December 22, 2013

Holy cow! I can't believe that about david! That is wow. That's super scary. What do the doctors tell him about his cancer? They think he's gonna beat her? I think he will. Holy cow. I can't believe that. I haven't sent the presents yet....it's already christmas I know...I'm sorry. :( I'll send them this week! Probably not until like thursday or friday though... Korean is comin alright. I think I'm doing okay for how long I've been out here. Haha I'll take a picture of my ties eventually. :) I'm rackin up a few! I got my new suit this week by the way! It is pretty dang awesome. I love it actually. Oh so my new companion Elder Gamble! He's from washington state. From Vancouver, right by portland, Oregon. He has been in Korea for 9 weeks longer than me. So 2 months longer. We struggle at korean together and its a great time. :) Ah I'm so excited for Jayden! You should film his farewell talk and send it to me. ;)  Dang it sounds like you guys are having a good time but also a really crazy time back in good ol' Utah! I don't think that I'm going to be as detailed in this email as I have been in my past ones since I'm going to talk to you on wednesday. :) Super excited for that by the way! Skype baby! I'm so glad we get to skype. It's gonna be awesome.

 

Alright the highlights of the week! Monday we went up to Suwon and went up on top of the wall that surrounds it! There is a wall that surrounds the ancient city of Suwon and now its just like a huge tourist spot!  And that's what all those pictures are of by the way. I'll describe them later. We could see all of Suwon from up there! So that's what we did. Then that night was super sad. :( We all went to a 고기 buffet with 박희정 and 심우진 for like a last little party with Elder Atkin. That really was super sad. Once the presents came out ah man. It was all tears from there. For them at least. I'm so grateful that I have 6 more weeks here. I seriously love it. It is probably the best thing that I've ever done in my life. Ah. Man. So that was that! Then Tuesday I had to say goodbye to my dad! :( I met Elder Gamble and came home! We talked to quite a few people, but nothing too exciting to report there. Wednesday I read the football anouncers talk from General Conference. It was pretty dang good! One thing I learned from it was that the way to our father in Heaven doesn't matter nearly as much as the fact that we get there. Everyone will go through different things, and choose different ways. But we all should be working together to make it. :) We had distrit meeting and one lil highlight from that is that we need people to be able to feel Christ's love through us. And that's so true. Becuase that really is probably the biggest reason people will listen to us. Then we had english class and after we got 쪽발 or pigs feet with some investigators and people from English class! That was super fun. And the pig feet is actually pretty decent believe it or not! I'm tellin ya, they don't really eat gross food here. 

 

Thursday some highlights. In the morning when I was studying I learned that it doesn't take too much for people to be able to feel the spirit. the holy ghost can penetrate by small and simple means. And yeah! We went to lunch with 이태경 because she's going to America, well i guess she's in america now! Also, it was my 6 month mark on my mission! There goes 1/4 of it! Can you believe it? It's flyin by. I hate it! Really haha it scares me. But we went to this cool blace and she bought me a Cars cake cuz she heard that it was my 6 month mark. She rocks. She's so nice. :) Then that night we had a lesson with 김현철! It went decent. We didn't have a chance to actually get a lesson in with him, so we just shared a sripture real fast and asked him to keep reading! Hopefully he keeps making progress. Friday we had weekly planning, no highlights there. :) Haha no big highlights from that whole day actually. Saturday we went down to 평택 and walked for a while just talking to people. Then we were talking to this one lady and she is like oh hey come with me. I'll buy ya some 붕어빵. Which is this delicious little winter snack thing here that's in the shape of a fish. So we are like okay! Then she buys it and before she pays she goes, Okay! Before I pay...leave! Me and elder Gamble looked at each other and were like...uh what? Haha what the heck is going on? So that was a little adventure. I don't know why she didn't just tell us she didn't want to talk to us haha. But anyways. Yeah. That was fun. Then we went to the Christmas party with the Kroean ward! I'm sure you saw our jingle bell performance. :) That was super fun! Then we had a singing fight that you may have seen on facebookk as well. Not too sure. :) Haha me and Sister Bassett had to see who could go higher. It was super funny.

 

Yesterday we had the crazy lady come to church! i'm not sure how much I've told you about her. She scares me a lot haha. Anyways that was fun Then we had another Christmas Party that night where we got to sing! All the missionaries sung Oh, Come All Ye Faithful. That was super fun. Haha I've been asked to sing more times on my mission than I thought I ever would have in my life. So that's a little weird. ;) But yeah! That was our week. It was a fun one. I can't wait for Christmas!! The tree looks so good! Also, you got a new rug in the living room! nice! It looks good. And the picture above the fireplace! Nice touch momma. :) haha I love you and hope you guys have an awesome week! I love you!

 

Love,

Elder Breinholt

December 15, 2013

Holy cow! Sounds like you guys had a crazy week! I can't belive that about david! That seriously blows my mind! That's intense! At least the doctor got most of it and he's already goin back to work! That's fast! By the way, yeah that scar was awesome! Haha I love it! Geez! Haha yeah walking down the street sometimes is definitely a self esteem booster, except now in seoul there are so many foreigners they're used to it sadly haha. I bought presents for you guys this week! I am going to send a picture of them before I do...I'm going to try and send it through one of our members, but if not, I'll just send it through the normal mail. I think you guys will like them. :) I'm sure I'll get the package on Christmas eve when we have our mission activity thing! It'll be way fun! Alright. Christmas eve 8 PM. Gotcha. I'll try to make it work! I'll talk to some people and get it worked out! Wow I can't believe that its already christmas. Yeah we actually got our transfer calls on saturday night and I'm staying of course, because Elder Atkin is going home, and my new companion is Elder Gamble! He's in the same zone right now so I've talked to him a few times and he's pretty cool! So I think that it will be super fun! He's only two transfers ahead of me so he's been here for 7 months now. I know i need to get better at taking pictures. We actually took a lot yesterday so I'll get some to you! Yeah as a neurologist you study the whole nervous system so really the brain and spine and other stuff, but you're a brain and spine surgeon. Pretty crazy! I still can't believe that he had a brain tumor! Wow! At least you caught it early! That's awesome! Also, it has snowed a few times now so its getting nice and cold! Alright so this week.

 

Monday was good. It is so good to read all of your emails and be able to see how you are doing each week. It looks like you guys had a lot of fun with alynn home this week. :) But yeah. You basically know what we did monday! It's the same every week. :) We didn't really have time to do too much in between FHE and emailing. So, at FHE we played mafia again. That game gets super intense. haha 허건 is super good at english and he was convincing Elder Pruner that he wasn't mafia so bad. Like so it was between Elder Atkin and 허건(ho gun) for who was mafia, and elder pruner obviously wasn't. So, they each had to convince him, but they couldn't haha it was super funny. Elder Pruner had no idea who to choose and was so nervious! But he ended up choosing right. SO that was good. Elder Atkin lived and 허건 was mafia. Yeah! Then tuesday was good. I read a really good talk by Neil L. Andersen on Power in the Priesthood. He talks about how priesthood blessings aren't limited just to those who have it. Women benifit just as much as men by being able to be baptized, going to the temple, and having home teachers who can look over them. And I thought that was really cool. Then me and Elder Dewey went on a split! It was a lot of fun. He's 6'5 and from logan. I love the kid. haha we went to visit the picture man. He played some awesome tunes for us then we left and had dinner at McDonalds. Honestly, it kinda blows my mind how good McDonalds and Taco bell are here. So good. But that could just be because I miss them so much. :) Then we had Korean Class...but no one came sadly. But that's alright. Then we decided to go visit some people so we visited David Kim! He's awesome. I'm gonna be sad when I have to leave this place and him. And yeah! That was our day.

 

Wednesday was good. In personal study i read some really good stuff. I read Bind Up Their Wounds by Henry B. Eyring. I loved one thing in particular. He said as priesthood holders it is our duty to be the good samaritan. We need to be the person who goes out of their way to help others--even if we might not be the biggest fan of that person. Then we had district meeting and we did a cool lil activity where everyone goes around and writes an attribute from the attribute activity in PMG that someone has on a piece of paper with that persons name on it. So that was a nice lil boosting activity. Oh gosh. So Elder Dewey and Hale stayed in 평택 because we had the temple on thursday so they might as well stay with us because we are an hour closer. So we went down to 평택 and met up with the Ridings and we went to a little asian picture booth. So cool. Haha in these things we took pictures and had a real good time. It was so funny. Just 8 americans. And the pictures you get turn into stickers. It's awesome. I'll send a picture. So yeah that was super fun! Then we had english class which as always rocked. We played this drawing picture game where someone draws and you have to guess what it was. Pictionary! That's the one haha. That was fun. And that was really our day! Thursday we had the temple and P-Day. That was super awesome. I love going to the temple. The spirit is always so strong. So if you need to feel the spirit, go to the temple. :) I got to see elder Garff from the MTC! I love him. He's serving in seoul mission, but his area is the temple area and so he just happened to be there when we came out! It was awesome. I miss him. At the temple though Elder Atkin gave his 마지막 말씀 or his "Last words". That was good. I also got to see elder Hodges! I miss him so much! Haha then me and elder Atkin went to a place over by the mission home and bought some ties! It was 3 for 10 dollars! heck of a deal. I love korea. :) haha and yeah! That was our P-day. We didn't have anything happen at night that was too exciting to report.

 

Friday was fun! We had weekly planning which is always super fun of course. Haha it was weird because Elder Atkin was only going to be there for one of the days...anyway. That was fun. Then we went down around the base and visited our suit friend. Elder Atkin wanted to buy a suit so he did. Then I got sucked into it. It was 150 for an entirely custom tailored suit. so yeah I had to go for it. I get it this week sometime. Then we went over to the souvenir shop where we saw tons of miracles! The owner of the place happen to be another missionary's nonmember aunt and uncle! Pretty awesoem! That was so cool! So we talked to them about how he is our friend. And then they loved us! it was awesome. I hope that it goes somewhere. Because tons of missionaries always go there. Also, we met some other nonmembers that were from utah and talked to them as well as a less active guy! Then on our way home our taxi driver guy had a ton of english interest! So hopefully he comes to english class! Tons of miracles in a little amount of time. Then we went to the 고기buffet with our Ward Mission Leader. That was delicous. Dang I loved it haha. It was so good. That's gonna be one of the things I miss most when I come home here in a year and a half. By the way! This thursday is my 6 month mark. What the heck. Time seriously flies. But yeah! That was friday.

 

Saturday was awesome as well! We got up and went over to 오산 air base to do some service. They have troops for trash every 2nd saturday and it was so fun. We got to talk to tons of people and just do service. I talked to a guy from new york, and a few koreans and some other people. It was fun. Then that night we went to a super nice restaraunt with Julie called Applebee. Nothing like Applebees though. Don't be fooled. Haha it was super good! It was a buffet style place. Oh gosh. Listen to this story. I was getting food from the buffet table and a kid who was just old enough to be potty trained comes running by with his pants all the way down. Shoot it was so funny. So also, there were two 1st birthday parties while we were there. The 1st birthday is a big deal to Koreans. It's just tradition now, but back when they were poor if a baby made it to one it was a big deal. So now they celebrate it for tradition. And because of those that place was super busy! But it was fine. Then after that we ran over to 오산역 to meet a lady named 김윤미 (Kim Yoon Me) who wanted to learn abuot the church. So we talked to her for a little bit, got to know her, answered some of her questions, and gave her some of the pamphlets. That was so cool. She really wants to learn about the church. It has been around her her whole life and now she's decided to see what we are about. I'm super excited about this one. After meeting with us she said that oh we felt different and that we became friends really fast. So that was awesome. Gosh she's so cool. Then we came home and got our transfer call! I already told you about that. So I'll be here for one more! I'm thinking this will be my last transfer here, but that's alright.

 

Sunday was seriously awesome. We went to church and it was Elder Atkins last time at church in Korea and Elder Pruner's last time in 평택. Pretty sad, but it was alright. We hung out after church with some of the members and just talked to them. Then we had 김나영's mom sign her baptismal record and stuff before ELder Atkin leaves haha. Cuttin it close! So we talked to her for a little. Then we went over to the Bishops house for a little party thing! Our ward here is so awesome. I really love them so much. Even though I can't talk to them too well, it's alright. I'm going to miss this place when I have to go. All of the members are so cool and our bishop is one of the nicest and coolest guys I've ever met in my life. gosh. It really is so good to be in 평택. We watched part of the Christmas devotional and had dinner, which was delicious, also we talked and said some last words to elder atkin. That was weird. I can't believe he's leavin! So weird! I really am so grateful to be able to be a missionary in Korea. There isn't a better place to serve in the world. :) I love it. It's an adventure everyday and always so fun. I'm sorry I have to be havin the time of my life without you guys, but I'll be sure to tell you all about it when I get home. If that day ever comes. :) I love you and hope you have a Merry Christmas!

 

Love,

Elder Breinholt

December 8, 2013

Hello! I hope that your week was a good one! Sounds like you got a lot of snow! It's actually raining here right now. In the middle of december! Never thought I would see that! This week was a lot of fun! We had a dinner appointment and a few other intense things happen. :) haha so on monday, it was actually our P-day even though we were supposed to go to the temple. But we are going to the temple this week, so thursday will be our P-day this week! I'm stoked! We are going to go to the toilet museum. Awesome right? And you know what makes it cooler? It's free! Heck yeah! Haha anyways, so monday after I emailed you guys we went down to Jije to do some shoppin at E-Mart. Its a little tiny town with literally nothing but big fields haha. So that was fun. Then we relaxed and walked around at night after P-day was over because no one could go to FHE. So that was too bad. :( Tuesday was really good! When I was studying in the morning I decided to look at my study journal from before the mission. That was actually really good! I had some good stuff written in there! Some good scriptures were Moroni 9:6 which says if we work hard, then we can conquer satan. He won't win. :) Then Mormon 9:19. God is a god of miracles. A lot of the time they are simple everyday acts, that we hardly recognize, but looking back they are miracles for sure. Then we went to lunch at the rice place again with 이태경. That was a lot of fun. Can you guys read that yet by the way? So weird to think that people can't read that haha. We got to talk to the other Elder's recent convert Sean on the phone which was really cool. He's in New York now. Then we went to the church to get ready for our Korean class which was as always, super fun! We taught them some of the shopping sentences and how to use them so that they can get around in stores.

 

Wednesday was awesome! I read some good talks in the morning. I read one by President Hinckley that said in 67 years of marriage to his wife they never once that he could remember fought. That's dang awesome. And I thought that was really inspiring. He's so awesome. i miss him haha. Then we went up to 곡반정 in 수원 for combined district meeting. We have those the first wednesday of every month. That was good! There were some good things talked about, like how important the book of mormon is when we teach. So we practiced using that and that was super fun! Then we came back and had english class. And this is where one of the intense things happened. Well really the only one. So we have this crazy lady that will just give us letters and a bunch of weird stuff and not even Koreans can understand her. She'll text us from a bunch of random phones just super weird.  So anyway she came to english class for the first time since I've been here so me and Elder Atkin had to go up and deal with her. Haha we didn't want her to be around the other people that come because she almost slapped an 11 year old kid one time there I guess. Super scary right? So we told her oh yeah no one came so we are going to cancel it sorry! Jeez pretty scary and sad, but we had to do it. Haha so we did that then had English class like normal, but really like 5 people came so it wasn't too bad. We played a fun football game thing which was cool!

 

Thursday was good as well! I of course read some good talks haha I love them. I don't know why. I read Come Join with Us by Dieter F. Uchtdorf. So good. I know you heard this from general conference, but we'll see if anything different stood out to me. I learned that we can not let doubt hold us prisoner and keep us from receiving blessings from our heavenly Father. He says one thing that I really really liked. He says some people think that they can't live up to the standards, and that is all the more reason to come and join with us. We really have no better place then right here in the gospel. Then his priesthood talk You Can Do It Now. One quote is "our destiny is not determined by the number of times we fall, but by the number of times we get up." I love that. Heavenly Father doesn't care how many times we fall, as long as we are making a concious effort to do a little better each day. Also, When we keep our eyes on the eternities it will help us stay on the straight and narrow. That's cool because I don't think that I think of the eternities that often. Like how often everyday do you think, is this going to keep me from getting eternal life or help me? So that was cool. Then To My Grandchildren by Henry B. Eyring. Also super good, read it. He says, there is one way to assure happiness and that is to follow the comandments of god. The lord gives us certain trials because he knows we can handle them. Super cool right? So sometimes when I wonder why does this happen to me? Why do I have this trial? It's because our Father in Heaven knows we can make it through. Then that night we met 김현철. He came a little late so we couldn't go through with our whole lesson, but we went over a little bit of 3rd Nephi 11 with him. I've talked about that a lot haha so I don't think I'll hit on that one again. Just remember to always look up for answers. He's super cool. I love 김현철. He's the guy who took us to make kimchi and whose english name is Turtle haha. He's a boss. After our lesson he took us to get 붕어빵, which is this super good shoe cream filled bread thing. It's in the shape of a fish haha. So that was delicious. You should try it sometime if you can somehow find it in america....So here in the winter they have a lot of street vendors that will sell hot things for like really cheap. You can get three of those fish bread's for a dollar. Super awesome! So yeah! That was thursday!

 

Friday was cool! I read another conference talk. :) By President Monson. It's called We Never Walk Alone. It was actually given to the relief society I think haha. Anyways, He says that we can find peace if we ask for it. Our heavenly father loves us so much that a lot of the time, he just waits for us to ask. Because if we don't ask, how are we going to get anything? There is a story in there which is super good. One of the things I thought that it taught was if we heed promptings, we are often answering someone elses prayers and also help to lift those around us. It also showed that we aren't alone. Our Heavenly Father loves and cares about us. Then we had weekly planning which is always cool of course. ;) Then we walked around and talked to some people. I love talking to the high school/middle school aged kids. It's always the same conversation. Oh hello! Hello how are you! Then they say, I'm fine thank you and you? Then they say oh, you are so handsome! Haha it's so funny. Then that night we were supposed to have a lesson with 김영호, but he didn't come...again. Super lame. :( Saturday was fun! We made some cookiees and took them to some members. A lot of them weren't home, but the first counselor and his wife were home so that was good. Their names are 한상희 and the wife is 안인선. She's really good at english. It's impressive. I've found that a lot of Koreans are way better than they let on. They just aren't like confident so they don't say anything. But anyway, we shared a quick message with them, just talked to them and left. Then that night we went to dinner with Julie. She took us to that chinese place again. That was so good! I'll admit, it's way better than Panda Express. We just talked with her and then she asked us more about the priesthood so we explained that which was really good! I feel like she started to understand. We are going to dinner with her again next week and she might bring two of her students! That would be so awesome! Sunday was a good day at church! Hey I don't know if you remember or not, but someone in our ward asked me if I knew and Katie and Travis Stevenson, I don't really know who they are, but I think they were in our ward in maryland maybe, so if you remember let me know! In Sunday School we had one of those good discussions that you have when people are super like fired up about some subjects haha so that was interesting. Then oh! In the Korean Ward we had the Primary program! That was so awesome! The first song the little girls were singing 난 하나님의 자녀. Or I am A Child of God. So they were singing the first verse then the boys come in and its just super super loud once they come in so funny. I love it. Then haha in the gospel principles class the lady asked me a question about how I would feel if I saw moses part the red sea...yeah I'll be honest. Didn't understand that! Haha  super funny. So I just go um............then she answers and I go oh yeah that's how I would feel. So awkward and embraassing but that's alright. :) Then we had our 식사 with the members! That was super good. It was this soup stuff...not really sure. All the food here is good. Anyway, after church we had just enough time to finish our studies! So yeah that was our week! I'm sorry it's so cold there! It's not too bad here yet. Which is super nice. So yeah! I'm stayin warm! And we get to go to the temple on thursday! I'm so excited! Love you all a lot! And I'll be talkin to ya in a few weeks!

 

Love,

Elder Breinholt

Scripture Covers Elder Breinholt made!

 This is me on top of a huge subway station! Also, happy thanksgiving and merry christmas from the 평택 elders. :)

                                            Elder Breinholt's Scripture covers that he made:)

DECEMBER 1, 2013

 So our week! Monday we went up to 수원 to hang out with some other missionaries. That was super fun! We played bang which was super awesome! haha I love that game. Oh we went shopping in the 역 there which was fun I guess haha Elder Atkin bought a korean book that I want to buy. Next time I see it I'm going to buy it. It's super good. Then we came home and couldn't have FHE because 박희정 was sick so it would have been pointless so we just walked around and talked to people which is always fun! haha

 

Tuesday we had zone conference in 수원 for a really long time! haha that was a good time. It was good to see president. He rocks. One thing that he said that I really liked was that when we say baptism, we mean bringing people joy and peace of mind. I love that because that's exactly what we do. :) So awesome! Then he said that we just need to lift where we stand and do the best we can. It doesn't matter how little or how much it is as long as its the best that we can. Oh! 문호빈 gave me his Korean/English PMG which is so awesome! It has the two pages of PMG in both languages back to back. Super awesome. And its mini. So that was really awesome! Then Elder Atkin had a leadership meeting so we just kinda chilled there until they were done. Then we went home! It takes a while to get home from there. Wednesday was awesome aas well. We went to the guy who speaks english like a hippie black guy its really hard to explain. But he's super funny. Anyways, we went and printed off some pictures. I made an awesome scripture case! It's for my book of mormon that i always carry around. So now I can carry one for longer without it getting ruined. I'll send a picture of it. Then that night at english class we had like 15 people there! It was awesome! There were a ton. There was a girl there who was 16 and had already graduated high school so she was studying to take a test to get into BYU. Super awesome. Super smart. Haha funny moment from it. One of the people was telling us her favorite subject and she was trying to say moral ethics, but no one could understand and all she was saying was moral so dennis said "Murder?!" Are you murderer?! It was super funy.

 

Thursday was so amazing! I love thanksgiving. :) We had pizza school for lunch, delicious. haha then we went to the church for our scripture study class so we just kinda talked to 박희정 and 이혜경 for a little. That was fun. I love them. Then we went down to the Humphrey's base for dinner with the Spillaines! We went with 6 other missionaries. Our area then two sisters from 수지 They are an awesome family. They are pretty young. Like I think they've been married for about 6 years and just havent had any kids. but they had 3 nonmembers there and 2 more members! That was so awesome! That's the definition of member missionary. They were all black to which was even cooler. Their names were Rick, Vince, and Montrice. Rick and Montrice are from america, but Vince is from some west african country. Super cool guy. Super nice. We actually had a really spiritual time. We were going around and talking about what we are grateful for like one thing, ya know, cuz it's thanksgiving. So when it was Rick's turn he said that he was grateful that we were there and that he was inspired by young people like us trying to make the world a better place. Then his friend, a member, brother Frasier told his conversion story and Rick was there listening and the spirit was super strong! Well at least I thought so. He really has a lot of potential to become a member. That would be so awesome. He is so cool! The food was really good too. Haha almost forgot all about that. Don't worry about me. :) I am eating good! Oh! I was playing montrice in chess and he beat me. Dang it. That was too bad. :( But overall a good thanksgiving!

 

Friday was good! I found a really cool scripture in 1 Nephi 18:16. Before this he is talking about all of this stuff that happens to him that gives him plenty of reason to be upset with his brothers and with God. But It says "Nevertheless, I did look unto my God, and I did praise him all the day long; and I did not murmur against the Lord because of mine afflictions." So what I kinda took away from that was to never complain. God is in control and he knows what is best for us. Bear it well. :) Then we went to lunch at our favorite place! haha we go there so much. It was 유가네. Then Elder Atkin was sorta sick so we couldn't really do much and then we had dinner with 이태경! She is sean's fiancee if you remember him. She seemed a little down because Sean's gone, but it's alright. She's going to America soon so she'll be able to see him. But yeah! She's doin good! Then saturday we had another thanksgiving! It was awesome! We went over to the 조's right in 롯태게슬 where we live. Elder Pruner and Sanderson taught a lesson to their grandma who is a recent convert. So that was awesome. They did a really good job. They are so dang nice to us. They are such an awesome family. Then we went to David Kim's for dinner with him and his wife! They are so nice. I really like them a lot. I don't remember if I told you about him or not. but he studied in Oregon and Texas and lived in the states for a really long time so he's super good at english. Pretty awesome!

 

Then yesterday I gave a blessing! in Korean! At church this lady comes up to me and says "건강 축복 받을 수있을까요?" which means hey can you give me a blessing? And I of course was like heck yeah! Then she asked me to do it and I was like hmm. Maybe you can't. ;) Haha just kidding. In the pass off book there is a blessing for the sick and afflicted so that's what I read. I mean, it was the best I could do. Heavenly Father did help me to read it though. Like I read that thing speedy. So that was a really cool experience. My first blessing in Korean. :) Then after church we went home and studied which of course was good! Then we went to the church to meet an investigator but he didn't come. :( He punked us. He called us saturday night wanting to meet but didn't come so that was sad. But what can you do. And that was our week! How are you guys? It sounds like you had an awesome thanksgiving! Which is good! Dad, mom said that your turkey was delicious and that you did an amazing job making it! So good work! It sounds like all is well. :) I miss you and love you!

 

Love,

Elder Breinholt

MAKING KIMCHI

                                                 Me and Elder Pruner at KimBap Chun Guk.                                                                   
                                     

The pile of lettuce was at one point two times the biggest picture. They filled all of those containers as full as        they could go. So cool.    Making Kimchi.                                                     

                                               
                            This is Sean. Isn't that so awesome. Haha he rocks. Given us a little Blue Steel.     
                                           

Letter Dated November 24th

Hello Family,

We got to hang out with Sean, the other elders recent convert too, which was super cool. I'll send a picture. We saw some wigs and told him he had to put them on. I think you'll enjoy them haha. At FHE we played Bang! Which was super fun. I love that game. It gets intense. That was fun. :) Then Tuesday! I read about Enos in personal study and that was really cool. He's an awesome example I think for how we should try to live our lives. First he starts out by praying and working out his weaknesses. Then once God forgives him he prays for his people to be blessed and their prosperity. Then he prays that his enemies will be blessed and come to the light of the gospel. Here is verse 11 and a little of 12: "And after I, Enos, had heard these words, my faith began to be unshaken in the Lord; and I prayed unto him with many long strugglings for my brethren, the Lamanites. And it came to pass that after I had prayed and labored with all diligence..." He wanted even his enemies to be happy and not have to struggle through life. And when he prayed, he prayed with all diligence. Prayer is so key. It is the one time we let our Heavenly Father know what is going on in our life, and it is how he can talk to us. So when we do it, which should be focused just on that. Eliminate all other distractions and just pray to our Heavenly Father. 

So yeah. Then later that day we practiced for the song that we sang in sacrament on Sunday! I'll talk more about that later. :) So we sang Be Still My Soul. We sang and figured out what we wanted to do. That was fun. haha then we had Korean Class which as always was fun. I also shared the message in that. I talked about Alma 26:29-31. It says "And we have entered into their houses and taught them, and we have taught them in their streets; yea, and we have taught them upon their hills; and we have also entered into their temples and their synagogues and taught them; and we have been cast out, and mocked, and spit upon, and smote upon our cheeks; and we have been stoned, and taken and bound with strong cords, and cast into prison; and through the power and wisdom of God we have been delivered again. And we have suffered all manner of afflictions, and all this, that perhaps we might be the means of saving some soul; and we supposed that our joy would be full if perhaps we could be the means of saving some. Now behold, we can look forth and see the fruits of our labors; and are they few? I say unto you, Nay, they are many yea, and we can witness of their sincerity, because of their love towards their brethren and also towards us." The reason I shared this with them was because both of the families that come have been involved with us a lot and one family gave us a referall and the other is working really hard with a ton of people. So I just felt like even though sometimes it feels like our efforts aren't that great. That we really don't do too much, we never know how great our "fruits" are. They are so much greater than we even know. Something you say to someone could have an effect on them 20 years later. So yeah!

 

Then Wendesday was a lot of fun. We did our normal thing and had our good ol' 김밥전국 for lunch. haha we go there all the time for district meeting. Then we had our district meeting where we talked about how key the members are. That was actually really good. Because they are! Both of the baptisms that we had were member referrals. So, if you can, work with the missionaries and I promise you'll see success. maybe not right away or with the first person you refer, but soon I'm sure you will! Then me and Elder Hale started a split! He's an awesome missionary. I respect him a lot. Then at our ward mission leader meeting thing I actually had to take charge and talk to him about our investigators and everything which made me actually feel really good! That was super fun to take charge! Then we had our English class which was fun as ever. We had some funny stuff happen. Elder Sanderson and Pruner taught them the song John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt, and they all sung it at the end. Super fun. Then me and Elder Hale taught 박희정 the second lesson in Korean which was so cool! Haha there was one point where we asked her a question and she started talking super fast, but I just concentrated really hard and she used all words that I know so I actually understood her. It was awesome! I love it when I can understand. It makes me feel so good haha. So we taught her all about why we're here, why we need the atonement, and the three kingdoms of glory. Super cool. HSe remembered everything from the lessons before she was baptised she's so good. She took notes haha she rocks. I love her.

 

Thursday was super awesome. I really liked it actually. I read the parable of the widow and the two mites in the morning and I felt like that is applicable to missionary work. Sometimes we feel like we don't have nearly as much as others to give to our heavenly father, but all that matters is that we give Him everything. No matter how little we think it may be, as long as it is our all, its enough. Then we went and made our way slowly to the subway and talked to some people along the way. Elder Hale is really good at street conversation. So I learned a lot of skills from him that I'm gonna put to work. Then we went down to 평택 and end the split. In case anyone gets confused. Our whole area is called 평택 but where we live is actually 송탄. So it is pretty far away, like a 20 minute drive. Not bad. So yeah. Then we went to 유가네 which was delicious. I really wish that you guys could go there. If you come pick me up we'll find one and we'll go there. :) Then we walked around and talked to people! Oh haha these jr. high kids that were like 15 ish come up to us and say hi! Then keep on walking. So I catch up with them and just start talking to them in sort of english sort of Korean, they were super funny. I ask em if anyone has a girlfriend and they all point and one kid. Super super awesome. Haha so that was fun. Then we got pulled into a 부동산's office. They are like the realtors of Korea. He's like hey come here have some coffee. We were like uhh we can't. He's like oh! Green tea then! Uh...we can't. Okay well how about water! Haha it was funny. So we talked to that guy for a little bit. He was funny. It's crazy how all Koreans just see and american and assume they can't speak Korean. It actually comes in quite handy sometimes though. Like we never get anyone trying to sell anything come up to us so that's nice.

 

Friday was our weekly planning day! Same ol same ol. haha I'm sorry about that. Nothing too exciting happens. We cleaned our missionary room at the church and practiced our song some more. Then we went and got Thai food with our investigator Julie. It was so goo dto see her agian! She's been really busy with her work and everything. She works at 연새 which is one of the top 3 universities in Korea. Super awesome. I've decided I love Thai food haha it was really good. We talked with her about the priesthood and why we have it. She hears things from her friends that we have to clear up. Haha it is kinda saddening that all of these churches think things about our church that aren't true. She heard that when we use the priesthood we are trying to be God. So we explained to her, no we are simply acting as God's servant to bless the lives of people on earth. And also to perform the saving ordinances that will get us back to our Heavenly father. Then Saturday we made Kimchi! It's called 김장. 김장하다 is to make kimchi. Anyways, it was with our investigator 김현철. We went to his house and helped him make it sort of. They were almost all the way done. They offered some of it to us and I won't lie. That fresh of kimchi is super super good. There comes a point somewhere along the way of Kimchi's lifespan where it gets like pretty sour and that is when it isn't that good. But, you should eat it. Kimchi is one of the healthiest foods on the planet just so you guys know. :) Then we went around and talked to people for the rest of the night! So yeah! That was fun.

 

Sunday! We went to church and performed our song! 잠잠하라! The bishop asked us to sing in sacrament like last week or the week before. It was good! Koreans are too nice to tell us we didn't do good, but I think it went pretty decent. Elder sanderson sang the first line, then me and him sang the second. Yeah they asked me to sing basically by myself. haha so that'll give ya a little taste of how the song went. ;) Then we all sung the rest of it. And the third voice we sung acapella. That was kinda hard! haha no more piano to watch my back for me and cover up my voice. But it was good. THen for sunday school we went to the 독신 class. So since there aren't that many young adults they just do a YSA class and have like YSA advisors in the ward. So we went to their class and that was awesome. 신세개 is the main guy in charge of that and he's so cool. He's the nicest, most stylish guy ever haha. I think I've told you about him before. But yeah. That was really fun. Then we had the ward 식사 after church which was really good. Just a little rice 고기 type thing. So that was delicious. We talked to a lot of the members for a long time and we got a lot of kimchi. Yeah so remember how I said that we did 김장? It is 김장 season. So everyone is making it and it smells like kimchi all over the place haha. Super fun. So they also make kimchi with what is called 무우. It is a raddish type thing that they make a few different type of things with and one of them is kimchi. Its pretty good! So yeah! We got a lot of kimchi and stuff from members then we went home and did our studies! That was our week! Pretty good one. I saw that dad and Jace went to the Lions and BYU game! That looked like so much fun! That was so cool! Like dang! That's so fun! I'm super jealous. Hey how is Kenah's last year of elementary school? :'( If you want me to get anything and send it home let me know! I'll do that for sure! I hope you guys are lovin good ol Utah! It's getting cold here! The wind blows and that makes it really really cold. It is definitely coat season now. But yeah! I love you and pray for you! I hope you all are just lovin life! I love you!

 

Love,

Elder Breinholt