"A Whole New World"

A week ago I was in 강남 (Gangnam), a hyper-modern, densely-populated area situated in the middle of Seoul, filled with obscenely rich people. Where you could walk for 30 seconds and see 3 Maserati's (no exaggeration; happened more than once). Where it was so dense that 40 minutes on the subway could take us to the edge of our area.

And now I'm in 김포 (Gimpo), a city outside of Seoul which is about as polar opposite to 강남 as it gets. Where you can walk for 30 minutes and not see any sign of civilization. Where there are some places that we literally can't get to because even spending our entire day on a bus we wouldn't have enough time to get there and back.

This place is awesome. On account of people here being (much like most people in the world) poorer than in 강남, they're way friendlier. The number of people willing to stop and talk to us on the street is easily dozens of times more than what it was in 강남. The ward is about the same size as it was in 강남, but much younger. (강남 was basically two families and tons of old couples.) This ward also includes two Patriarchs and an Emeritus Seventy. So that's pretty cool.

Our house here is way bigger than ours was in 강남 and is only shared between 2 Elders, not 4. Also, our 18th story view here definitely tops the brick wall we had right outside our window. My new companion's Elder Anderson, who's basically the missionary that every missionary should be.

We've also got a ton of people we're meeting with. Yesterday our investigator 유덕균 (or DG, since he went to high school in Chicago and always speaks English with us) came to church with his 8-year old brother, and they both loved it. Then we gave them this super awesome Christmas tree which for some absurd reason somebody had been throwing out the other day, which made his brother the happiest little kid in the world.

Basically, things are going great. As usual.

Merry week before Christmas, my friends.

리스 장로

"A Good Week"

On account of it being Thanksgiving this past week, our bishop, 김정기, hooked us up with a Thanksgiving-esque feast last Monday. You can't find turkey very easily in Korea, so we had duck, which is a) close enough and b) way more delicious.

We spent much of the day Tuesday at a seniors' center helping out old people. They all thought it was so cool that there were Americans there, so it was lots of fun.

Our zone got super lucky and had our Temple P-day [Once each transfer P-day is moved from Monday to Thursday and one's zone goes to the Temple.] on Thanksgiving. So after going to the Temple we all met in 영등포 and had an incredible Thanksgiving dinner, courtesy of our mission president's younger brother who happens to live here in 서울. Tons of fun. Then during our meal the first snow of the winter started falling, which of course didn't stop us (all the zone's elders) from playing football. Best Thanksgiving I've had in Korea yet.

The next day we had some personal interviews with President Morrise (happens once every other transfer). Those were great.

On Sunday our ward had our Primary program. We only have two kids in Primary, but they've both got a lot of personality (8 and 9 years old), so it was a ton of fun.

The cherry on top: all of the mosquitoes in our apartment are finally dead.

"There's 'Effective,' and Then There's..."

Our stake held a big family history event this past weekend, and they invited all our zone's missionaries (where I'm at right now our stake and zone are the same area; not always the case) to come and bring their investigators. And as long as we were there, we might as well perform a musical number, right? So on Wednesday we all met up in 봉천 to rehearse for an hour. The zone leaders asked me to whip up a special arrangement before Saturday, so I had to spend some time the next two days working on that. Then on Saturday we get to this three-hour long event an extra hour early so we can all rehearse again. Then we spent a little bit of time listening to people talk about their ancestors and a long time being taught how to use FamilySearch.com. Then just before we perform our song, the stake's teenagers all sing "Families Can Be Together Forever," the same song we were going to sing. So that was a little awkward. But at least we all got to bring our investigators, right? Except that noun should be singular, because only one from the whole zone showed up. (But he's from our district! Represent!) And he thought the meeting was boring.

We calculate the whole affair as taking up about 180 man-hours from the missionaries. Less effective.

In other news, we picked up a new investigator this week who might be really interested in the gospel or just might be a really good Herbalife salesman. Either way, he's a really good Herbalife salesman, because he got Ellsworth and another elder in our district. I ran into a missionary newer to Korea than I am for the first time. Made me very aware of how far my Korean's come already. Also had a little encounter with a super shady guy who kept following Ellsworth and I around one night, trying to get us to "meet his friend" and (we think) smuggle something to America. Good fun.

It felt like I spent an eternity in the MTC, and right now I feel like I still just barely landed in Korea. But as of Wednesday this week, I've been in Korea longer than I was in the MTC. And 갑자기 Thanksgiving is this week? The time is flying by.

Stay effective, my friends.

리스 장로.

"I blinked."

And then a whole transfer had already gone by. [In the mission field, months and years cease to exist; time is measured only in transfers, aka six week periods at the end of which people around the mission get assigned new areas and companions, some people go home, and some new people arrive. But almost always one will stay in the same area / with the same companion for a number of transfers. For example, nothing changed here in 강남 this time around. A male missionary not speaking his native language gets 16 transfers in-country.] I seriously feel like I just barely left America. But it's been a while since I've written, so here's a brief highlight reel of the last few weeks.

For all we know, our super-old friend Kenny Lee may have gone back to his secret agent headquarters in Serbia or wherever, died, or been abducted by aliens. We haven't heard from him in about a month.

Speaking of aliens, I met a man from Mercury. But that story is something else entirely, and far too long to write now.

We went to the Seoul Temple the other week. (That happens once a transfer.) It's pretty beautiful. After that, (most of) our zone went hiking together. We would've had some incredible views of the mountains on one side and the city on the other, but it was a really foggy day, so no such luck. It was still a ton of fun, though.

We went to the Seoul Zoo last week. It's a pretty good zoo.

Up until recently, I had been determined to not become one of those returned missionaries who can't even remember how to speak English anymore. But after only being in Korea for about a month, I already had my first experience with being unable to remember the English term for something. A series of mountains is called a "mountain range"? That just sounds weird.

The other 강남 elders found a guy on the street who really wanted to meet with them sometime, so naturally they scheduled an appointment. Well, the appointment was at the church right after our district meeting, so the man insisted that Ellsworth and I meet with them. Turns out the guy has zero interest in religion and such; he just wants to sell us some anti-aging facial cream, which is obviously a huge concern for guys our age. When I say anti-aging, I'm not just talking about wrinkles. Apparently this cream can prevent arthritis and Alzheimer's too! Just by rubbing it on your face! So of course we shrugged it off as nonsense. But he gave us a free sample, and our faces have been looking a little better. And my joints are feeling so good...

Someone on our street was throwing away a couch earlier this week. Now we have a couch.

We found a super good Mexican restaurant. That wasn't something I was expected to see on this side of the world.

Friday, 8:05 pm, Elder Ellsworth is on the phone with our ward mission leader, 신낙규. Because the temperature's been dropping rapidly, Ellsworth asked if he knew of any places where I could buy a winter coat for cheap (hard to find in 강남). He said he'd look around. 8:47 pm, our bishop calls and tells us to meet him at the church. He brought me two free coats.

I hope these pictures are enough to satisfy you all for a while.

Stay classy, my friends.

리스 장로, goin' back in there.

"Some Miracles"

Here's just a handful of the many miracles that have happened this week:

신낙규, our ward mission leader, signed up our district to perform a special musical number in Sacrament meeting this week. Apparently nobody told him that, excepting Elder Craven, none of us can sing. But deciding to give it a shot anyway, we chose to sing "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing" (well, the other guys are singing, I'm on the piano), because the other missionaries say that old Koreans loooove that song, and our ward is stuffed full of old people. The problem is, we have no sheet music for it, so I'm left to figure out an arrangement by ear. But get this: I'm actually doing it. Miracle. (Of course, the song's not terribly complicated, but I'm not a terribly good pianist.)

I learned the other day that this little convenience store super close to our apartment has these awesome strawberry cookies 'n' cream ice cream bars for 60 cents. Miracle.

In Conference, Robert D. Hales actually told the young adults of the church to take their time while dating and not rush into marriage. You can't imagine my amazement. Miracle.

On Monday, Elder Pettit made a huge batch of curry to last for a few days (just for himself). Then on Tuesday, I took his place on exchanges, meaning his curry was now mine. Miracle.

While on the said exchanges, Elder Craven and I are walking down the street in the far reaches of our boundaries, an area that neither one of us are familiar with. It's dinnertime. We both feel prompted to turn down this one side street in search of food. There's a 김밥 (kimbap) place that we consider for a minute, but it just doesn't feel right. So we continue on, go about 30 feet, and boom. Pizzaschool (super cheap pizza place that missionaries eat at all the time). Miracle.

On Thursday, Elder Ellsworth says to me: "I get the feeling that this Sunday's gonna be a big food Sunday." Sunday rolls around, and the ward gives us so much food we literally have no clue what to do with it. Both our fridges are stuffed full, and there are bags of food on every surface in the kitchen, and then some on our beds, too. (Sidenote: Not sure I've mentioned this, but when I say "bed", I'm referring to pads on the floor. That's what most people sleep on over here. It's really comfortable.) Koreans love giving the missionaries food, but everyone in our district says they've never seen it on this scale before. And somehow Ellsworth could feel it coming. Miracle.

But the best miracles of the week were named 정성근 and Kenny Lee. If you took the number of investigators we had last week and multiplied it by 7,000, you'd still have less than we have this week. Because there were 0 last week. But now we have 2! 정성근 (Jeong Seonggeun) is super awesome, and told us the day after we first met that "reading the Book of Mormon is [his] new hobby." And Kenny Lee is this awesome super old dude who loves studying the Bible but says he doesn't really like going to any other churches, but we took him through our building and he said he felt super peaceful there. And his oldest son graduated from Texas A&M, and his other son teaches in Dallas! So he likes me a lot. Americans don't understand how important those kinds of little connections can be in Korean culture. Miracles.

Stay classy, my 친구들.

리스 장로, workin' some more miracles.

"The Three Most Commonly Occurring Thoughts Since Arriving in Korea"

3. "와ㅏㅏㅏㅏㅏㅏㅏ" ("Woooow")

[This is in reference to the architecture. I feel like this is more the case for 강남 than for much of 서울, as this is a really rich and modern area, but you seriously can't walk down the street for 60 seconds without seeing an amazing building. They're all so beautiful. I also often find myself thinking 와ㅏㅏㅏㅏ about cars too, since most days you'll see a Maserati or Lamborghini (although I have yet to spot a Ferrari outside of a dealership).]

2. "I have no idea what this is, but it's delicious."

1. "뭐라고요?" ("What did you say?")

As far as news for this week: It rained on Thursday and the weather instantly cooled down a ton. Definitely doesn't feel like Texas anymore. We don't actually watch Conference until the week after here in Korea, on account of nobody wanting to watch it at 4 am Monday morning, for whatever reason. But, we did hear who the new Apostles are. I was 0 for 3 in our "Fantasy 12 Apostles League," while Elder Ellsworth got 2 of 3 right. They'll get you next time, President McMullin.

So I hear lots of people wish I'd send some pictures. You'll be happy to know I did get some new batteries for my camera. However, I don't exactly have time to just be a tourist and take pictures, as much as I'd love to. So I'll try to do better, but for now, this the only photo I've taken since landing here will have to suffice. I just thought it was super funny, cause obviously professional athletes love their ramen.

That's about all I have time to say, so until next time.

Stay classy, my friends.

리스 장로, goin' back in there.

"즐거운 추석 되세요!" - Seoul, Korea - 9/28/2015

So unlike the MTC, here in Korea we don't get to print emails out in the morning, read them, and plan what we're going to say. So I'll apologize for the sharp decrease in the quality of my letters; I'm just throwing words down like mad right now.

This past week revolved around 추석, one of the two biggest holidays here in Korea (a harvest festival kind of comparable to Thanksgiving). All the 한국 사람 were busy because of the holiday, so we could do much teaching. So we spent a lot of time making and delivering 추석 cards to all the members (which really isn't a thing they do, but everyone thought it was cute because we're Americans). On Thursday, we thought we were going to help one of our English students take a refrigerator down some stairs, and ended up helping them move clear across Seoul out to 김포, which consumed our entire day. So that was 갑자기. But he seems interested in the gospel and now we might start teaching him this week, so it was a day well spent (especially considering the streets were entirely abandoned during the holiday, so we really had nothing better to do).

On Friday and Saturday the whole mission had a two-day conference which was tons of fun. It was nice to see all the other brand-new missionaries and be reminded that I'm not the only one going through all this craziness right now. Up until the conference I had only met maybe 10% of the missionaries here, so I met a whole lot of cool people, learned a lot, and had a lot of fun. Not that I don't love the food here, but I definitely appreciated eating some American food (except for Friday night, when Sister Morrise made everyone curry; it ain't nothin' compared to yours, Mom). We spent a good chunk of the day on Saturday in Seoul's Olympic Park, which is super cool and full of awesome sculptures, but my camera's dead and I'm too lazy/busy to buy any new batteries, so I haven't taken any pictures since the MTC. My apologies.

So with General Conference approaching and three vacancies in the Quorum of the Twelve, all the missionaries are placing bets on who's getting put in there. My picks: Causse, Callister, and the one and only Tom McMullin (although I think it'd be sick if Larry J. Echo Hawk got picked, 'cause I mean, just look at that name). Our district hasn't decided yet on a prize for the winner, but I'm totally getting it.

Stay classy, my friends.

리스 장로, goin' back in there.

"Boots on the Ground" - Seoul, Korea - 9/21/2015

[Alternatively titled: "Smile. Nod. Hope they aren't asking a question."]

I think the following experience best sums up the past week: Two teenage American guys are sitting on the ground in a tiny, messy room with a huge Asian man. The Americans are in white shirts and ties, sweating through them due to the humidity, and the Asian man is shirtless. They stay for 45 minutes or so, occasionally eating some apple slices sitting on a plate on the ground, alternating between discussing Jesus and listening as the shirtless one lays out maps across the floor and lectures on geography. Upon leaving, we're treated to a beautiful, unobstructed 8th-floor view of hundreds upon hundreds of illuminated windows of huge towers across the river, and I have to seriously question what's even real anymore.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. The last week in the MTC was good. I'm a little bit angry at myself for not appreciating the MTC as much as I do now. At least there I could converse with people and have some idea of what I was eating. And the weather was so much nicer in Utah (although this humid heat does kind of feel like home). The flight to Seoul was super cool. I did not have a window seat (thanks to Elder Sabey refusing my offer of $30 for his seat and then sleeping with the window closed the whole flight), but it was alright because I was up walking around frequently, and there was a small open area with a window in the back of the plane. And considering that we were going over the arctic, I naturally spent a lot of time by the window. Miles and miles of ice endlessly stretching on may not be the most scenic view, but it's a very unique, must-see kind of thing. Ideal for philosophical contemplation. Also, they fed us a bunch of Korean food on the plane, which was very much appreciated.

After landing we took a long subway ride to the mission home, during which we (the 7 new Seoul South missionaries) got our first taste of real live 전도하는 것 (aka, trying to get people to listen to us talk about the gospel). That was...rough. Two months is not long enough to learn any language, much less Korean (learning a language is one thing; learning Korean is an entirely new level). But we had the AP's [read: Assistants to the President [read: high-quality missionaries who have been out here a lot longer than we have]] with us to help us out.

Spent the first night at the mission home. Sister Morrise made us an ungodly amount of (crazy good) french toast and hash browns for breakfast, which, considering that basically every breakfast for the next two years will be cereal with the funky-tasting milk they have here, was duly appreciated. President Morrise is super fun and wise; I'm already bummed that he's going to be going home halfway through my mission, and I hardly even know him yet. After some training Wednesday morning, we all got assigned our trainers and areas and had to go our separate ways. My trainer is Elder Ellsworth (whose birthday is today), from everywhere in the United States but most recently Middle-of-Nowhere, Kansas. And we're serving in 강남구 (written in English as Gangnam). Yes, like "Gangnam Style." Cue the music, get it over with, we're moving on.

The first thing we did here in 강남 was teach an English class (which happen every 수요일 and 토요일 (Wednesday and Saturday)), which was nice because that's a language I actually can speak. I'm finding that there's actually a lot of English around here, particularly in Gangnam, which is a pretty Westernized area. The other Elders in our house and area and district are Elders Pettit and Craven. They've all been out here a while, so I had to teach them how to whip the other day. It was entertaining.

I think there might be some adjective somewhere out there that could describe going to church yesterday, but I just don't know what it would be. I was asked to give a brief talk, which went pretty well. But then of course everybody wanted to come talk to me afterward, which wasn't too bad when I was next to my companion who could translate for me. Within 5 minutes of church ending, the chapel had been transformed into a cafeteria and everybody was eating. I didn't even know how it happened. Koreans don't play around when it comes to food, but I could go on and on about that, so we'll save it for another day. The ward's pretty cool. The first person to ever be baptized in Korea lives in our ward, and naturally she's really old, much like just about everyone in our ward. The ward mission leader, 신낙규 형제님, is super awesome. And get this: His son is serving as a missionary in Texas right now, and he was in College Station a few months ago, and I met him, and he's super chill. So he and I had instant 정. Small world.

So there's a brief summary of what's been happening with me recently. Of course, there's a whole lot of weird stuff to talk about, but I don't even know where to begin, and we've got two years. Until next time.

Stay classy, western hemisphere.

리스 장로, out.

P.S. To anyone considering sending a package soon or at any point: I know this is the first thought for any missionary package, but please do not include a bunch of junk food. The members here looove the missionaries, and we get plenty of that from them every week at church; we're drowning in Choco Pies. If you want to send food, peanut butter would be greatly appreciated as it's crazy expensive here. Also, if you send only one thing, let it be this: Pilot G-2 0.38 mm gel refills. I need those more than anything else on the planet right now. Oh yeah, and like, letters and pictures are nice too, I guess.

"Checking Out" - Provo MTC - 9/10/2015

The past week or so, the weather here has been such as has never been known in Texas. The temperature, perfect--slightly chilly morning and night, but just warm enough midday. There is no end to the light, cool breeze, there's the perfect amount of clouds in the sky, and the air is so crystal clear that the mountains hanging out right next to us look absolutely beautiful. It almost makes me feel like I wouldn't mind staying here for another month or so.

But I really would, though. Last Friday our district got our flight plans and Korean name tags, and since then the MTC-nioritis has been in full swing. The past few days, anytime my companion and I have talked with other missionaries and they tell us how much time they have left, I always respond with, "Wow, I'm so sorry." I'm so ready to get out of here.

Next Monday we'll be getting on a bus to the Salt Lake City airport at 3:30 AM. At 7:30 AM we fly from there to Detroit, Michigan, then hang out there from 1:00 to 3:30 PM (local time), at which point we fly clear to 인전, 한국, scheduled to arrive at 6:05 PM (local time) on Tuesday. So basically it will take up two days of my life, although really a dozen or so hours of that will just be due to jumping time zones. We were definitely surprised to see that we're headed to Detroit rather than San Francisco or Seattle as previous groups had done; rumor has it we may be going over the Arctic. If that's the case, I'd better have a window seat.

I'm sure much of the excitement I'm feeling right now will quickly be crushed when I arrive and realize I don't actually have any clue how to speak Korean, but I'm feeling confident. I'm certainly as well prepared as any other missionary. Will I miss the MTC? Probably; I certainly do love my district and my teachers. But I hope I'll love Korea much more.

Until next time.

Stay non-jet-lagged, my friends.

Elder Rees, gettin' outta here.

"In the Words of Timon and Pumbaa..." - Provo MTC - 9/3/2015

"Our trio's down to two." (Also, no idea if I spelled those names right. It's my best guess.) The group of native Korean speakers that will be heading to Korea with our district arrived this week, and the group consists of one person. So Elder Litster, being way better at Korean than any of the other gringos, was made his companion. So it's only Sabey and me now, and Litster's not even in our district anymore. But it won't be this way for long, because we're almost outta here! We should be getting our travel itineraries tomorrow, and our Korean name tags should be coming any day now, so naturally our district is super excited about that. September 14th is the big day. Not that I hate it here or anything, but it ain't no Korea, that's for sure. Speaking of our departure, here's a little excerpt from an interview with President Perriton (our branch president) about a week ago, while discussing goals I had set for myself:

Me: Well, I'm hoping for having 1,000 vocab words memorized before I leave the MTC, but that's a little ambitious, so we'll see.

Perriton: Elder Rees, if you know 1,000 words by the time you leave that will be more vocabulary than I have ever seen a missionary enter the field with. [Sidenote: He was also a mission president in Korea a few years back]

Me [thinking to myself]: Well, now I have no choice.

Of course, doing something for the sake of beating everybody else isn't exactly the most Christ-like motive, but as long as I'm learning Korean, right? And I am on track to meeting that goal, about which I am super excited.

In other news, Elder Litster was sick last Saturday and Sunday (before the trio was split up), so Sabey and I spent half a day each day in the residence hall with him. At first I thought it might be nice to have a break, but it got old real quick. Lesson learned: if you wanna be happy as a missionary, just work, work, work. Also, on Sunday I was staying with Litster in the afternoon, which meant I was the only member of our trio at Sacrament Meeting. I quickly realized I probably had 3x the chance of getting chosen to give a talk, since if they had been planning on choosing any of the trio, they'd likely just go with me instead. And then I noticed President Lee (in the branch presidency) kept looking at me during the Sacrament, and then I knew it was all over. Sure enough, they called me up. So I gave a talk all in Korean, but it wasn't too bad. At least now I don't have to worry about it again (until I get to Korea of course, but we'll cross that bridge when we get to it).

Also, I've bumped into the one and only Hyrum England a few times, so that's exciting.

The other day in class, Brother Driggs shared a story from his mission that was just so crazy I've got to share it with y'all. While street contacting with his companion, the two of them approach this guy. The man, 송한연, tells them that he's seen Mormon missionaries before and he's always noticed something different about them that he likes. He gives them his card and says they can stop by his office anytime. The next day, there they are, and 송한연 begins by saying: "Now, before you two start teaching anything, I want to let you know what I think. I've studied countless religions and been to many different churches, but none have agreed with my beliefs. I believe that before this life we lived as spirits with God, but because we didn't have bodies and God did, we couldn't become like God. So we came to Earth to get bodies, beginning with Adam and Eve--oh, and I don't think them eating the forbidden fruit was a bad thing; it was part of the plan all along. So I think the purpose of this life is to learn so we can eventually become like God. Also, I've thought a lot about the afterlife, and I'm pretty sure there's actually three levels of heaven." Not even joking. I can't even decide which is more improbable: that this story is true, or that Brother Driggs would lie to us. (For the less Mormon among you, the story's funny because that's all exactly in line with Mormonism and most of the ways in which our beliefs differ from most Christian denominations.)

So there's the past few weeks of my life. Thankfully, 여러분 will only have to hear from me one more time before I actually get to Korea!

Stay classy, my friends.

Elder Rees, goin' back in there.

Photos from the front line - Provo MTC - 8/27/2015

Jeremy apologizes for the lack of group emails:

"I'm making your job as blog supervisor pretty boring, I'm sure. It's just that MTC life is pretty repetitive. Although feel free to post the attached pictures if you feel so inclined. Just a quick photo shoot at the Temple the other day."

So please enjoy these photos of not-Jeremy's-face. He leaves for Korea on 9/15(!!!), and I'm sure we can look forward to many more updates from him after that.

"Four Words, One Way" - Provo MTC - 8/13/2015

Tomorrow is my halfway point in the MTC. I certainly don't hate it here or anything, but I am definitely ready to actually get to Korea, as I'm sure all of y'all are sick of hearing about my boring MTC life and want me to get to Korea as well. So I'll keep it brief.

So the words for "child", "young woman", "virgin", and a word which I'm not going to write here but which might be considered the antonym of virgin are all extremely similar in Korean. Brother Sung tried to teach our district the difference once, and our English-speaking ears couldn't pick up on any variation. So that has made for some amusing moments while trying to teach lessons. My Korean certainly is rapidly improving, though. I've finally managed to stop lapsing into Spanish while speaking, so that's fortunate. Sabey, Litster, and I have decided that each day we'll have one person in our trio speaking only Korean (aka, one person doesn't get to speak). It's rough but it helps.

That speaker to which I alluded two weeks ago who was supposedly going to be a big deal turned out to be a big deal. It was President Russell M. Nelson--for the less Mormon among you, that's basically the second highest authority on the planet in our church. Not only that, but it was his first speaking assignment he had done since becoming President of the Quorum of the Twelve (which he was set apart as the very same day I reported to the MTC, coincidentally). We in the choir sang "Be Still, My Soul" at the devotional, which was super cool.

In other news, the Korean branch has been joined by none other than the one and only JDP3 (aka Jerry Dale Perry III (aka Elder Perry)). It was really weird seeing him here--I had almost forgotten that College Station actually still exists; it's hard to remember life before the MTC.

That's all, folks.

Stay classy, my friends.

Elder Rees, goin' back in there.

P.S. I'd like to offer a mass apology for the sloppy and disjointed quality of all my emails--both the group emails and individual ones. Also, sorry if I just don't even reply to anyone's emails. We only get 60 minutes to write them, and it flies by much faster than you would think. But don't let that hold you back from writing them, because we get to print out all the emails we've gotten in the morning and read them throughout the day, so I can read them all and I do really appreciate all of them!

"One Day, Three Ways" - Provo MTC - 7/30/2015

The following are three interpretations of a typical day at the MTC:

I. As it appears on paper:

6:30  Wake up and get dressed

6:40 - 7:30  Time for exercise

8:00  Breakfast

8:30 - 9:00  Plan your day with your companion(s)

9:00 - 10:00  Study the scriptures by yourself

10:00 - 11:00  Study the scriptures with your companion(s)

11:00 - 12:50  Study Korean

12:50 - 1:35  Lunch

1:35 - 4:35  Class time with Brother Sung

4:35 - 5:35  Study Korean

5:35 - 6:20  Dinner

6:20 - 9:20  Class time with Brother Driggs

9:30 - 10:30  Go back to the dorms, wrap up the day, prepare for bed, etc.

10:30  Lights out

II. As it actually happens

6:20 - 6:30  Wake up a few minutes before the alarm; be in denial; desperately try to fall back asleep while you still can

6:30  Actually get out of bed

6:40 - 7:30  Choose one: a) Go check if gym is still closed for some mysterious sort of renovation work. It is. b) Be told the exercise field is "too wet" to play soccer. c) Play volleyball.

8:00  Enjoy some consistently delicious breakfast

8:30 - 9:00  Confirm with your companion(s) that today you will do the same thing you did and will do yesterday, the day before, and tomorrow.

9:00 - 10:00  Study the scriptures by yourself (or for some Elders in our district--not me, I swear--nap time)

10:00 - 11:00  Study the scriptures with your companion(s)

11:00 - 12:00  Study Korean

12:00 - 12:50  Try to focus while Elder Baird tells stories about his many girlfriends waiting for him back home

12:50 - 1:30  Stand in line

1:30 - 1:35  Eat lunch

1:35 - 2:00  Be taught by Brother Sung

2:00 - 4:35  Joke around with Brother Sung and listen to stories about snowboarding, tricking, Korean culture, and his friend who really should be his girlfriend

4:35 - 5:35  Study Korean

5:35 - 6:00  Stand in line

6:00 - 6:15  Stand around with your food waiting for a seat to open up in the cafeteria

6:15 - 6:20  Eat dinner

6:20 - 9:20  Class time with Brother Driggs

9:30 - 10:30  Go back to the dorms, change, work out, try to squeeze in some studying Korean

10:30 - 11:00  Lay in bed with a flashlight practicing reading Korean

11:00 - 11:30  Try to fall asleep

11:30  Fall asleep

III. As it feels

Wake up. Pray. Korean. Pray. Korean. Pray. Korean. Korean. Korean. Pray. Pray. Pray. Scriptures. Korean. Say welcome to the fresh missionaries. Korean. Korean. Scriptures. Pray. Has it only been two weeks? Korean. Korean. Pray. Korean. Pray. At least it's P-Day* tomorrow! Oh wait, it's only Monday. Korean. Korean. Pray. Why is that Nocturne still stuck in my head? Pray. Scriptures. Korean. Eat. Korean. Korean. Korean....

(*P-Day: "Preparation Day". One day a week that's basically a day off. Includes writing e-mails, doing laundry, lots of sports, and going to the temple. And occasionally naps. And occasionally naps on the temple grounds. See attached picture.)

Of course most days have something going on that will change things up, but that's basically my life these days. Well, that and flashcards. Like, flashcards on flashcards on flashcards. My flashcards have flashcards. We get $6 put on our ID cards each week to use at the MTC Bookstore and vending machines, and I've seriously spent just about all of it on flashcards.

In other news, on Sunday we watched a devotional that Elder Holland gave at the MTC years ago titled "Missionaries are Forever" (I think). It's basically been all I could think about over the past few days. I asked Brother Driggs to get me a print copy so I can read it whenever I feel the need.

By the time I'm out of here, I'm gonna have some seriously ripped quads. Our dorm is on the 4th floor of our building, our classroom is on the 3rd floor of another building, and we're always climbing up and down all the stairs (there are no elevators). Also, in all my years of doing taekwondo, I never knew that its name is a pun. It means both "way of hand and foot" and "way of great power". Also, "south" in Korean is pronounced "nam," so after I'm done with my mission (since I'm in Seoul South), I can say I've spent two years serving in 'Nam. Things I've learned about Korean. And exciting news: Brother Sung says they eat tooons of Japanese curry in Korea (which, for those of you who don't know, is my absolute number one favorite food ever). My call truly was inspired.

Our choir director told us that we're reeeeally gonna want to be singing at next week's Tuesday evening devotional, and that it's being broadcast(ed?) to every other MTC in the world. Sounds to me like some big deal's gonna be speaking. Is Elder Holland too much to hope for? I suppose I'd settle for President Monson or Uchtdorf.... (That last sentence was sarcasm. Apparently Koreans don't really get that sort of thing, so I always feel the need to explain when I use it.)

Til next week.

Stay classy, my friends.

Elder Rees, goin' back in there.

"Goin' Back In There" - Provo MTC - 7/23/2015

Mis Amigos,

Well this last week has been....something else. Our schedule is so busy everyday. The Korean is...coming. Very slowly, but surely. They had us teaching lessons entirely in Korean on our second day here. We literally just copied some sentences out of a textbook and read them (or tried to read them) to somebody. But we've improved a lot since then. The past few days we've only brought a card with a few vocab words into the lessons and done alright. Speaking of "we", I've actually got two companions here, Elder Sabey and Elder Litster (see attached picture). They're both super cool. Sabey's also going to Seoul South and Litster's going to Sydney North (speaking Korean). All the other elders in our district (three other companionships with whom we do basically everything; see other attached pictures) are going to Seoul, one sister is going to Seoul South, and the other sister is going to New York (speaking Korean). Litster is a former gymnastics national champion and Sabey was the world number 6 cup-stacker in middle school. So that's...cool. I guess. (He really is awesome, though.) Also, Litster is half Korean and grew up speaking some Korean at home, so he's already ahead of the curve, but he helps everyone out a lot. Our district is also a ton of fun and really hard working. We're basically the district that every district wishes they could be, not to brag or anything.

Our branch presidency has everyone in the branch prepare a talk in Korean for and then randomly calls on a few missionaries to give theirs. Thankfully, I didn't get chosen. One down, eight (? Nine? Seven?) more to go. Also, our branch president, President Perriton, not only is from New Zealand and therefore has a sick accent, but is also absurdly wise and insightful. Everything he says should get added to the Doctrine and Covenants.

Sabey, Litster, and I joined the MTC Choir, so that's fun. As if we weren't already busy enough. There seriously needs to be at least five more hours in the day. I've been trying really hard to make time for exercise (which is especially important considering the fact that we spend basically all day sitting in a classroom and  every meal is a) all you can eat and b) super delicious), but it's a struggle. We have two teachers, Brother Sung and Brother Driggs. Brother Sung grew up in Korea and Brother Driggs served his mission there and is now a Korean major at BYU. They're super fun. They've taught us a whole lot not only about the language but also missionary work and the Korean culture. It's getting me super excited. Apparently instead of basketball courts, the Mormon church buildings in Korea have ping pong tables. Speaking of which, if anybody is gonna be in Provo anytime in the next few weeks and just happen to be at the MTC exercise field in the morning and just happen to have brought a ping pong table with them, that'd be awesome. Seriously everybody in our district (me included, obviously) has been talking smack to one another about their ping pong skills, but for some absurd reason they don't have any here at the MTC. In other news, Sung grew up in the southernmost province of Korea and Driggs served his mission in Daejong, which is also in the south, so apparently up in Seoul they'll speak an entirely different dialect from the one we're learning right now. That won't exactly make things easier, but I'll survive I'm sure.

All in all, working super hard, having a ton of fun.

Stay classy, real world.

Elder Rees, goin' back in there.