Hey everybody!!!
What
a great week. I got to watch conference a week late and I'm still floating on
cloud nine a little bit from the spirit. I was so uplifted and inspired by
their messages. We truly have a living prophet. We continued working hard this
week and still have had no luck in finding any investigators. We're talking
with everybody, testifying, and teaching, but nobody has any interest right
now. Rejection, rejection, rejection.... This week it's got me thinking so much
about Korea, the culture, the people. I sit here and wonder why in the world I
was called to serve here on weeks like this. As I thought, reflected and
pondered, I felt the answer was so clear to me.
From
the first day I came to Korea I stood out... Literally. My height, weight,
skin, language... everything. I came and I didn't like the food. Rice, squid,
intestines, liver, lung, raw fish, larvae, pig's feet... should I just stop
there? (; I couldn't eat, or sleep on the tiny mat that was my bed. The
language has proved to be harder than I ever thought. The people are soooo
wonderful here, but they just seem to have no concern for the gospel.
Referencing to scriptures, "everyone is perishing in unbelief." In a
city of a couple hundred thousand... we have sixty members. I've thought about
my mission, and Korean missionaries. In Korea, we're rejected, yelled at, swore
at, smoked on, spit on, denied at eating places, and pushed away by nearly
every person it seems like. I've sat here, and wondered the question,
"Why?"
At
this point in my mission, I have a fire within me that's unreal and
unexplainable. All I want to do is testify. We get rejected, but that's all I
want to do. I think of Christ, and go and teach. I think of the mile that He
walked for me, and for every single one of us. In Korea I will never go through
what He did, but I feel that I've walked maybe a step or two. In Korea we are
despised and rejected by men as He was.
I've
come to love every single thing that at first I didn't like at all. The food,
which has given twenty five extra pounds (; The language is incredible, and
it's incredible to speak with the Korean people in foreign tongues. The people,
who are so kind and loving, are the reason why I tract for over twenty hours a
week, talking with everyone. Every thing I didn't like at the start has proven
to be the exact reason why I came. I'm learning through every single one of
these lessons that God is putting in my path. The rejection, the rare
success... I'm learning to be even as He is. As we all are, with each trial
that we face.
I'm
grateful to be serving in the Korea Busan Mission. I love this mission. I love
the people. I love the culture. I love everything about it. It's a miracle I'm
here, and I know that I was foreordained to be serving these people. I know
that it will all work together for my good if I work my hardest. I love this
work, and I love my Savior. He lives. He is the living son of the living God,
and our Redeemer. I testify that He loves us. I have felt that love when I
never thought I could. I have felt Him every day that I have been half way
around the world. May we all walk a small part of His path as we strive to
exemplify His example, and as President Monson said, "Choose the harder
right, then the easier wrong."
I
love you all and miss you dearly. Thanks for the love and support I'm so
blessed for all of you. Love you all so dearly. Talk to ya'll next week!
Elder Roper
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