I literally thrusted in the sickle

Hello Everyone!

This week started off by meeting the oldest couple in our ward, they invited us for a meal. They heard a while ago that all missionaries like Pizza and Fried Chicken, so now they buy it for missionaries every time they come over. However, there's a sister missionary serving in our ward that can't eat wheat, so they said that they would make something different. However upon our arrival, we noticed that they had made Korean food in addition to buying 2 large pizzas and several boxes of fried chicken. So, we ate until we couldn't eat any more, then we shared a message. Then, they taught us yoga exercises to do every morning so we would never have to go to the hospital. Then, the Brother Kim Myeong( the father) felt my back and told me that it was still swollen a little bit from my recent surgery. So he brought out his Chinese blood remedy kit and was prepared to draw a few drops of blood from my back.. Sadly though, I told him that we have to get permission before we receive any medical treatment, so no home remedy blood treatment for me this week. ~I love Korea so much~

Also this week, we had Zone Training, where we were able to teach all of the missionaries in the area for a few hours. This time we talked about the talk "What Lack I Yet" given in November of 2015, which teaches us to turn to God to know what can help us progress and become more like the Savior. It is one of my favorite talks, and being able to learn about it in depth this week was such a privilege.

Our Suwon zone has a banner that every missionary in the area from the past 3 years or so has signed, and we will give it to our previous mission president soon, so my companion and I got to create a new one this week:

Also this week, we did a Zone Language Study, where all of the missionaries meet and more experienced missionaries taught different aspects of Korean that were difficult. Also, we had a class to teach all the Koreans English using a curriculum I prepared. I basically thought of the words in English where the meaning changes based on whether you add down,up,out,in,on,off (for example turn down, turn up, turn out, turn in, turn off, turn on all have different meanings) and we taught the Koreans those subtle differences. English is way hard though, I'm so glad I'm not learning it~

Also this week, I went on exchanges down to AnSeong, which is the southern end of our mission boundaries and is completely countryside. You might remember a scripture verse that goes like this:

3 Therefore, if ye have desires to serve God ye are called to the work;  4 For behold the field is white already to harvest; and lo, he that thrusteth in his sickle with his might, the same layeth up in store that he perisheth not, but bringeth salvation to his soul;

I guess I'm a successful missionary now, because I literally thrusted in the sickle. While I was in Anseong, we helped one of the church members there with their farm. So after we harvested some sesame and cleared fist-sized spiders, we used a sickle to clear a path through giant weeds so they could plant more crops. I was a novice with a sickle at best, but I think I started to get the hang of it..

This week is 추석(Chu-seok) in Korea, it is Wednesday through Friday and one of the two biggest holidays in Korea. It is a little bit similar to American thanksgiving, where extended families meet together and enjoy a feast and honor their ancestors. Also, everyone gives each other gifts of tuna, sesame oil, fruit, and spam, it's really a happy time here. I hope you all have a great 추석, don't forget to eat lots of spam and tuna! Love you all!

-Elder Bigelow