Gangham Missionary Style

Hello family and friends, 

Ok time for crazy story time. So a lot of you may the the song "Gangnam Style", the most famous song on youtube right now. Well if you didn't know this, Gangnam is the richest city in Korea and is really nice and really big with tons of people. Anyway our investigator wanted to meet us there for some reason and we weren't sure why. But it was a teaching opportunity so we were able to get permission to leave our zone and travel there. 

Wow that city is really cool!!! Like i've never seen anything like it in my whole life. When you look up you can't see the top of the buildings. There are a ton of people there and everything is really clean. Our investigator said we had a few minutes to burn so he took us a really cool bookstore and he bought a bunch of Korea grammar books for us. Then we went to this park which was really cool. So our investigator is the brother in law of a man who is running to be the mayor of Gangnam and the reason we were going there was to get a picture with him. So our investigator kinda tricked us into coming, but we got to have a picture with somebody who may be a very powerful man in Korea. There were a few other men there and it was very strange because I could sense the power that the men had and how much influence the had. We were able to talk about why were here and how we were so good at Korea. It was really really cool.

 Oh and after that our investigator took us out to lunch and there tried to give us a hundred bucks. We said no of course and that we would rather meet him again. He said that would be good and we are going to teach him tonight again. Crazy stuff haha. 

We got to watch conference this weekend which was really awesome. So much amazing counsel and hearing the testimonies of the leaders of our church always helps out mine. I really liked when the one elder talked about technology and how you are not smart if you have a smart phone. Don't sift through the Garbage haha. 

I'm getting better at Korean and it's really fun to talk to people. If everybody would just talk slower I think I would be ok. But Koreans really like to talk fast so I guess I'll have to get used to it. 

This is just the most amazing time of my life. I feel like this is going to be over before I know it so i'm trying my best to make every minute count. Thanks for all the letters and the words of encouragement.

Love you all and hope you all are doing well,

Elder Daniel John Meeks 

4/6/2014 - a Real Letter

Hey everyone,

Life is really awesome here in Korea. One thing that has been really awesome is that our ward mission leader is like the greatest guy in the whole world. So he called us one day and asked if we had any appointments and that if we did he said he wanted to come. We said that we did and that he could come, except we were going to be talking to a man form Cameroon Africa about the bible and some deep questions about what we believe. His English is not very good. We were going to meet at a McDonnelds and the whole time there was music playing in the background and it was really hard to have to spirit in the room. But when our ward mission leader started to bare his testimony in really broken English I couldn't hear the music at all and the spirit was so strong. He was found by the missionaries when he was a teenager and was baptized and then served a mission. And then last night we had him with the family that we are teaching and he went so well. He was able to explain everything in a way that made them understand and feel the spirit. In Korea it's really hard to have lessons with members there because there is some sort of pressure or something like that. I don't really understand why that is but this time was really good and they felt really comfortable with him there. 

I played ping pong last week with the other elders in my house. They thought that they could beat me and they talked really big. I guess you could say that the years of playing ping pong in the garage helped me out a bit. I killed them all haha. 

So before my mission I wasn't the most clean person in the entire world. I think i've changed just a little bit. Mom, Dad please don't have a heart attack but i really like it when things are clean now. I think I came to this because the other elders in my house (not my companion) are absolute pigs and don't care about making a mess with our stuff too. I've noticed that being clean just helps bring the spirit into the room so much better. 

Everything is really amazing and our investigators are doing well. It's hard to get them to church but we are working on it with them. We talk to about 150 people a week and it is really nice. My Korean gets a whole lot better when we talk to people on the street. Listening is really hard but i'm getting there. 

I love you all and love this work. I have been on my mission for 4 months now and I can't believe it. I am 1/6 done with my mission. Crazy!!! I don't think i'm ever want going to want to have it end. 

Elder Daniel John Meeks 

3/9/2014 - Life is good

Hello Friends and Family,

So I've had to start writing down all the different things that happen to me because it's really hard to remember it all.

So my trainer is the district leader of our district so we go on splits sometimes. The other day we had a greeny split and it was kinda interesting. The other elder has been here for about three months and I've never heard him speak Korean. He doesn't really ever try to talk to people so I was kinda on the my own the whole day. Anyway something funny happened while we were together. We were just walking down the street and the guy shouts and us and acts like he knows us and everything and is super happy. We keeps saying the name Elder Sorenson, which is is name of companion whom I was splitting with. We asked if we want to go get something to eat and we go to this cake shop and get cake. There he discovers that Elder Brantly, whom I'm with, is not Elder Sorenson. He thought Elder Brantly was Elder Sorenson which was a little confusing to him because he thought that Elder Sorenson could speak well and he can but Elder Brantly didn't speak Korean at all. He felt pretty silly but I tried really hard to get him to have a good time and I could speak enough to develop a good relationship with him.

I had my first experience of eating to the point of almost killing myself. We had a lesson with a member and after we went out to dinner and he bought us a lot of food. This was no problem because I can eat a lot of food and be totally good. Right after that though we went to eat another dinner with our ward mission leader and he just kept it coming. I have never eaten so much pig in my entire life. Korean BBQ's are really cool because they just bring out raw meat and you cook it on a grill right in front of you. Man my companion and I were dying haha.

So here's a little bit about Korean culture. The Korean culture is a really touchy feely one, but it can only be with people that are younger than you. It is really bad to put your hand on an older man's shoulder but they can do it to you. Really weird but somehow it just works. We were out the only day and it was really cold and I didn't have gloves for some reason and I was talking to this old man and he noticed that I was cold. He reached out and grabbed my hands and started to rub them. Holy cow was that that the most amazing thing in the world. It would be just a little bit weird if someone I didn't know were to do that in America, but it just feels super normal when a Korean man with rough old hands does it. Haha hard to explain. But you can just be talking to some random person and they are just really touchy but it feels really normal. Except when a strange drunk guy runs up to you and starts smacking on the behind haha.

I had my first drop the other day. Holy cow does that just put a downer in your day. We had been teaching this guy English and the gospel. Then we brought a member with us and he realized that we aren't just teaching English. Guess he wasn't ready to have the gospel but it was really not the greatest thing ever.

I knocked on doors for the first time of my mission. Most ineffective thing in the world. My companion said we had to do it once for my sake and it was super lame. People would open the door just barely and we would start talking and instantly close it. Not very nice.

Korea has some really good things about the culture and some really messed up things. One thing is that Koreans can't really be friends if they are a different age. Literally one person could be born and 1995 and another born one day later in 1996 and they can't be friends. So Sometimes you just don't say your age when you talking to somebody who is just a bit older than you.

Oh the work is great and I love being out here. Sometimes it's hard but if we work hard it turns out good in the end. Every day is a miracle and it's going by so fast, I can't believe that I've already been here for a month.

Love you all and miss you all. Keep up the good work,

Love,

Elder Daniel John Meeks 

2/23/2014 - Preaching the good word of God

Hello family and friends,

Never a dull moment when you are in Korea. How lets see where should I start?

So the language is really difficult and I can't understand people at all haha. But I'm trying to work really hard at it and I can fell myself getting better. Every time I talk in Korean people ask how long I've been here and I tell them and there always shocked about it. Guess the gift of tongues thing really does work in helping learn a language. I did kinda make a slip up the other day with the language though. I was just practicing with one of the less-active members that we talk to a bit and I though I asked him where he was going. He kinda looked at me funny and told me that saying that was a really mean way of telling somebody to go away. He is really good at English and cool but it's just the difference of one syllable haha.

So me and my companion went shopping the other day and it was probably one of the most stressful things that I have ever done. Korean supermarkets are not like Utah supermarkets. So the place we went to is like bigger than a wal-mart and has three floors. On every aisle there is like three people at those sample stall things and they are shouting to try and get you to come to try whatever they have. On top of that there are just like a billion people there and you have to constantly move out of the way and navigate around people to get to where you want. Holy cow it was stressful. And after that my companion and I had to carry everything we bought in boxes for about 2 miles. Lets just say my arms are still sore from that one. Haha there are a few things here in Korea that it's impossible to buy because of how much it costs. Cheese, butter, and anything that's American. It's like thirty bucks to buy one pizza from papa john's, not happy about that haha.

Right now we have 2 investigators. 최태짚 and 박준규. Both of them have really good potential. It's really hard right now because we have a church building like 5 minutes away from our house, but it's under construction right now. So right now we have to travel about an hour and a half to get to church. It's really hard to get investigators to come to church when it's so far away. When the church opens up in a couple of weeks things are going to be a little better. We could just talk to people on the street and ask if they want to come into the church.

Korea is not exactly an easy place to convert people to the gospel. My companion is a great missionary and works really hard all the time no matter what, but he's been out for a year and hasn't baptized anybody. There are many things in Korean culture that go against the church and it's hard to commit people to change when it's there culture. Smoking and drinking is a HUGE problem here. No joke. If we met people and ask them for a tip about Korean culture to make friends they always say that you need to drink with them. And every man here smokes all the time. I guess we need to change that part of the culture.

I thing that I am seeing that I probably won't do when I have more experience is talking about English. We have an English class that we teach once a week which I think is fine but anything other than that is not OK. Our goal as missionaries is to teach and invite people to come to the gospel of Christ. I think teaching English is not the best way to do that.

So the day we wanted to visit a less-active and we had to walk for about 2 hours to get there. Well we get there and there was nobody home. So we started to walk back. One thing I really like is that we really focus on trying to talk to whomever we can where ever we are going. Well we were walking back and my companion was mostly talking to this teenage boy and a middle-aged woman comes up to me and asks me in broken English if I am a Mormon. I said yes and wasn't too surprised because we get that quite often here. The next part was what shocked me. Still in broken English she said that she and here family wanted to learn about our church. Never heard that one before. Super amazing!!! She said that like 10 years ago she met with some missionaries a couple of times and then moved. So we set up an appointment and were are going to meet with her and her whole family in a couple of days. Just goes to show that when you're out working the Lord puts people in your path.

Our ward is really great and I think that it's really important to have a good relationship with the members. I think that's one thing that we struggle with. So I've have been really trying to get to know the members at church to have them trust us and want to help up. It will be easier when I can actually talk more than a more sentences to them.

The Lord's hand is in everything we do. I am learning so much. So missionaries don't take advantage of being in Korea. I want to help people here to but I also want to better myself in every way. Physical, mental and spiritual. I just love serving the people here and talking to them. It's great to see the smile of somebody's face when you start talking in their language to them.

I hope all of you are doing wonderful and I miss you all. The Lord's hand is in everything and I love this work

Love you all,

Elder Daniel John Meeks 

2/16/2014 - Holy Cow: Everything is amazing

Individuals letters this week.  Here is what he wrote to me.

Hey mom,

Holy cow everything is so amazing right now. I'm so glad to hear that everything is going pretty good at home and that things are still interesting. Keep an eye on Jess for me because I can't be there for a while. 

Korea is such a great place but it's kinda hit and miss when you are talking to people. So my companion is really great and he talks to every person that he comes in contact with and it has given me the confidence to talk to people too. So the people are either really super nice or just not at all. It's awesome to talk to nice people because they compliment you about how good you speak Korean and about how good looking you are. Not really helping my giant ego haha. 

We had a great week where we just met a bunch of people and this random guy on the street was really nice and he invited us to go dinner with his family the next day. They really like us and we are planning on teaching them this next week. I feel like my Korean is getting a lot better all the time because my companion is really awesome and helps me and we just talk to a lot of people.

So you are probably going to hate me but I lost my camera. I think I left it somewhere at the airport somewhere so I'm not sure what to do...

Food here is good but I really need to make it better. Would you mind sending me some recipies of random stuff that would be good to eat. I haven't had to eat anything super gross yet but it's bound to happen.

My apartment is tiny and we live with another companionship and they are really cool but they are kinda lazy sometimes. I'm really glad my companion wants to work all the time and get stuff done.

Missionary work is kinda interesting in Korea. The average Korean can't read The Book of Mormon. The grammar is too hard and they don't understand it the same way a normal American could.

The members here are great but that's one thing that could be better. We could have a better relationship with the members, but it's hard for me because I can't speak that well. When I am better I will make sure I make that a really good priority.

I'm learning so much and I love studying the gospel. Every day is a new challenge and a new experience. 

Love this gospel so much.

Thanks for everything and I love to always hear about you and the family. Tell Jen that I say hi and that she's awesome.

Love ya and miss ya.

Elder Daniel John Meeks 

2/9/2014 - Everything is new!

The new arrivals!

Ok I don't really know how to start this. 

So basically everything about my life now is exactly opposite of whatever it was before. Literally everything has just flipped upside-down. I guess I'll start at the plane ride. 

So we went to Detroit first and it was not really great cause the seats were really small and I didn't have anybody to talk to during that time. But the 14 hour place ride to Korea was different. I was sitting next to a elder from my zone and then I Korea girl who was about 22. She spoke really great English and so we were able to talk to her and practice our Korean a little bit. We probably talked to her for about 6 hours total for the whole plane ride. She was super nice and we talked about the gospel and just a bunch of random things and it made the flight go a lot faster. So now she has some interest in our church because we did a really good job representing the church as nice, loving people. 

After that we met our mission president and some other missionaries who were there and we loading up our luggage and went strait onto the subway and started talking to people. It was super hard but there were some missionaries who were older there to help us. We got to the mission home and went to bed because it was like midnight. 

The next day we did a little bit of orientation and then got our new companions. Yea my companion is so freaking awesome that I can't even tell you. He is exactly what a perfect missionary should be. He has been out for a year now and his Korean is sooooooo good. He is exactly obedient and very patient with me learning the language. His name is elder Oman and he is from Idaho and just such a great guy and we get along really well. 

Have I talked to any people you all ask?  Well we talk to literally every single person that is on the street. We talk to people in passing and on the subways and buses and walking and everywhere. Something interesting about Korea though is that we can't talk to girls.... at all.... EVER!!!! Well we can only if they are about around the age of 60 or above. No joke. Not even a passing hello to any other girls at all. But it's way fun to talk everybody else. It's fun to talk to kids in English because they are really nice. 

We and a lesson with a older man named 최태집 we teach him a little English and then the lesson and I asked him to be baptized. He said he had to think about it but he said if he knew it was true he would be baptized. 

K story time. So my companion said that there was an old investigator who was really good at guitar and he hadn't seen him in a while. We decided it would be a good idea if we went and said hi. He is probably about 30. He got in an accident about 5 years ago and is paralyzed from the waste down. Anyway we went over and knocked on the door and he started yelling at us in Korean and I guess it wasn't very nice from what my companion said, he can speak English really well, so we left. So we had just gotten back to our apartment and we winding down when we got a call from him and he sounded alright but he said that he needed emergency help. We sprinted over to his place which was really close and walked in and he had fallen back in his wheelchair and couldn't move. He was ok and everything but we just pulled him out and got him a situated and then my companion held is legs and I lifted him up. He wasn't that heavy but he was like shocked that I could do that. He was so grateful for us helping him and was really sorry that he had yelled at us earlier. Kinda my real first miracle. Anyway we made sure he was alright and then we ran back home cause it was already like 10:30 at that point. Anyway I called him yesterday again to make sure he was alright and then asked him if we could come over to see him sometime and play guitar or something and he said that that would be awesome. So we have an appointment tonight at 7:00. Such an amazing miracle. 

I like the food, I've had a few weird things but nothing I can't handle. My apartment is tiny and my companion and I and 2 other elders live together and we all sleep on pads in the main area. I am getting better at the language but I can't understand anything at all which is ok. I gave a talk in sacrament meeting yesterday and he was alright. Our ward is really nice and we ate at the bishops that other night. I haven't seen another American beside the elders in my district in the whole city here. We are the only white people haha. 

Oh I'm in a city called Suji(수지) it has about 250,000 people and it's so busy. We ride trains and buses and subways everywhere and a lot of walking. You can get really good food for super cheap and it's awesome. 

Just want to let you all know that I'm doing awesome and I love it here. Almost everybody is nice and It's really good. I love serving the Lord and I am looking forward to these coming months. Love you all and miss you a lot. 

Love, 

Elder Daniel Meeks 믹스 장로 

2/4/2014 - I'm Here

Short and sweet!

Hey I'm here and I'm safe. I love you all and will tell you more on Monday.

Miss you, 

Elder Daniel John Meeks