Churseok

This week was the start of Churseok the Korean harvest holiday. We didn't have much to do so we packed up and went to the park with the sisters and sang hymns. It was pretty fun. 

The sisters have an investigator who is really into ping pong. She thrashed me. 

I hope that this isn't how my companion sees me each day. 

We have actually been having a ton of fun together and really rocking it lately. We've been knocking a lot of doors and have found some promising people. There was a man who opened the door and after seeing the book of Mormon let us in. We jumped into a lesson and as we talked found out that he has no religion but has a really big love for his family. We talked about God's plan and how that helps us be a family forever. He gave us his phone number and said to come again. 

Another miracle that happened this week was when we had to refer one of our investigators to another area. It seems like all of the good ones have to get refered. We found Ji while walking near a university in our area. He took a Book of Mormon and we had another lesson two weeks ago. Then we found out the crushing news that he lives in another team's area. This week we set up a meeting with him and the Soo Song Elders. The lesson went great and Ji really liked the other missionaries. It was a miracle because he will now be able to hear the gospel in the right place. It is a bit of a bummer that he won't be learning it with us but it was really a blessing to be able to meet him.

I hope that we will all be able to see the little, or big, miracles that God has placed in our lives this upcoming week.

Love,

Elder Harkness

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Families can be together forever

Well, this week was a little long but I got to see some really cool things so it was OK! First off is a recent convert in our congregation that soon after baptism started up smoking again. He really wants to get the priesthood but his addiction has been keeping him back for about eight months. We had a meeting with him where I brought a piece of paper and told him that we were going to make a calendar and quit this month. Unfortunately he pushed against the plan and it was a bummer lesson. Coming out of the lesson, Elder Peterson and I were really disjointed. I really like this guy and told him that I want to see him quit before I transfer. We talked with the ward mission leader who talked with the Branch president and set up an interview. The branch president was really nice to him during the interview and yesterday at church Brother Kim came up and told us that he wants to try our calendar! That was one big miracle. 

Another was with Vantu, the convert from my first area. His wife Chang got baptized! Vantu invited me to the service last P-day but I'm halfway across the mission and so I emailed back that I would not be able to make it. Afterwards I felt that I should at least try asking the permission to the APs and it was granted. After English class on Saturday we rushed to the train station and caught the train to Busan. On the train we met a group of European college students that we talked with on the way down. I told them about the Book of Mormon and how I came to know that it was true. I said that that knowledge made me want to come on a mission and share the Book. They thought that was cool. One of them even said that it was like my quest which I really liked. 

The train arrived twenty minutes late and so we missed the actual baptism. I was a little dissapointed. I wanted to see Vantu baptize Chang, but it was all made up when I saw them come into the chapel with big smiles on their faces. Vantu gave a testimony where he said that the family's goal was to go to the temple and live together forever. 

The other miracle was that we were able to catch the train back to Gyeongsan after the service.  

This P day we went to an amusement park!

I actually got really motion sick. It's been a long time since I've ridden a roller coaster :)

Mission Tour with Elder Yamashita‏

Korea, Busan Mission.  James is on the front row, third from the left.

Blessings of a mission

Hi, elder Harkness,

It is really good to know you are doing well. I am so happy to tell you that my wife will be baptized on 19/09 at 5pm. If you can come, we can meet. A double happiness is that my brother in Vietnam will also be baptized on 20.09, do you remember him?. Another great thing for me is that I will recieve Melchizedek priesthood this Sunday. I am so excited. ohhh happy time.:D. Very happy to write for you!

Hope you doing well

Bro. Van Tu

Knocking doors

Well, I don't have too much to say this week, it's been pretty typical. We did have a really cool experience this week. We were out on the streets looking for people to talk to. Because it was a bit of a cloudy windy day there weren't a ton of people out. I had the thought that if we really wanted God's help in finding someone that we should specifically ask him to lead us to someone to talk to. Elder Peterson and I stopped for a moment and said a prayer. We started off walking again. As we were going I started telling Elder Peterson about times that I had knocked doors in the past. It just so happened that as I ended my story we were standing next to a home. Deciding that there was nothing better to do we knocked and waited a moment. No one came but a window on a neighboring home opened up and a man poked his head out. He came out and we had  a good long talk about the Book of Mormon and continued revelation. 

I feel like the take  away from this experience is that God needs us to have a purpose before he can guide us. 

This week we have been doing a lot more door knockings. It's harder in Korea because most people live in apartments or just have gates in front of their homes. But we have been seeing some success from it. 

Hope you have a good week,

Elder Harkness

P.S. The pictures are the reason I wasn't able to put more into the email. We visited a big Buddhist temple earlier today.

Teaching people to pray

This week has been fantastic. Like any good week it had lots of ups, a couple downs and a lot of hard work. First off the bat would be my trainee Elder Peterson. He's great. We have had a good time walking the streets and teaching lessons together. He's picking up Korean really well and works really hard so I'm looking forward to the next transfer and a half that I have with him.

The week started out with a really odd experience. We had finished our P-day and were walking to the church when we ran into a guy about our age on the street. We asked him where he was going and he said that he was going to Iksan. Iksan is the other side of Korea and outside of our mission. He said that he was walking there. I figured that he was joking, he was acting kind of goofy. He had a water bottle that was empty so we asked him if he would like to fill it up in the church. He said that he would. As we were going though he kept making dumb jokes and acting like a kid so I was really hesitant to bring him into our building. I heard a story where two missionaries let some kids into a chapel and they set off the fire extinguisher. I was worried so I said a little prayer in my heart. No answer on what to do came so I figured that the Lord trusted my judgement. We let him in, got him some water and then we decided to show him a mormon message about Christ on the church computer. After watching it Elder Peterson had the inspiration to ask him to pray. He had never prayed in his life so we taught him and I gave an example prayer. When he prayed he told God about the hard time that he was having. When the prayer was over we asked if he thought that Christ could help him. He said that he didn't know so we taught. As we asked him questions he told us that he was out living on the street. He didn't look like it. After going to a baseball game in Busan and getting wasted drunk he realized that he didn't want to go home to Iksan and so has been wandering a bit. He told us how sad he was. He said that whenever he walked over a bridge he thought about jumping. Elder Peterson and I testified of the power of the atonement in our lives and the love that God has for us. It seemed to really effect him. After our lesson we had a branch family home evening that he attended with us. After that he left. His name is 박준구 (Pak Joongu). I'm not sure what happened to him but I hope that our message will carry him where he needs to go.

The rest of our week was pretty eventful too. We met people, had someone that I thought had a lot of promise tell us to beat it, (He was very polite about it) and found some new investigators. I have taken it upon myself to introduce Elder Peterson to Korean culture so we had ramen night. This picture is Elder Peterson about to bite into the spiciest ramen they had on the shelf.

I love the missionary life. Have a great week,

Elder Harkness