Elder Benny Yamagata: The work has finally started!

Mom and Dad,

I feel like this whole time in Korea has started to lead up to this week! First off, I cant believe its been over 100 days that Ive been on my mission so far! Crazy!!!!! Secondly, I finally feel like we are doing work! After last week of losing a lot of our investigators, we needed a boost. And Heavenly Father came through and blessed us with an amazing week!

Our usual numbers for a week are 140~150 contacts, and around 30 numbers. This week we hit 279 contacts and over 50 numbers! What a blessing! But thats not the best part!

We had a man text us on Wednesday saying his name was Mister Choi. I didnt know who he was and neither did Elder Smith. In the text however, he stated that I was the one who talked to him in broken Korean and gave him a card, and he said that he didnt give me my number because I was a foreigner and random. He also said that he wanted to introduce me to his daughter.... -_-...... Ummm thats strange, but he called us and we set an appointment with him to meet on Friday, hopefully to share the gospel and not set me up with a random woman hahaha. We met with him, his wife, and his daughter. They were the nicest family and they took us to an italian buffet in Westerndome. We talked with them for a while and somehow the conversation split, with Elder Smith teaching the first lesson to the Daughter next to me, while I was talking to the Parents about what we do and why we teach, etc. They really liked us, and even offered to feed us every week so that we wouldnt have to cook! As if that wasnt enough, they also accepted an offer and came to our English Class party that was on Saturday! After coming to that and socializing with the ward and some members there, We were surprised to see them come for the last hour of church (sacrament)! What a surprise because neither of us invited them to church! (We spaced and forgot :( ) But they came and stayed for the Meal afterwards that the ward had. They talked with us and the 2nd counselor of the bishopric for most of the time, and then asked us what we were doing after. We had planned on going jundoing after church, but they offered to take us to the Unification Observatory. Its this giant dome that sits in one of the most northwestern parts of south Korea, and you can see north Korea from there! Very Crazy! We were hoping to teach them the 1st lesson once we were there, maybe sit down somewhere, but they were more just sightseeing unfortunately. We did set a return appointment though where we do plan on teaching them! Fingers Crossed, it would be a shame if we had to drop them because they have no gospel interest, only foreigner interest!

Other than that it was an amazing week! Me and Elder Smith got a lot of work done and we feel like we are both learning from each other! We had our interviews with President Christensen this week as well and he really gave me some great insights on other parts of missionary work, including less actives and recent convert work! I am hoping that we can turn Korea into less of a retention mission and more of a new convert mission. A couple of years ago, all members in Korea were considered Less Active, now theres about 10000/80000 members that are active, so still a lot of work to do!

Zone training was also this week and they are really pushing us to try new styles of prosleyting and teaching to see what works and what doesnt. What could be extremely beneficial, or detrimental! It sounds super fun!

I hope everyone at home is doing well! I dont get many emails from the rest of the family so I hope everyone is safe and happy! Always remember the Lord in everything you do! Never be ashamed to kneel in prayer and ask for his help in anything you do! He can provide the necessary strength to overcome all obstacles!

May the Lord Bless you this week! Be safe and have fun!

Elder Yamagata