Week 37: A lot of hot and a lot of talking to people!!

This week was absolutely wonderful and I love everyday I get to spend here in Miryang in all honesty!  It has been a great week for sure, and it is getting hotter day by day!  Though, there is no humidity here that it is like desert.  haha.  Miryang really is lovely at all times, but I absolutely love the sun during summer here.  It is wonderful weather!

This week has been super busy with just going out and talking to people.  The more people I meet, the more the Lord blesses me with being able to meet such amazing people.  I love all the people around me and I am so honored to get to meet so many people here in Miryang.  Because the festival was over, there aren't many people in Miryang, and everyone seems to know who we are now and it is awesome to be able to talk with all the people.  It really is amazing. I love it here so much, and it has been amazing! I have a great companion and I love being able to serve with him!  We speak Korean all day long, and it really is a blast!

Today I want to share a message on service.  Service comes in many forms.  They can come from anywhere and anyone, but when we serve and love others, we are really serving our Father in Heaven as well.  Sister Cheryl A. Esplin shared a story of a primary teacher this past session of Women's conference, and she said, "A Primary teacher shared the following example. 'Today,' she said, 'our five- and six-year-old class made love necklaces. Each child drew pictures on strips of paper: one of themselves, one of Jesus, and some of members of their family and loved ones. We glued the strips into circles that looped through each other to make a chain that we turned into love necklaces. As they were drawing, the children talked about their families.
'Heather said, ‘I don’t think my sister loves me. We are always fighting. … I even hate myself. I have a bad life.’ And she put her head in her hands.
'I thought about her family circumstances and felt that maybe she did indeed have a hard life. But after Heather had said this, Anna, down at the other end of the table, responded, ‘Heather, I am putting you in my necklace between me and Jesus because He loves you and I love you.’
'When Anna said that, Heather crawled under the table to get to Anna and threw her arms around her.
'At the end of class, when her grandmother came to pick her up, Heather said, ‘Guess what, Grandma? Jesus loves me.’”

We not only show our love to others by serving them, but also always reminding them that they are loved.  We are to be his helping hands and to love others to bring them closer unto Christ.  We really are all loved by Jesus Christ and by our Heavenly Father.  Love is the base of the family, and the plan of salvation that our Loving Heavenly Father has provided for us. So, as we serve others and love them with all our hearts, be as Christ was. You are loved and show that love to others and care for them. 

So this week was very busy starting off with Monday. On Monday, we went to the church for a little bit and did a little bit of emailing and then afterwards we went up to a Buddhist temple called Pyochungsa which was lovely!!  It was very fun and very warm.  Then we came back and emailed and went shopping, and had to do some other things and then went to go eat dinner.  While we were on our way to go eat dinner, we saw one of our investigators.  He simply handed us an entire fried chicken and then said to go eat.  While we were eating, he was gone.... So interesting.  Then we went back to the church, set up for Family Home Evening.  We had a fantastic Family Home Evening time, and all of us had a great time!! Then we went home and that was our Monday!

Tuesday, we studied in the morning, and then my companion and I made something called Samgyetang at our house for lunch.. Samgyetang is basically a boiled chicken, but one whole boild chicken for each person with some super good broth... That turned out super well.  Then we were supposed to go to meet our Sri Lankan investigator at church, but he couldn't make it.  So, we went outside and talked to bunch of people in the very hot sun!  Then, we went to talk with You il!  He is doing really well.  We returned home, and talked to people around the area ---basically anyone who was out, we tried to talked to, and then we went to the church and had a meeting with the sisters to discuss what was going on in the area and what we needed.   After we ate dinner, we came back to the church and got ready for English class. The English class was great and then we had to go back home!!

Wednesday was my birthday!?!  My birthday came a lot faster this year than it did the other years!!  In the morning we went running, studied a bit and then had our district meeting here in Miryang!!  Everyone came and they sang me “Happy birthday,” and it was super great.  I was very happy.   When the meeting got done, we all went out to go eat together and we had a great meal together.  After that, we came back to the church and my companion interviewed one of the sisters' investigators.  Then when the interview got done, we went outside and talked to a bunch of people: we had some great talks with others.   Then we went to a member’s house for dinner.  She fed us noodles and that was great!  Then we went outside and talked to more people, knocked on a whole bunch of doors, and visited our great Korean friend to finish the day. When we returned home, I opened my present, and received calls from people wishing me happy birthday --- that was very nice of everyone to do.

On Thursday, we studied in the morning, and then had lunch, then planned for the upcoming week.  Then we went outside.  However, it was burning hot.  Still we went and knocked on people's doors and shared messages.   We were supposed to meet with an investigator but he was tired so he canceled on us.  So we just talked to more and more people and knocked on more doors and had some great talks.  Then we went to visit a member, but he wasn't home.  So, we talked to his mom: she is about 80 years old and super cute. Then we went and bought my birthday cake because we were unable to do that on Wednesday.  Then my companion and I ate it on Thursday!!

Friday we were able to study in the morning, and then went outside to talk to people.  Then we went out to lunch with Lee Hungbong who is the owner of the horse stable, and we ate a lot of raw fish.  I was very very happy about that!  Then we went to his stable and cleaned up for 5 hours, and return home and got changed and went outside to go talk to others.  Then we got a feeling to go knock on a huge apartment complex, so we did so.   After doing it for a while, it was getting really dark so, we decided it was about time to call it a day.   We knocked on one last door.  Then someone came out and said they were Buddhist, but we talked with him for a bit.  Then he invited us in, and him and his wife really have interest in the church! So it was amazing to see how many miracles the Lord does work in our everyday lives. 

On Saturday we studied in the morning.  We studied a lot this week... So we studied in the morning, and then went to the church and did a young adult activity --- we played the SOCCER BOWLING!~!  It was great!  Then we had lunch, got ready for English class, had English class, and then played Ping Pong with the people that attended.  It was great!  After all of this, we cleaned the church, got food from a member, and then met another Sri Lankan at the church because he really wants to learn about the gospel as well.  Then after we got done talking with him, we went outside and talked to more people!!  I love being able to share the gospel with everything! It is absolutely wonderful being out as a missionary!

Sunday morning, we got up and went to the church and had a meeting --- church was phenomenal!!  After church, we were able to eat with the members and then we contacted some people in Miryang.  After that, we were supposed to meet the Sri Lankan that we were supposed to meet on Tuesday named Kumara.  Unfortunately he couldn't meet with us again, so we went outside -- it was very hot -- and talked to a bunch of people on the street, and went and knocked on people's doors. Luckily we finally found a great kid to talk to.   He was very happy to talk to us and we were super glad to talk to him too!! After that, we went and had a meal with our branch president and his family, and it was great! I absolutely love it here in Miryang!! It is wonderful being here!

I love you all and I hope you have a great week!! Thank you for the birthday wishes and I spent the week great! I love and miss you a ton!!

Love Always,

Elder Wilson

Birthday Cake!!

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