MIssion Address

Elder Christopher D. Frampton
Korea Busan Mission

christopher.frampton@myldsmail.net


No more letters and packages via USPS:

Dongnae P.O. Box 73
Busan 
607-600
South Korea

Busan South Korea

Calling Letter: 15 Feb. 2013

Washington DC Temple: 16 May 2013

Church Farewell talk: 19 May 2013

Open House @ Christensen's: 19 May 2013

MTC Report Date: 29 May 2013

Korea Report Date: 30 July 2013

1st Area (Jeju Island) Report Date: 1 Aug. 2013

1st Companion - Elder Yun (Aug 2013-Oct 2013)

2nd area (Geumjeong - Busan) (Oct 2013 - Apr 2014)

2nd Companion - Elder Moon (Oct 2013 - Feb 2014)

3rd Companion - Elder Sperle (Feb 2014 - Apr 2014)

4th Companion, 3rd Area (Sacheon) - Elder Brown (Apr 2014 -  Aug 2014)

5th Companion - 4th Area (Gyeongsan) - Elder Brower (Aug 2014 - Sep 2014)

6th Companion - 5th Area (GweJeong) - Elder Peck (Sep 2014 -  Dec 2014)

7th Companion - 5th Area (GweJeong) - Elder Suttner (Dec 2014 -  Feb 2015)

8th Companion - 6th Area (Gumi) - Elder Glover (Mar 2015 - Apr 20 2015)

9th Companion - 6th Area (Gumi) - Elder Lee (Apr 20 2015 - June 1 2015)

Korea Depart Date: 3 June 2015

5-24-15

Hello,

Last week. Still hasn't really hit me yet.

Well this week we had a dinner night activity at the church and around 20 investigators came. Family and friends of members. Really good outcome. More of them came then members at first. Good for them to just see the church and know that we are not a crazy church but good. So maybe in the future many many miracles will happen in this area.

One young man on Sunday brought his friend to church. Good to see members doing missionary work!

Brother Kang and Sister Lee are doing well. Their baptismal date got moved to June 7 because next week Sister Lee has to go to Seoul.

Had some other cool stuff happen this week but It is actually really confusing so I'll explain when I get home....:/

Anyhow I love missionary work!

Have a good week!

Love,

Elder Frampton

5-18-15

Hello,

So this week I went on exchanges with a missionary named Elder Lees. We are like best friends so it was a really fun exchange. We talked to a lot of people and learned a lot of things.

Our investigators, the mother and son, came to church again. We had planned to talk about the plan of salvation but they had questions about the Book of Mormon. Then we ended up talking about baptism. At first they did not see the need for baptism but after talking and our member talking with them as well they agreed to baptize! There date is set for the 31st of this month. Please pray for them! Brother Kang and Sister Lee.

Well I don't really know what else to tell you about...only 2 more weeks.

Well have a good week!

Love,

Elder Frampton

5-11-15

Hello,

I'll make a quick little email today even though I called.

So Tuesday we had our ward picnic. It was perfect weather! I got sun burn really bad....Anyhow our investigators (referrals) came to the picnic. They had a really good time, the mother and the son. We played sports a lot with the son and the young men in the ward.

They also came to church on Sunday for the first time. It seems like they liked it. Different from their other church but it went well! We taught the restoration during gospel principles class and the mother was very interested. She asked questions and shared her thoughts and they agreed to read and pray about the Book of Mormon. The mother really liked the talks in sacrament meeting. One member talked about the temple and service, so the mother investigator is interested in what temples are all about. Next time;)

That's it!

Love,

Elder Frampton

5-4-15

Hello,

This week was good!

The one investigator that we have that is doing the English Program read the Book of Mormon assignment we gave him! He said he didn't have interest when we first started to meet but as we were talking during English time he started to talk about the Book of Mormon part he read! We got to talk about the Book of Mormon a little bit more and a little of the restoration. He seemed to be listening and we assigned him a chapter to read and he said he would read it! I think that the spirit is slowly opening his heart to the message of the gospel!

We were proselyting during some extra time we had and we walked past a phone store and said hello to the man standing outside. He said hello back so we struck up a conversation. Before it could go too far he invited us into his phone shop! We talked for a good 15 20 minutes. We got to talk about the Book of Mormon and he seemed a little interested. He said that he gets bored in his shop so he told us to stop by a lot so we can talk! True miracle!

We got a few opportunities to do service this week! We helped a member move a different member's treadmill to even a different member's house. The member who used to own the treadmill is moving so yesterday we went and helped clean the apartment he will be moving into. On Saturday we got to help clean the church a little!

No one came to English class because of the long holiday weekend (Children's day). But one of the young men in our ward brought his one friend to the church and we got to play some basketball with him and be his friend. He is not quite ready to be an investigator yet but maybe in a few weeks or something. It was good to see the young man doing missionary work. The young men here are really impressive sometimes. Every fast Sunday a few of them always get up and bear their testimony about something.

The one investigator that hasn't responded to our calls or texts still hasn't. But we saw him this morning on our way back home from exercising. I just don't think he really has interest in church as he said he did. We will see...

Well that was our week! Hope you have a good one!

Love,

Elder Frampton

4-27-2015

Hello family!

This week as a verrry slow week. New companion, only Korean, my brain is about to explode. That plus spring allergies is killing me. My eye was swollen last week and then again this week because of the allergies I think. I have been taking medicine but it really hasn't helped much. No big deal though, it is actually not that bad.

So this week we did not meet with the one investigator that we wanted to talk about baptism with. He didn't answer our calls or texts and didn't come Sunday. He didn't go to the church on Friday to play baseball with our members (we went to hopefully meet him but he didn't show). He texted our member saying that he wouldn't go. I don't know why isn't answering us.

We met one of our less actives. Instead of speaking English we spoke in Korean. It was much different. I didn't really talk much 1. I didn't know what to say 2. He pretty much filled my companion in on everything he told me over the past 4 weeks -------He came to church again on Sunday for Sacrament meeting. It was good! We stayed with him and a member and talked for another 2.5 hours. Well I and my companion just listened to our member talk most of the time. The less active pitched in too. 

Met a guy for the 2nd time. English program. He doesn't really have much interest in the gospel right now and he receives pressure if we talk gospel to him so we can't do that very much yet. We did give him a Book of Mormon, shortly introduced, and asked him to read it. We will see. We think that as we meet with him he'll trust us more and be more open to the listening to the gospel.

So our investigator and his mom (who is an investigator too) Came to English class this week! Our member who referred them brought them. We talked with them for a few minutes before and built trust. Apparently they stopped going to their church recently so they can make the transition to ours. They really like English class. That made me feel good since I try to teach well and fun. Anyhow our member says try to meet them at their house to teach the gospel. We will see if that works out this week.

Okay that is it for this week!

Have a good week!
Love,

Elder Frampton

4-21-15

Hello familia,

So this week’s news is transfers. My last transfer and guess what? I have a Korean companion!  His name is Elder Lee. Doesn't speak English really so my Korean hopefully will get a lot better this last transfer and hopefully we can get a lot of good work done here. Also hopefully my brain won't explode from only Korean...

So there was the family that was a referral that I had told you about. Well we still aren't meeting them because the husband is still going through treatments and such. Well anyway they live in a faraway place in our area. We ended up going to that area this past week just to have a look around. Well we went and as we were walking, coincidentally we met the wife! She said that today she had just run to town to get pick up some stuff and what a coincidence it was that we met her. I consider that a big miracle because it was a last minute decision to go to that area. 

Oh we had interviews with President this week and they were good. We did district meeting at the same time and tried some new stuff in district meeting that was fun and helpful.

Wednesday we met a guy for the first time. Appointment. I had met him a few weeks ago and he showed English interest. We had invited him to English class but he is busy during that time so we set something up during the week and were able to meet him. We explained our English program to him but he kind of felt a little pressure. He said he wants to do it though. So this week we are going to try and meet him again.

Met one of our members that owns a Taekwondo place and got to talk with her for a little and do a cartwheel with the kids there. 

Went to visit a less active and we gave her a rock with Jesus Christ written on it. She absolutely loved it. I had gotten the idea from the April Liahona and felt we should give that to her. We don't know why she doesn't come to church because she has a huge testimony of the gospel. Since Elder Glover was leaving she invited us to her house for a meal the next day with her, her husband, and her son. We had a very good time with them eating delicious food. We sang a song for them. Elder Glover played his ukulele while I sang and I played my tin whistle as he sang. It was very fun and brought the spirit!

We met with one guy this week. Well he called us last Monday around 5 pm right before pday ended and he said he wanted to meet in 10 minutes. So we ended pday early to meet him. We read the book of Mormon with him because he was reading by himself but couldn't understand so we read and talked about it with him. He says he really wants to be a better person and follow the example of Jesus Christ. Next time I think we might be able to invite him to be baptized!

Sunday we had a fireside at the Stake Center. It was for investigators, recent converts, and less actives. The one guy I just spoke about came when the meeting ended..ate dinner there. He talked to other investigators and members and missionaries in the stake so even though he didn't attend the meeting it was a good opportunity. An English class member came which was good. Also our member that referred someone last transfer and we had only been able to meet him once brought the referral and also his mom. They both thought the meeting was really good and the member says we should contact them often. We probably will be able to teach the both of them later!

This week was great and I hope you have a good one too!

Love, Elder Frampton

4-12-15

Hello, family!

This week was pretty good. Made some cookies for a member’s birthday and dropped them outside their door. At nice apartment buildings there are locked keypad doors to get into the apartment. Since we wanted to leave the cookies secretly we asked the security guy to open the door....he said go to the door and call him on the intercom. We did that and waited, and waited for about 2 minutes...we were watching the door for it to open but we never saw it move. (It was a sliding door) so the security guy probably saw us and came over and told us how to call him on the intercom (I don't know why) but then he was like "the door is already open." Well little did we realize that the door was open already when we got there. We got distracted by the fact that we were waiting for movement rather than looking to see the position of the door, which was open...We felt really dumb. Anyhow the member liked our cookies!

We met the one less active again at his English academy. I was on exchanges with another elder and we met with Brother Kim. We had a really good lesson with him. The spirit was super strong as we taught to his needs rather than a lesson. He has lots of questions and challenges to overcome in his life right now. Although he has been less active for 20 years, he surprisingly remembered much of the doctrine! We were just reminding him and as he talked to us I think the spirit helped him solve a lot of his questions and helped him know what is right. We really didn't do much teaching, just listening and giving short words of truth and encouragement. He was unable to come to church this week for general conference sadly but he said that he will come next week.

As we met another less active that just has lots of concerns and doesn't really want to come to church I really didn't know what to say. I didn't know how to react and I was really trying to listen to the spirit for words to say but nothing came. I was confused because I really was expecting to receive words of comfort and help to say to her. What I felt though was just God's love for her. Just an overwhelming sense of peace that God still loves her no matter what the circumstances. I let her know what I was feeling and the surety that I knew it came from God. We prayed and left.

The investigator that came to church last week wouldn't answer our calls and only answered some of our texts. We couldn't meet him. He played baseball with a member this past week which was good but the member told us that the investigator said he was going to Japan....well the investigator texted us during church and said he was in Hiroshima , Japan for business...a little odd and sudden. Hopefully everything works out.

English class on Saturday was great. We had our usuals and because of conference at the church 2 sisters and one young man came to English class! It was great. They had a great time and said they would come again. It was really a much more fun class with them there. 

Conference was good. Learned a lot about the importance scripture study and prayer plays in every aspect of our life. Surprised that President Monson didn't speak as much as he usually does. He must be pretty weak and tired.

Well Hope everyone has a good week!

Love,

Elder Frampton

4-6-15

Hello, Happy Easters! 

I actually forgot until half way until church when I just read a little note on the bulletin board...It was not mentioned at all during church.

This week was good. I'll start with Sunday. Back story. When we were ending companion exchanges on Friday we walked into the bus terminal and a guy said hello to meet. We talked and talked about church and stuff and I invited him to church. We exchanged numbers and he said he would be there. After confirming on Saturday night if he could come, he showed up Sunday to church. We have sacrament meeting last so we had priesthood and talked a lot about Joseph Smith and even read from Joseph Smith history during the lesson. It was super good, he even took notes. We had gospel doctrines and the lesson was about God. Then sacrament meeting, he fell asleep halfway through but he made it that far which is impressive. Lastly after church there was a baptism. A different branch in another area came to our building for the baptism since they don't have a font. The guy attended that too! It was just a great day since he really likes church and the people and missionaries too. He likes English. Anyhow during church he mentioned a few times about when we met. He said that he was always praying, especially recently, for God to send someone to him. That day when he saw us missionaries, especially because we were foreigners, he couldn't pass up the opportunity. He said that when I turned towards him that my eyes had a bright light radiating from them. It was a big testimony builder to me to know that I could reflect that light of Jesus Christ.

Today we hiked Geumo Mountain. It was very hard and tiring actually. It was easy most of the way until the last part. Last 3rd actually. 2 Km of just awfulness. It was rainy today too and when we got to the top we couldn't see anything but the sight was cool. Just mist everywhere and being up in the clouds was awesome. Took 3 hours up, 1 down.

On Saturday we went fishing and played a game called Jokgu which is just volleyball with your feet. Fishing, no one really caught anything. Oh we went with the men from the ward, not just by ourselves;) Anyhow, one guy caught 8 fish and that was it, no one caught anything else. It was perfect weather, started to rain as we left. I got sunburn. I think we really improved our relationship with the ward this week.

Wednesday we cleaned the carpets in the church and did some garden work around the church.

Some of Wednesday, Thursday, and some of Friday I did companion exchanges with a Korean. I had to speak Korean the whole time. I got a bad headache by the end. I think that is why I never had any other Korean companions after the first 5 transfers. Anyhow, we had 2 opportunities to give priesthood blessings! It was such a blessing to us and especially to my companion. He is in his first transfer so newly ordained to the priesthood as well so he got his first experience giving a blessing this week.

Went and met a less active that owns an English academy. He was very nice and wants to start meeting with us regularly and coming back to church! It seems that he just needs lots of love from us and the ward. Been less active for 20 years but still believes the church to be true! What a miracle. He was supposed to come to church but an urgent thing came up so next week he said he will come!

I am so grateful for all the miracles I have seen this week and all the miracles I will see next week! I love this work and this gospel!

Have a good week!

Love, Elder Frampton

3-30-15

Hello, familia

So big news this week was meeting the referral. It wasn't just the parents that came but also the daughter. Here's the story. There is a lady in America (born in Korea raised in America) that went to Korea 7 years ago and became friends with the parents. She is a member. They kept in contact and the parents had a really good image of the church. Their daughter is 10 years old and somehow decided to send their daughter to live with the friend for 3 months and study English. While there they went to church together and the daughter took all the lessons and then came back a week and a half ago. She wants to be baptized and wants her parents to be baptized as well. So we met them on Tuesday to give a priesthood blessing to the father because he got surgery last week. It went really well, we answered a lot of their questions and such and they are very interested. As soon as the father recovers we will be able to start meeting with them! Super awesome miracle and shows the power of member missionary work! Oh at the end we invited them to pray as a family and as we were walking out I told the daughter to teach her parents how to pray. She had a big smile then grabbed one of the restoration pamphlets on the way out of the church. Super awesome! 

Another thing that happened this week was teaching about the restoration on the bus in English. The guy was 26 and really good at English, super good. He said he was really impressed by the message of the restoration. He said he wasn't really into religion but he still said that it was very impressive. That is because it is true! :D

Church was a lot better than last week. I think everyone was just more settled since everyone received a new calling the week before. Oh we met with our new ward mission leader for dinner at his house on Saturday and it went well. He is excited to work with us and get the work moving along. 

This week I gave a baptismal interview with one of the district member's investigators. Very scary because it was my first. It went well. 

It has been very warm recently so we are now allowed to take off our suit coats. Today is the first day without our suitcoats. It is very warm.

We were going to climb a mountain, well hike, but our member told us to go next week when the cherry blossoms will be in bloom so the hike will be better. We just chilled today, did some shopping, got a haircut. The haircut lady was nice....but at first she thought we were Islam...then when we said no she then asked if we were Christian. Kind of funny. 

Sunday night we had another opportunity to give a blessing this week to a sick member. It was a great opportunity to serve! 

For my birthday the dinner appointment we had got moved to this week on Wednesday so I didn't do anything special really for my birthday. But that's okay!

Have a wonderful Easter and general conference. Remember not to spoil any of the talks next week for me since I see it a week later ;)

Love,

Elder Frampton

3-23-15

Hello family,

With the new bishopric change 3 weeks ago there have been a lot of changes including all the locks in the church. They decided to not let us have a clerk's office key where they used to let us do email so we are emailing from a sketch little community center so this will be a quick email just in case we end up getting kicked out, so if the email stops abruptly that is why...

Tuesday we met a past investigator that is Chinese and is doing grad school at a nearby college. Met with him in his lab and just talked about life and always about Christ. He understands the importance of Christ but not really about the need for the 'true' gospel and church. It was a good opportunity to meet a past investigator though. When we went there we didn't know how long the bus would take, we thought it would take an hour so we left super early beforehand just in case it took longer..But it only took 20 minutes so we ended up being at this college campus with not really anything to do or anywhere to go until the appointment. Just tried to get some students to talk to us in English. Didn't work too well...

On Thursday we met a member at the church and got to know him better and he is a really great member. We are trying to involve him in missionary work now and he is really willing to help if there is someone to meet and if he has time.

Friday we had an appointment with a referral from a member. 26 years old and the son of a past investigator. Didn't know anything beforehand about him so we didn't know how to prepare. He didn't have any questions beforehand either like the member said he might so the lesson was very dry but the Spirit was very present when we talked about Christ. We will be meeting him this week as well and he will probably come to English also.

On Friday afternoon we met this old kind of homeless looking guy that said he sees us a lot. He also said he passes by the church a lot...I then invited to give him a tour of the church but he said that tomorrow he has time. So we went back Saturday after English class around the time we said lets meet...he was there and when we walked up to him he said 'okay lets go look.' So obviously he remembered and was waiting for us...(we thought he might not have remembered because he smelled like alcohol the first time..). Well we showed him the church and introduced him to the bishop who was there cleaning and changing locks. The bishop asked the guy where he lived and the guy was just kind of quiet.....obviously homeless for sure at that point. Then the bishop asked if he had dinner yet....and the guy was quiet again....so then the bishop gave him 10 bucks....we felt super bad about him having to give 10 bucks but he was the one who asked even though he probably knew the answer. Anyhow we then took the guy upstairs to the chapel and prayed with I’m and then he left. It was a good experience I think, I felt the spirit and even though he may have been a little drunk, I think he at least had a good experience.. Just an awkward situation though.

After a very rough day at church on Sunday we went proselyting on the street for a few hours with very little success. Talked to one guy that had shown lots of interest but then said he was too busy to meet. After being tired and almost time to turn back and go home we get a call from an office elder telling us he had a referral for us from Salt Lake South mission or something like that. This girl in that mission is getting baptized and she talked to her parents (who live in Korea) to take the lessons too and they want to listen! So we called the guy and he was super nice and happy and looked forward to meeting us. He is actually getting surgery this week I think (it as kind of noisy over the phone) but he says that he has to recover for about 3 weeks so sometime next month he said we can meet! So that was a huge miracle! :D so thankful we also got a call from a member right after asking us to come over on Wednesday for a meal (my birthday) so that was also a miracle!

Well got to go!
Have a good week!

Love,
Elder Frampton

3-16-15

Hello,

Really good week in a really good new area!

First we went and visited this potential investigator at his bamboo tea making shop...apparently the tea is very healthy. We thought it would taste bad, but it was pretty good...anyway. Really quiet nice guy 42. Met with missionaries nearly 20 years ago. Kind of awkward at first because I didn't know what to expect, he didn't really either. Kind of sat there in silence while he worked, I thought maybe we would be just going and teaching a lesson but it wasn't like that necessarily. Anyway after talking just about him for a little (he was still not very talkative) I just jumped right in and said we wanted to watch a video together. We watched the Because of Him video. It really invited the spirit and created the perfect environment for talking about the gospel. We talked about how Christ and his gospel can help his life and answer his questions (he said he had no questions...), his silence now was different than before. It was more of a pondering silence and I am certain he was feeling the spirit. I offered a Book of Mormon and invited to read and he took it. Last time Elder Glover and his last companion met him (which was the first time) he rejected a Book of Mormon but I think the spirit softened his heart this time. We asked if we could come back the next week and he said that it was fine so we will go back this week! I see a lot of potential in him!

Tuesday night I spent maybe 2 hours or so just calling all the members and introducing myself. I think they liked it and I hope it builds their trust in me. I won't meet them all until next week because this week was stake conference. For stake conference because our house area is far from the stake center, we slept over at another missionary’s house from Saturday to Sunday. Actually it was Elder Luke from the MTC, it was nice being with a familiar friend. Their house was gigantic.

We went to find a service activity one day and we went to this one community center...they didn't have anything so they gave us directions to a service center 40 minutes away (that is not a long distance) walk. We went there and the one lady said that her 10 year old son (now 20) 10 years ago did the English program with missionaries and this was the first time since then that she has seen us! So she is now a potential investigator because she wants to learn English and she likes our church. So when she calls us with a service activity for us maybe we will be able to meet her.

Friday we had district meeting in the biggest area in our mission. Took 3 hours by bus to get there...not a bus you can proselyte on either. They give assigned seats and you aren't allowed to move. So I read "The power of the everyday missionary". On the way there once we got into the area it was snowing!!! It was awesome! Got there and there was like 3 inches of snow on the ground (it is the northern most part of our mission). Anyhow we got to the church had our meeting then sticker boarded as a district as we waited for our bus...got to the bus terminal right at the time we wanted to take the bus but there were no more seats and then the next bus an hour later had only 2 seats which we let the other elders have since they live farther...then we waited for 1 more hour for the next bus and the bus ride took nearly 3 hours back...long day of bus riding and just lots of bad luck. I was able to finish the whole "Power of the everyday missionary" with all the bus riding we had to do. We probably won't go there for district meeting again...

One of the things I learned about this week is the importance of questions. Questions to investigators, members, and to myself. Especially to me, they unlock the doors to frequent revelation. It is harder than it seems but it is worth it :D

Well, have a wonderful week!

Love,

Elder Frampton

3-10-15

Hello,

Big news, I transferred. After being in Geojeong for 6 months it was sad to leave. I am in the Daegu zone again (last time I was here was when I was in Kyeongsan for 6 weeks...). This time I am in an area called Gumi. Ward here about 60 people attending every week. Train ride from Busan was 2 hours and I had a late meeting yesterday at 4 so we didn't get to Gumi until 8. My new companion is Elder Glover from Sandy, Utah.  Super fun! Super newish house, not as big as my last one but a lot newer so it is nice and cozy.

So I will start with yesterday. Monday. We helped a Goejeong member move in the morning so I actually missed transfer meeting. He moved to a supppper nice apartment 2 times the size of his old one and very new. Moving out of the old house we had to move up and down stairs many times so our legs were super tired. Moving in the new house was just riding an elevator and moving stuff short distances very easy. Took like 3 hours total to move. At the end they tried to give us both 50,000 won (50 dollars) and we tried to deny like 20 times but they were making us take it. When they didn't look we set it down on the counter.....when we were getting in the elevator to leave Elder Suttner had told their daughter that we set the money on the counter and the wife ran back and got it and threw it in the elevator and I threw it out then she threw it in then as the elevator doors closed I threw it out....they were kind of mad so I hope things are alright later. We were just trying to be obedient so I think things will be fine....

Last week after our district meeting in a different area we were planning with the sister missionaries for a program that we are doing and as we were planning 3 random people walked in. college students, 2 guys and 1 girl. They said they had some questions and wanted to hear what we thought about them. Bible/doctrine questions. For about 1 hour we talked with them about their questions and in the process taught about the restoration, plan of salvation, and gospel of Jesus Christ. I was the oldest missionary so I was actually doing a lot of the talking and understanding. One Korean sister but she is a new missionary and very shy. We all felt like real missionaries. Teaching the gospel, feeling and following the spirit. I didn't worry about Korean at all and could communicate everything I wanted to pretty easily. The whole experience was a miracle. Invited them to learn more and then prayed with them and they left. If they call the missionaries and meet again then maybe more will happen but it was a big testimony builder for me.

My last Sunday in Goejeong was also branch conference. Had the new stake presidency there. Their first official visit as new stake presidency. Pretty cool. Total had 50 people in attendance. Usually 36 attend. 6 visitors and 6 less actives. It was a miracle to see a lot of those less actives there because most of them hadn't come once the whole 6 months I was there until now. Very good sacrament meeting and other meetings. 

Saturday as a branch we cleaned the church, spring cleaning, and then watched How Rare a Possession video together and ate popcorn and lemonade.

Good last week and now a good start to a good first week in probably what will be my last area. It will be good:D

Have a wonderful week!

Love,

Elder Frampton

3-2-15

Hello,

So the news for today is that this past Sunday we had stake conference and the stake president and his presidency were released and a new one was called. President Jo is the new stake president. He was the mission president's counselor before he was called. Elder Scott D. Whiting was there.

This week we met with Robert. It was really good because he and his mom brought his cousin along with. He is 17. Didn't become an investigator or anything but it was a really good experience for him I think because he had an opportunity to read from the Book of Mormon and feel the spirit. We were reading from the Book of Mormon together in English and the cousin was following along in Korean. Didn't really understand what we were saying really but I know he probably felt the spirit. Robert's mom translated a little as we spoke. He read along with us as we read. Maybe one day in the future he will have a desire to learn. We plan on talking to Robert's mom to work with him a little.

I went on exchanges to a different area again and we had an opportunity to help some guys move a piano down some steps. Good opportunity to serve! Also a lady from their service project bought us Krispy Kreme donuts and hot chocolate:D

Wednesday we went to the stake center and got to set up all the chairs for stake conference. It was a real work out. Us and another team of elders.

So we met this guy while proselyting. He had interest in English and we got his number. He texted us the following day and we set up an appointment for the next day.....we went to his house the next day and told him we were there. After 15 minutes of waiting for a text back we just left and started proselyting some more. He called maybe 50 minutes later and said he was out and that he will hurry back. By that time it was too late to meet him. He asked us what we would talk about when we talked about church and I talked to him for like 15 minutes about that. He said he was Buddhist but he didn't care if we talked about that stuff when we met so we set up and appointment the next day. That was the day I went on exchanges, so Elder Suttner, my companion, and the other Elder went to the appointment but he wasn't there again and didn't contact us back....so close to investigator! We had prepared super hard for the appointment just for it to fall through 2 times:/ it's okay though.

A little short thought for you all.

Another word for forgiveness is love.

Have an excellent week!

Love,

Elder Frampton

2-22-15

Hello, Family,

I'm a happy to have this opportunity to email my wonderful family!

This week we had a zone conference with the President Barrow. Learned about some new things that we will be working on and new ways to work. They introduced a new referral program which we will be using online rather than just calling and receiving from mission headquarters. Nothing really special compared to the rest of the world I think, but it is one step closer to technology! haha Also just like the He is the Gift campaign the church did at Christmas in our mission we kind of started one for the Because of Him video. The mission made some cards and we are using those to proselyte and share about Jesus Christ. We got those Tuesday at zone conference and have been using them this week and have had a few good experiences to use them!

Thursday, the main day of the solar new year which is the holiday that just passed we went to a member's house for a meal with the sisters from our area and the other elders in a neighboring area. We had delicious food and we had the privilege of sharing a message so we took the opportunity to talk about the Because of Him video and gave them some cards. We watched video with them and then talked about things in their life that were possible because of Christ. The sister of the couple started to tear up. The spirit was super strong and it was a big testimony builder for all of us. She told us that she had given a pamphlet and shared her testimony with the apartment security guy and invited him to learn more. It was a huge testimony builder to me to know that our branch members, at least some, are trying to do missionary work. The branch every day at 8 pm stops what they are doing and prays for missionary work in the branch. Every week for the past 3 or 4 weeks the topic for sacrament meeting has been missionary work. I can feel the spirit more and more every week in church as they are trying to do the work of salvation.

On Wednesday while proselyting, well at night we met this guy from Seoul visiting his parents for the holiday. We were able to talk about Christ and share the video and talk about what the video says and how Christ has been the biggest blessing in our lives. He was really nice and looked very interested in the video and what we had to say. His mother was in the hospital because she was having some brain problems so we said we would pray for her and offered to help if they needed anything. As we were walking away he tried to give us money, he insisted and insisted, even put it in my hand (I wouldn't close my hand). He said give it to the church and we insisted that we were okay. Even taught about tithing sort of! haha He ended up just putting back in his wallet since we insisted that it was okay. Super good experience. He hasn't called us yet but hopefully he calls or just talks to the missionaries that he sees in Seoul because he says he sees a lot of them there.

Friday because of the holiday nobody came to English class except for this old guy in our branch. Didn't even mean to come to English class. He was just at the church studying something. Well we just talked with him, not in English but just in Korean. Good opportunity to get to know him better. Oh he said something very profound about marriage which I really liked. He actually said it in English which he isn't very good at so what he meant to say and what I heard at first were different. (Talking about his wife he was trying to say) "She is my wife"--------------what I heard and was very inspiring was "She is my life"

So last but not least. Yesterday while going to take the sacrament to the Sister in the hospital I saw this guy that I had met in Geumjeong. He was interested in religion and he was the one that was attending the super crazy church. Anyhow I saw him getting into his car and he was in a white shirt and was cleaned up real nice. I said Hello. At least it seems that he is attending something else then the crazy one he was attending in Geumjeong. Super quick that I saw him but it was a really good experience.

Good week.

Have a good week!

Love,

Elder Frampton

2-15-15

Hello,

So this week not too much happened. Just a few fun/good experiences I will share

We were in English class on Friday and I usually help with teaching basic. So there was this one lady talking about her house and cleaning it and then talked about how she grew her own garden. She said a bunch of vegetables that she grew most in English. She said 'cucumber' in Korean and then I said 'cucumber' in English so she could learn it.....well then the other guy that was in our class was talking about something and then he said that he doesn't really 'cucumber the house.' He definitely meant to say 'clean the house' but he said cucumber instead. Super funny.

On Thursday I was on companion exchanges. I ate a lot for dinner with that Elder and got really really sick the next day....My stomach pretty much died Friday at dinner and I did not have a very good night but I was fine in the morning. I really shouldn't have eaten that much food. Well on the exchange we talked to this one guy about churches and he ended up rambling on and on about how there were like 7 churches within a 5 minute walk from where we were....also as we talked he was chugging down a beer. Tried to help him now about living day prophets but he wouldn't really listen. It was very interesting.

Oh last Monday we met with the recent convert that came back from America. We found out a little about him. His aunt lives in Virginia and he went and lived with her and her family and studied English by himself and by talking with people while living there. They are members of the church and as good members do they took the opportunity to introduce him to the gospel! They invited him to participate in family scripture study and prayers. They also invited the missionaries over a lot and then he started to listen to the message of the gospel. He doesn't really know much about religion but when he heard what they said he felt a good feel and eventually got baptized. Anyhow we met with him and talked and talked about the Book of Mormon with him. Really felt the spirit's warmth and comfort as we talked!

A Sister in church told us about some cool thing. Nobody knew what it meant except her so I don't know if it is made up or an actual Korean thing. We were talking about what a good life is and how old we want to live. She told us this 9988234-she said '99' is living to age 99. '88' is living healthy and being fit when you are old. (Based off of what '88' is in Korean) '23' is 2 to 3 days in hospital then '4' (4 in Chinese is death) so die after 2 to 3 days in the hospital after living a long good life is good she said. Just interesting.

This week is a big Korean holiday so we could be super not busy this week since everyone is so busy....we will see:/

Hope you all have a good week!

Love,

Elder Frampton

2-9-15

Hellooo,

First off, funny story that I forgot to share last week. Last Monday we were riding the subway. Rode for maybe 40 minutes then got off at one of the bigger stations, one where you can transfer to a different line. (That is important because they usually keep the doors open a little bit longer at these) We got off the subway and Elder Suttner says he doesn't have the phone so we run back on the subway...he looks around the seat he was sitting in, makes a guy get up so he can check under him.....then Elder Suttner checks his pockets again and realizes he had it. So without saying anything he runs off the subway again (the doors are still open because this was all within 20 seconds). As he goes through the door it starts sliding shut! I of course must keep the rules so I run and try to make it through, kind of in a diving motion, upper body first. The door closes on my shoulders..So I of course push my body through but then the door closes on my bookbag! Then I was stuck, squirming and squirming and squirming for 7 seconds or so without anything happening. At that point Elder Suttner realizes he can help so he quick grabs me by my bag and just pulls me through. Then finally the subway guy opens the door realizing I was stuck but by that point I was free! Ridiculous!  The things I do for obedience! Always. haha

So there is a family, mom and kid, in our branch. They are Korean but 13 years ago they moved to New Zealand. The mom divorced and came back one year ago with the one kid. Robert. He is 10 years old and only knows English. He had spoken Korean at home in New Zealand but once he started school he forgot all the Korean. So he is here in Korea not knowing how to speak and only able to understand maybe half but only sometimes. Anyhow because he is young and doesn't understand Korean church was too boring and pointless for him so he never came. He came once when I was here maybe 3 months ago. So we started trying to work with him. Called his mom and set up an appointment to meet at the church with them and the sister missionaries for a little family home evening type thing. Played some Uno, ate cookies and had a little lesson. We talked about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon.  We challenged him to read every day. He has been reading every single day. Even took the Book of Mormon to school and read in his free time! He even came to church yesterday! Mainly because he likes us.  We sat with him in primary and translated and participated. There is only one other person, a girl, in primary and the teacher is her mom. So yesterday was an interesting day.

Also I think I mentioned a recent convert that got baptized in America and moved back here. He finally came to church yesterday. Super nice, it seems he has a true testimony. He was only in America for 3 months studying. Missionaries knocked on his door and he let them in. Got baptized in December and then moved back here. Got his number so now we will be trying to work with him when he has time. :D

Called some more of the less active members on our list this week and had 2 good experiences that were more or less miracles. Super confusing so I can't really explain but it was great!

Talked to one kid on the street about the Book of Mormon and testified to him of the truthfulness of it. I super felt the spirit. He seemed to like what we were saying, he also had a strong Christian background. When we asked for his number he got out his phone and saved ours and called ours so we had his. We called back the next day with lots of hope to meet him. He answered and when I said who I was he ended the call. 30 seconds later we got a text saying don't call. It was a really good experience. Mainly because it was really comfortable talking and testifying and inviting on the street. Even though he didn't want to talk to us for whatever reason I felt the spirit testify to me that I had done my part.

We started preparing our spiritual messages for the hospital visits Sunday, on Saturday so we could tell the Branch President’s son what to study and prepare. When we made the visits he shared a bigger part. We talked about the first article of faith and had him read Joseph Smith history the first vision beforehand and he summarized it and related it to the first article of faith. He did a super good job. I know I felt the spirit as we shared the message together and I hope he felt it too. I can see his confidence growing and I know that there is a testimony growing inside him little by little. We are trying to help him to read the Book of Mormon every day because there is power that comes with the Book of Mormon!

I hope you all have a wonderful week and valentine’s day!

Love,

Elder Frampton

2-2-15

Hello everyone,

Two experiences I would like to share this week.

First. Wednesday we got lost in the middle of nowhere. Well not lost, I knew where we were, generally speaking. But we were in the middle of country in our area. Knocking on doors. Talked to 3 people briefly and testified of God and his love and his plan for us. No interest. Most of the houses had dogs 'guarding' their doors so we couldn't knock on them. Even at one point we were walking between fields. Very interesting time. It was also raining and we had no umbrellas. It was a good time since we got to testify 3 times.    Then later in the day after we had got back into the city and we were in a little mart. And this lady asked Elder Suttner in English if he needed help with anything. As we were leaving we saw they lady again and talked to her. She asked us if we were the church (she knew the old name of the church) and we said yes and she said she always wondered about our church. What we believed differently. So we pretty much were talking with her for 20 minutes in the cold outside a mart. Taught her all about the restoration and a living prophet. She believes that once Christ died and went away and gave us the Holy Ghost, comforter, we didn't need prophets anymore since we had the Comforter. Also she believed in the trinity. She said she believed that Joseph Smith was a good person but just couldn't believe he was a prophet. We introduced the Book of Mormon and testified that she can know if what we were saying was true but she wasn't interested. Just a nice, young, curious mother. It was a great experience! I could really feel the spirit's warmth inside me despite the fact that it was freeeeezing outside.

Friday night we had a wonderful surprise. We had finished planning and were getting ready for bed, I was in my pajamas. We heard a knock at the door.....we had no idea who it could be. I go and open the door and it was our neighbors! (These are the neighbors that we gave banana bread to a few weeks ago). They are a young family. The mother and young son came returning our plate with some rice cakes on it! It was their little baby's 100 day mark (the day babies turn a hundred days old is a big thing in Korea) so they brought it over for us :D It was awesome! There are so nice and it was very nice to do something like that. We are thinking about how we can share the gospel with them. It made me feel really good inside.  :D

This week the Branch President’s son came with us to take the sacrament again. He shared a small part of the lesson we prepared. We really are trying to work with him through service and example and feeling the spirit. 

Hope everything is going well back in America! Remember to always give thanks to our Father in Heaven!

Love,

Elder Frampton

1-26-15

Hello familia,

I am good, how are you?

So today was transfer day but it is the same here. I am still in the same area with Elder Suttner :D 

This last week flew by. Maybe only a few exciting things happened this week. 

The bulk of this week was going through records calling phone numbers. I probably called close to 200 phone numbers. Maybe 30 or 35 of those picked up. 30 being the wrong number and 5 the right number. The other 165ish were all no longer existing phone numbers or they didn't pick up. Takes a long time to call people because you have to wait a while for it to ring before giving up because people often don't answer the phone until 25 seconds of ringing and it can probably ring for a good minute or so before saying no one picks up. Don't want to be ending the call so quick just in case someone might pick up. 1 of the inactive members said he would be willing to meet this week so he told us to call this week. We'll see what happens. Another old English class member ended up coming to English class because we called. So at least there are some little fruits coming from these calls.

This week we also went and met a guy from 2 weeks ago that we met. He was an older man that owned a dry cleaners and likes English. We took our white shirts to get dry cleaned there. We were trying to find the place so we called and he told us where it was and we eventually found it. Super small cramped little place. Super nice guy, we talked with him for a little and then left. That was Wednesday. We then went again Friday to pick up our stuff and talk to him. As we were talking he said he wants to learn English again :D well practice more at least (he knows a lot and understands a lot) so we took that opportunity to jump in by explaining our English program. 30 minutes English, 30 minutes gospel. He said it sounds great but the only problem is he is really busy.(as we were talking like 4 people came to his shop in the 10 minutes we were there) We said that we can come and talk and he can just take care of things as they come. He told us to stop by anytime so this week we will surely stop by! :D

This Sunday we went with Branch president's son to take the sacrament to the two old ladies in their respective hospitals. It was our first week taking it to the one lady and having to get there by ourselves by bus. We almost got lost because I found the wrong thing on the map but luckily it was actually just a street over from where I had thought. 

This past week we were trying to work on listening to the spirit more and there were a few times that we felt to do something and nothing really came from it. I just think that we were being tested. Whether or not we would listen. I don't really know but we hope to be able to more readily heed the promptings of the spirit when most needed. :)

I hope you all have a wonderful week and may the Lord bless you with more happiness in your life! 

Love,

Elder Frampton