07252016 Abrahamic Covenant

  These are pictures from when he moved back to Seoul

This week was good! We were not able to meet with Adam or Han Gyu Ook. But we met with Han Jee Sung. He is doing awesome. He says he believes everything and is willing to keep all of the commandments. He even said that he fasted the night after we taught him about fasting. So that made me super happy. Yong, the Chinese guy we meet with to teach Han Jee Sung, is also awesome. He is a recent convert of like 2 years from my first area. He wanted to serve a mission, but ended up not being able to. So now he is trying to help us. He is so open and real. So those two were my highlights of the week. We also met with Beh Ha Nur who is a 9 year old recent convert and gave her here last lesson. I just bore a stestimony to her and it felt the best I think it ever has. Flowed alright and was simple but I hope meaningful. So that felt good. Today as a zone we are doing a Christmas in July and tomorrow we have my first interview with the new mission president. So should be an exciting start of the week!

My spiritual thought from the week is about the Abrahamic Covenant. I definitely don't have a super clear understanding of it, but as I studied just a little this week I found an awesome scripture.

1 Now I say, That the heir, as long as he is a child, differeth nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all; 2 But is under tutors and governors until the time appointed of the father. 3 Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world: 4 But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, 5 To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.6 And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. 7 Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if as on, then an heir of God through Christ.

I really like that because I think it gives us an interesting perspective of our life. Like a heir to the throne of say England, who is being tutored until he comes of age, we are heirs to salvation, but are being trained and tutored by Christ on this earth. So if we accept this tutoring we can become heirs of God. Wow what a powerful promise, and motivation enough to accept the tutoring well!

Anyway I am doing well, am happy and working hard!

Hurrah for Israel!

--

Elder Sabey

07172016 Investigators and Repentance

One year

Daniel James Sabey

7/17/16

To: Lisa Sabey, Mark Sabey

Well today all the missionaries with me at the MTC are going to meet and catch up a little bit! So that should be fun!

This week we were not able to meet with Andrew or Han Gyu Ook. But when we met with Han Jee Sung he said he wanted to get baptized with his Korea teacher who is getting baptized on the 31st. The problem is we still haven't taught the commandment and he has been doing this academy thing so recently he hasn't been coming to church. So this week when we meet with him we are going to try to teach the commandments and then try to really show him that this is a serious commitment. 

So pray for him to understand the importance of baptism while the seriousness of the covenant. Bak Hyun Oo is a sweet kid who seems to like us! He even would ask me questions and stuff pretty openly which is weird for a Korean. His dad is super quiet, but a super nice guy, so things seem to be going well there.

I think my companion is doing a little better. He is pretty awesome. We disagree about if water polo or soccer are the best sport, but I think we can get over that hurdle in our relationship! I still really like my district. We had zone training this week, and our zone leaders talked about making a Zion zone. So that was pretty awesome. And then they had us meet as a district and figure out things we can do. My district was like, I think we are already doing awesome. After our district meeting the week before we are already becoming a Zion district. So that felt good! :)

Other than that there wasn't too much exciting stuff this week.

I have been thinking about repentance recently. I guess I don't feel like I totally understand it. I can write the doctrine and everything, but I don't really know how to apply it. And so as I have been thinking about my experiences in life with repentance, I feel like what Elder Holland says is true how "repentance takes just as long as it takes to change." or something like that. For me most everything doesn't change quickly at all. And I think that is true for most people. It takes a lot of time to repent. And for me that can be frustrating in the moment. I feel like, why doesn't Got take this away from me? Or whatever. But as I look back on my life I do see steady progress towards the light. So I guess my spiritual thought, is the broader perspective we have the more accurately we see ourselves, our lives, our repentance, our progress, etc. So hurrah for this gospel which gives me the broadest perspective I know!

I love you all!

Hurrah for Isreal!

--

Elder Sabey

07102016 Closing in on one year out

That is super crazy--one year out. I still feel like a new missionary. 

This week was good. Again this week we didn't do much teaching, but on the weekends we do more. We have 4 solid investigators who have a lot of potential. 

First, Han Jee Sung. We met with him and just reviewed basically the first three lessons --we had him teach us. Then we talked again about the baptismal invitation. He said next month. He also said he really likes the Plan of Salvation because it explains a lot! 

Then we have Han Gyuu Ook. He was a referral from a person in the singles ward. He smokes and drinks but is trying to stop. We have taught the first two lessons and he wants to accept everything. He is super awesome. He just really needs to stop smoking. He smokes quite a lot. Then Bak Hyun Oo  He is the 10 year old kid who is the son of  a relatively recent convert. He is cute and I think he likes us now. Then we have Adam, who also accepted a date as a goal from baptism next month, on the condition that he receives an answer. It is amazing how much trust we have in that promise. As missionaries we make that promise. And when they commit to "if I get an answer, I'll get baptized" we feel like it is  a success. Now we just have faith and try to help him understand how answers come. So the work feels like it is actually progressing now, perhaps more than it has my entire mission. 

I am really liking our district. Everybody is pretty awesome. Plus in our zone we have all 3 people from Colorado! And one of them is in our district. Colorado outnumbers those from Utah. So we have 1 from Philippines, Utah, Idaho, California, Korea, New Zealand, Colorado, and Colorado!!!!

My thorn this week was just my companion is still struggling with life. My rose was feeling more useful with the work and everything. The hardest aspect of missionary work for me is just talking to people effectively. In Korean it is weird to talk to people on the streets and people don't really like it often. So I probably take the easy way out too much. The most validating aspect of a mission is just feeling like I know what I need to be doing. Almost always I am motivated to work because I know it is what I should be doing. There is no question. So that feels good.

For our district meeting I asked people to bring thoughts on what they want from the district and thoughts on goals and stuff. One of our sisters brought a paper she entitled "the District." It talked about Alma and the 7 others he brought with him to teach the gospel with scripture references for each of them and their qualities. This works well since our district also has 8 people. So we jokingly assigned different people names. But I really did enjoy reading about them. Thinking about Alma, the sons of Mosiah, and Corianton. They were all pretty horrible people before in their lives or made some pretty huge mistakes. But they found hope and faith in Christ. So their calling, and perhaps price for forgiveness was sharing the message. I think that is a price worth paying! 

I love you all!

Happy birthday again Josh!

Hurrah for Israel!

-- 

Elder Sabey

07032016 New Mission President

This week was good! We meet our new mission president! It was a 3 hour meeting with two zone each missionary shock their hands or hugged them, quickly introduced themselves. They then introduced themselves and their family. We had lunch, asked them questions and they shared a quick spiritual message. They seem super cool.

(From the Church News)

Roger W. and Terri L. Turner

Roger William Turner, 56, and Terri Lynn Hurst Turner, five children, Plainfield Ward, Indianapolis Indiana West Stake: Korea Seoul South Mission, succeeding President Marshall R. Morrise and Sister Susan L. Morrise. Brother Turner is a former stake presidency counselor, high councilor, bishop, branch president, Scoutmaster, and missionary in the Korea Seoul Mission. Global Mobility Lead, Eli Lilly and Company (Pharmaceuticals). Born in Laramie, Wyoming, to Donald Keith Turner and Lula Blanche Fielding Turner. Sister Turner is a former stake Young Women presidency counselor, Primary achievement day leader, nursery leader, and seminary teacher. Born in Provo, Utah, to Leon Hurst and Suzanne Nelson Hurst.

I definitely can see some differences from President Morrise, but also some similarities. They both have a huge focus on us after the mission: staying in the church and becoming good fathers and husbands. I think they do feel stressed but remain fun and happy. I like one verse he shared from D&C about how these members in order to receive forgiveness were called to preach the gospel. So he said if you make mistakes and stuff and you want forgiveness, testify! I liked that!

We had zero lessons all week until Sunday! One of the singles ward members texted us and said he was bringing his friend to church. His friend I am just guessing had some hard point in life and decided he needed to change. So he is stopping smoking and drinking and wants to come to church. So we taught him the first lesson and he was super open and accepting, because I think he is coming into it without preconceptions and with the desire to believe. It was awesome. And then we met with the son of one of our members who will hopefully get baptized who is 10 years old. So we have to teach him as well. He did not want to meet with us, but as the lesson started and stuff he opened up a little bit. At the beginning he said he wasn't going to get baptized just because, but by the end, we set a goal with him to be baptized. It was really cute. Then we had a practice lesson with our ward clerk. So Sunday ended up being really busy! And some good lessons.

The singles ward had a music night thing on Saturday. They told us to invite lots of people. We showed up and it was more lock a rock concert. Well not true, they had an opera singer and a bunch of people, but we weren't sure it was something we should be at, just because of the music so Adam came and instead of doing the music thing we had dinner. We will teach him Thursday and Han Jee Sung Friday and the two people we met with this Sunday next Sunday as well. All 4 of these people seem super awesome with lots of potential.

Also some bad news, because our district is 2 sisters and 2 elders we have to meet at the same time and in the same building as another district. Anyway we finished and the other district was still going so we just had to wait for them to finish. We left our bags in the hall and just hung out in the gym until they finished. I guess while we were in the gym, somebody came into the church grab our bags and brought them to the basement, where they searched them and took my camera. We eventually found our bags in the basement, which is just like a kind of creepy storage area. So kind of weird experience. Good thing I uploaded some pictures but I also lost quite a few as well I think.

And today is the 4th of July! We are getting like 10 missionaries together, eating chicken, watermelon, desserts and playing volleyball. Plus one of the sisters is from England, so there will be lots of smack talk.

Our members are pretty awesome. Koreans are generally super busy so we don't do too much together, other than soccer. Our bishop loves soccer. He is super cool. He works for Subway (the sandwich place). He was also Satan in the temple for the Korean version of one of the temple videos. And the voice for like half of the Book Mormon in Korean. Our mission leader's whole family is in America, and he wants to go there. But for whatever reason can't. So he is just working really hard. Both of them are crazy and funny. They love SYL to each other. Speaking English. They are both pretty good, but definitely not amazing so it is funny. I like relaxed P-days and eating delicious food. My district next transfer will be 4 elders and 4 sisters. so doubling size.

Yeah I don't like the just acceptance as an ends. I think it can be a step to expansion. Like right now I am addicted to blank. Or am depressed. But accepting where you are while striving is super important!

Happy Birthday Josh! So some memories of Josh. First, Track. I remember him throwing up a lot... and I remember when their sprint medley nailed it and ran the best time in the nation. He called us and told us. Then in the end rejected the trip to New York since it would be on Sunday. I remember playing on the same intramural soccer team and just having fun playing with my brothers. I remember lots of really interesting thoughts and essays. I have felt loved by Josh, felt special because he consciously chooses to validate me.

Our new president had us read an article about accumulating light. How that is what this life is about. I like light as an analogy. I guess that is what I feel in this church is light. When I sin I feel darker. As a church we believe that all that is light is of God. And in the end we can gain enough light to feel comfortable in his presence. Anyway, this gospel is light and is good!

Hurrah for Israel!
-- 

Elder Sabey

        

06262016 Temple P-day and Personalizing the Atonement

This week we had temple p-day. After this I think we will only be able to go like 4 times a year or something, which still is pretty awesome but less than before. We said our last goodbye to President Morrise, which is great. That was also my companion’s birthday. So as a zone we went bowling. My district bowled an average of 106.75. We lost to a district with an average of 107.25. It was rough. I am still a little frustrated at the loss. Especially because my frame I over-spun both times and only hit one pin. So I choked pretty hard...

We taught Han Jee Sung about the gospel of Jesus Christ, and invited him to be baptized. At first he was like "anytime", but I think he realized it was a little more serious than he was thinking and said he would think about it. We asked him if he believes in god and he said like 50/50, but is leaning towards believing in God. It was a cool lesson.

Sunday all of our appointments cancelled which was sad, but then we were invited to an awesome dinner and one of the sisters’ investigators. It was a great way to end the week. A new missionary couple came into the mission and they were scared that none of the missionaries will like them because they are the ones checking houses for cleanliness. And tomorrow we are their first district they are going to check. So we are going to buy them some delicious waffles and a place by our house and try to make them feel liked! I just thought that was cute that they were scared we wouldn't like them.

This week we set some good companionship goals focused on feeling the spirit more, being happier, and working on Korean. I like goals, and wish I had been better at them my whole life. Most importantly I think just being able to share and talk with somebody about hard times or struggles is really important. In a relationship where both can feel like they are helping the other I think there is more success. There are some BYU students going to the singles ward for the summer. One speaks Korea and served in the north mission. After church we talked with him for a while. He talked openly about how he felt in his mission and stuff and I think it was great, specifically for my companion. 

My spiritual thoughts this week have been on the atonement. I have been very slowly working on a little atonement thing. But I have been struggling because I guess I don't always feel like I actually know how to use it. I feel like I can kind of describe what it did, the results, etc. but actually relating it to my life is harder. Anyway I don't have like a clear answer. But throughout the scriptures Christ teaches the "gospel." Faith, repentance, baptism, Holy Ghost and Enduring to the End. Those are the requirements. As members of the church, it is a pretty simple cycle of faith, repentance, sacrament, repeat. Then I read President Uchtdorf's talk about Dresden again, and he says if we turn to God he will turn to us. The requirement isn't even being good and changing or anything, it is just turning to god, and trying to repent. Then god will take you by the hand and lead you home. A powerful promise.

I love you all!

Hurrah for Israel!

-- 

Elder Sabey