MTC Week 8! (July 19, 2013)

Anyunghaseo!

We're almost done here at the MTC! We just got our travel plans today, and so everyone is super excited to get out and get going. It looks like the plan for people going to Busan is to leave the morning of the 29th (for me, around 7:30), fly to San Fransisco, and then from there to Tokyo, and then there directly to Pusan. The layovers don't seem too bad either; 1 hour in San Fransisco, and then 2 in Tokyo (since Mom talked about airlines a bit in her letter, I'm flying Delta and Japan Airlines, according to my travel plan). I'm excited that we get to go to Japan! :D I don't know if 2 hours is enough time to find our gate and have some time to poke around, but if so, I definitely want to get some food at the airport. We're not supposed to leave the international area, and I can't remember what we can buy in that area, so I might have to explore a bit, but it'll be fun (do you know if they accept dollars there? or do I have to get myself some yen? That seems like it might take awhile to do...). Everyone else seems pumped to get to stop by Japan as well. There's the 7 from my district plus 8 from another that are going to Busan at the same time, so we'll have a pretty good group of people travelling together.

Sadly, the people going to Seoul (5/12 of our district) have different plans, and so we'll have to say goodbye to them early. They fly to Dallas and then straight from there to Korea. I have no idea how long that takes, but ouch. I think they were a little disappointed when they compared travel plans with us ...

Other than that, it looks like we've been assigned someone who's in charge, and will help us out if any problems arise, so that's very comforting. Hopefully, no flights are delayed, and we won't end up having to stay the night somewhere, or getting lost, or missing a flight or anything.

Thank you for the letters and postcards from everyone! It's always exciting when I get mail, and I'm happy that you all haven't forgotten about me yet. :D

No pictures this week, but I will try to get more of the district, especially since it's almost time for us to go our separate ways. Richard is trying to organize a picture of me, Elder Jones, and himself together, so if nobody forgets, that should be sent next week.

In class, we've been slowly winding down. We spend a lot more time practicing sentances than before, and the grammar forms we're learning are generally prefaced with a "You probably won't need this grammar, but you'll hear it a lot." So it seems that our teachers think we know enough Korean grammar to properly express what we want to say, and now we're just learning things to help us put a little more feeling into sentances, and understand the feelings that whoever we're talking to is putting in. Some forms we've learned recently translate roughly in English to "...", mild suprise, adding "momomo, right?" to the end of a sentance ("momomo" is Korean's "blahblahblah" or "naninaninani", and lightly covering middle polite and middle form.

We've only got at most a couple lessons with our investigators as well. I'm not really sure how the other groups feel about their progress with them (there's a companionship of sisters that have apparently been hitting the nail on the head every time), but let me tell you, teaching isn't easy. As we've grown better in Korean, Elder Stapley and I have been asking more and more questions to try to figure out where the investigator is at spiritually, and we've found that there's a lot of things we've missed. It's hard; there's a lot of gaps, especially the lessons we've taught early on; a lot of "Sure, I understand the concepts"-s but not a lot "Yes, I believe it's true"-s.

It's definitely been good practice though - I feel like Elder Stapley and I have been working really well together, trying to figure out what the investigator needs to hear, and what he needs to do. Rarely does a lesson go 100% according to plan; we just taught a lesson review everything we've taught because we wanted to make sure he knew and believed the concepts before we moved on, and found out that he didn't understand how the priesthood is passed down. He believed that through good works and faith, anyone could receive the priesthood, which means he didn't really believe the apostasy was a big deal, which means he didn't think that the Restoration was that important it was just a "good thing", which means that when we ask him how he thinks about the Book of Mormon, he just says it's a "good book" and ughhhh we weren't expecting all this and we still need to figure out how to help him get all this down. But I think it's definitely realistic, and I'm really grateful that we have the opportunity to practice. Apparently, back in the day, missionaries didn't get to practice teaching at all before heading out (and back in back in the day, you learned the language in the country you were supposed to serve in!), and I can't imagine how difficult that would have been; it's scary to think about going to Korea now, and I've had so many different resources to help me to learn!

I'll miss the MTC. Like everyone else, I'm excited to go to Korea, but it's hard to leave the teachers and my district behind. I've learned a lot here, more than I though I would; I've learned so much Korean, so much about the gospel, so much about who I am, how I work as a missionary, how other people work, being a friend, how others through the Holy Ghost can help me even when they don't realize it, how to teach, how powerful our examples can be, whether postive or negative - I know I watch what other people do far more than they realize, and I'm sure they do the same to me. We've all had our share of hard times and concerns, but we've had so much fun, so much bonding, so many spiritual experiences. I was talking with some of the others about the MTC, and I remember someone said in the first few weeks that "nobody comes home from there mission saying how great the MTC was," but I don't feel the same way. I'm sure the "real" mission is a lot more exciting, and a lot more investment goes into it, but the MTC experience is still part of my mission. I don't think I'll ever be completely ready to go to Korea, but the MTC has brought be much, much closer to ready than any other way could have. I know the Lord has blessed me and everyone else here to learn and to grow. I hope I can continue to keep growing in Korea.

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To Mom: No, I haven't gained a lot of weight here. I weighted myself a few days ago, and if I've gained any, it's just a pound or two. My teachers tell me that they've never heard of anyone actually gaining weight in Korea though, so don't worry about me! I'm not sure how companionships work on the way over there; I assume I'll be with Elder Stapley, but there's an elder in my district whose companion is going to Seoul while he's going to Pusan (which is pretty rare, having a split companionship, but apparently having a split district is weird as well), so I don't know what'll happen. There might be another solo elder that he gets to be with, or he might just join another group to make a trio. I guess we'll see. I'm sorry to hear Barry Manilow's concert got cancelled. You were so excited to go! :D Oh, and I got the package you sent me. Thank you for everything! People were curious about the pictures, so I showed some of them, and it seemed like everyone seemed to comment that "your sister (Rachel) doesn't look that Asian...". I don't know why that stood out to them that much, but apparently that's noteworthy. The ties you sent me are great! I'm excited to get to wear them. I like all of them, so I don't think I'll be giving any away, although I know that a lot of elders will trade ties with others to get ones they like.

To Dad: Your residence had a window that could open? I'm pretty sure the only purpose of the window in my residence is to let light in. Maybe it's because those in charge got tired of people keeping climbing in through windows... I forgot to ask Bro. Sung about thermals, but I assume I can buy them in Korea (Korea's definately urban enough that there'll be a store somewhere that sells them, and my teachers told me they did most of their shopping in Korea), so don't worry about it. My travel plans say that I can bring 2 suitcases weighing 50 pounds each, so I might have been confused about what I need to pay for, but having a little extra money for emergencies is fine by me.

Oh, and don't worry about my backpack. I'm still using it here, (and I want it for the airplane ride over there) so I'll just bring it to Korea and buy a side bag there then. My teachers said it's probably still a good idea to have a backpack for transfers and whenever I need to move a lot of heavy stuff; it's just during the daily routine I shouldn't be using it, I think. Besides, I don't think I'm allowed to give anything, even if it's temporary, to my teachers (they're not allowed to give us anything either; believe us, we've tried to get them to bring us kimchi to try eating, but no luck). According both of my teachers, there's not a whole lot of biking to get to places; Korea's got a really good system of transportation, so between buses, subways, taxis, and walking, it's pretty easy to get around. Each area (I think that's what they're called) tends to be pretty small too. Maybe out in the country (we asked where Provo fits in the Korean urban scale, and he answered that Provo would be considered "countryside/rural"), there's more of riding bikes, but I don't think it's that big in Korea. In any case, I'll keep my backpack, so you don't have to do anything about it.

The "niem" in hyoungjeniem is a marker for respect. Basically, you add it to pretty much anyone that's not yourself. If I were to introduce both me and my companion, I would say that my name is "Luke jangno" and my companion's is "Stapley jangnoniem." There's another marker to show even more respect, "geso," but the district isn't 100% sure when it's appropriate to use. You would use it when saying "God," or "Jesus Christ" (oddly, when just saying "Jesus" you just use the "niem"); one teacher said it was for "Gods, prophets, and kings." However, the other teacher would use "geso" to talk about his companion, and he also uses it when talking about a bishop. It's pretty confusing, and whenever we ask about it, our teachers try to teach it for a bit, then just kind of give up and tell us it's a "feeling-thing" that we'll likely pick up in Korea. Let me tell you, there's a lot of "feeling-things" - we've learned about 7 different ways to say "because," and each has a slightly different nuance. It seems like every time we ask how two similar words are different, we hear "Oh, it's a feeling-thing," which is followed by a lot of groaning from the district. I'm sure other languages are the same though, and we really can't afford to spend a lot of time covering minute details.

Getting to home teach the Tuft family seems like fun! Lucky! :D

Anyways, I think I've got one more P-day before I jet off, so just one more email from the MTC. As always, I'm grateful for your love and support, and your prayers. I know God hears them and is blessing me for everyone's faith.

Anyungheekeseo -

Love,

Luke jango


Note:

Yes, he really did send mail titled "week 6" one week and "week 8" the next; there's not a letter missing.