October 23, 2008

Hey Parents! How are you? I'm doing pretty good. This last week was a bit of an adventure but it was good, and being a senior companion so young has already proven to be a huge learning experience. We haven't had any serious problems yet as far as completely not understanding people which is good and hopefully we won't have any in the future either. My new companion is a stud though. Haha he is really quiet and kind of geeky but when we hit the streets he lays it on people! Usually when i contact i just like to hang out with kids and get to know them and shoot the breeze for a while before i talk about the church, but he just goes right into it and always bears solid testimony. It has been really fun to watch. We don't have a ton of investigators right now, well we did until last week but we had to drop 6 investigators. The last few missionaries that served here did things a little bit strangely so it seems like all of the investigators that we were meeting with my last companion weren't progressing at all so we dropped all of them. Anyways back to my point about not having lots of investigators, we have been doing a lot of street contacting and stuff which is okay but it definitely gets old after a couple of hours. We went to a university in our area a couple of days ago though and met some really cool kids so hopefully that will be good. I think one of the hardest things for me to do is a missionary is to stay positive after people tell us ë°”ì˜ê³ ë“ ìš” (i'm busy for your information) or ë¼ì„¸ìš” (i can't really translate that, there isn't a word for it in english but its messed up!) on the street when we try to contact them. Praying always helps though haha and i usually like to tell my companion after something like that happens that the people are sons of our Heavenly Father and he loves them just as he loves us, i know thats really cheesey but it helps. Oh Mom you asked about the soccer game that we had and it was really fun. We got straight up smoked but it was still a good time. Some of the guys one the other team were amazing. This one guy that was playing midfield would drop like 50 yard bombs right to peoples feet every time he got the ball, it was incredible. They were all old and slow but they play every weekend together so they were good. Haha they all smoked like 4 ciggarrets at half time and they had a bunch of beer for after the game. Only in Korea would you see people getting drunk at 7 in the morning! My feet did fine too, i still can't shoot with my right foot but i can run around on it fine which was good. Haha my ward was pretty dissapointed with the new missionaries though, neither of them have ever touched a soccer ball so they put them on the bench the whole time. My ward is pretty intense i love it. Mom you also asked about my appartment and roomates. I'm still in the same appartment but the korean elder transfered too and Elder Folsom got a new comp. The new kid is way cool and we have a good time. I didn't really learn how to cook any Korean food from elder ê¹€, i watched him make my favorite soup once but i haven't tried it out yet, it will probably be a mess. Lately pretty much all we have been eating is rice and sea weed. It's gotten pretty old im not gonna lie. I have done pretty good with the food up till now but i have really been missing american food lately. Our bishop gave us a 100$ gift card to a wal-mart type of store though so we should get lots of food today. You asked about my P-days as well mom and yeah they should be on thursdays throughout my whole mission. Oh and i never did apply for the absentee ballot, i never had enough time on the computer and it probably wouldn't have gotten here in time anyway. Haha from the sound of things though Obama is doing just fine with out my vote. I can't believe the elections are already in a couple of weeks, it seems like they were just barely doing the primary votes. Mom the last question you had was about the definition of Musso and my blood type and yes i have used both of them. Our grandpa made me a korean name according to the definition of Musso and its 권성조(gwun sung jo) and he is pretty excited about it. He doesn't even call me Elder Musso anymore its always elder Gwun. I have talked to a few people about my blood type and thats always pretty funny. My blood type doesn't match my personality at all though which doesn't make sense. Haha Koreans are crazy about it they think that it totally defines who you are. Supposedly Japan is way into it as well and during world war II they even made up battle groups according to the soldiers blood types. Well thats all of your questions Mom and my time is about up so i think im going to wrap this up. All is well in the land of an hundred rice bowls and i hope everything is going good at home. Thank you for all your prayers and support, you're amazing. I love you and ill talk to you next week!

Love Elder Musso

October 16, 2008

Hey Parents how are you?? I'm doing way good. Today is transfer day and i just got home from picking up my new companion in Seoul and he seems to be pretty cool. Haha this transfer was definitely a bit of a shocker though. My companion has only been in korea for like 2 months and i am his senior companion and it is a bit overwhelming im not gonna lie! Not only can i not speak korean but i am way younger than most people are when they go senoir, most go on their 7 or 8th transfers and this is only my 5th. My mission President has this crazy notion that i am absolutely amazing at korean and all this stuff but im definitely feeling a little bit incometent but i know that if me and my comp work hard and have faith the Lord will bless us. My companion's name is Elder Woodbury and he is from Mesa. I don't really know much about him yet so i can't tell you anything other then that but i'll keep you posted on how everything goes. We watched conference this weekend and it was amazing! Honestly saturday was one of the best days of my life, all we did was watch conference and priesthood all day long and all the missionaries in our zone came to our church it was a party. I can't believe that i never watched saturday conference back home, there is now way that i would miss it now. I loved Both of President Utchdorf's talks but i think my favorite was President Eyrings talk on sunday morning. It was exactly what i needed to hear and i can't wait to get the ensign next month so i can go through and study it. It is so incredible how through the spirit you can get answers to all of your questions while you watch conference. One of my questions was about humility and i learned so much about it just from listening to the choir sing I Need Thee Every Hour on saturday. I love that hymn its become one of my favorites that last couple of months. Anyways.. Other than that i don't have much else to report about the week. Oh but my big soccer game isn't until this saturday and i am pumped about it. Haha my ward is so intense it is going to be great. I did play last saturday a little bit though and my toe felt okay, i couldn't really kick very well with my right foot but i was fine with my left. It really has been so fun to be able to play every week and my ward absolutley loves me because i am a soccer player. Haha they asked me to coach them the last couple of weeks when we play on saturdays and so i have been making them do some of the drills that we did in high school its pretty funny. Well parents thats about all i have to tell you for this week so i think im going to wrap it up but i love and miss you. Thank you for the package with the journal and the treats haha the mail is definitely getting fewer and far between the longer that i am here. Thank you for all the prayers and support and i'll talk to you next week!

사랑으로 무소 장로

P.S. How are the blessing books and the referrals coming??

October 9, 2008

Hello Parents! How are you? Im good. Today has been an amazing p-day so far. We woke up early and went to the temple which was good, i haven't been in like two months so i was really excited to go. After the temple we can to a place called ì—¬ì˜ë which is like the manhattan of seoul and we ate mexican food! It really was one of the best things that has ever happened to me. Right now we are at the world headquaters of LG and its pretty cool too. It's fun to get out and do stuff like this on P-days but it always is a little bit stressful trying to get everything done by 6. This past week was reall good though. Haha our 85 year old investigator and his son got baptized on sunday and that was one of the happiest moments of my life. President and Sister Burton came to the baptism and it was really good. The old man was sooo excited after it was really fun to see. I don't really know what else to tell you about it but attached some pictures so hopefully you'll like them. Haha the one of Elder Terry me and him is after his baptism, he wore regular clothes to church and then came out after the baptism with traditional korean clothes on it was tight. Other than that nothing to remarkable happened. Oh yeah before i forget though, Mom i will tell you about my feet. I went to the doctor on monday for my follow up appointment and they said everything is fine. It still hurts a litle bit but by next week i should be back to normal. Next saturday i ward is goign to the world cup stadium in suwon to play soccer against some business though and i better be able to play. Haha the ward will not be happy if i can't play, it's going to be a big game. We didn't watch conference last weekend because of the translation and the time change but we will see all of it this weekend (in english) and i am soo excited. You mentioned President Uchtdorf's childhood and yeah i agree it's crazy how similar his story is to Oma and Opa's. I remember reading that in the ensign a couple months ago and i ment to write you about it but i forgot. I am stoked for his talk though, i think he has become my favorite aposlte. We are getting transfer calls this weekend too so it will be a good weekend. I can't remember if i told you this already or not but President Burton told my companion that he is leaving for sure this transfer so i will have a new comp which will be fun. I have definitely learned a thing or two about patience this transfer and i really love my companion but he has been serving in 수지 for 7 months and i think he is ready for a change. Mom you asked about the whole missionary letter thing and yeah i really like getting the letters from my friends, haha i have like never even talked to some of the kids that you sent letters from though. I don't mind if you want to send all of them but if its a hassle then you can just stick to the original group that you were sending. It sounds like things between stacie and her boy toy are going well. I'm not gonna lie i hope things work out and she gets married, that would be tight. Haha i bet the next couple of months for her are going to be pretty dramatic. Well i really don't have much else to report right at the moment and i think i answered all of your questions Mom so i am going to head. Sorry this one is a little short but i just don't know what to write.. I love you and miss you though! Keep the prayers coming, especially some about me learning Korean would be wonderful! I'll talk to you again next week.

Love Elder Musso

October 2, 2008

Hey Parents! How are you?? I'm doing amazing right now actually. This last week was a way good one, the weather is cooling down, haha and Korea is just the place to be right at the moment. So i am going to get right to the good stuff because i have some pretty exciting news for you... The old man and his son that we are teaching are getting baptized on sunday! Haha i really don't even know what happened it really was just a straight up miracle. Last week we met him on friday and he was still going off about getting baptized in North Korea but we taught him about temples and he was really excited about that. Then after church on sunday we sat him down with a member and the member threw down like the most amazing lesson i have ever heard. Haha me and my companion just sat there while this guy was sharing scriptures and writing on the chalk board and somewhere along the line he asked the guy to be baptized on sunday and he said yes!I really have no idea what happened because this old man is the most stubborn person ever but yeah something changed his heart. After that he called his son and told him that they were both getting baptized and they were both really excited about it. Our ward was pretty blown away when we told them, haha the bishop about fell over he was so amazed. Sunday really will be a historic day, President Burton said that 하국노 will be the oldest person to ever get baptized in Korea. It's going to be epic! I'll for sure send you some pictures next week. Lets see.. Besides that my week was pretty much the same as always. We are still having a heck of a time trying to get people to meet with us. We go out on the street everyday and get at least a few phone numbers from people that say they want to meet and we call them and set up appointments but they always punk us! My planner is literally full of numbers but none of the people will meet us. We did meet with the family that a member in my last ward referred to us though and they are really good, im excited about them. We had our interviews with President Burton this week and that was good like always. He told Elder Terry that he will transfer for sure and he also told the Korean Elder in our house that he is going as well. Im excited that i am going to get a new companion ( it's not that i don't like my companion but it's always fun to change) but i think it will be hard for my comp to endure to the end here in 수지. Haha he's kind of lazy as it is and i think it will definitely make it worse for him to know that none of the work that he is doing will affect him because he's leaving in two weeks. Mom you asked about how much walking we do everyday, that's all we do. I have only knocked doors like 5 times in the last 5 months because it isn't effective at all. All of the people have video cameras on there doors and so they never even open up to see who it is. Street contacting is good i guess, sometimes i wonder if there isn't a more effect way to get new investigators because it is almost impossible to get people on the street to meet with you. But then again Elder Terry contacted 하국노 on the street and him and his sone are getting baptized because of it. I already mentioned the weather a little bit but yeah it is definitely starting to cool off. The beginning of this week was really cool and we actually wore our suit jackets one day but it has gotten a little bit warmer since then. Yes i got your package Mom, and thank you for sending it! If i wouldn't have gotten anything that day i would have gone the whole transfer with out any mail and that wouldn't have been tight. You asked about what kind of treats i want in the next package and i dont' really care everything is good. Melissa sent me some beef jerky a while ago though and that was way good, be sure if you send some that you don't write beef jerky on the customs slip on the package because they will take it when it gets here because of the whole mad cow disease thing. I can't really think of anything else that i want or need besides that though. Oh and real quick yes the leaves do turn colors here and it is beautiful. They are starting to change a little bit but it probably won't be really pretty for a couple more weeks but i'll send some pics when they turn. Well my time is up so i need to go but i love you and thank you for the letters! I hope you have a good week.

Love Elder Musso