I loved my Korean Christmas

Hello family and friends! I hope you all had a great Christmas!

We didn't have a white Christmas in Korea, but it was a cold Christmas nonetheless.

We started off the day by going caroling with the adult men in our ward. We visited all of the grandmas in our ward and wore Santa hats and sang Christmas songs to them, it was such a blast. And the funniest part was watching the grandmas argue with the men, because they tried to feed us at every house we went to. So after lots of compromises, we ended up with a belly full of hot chocolate, and a bag full of muffins and tangerines. Then, we went and got 짜장면 all together, you can't get a better Christmas meal than that. Right after, my companion and I skyped our families in the church building, which was an amazing Christmas present. The highlight of the call was my 7-year-old brother asking if I was going to turn Korean while I was here, I guess We'll have to wait to find out though..

Jesus Christmas tree and gifts #KoreanChristmas

Then, we made some cookies for our ward party. We're one of the only people with an oven in our ward, so we got selected for the task. So we struggled with our 30-year-old oven for a while and produced something resembling cookies, and they all got eaten, which has to be a good sign. 

That night, we had a party at the church. We watched the worldwide church Christmas Devotional, then had a meal and lots of games. The people hear are so fun, I didn't even know how to play the games but I still had a blast. Then, the bishop had me and my companion dress up like Santa and come through the back door with a bag full of gifts for every one. 

Super Santa Selfie

It was the highlight of the night for sure. I loved my Korean Christmas, I'm so glad I get to spend 1 more here!

The rest of the week, we were just working hard to visit everyone and invite them to the party, but we did have some fun experiences as well. We also went caroling on Christmas eve with about 12 missionaries, we sang some Christmas songs on the street and handed out our "Savior is Born" video cards.

Also this week I met several Russians, believe it or not. There is a musician in our ward that is Russian, so we visited them this week. It was a little strange at first because I think it might be Russian culture to not eat in the same room as your guest, so we were just left alone to eat our food. But after, we read the Book of Mormon in English and Russian, something I never thought I would do in Korea.

Korea is so cool, they get double the Santas

We also met a Russian man that sells clams by our house. He spoke Korean very well, so we wanted to ask him how he learned. He also spoke English very well, but he has been selling clams in Korea for 10 years, it's impressive.

I've mentioned how many tangerines we eat here during the winter, but this week we took tangerine eating to a whole new level. We visited someone that likes to wash their tangerines in vinegar and then eat them whole, peel and all. they don't like to miss out on any nutrition, so we gave it a try as well. It was strange, but didn't taste half bad. I would recommend all of my American friends give it a try!

I hope you all have a great New Year's this week! I love serving here, and I can't wait to see what miracles 2016 will bring. Best wishes!

-Elder Bigelow

Your face bloomed

Hello friends and family, I hope you are all having a great Christmas season!

This week, we got to go to mission headquarters for a special Christmas treat. We started off with a training for the first half of the day, then did a special christmas program with President Morrise and his wife. Some people performed, and we ate lots of food and sang lots of Christmas songs, it was a blast. And some of the mission president's relatives made little Christmas bags for all of the missionaries, which was very sweet, just like the candy inside.

Then the next day, we got to go the temple in Seoul, which is the only time we're allowed to cross the river. After that, we went to a giant mall and underground market to do some shopping, my companion is going home soon so he is trying to find some normal clothes. But I did find a solid pair of slippers, and they have drastically improved the 4 hours of study in the morning.

Brother Hong, the 90-year-old living legend of Korea

In the Mokdong ward, there are about 5 grandmas, and they are all really close. They kind of have their own club, complete with their own name. It translates to "more than flower Grandmas", and they are all the nicest people you will ever meet. One of them has giant shipments of fruit sent to the missionaries on major holidays. So this week, we received a 10 kg box of tangerines, along with a large case of strawberries. So we are trying to eat them all before they go bad, which definitely requires that we give some to other people.

​(just in case you didn't believe me)

This Sunday was the primary program in our ward, which is a day when the young children get to speak and sing songs in front of the congregation. Our ward only has about 5 children that are that age, and the kids got excited when we sang with them the day before, so somehow we became a part of the primary program. So yesterday, Elder Johnson and I really "became as a little child" and sat among the kids and sang right along with them. It was so fun, and all the kids are adorable. They also asked both of us to give a short talk, which was pretty scary but the topic was about how Jesus loves all of us so it wasn't too hard.

Once church was over, we of course had a meal all together. When we were there, one of the members said that my "올굴 폈어요" which directly translates to my "face bloomed" but they use it to mean that basically I smile more and look less nervous than when I first got here. Which is a good thing, I think..

We get to start our Christmas caroling to the Grandmas in our ward in the morning, then we will probably skype our families. Then Christmas night, our ward is having a party, and I'm pretty sure one of the missionaries will be Santa so I will keep you posted. Christmas here isn't nearly as big of a holiday as it is in America, but it is still celebrated fairly commonly.

I hope you all have a great week! Please don't forget to take some time to remember the real source of the joy of Christmas, our Savior Jesus Christ. He is the reason we can repent and come to know true happiness as we draw closer to our Heavenly Father. Be sure to visit christmas.lds.org this week, and may you all have a happy holiday!

-Elder Bigelow

Being a missionary is the greatest!

Hello Everyone!

I don't know about the weather over in America, but this week was pretty moderate here. It's still a little chilly, but no snow this week.

This week was really great, I've been really excited to tell everyone about it.

First, Wednesday was transfers. I'm staying in MokDong for the next 6 weeks at least with Elder Johnson, but we did get a new sister in our district. Her name is Sister Robinson, and she started her mission 6 weeks before I did so she's also pretty new. Both of the sisters are awesome, and we're looking forward to some normality in the missionaries serving in MokDong. I think I mentioned this before, but our bishop speaks extremely fast. So seeing a new missionary come to the ward and not understand anything he says was somewhat comforting, because it means I'm not the only one..

New Mokdong district (Thanks for the turkey glasses mom)

We met lots of interesting people this week, starting with Brother Hong, the 90 year old man that I think I mentioned before. He's running for President soon, and he promised me any political position I want once he's elected (besides chief of police, because another missionary already called that one). So I might just become the next Secretary of the Treasury of Korea, I'll keep you posted though.

We also met a semi-professional rapper here who met with the missionaries a really long time ago. He has music available to buy and sings at clubs and everything, so he is the real deal. We met him in his studio, it was really cool and he is a great guy. So we're going to try to keep meeting with him.

We had an amazing experience yesterday that I wanted to share as well:

One of the families in MokDong ward has three kids, and one of the daughters doesn't get along well with her parents. So we found out that on Thursday, she never came home, and by Sunday afternoon they still had not seen her. So the family was very worried, and so were we. So after church, we were doing our studies, and planned to visit people later that night. My companion and I talked, and we decided that we should visit the family with the missing daughter and give them the card that someone wrote for them, instead of doing our studies then. And I was thinking about their missing daughter, and how devastating that would be to the parents, especially in a city of more than 10 million people. But some part of me, I don't know if it was a feeling or a prayer in my heart, but some part of me knew we were going to find her. So my companion and I waited to get on the bus that would take us to the family's house, and sure enough, in a city of 10 million people, the family's missing daughter walked right up to the same bus stop. So we talked to her, gave her the cards, and helped convince her to go home to her family. And she did, she got on the bus bound for her home. It was such an amazing experience, and it taught an amazing lesson about following feelings that we have, even if we do not immediately recognize them as a prompting from the Holy Ghost.

I also wanted to share a scripture this week, because it is one I have truly come to understand as a missionary.

Matthew 6: 25-34

 25 Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life,what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat,and the body than raiment?

 26 Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?

 27 Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?

 28 And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin:

 29 And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.

 30 Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field,which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?

 31 Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat?or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?

 32 (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.

 33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

 34 Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.

This scripture talks about how we shouldn't worry too much about the mundane things of life, because God will take care of those. And serving as a missionary this week, I truly understood what it meant. We worked hard this week, and never worried about what we would eat or how we would be clothed. But those things still came. We haven't bought anything at the grocery store in at least 2 weeks. Both members and nonmembers alike gave us fruit, meat, and tons of full meals. And someone that we used to teach even gave us socks as a Christmas present. This week, this passage of scripture was fulfilled exactly as we did the Lord's work.

Being a missionary is the greatest, and I get to be a missionary!

Have a great week!

19,000 steps

Hello everyone, I hope your week was as great as mine! I get to be a missionary though, which is pretty hard to beat.

Anyways, we got a lot more snow here than last week, which is still pretty new. I haven't slipped on any ice yet though, so I'm doing alright.

One milestone I had this week was breaking my previous steps per day record. Our phone has a pedometer, so this week we got 19000 steps on one of the days. It's a great time though, I love being able to walk the streets of Korea.

One good thing about the cold is that most of the mosquitoes are gone now. But I seem to have developed some kind of special mosquito sense, because now my eyes just automatically lock on to anything tiny in my range of vision, whether it be an actual mosquito or (usually) a particle of dust.

We are still teaching seminary every weekday, last week was our first full week, and I definitely want to give a big thank you to all of my seminary teachers from the past. One of the students in the class falls asleep every day, and can't really stay awake longer than 5 minutes. So one time, the bishop made him stand up so he wouldn't fall asleep. But he still managed to fall asleep standing up, which I had previously thought only horses  could do. But hey, I learn something new every day here.

As missionaries, we also teach a free English class twice a week. Our student class has pretty small numbers, but our adult class has gotten really big lately. The hard part about teaching English right now is that I don't know most of the Korean translations of the word, so I usually end up helping with the advanced class, that doesn't need as much help with translation. Almost everyone here wants to get better at English, so being able to serve others just by speaking English is a great blessing.

Another service that we still do is the lunch deliveries, where we bring lunches to people in an assisted-living type apartment. So if I learn nothing else, at least my lunchbox delivery vocab will be really good when I finish. One of the ladies in the building always waits outside for us and tries to give us yogurt and kisses when we come, so we hurry to the elevator. And she waves to us through the window of the elevator until we leave the floor, it's adorable.

We also got transfer calls this weekend, which tell you whether you're staying there or going to a different area. I'm staying in Mokdong to finish my training, which is expected but great news nonetheless, I love it here. Visiting other areas reminds me how small our ward is, but I've never seen more devoted members, even if they don't have the support of their friends and family.

Being a missionary is definitely teaching me to rely on Heavenly Father much more, this is not a work that can be done successfully alone, no matter who you are. I'm beginning to realize the strength that comes from realizing your weakness and asking the Lord to make you strong. Being a missionary is amazing, it's definitely worth the cold fingers and toes!

Have a great week everyone!