This week:
등산: For our district Preparation Day last week, we went hiking! There are lots of mountains in Korea and many Koreans love hiking (especially retired people), so we picked a mountain nearby that was recommended by an elderly English class member who said that she hiked that mountain every morning. We decided that if that was the case, it would be pretty easy for a bunch of fit young adults. However, we ended up gaining a lot of respect for this elderly woman on our hike when we counted almost 4,000 stairs on the round trip. It wasn't easy, but we made it to the top and had a picnic~
And here is my cool solo photo: If you look behind me you can see what most of Korea looks like from the sky
-모험: On Friday, we did a sticker boarding activity with all 6 missionaries in Gimpo. It went well, and after an hour or so we finished. We usually ride separate buses from other missionaries but we wanted to prevent being late, so we all took the same bus. It turned out to be the right bus but the wrong direction, so we hurried and changed buses. It was then that the sister missionaries realized that they left their phone on the first bus we took... So after calling the phone a few times, I gave up and texted the mission office, telling them to call me when they had a second. I was waiting for them to call, but then I had the thought to try calling the phone one more time. I decided to do it, and this time someone picked up the phone!(We do not have expensive phones, but we meet many people and store their contact information in our phones, so they are important to the work we do as missionaries) They said the phone was now at the bus terminal and they told us we could come pick it up. Instead of sending the sister missionaries to a place they had never been before with no phone late at night, we just decided that we would go try to find it. So we rode another bus, one that I was pretty sure would go to the same bus terminal as the one that the phone was lost on. But as we rode it, I had another random thought to switch buses to the same one that the phone was lost on, just to be safe. So we decided to do that, we came to find out that the bus terminals were actually different, and we would have ended up in the wrong place late at night if we had not changed buses. Thanks to our kind bus driver, we arrived at the terminal safely and got the cell phone. We were told by our bus driver to wait in a spot for a departing bus, but after a while, none came. The bus driver then said to us, "I'm getting off work now anyways, I'll just drive you to E-mart." So we got in his car and began driving. We talked for a little bit before he turned to us and said "Do you know North Korea?" After we told him yes, he said "I'm from there". As we talked more, we learned of how he escaped from North Korea 5 years ago to get away from the trouble there. Those who escape from North Korea can't come directly into Korea, they instead have to go first to Thailand, then to China, then through a southern country like Laos or Vietnam before actually arriving in Korea. I said to him "Wow, that must have been so hard." to which he curtly replied "It's a lot easier than dying." I wanted to find out so much more, but we arrived at our destination, so we gave him our contact info and said goodbye. We then rode another bus, and arrived home safely. It was pretty late, past the time that missionaries normally go to bed, but as I reflected on the experience, I realized that we were able to obtain the phone quickly and return home safely because of the guidance of the Spirit. I thought again of a General Conference talk I read this week from Elder Rasband (https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2017/04/let-the-holy-spirit-guide?lang=eng). He said
"Remember the words of Nephi. “I was led by the Spirit, not knowing beforehand the things which I should do. Nevertheless,” he said, “I went forth.”16
And so must we. We must be confident in our first promptings. Sometimes we rationalize; we wonder if we are feeling a spiritual impression or if it is just our own thoughts. When we begin to second-guess, even third-guess, our feelings—and we all have—we are dismissing the Spirit; we are questioning divine counsel. The Prophet Joseph Smith taught that if you will listen to the first promptings, you will get it right nine times out of ten.17
Think of it as being what is called a first responder. In most communities the first responders to a tragedy, disaster, or calamity are firefighters, police officers, paramedics. They arrive with lights flashing, and may I add, we are so incredibly grateful for them. The Lord’s way is less obvious but requires just as immediate a response. The Lord knows the needs of all His children—and He knows who is prepared to help. If we let the Lord know in our morning prayers that we are ready, He will call on us to respond. If we respond, He will call on us time and time again and we will find ourselves on what President Monson calls “the Lord’s errand.”19 We will become spiritual first responders bringing help from on high.
If we pay attention to the promptings that come to us, we will grow in the spirit of revelation and receive more and more Spirit-driven insight and direction. The Lord has said, “Put your trust in that Spirit which leadeth to do good.”20
May we take seriously the Lord’s call to “be of good cheer, for I will lead you along.”21 He leads us by the Holy Ghost. "
This experience led me to increased faith that the Spirit will lead and guide us~
-침례날짜: We have been meeting with 유성진Brother Yoo for some time now, and he has expressed for a long time a desire to be baptized. He isn't able to come out to church until the end of this month, but he decided to prepare to be baptized on October 8th(my last Sunday as a missionary). We are praying that all will work out to allow him to do so.
That's it for me, have a great week everyone!
Love,
Elder Bigelow
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