June 29, 2014 - Farm picts

Note:  I pulled some of these pics off the Korean ward "band" (facebook page).  They are likely out of order.

6/8/2014 - The best and worst

Hello family and friends,

So this week has been full of some of the best things and some of the worst things of my mission so far. 

We were about to go out for the day and we got a call from the sisters in our district. They told us that a man, about 10 minutes earlier, had jump off the 14th floor of the building right outside of there door. We quickly came over and we saw the body of the man who had jumped off the building. It was really really sad and the sisters were not very happy about it. Apparently this type of thing is pretty common in Korea. I just feel really bad for that man and i'm sure that his spirit is more at peace now. 

Alright just had to tell that one. There have actually been some really cool things that have happened this week. First, I've now been on a mission for 6 months now. I can't believe i'm one-forth done!! 

Also, we were going to go out and I was going to play some hymens on guitar and another elder was going to sing, but we ran across a group of kids my age with a guitar and I walked up and asked if I could play with them. We ended up playing for like an hour or so which was super fun. They all lived super far away so we couldn't meet with any of them again but they now know who the missionaries are. 

We went to a really funny wedding of an older guy in our ward. It was just at our church and it was with a non-member and it was like a 10 minute long ceremony with like 10 balloons and a really cheep cake. There was also a meal after and that was it. Not really the most beautiful wedding in the world but it was fun. 

I just ended my 3 transfer and i'm staying with my companion so it's officially that I will be his last companion. I'll make sure he works hard for sure.  

We picked up a new investigator that has been coming to our English class for a really long time. His name is Ty and he is about 60 years old. In English class we looked at The Proclamation to the Family so in our lesson that lead to a talk on the Law of Chastity. Thankfully everything we said he agreed with so that's a blessing. Anyway we are going to try and teach him more along the lines of The restoration and Plan of Salvation next to though. 

We are always doing our best do find new people to teach and bring people unto Christ. It's pretty hard though. People don't really just line of to receive baptisms in Korea. But it's not impossible and I know there are people out there for us to teach and baptize. 

Love you all and hope you all have a good week. 

Elder Daniel Meeks

From another Elders Blog about Daniel:

Monday we went to our first Preach My Gospel Teacher Improvement (PMGTI or "Pass off") Brunch at President's house, since I finally passed off my first pamphlet a few weeks ago. Elder Meeks and I did it at the same time, so both Elder Berry and Elder Meeks accompanied us to said divine banquet/brunch. It was DELICIOUS. Sister Morrise made us french toast with bacon, watermelon, strawberries, buttermilk syrup, hash browns, and some super good mango juice. Like, man was it divine! Anyway, we got to talk to President for a while which was cool, and we started to talk about how my dad works as a Production Designer in Hollywood. Turns out he ran into a Korean Film Archive Director on the subway the other day and decided to give me his card! Haha! He said he hopes I get to see his place, and check out some movies! Guess we'll see! :P Later, we found out that President Uchtdorf's favorite movie is School of Rock but.. don't tell him I told you that, haha. However, feel free to like him more than you previously have - that scores some big points! After brunch we hit Costco for my first time in the country, and bought some sweet goods.

Then, Thursday was Zone Training at Dapdong, which was really good. Elders Berry and Meeks taught me some sweet pen tricks from across the room (I sound like a pretty focused missionary, right? ..Haha they were harder then you'd think! 

6-1-2014 - I'm being cooked over here

I can not tell you how hot it is over here. Being a man who has literately spent his entire life is Utah you don't know what the whether is like all over the world. I could not believe my companion when he told me it was only about 70 degrees. It's only spring and i'm now being cooked alive because of the humidity. I don't know what i'm going to do when summer roles around. 

Speaking of being cooked we had Elder Cook come to our mission to speak (see what I did there haha). He wanted to shake hands with all the missionaries that were there which was about 400. It was such a great experience to be able to shake the hand of apostle of the Lord. When he spoke he spoke with power and authority but it was very gentle and quiet. He talked about love and faith. He said that if we have faith then we will find people to teach and that we will baptize people. But he didn't sugar coat it. He said that we probably  won't get the same about of baptisms as people in Brazil and places like that but with faith they will come and people will be brought closer to the Lord.



He also talked about love and He gave us four things that he absolutely have to love. We need to love the people, the Mission president, our companions, and the Lord. All of these things hit me really hard. If you don't have love for one of theses things than it's really hard to be an effective missionary. It really is all about love, with a bunch of faith in there.

This week the sisters' investigators was baptized. It was a really neat experience to see somebody have that experience and have the happiness that comes from that. I also got to play my guitar and have the sisters sing there too. So grateful that I am able to use that talent to bring happiness to others. Sister B---- was one of the sisters who sang which was cool. Kinda crazy that we are still so seeing each other on the opposite side of the world. Also one of our investigators came to the service at the last second and he got to see that. I really think that he felt something there and I hope he takes it to heart. 

Another funny thing that happened this week is that we got roped into going to a different church. So the sisters met a lady on the street that said they were teaching free Korean to foreigners. We thought that this would be a great way to learn a bit and to meet some new people. What they didn't tell us was that they were from a different church and the truth was was that there weren't any other foreigners at all and all. They taught us a bit and then they brought us food and tried really hard to make us happy. But about half way through we realized what was going on. Man churches in Korea are pretty crazy. All they are looking for is gain and money and to have more renown in the world. Signs of the times I guess. Anyway lets just say we will not be going back there.

Elder G------ ( a different elder in our house) is always keeping us entertained. He likes talking non-stop and he doesn't really care is people understand him. He is a huge martial arts fan and he will show off anywhere and any time. Haha is companion is Korean and so there is just a little bit of a cultural difference with that companionship.

My companion Elder B----- and I are doing good work. We met a member of a different church who had some really good questions about our church. The problem was was that they were really hard questions that would have been hard to talk about in English let alone Korean. I wasn't much of a help in that conversation and my companion did really really good.

Having faith is sometimes hard. But it really pays off when we do. We don't find new people every day and we don't have baptisms every week but if we have faith those things will come and it will be more enjoyable as you do it.

Love you all and thank you all so much for your prays and support.

Elder Daniel Meeks