Solnar

This week was Solnar! It's the Korean version of Chinese New Year. Actually the food above is traditional food for Dat the Vietnamese version of Chinese New Year. Our two Vietnamese investigators made it for us. The square thing in the back is a food that they eat in Vietnam on the New Year. They take raw rice and cook it with pork for about 8 hours. It is green because they cook it wrapped in leaves.

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This past Sunday Van Tu was baptized. It has been such a great experience to teach him and to see him progress. I honestly know that it was a blessing from God for me to meet him at this important time in his life. We had the service right after church. There weren't any angels or visions but the entire time there was a good feeling. Van Tu was so greatful to us the missionaries for teaching him and baptizing him. It was really an amazing experience.

It was no coincidence that Van Tu is where he is now. He was born in rural Vietnam and farmed and herded cattle as a child. By hard work and a bit of luck he was able to attend a university in Hannoi. He finished his studies there and after turning down a good job offer because he didn't feel that it was right moved to Korea to study at Busan National University. There he and his wife met the missionaries and we have been teaching them since.

Van Tu has grown such a strong testimony in the short time we have been able to teach him and I know that wherever he goes, whether back to Vietnam or somewhere else, he will be able to take that with him.

A couple other things,

​This is the Korean card for the church's Because of Him program. I would encourage all of you to watch the video and share it. The He's the Gift Christmas program was really successful and I'm sure that this one will do just as well.


​When we bought those shirts the wrapper said wrinkle free. Our drying rack was full so I hung them from the light fixture.

Korean street food

This is traditional Korean street food. You walk up and grab a small dish and a fork or skewer. There are a bunch of fried foods that you can take. Four dumplings is about 50 cents. You keep track as you eat then pay before you leave.

The country of Korea is coming to a bit of a standstill as it prepares for the Lunar New year. Because of this we didn't have as many appointments. We did have one with our two Vietnamese investigators. One now has a baptismal date which is really exciting.

I hope you all have a nice week!
Elder Harkness

Kiwi Pie

It's slim pickings for pictures this week. I sent one of the District office where I currently am, me and my companion in the bomb shelter/studio basement of our church, (I think it was just supposed to be a bomb shelter but then the youth dumped the drums and guitars in it) then the kiwi pie I made last P day. It turned out really well actually.

This week we have been working with our investigators really hard and searching for new people to teach. Lately we've been on the streets a lot more just talking to people.

One interesting thought. All of our current investigators are students at Busan University. It's a really hard school to get into and so the people we teach are incredibly smart. Because they are so smart they come up with amazing questions. I shared a scripture with one of our investigators. It's from 2Ne 2. The essence of it is that everything that God does is for a reason. I shared my testimony that I don't know everything but that through faith God will lead us to something better than we could have done. This is an interesting concept for the investigators to grasp.
I know that in my life faith has taken me farther than my own knowledge ever would have.

Love you all,
Elder Harkness

Hero

This is a picture of Kim Jeenyoung with me and my companion.He is one of my heroes. About a year ago he met the missionaries while out walking with his friends. He was a golden investigator and got baptized super quick. Unfortunately his dad changed his mind about his son attending the "mormon" church. Even though 김진영 (It's easier in Korean) was forced into inactivity he has been meeting the missionaries weekly ever since his baptism. It's always the highlight of my week. We play a game and then teach a lesson. He's such a great kid. He reads the bible and Book of Mormon and prays daily (which is better than most of the active kids). He's super polite and always speaks to us in high form Korean and we just have a fun time with him.

My first week with my new companion has gone over really well. We had a couple canceled and rescheduled appointments but over all we did really well.

We were out on the streets trying to talk to some people and this man walked up to us. He began yelling at us in rapid Korean. I think he was a Jehovah's Witness. Anyways, I couldn't understand any of it so when he was done we just told him to have a nice day and moved on. Later as we were going to an appointment we ran into him again out on the streets. We were on one side of the cross walk and he was on the other. He and I met eyes and I thought, "Here it goes again." He went into the same rant. I again couldn't understand him so I just told him to have a nice day and moved on. This made me think about how actions speak louder than words. This man could have been speaking Finnish but the message I received would have been the same. As a missionary or as a member of the church people will see us and watch what we do. They might not always understand what I am saying but they will still understand my actions. That is why we need to follow Jesus Christ's example. By following his example people can feel his love.

I hope you all have a nice week,

Love,

Elder Harkness