Yongdo: Working the Neighbors

This week was pretty lit! We did some good missionary work! It started out just like a normal week! We did stuff but from thursday to Sunday was super awesome!! Lots of cool things happening up here!

So lets start off with Thursday we had exchanges!! So as a District Leader I need to go on exchanges with every elder in my district at least once. So This week was me and Elder Haskell went to my old area of Goejong!! It was super wierd and awesome being back in my old area. We had set a goal to try and give out one whole box of book of mormons ( which is 40 book of mormons). We brought my suit case filled it up and hit the streets. We only had about 4-5 hours of street time because we had some other appointments but long story short my testimony and making goals and praying for them has been strengthened. We were able to give out all 40 book of mormons in 5 hours! Most of my mission and I am pretty sure most other missionaries struggle to give out at least 1 a day but we saw a huge miracl. At the appointment it was a new investigator who met the missionaries about 10 years ago in a different city, but one day while he was driving he saw the goejong elders and he pulled over and chased them down and talked with them. Anyways we met with him and taught him the gospel of jesus christ and when I talked about baptism I felt like I should ask him to be baptised, so I told him that it looks like he really is trying to follow christs example and because he wants to do that I asked if he would follow christs example and be baptised by the proper authority. He said yes and we set a date for sometimes in January when he thought he had time. Super cool exchange! Oh also I was able to meet my recent convert there. Elder Matua and him didn't get a long a ton so he stopped going to church... :( but I was able to introduce him and elder Haskell to eachother and they got along great! So hopefully we can get him back to church! He is such a fun kid. :)

Next was on friday! We met our Investigator who is from Nigeria, his name is Kalu. We brought him some cookies because he just had a new born baby! We just talked with him and he said he is still trying to read the Book of Mormon. We are planning on going back next week and talking about familes and temples. He is a super cool guy and has a strong belief in christ!

Then on Saturday my old companion Elder Pac came down from his hometown (he already returned from his mission) and we had dinner with him and his girlfriend! They are both returned missionaries so they gave some words of wisdom to me and my trainee! :) It was so fun and so wierd! It felt like I was just talking with an old friend! It is awesome the friendships that you get on you mission.

So since we have moved in to a new apartment no one has knocked the doors before( most places in korea have locks outside so you need to know the code to get in) so on sunday we made a bunch of cookies and knocked all 25 floors of our apartments, and introduced our selves and gave cookies and family pamphlets out! We met some angry people... and some really nice families that we are planning on singing carols to at christmas. Really fun activity!

This was a super awesome week! We have recieved all of our christmas material for proseltying. I want to talk about the new christmas initiative. LIGHT THE WORLD!! It is such an awesome inititiave! I want to challenge you guys just the way I have challenged my investigators and members! This december I challenge each of you to everyday find at least one person and do something to make them happy! As you guys do that 2 things will happen, 1 you will be able to spread christs light and happiness, but 2 is the small writing, what people don't realize is that you actually benefit more than the person you are helping! The thing is, as  you serve and forget about yourself you actually are more happy and recieve more light than yo usually give! So as Nike says "Just Do IT!" Its super awesome!! :)

Love you all!

-스태그 장로

#LightTheWorld--In 25 Ways over 25 days--

Living the Night Life

Yongdo: Phone Number Revelation

This week has been awesome!! We did some stuff and some more stuff and even did some missionary work! Super awesome how it worked out that way! We also went on exchanges! That was fun! I went to haeundai! That is the richest part of busan!! It was my 4th time going on exchanges over there because I have been in this district for ever! haha But there was one super awesome miracle! We were on a bus headed to a members house when I look up and what do you know a WHITE dude walks on the bus, a little surprised I say hello and he spoke English!!! Usually the white people are missionaries or Russian! haha but he was from Australia!~ WE talked for a bit and I told him what my purpose was for being a missionary and I mentioned the Book of Mormon kind of casually while I was talking, he stopped and asked what the Book of Mormon was. I explained it to him and talked about how if we pray about it we can get an answer from the holy ghost. I then explained what that felt like. He told me that he used to listen to Beethoven for hours and that Beethoven wrote all his songs for God, and that when he listened to it he would feel a feeling similar to what I described he said there have been other times he has felt a similar feeling. I asked if we could meet with him later on to explain that feeling and how you can get it more often and also to give him an English Book of Mormon. He said with a small smirk "That depends, can you remember a number" I said why? He said I get off in 7 seconds, so he told it to me and then got of the bus, but since the church makes us have the longest password to get into our phones I couldn't get in very fast and I was trying to remember the number. I finally got in and called and.... it was a Korean... :( I said a prayer in the back of the bus and called like 6 more numbers just changing them around. After I got out of the bus very discouraged, I said a prayer with my companion. We then started walking towards the members house, while I was walking I was trying to call numbers and hopefully find one. I probably called 40 numbers haha, I was like "what the heck, I prayed, does god not want to help me find this person? He has so much potential." But then I stopped and felt like I should pray again. So I stopped and said a prayer, the difference was that after the prayer I stopped and try and feel gods inspiration, I LISTENED TO HIM! And the thought popped into my head instead of having both end in 0 make them end in 2. Me and elder Kim were both positive they ended in 0 but I tried and... IT WAS HIM!!! It was so cool and even though he is not in my area and I wont be able to teach him it was really cool to be able to receive revelation like that! 

Other than that we had some good lessons and some good proselyting! My greenie is awesome!! I love it here!! Super awesome!! Today while I was reading the Book of Mormon I was reading about the parable of the olive tree. It is super awesome and I feel like it talks straight to missionaries! haha

Lots of missionaries blame not having success on the area or the people. But if you look at Jacob 5 verses 21-22 it says 

21 And it came to pass that the servant said unto hismaster: How comest thou hither to plant this tree, or thisbranch of the tree? For behold, it was the poorest spot in allthe land of thy vineyard.

22 And the Lord of the vineyard said unto him: Counselme not; I knew that it was a poor spot of ground;wherefore, I said unto thee, I have nourished it this longtime, and thou beholdest that it hath brought forth muchfruit.

So no matter where we are if it is the "poorest" or worst of all the ground or the best of all the ground god will still be nourishing and preparing souls, we just need to follow the master and work diligently in the vineyard! I know this work is true!! And I love it!

Love you all! If you have questions let me know!!

Happy thanksgiving!

-스태그 장로

Veteran vs. Greenie

You sunk my battleship

Two Mormons on the loose

Day at the beach

Look mom, no brains

English 101

Mission president and wife posing with two outstanding candidates for Mrs. Stagg

Good times with chalk

Yongdo: Leaving no stone unturned

안녕하세요 여러분! 저희가 지난주 엄청 많이 기적을 봤습니다! 이제 제가 영으로 이야기하겠습니다! 

Hello everyone how y'all doing?  So this week was interesting because for the first time Trump was in the country that I am in and not in the country that you are in. Haha There was an aircraft carrier and a submarine parked right outside of our house! So that was cool. I heard people telling me that it was the " regan"! 

Anyways this week was super awesome! We saw so many miracles!

So as a district we set a goal to get at least 1 contact a day and give at least 1 Book of Mormon a day. And its been super awesome! Because I am the District leader I have them all report to me yes, yes, or yes, no, or no no depending on if they did both or not and when they give a book of mormon I have them send me how many. Its not a stat in the mission but we are focusing on that as a district and we have seen tons of success. In the past week and a half we have given out as a district 53 book of mormons!! My district is awesome and they are trying really hard to keep it. THere have been a couple days where it was like 20-30 minutes before we had to be home and we still didnt achieve the goal so we would be running around trying to find someone god has perpared for us, and every time we are able to find them sometimes just 2 minutes before 9. But I know as we are trying our hardest to literally talk with every person that god will bless us with miracles. There was one day in specific that god was showering us with blessings from on high! We had about 2 hours of Jundo(proselyting) which isnt a lot, and we set a goal to get 4 contacts and 3 book of mormons. We went out and at the end of the night we had given out 5 book of mormons and gotten 7 contacts, that is amazing for 2 hours of jundo!! It was so cool, but the even cooler part was the people we met. 1 of them randomly showed up to church yesterday with out us even  inviting him! One of them was this senior in highschool, we were walking and I saw him out of the corner of my eye and since he was kind of far away I wasnt planning on talking with him but I kept feeling like I needed to so I stopped him and we talked I was able to bear a testimony of why I am doing missionary work and that we aren't scary or weird because we are missionaries but I am  only 1 year older than him, and then my companion bore testimony of how god has helped him learn korean. It took a long time so I asked if we could meet later and he told me he still has 5 minutes... ( he actually wanted to hear what we were saying!?!?!) So I taught about the Book of mormon and told him if he prayed about it he could recieve and answer, he took it and said he would. But then 5 minutes after we left we got a text from him saying. Elders thanks so much for the Book of Mormon, I will surely read it tonight and before I sleep pray about it. I recently haven't been praying but because of you elders I will start praying again every night. Thanks so much>"  !! Wow I was so happy, that feels so good when you can see that change in someone because of you. We still havent been able to meet with him    but I am praying like crazy for him.

Out of those 7 contacts we are plannning on meeting at least 3 of them! Its usually a 10 to 1 ratio on a good day!! So super awesome day!!

I was reading in 2 nephi 4 today and its so good!! This is where nephi is lamentating about his wicked self and how he is not perfect. He is experiencing what I imagine everyperson in this world has experienced before they pain and anguish of not being perfect. Here Nephi is a prohpet of god, yet even he has mistakes and messes up sometimes, even Nephi feels those feeling that we all feel. When I read that chapter it brings me comfort knowing that a person as great as Nephi also has his down moments some times, but the important thing is, that in those down moments he looks to the lord to raise him up. I have really tried my hardest to stay happy and enjoy the whole thing. There is one  key I have found to being able to do that--- Prayer and the Atonement. Lots of people think the atonement is only for sinners and repentence \ but its SOOO much more that that. When I am feeling stressed, down, anxiety, home sickness,etc I have found that if I get on my knees and say father I am giving 2 years of my life to thee to help further the work, and I can't be as usefull when I am feeling these feelings, I ask god to through christs atonement, to take these feelings from me and replace them with his light!! And guess what? IT WORKS!! That is my little secret for how to stay nice and happy! Because of that one little tip I LOVE MISSIONARY WORK!! This really has been some of the best 2 years of my life! I am excited to go home and of course I miss my family and friends a ton, but I love the work and I don't want to leave right now! Its super fun, enjoyable, and fulfilling!!

Dont worry be happy!! :)

스태그 장로

Leaving no stone unturned

Yongdo: Greenie Days

Hello family and friends!! How are you all doing?! Is it starting to look like fall there? Here in Korea its getting cold but the leaves are still the same color! During this time period it goes from freezing temperatures to very hot temperatures from day to day. Its really weird and I don't understand it! haha

But anyways this has been a very very busy week! haha

So on Tuesday I got with the Elders in Daesheen and Goejeong who are both training and we had to go to each of the houses shop and clean them, and that morning we had a training meeting. Then at night we had to be at Goejeong's english class. That was fun because My last area was Goejeong it was fun to go back and say hi to all the people that were there!

On Wednesday is when I picked up my new greenie! He is from......... UTAH!!! haha his name is Elder Birrill and he is from South Salt Lake. He is using the same luggage his dad used when he went on a mission so its the really old leather bags with just a handle and no wheels! haha so that was fun having to carry all the way to the island! but we survived! :)

Then on Thursday I had to go back to head quarters (So far I have had to go there everyday) For DLTM- District Leader Training Meeting.

Then on Friday I had my first District Meeting where I was in charge! It was a little weird but worked out really well! Its interesting because there are three greenies and 1 Korean sister, the greenies can't speak Korean and the Korean isn't very good at english. So during district meeting I need to say everything in both languages! haha Its interesting!

At district Meeting we made a goal to every day get at least 1 contact and give 1 book of mormon a day. I have been really trying hard to do it and so far we have accomplished it every day. So has everyone in our district except for one team who couldn't give a book of mormon out one day. But in the past 2 days we have given out 10 book of mormons as a district. there was one night when we didn't have very much time maybe 40 minutes but we really wanted to achieve the goal so  we ran out side and Talked to every person that I could find, and we would run in between the conversations, we got the contact  pretty easy but no one would take the book of mormon. After a while we found a guy talked with him and he excepted it. But afterwards I felt like I could give one more out. But the thing is we had to be home in 15 minutes and we were about 20 minute walk from home. So we started running home and whenever we saw someone stop and talk to them. At 8:49 we met this person talked with him for about 5 minutes and gave him a book of mormon he said he would go home show his wife and read it with her and if he had interest he would call us. I am not sure if anything will come from that but I Know when we get in the mode of being willing to do anything and talk to anyone in our paths god is more willing to put prepared people in our paths because he can trust we will talk to them! So that was a fun little miracle I saw this week!

Outside of that we helped one of our members move this week! That was fun! It was a really good week! My trainee is super awesome and has a strong desire to do the lords work! I know we are going to see a bunch of miracles this transfer!

So I am trying to read the Book or Mormon before christmas ( I started yesterday) and Today I read about the tree of life!

I love the parable of the rod of iron and the worldly building. It talks about that as you eat the fruit of the tree of life it fills you with a joy that is beyond all description. But after you have partaken of it people start to mock you and that causes you to go away from the tree and the fruit. But god provided the Iron rod, and even though there is darkness if we hold tight and press forward (we can't see so we just need to trust and take one step at a time) we can receive the most amazing gift ever.

24 And it came to pass that I beheld others pressing forward, and they came forth and caught hold of the end of the rod of iron; and they did press forward through the mist of darkness, clinging to the rod of iron, even until they did come forth and partake of the fruit of the tree.

25 And after they had partaken of the fruit of the tree they did cast their eyes about as if they were ashamed.

But the sad part is is that after they did partake of the fruit and did have there soul filled with the light of it, because of other people they were ashamed and became lost!

Thats what I want to talk about today, its so sad when I see people who have partaken of the fruit and felt the joy and truthfulness of it but because of other peoples actions, words, thoughts, or ideas they get ashamed and leave! Its so sad, don't let other people change what you know to be true! You all have partaken of the fruit and felt the truthfulness of it so when ever time gets hard and darkness rolls in just cling to the rod, even though you can't see you know that the rod leads to eternal life and as you trust in god and show your faith by taking one step at a time you will be able to escape the darkness of temptation and sin and enter into the light of christ!! I encourage  you all to cling to the rod. Make sure you read your scriptures daily,  say your prayers, but that not all you still need to act. During your day look for ways to serve others, temporally or spiritually, try and be an example and most importantly "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven."

I love you all!

Hold to the rod! The Iron rod! Its strong and bright and true! The Iron god is the word of god!! And will safely guide you through!

-스태그 장로

Two of my previous companions

My new greenie

Yongdo: District Leader, Trainer, & Dog Eater

Hey how are you all doing? This has been a crazy week! First things first Transfer calls came in! And I am staying in 용도(Youngdo)! I had a huge feeling last transfer that I was going to be training. And well must of been the spirit or a lucky guess because I got a call from President asking me if I would accept the call to train. But then he threw a curve ball at me and asked me and to be the district leader! That caught me by surprise. Haha and elder Avila is moving to Gimhe, which is still in Busan and he will also be DL. So that's exciting! I am excited to be District Leader and Train! I know I will be able to learn a lot from these experiences and am ready to have them! .... Please pray for me! :) haha

Next thing is that we received smartphones!!! We got them on Sunday. And they are super nice! We still are not exactly sure what is planned for them exactly but I am excited to find out! I have heard that a lot of other missions are using Skype and Facebook and social media, so I am assuming we will go the same route! I will keep y'all updated! 

So last Thursday will definitely be a day that will go down in history!! ! I FINALLY HAD THE OPPORTUNITY TO EAT DOG! We were proselyting and a car pulled over and it was a less actives husband that we had helped before. This guy is legit! So a quick explanation of most Koreans, they are all the same... haha They all have bull cuts, circle glasses, and dress the same. But this guy is sick. He has long hair in a man bun, he plays this bamboo flute thing and has a bunch if native american tattoos and act like a really chill Indian dude! Haha but anyways he asked if we has ate yet and we said "no". He sayed that he will call us at 6 and we will go eat. He then asked what I want to eat. I answered, 삼겹살, 치킨, or 감자탕. Thin bacon typed pork, Korean fried chicken, or rib soup. Then he said nah lets eat dog soup. Haha so we ate dog soup. And it was actually pretty good. You just need to make sure that you don't have to much dog in your mouth at once because it can get ready chewy. Haha but next week we will probably eat living octopus with him. (What a great way to introduce my greenie into Korea!)  I've heard its pretty good and really cool because you need to fight the octopus while you eat it because it's still alive it sucks onto your tongue haha. 

So as far as missionary work goes! haha we also did some of that this week! :) 

So one of our investigator's family lives in Utah and his wife got baptized 3 years ago. And his son got baptized 2 months ago. (he was attending orem high-school and now is attending UVU) Well due to some problems with his VISA he had to come back to Korea for 3 months and is staying with his dad. He has came to church the past 3 weeks and we are hoping we can help get his dad to church through him! 

Next we met with Song Jee Ooo, He is a senior in high-school right now who is trying to go to UCLA. We met and ate some dinner and then played Ping Pong with him. We have been meeting him for a while but it has almost all been English and building the relationship with him, but on Thursday we asked if next time we met, if it would be ok to share a message about our church and he said he would love to! So I am excited for that! He is a really cool kid! 

Last but not least, is Kang Soo Meen. He is 20 years old and is studying really hard for a test that is next month. He is busy because of that but he says after the test he will come to our church! So thats exciting! He had a bad experience with church when he was young though. He went to a church with his friend and then the week after that the pastor stalked him and one day randomly stopped him at a bus stop and made him go to the church where they had a 3 hour "Lesson". He was so scared he hates all churches. So we have been very gentle with him and not much pressure and I think he is starting to see that we are not like that, and yesterday he promised he would go to church!! So thats exciting!

And then this transfer we are planning on baptizing our recent converts son and one of our members nephews! Both are 8! So we are teaching them right now! One of them (Kim Samuel) the recent converts son is soo fun! haha I love the kid! The other is a punk and really hard to teach. Plus he loves hitting us where it hurts! So he is interesting! haha

This week I have been reading a lot of the new testament! My goal was to finish it last transfer but I am 18 pages off! Oh well I will finish it hopefully by tomorrow! Anyways I was reading in 3rd John Chapter 1 when I came to a verse that hit me hard with the spirit! It was Verse 4 and 5!

4 (*Nathan*) I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth.

5 Beloved, thou doest faithfully whatsoever thou doest to the brethren, and to strangers;

I am not sure what this is supposed to mean, but when I read it this is what came to my mind. I felt as if God was talking to me saying that because of me and the work that I am doing I am causing my father in heaven to have the greatest joy as he is seeing his sons and daughters being brought into the light of his  gospel! As I have faithfully talked day after day to complete strangers about his sons atoning power, I felt like he was saying he was proud of me! Its not easy going out on the street and just talking to complete strangers about god, in a country where they are either Buddhist or firm in their christian belief, especially in Korean. But a while back my father sent me something that has really helped me do the work. He told me if I try and look at everyone through the eyes of Christ I will see my brothers and sisters who are in the dark and have not found the light of Christ! As I do that it makes it a lot easier to bypass my fears and awkwardness and talk to everyone that I can because thats what my savior would of done if he was here. As I have focused on that its not as hard to talk to people, couples and families.

I want to promise you all as you look through the eyes of christ to find your brothers and sisters who have not found the light, that you will be able to find opportunities to show them the way. As you do that you will receive joy greater than you have ever experienced! There is no better joy and happiness then the happiness that you feel as you help your brothers and sister taste of the fruit of the gospel!! I love my calling as a missionary!! I encourage you all to look for ways to do missionary work, and for those of you who still can, I strongly urge you to prayerfully and seriously consider serving a full time mission!

I love you all so much!! I love this gospel, and I know as missionaries and members work together we can hasten the work! #HastenTheWork

-서태규 장로

The view from my new apartment

The 3 of us

Females

The 4 of us

We usually act this way when females are near