9-29-14

Hello! 

So this was a superrrr long week! Elder Peck and I kept thinking that we did things at the beginning of the week when they were actually the day before.

So not really much happened this week but I'll just say one or two things about each day.

Monday we had family home evening at the church, it was their first one and they are only doing it once a month. There were a few people there, it was fun, we wrote some letters to less actives and played a game called 'Do you love your neighbor'?

Tuesday we walked down to the beach area in our area and talked to people along the way, it started to rain at the end of the day and it wasn't very fun.

Wednesday we had to go teach another areas English class because both the Elders and Sisters there are training new missionaries so they were up at mission headquarters. It was really awkward because we did not know the class members!

Thursday nothing too special happened. Friday we had district meeting with the new district. I realized that I am pretty old missionary. Only 2 out of 11 other people have been in the mission longer than me. Today we went to look for a service activity at the city hall but they didn't really have any so they put us on a 'will contact if something comes up' list. Later that day we happened to run into a guy that said we could come do a lecture about America/gospel type stuff at the old people school he worked at. We called him later, he actually wants to do an English program with us so maybe he will become an new investigator!

Saturday we met this really awesome guy that I almost passed but then suddenly started talking to him. He did a lot of talking and it was really hard to cut him off because he would always cut us off when we tried to say something. Anyways he likes church stuff and the bible but he knows there is not correct stuff in the bible. We were able to share a copy of the Book of Mormon with him and it seems that he is willing to meet later!

Sunday we had church. Our branch is about 30ish people and most of them are older people. Super interesting. We took the sacrament to a really nice lady in the hospital. Later went with the branch president to visit a less active who wasn't there so he took us to dinner at his house. He is a young guy with a family, daughter serving a mission, son senior in high school, and like a 10 year daughter who is really fun! Wife is super nice too. They lived in the middle of nowhere.

So just some other information. Elder Peck is from Mesa, Arizona. 22. Cool guy. Our apartment has 2 beds so I get to sleep on a bed! Pretty old bed so not the most comfortable I have slept on but is still better than the other things I have slept on.(except the 7 yos in my last area) The apartment is the biggest one I have been in yet and it is pretty nice. We are getting a water boiler tomorrow (up until this point it has been central heating).

Super great area and I am excited to continue to serve! That is it for this week!

Love,

Elder Frampton

9-22-14

Hello everybody!

So I have news! Well I got transferred again, after only 6 weeks in Gyeongsan I am leaving! 

I am back in Busan again in an area called GweJeong. So one of the subway lines in Busan is the orange line and when I served in Geumjeong I served on the one end, now Gwejeong is on the other end of that orange line. Quite the big feat there. It was sad to leave so soon from Gyeongsan but I look forward to serving here. 

I think the thing I will miss the most is Brother Kim. He was doing so well. When I was talking with him on Sunday he said he has been doing good with smoking. Trying to keep to the schedule we made even though he got behind he was caught up apparently. Down to 8 a day. He said it is a miracle. He never really thought about smoking he said, it was always just natural. Now he said that he is very conscious of it. That when he smokes, he thinks 'okay how many did I smoke today, how many more can I smoke?' He recognizes this and considers it a miracle. When we met earlier in the week it was so miraculous. It is just a miracle. He said he prays 2 to 3 times a day just about smoking, and acknowledged that he knows he is weak but Heavenly Father has been strengthening him! He knows that Heavenly Father has made him more aware of when he smokes! He said he can see the blessings of the gospel in his life, when he didn't have it and now when he does. He thinks that if he was raised in the gospel that he could have become the prophet....I kind of just nicely laugh that one off because I don't really know how to answer that. He is sooooooo great! I will miss him and he was really sad that I was leaving! I also gave him this past week a list of 31 good scriptures that he can read...kind of a read one a day thing and think about it throughout the day so he can receive the strength of the Book of Mormon to help overcome his addiction. He is super great!!!

Yesterday our branch had 2 baptisms. Both sisters, one maybe 11, the other like 30s. Had the baptism in the neighboring areas church because our church doesn't have a baptismal font. It was really good, the missionaries in our district sang a musical number and I accompanied on the piano. I only messed up a little but it was okay, one of the papers fell off the piano so I elbowed whoever was behind me hoping they would understand that what I needed, they got the idea and picked the paper up for me. The service was really good though 2 really great sisters!

Not really much else happened this week really so that's about it. I look forward to serving in my new area!

Have a good one!

Love,

Elder Frampton

9-15-14

Hello!

So this past week was a pretty good week.

Last Tuesday, we took our investigator Brother Kim to family home evening in a members.  It was good. We just played a Korean traditional game and ate some delicious food. So brother Kim, because of the holiday was unable to keep to the schedule that we had made for him to quit smoking. We will work with him more closely to help him! So this week we taught about priesthood. When we taught that it was by the priesthood all the apostles in the scriptures performed miracles and that we had the priesthood too, he asked us to perform a miracle right there and then. To explain how it works we showed a Mormon message about a football kid getting struck by lightning and a new priesthood holder giving a blessing and that he turned out alright. Anyways media is such a good way to teach...luckily we had a computer in the church we could show it on. He also came to stake conference on Sunday and liked it. After there was a baptismal service that we took him too! It was a really good experience that we got really lucky with.

On Wednesday we got together with our missionary district and did a proselyting activity and a riverside park. Some people could play the ukulele and guitar so they played primary songs together and we talked to people. I talked to a lot of people, especially to old guys. I love talking to old guys. A lot easier than younger people...

On Friday Elder Aoyagi of the area presidency came to our Zone as part of mission tour. His wife gave her talk all in English, mainly just reading from her paper that maybe someone else translated to English for her. I don't know but it was fun, she said the purpose of her speaking was to keep us awake. She even had us do a little dance to put your shoulder to the wheel. So odd but so fun! For lunch they had some sandwiches that were egg sandwiches and jelly put together...sounds weird but super delicious!

Saturday's session of stake conference I tried translating to English for Elder Fairhurst, the elder of the couple that works with the military branch, the one that took us to go bowling. Anyways I didn't do a very good job. First of all it is super hard to understand Korean over loudspeaker because everything slurs together, two because they speak really fast/read really fast, three Korea is hard. But it was fun, he was only there to see how the translator (that would translate his talk the next day) how well he would do. That night the translator was translating President Barrows talk. 

Today we are going to "E-world" an amusement park place, it should be fun!

That is it! Have a good week!

Love,

Elder Frampton

9-9-14

Hello,

So sorry for the late email this week. Yesterday was the Korean holiday Chuseok. We gathered as a missionary zone at one of the other areas church buildings pretty much all day and had lunch, talent show, and board games. Very fun. Because of that event we did not have time to email yesterday and also because pretty much most stores are close so we don't have access to computer. So we were allowed to email today.

So this week was pretty good and pretty slow.

We met Brother Kim last Tuesday and set up a plan to help him stop smoking. It puts him giving up smoking sometime next month because he started out smoking 20 cigarettes a day. We have not been able to meet him since then because of the holiday but we will meet him today actually and see how he has been doing. I have kept in touch with him every day to encourage him. On Friday or Saturday he sent a text saying something like 'I prayed and asked for help to give up smoking and it seems that I have received help to meet my goal.' He was talking about his goal for the day but it is amazing to see that he is receiving heaven sent help and that he truly desires to give up smoking. 

So we met another potential investigator this week. He is a man from Nepal in Korea looking for work. We met him a few weeks ago and finally were able to meet. He said he was very interested in what Christians believed and said he wants to learn the gospel!

So this week was one of the most sad weeks on my mission....I lost the 'Apollo moon' tie bar that I always wore. I wore it every day on my mission except for 3 days when I forgot! I was getting up out of my seat on the bus when it fell off. I thought I heard something hit the ground when I got up so I turned around and didn't see anything. It wasn't until later when I realized it wasn't there that I realized that it was my tie bar that had fallen! Super Sad!!!!

Once again sorry for the late email!

Love,

Elder Frampton

Parents Note:

Since we did not hear from Chris on Monday, Belinda scanned the Internet for anything that may be happening in Korea that would not allow Chris to not be able to write.
She found a Busan Korea Facebook page and was scanning it when she saw a photo. Upon looking closely at the photo she saw Elder Frampton was in it.  She sent it to him and he did not even have a copy though he knew someone had taken it. They apparently made the poster out of cardboard and put topics that my be important to people and asked people on the street put a sticker on the one they thought was important so they could start a conversation.

A miracle!

8-31-14

Hello,

Pretty good week again, pretty busy.

Our one investigator, Brother Kim, is doing well. Met him twice this week other than church. We taught about the Word of Wisdom and committed him to try and live it...he has a smoking problem so it will be hard. I followed up yesterday in church with him and he said that it is really hard but he has been praying for help. He said he has tried throwing away his packs of cigarettes and even breaking them in half but that causes way too much stress. He said he has cut down on like 1 or 2 a day though. We are going to help him make a plan this coming week when we meet so he can give up smoking.  He really wants to but an addiction is an addiction so it takes some strong will to give up, but I know he can do it. We had a meal appointment with the stake president (he is part of our branch) and we brought Brother Kim with us. It was really good. Delicious meal so he liked it. They talked a lot about just how the lessons are going and how he likes the church. If you ever have the missionaries over for a meal, encourage them to bring an investigator!

The guy that I talked about last week that called and came to English class, we met him 2 times this past week! We will continue to meet and teach him, has very little background. He called himself a fake Christian.

Today for Pday we are going to the military base to bowl and eat. The other area in our district has the military branch and members and also the senior missionary couple that pretty much works on the base. So the couple invited our district to go bowling today on the base so that is what we will do! I might get to eat some real American food!

Next week is the Korean holiday Chuseok! It is on pday so we won't get to do anything special on another day. 

Yesterday I almost had to give a talk in church because they had asked before hand but when we got to sacrament meeting they told me I didn't have to anymore because someone from the stake came instead. I was pretty relieved.

We met some good potential people on the street this past week so hopefully this week we will be able to meet them.

Yea that is pretty much it for this week! 

Love, 

Elder Frampton

8-25-14

Hello,

Super good this week! Very busy again! A lot of things that happened. 

So the biggest thing that happened was that in the neighboring area (part of our missionary district) held a luau at their church. They had been preparing for a long time, even before I came. Well they had us participate and help out, so when I came I had to learn 3 dances in two weeks. Anyways we helped prepare for that this week and practiced some more and then had it on Saturday. Over 100 people showed up! There were 10 acts, 2 ukulele acts, 1 hula act which I participated in, like 3 native American dances, 2 hip hop ones, a new Zealand dance using Boi, these balls attached to strings that we swing around, then like a clapping rhythm thingamabob which I also participated. One of the elders in the other area is from Australia but his dad is like a professional dancer and so he took a lot of lessons from him so one of the Native American dances was a sweet hoop dance. Can’t even describe it. By the end he had like 8 hoops and used them as wings of a bird.....it was cool! 

This week we had 4 investigators that could potentially come to church but then none of them came! 2 of them later told us that they couldn't come because of either work or family event. The other 2 we haven't heard from yet. Well we met one, brother Kim Kyeong Hwan, guy that really loves our church. We met him Sunday but also earlier in the week on Wednesday as well. We invited him to read the Book of Mormon and pray and we would check up every other day. We found out on Wednesday that he liked the church but didn't really know if Heavenly Father existed or not. Well when we heard from him last he had prayed but hadn't read. Then when met on Sunday night and he had read! He said that he really loves the church and now the Book of Mormon. He really enjoyed reading it. He said that it taught him about Christ and he felt good while reading it. He even was like, while reading I definitely received inspiration. He says he that he feel God and Jesus Christ and the Spirit exist, he first thought as one person but then we helped him to understand that they are 3 separate beings. Also at first he thought it was inspiration but not necessarily an answer from God. We helped him to realize that is exactly how an answer comes! It was one of the greatest experiences ever! He just seemed so peaceful! and happy! He didn't accept the baptismal invitation we extended but he gladly accepted to pray about it in order to know whether that is when he should be baptized! He is super great.

So something unexpected happened when we were waiting at the church before English Class on Thursday. We were waiting and the phone in the clerk's office started ringing. It was someone who was going to come to English class! It was unexpected because we have no idea how they got that number. One of the only ways is to look at the little sign outside the church doors on the second floor. Our cell number is on it too so it is weird that his friend who gave the number had the number. We are super glad we answered it because he now became a new investigator! He is a tennis coach and travels a lot with his students and he is going to the states in a few months and needs to learn useful phrases and words so he can use them at hotels and stores and such! We set up with him to meet him 2 times a week! He seems pretty open to hearing the gospel and trying commitments! Very awesome

This week was rainy again. Probably at least a third of the time I have been here it has rained. We walk around little streams and puddles that form, sometimes big puddles... my shoes often get soaked! Very not fun. haha

Hope you have a good week! 

Love,

Elder Frampton

8-18-14

Hello,

So this week was pretty quick since it was the first week in my new area. A little stressful actually. Just super busy but at the same time not really. 

So we have 2 progressing investigators right now. Both around 60 years old. 

The one is gospel interest and not an English program but he really likes English so he ends up asking many questions so it is pretty much an English program. He comes to church and super loves our church. He says it feels like a family here and he says he will get baptized....sometime. We tried to commit him to a date but he didn't really give a yes or no, kind of just said that he would..sometime. Yesterday at church he said that he wish he could have been in the church since he was a kid just because he thinks it is so good! He likes the classes and the doctrine and everything. He even took notes in church. He really likes learning. I am not sure if he is necessarily feeling the spirit or just the idea of the church and it's structure, but the fact that he likes it so much makes me think that it is all the spirit. 

The other investigator we do an English program with. He is super nice and really just wants to find faith really. He kind of believes in God and Jesus Christ but is really wanting to know. He came to church the day before I came but didn't come this week for some reason. We will find out next time we meet. We meet him 2 times a week for the program and then he comes to English class 2 times a week as well.

On Friday, it was Korean Independence day so the branch had a branch activity. We went somewhere about an hour away and had like a picnic thing next to a little river. All the kids and some adults went in the little river, played with water guns, threw buckets of water at people (the water in the bucket, not the bucket itself). Good way to start the transfer getting to know the members. There are lots of kids in the branch so it is pretty fun to be with them too.

The weather here was supposed to be hotter than everywhere else but it was very cool this week. Didn't even really sweat while I was outside. Plus it rained like 3 days so far out of my week that I have been here so that was great.

The apartment is about the same size as my last one but it is a nicer layout. I have a good yo this time. There is one bed but it is my companions. I sleep on like 5 yo's though. It is great. I finally get comfortable sleep.

That is it for this week!

Love,

Elder Frampton