Happy Birthday

This week was our branch conference and we didn't hit our goal of 70 people but 50 people was still a nice change of pace. And I am pretty sure that all of 속초 (Sokcho) knew about the conference. 

I became the branch president this week. President called me on Thursday and asked if I would take the assignment, made for a pretty stressful weekend. The 2nd counselor in the 선교부 회장단 (mission presidency) came up to me before ward conference and put his arm around me and told me that it was gonna be okay and that this was a big opportunity. I told him to pray really hard for me and he laughed. After the meeting President Christensen and I and the district presidency were talking about how we were gonna make the branch conference work best and president turned to me and asked "President, what do you think?" Whoa, that was a humbling experience. 

I have never been afraid of the phone before but now I am terrified. Branch administration words are hard and new and I am trying to learn as fast as I can. Elder 안경일 the senior couple leaves in a week and I am gonna miss him so much. He is like my grandpa and was such a good branch president. 

Well that's all I got ta say about that. I got your package and wore your red tie today and I love the chocolate, I missed it. 

Love,

Elder Josh Black

Grandmothers

Good luck everyone who is going back to school or work. Fighting!

 Fun story. SO in Korea we call all of the old ladies harmonies which means grandma in Korean. Harmonies basically get to do whatever they want which is usually sitting outside on some planks of wood and talking to their other harmony friends in some language that is completely incomprehensible. It is basically the lowest form of Korean possible and makes no sense to me or my companion.

 The funny thing is is that harmonies have magic powers. They can stop traffic by running into the middle of the road when cars are still coming. It is the strangest thing to see somebody's grandma walk into the street and all of the cars stop and patiently wait for them. We saw a harmony walking in the road just in the middle of the lane with like 4 cars following behind her.

 I wonder if they go through a special process to get these powers or if it just lies dormant in them until they reach a certain age and get a perm.

 Good luck.

Photo update

Here are some photos:

Transfer

This week has been crazy and I don’t have much time to write to you. I got transferred to 속초 this week and I have and American companion. I leave on Wednesday. And to get there I have to ride to the end of the subway on the east side and then ride a bus for 4 more hours. It's the farthest East and North area in the mission. It has the DMZ and the ocean in it! I am so excited to go and see it and I heard that the branch only has about 10-20 people who come to church regularly. That is going to be a big change for me.

Email

Here's Elder Black's email:

hasoj (at) myldsmail .dot. net

You know what to do!

Mission addresses

The two addresses for my mission are
1. Letters

Elder Joshua Michael Black
Korea Seoul Mission
Gwanghwamun PO Box 210
Jong no-gu Seoul-si
Seoul-teukbyeolsi 110-602
South Korea

2. Packages

Elder Joshua Michael Black
Korea Seoul Mission
Samcheong-no 9 gil 45
Jongno-gu Seoul-si,
Seoul-teukbyeolsi 110-230
South Korea

More MTC photos

MTC photos

Last email from the MTC

We leave the MTC on Monday, can you believe it? I am so excited to get out of this place! Hopefully I am ready!

Yeah tracting is going to be interesting. We practiced yesterday around the MTC. That was pretty fun but I doubt that it will be anything like it is in Korea. Everyone there is so starved for social interaction that we will talk to anyone :) Oh well I had fun and I am willing to struggle through it in Korea!

The next email may be in two weeks because my P-day in Korea is on Mondays and we fly that day. I get to go to the San Fran airport. Maybe I will get some sourdough?

SEOUL MISSION
Seoul-si JongRo-Gu
Gwanghwa-mun 110-602
P.O. Box 210
SOUTH KOREA

Week 4

What a week in the MTC! We have been working so hard. We teach mock investigators everyday and it is getting easier and easier. Our goal this week is to teach without writing out our sentences in Korean first. We will see if I will be able to teach without any notes! What a rush!

The MTC is bursting at the seams! The lines for the meals sometimes go out the doors and you have to get to devotional an hour early to get a seat or you had better forget about it. They are also having to turn missionaries away for choir because we completely fill the bleachers in the gym! How crazy is that. They also tell us every devotional that we are a part of the largest missionary gathering of all time. It keeps getting bigger and bigger and we get a couple hundred new missionaries tomorrow too! How wonderful that I get to be a part of that.

The group before us leaves for Korea on Monday and I am starting to get a type of senioritis with them even though I am not going. The MTC is great but I am even more excited for Korea! Only a couple more weeks before they ship us out. Hopefully by then I will be more capable with the language.

I love the native Koreans that are here. I hope that I get to meet more people like them in Korea! They keep telling us about how much they miss kimchee and everyone else here is pretty worried about that but I am so excited to get away from this Cafeteria food!

Week 2 at the MTC

Hello from my second week in the MTC. Things are going very well for me. I am setteld in and working hard to teach my two new investigators. During our first visit to one of them he almost shut the door in our faces. Something that I guess I will have to get used to but was not expecting in the MTC.

I am feeling the spirit almost always and am excited to go to do the work. I hope that the Lord will be able to use me.

I know how to pray in Korean now! I feel like such a boss being able to speak korean for a whole minute!

I am getting along very well with my companion Elder Ruff. We spend a lot of time together and might know each other a little too well. I am glad the Lord blessed me with such a great dang pan ja. The Lord knows exactly what I need.

The MTC cabin fever has begun. As a district I think we have tried every possible Soda mixing combination in the cafeteria. My favorites we named the Comer and the popsickle.

Sundays are my favorite days now in the MTC. I love the time that we get to spend listening to to the devotional. I also enjoy the Sunday night movies we get to watch. We saw the testaments movie this week. The whole auditorium went crazy during the kissing scene. The missionaries here are action deprived I guess.

I am so blessed to be here on my Mission and am gratful for the Savior and his infinite atonement as well as his restores gospel on the earth.

Elder Black

I report to the Missionary Training Center on January 23. My mailing address there is:

Elder Joshua Michael Black
MTC Mailbox # 87
KOR-SEO 0325
2005 N 900 E
Provo, UT 84604-1793