"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.