092815 Chuseok, Bath House and Learning Not to Judge Others

Hey everybody!

Life is pretty exciting here. There was a huge holiday this weekend called 추석 choo sok. It is kind of like thanksgiving but has to do with ancestors. I don't really know.

Anyway because like everybody leaves Seoul to go to visit family or ancestor places.(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chuseok )

We had a mission conference on Friday and Saturday. We talked about how being committed to repentance is how we can really get converts to stay in the church. Also talking about faith and fear. How having fear is a part of faith. It was cool. Then we had a talent show. That was super fun. There was obviously a lot of music, a guy who loves Star Wars a lot did a reenactment of several memorized scenes, tae kwon doe, and just some crazy and funny things. The next day the Korean taught a little bit about the holiday and stuff, and they tried to do some of it in English, but not enough for me to really learn that much about the holiday. We went to Olympic park, where the Olympics were held. 

We played this Korean game and talked with people and sang the Korean national anthem. We were also supposed to take pictures and do Book of Mormon titles for them. Plus we had some food and I got to meet lots of people. It ended with the President calling on people to bear there testimonies. It was a fun couple of days. So we still don't have any investigators, we are finally going to have a normal week or more so we will hopefully be more successful this week. Another cool thing about the Holiday is that Seoul was like empty. Well obviously not completely, but is was quiet, way less cars, and relatively very few people at all on the streets. It was cool just walking around a little bit last night.

Let's see cool things that have happened this week... Oh yeah the bath house. We went to this bath house. It was a pretty nice one. And they are like 5 dollars. They had four hot tubs in the middle, and they are all different temperatures. Then they have like a cold tub and a more normal temperature one. Then they have like seats with jets to massage you back and feet. Plus they have several things that you can turn on that spay water from the ceiling at different speeds and stuff. Then they had 3 saunas. The hottest one was 90 degrees Celsius. It was crazy hot. It hurt to breath. Then they have little places to lie down and stuff. You can get toothbrushes and shampoo and everything. And they have both standing and seated showers. Plus massages and a barber shop if you want to pay for those. Anyway, in case you were wondering this is allowed. 

 And I think like what Brian and Dia were talking about doing family baths with there kids. I thought a lot about that while I was there. It was cool to see fathers come in and wash there kids in the shower, and have men of all ages together not being weird. I think it is actually socially healthy, as well as physically, at least that is what they claim.   That was a cool experience. 

We went to a meat buffet today. It is just a Korean BBQ with all meat. I am not a huge fan of meat, but it was pretty delicious. We ate at two member's house this week and that was also delicious. I don't remember the name of most everything I eat, other than Kimchi. But there are a bunch of different kinds as well. They just always have it as an option. 

It is cool going to both the English and the Korean wards just to see the difference. English is more relaxed and informal. Then the Korean one is very formal in a lot of ways, but then also more friendly is some ways too. They all introduce and talk to each other and are very respectful to each other. They love missionaries. Anyway it is cool and both are great. One of the youth in our ward spends a lot of time with the missionaries. I felt like yesterday I connected with him a little. We had dinner at his house as well. There family has 9 kids, and they are Korean. That is crazy. I don't know how they fit everybody into there house, or if they lived somewhere else when more kids were home. Anyway that is unheard of. My companion at one of his last areas was asked by the ward mission leader to commit to having 10 kids. So, he is now committed to having 10 kids. Haha. He used to be inactive and stuff. I think he must have been pretty popular. But it is awesome to see him here on the mission. Everybody loves him. All the missionaries he has served with care about him and he cares for them. It is cool to see. That is something I probably need to do better at, is validating people and making it clear I care for them. That is something I definitely can learn from my companion.

 As I have seen how the work goes in Seoul and I am sure in other places like Europe, and I was reading about Ammon. How he goes and saves, his friends- I am spacing there names right now you can fill them in- and they are in jail naked and tied up. And it says that it was their part to play or whatever. I thought that was cool. Because looking at the results of those two side by side, many questions could be raised. Perhaps even if there missions were worth it at all. However having more context we know their faith and how God uses them all. Anyway that related to me especially in regards to judgement. When I see people, the results of their lives, or habits, or whatever, I don't know where they are coming from, where they want to be. There is so much I don't know, that at the moment I may question if they are a good person, or if it is somebody who deserves the gospel, or somebody I want to share the gospel with, etc. I cannot judge them. It is so hard not to though. I think that is what I have learned most thus far, from missionaries mainly, that there are a lot of awesome, good people that come in different social groups and everything. But the gospel allows me to more easily see that goodness. It brings everybody together.

Anyway I love you all.

Hurrah for Isreal!