Better Week

This week was good. I have been trying to figure out alot of stuff this week and what I can do to personally change it.I went on 2 exchanges this week. I went on an exchange with one of the other elders in my house his name is Elder Schofield. He came to Korea with me, we talked alot about what I could do and how I could make it better. I also went on an exchange with my zone leader his name is Elder Luker. He was Elder Kims past companion and he knows exactly what I am going through. He pulled out all of his old planners and we talked about what he did to deal with it because he has been the same way his entire mission. It was a very fun exchange. He is in a threesome so I was also with a greenie. When we were talking to people on the street I went with him for a little bit. Seeing him struggle and say funny stuff that he didnt know he was saying reminded me of my time for that. I was amazed with my self about how much I have learned already. Not just korean, but teaching and people skills too. It gave me a little confidence that I could be put with a greenie, even though i REALLY DONT want to.(knock on wood) When I was on the exchange we taught a man from Pakistan who was one of the nicest guys i have ever met, with the sweetest beard but he was very blunt and inturupted and not open to us. We talked alot about prophets, he believed that there needed to be 24000 prophets and jesus was only a prophet and was number 15999 or something like that. He was SUPER nice, but not open.

 

Not much else other than exchanges has happened this week. My camera wont hook up so I cant send you pictures right now, except this one Elder Schofield sent me. It is right outside a resturaunt these kind of tanks are everywhere. But we have not fought a ton this week and we have been doing ok missionary work.

 

We did something called streetboarding yesterday. We just set up Easels with posters on them and talk to people thats just about it. One fight we had this week was about the way to talk to people. I absolutley HATE just waiting for people to cross the street and start following them, or running up to them when they see you running! I think it gives a really bad impression. I think as representitives of Christ, we need to be different than other salesmen who just bother people we can just be robots with the same things pouring out of our mouths. Like Elder Holland said these people are not a stat they are sons and daughters of God. So that is one thing I will not agree with him on and will not do again. I did it just for him yesterday, but it wont happen again it is not effective people yell at you or just ignore you. My goal for my mission is to find an approach that will "baptize people on the streets"(obviously not really:). but that is one thing I wont apply. I wont follow people around for 5 minutes when they tell me to go away. I think our church is different that way and thats why it works.

 

but life is good....LOVE YA!

 

Elder Miles Diede   

 

SharkK Tank  in store windows.

Rough

Well one word to describe this week. Rough. My companion is very self absorbed, loves to think that I can read minds and when I dont do something as perfectly as he wants it then he sulks for a long time then calls me to repentence.  He loves to do this thing which I like to call " I more spiritual than you time" Honestly I have no clue what is going on half the time. The past two days we have not left the apartment for anything but church and he said maybe 5 words to me. Then As I was trying to plan with him, I ended up doing everything then getting down on my knees to end the day. I waited for 2 minutes and he didnt get down yet. Then after another minutes he started reading off scriptures to me. After the fourth one I left. He is honestly the hardest person in the world to figure out. He has a reputation in our mission for being full of energy but thats because those people havent seen the real him. I want our companionship to work, but the only things he will do is talk to members and sit and read.

 

When I talked to Elder Rhodes our district leader in a private meeting I cried for the second time on my mission. He told me that there was a reason I was companions with him and in this area. God knew that I could overcome these trials and be able to be successful because of it. I also talked to our zone leader Elder Luker, who was companions with him before. He said we will go on an exchange soon so we can talk about it. I also talk to Elder Schofield alot who was an elder in my group to korea to get some sanity.

 

My letter is really short today because I have done almost nothing this week. But I do know that God has put me in this specific place for a reason. From all of the companionship problems I already know how to better function with normal companions. I know it will be hard to work with him over the next couple of weeks and probobly next transfer but I can do it. It may not be the way my companion likes it but I will get missionary work done. I will not sit in the house for 5 weeks. Now is the time that I need to step up and take control. He is going home soon but I will not let him ruin my mission!

 

Love ya!  sorry for such a sort of depressing letter. but not much to say. On the bright side I saw a resturaunt with a live shark in it. hopefully i get a picture soon. Thanks for the mail, I hope I get it soon I could use a pick meup.  Also good news the combined mission conference we are having has a general Authority speaker so we will see who it is....

LOVE YA!!!!!

 

Elder Diede

Ping Pong

 

 Dear Family, 

I have played TONS of Ping Pong. We are actually playing again today. My companion is teaching me how to cook some Korean food and our mission is putting together a cookbook, so we can have stuff later. It is a great idea.

 

This week has been kina rough at first. It is difficult to adjust to all of these new things that come with a new area, whole different way of doing missionary work and being with a companion who has a different culture and is a perfectionist. We do a whole different style of prosylyiting, I like it but it is different from what I am used to and need some adjustment time I am not getting. It is hard to help in lessons with a Korean because obviously they can speak perfectly so why would they put the lesson on someone who cant speak very well. We had a little disagreement about the way we both prosylyte. He was picking at the little parts of my korean and I was expressing my ideas about how he can not justput the gospel in peoples faces, just to talk to them about it. Long story short we talked about it and everything is all good we realized where each other was coming from it was actually a great experience.

 

Speaking of great experiences. An Elder in my house got a colonoscopy this week! Super funny! It was great to make jokes with him about it and we all laughed as he suffered to drink the colon cleansing stuff. He was so funny the entire time. His name is Elder Rhodes i love him. (by the way it is a secret so if you ever meet his family dont say anything) We had to make a strategic way home so he could go to the bathroom every 10 minutes. It was hillarious. Finally at our last stop before we got home. He went into the bathroom and immedietly came back out. It was a squater, and he couldnt go on it. That was probobly one of the most hillarious points in my mission so far. I also went on an amazing exchange with him. He called me the Magic Prosylyter, because that day we set 2 return appointments and got a few numbers. And I never thought id say this but the 2 return appointments were both taller than me. One guys hand when I shaked his hand ENGULFED my hand. It was Huge. Then We taught an amazing lesson to a new investigator The spirit was so strong. He accepted a soft baptismal commitment.

 

Enough about him. This week I had alot of spiritual stuff. We had Zone Training Meeting, I had an Interview with President, and on top of that General Conference!!! My favorite talks were Edward Dube saturday morning, Elder Uchtdorf in priesthood and Elder Ballard I think Saturday Afternoon. Then the whole Sunday Morning Session was Amazing!!!!! I encourage you to do what Elder Ballard talked about Hasten the Work. If everyone in the family finds one more person from now to Christmas that is 7 more converts! It is hard in Utah but from what I hear you are already striving to do missionary work in the ward. 

 

These two pictures are at a Service Opportunity we had at a garage sale thing and Elder Kim scream on the floor after a guy called and said he wanted to meet with us.

 

Love Ya 

 

Elder Miles Diede

 

New Companion Kim Gunn

Hello!!!

First awnsering questions. I havent seen conference yet. I get to see it next week because it has to be translated. I get snail mail probobly 2 times a month. sometimes 1. I have not been to the mission home yet. I see President every now and then but not too often. I hope you had a good Bday and I hope Hayden does too. Boom Hayden Colts are the best. ps there is no team called Logan they played utah State.;)

 

Well To start off I will recap my last couple of days is 동대몬. Our last Pday we went on a hike. It was a really fun little hike and at the top there was a pagoda with a magnificent view of Seoul.( pictures coming) Then we went to a flea market and just browsed around. That night at FHE my three favorite people from the ward came and we played a game called Yah EMo No. I took a video but it is too big to send. sorry. I will have to teach you when I come back it is SUPER fun! For Tuesday and Wednesday we cut out hearts and did stuff for members. Two couples had babies in our ward this week. Then I got to teach my last lesson to Sam. We taught him about tithing and then he took us out to Icecream. There is a flavor of Icecream here called shooting star and it is so good!!! it has pop rocks everywhere in the icecream. That concludes my last days. I will really miss that house and the elders I was with they were so much fun to be around.

 

Then Transfers. I got to meet my new companion named Kim Gunn. We have the biggest height difference in our companionship seeing as he is one of the shortest in our mission. He is a very energetic Korean whoes laugh kills me every time, he squeaks and it is hillarious. He is a super good missionary, but because he is Korean people wont talk to him and he understands all the insults that people say. So i do lots of talking because koreans love seeing foriegners speak Korean. I have developed a new style of proselyting. It is a Thy will be Done attitude. That is kim gunn and my motto for this transfer. I have become the most happy entergetic talker on the street. Elder Kim says I am one of the best 전도ers he has seen, not by the Korean language but how I act and make the person feel. I think Elder kim is amazing at member work so I think we are pretty well off. It is a little different adjusting to a new house they do stuff alot different. I am also living with Elder Schofield and Elder Rhodes. Also the Sisters are Sister Aurous from Germany and Sister Kwon from Korea, both super nice. I Live on the 7th floor of an apartment and my area goes to the outskirts of the north end of Seoul. its really pretty. Elder Kim is a master chef so he is teaching me how to make Korean food! I eat Korean food every meal now, no more cereal.

 

We do a service activity at a welfare center every Friday. This week we washed dishes. Next week is a garage sale. Its actually pretty fun, and Elder Kim drills me on Korean grammer and vocab the entire time. The ward here is super great. When I was giving my intro talk Sister Kwon went before me and I made a joke about how sister kwon was WAy better than me at korean and they all laughed. The ward here is 2x bigger than my last ward and we have a good Youth pool so that is where we are concentrating on finding investigators. Its working pretty good. Other than that life is still the same, just livin it up in Korea! Doin the greatest work ever!

LOVE YA!!!!

 

Elder Miles Diede