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

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

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

12-15-14

Hello!

So transfers were this week! That is the biggest change. I'm of course staying in my area and my new companion is Elder Suttner. He is in his 3rd transfer just finished being trained. Only been here for 3 months.

It seems like we will get along great. He is very diligent and wanting to do lots of work. On the subway ride back to our area we talked like 3 different people about the church. Even pretty much taught the message of the restoration to one person. It was pretty awesome. He is pretty good at Korean and he isn't afraid to talk to people so it went great. I expect big miracles this transfer!

Wednesday I was on exchanges and we spent 4.5 hours with the "Daeshin Grandmother." just a really old lady in the area I went to that is pretty famous and also crazy. Anyhow, the elders in that area usually take her to the hospital so I went this past week and we just helped her around and just listened to her talk and talk and talk. It was Elder Kim's last week there and she really like Elder Kim (the elder serving there) and he gave her a picture of them together and she cried. Just an interesting experience that I don't even know how to explain. It was fun though being able to serve. I was also in that area the night before and we went to visit another member in the hospital to give a blessing. It was great to have the opportunity to exercise the priesthood in the service of others.

On Friday we went to the church and there was this couple in our parking lot feeding the cats. There are lots and lots of cats that just roam the streets and they brought some food and maybe 7 or 8 cats were eating the food. It was kind of weird and makes me wonder if they do that often.

Saturday we were able to go and visit a less active member that can't really leave the house because he has to take care of his bedridden wife. It was really good because we were able to share a good message and pray with them and feel the spirit. They looked happy that we came and visited. After that we went and visited another member and shared a quick message outside her door. She is super generous and gave us lots of food to take home!

Yesterday we just had some awkward visits after our missionary correlation meeting. The 4 missionaries and branch president, 1^st counselor and branch clerk all visited a less active lady....it was nice but awkward. After that we went with the clerk and 1st counselor to visit a member and his family. We originally had an appointment but we had ended up canceling and then the counselor and clerk thought we still had it so we went to visit and the counselor called the member and said that we were all together and they would pray and leave and we would stay. Pretty much long story short we visited a member that we had an appointment but canceled then went with the counselor who thought we still had the appointment and it was awkward because we didn't really know how to communicate the right things beforehand.....yea, just awkward. Sorry if that doesn't make sense.

Anyhow the members we visited were fine and were nice and we had a good little visit.

So last year I met a guy in Geumjeong and then ended up referring him to this area because he lives here. Long story short I always imagined me just running into him on the street and that happened for real yesterday! He said he remembered me from way back when. He had met the missionaries here once. We will try to meet him again!

K that's it! Have a good week!

Love Elder Frampton

11-30-14

Hello,

So this week was not quite exciting as last week :( still a good week though!

So I went on companion exchanges this week with Elder Wunderli in his area. Elder Wunderli is the Elder I lived with in Geumjeong for maybe 4 months. So it was a good time. His area is an island that is pretty much a city built on a mountain so there are many many hills. We were walking up this one to go see a member at her street stand but since she was busy we just walked by. Then we passed a lady that was struggling to carry a bag of cabbage up the hill so we offered to help and we carried it up the hill to her apartment. As we walked carrying it we talked with her about who we were and why were in Korea and shared a simple testimony. She didn't have any interest on the surface but I know we had a positive influence on her. We gave a mormon.org card so hopefully her or her husband looks at the website one day or something. I'm just glad we had that opportunity for simple act of service. Later that day we went to a member's restaurant and ate some delicious food for free! We were able to talk to a good amount of people as we proselyted too.

So in these Elder's house there were a bunch of old Ensigns from like 1988-1991. Since they didn't read them I decided to take a bunch back to my house in my area. While looking through them I came across an article in the February 1988 edition called "The Framptons: "We still like each other after all these years" I'm assuming that we have no relation to them but it was a very funny title. It was just about how they have a bunch of family traditions or something. The old ensigns have a lot of super long articles with sometimes humorous titles.

On Sunday we had the primary program in Church. Usually there are only like 2 kids in primary but another girl that sometimes comes came. Also they had the young women and young men participate too. It was very good, the topic was like Eternal families and it was just very simple. Similar to how we do it in America but also a little different. The 2 usual primary kids played primary songs on their recorder. (The little instrument that people play in like elementary school)

We had 'zone meeting' on Thursday. They talked about sharing this new video http://www.mormon.org/christmas?cid=HPFR112814529 that the church released. Next week we will get little cards with this video to start passing out to people. That will be great for talking to people on the street. I will more easily be able to share my testimony that I know the Savior lives and loves us! 

That is it for this week!

Have a great week!

Love,

Elder Frampton

11-23-14

Dear everyone, Super great week this week!

Wednesday while street proselyting the spirit led us up a certain hill that we hadn't gone before. It was somewhere I had wanted to try and go but I forgot that I did and the Spirit helped me to remember. We met this married couple exercising and they were super nice as we talked to them. We were going and the road forked and a trail started and they were like, will you keep going on the road and keep talking to us? (They did really say it but that was just what the situation was like). We continued with them and kept talking and were going on this little trail a little up a mountain. We rested with them and they shared an orange with us and we sat and talked. Religion came up and we had the opportunity to teach about the restoration with them and eternal families. They had many questions because they knew some things about different religions so they wondered differences and things like that. We had the opportunity to share our testimony and give them a Book of Mormon and invite them to read it. We were able to feel the spirit so I hope they did too. We walked down the hill mountain with them and invited them to learn more and also to English class (they spoke English pretty well because they had no kids so they could travel a lot). They were from Seoul, in Busan for vacation, and would go back in a month or less so they didn't want to meet really. That is okay because maybe someday in Seoul they will meet missionaries and accept the gospel and live happily ever after! I'm just glad that we followed the spirit when it guided us up a big hill!

So today is a big day too! Today is the day that I throw away my first pair of socks because they formed holes! Haha

Because Elder Peck is district leader, the zone leaders do companion exchanges with us so I went to their area with one of them. It is actually a four man area and the other team is Elder Pickard! My MTC companion so I got to spend a night talking to him. The exchange was good, we talked to a lot of people and gave out 2 Books of Mormon. The elder I was with somehow got everyone to like him with a time of like 10 seconds. It was amazing. Then again, the people in this area are super nice and willing to talk to people. On the subway ride back (it was about 1 hour subway ride) I talked to this college student the whole time. He lived in the area I went to and went to college in my area so we rode together the whole time. I was able to talk about prayer with him and share my testimony how prayer helps me in my life. I can ask questions and receive answers. He asked me if he could ask in prayer for God to help him get a girlfriend.

So Saturday was super good because I saw two of my favorite people from Geumjeong! I met Roger again after not talking to him or seeing him for over 6 months. We came down to my area and we got lunch and hot chocolate together. It was super nice to see him again. Also when we were walking on the street a car drove by with a lady waving to us and it was one of the geumjeong English class members that I really liked! She was waving because we were missionaries then she realized it was me and she said hi and waved more and she seemed surprised. It all happened within like 3 seconds. Ah it was really good to see them!

The most exciting news is that Brother Kim Kyeonghwan from my last area Kyeognsan got baptized!!!! Just as cool is that Elder Pickard and I went on temporary exchanges to go up to the area and see him be baptized. I had replaced Elder Pickard in that area when I went so we both had taught him and we got to go together. It was very tight schedule to meet and catch subways and trains and still go to our sacrament meeting before meeting. We trained up to Daegu from Busan and got to see the whole branch and Brother Kim! It felt like home, kind of sad that I only got one transfer there. I saw a bunch of people that I missed. Elder Brower (my companion when I was there) baptized him. President Barrow and his family were there, including their daughter that just finished her mission in England on like last Wednesday! Brother Kim gave his testimony and talked about how he came a long way and gave up smoking and how he knows the church is true. He talked about the 2 sister missionaries that knocked on his door like 5 months ago that seemed like angels when he opens the door. He is pretty crazy and funny, I got to translate for the Barrows so I was saying some pretty funny stuff to them. The Barrows gave us a ride back so we didn't have to pay for a train and could get there quick. Such a good day!

I know this church and the gospel is true!!!

I hope you have a good one this week!  

Love, Elder Frampton

6-22-14

Hello,

So the new transfer started today! Nothing changing with me. Me and Elder Shaw are staying together for another one. The last transfer was only 5 weeks because Pres. Gilbert is leaving sometime at the end of the week and Pres. Barrow comes on Friday! So this new transfer will be 7 weeks to make up for the one short this past time. I'm writing so late today because we went to Busan for transfer meeting to see the Gilberts for the last time and the meeting was kind of long and after some waiting we finally got back to our area around 7:20ish. So we are emailing on display computers in the store so if the email stops suddenly it is because they tell us to get off......

So since I just realized   I never told anything about Elder Shaw because I hadn't known anything 5 weeks ago I will tell you some stuff now. He is 19 turning 20 next month, from Burley, Idaho. Went to BYU summer and fall of 2012 and has been out about 5 more months than me. He likes hardcore music. Pretty good at Korean and likes to work hard.

So this past week....a lot happened but nothing super great like the week before. I went on a companion exchange with Elder Barr our district leader and I went to his area. We met some interesting people that day. One of them was a little drunk and when we were walking by he called us over to talk to him because he had a question. He at first asked if there was a difference between God and Jehovah in the old testament....he talked about a lot of stuff and it pretty much ended in him telling Elder Barr to show his (Elder Barr) heart to him (the guy)....it was super weird and it wasn't making much sense...so Elder Barr kind of just stared forward and thought for a few seconds and this guy I guess had enough because he just got up and walked away. Super weird. We met a few other good people but that kind of didn't end too well either. Most people seem to hate religion now (especially Christians) because of the boat accident. I don't know how much you know now about it but the captain and company manager ran away right? And something about one of their religions preacher and that belief being the whole reason they like did what they did. Well because of that lots of people think that our religion is just like that and don't want anything to do with it. Also we hear a lot about us being a cult.....it's is kind of annoying because it just makes people not really listen to us when we talk. In a way they are hardening their heart but we still have the faith the when we talk to the people that their heart will have the even slightest softness to feeling the spirit.

  We went and did 'construction' again this week. It was just actually just cleaning up stones and stuff and sweeping because they had just pored the cement a few days before and they have to wait for the cement to completely cure before they can do more building. Well it went well, our investigator is much more open to coming to church now. He says that for sure when he isn't working he will try and come out. He also says that he will bring his friend that we met that day with him. He says that his friend drinks a lot and puts drinking over his family so he thinks that we can help him through church and stuff, hopefully that works out!

I didn't get to meet our old investigator this week because of the exchange and because when they met him his wife told us to stop coming. We are just giving him a little time but we did take a message card by his house really quick on Friday. So keep him in your prayers please.

Well anyways that is it for this week actually! Read the Book of Mormon! It will bring a special spirit into your life that nothing else can! Act upon the things your read! I love you all! Look for people to serve this week, go out of your way to serve them!

Love,

Elder Frampton

5-5-14

Hello everyone,

So this week was a little more eventful than last week. On Wednesday we went to another area in our district, Jinju, for our district meeting. Afterwards the bishop there took us to where he works at a college and just showed us a bunch of his fancy machines including a 3D printer. We didn't get to see it work but it was super cool and he gave us this little trinket as a souvenir that the 3D printer made. After that we started exchanges, and I was with one of the Jinju Elders in Jinju and the district leader went with Elder Brown to my area. The person I was with wasn't very good with directions and we got a little lost while walking around that day....but it was still a good experience.

On Friday we did home teaching. We went to the couple's house with our home teaching companion and she has made us delicious lasagna with homemade ricotta cheese, tofu, and cucumber. It was super delicious!

Yesterday was an interesting day as well. We held normal sacrament meeting as well as a smaller one later. 

There is one lady in the branch that cannot attend church normally because she has to work because she lost her husband a few years back and has to support her and her family. The branch president said for her to come to church, but she said she couldn't until 3....He asked us to prepare and give her the sacrament, so we waited around and us the sister missionaries, and her had a mini sacrament. I think she expected someone else to be there, but we just think it was miscommunication between her and the branch president. It was a good experience and she seemed very grateful for the experience.  I got to play the piano 3 different hymns and give a short testimony and one of the sisters gave her testimony. Even though it was a small meeting with only 5 people, I really felt the spirit's presence.

That's it for this week!

Love,

Elder Frampton

3-10-14

Hello!

So this week was an awesome week!

So much happened this week. Lots of miracles and lots of just events.  

So last Monday, right when we finished p-day we went out to street contact and I had an impression to just go down some road probably in the first 5 minutes that we had left the house. We went down the road and turned a few times and we were on the way to the main road when we passed a little cafe. As we passed we looked in and saw a lady motioning to us to come in. So we came in and she gave us free smoothies because she was the owner! When we asked why she was doing that, she just said that she didn't really have a reason, we just looked like nice people. When we asked if she had seen missionaries before or heard of our church she said no. So that was a miracle! She was a very nice lady and we are planning this week to take a little present back to thank her and also we will try to share the gospel with her!

It was interesting that when we went there we didn't really get to talk to her because there were two college freshmen there that we talked to. The one lived in New Zealand for 6 years so was super good at English, we talked with him and found out that he doesn't really care for religion (or politics). In New Zealand missionaries came to his door and when he said he wasn't interested he was closing the door and the one missionary stuck his foot in the door so he couldn't close it. His view of missionaries and the church isn't that great, but we hope someday we will be able to meet him again and naturally just share the message of the gospel with him and he will feel god's love and see that it is more of a way to be happy than just a religion. We couldn't get his number because someone stole his wallet and phone but we did get the friends number. 

Tuesday I went on exchanges with one of the zone leaders because they do companion exchanges with the district leader. I was with Elder Quist, the one that I lived with my first two transfers I was in Geumjeong. It was fun, he is always such a good example and just being a happy missionary that talks with everyone. We met a guy on the way back to Elder Quist's area and he completely loved us. He even video called his girlfriend to show us the 'two foreigners' that he met that are missionaries who will teach him English! It was sweet! I think that will turn out well for those missionaries. 

The house that these Elders have is a 4 man apartment but it's super new (more new than ours which is 6 months old) and it's big compared to mine...lol so sad;( 

Thursday we had mission tour and the Southeast Asia area president came and we got to hear him speak along with his wife who is actually Elder Nelson’s daughter, President Gilbert, and Sister Gilbert. It was very uplifting. He said that we will get iPad mini but it probably won't be for a while unfortunately. We could really use them!

One thing that President Ringwood (the Area President) talked about was agency. We must always remember that people have agency and good allows them that privilege. We may teach powerfully by the spirit, see miracles with them, but they still have that ability to choose whether to accept and act. There is nothing that you can do about their agency but you must do all you can to give them the best opportunity. Remember that when you share the gospel with your friends and family! They have their agency but we can give them a good opportunity! 

This week was stake conference and we attended the Saturday night session as well as Sunday morning. It was about hastening the work and trying to encourage all members to share the gospel. Not even share the gospel really but share the Love of God which comes from the gospel. It was a great meeting! 

The biggest miracle this week was that we found an investigator! He is a Chinese man. He is working on his master’s degree at Busan national university but right now he is working on some required experiments and not taking classes so is schedule is pretty flexible and we think we will be able to meet maybe 3 times a week. The only difficulty is that he is leaving to go to Japan at the beginning of next month for 5 months of school there....so we are trying to help him come closer to god until then. We think he might be able to be baptized eventually. He doesn't believe in God right now so we will teach him this week and hopefully help him find that god lives and loves him. He is a very logical thinker and right now finds it hard to believe in him but through preparation and the spirit we know he can change. 

The craziest part is that Elder Sperle already knows him! In his first area he taught him about 4 times over a year ago. Almost exactly a year ago! he had moved to Taejon mission then back to China and taught for a year then came back and had gotten our number around the end of January when I was with Elder Moon.....he didn't call us until Friday. Interesting that it took a month and a half to call, but a miracle! He asked us to get him another Book or Mormon because he lost the one he had before when he moved. 

That's it for this week!

Have a good week!

Love, Elder Frampton

2-3-14

Hello family, 

Thanks dad for sending me how to make emails exciting. I will try my best since I things are still slow. 

I'll start with Friday which was one of the 2 big Korean holidays. We had a normal start schedule that day but for lunch we received a meal invitation along with the 2 other teams. The member made delicious food! So usually meals in Korea consist of 2 things. Little side dishes and then the main dish and fruit for dessert. So 3 things. Well when we got there we waited about 15 minutes before we got to start eating, there were so many little side dishes on the table that there was barely enough room for the bowl for the main dish. So the most exciting part of the meal was the fruit. We had apples and tangerines but they decided to make a contest out of peeling the apples....the contest was to see who could create the longest peel by cutting it....I lost. Everyone finished peeling the entire apple but me! I barely cut around the apple 3 times before I messed up. But it was okay because I told everyone before we started that I was using that time to 'prepare to make a mistake.' The brother that invited was like, wow you stink! But the sister covered my back and said 'oh no worries he was preparing to make a mistake so it's exactly what he meant to do!' 

So the rest of the day after we went home we spent the entire day cleaning our house....it was torture! I spent 3 hours in the kitchen cleaning....I felt like I was in a little jail cell. Then because the other elder that cleaned the bathroom doesn’t quite know how to deep clean, I went to the bathroom and cleaned that for 2 hours with a toothbrush....also torture. I think I inhaled some fumes from the cleaning supplies because there is no ventilation in that bathroom...but it's okay I took a break once I realized that it wasn't good! 

Wednesday I went on companion exchanges with the district leader. His Korean isn’t too great, mine isn't either, but we did talk to a lot of people! Unfortunately we weren't able to get their contact to call and make an appointment later and a lot of the time they didn't want to keep talking to us, but we were able to talk to many people!

We were walking buy this drunk couple on the way home at the end of the day and they spoke some English to us. They were really drunk. The lady first said that her daughter was a missionary....but then after thinking and saying in Korean she went from daughter to thinking it was her father then to realizing that it was her son that wasn't a missionary but a student learning English. Super fun and we told them about English program that we do...let's just say that it probably won't lead to anything. 

Today for P-day we are going to go find a really good taco place we heard about and then later we planning on trying to make broccoli cream soup and baked potatoes at home! President Gilbert made that on Christmas when we went to headquarters and we asked for the recipe yesterday so hopefully it will turn out delicious. 

That’s it for this week! Love, Elder Frampton