Oppa Chandler Style

Dear Momma,

You just got a 7 page letter so don't expect too much! Today we went to a [korean] or baseball hitting cage.  It was way fun except my wrist is still kinda sketchy, so I couldn't hit super hard.  It turns out I'm a pretty good basketball player! We play every morning for exercise. Lindsay Weldon gave me some awesome advice today. She said that the missionaries that have continued to feel the joy of the gospel are the ones who really gave 100% and never made excuses.  Great Grandpa's advice, "Don't just do your best, get the job done." is getting super meaningful to me.  It's only through Christ that we can, but with Him we can! I love it. I'm relying hard on Him.  But I know that the really tough times are ahead.  I'll keep working no matter what.

OK.  Now on to Korean Kulture Konnection.

There are these familial relationships that aren't actual, but are kinda the same.  So, for guys, if there's a kid older than you, if you like him you call him [korean] hyeung and he buys you food and you hang out.  If you're a girl and there's a guy older than you, you call him "Oppa," which is literally "girl's older brother."  He has to buy you food and hinda take care of you. It's way cool.  But I'm totally the Chandler girls' Oppa and Simon's hyeung. Also like if there's a girl older than you and you're close she's called your nuna.  So Keyaira is Alex's nuna. And Tim's nuna. It's not like romantic, just kinda is a relationship describer.  And everyone young is dong seng.All of this however is dependent on jeung, which is like mutual likingness. It's kind of like a deep human connection.  Dad is the ULTIMATE jeung builder. He just connects, that's jeung. Anyway if there is jeung then these relationships take place. It's so cool.

So one of the very first things you've gotta do when you start to teach is to build jeung with your investigator. That way you have trust and can speak frankly.  Be happy. Stay strong. Work hard. I'll try to do the same.

Love, Elder Mumford.

6/11 Jon Schmidt is in the background.  We dig the tunes though Elder Clawson is still a  touch skeptical of Bela Fleck and Take 6, but he's coming around. :)  So today was a little rough.  We got way lost and ended up in the 2nd most [something?? starts with an a, looks like althoey?] area of Korea, SeoCho. We tried to visit a bunch of less active members, but none were home. Accidentally saw a guy who was in his underwear. Elder Clawson thought he was naked. We got soaked in the rain. It was a good day to prove my discipleship. Sucked it up and worked hard! The Koreans say, "Sweat!"

6/13
Had a bit of a funny the other day. We were teaching Bro Kim about baptism and we were teaching him in the room where the baptismal font is. So we showed him it, and then asked him if he would be baptized. He looked slightly freaked out and asked, "What, like right now?!?" We quickly told him that it would be later and he was okay but it was pretty funny. The lesson was spiritual and he is steadily moving toward being baptized. [follows a whole line in Korean characters.] Also monsoon season starts next week. I'm not super stoked. Apparently it's crazy, like a constant downpour. I really need to send you guys stuff...

Miracle today! We were walking home super tired, just got rejected a bunch. It was right before dinner and we were pretty hungry.  As we got to the crosswalk a slightly awkward man waked up to the crosswalk and stopped.  Being exhausted, i didn't really want to talk, just get home and eat, but I did anyway.  he tured out to be from England and spoke English. We walked with him for 45 minutes and talked about the Atonement and the purpose of religion.  He said he really appreciated it. We got his number and maybe we will meet again!  Also I want to talk about KAS or Korean Awkwardness Syndrome.

I am slowly becoming inundated.  Basically Koreans are such a well put together culture that anything that fazes them just freaks them out. like when a 6'4" white guy starts talking in Korean about church. It causes an abrupt rise in heart rate and instant uncontrolled twitching.  Then they slowly remove headphones whilst twitching or sprinting away as fast as you can.  It happens lots. But I'm way twitchy now, and I run really awkwardly.

6/16 Sunday

It's a nice sunny day in Anyang.  One of my last as it turns out.  I'm getting transferred to Dobong.  It's in Dong Zone in Seoul mission.  Everyone else I know is staying in the Soul South mission. It will be like going all [hen] again! I'm a little apprehensive and nervous, but I committed to work and truly give myself to the Lord so I will.  I am going to be serving with a Korean companion named Park Sung Hyeun.  He knows my zone leader Elder Cho and he says that Elder Park is super funny.  I'm pretty stoked! It'll be good.  So there's that.  Last night was just everyone calling each other to find out what was going on.  I'm going to miss Anyang! I love the ward, I love the people.  I met
so many wonderful people.  I have a Korean spanish speaking mom in  our ward.  I call her Omma.  She is the best.  It'll be tough.  Good thing I can experience the peace that comes from knowing that I'll see these people in the next life.  The gospel brings peace no matter what.

The last couple days have been adventurous.  W met Brother You with his girlfriend.  They brought us dinner and we chatted and invited them to come to church.  It was way good but super spicy.  Then we found a homeless guy that I felt I really helped.  Then we tried to visit a less active member and talked to people to and from.  I've been pretty sick lately in the stomach region so I'm going on the BRAT diet.  Only we won't have bananas, applesauce, or toast, so it's RICE for me!

Anyway, it's really amazing to look back on these last two transfers and see all the miracles that we witnessed.  None of them have led to a baptism yet but they are moving.  We have definitely left our stamp on An