Week 3

My mission is the one on the bottom right.

​Yesterday was my official three week mark. In some ways that seems like a really long time, in other ways it feels like I was born here in the MTC and that is not enough time to cover the experience I've had here.

The MTC is a bit like life. Before we came here we were with our loving parents. Then we were born into the MTC. We came with practically nothing and will leave with practically nothing, the only thing we can take with us is our knowledge.

A week and a half ago we got four native Korean elders. It was fun to have them and learn from people who were born in the country. When they came in we all shouted Ban gap sum ni da! It means Nice to meet you.They all just stared at us. We figured we had said it wrong so we said it again to the same response. Later we found out that in Korean they don't really have a 'you're welcome'. They don't have an excuse me either. You just say move. That is going to be a culteral adjustment when I get there. Inspite of that the Korean Elders were really nice. They liked it here at the MTC. They went from being the only LDS member in their schools to being entirely surrounded by missionaries. Because they were Korean we all swarmed them with questions and they became celleberaties in the Branch.

An explanation of how to use before in a Korean sentence.

On Monday we shipped off thirty elders to the Dajun and Busan missions. It was really lonely in the residence. As a branch we had all became pretty close. Also all of us remaining missionaries were pretty jelous. One can only take eating cafiteria food and sitting in class for six hours for so long.

Elder Tuinei and my lessons with the fake investigators have been going well. Last night we had a new one. He was really impatient and we didn't understand most of what he said. This is what we call a beat up lesson. It's where you get beat up. You learn a lot from them though. The teacher who was the investigator talked to us afterwards and gave us tons of great advice. Another lesson we had there was a complete break down of communication. I was able to whip out a couple scriptures and find them in my Korean BoM. It's all just a reminder that we don't teach lessons, the spirit does.

I have some exciting news

Second week in the MTC

Second week at the MTC. It feels like I've been here for at least a month. It's not that I'm bored it's just that time seems to flow more slowly here. How could I be bored when I'm always busy. We have six hours of time with a teacher and most of the rest of the time is for studying. We also have our progressing investigators. The progressing investigator or ku do ja is a teacher who pretends they are an actual person in Korea. We knock on their door and give them the lessons (all in Korean of course). Me and my Dong ban ja (companion) had our first three days after we got to the MTC. The lesson was really just a script.

God is our Heavenly Father.
We are his spirit children.
He loves us and we can return to him.

Since then Elder Tuinei and I have progressed to where we are actually teaching. Now we don't use a script, we just use an English PMG and scriptures in English and Korean. It's good, but it's so hard. One time I was telling Sister Kim (Our first ku do ja). That Jesus atoned for us. I hadn't gotten through the third word and she was busting up laughing. The verb atone is soak jwuaa. To have a hang over is soak ja. Anyways, in another lesson we were talking about the first vision. I found the scripture in English. I looked for it in my Korean scriptures. Joseph Smith History 16-17. Reading the Korean characters I saw Josep Sumitsu at the header and found verses 16 and 17. What I didn't know was that it was Joseph Smith Matthew. Go read it and laugh. My whole district did. Mistakes like that you just have to laugh at.

My biggest struggle at the MTC has been the language. I came to the MTC knowing my scriptures and having a testimony. A lot of missionaries struggle with those things. God gave me different struggles. My theme for the MTC has been Ether 12:27. If men come unto me I will show them their weakness, or something like that. All I know is that I have to put my faith in Him or I wont be able to learn this language. The verse goes on to say that God will make weak things strong. I haven't gotten to that part yet.The important thing is that I have faith that I will. That is what I'm banking on right now, faith.

I'm the district leader. What that means is that I'm over three companionships (we have a small district) and that I have a lot of meetings every Sunday. Since we arrived at the MTC one companionship has been having a hard time getting along. It's actually a threesome but the conflict is between two elders. They unintentionally pushed each others buttons all the time. As district leader I needed to help them work this out. Through prayer, inspiration on how to council them and their willingness to work with me and each other, the problem is almost solved. The moral of the story is that two people, with the spirit, can sort anything out.

My companion and I are as different as they come, but we get along great. I took some great advice and told my companion why I was on a mission and had him do the same. Now we understand each other and have common goals. We actually have a really fun time together. We work well together and can openly share spiritual experiences. We laugh at each other. He spends half the morning combing, lathering and spraying his hair. I get up, run a comb through it if the world is lucky and go on my way. I'm always eating and always hungry. My companion is NEVER hungry. I have no idea what's wrong with him! Most importantly we really help each other out. He is so good at Korean. We will go through a pack of flash cards together and he'll have them all down after the third time. I struggle and struggle and beat my head against the wall and still cant seem to get them. It's fine though. We have a bit of a Moses Aaron relationship. I help him find scriptures and he helps me speak.


The MTC is great. It is by far the HARDEST thing I have ever done. I have learned so much about myself and my Heavenly Father.
I love you all,
Harkness Chang no niem
(Elder Harkness)

P.S. the computers are still being dumb but here are some photos

James' first week

I finally got the chance to write at the MTC. Pday couldn't come soon enough. I've loved getting all of your emails. I miss you all. This is probably the hardest thing I have ever done. We are scheduled from the time we wake up to when we go to bed. Fortunately my companion is great and we have a good time together. Elder Tuinei and I are night and day. He is into rap, hip-hop and breakdancing. He loves being fashionable and doesn't like most sports. He's never hungry. I'm always hungry! In spite of our differences we get along great. There is a lot of open communication between us. We laugh about our differences. I followed Athena's advice and we talked about our goals as a companionship. He is a good guy. He can feel the spirit and we have a really fun time, mostly just laughing at each other. I am so blessed to have a companion like Elder Tuinei. He has helped me so much with Korean. I feel like I am just not picking up on it like the rest of my district is. That's another thing, I'm the district leader. It felt like all of Sunday I was in a meeting.

The Korean branch is the largest at the MTC. We call it the Celestial branch because all of our classrooms and residences (dorms) are on the third and highest level of the buildings. It's a bit of a workout. I am doing stairs all day.

My district is Elder Tuinei and I then two other companionships. Sisters Morton and Erikson are great. Both are from Texas. Morton Chao mai niem (Sister Morton) is 22 and Erikson is 20. I think at times they get tired of being around a bunch of 18 year old boys but they add so much to the district. The other companionship is a threesome. We were supposed to have another Elder but he was too sick to come.This may be the largest blessing I have seen since we came to the MTC. As DL I need to deal with companionship relationships. If Elder Glover's companion had come that would have left Elder Quiros and Elder Willis alone and they would have killed each other. That is an exaggeration but kind of true. Elder Quiros is a know it all and Elder Willis doesn't like being told what to do. I think they are both great guys  but they push each others buttons. I've been working with them and things have gotten a lot better. 

This is advice to anyone who is going on a mission, be able to deal with people who are different from you. Be tolerant and above all loving.

I don't have a ton of time so I'm going to wrap up. This has been the hardest week of my life. I can also say that this has been the best week of my life. There are so many stories I could tell. I could write a full book about everything that has happened. I have learned so much. Korean is hard. The food is fine. I've seen plenty of people that we know that my mom would like to know about. My companion is different but we're doing great. I'm feeling the spirit. I know I'm in the right place and doing the the right thing.

I love you all,

 Harkness Chang no niem (Elder Harkness)

P.S. The computer is being dumb so I can't send photos. Please send me athletic socks (we exercise daily and I only have three pairs) thanks for all of the things you have sent. The district loves you mom.