8-26-13

Helllllo family:

This week seriously flew by sooo fast. So much happened but it still was just so fast.

So let’s start with Tuesday, Elder Yun, because he already served his military service, had to go to a review thingy just in case war breaks out type of thing. Like he learned where he would have to go and what to do and where to get weapons and such. While he did that, the Seogwipo elders (southern island elders) came up and spent study time with me while Elder Yun was gone. That was interesting since it was different than usual.

So on Wednesday at night we called the boy’s mother to see if we could get permission for him to be baptized. She gave the permission! We were so happy, it truly was a miracle from the Lord. I will talk about the baptism later on. 

Wednesday I think was the first night that it rained in a while. It really hasn't rained much this year they say so it has been a "drought". But these past few nights and a little during the day it has rained. On Saturday night it was raining really hard, enough to wake me up. Between that and the heat, Saturday night was one of the worst nights I have had in a while. I woke up many times then couldn’t get back to sleep. Also, my fan had turned off in the middle of the night and I had no idea because I could not hear that it was running because of the rain. One of the times that I woke up because I was hot, I decided to check it.....it was off! I turned it on and got a little better sleep.

According to what people tell us, there is supposed to be a typhoon this week! It’s pretty exciting I think! The weather is pretty nice today (Monday). Not too hot and sunny and not very humid. It’s very nice weather compared to what we've had.

So Thursday we actually had two meal appointments! One was with one of my favorite families in our branch; they are super nice and have 3 kids. The brother is also in the district presidency. We had lunch with them, then for dinner we had lunch with a sister and her daughter. With us, because we needed another male with us, was a guy who had just returned from his mission about 1.5 months ago in Seoul. Both super good meals, the sister gave us some really good meat to take home and we ate that yesterday. Meals in Korea are either meat prepared a certain way and vegetables and rice, noodles with vegetables, or just vegetables. It is all really good though. Also like every restaurant or meal at a members home always has little side dishes of like kimchi, radishes, onions, peppers, and this little sauce that you can dip it in. Some kimchi I like, some I don't but it just takes some getting used to before you like it.

So Saturday was the best day so far here in Korea. President and Sister Gilbert came Friday to Jeju because on Saturday we had interviews! It was so awesome. It lasted for around 3.5 hours. So there are 6 of us in our district, so that’s 6 interviews. The interviews are 15 minutes each. So when we weren't the one being interviewed by President Gilbert, Sister Gilbert was holding a discussion in a different room with us. The theme for this transfer was "walking with Christ" so we discussed things about that. We talked about how we must walk with Christ and what would be holding us back is the natural man. She taught how we must overcome that natural man within ourselves, giving up it, in order to walk with Christ. I enjoyed every second of the discussion. Sister Gilbert knows the scriptures and gospel so well. She loves every one of her missionaries (us). They are literally the best mission presidents anywhere, no doubt about it. They have the highest expectations of us because they know that only the best missionaries are sent to the Korea Busan mission. Sister Gilbert should seriously be called as general relief society president or something.

After interviews we had the baptism! I will send a picture. Elder Yun was asked to baptize him. It was so amazing! We had asked his mother to come to the baptism, and she came! It was so wonderful; I know she felt the spirit. Oh since the Gilberts were there for interviews they were able to come to the baptism! It was just amazing and perfect. On Sunday he was confirmed and given the holy ghost and I was able to help with that, he had asked Elder Yun to give the blessing as well. It was just awesome.

Sunday night we had a thing in Seogwipo so we got a ride there. Because it has rained lately and it is still pretty hot, on the ride back there was really bad fog. We could see maybe 10 feet in front of us and the brother that was driving was pretty much relying on the line that is in the middle of the road. To get between Jeju city and Seogwipo (I think I spell it different every time.) we have to go through/around Halla mountain the tallest mountain in Korea, the roads are super windy, so because of this, the fog experience was even more scary.

Well Korean still is hard, I still don’t really understand much and can’t say much. Since we don’t have lessons ever it’s hard to practice, so President Gilbert suggested setting appointments with members to practice teaching for like 10 minutes. I think we will try that and hopefully it’ll get better eventually. I only have 2 more weeks left in my first transfer....time is flying by.

I hope all is well at home, I miss you all.

Love,

Elder Frampton

8-19-13

Well, interesting week this week!

Where to begin...

Well a really weird thing happened earlier in the week. I was sleeping and I just woke up all of a sudden and about a minute later Elder Yun reaches over and grabs my blanket, pulls it off of me and puts it on him. Weirdest thing ever, I guess he was cold. So on Wednesday day the APs came to Jeju! Elder Mitchell and Elder Kang. They came because they were doing a surprise visit to the SeoGwi Po Elders down south. They were real surprised when we showed up on Thursday morning. Elder Mitchell stayed in Jeju city with us while Elder Kang stayed with them down there all of Thursday. I learned a lot about talking with people on the street from them. 

When we met back up on Friday we went to a really popular noodle restaurant. We waited like 40 minutes!!!! The church is on that street so we always see people waiting outside of it.

So another funny thing that happened was when we went out for proselyting on Tuesday night. We were walking down some side roads where there are always shops and such. And we see this eel thing that had fallen/jumped out of the tank that was there in front of a shop and it was just flopping around all distressed. Then a guy (we think he was the owner of the shop) runs from a truck and picks up the eel and throws it back in the tank. It was super funny! 

Oh so once in a mission opportunity happened Thursday! Elder Mitchell (the AP) was super lucky because on Thursday we had a branch activity down by the picnic area place of the beach! We had to get special permission from mission president, and at first he said no then after thinking about it he said we could go. It was awesome.

I played soccer/volleyball game, which is just volleyball but with a soccer ball and you can only use your feet and head. It was nice to relax there;) We only went because our investigator that has a baptismal date was there. His mother still hasn’t given permission but we think she will this week so we can have the baptism.

So every week we teach 2 English classes. One is the English class that we are supposed to have, and one is a service activity that we do. They are both super fun!

Saturday morning we played badminton and soccer. I'm bad at both. During soccer there were like 3 people playing defense on my team and I was always the only one that was actually defending so it was always like 3 vs me. haha

So Sunday morning I decided to use my bread and eggs to make French toast!!! It was soooooooo good! I missed having French toast, I will make them more often now.

So this guy we met last Sunday, we called him up and invited him to church. He said he would come, but then when we were in church yesterday he called us up and said to meet him just at a shop down the street. He apologized and said he wouldn't be able to come this week because his family like came to town or something and he was going to the beach with them. He said he would come next week. I think he will. He is the closest person we have to being an investigator right now. This week we couldn't get a lot of people to talk to us especially since weren't a lot of men out. I just wish people could know how happy they could be with the gospel. It would make it easier for us because then they would be more willing to talk to us! I just always have to remember that even saving one soul will be worth it, and if I'm doing all this for that one, then it is okay. I know this gospel is the true gospel of Jesus Christ!

That’s it for this week! Keep it real!

Love,
Elder Frampton

12 Aug 2013

Hello Family!

I will start by answering questions that you all had.

I’m in Jeju for as long as president wants to keep me here. Could be 6 weeks and I finish the last 6 weeks of being trained somewhere else with someone else. or I could be here for 4 transfers, who knows. Both sisters here are on their 3rd transfer, so right out of being trained. One got trained here, the other is a Korean and came here. That could happen to me I guess. Our district leader, Elder Kim Ji Gyo is on his 5th transfer here I think. I came here as part of transfers.

We take the bus or walk. No bikes no trains or subways here in Jeju.

Our apartment is in a big apartment complex on the 4th floor, and we have to walk up the stairs every day.

We get our food from a little mart next to our apartment that we pass by every day. or any other mart in the city. There are 7-elevens all over the place along with other bakeries and marts called CU.

We are about 30-35 minute walking distance from the church, 10-15 when we take the bus. We have a branch here, and the building is a building and not a church building, so it might have been converted....I’m not sure though. There about 60ish members that attend each week.

We have had like 2 meals with people in the past week or so, it is usually for lunch and not dinner.

We use the computers in like the clerk’s office or something (I’m not sure what it is) for emailing. Apparently before I came they went to like a big information building 10 minutes from where we live to email, but it is under construction.

Last Pday after emailing I went to apply for my alien registration card at the immigration office. Then as a district we went to the Manjanggul lava caves. It was at least 30 degrees cooler down there and it felt super nice since it was probably in the 80s and humid outside...it was really awesome to see.

So missionary work here like I said is really slow. We had like 2 "lessons" this week. One was with a boy who is like 14 and has been meeting with missionaries for a few months. We actually set a date for his baptism on Sunday and we really hope it can happen. The problem that has existed in the past is that his mother won’t let him be baptized, but her heart has slowly become softened so we really hope she gives permission. Elder Yun wrote her a letter before and then wrote another Sunday morning for the mother in hope that she will give permission. I'm pretty sure that she will:) I'm slowly learning more Korean.

I still understand close to nothing. it’s hard to know what to focus on learning. I can put together sentences but it is really slow. Most people I talk to on the street end up being really nice and understanding so they usually accept a pamphlet from me. We can't really find anyone to teach yet, but there are a few people that we have talked to that might have some interest, so we will see where that goes when we contact them back. 

It was sooo hot this week, so difficult to be outside walking around. I just drip sweat....its so gross. The nights are a little better temperature wise, especially with the fans. But during the day when we are in our apartment, we just die!

For food, whenever we eat out or eat at a members house it is usually Korean food...when I’m at home its mostly been bread and jam, and cereal......I really need to figure out something more to eat at home other than that. I really thought I gained weight since I have gotten here but I weighed myself and I hadn’t......since the scale was in KG. I asked Elder Yun what he thought that was in pounds and he said that it was 6 pounds more than I what I had been when I left the MTC.....thankfully he was wrong. I converted it on our phone and I have been the same weight! 

That’s really it for this week, it’s hard to remember stuff, and know what to say because the days just blend and it is just repetitive.

Love, 

Elder Frampton

 My new district picking me up at the Jeju airport.

My district's last temple walk at the MTC

8-5-13

Okay so hello everyone! 

The area I got assigned to is 力林 or in English, Jeju. It is the Island just south of Korea, aka Korea’s version of Hawaii!!!! My trainer is Elder Yun (辣) he is Korean but he has suuuuuper good English. He is 24 years old, he already did 2 years of school and his 2 years of his military service. He is super awesome, very obedient, strong testimony, and loves missionary work. He is the best person ever!

So Thursday we found out who our trainer was (my whole group did) then pretty much everyone left by 1:30....we did not leave because we had to fly to Jeju, and there were no flights from Busan airport to Jeju so we first flew up to Seoul on Friday afternoon..We stayed one more night at the mission home until we left on Friday! I can say I was in Seoul! Elder Yun said I'm really lucky because no one usually gets to go to Seoul and especially so early on in their mission.  So after 2 plane rides and about 5 hours of travel/waiting we got there. It was so humid in Busan, but even more humid here in Jeju! 

The apartment has no air conditioning, and it has two fans. It has 3ish rooms, just a small one where I have my clothes and suitcases and the ironing board and some boxes, the kitchen, then room where we sleep and study. We unfold our Yo (just like 2 kind of thick blankets, but we are actually getting new ones today) right in front of our desk and sleep on them. I sometimes sweat more when I'm inside than outside. There is also the bathroom which is pretty small, a toilet sink then like a bathtub with a shower head. It is only really cold water and like 0 water pressure haha. But its okay since it’s always like 12342 degrees outside because of the humidity.

One of the sisters that just finished her mission here in Jeju came with her family to visit and they treated us to dinner at this little place, it was good rice and meat and kimchi. Kimchi is pretty good, the more I try it the more I like it. I’ve only had fish once so far, but it was like fish covered in egg then cooked. It had a weird texture but the taste was alright. That night I woke up with stomach pains.. And then they continued all of Saturday. I think my stomach was reacting to the food and humidity but on Sunday it was all better.

So Saturday we played soccer for two hours (because we don't exercise in the morning and because we are allowed to). I can see why we don’t exercise in the mornings, because you pretty much die if you do anything more than walking. It was 2 hours of fun but torture. 1 because of my stomach and 2 because of the heat. We play with the 辑蓖器 elders (the elders on the south part of the island) the branch presidents son and then a bunch of random people mostly young guys (nonmembers).

The missionary work is very very slow here. Maybe 1 to 2 lessons a week. Apparently there hasn’t been a baptism here in a long time. Elder Yun and I are planning to change that. We have big goals and plans. We are going to talk to everyone, because that’s the only way we will get lessons. Also we can get investigators through English classes, which we teach. It’s a good street contacting tool, tell them about and invite them to English class. At the English class they learn English and then hear an introduction to the church, and if they have interest then they tell us.

I haven’t been doing any of the talking to people so far, I just stand there and smile and laugh when Elder Yun does. I can’t really understand anything..I’ll catch a word or group of words here and there but that’s about it. EXCEPT last night (Sunday) we were proselyting for about an hour and a half and on our way home I talked to this guy (he was a student) and invited him to English class, and I got his contact! All by myself, Elder Yun just let me work. It was my first contact and a big faith promoting experience.

It’s very important that I work hard to learn the language because that is the only way I can connect with people and talk to them and invite them to Christ. I know there are people out there that the Lord has been preparing, we just have to find them. We are really working on having and exercising faith, and I do that every time I try to speak the language.

On Sunday we had church at 10, elders quorum, then gospel principles, then sacrament meeting. I probably understand maybe 3 percent of what was said. Some people spoke a little English so I could talk to them. I'm really working on conversational vocab since that is what is most helpful right now.

That’s it for this week. I love this gospel and I love serving the Lord, go do member missionary work! It is very important to our missionary work, do everything you can to help the missionaries.

7-30-13

Hello Everyone!

I made it to Korea last night around 9 o'clock. No problems, our flight from Salt Lake to San Fran was delayed about an hour which meant we almost missed our flight to Tokyo, but since there were about 50 people on that flight from SL going to Tokyo, they held the plane for us. We literally got off the plan in San Fran and immediately jumped on another after walking fast to get across the airport first ;) 

Its super humid here but it’s not that bad, we have a day of orientation today and they let us email home quick to say we got here, we head off tomorrow (Thursday) to our areas with our trainers. It will be fun!

Until Pday which I don’t know when that is....oh well. President and Sister Gilbert are super nice!