Mission pics

Pancakes

This week we woke up on Sunday morning and found out that we had forgotten to buy bread. I asked all of our members if they had bread and they all said no. Then at that point we couldn't just go to the store and buy bread because all of our members would know and we felt like we would be disappointing them. So instead we made pancakes and used them for the sacrament. I had a hard time keeping a straight face when 김윤성 passed me the pancakes. :)

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!