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

Army Soup

Hello Everyone!

This week was pretty historic, yesterday the stakes(a geographical area of church members) of Suwon and Yeong Dong were combined to form the new Gyeong-gi Stake. So we met with about 700 people to make the official changes, with the meeting presided over by Elder Choi of the Quorum of the Seventy and Sister McConkie of the General Primary Presidency. Although we all wish that more stakes were being created instead of shrinking, the leaders emphasized the importance of unity, through a particularly unique example...

This is actually dog meat. 

-One very traditional and popular food in Korea is called kimchi soup, which is very delicious. After the end of the Korean war in the 20th century, Koreans didn't have a lot of food left, and many of them were starving. So, they borrowed some of the staple foods from the American soldiers, namely meats such as ground beef and hot dog meat. But now that combination, called army soup, is served nationwide today and is even more delicious in some people's opinion (including mine). So they talked about how although combining may not seem like a great idea at first, you'll find that things are even better together :)

I'm not sure if I mentioned this last week, but the choir in our ward congregation sang a song in church last Sunday, which of course the missionaries got to participate in. But somehow, they decided we were good enough to sing in front of all 700 people at the meeting yesterday... There were only about 25 of us, but it went well! Although I hope the people in the back could hear us...

Also this week, one of the ward members hosted a dinner and activity for the young single adults in our ward, and the missionaries got to plan the lesson and game. The exchange students from BYU even found their way over to the house, and it was a great time.

We've been working a lot on finding new people that we can teach, and we were blessed to find 3 new people. Two of them are friends with mental disorders that limit them a little bit, but they told us sincerely that they want to change and be better people, and that they trust that we will be able to help them. It was a great reminder to me that the primary role of a missionary is that of service, and doing so will lead us in the direction that the Savior would have us go.

As hard as missionary work can sometimes be, I'm so grateful for the opportunity that I have to be a missionary in Korea, it's the best!

Have a good week everyone!

-Elder Bigelow

Army Soup

Hello Everyone!

This week was pretty historic, yesterday the stakes(a geographical area of church members) of Suwon and Yeong Dong were combined to form the new Gyeong-gi Stake. So we met with about 700 people to make the official changes, with the meeting presided over by Elder Choi of the Quorum of the Seventy and Sister McConkie of the General Primary Presidency. Although we all wish that more stakes were being created instead of shrinking, the leaders emphasized the importance of unity, through a particularly unique example...

This is actually dog meat. 

-One very traditional and popular food in Korea is called kimchi soup, which is very delicious. After the end of the Korean war in the 20th century, Koreans didn't have a lot of food left, and many of them were starving. So, they borrowed some of the staple foods from the American soldiers, namely meats such as ground beef and hot dog meat. But now that combination, called army soup, is served nationwide today and is even more delicious in some people's opinion (including mine). So they talked about how although combining may not seem like a great idea at first, you'll find that things are even better together :)

I'm not sure if I mentioned this last week, but the choir in our ward congregation sang a song in church last Sunday, which of course the missionaries got to participate in. But somehow, they decided we were good enough to sing in front of all 700 people at the meeting yesterday... There were only about 25 of us, but it went well! Although I hope the people in the back could hear us...

Also this week, one of the ward members hosted a dinner and activity for the young single adults in our ward, and the missionaries got to plan the lesson and game. The exchange students from BYU even found their way over to the house, and it was a great time.

We've been working a lot on finding new people that we can teach, and we were blessed to find 3 new people. Two of them are friends with mental disorders that limit them a little bit, but they told us sincerely that they want to change and be better people, and that they trust that we will be able to help them. It was a great reminder to me that the primary role of a missionary is that of service, and doing so will lead us in the direction that the Savior would have us go.

As hard as missionary work can sometimes be, I'm so grateful for the opportunity that I have to be a missionary in Korea, it's the best!

Have a good week everyone!

-Elder Bigelow

I'm just getting started here...

Hello everyone! As of August 26th, I started my mission a year ago, so this is roughly the halfway point. I really wish it wasn't though, I'm just getting started here..

This week also marked one year since I started learning Korean, it's still hard. :)  Every day I wonder why I still can't understand everything yet, but I just try and think back to one year ago when it took me 3 minutes to read one sentence and then I realize that maybe I have caught on to a thing or two. 

This past year has been an entirely new experience, but I can easily call it the best year of my life so far, and I'm looking forward to the next year that will be even better.

Here's a picture of some real learning going on~

  한동균 (Han Dong Gyun) is learning English so we do kind of a language exchange where we teach him English and he helps us with our Korean before we actually start teaching about the gospel.

And speaking of better, the seasons changed here literally overnight. THe first half of the week was just as hot as it has been all summer, but then on Thursday morning it was about 75 degrees and has stayed the same since. The sky is clearer and life is good! There was also an unexpected downpour in the middle of the week, so we had to buy umbrellas before we left the subway station. IT did create a pretty cool atmosphere at night though~

This week was our ward conference, kind of like a birthday for the ward congregation which was formed 12 years ago. Additionally, two of the stakes are combining next week, so this was the last week as the Suwon stake, soon to become the Gyeong gi stake. Here's a photo of most of the adults in our ward~

(I think I'm the second tallest behind my companion, that's the only time in my life I'll ever be saying that.)

That's it for me this week, have a great week everyone!

Crunchy vs. Crispy

Hello everyone!

 Here's a picture taken from one of the colleges nearby, 경희대학 (Gyeong Hee College)

This college actually does an exchange program with BYU every year, and the students usually end up coming to the ward that I am serving in. They should be coming this week!

My challenge of the week: Trying to explain to a group of English learners what the difference between crunchy and crispy is. Teaching English has caused me to consider aspects or minute details of the English language that I have neither had to consider nor explain before, I love it. Recently we have been working really hard to get more students out to our English class, both so that we can find more people to teach and so that we can help serve more people, so we plan to stay pretty busy with that.

Other fun things for this week:

-We taught some of the teenagers in our ward how to play the basketball game H-O-R-S-E, they then proceeded to beat us at our own game...

-Korean grapes are in season, but you have to be careful because they are wildly different from most of the grapes I ate in America. Not only is there 3-5 seeds inside, but Koreans also don't eat the skin of the grape. So each grape is a mini process, consisting of squeezing the grape out of its peel into your mouth and then making sure that you spit all of the seeds out before you swallow it. It's really good at preventing you from overeating though, complex food is key..

-This week was transfers, so that means that lots of missionaries moved around and some new missionaries came as well. Elder Christensen and I both stayed here, but we had two new Sisters that came and are now serving in the ward. Sister Killpack and Sister Sannar (who came to Korea last week and is a brand new missionary) came, so now we will have all foreigners serving in this area (pray for us:) )

This week, our church meetings were focused on the temple, a building where sacred ordinances within our church take place. There, we do work for ourselves, and also complete those things necessary for salvation on behalf of those who didn't have an opportunity to accept the gospel of Jesus Christ on Earth. What a blessing it is to know that death is not the end for us, nor is it the end for anyone. Just like Jesus Christ, we will live again.

Have a great week everyone!

My work here isn't finished yet

Hello Everyone, Happy Korean (Restoration of) Independence Day. Today celebrates the day when Japanese control of Korea was relinquished and Korea once again became an independent nation 마음으로 태극기를 답시다!

It's still hot over here, but Korea has quite the selection of interesting drinks to beat the heat including:

-Watermelon Soda (Imagine the flavor of a watermelon popsicle but carbonated

-Pocari Sweat- I have no idea where the name from and I hope it's not actually someone's sweat, but it's good for replenishing electrolytes

-Aloe Juice- Normally Aloe is used as a medicine for burn relief, but here it is a tasty drink, complete with bits of the Aloe plant inside (my favorite)

-매실 (mae-sheer)- I'm not exactly sure what it's made out of, but it's super sweet like apple juice and super refreshing

Last Monday I headed to Mokdong  in Seoul to update my foreigner registration card, only to find out that it didn't actually need to be updated yet, so I'll have to make another trip up there at some point. The silver lining though was that I got to meet with two people that I taught when I first came to Korea, one of whom has been baptized since then. Good times

This weekend was also transfer calls, where we find out if we will leave to another area or stay for 6 more weeks (sounds a little bit like groundhog day now that I think about it). Anyways, I will stay here in Suwon for the next 6 weeks with Elder Christensen, then he will go home and I will get a new companion. I'm really glad I'm staying here though, my work here isn't finished yet :)

This week I've been especially grateful for the knowledge that members of this church have about God's plan for us, and that the questions like "Where did I come from?" "what is my purpose in life?" and "what's after this life?" are not a mystery. We were teaching someone this week about Jesus Christ, and he asked suddenly, "Is there really a Heaven? What is it like?" I'm thankful that I could respond with confidence "Yes, there is. And Heaven is living with our families forever." and I especially love sharing that knowledge with those in Korea.

Have a great week!

-Elder Bigelow

20 flavors of Gatorade

Hello Everyone!

 

I've mentioned before that my name in Korean sounds like the name of the "beagle" dog, but this week the interpretation of my name was taken to a whole new level. I don't know how many you are familiar with "the Evolution of Species" by Charles Darwin, but it doceuments his travels and observations about evolution. Anyways, when he rode to the Galapagos Islands, he rode on a boat called the "SM Beagle" Conveniently enough though, the name for that kind of boat in Korean sounds like the second half of my last name. I had several people point that out to me this week, I thought it was quite the coincidence..

 

I keep thinking that every week is going to be the hottest one of the summer, but I just found out this week that it's the hottest summer in Korea in over 20 years so I don't think it'll be cooling down anytime soon.

Our mission President told every missionary that they had to drink some Gatorade or other electrolyte-replenishing drink every day, and we even had a day where he told us we weren't allowed to work outside if we could help it.. Also our house is 90 degrees Fahrenheit every morning.. But despite the heat, I'm loving life over here!

 

This week we had a mission leadership conference in Seoul, followed by a Zone Training Meeting, where we deliver the training we got to all of the missionaries in our area. It went well, and I love being around other missionaries. And both Elder Young and Elder Santana, My companions in the missionary training center, are serving in the same general area. It is strange to think how far we've come after learning the Korean ABC's 11 months ago. Unfortunately, my pictures aren't uploading so I guess you'll have to wait on the photo...

 

One other fun thing I did this week was exchanges, where you work with a different missionary for a day and assist in the work and training in that area. So I got to go with Elder Landgraf, a missionary who has only been in Korea for a month. I love working with brand new missionaries because I think that they have such a great vision for misisonary work that sometimes older missionaries lack. And, I really enjoy teaching language, whether it is English or Korean so I had some fun teaching opportunities.

 

This week, Sister Morris, who was serving in 수원, went home this week due to medical problems. So from now until further notice, Elder Christensen and I have to teach English class by ourselves. WHich usually isn't too bad, but when you have lots of students that are at different levels it can get pretty complicated. The Korean English students couldn't believe that there were like 20 flavors of Gatorade in America, there's only one flavor in Korea so they were in total shock. English class is my favorite :)

 

And speaking of English class, one of our students decided that he wanted to learn about our church, so we ate lunch with him and taught about the Restoration of the Gospel. He was very sincere and really wants to find out if it is true, which is amazing. Our church leaders tell us that we will find greater joy and satisfactiopn than we have ever experienced while serving as a missionary. And sometimes it's hard to trust that promise when you've been walking for several hours in the humidity here with nobody that wants to talk to you, but when I am able to meet people like that, I realize every time that there really is no greater joy than missionary work.

 

 

 

Have a great week everyone! And Happy Birthday Mom!

 

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