do we promise god when partaking of the sacrament? What do these promises mean to me?

6) What does God promise me? What does this promise mean to me?

7)What can I do to see that the sacrament ordinance is administered in a reverent and dignified manner?

8)What will I do to have a ore meaningful experience when I partake of the sacrament?

As I have studied these questions sacrament has become so much more meaningful to me. Yesterday I was really wanting to have it be a special sacrament because I have spent the whole week studying it and I want a stronger testimony of it to share with investigators. So as I went in prepared for it and having the spirit with me, and really thinking and focusing on our savior during the ordinance it was so much better! As I took the bread and water I felt this feeling go throughout my body and I felt like the savior had forgiven me of all my little mistakes that I have made throughout the week. It was a super cool experience! And I wish I would of taken sacrament more seriously before my mission! But it is not to late for you guys! Make it a more spiritual and sacred moment in your lives!

Just want to end with a quote from elder Bednar: 

"Jesus is the light that dispels all fear, provides assurance and direction, and engenders enduring peace and joy"

Love you all and I most of all I love this church and our savior! There is nothing better I can be doing with my life at this point then spreading the saviors gospel! 

-스태그 장로

Tongyoung: Zone Conference on the Mountain

 We have seen many blessings this week. God is good, he knows us, loves us and is always trying to make us the best people we can be! As you live in the mind set "Not my will but thine be done" you will see how much he blesses your live and how he can mold it to make it so much better than you ever would of imagined! As my grandma said in her book Conquering my fears in Cambodia: "You can choose to live your life 2 ways, one way as if everything is a miracle or the other as if nothing is a miracle." Its so true, if you look at life always appreciating and noticing gods hand in your life, you are so much more grateful and life is better!

We got a new investigator! We met him last Sunday during jundo (street contacting) but actually we didn't meet him he met us. We were talking to this old man and we hear someone say in English "he is to old to understand you", after we finished talking to the old man we walked over and talked to the person who spoke to us (who was waiting for us). His name is Jimmy and he had a friend who served a mission years back--- but they dont talk anymore. This man teaches English at an academy that he owns. He learned English in Australia. We are anxious to get to know this man and find out more about him.

We have now met with Kong Meen Jay, a super cool kid,  twice now and he read the book of Mormon! He is keeping commitments and appears to have interest! Hopefully he keeps reading the book of Mormon so he can get an answer for himself!

The only part of this week that was a little unnatural was this morning when I woke up to a text saying due to recent activity with north Korea, please prepare for a potential evacuation. We had to double check all of our 72 hour kits and review our evacuation plans. haha!  Cool! But don't worry, President Hinckley told South Korea that as long as worthy members are attending the temple he promised the people of South Korea that they will not go to war with North Korea! So missionaries are literally saving the country of Korea from war! Haha... except too many people are becoming less active! There are 80,000 members in Korea but only 10,000 active.... so we got to stop that! 

We had our zone conference this week in Busan! Not only in Busan but in a mountain in Busan! We had the conference as we were hiking!  We would stop at different locations and  each companionship would stand up and give a thought about each of the days during the last week of Christ's life! Elder Johnson and I were asked to talk about Monday. We were asked to relate it to the principle of peace ("gods word"). So we shared the account of the stripling warriors and how they had to receive Gods word from their mothers (or however you receive Gods word). They were obedient and listened with exactness! Once we receive Gods word, we need to follow what he says and follow it with exactness. If we do that we will receive peace, knowing that whatever the outcome is, it in line with our Fathers plan for us. Just like the 2000 stripling warriors, when they went to battle for the first time in there lives, they talked about how they were not worried and were at peace KNOWING that god would watch over them! 

When Christ went into the temple on Monday, he cleared the temple of merchandisers and mockers of peace. He had received Gods word and in doing so he knew that making the temple a place of merchandise was not OK. In following Gods word, he knew he had to clear it, no matter what the consequence or the popular group thought of it! We can receive comfort and peace from Christ in knowing the if we are bold in obeying Gods word, Christ will be on our side. So don't be afraid to do what you know what is right. Don't let people pressure you into breaking commandments or covenants!--- if you do what you know is right, you WILL receive strength from God. And he is mightier than all the forces of evil combined! 

I love you all! I know this church is true with all the energy of my heart. I haven't just believed someone else's word but I have asked God himself and MY father in heaven has taken time to answer. I know that if anyone who SINCERELY wants to know if this church is true ---or any question they have --- if they follow James or Moroni's words and ask God, they will receive a personal answer from God their Father! Then they will know with assurance that this is Chris'ts  church, restored in the latter days! I encourage you all to try this and constantly seek to have your testimony strengthened! We are in the last moments of the great "war" and Satan and his forces are trying harder then ever to pull as many people down with them as the can. So likewise we need to be trying harder then ever to resist the forces of evil and fight with the power of God against them! We need to help pull up our brothers and sister who are waging the same war but maybe are slowly losing, we need to help them regain there strength! Always resist Satan and remember we have the most powerful being in the universe on our side! How cool is that!?

"not my will but thine be done"

Elder Nathan Stagg

Tongyoung: The Four Rs

Hello! How are all of you? This week has been super awesome! We have seen so many miracles! Especially yesterday! 

So first off lets start off with some kind of depressing news...  So our Chinese investigator would not respond to any of our texts all of last week. We started to get worried that he had heard something about our church that scared him away. But we called him Saturday night and he answered!!!! He said sorry he has been super busy with work and he is super tired! He said he would come to church if he didn't work.... but he never came to church so I am assuming he had work. Keep praying for him!

Next we got 2 new investigators this week! The first is filthy flippen rich... like super rich. We went to this super fancy hotel where he said to meet him, we called him and he said to wait. We thought maybe he was one of the staff that worked there..... then this guy came told us to follow him and took us to this room when we walked in there is this huge gold chandelier and just super fancy. There he was sitting in the chair at his office. Turns out he owns this huge hotel and like 3 others in other parts of Korea, and a couple restaurants, and some wedding halls. Super rich guy and his English is super good! We mostly just talked for like 40 minutes he asked some questions as to what we could or could not do then at the end we gave him a business card with the prince of peace qr code on it and told him when he got home to watch it. I am not sure how much interest he has in gosple but we will find out! He also has like 4 girlfriends (2 serious girlfriends) and he loves drinking. After the meeting he offered to drive us home. We go to his car which is this super nice Maserati! He opened his trunk to put something in and I am not joking when I say it was FULL of 6 packs of beer.... He has some work for us to do but we will fix his life, hopefully! Super cool guy, just very much living in the World! 

Next is this junior in high-school. We met him on the street and then called him the next day and he said he wanted to meet! We met at dunking donuts, and taught him! Me and elder Johnson felt like we messed the lesson up though, we didnt have much time to plan it and afterwards we were talking about it and we felt like we were teaching a lesson not a person. But the spirit is awesome, and he said he wants to meet again! This time we need to be more in tune with the spirit! 

And then yesterday (sunday) was the day of miracles! After church we decided to go proselyting, we were walking and talking to this old man when we here this guy say in English, "I think he is to old for you guys to talk to him." After that we talked to the guy who said that, his English name is Jimmy! Jimmy had a friend who served a mission and  new a little bit about us. He teaches English at an academy.  He gave us his number and said come visit him sometime!

 After proselyting we decided to try out our new English proselyting board. We did it with the sisters for an hour before they had an appointment with a member. When we were doing that we met this person who is from japan, but speaks very good Korean and ok Korean. Turns out he had met the missionaries like 3 years ago and still has English interest! We got his number and are going to call him.

After that we met a bunch of really cool families with English interest and gave out some family proclamation to the world pamphlets. But the real miracles was this: We were walking home when we here in English "are you the Mormons?" We turned around confused and said yea we are! How do you know us? He had met this missionaries like 4 years ago and wants to meet again! He gave us his number and has lots of interest! Super cool to see how the lord prepares people for you! 

Then at night I got home and was going through the phone trying to clean it out. Just as i was about to delete a bunch of groups people had made in the phone I got a feeling that I should send a text to all of them before. So I sent a text saying Hey we are the missionaries, do you remember? Probably to like 100 people, I was not expecting to get anything back, but then the flood gates came in. We got so many texts. We still have not responded to like half of them because 10:20 came and we cant text after 10:20 and all of today we were on an island hiking a mountain with one of our investigators! But we have already gotten 2 appointments for this week! Super awesome! 

I will send pictures next time! 

This transfer our mission president has been focusing on the sacrament. And how important it is, for us, and for our investigators! And as I have been studying it and learning more about it I have learned how much more sacred I need to make it to me! There are 4 R's that I think will help with making sacrament more meaningful! 

REVIEW: Review the last week, what you did good, what you did bad, how can you improve, how good did you follow your goals, etc.

RECOGNIZE: Recognize what you did good at and what you need to improve on.

REMEMBER: Remember Christ, and what he has done for us. Remember how important this sacred ordinance is to us and how great a gift it is.

RECOMMIT- Recommit any goals you made the past week. Dont be discouraged if you failed because you probably did! But the sacrament is a time of starting over again with a fresh board! Its almost like getting baptized again! Think of it like that!

If you study and try and make this weeks sacrament more important I promise you guys you will notice a difference and it will make the ordinance so much more important to you! 

Love you all! Keep being awesome! Spread Christs light to all the world, and the easiest way to do that is brighten your light by feasting on Christs light!

-Elder Stagg

Tongyoung: Dawn of WWIII

HELLLLOOO!! This week has been fabulous! Super fun, super blessed,super successful, super busy and kind of stressful! So yeah an average week on my mission! The only part of this week that has been a little unnatural was this morning when I woke up to a text saying due to recent activity with north Korea, please prepare for a potential evacuation. We had to double check all of our 72 hour kits and review your evacuation plans. haha then i got a call from my district leader explain somewhat what happened! But don't worry President Hinckley told South Korea that as long as worthy members are attending the temple he promised the people of South Korea that they will not go to war with North Korea! So missionaries are literally saving the country of Korea from war! Haha except everyone is going less active! There are 80,000 members in Korea but only 10,000 active.... so we got to stop that! 

Anyways this week has been super superb! First off it was super busy due to preparation for our Easter Party! The members didn't want to do much help in preparing it so they gave all the responsibility to 4, 19 year old kids to do all the work. So we had to cook a huge last supper meal, of fish, unleavened bread ( I made that), Greek yogurt, fruit, nuts, berries, grape juice, cheese, and other stuff. 

What we did is we wanted to experience Christ lasts week. So we walked in the church and had palm leaves in the entrance and were showing the bible video of Christ walking into Jerusalem. then we went upstairs and had a table with the last supper on it and read from the bible, after we watched the bible video of the last super. Then we went to the atonement room and watched the atonement and then finished int the Resurrection room and watched prince of peace then bore testimony.

Next is our investigator who is Chinese. We met him on Tuesday and taught him the restoration. We used a pamphlet in Chinese and one in English. Because he cant speak Korean or really great English, we let the pamphlet teach and we ask questions. Then we met him at church yesterday, and he came to all 3 hours. During the 2nd hour we taught him the 3rd lesson, gospel of Jesus Christ, he really wanted to get baptized because he wanted to follow Christ. We extended a Baptism invitation for the 30th and he said yes. We are not sure he understands exactly what the entails so this Tuesday we are going to make sure he understands! He is super awesome and super prepared.  

This week has been super awesome! I have learned that the Atonement doesn't only affect our sins, but everything. This week was super stressful but when I focused on Christ and let him guide me I received so much peace from the Prince of Peace! I love you all so much! Make sure you read the Book of Mormon every day and you will receive blessing from on high! 

-Elder Stagg

Tongyoung: Foreigner Power

So there is something in missionary work called way-gook-een power! Which translated means Foreigner (what everyone calls us) power! And when you have two Americans in a companionship people treat you so much nicer or so much ruder! haha But if you can very outgoing and confident you can use this power to speedily hasten the work! And me and Elder Johnson are starting to figure it out! This has been one of the busiest weeks of my mission! But I have seen so many miracles! 

Lets start with the miracles! (I have always been a dessert first kind of guy!) So the first miracle me and elder Johnson saw was on our first day! After we got him somewhat settled into the house we left to proselyte. Probably the 5th guy we talked to was carrying a bag with a carton of a dozen eggs. I felt prompted to ask him if I could help, even though it wasn't really that heavy. He rudely said no and so we our arguess-soobmneda (the closest translation is like I understand but its different then that) and said have a good day then started to walk a way. After we started walking he called out to us and said actually you can help. So I grabbed his bag and we started talking to him. We ended up giving him a Book of Mormon and he grabbed all of our pamphlets. We still haven't met with him because he is busy but he has been reading 1st Nephi!  

Then on Tuesday we had our weekly service project. Except the problem was I never paid attention to what bus we had to take with elder Park, so I didnt know. After 1 hour or so a 3$ taxi ride that took us father away from home and 2 wrong buses we finally gave up and called and said we would make it next week! So that was interesting but instead we went to downtown tongyoung and street contacted down there for 3 hours then we went into a dunkin donuts and did some phone contacting. We called this Chinese guy that I had met with our ZL on exchanges. He said he could meet in 30 minutes. We met with him and he is awesome! He has been in Korea since 2010 and leaves in 2020. He came here for work because it pays lots of money. He is doing construction and he really hates china! He loves his family and thats why he is working here by himself! He speaks a little english and a little korean. So between those two and the Chinese material that we have we can teach him. We are also learning some words in Chinese to help teach him. He said he would come watch General Conference this week with us, so we downloaded it in Chinese but he texted us Saturday night and said he needed to work! Super cool guy!

Then on Wednesday we met with Billy, Billy still has no interest but he is slowly gaining some. We taught him out of the Liahonna kids section about baptism. Since he is a member refferal we dont want to drop him super quick. Because E Sung Joon(our recent convert) started out like him very rough and not nice. But our member saw how we changed him so she referred this kid to us. We are trying to become his friends! 

Saturday and Sunday were super stressful! We watched General confrence but the Members kept asking us to do stuff for them so it took like the whole day of saturday just to watch 2 general confrences. But we met with Kim meen jay who is a less active and it was a really good meeting where we showed him the Prince of Peace video. He seemed very touched by it. Then we told him that right now he is very busy with his senior year of high school but if he takes time to come to church he can receive this peace through the prince of peace. Super good lesson!

Then on Sunday E Sung Joon came and about 5 (because the members kept asking us to do things so they could watch general confrence) we were half way through the second half of sunday session when E Sung Joon's mom came and yelled at me and Elder Johnson and then yelled at E sung Joon. She took him to there pastor and he yelled at E Sung Joon and told him a bunch of lies about our church. Then after that E sung Joon called us and came back to church. We sat down and talked with him and read 3 Nephi 11 with him. And described how even though he is in thunderings and earthquakes right now if he focuses on Christ he will receive more peace and happiness! I feel super bad for him and I hate that I cant do anything to help him! I can pray but I want to do more for him! Please pray for him and his mother! He needs it! 

Something that i have realized on my mission is that the atonement covers literally everything, not just sin. When we have hard times, pain, homesickness, or literally anything that affects our happiness if we focus on Christ and give it to him, he will take it! Sunday was one of the most stressful days of my mission. Which is really sad because it was general conference day. But after his mom came I was super stressed because me and my companion are both american and young missionaries and our korean is limited. I felt like i couldn't do anything to help him, plus i felt really bad for him cause he was going home to get yelled at. Anyways it was a lot of emotions and it was hard. Also this is a super busy week and the members keep asking us to do stuff that is there responsibilities but they have us do it. So I was super stressed and for about one hour it was all I could think about it how insufficient I was. Suddenly I had the thought come to me that, yes yes you are very insufficient, but guess what? Everyone is! Elder Stagg you need to focus on your savior who has already experienced this, in him i could find peace and he can make me enough. So I decided instead of focusing on the hard or the bad, focus on Christ and our purpose and i still couldnt do anything to help our convert, I was still super busy, nothing had changed but I just felt peace. And if i just took one step at a time and focused on christ i know its going to all work out!

This week has been the most stressful week of my life! Yesterday I was on the verge of tears, there is just so much I need to do (I am the area senior) and with E sung Joons mom and his whole situation, I feel like i cant do anything to help him!E sung Joon feels like my younger brother. We are so close and have gone through so much together! I love him so much and I love seeing how far he has come in the gospel I just struggle seeing his mom the way Christ would, I need to work on it! :) I am fasting today to try and better understand the spirit so it can guide me through this week! But I have felt an overwhelming sense of peace. I just need to calm down focus on christ and take one foot in front of the other! I am so grateful for our Prince of Peace!

Love you all

Tongyoung: Hello Elder Johnson

Hello! So this week not much has happened. Elder Park was sick for 3 days so lots of studying and contacting old investigators. This Saturday we got a transfer call, and Elder park is going. I will be staying here with elder Johnson, who has been here for one more transfer than me! It is going to be super fun and i am excited for the challenge! On my mission my oldest companion has been 8 transfers, not one of my companions has been here for more than a year! haha I have had super young companions! hehe but it makes it more fun because we dont have a ton of experience! Out ward is now down to no bishop (yes still no bishop...) and now we have no 2nd councilor because he got angry and left.... And we only have 4 priesthood holders in the ward! haha I wouldn't be surprised if me and my companion get a calling in the church because of the lack of leaders here! We are going to make miracles happen this transfer! I always love getting a new companion it gives things a fresh start and always super fun! 

This week I finished both Jesus the Christ and the Book of Mormon (now my third time finishing it on my mission). And wow they were both so good! The B.O.M Always feels like a brand new book to me! Its amazing how it always answers my questions! And Jesus the Christ is just an amazing book and I know so much more about my saviors life because of it! I Dont have much time this week because of transfers so sorry its short. I just want to leave my short testimony before I end.

I have read the Book of Mormon and Prayed about it. And just like we are promised I received and answer from my loving heavenly father that this Book is true and of him. I am not a special case, every single one of you can read this Book and find out for yourselves! You don't need to trust anyone else's words, just go straight your father and open your soul to him and he will answer you! This is Christ's true church so isn't it natural that we should ask him if what the Book of Mormon says is true? I promise all of you that if open up that book and pray about it, You will get an answer! This gospel is so important to me and my life, without it my life would be so dark and empty! Christ has literally lit up my life and made me into a better more happy person! I love this gospel and I know that if we ever have any concerns or trials in life, no matter how small they may seem, we can always ask our father for help. In the big picture they probably are not a big deal, but because they are a big deal to you they are a big deal to our heavenly father and he will take time to comfort and help you. All you need to do is ask for it!! I am so grateful  for my savior Jesus Christ and as we lean on him and embrace is gift to us we will become better more happy people! I love the churches new Easter initiative and I know that through our saviors  infinite atonement we can be healed from every thing because he is the Prince of Peace! I encourage you all to share that video on facebook or whatever social media you guys have! Love you all tons.,Thanks for all the love and support! 

-Elder Stagg

Tongyoung: Are you guys missionaries?

Ok so this week has been super crazy lots of weird things happened! but it was a good week and the work keeps moving forward! 

First on Tuesday we were proselyting for the whole day and it was very draining because we had received rejection for about 3 hours and not any success it was harder then most days. I told elder Park we should walk in to one of these ally ways and say a prayer and read a scripture of our faith card (A card the mission president gave us that has like 20 scriptures on it that deal with faith). After that i felt a little better but still non stop rejection. So i started to focus on Christ, and try and give my frustration and tiredness to him. I was singing the song I need thee every hour in my head when all of the sudden I hear someone say Hoke-Shi Song-yo-sa ibneeka? Or are you guys missionaries? and so we told him yeah we are and started to talk to him. He ended us taking us into his business and we taught him just about every lesson. But turns out he had been trying to find the true church (or so he said) and had talked to 4 other church's. But I dont think he really wanted to find the truth or I dont know because he argued with everything we said and kept trying to bible bash and elder park started getting frustrating and they started arguing and bible bashing. And when Koreans are angry they talk really fast and whiny and it is almost impossible to understand what they were saying... SO I just kind of sat there and tried to calm the situation down but when every I started talking they would just ignore what i say and kept on arguing... so about 2 hours later I finally boldly told the guy thanks for letting us talk to him but we had to go, I told him if he really wanted to find out if this church was true dont ask us, ask god, because this is his church and  he will let you know if it is true or not. He just kind of scoffed it off and wouldn't accept a Book of Mormon so we left him with our pamphlets and left. Elder Park apologized and the next day I fasted for him and some other potential investigators!

next was probably the weirdest thing ever... It was Thursday, and we were out morning street contacting and we were on our way back home but we were coming back a bit early so i was still trying to talk to people. I said hi to this one guy who turned out to be stone drunk!  He took us to a cu ( a convenient store) and bought us hot chocolate and pastries. We talked for a bit and he told us that he used to be part of a gang and that he was a really good fighter. But that he had a dream last night (and he is drinking through this whole thing by the way) that someone told him everything that has happened in your life to this point has been your fault or choice. But everything that happens from this point on is also your choice. He said something about seeing a cross in his dream also. (I am not exactly sure drunk old people are really hard to understand) but anyways he asked us if we could take him to our church. So we gave him a tour of the church then he sat down and asked us for some kimchi. We went upstairs to grab it and when we came back down apparently he had more alcohol because he was drinking a brand new bottle of alcohol.... in the church! We tried to tell him that he couldnt drink it in the church but we could go outside and he could do what he wants. Well elder park wouldn't say that because of the whole age respect thing in korea and apparently its disrespectful to tell someone older than you what to do. But if someone is drinking alcohol in the church I dont care how old the are or where I am I am going to tell them they cant do that. Anyways the drunk guy gets mad at me and keeps asking me if i want to die. Finally we convince him to leave the church but now he is mad at me. We go outside and he keep saying to me do you want to die? Do you want to fight? Do you think you can beat me in a fight? A couple times he lifted his hand up as if he was going to hit me. By then I had enough and I told elder Park we had to go because this wasnt doing any-good for him or for us. He was so drunk he wasnt going to remember any of this. Well Elder Park wouldnt leave.... So finally the drunk guy stands up and grabs my jacket by the neck and is yelling at me and trying to hit me but i have my hand up so he can't, but he is kicking me the whole time. (at this point I was super scared, not of him but that i was going to hit him and get sent home) Finally he let go of me and cornered me in to this corner and started to try and fight me so I hoped the fence that was next to me and when he tried Elder Park told him not to because he was so drunk he would hurt himself. Well he ran around, (and i cant go far because i need to stay sight and sound within my companion, who wouldnt leave him) long story short he kept chasing me at about a fast walk pace for me. He ended up grabing one of those big orange traffic cones and held it like a bat and started running at me, finally elder park told him we had to go because we had an appointment. The drunk guy yelled at him and said go!! So that was a bit interesting... haha

The next is super sad also, so E sung Joon our recent convert when to the temple on Saturday!!! which was super awesome! But in Korea since the temple is in seoul you leave friday night at 9 get on a stake bus and get to seoul around 1 am. You sleep in the temple and then go to an early morning session or baptism. So he left at 9 and got back the next day at 4. The reason what this is a sad story is because his mom hates our church and didnt know he was a part of it. (we got his Dad's signature for the baptism) Well apparently E sung joon didnt tell his mom he was going anywhere, so when he was gone all night and day she  got suspicious and wen in his room and found his Book of Mormon. And she yelled and yelled and yelled at him. Then we got a call at midnight on saturday night and elder park answered it with out thinking and it was E sung Joons mom! She yelled at him and said dont call or text my son again! He goes to the Presbyterian church and stop brainwashing him to believe in your cult! Well the next morning at about 9:20 we get a text from him saying "I dont care what my mom says this is gods true church and its my priesthood responsibility to pass the sacrament" So he came to church. Well about half way through the meeting ( I was on the stage because I gave a talk) I saw his mom walk in and sit down... she stayed for the rest of the meeting then after took E sung Joon downstairs. Well at this point our whole small ward were asking who that was. (now since E sung Joon is the only youth in the ward they all treat him like there son, its awesome how much the have accepted him!) Well we walked down stairs with the bishop (he came down from his new house in daejon (about 3 hours away) because last week or 2nd councilor left church), 1st councilor  and his sunday school/priesthood leader came down to talk to him and his mom. Well she was gone and E sung Joon said that she told him that this wasnt even a church because we have no preacher and its so small. Then left. Well him and the bishop talked for all of gosple principles and priesthood. But after he was feeling a lot better so we stayed and talked with him and sister megan until like 2. Then we get a call from his mom saying come upstairs. Apparently she went and talked to her preacher and she came back with fire. She told us dont talk, text, think, visit, see, anything that involved E sung Joon dont do or she will call the cops. She said if he comes to church kick him out (which we told her we cant do). She took E sung Joon with her and left. Our whole ward was sad and talking about it. Anyways he called us later on that night and said I wont be able to come to church for a long time but i wont leave this church! "I know this church is true and i wont leave!" But he said he could come to our english class and FHE. And since then his sunday school teacher/ preisthood leader (kwan- O- Joon) called him and they are going to dinner today. Its awesome Kwan O  Joon really likes him and cares for him a ton. He told us he feels like he is his older brother! And other members have called him and have dinners with him the rest of the week! So please pray for him and that his mothers heart will be softened! I would appreciate it! 

Even though this was a harder week the work keeps moving forward! Satan can try and pull this church down but it will only keep growing! E sung Joons testimony is so strong and I am positive the second he can come back to church he will! I know the savior is on our side and helping E sung joon as much as he can! E sung joon has been a huge testimony builder to me. Seeing all the opposition in his life that is caused because of this church but seeing him ignore it all and keep doing what is right! If he can come to church, knowing his mom will severally punish him if he does, then what excuse do we have to not go to church or not go to seminary? Anyways this week was longer but i would appreciate all your prayers! Love you all!

-Elder Stagg