Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Sprint or Winter?? Rainy, wet, cold still... 3-3-10

SPring or winter?‏
From:
Charles Grant (greg_grant@myldsmail.net)
Sent:
Wed 3/03/10 8:38 PM

Family and Friends in the very blessed Nation of America!Hello from shiheoung yes you guessed it, that means I am staying here for my fourth transfer and to see many more miracles! This place is great but I am also A little bit surprised that I stayed as it is really small and president usually sends people elsewhere after three here! I think I will be gone for sure next transfer though, the brain and body are just ready for a new place and fresh start to missionary life! However, we will work hard this next transfer and we (Elder lee and I) will see tons of miracles, starting with our group of 15 year old students!So the miracle of this last week was that we had two baptisms! We are meeting a group of about 15 students and out of them two got permission to be baptized, these guys are just great and so much fun to be around! Lee jeoung hyoon and park jeoung hyoon got baptized Sunday! We have had lots of parental opposition amongst these boys so it was truly a miracle. In fact after he got baptized we got a call from lee jeoung hyoon and he was crying and said his mother had forbidden him from attending church. He could come and “Hang out” with us during the weekdays but couldn’t come Saturday or Sunday. We were stunned Elder Lee talked with his mom and we planned to meet her the next day and explain our church a little better. The reason she changed her minds is because some friend told her that our church was a cult of some sort, and that we didn’t believe in the bible or Jesus Christ, talk about misinformed and not trying to learn for yourself, I hate that, always make decisions based on information you have learned yourself not from the rumor mill! Monday she called us up and said she couldn’t come because she had to go to work and that maybe next week we could meet. That night we met with our boys and gave her son a proclamation on the family to show to his mom, miracle, he showed it to her and her thought pattern did a complete 360! We have been writing letters to our other boys parents and the hearts and doors are slowly starting to open making for what looks to be a fun next transfer!Life is great here in Korea even if the lack of sports and the coming of spring yet continuance of winter-rain season is about to kill me! In just want to get outside and do some real exercise, guess I will have to wait ti’ll next year! Not much going on besides missionary work and all the other usual stuff!Love you all,Elder Greg Grant

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

It's Hump Day--one year 2-25-10

Its hump day!‏
From:
Charles Grant (greg_grant@myldsmail.net)
Sent:
Wed 2/24/10 9:03 PM
To:
tricialou@gmail.com; spunkyseaturtle@msn.com; grantk@byui.edu; argentinawarrior@gmail.com; bearmum2@aol.com; gay-grant@msn.com; gadairrealtor@aol.com; tetonwildflower@msn.com; bballwhiz@q.com; tggran@yahoo.com; caludy@burgoyne.com
One year, a whole year since I was last in the confines of the amazingly wonderful state of idaho! That’s a little bit weird to be able to say here in this small but very populated state of Korea! Hello everyone and welcome to the day of the hump! Haha so these last few days the weather has been absolutely amazing and we were planning on going and having some fun at the local park today but the weather called for a monsoon and soon it did, right now the rain is pouring down in torrential sheets and Elders grant and lee are looking at yet another p-day filled with nothing of good report but sleep and maybe watching legacy in the local church!:( In Korean they would say 나븐기쁨 or in other words I’m not in the best of moods! Lol However look at the bright side, at least today is P-day so that I don’t have to be out proselyte in the rain!I can’t wait for spring. That mood that always hits when tennis season is around the corner is here and boy do I ever want to play tennis or at least get out and do some sports! I am longing for the open fields of grass to play in and the cement of a good court beneath my feet, however I will have to wait for both of those another year as neither are to be had in Korea, I think I will go lie in the first field of green grass I see when I get home! America is so beautiful! Not that Korea isn’t it is just a very different kind, its own kind of beautiful!Lol SO this coming week we have two baptisms scheduled to happen, two kids who are tanners age! Tanner if you want to send them a letter I will translate it into Korean for them! Right now we are really seeing miracles here, we having been meeting this group od students every day since elder lee got here and we have gone from 5 to fifteen and we are looking at tons of potential baptisms as of next month, it should be fun! Not sure I will be here to see it though, we get transfer calls on Tuesday and I have been here for three so you never know where I could end u[ going!I love you all and hope you all have a great week!Love,Elder Grant

Weird American can't talk--has a cold 2-17-10

HEllo, I can;t talk!‏
From:
Charles Grant (greg_grant@myldsmail.net)
Sent:
Wed 2/17/10 10:27 PM
People on the street are thinking I am a fairly weird american about now!Lol I have had a cold since monday and myvoice is basically completley gone! AHHHHHHH. SO today for p-day we came into the mission home and did our pass off program, I passed off the second part, haeleluia, I only have one more part to go and most people don;t finish that before they go home, yikes, talk about a mountain to climb. From the emails it sounds like you heard about our missions combining so my goal is to finish pass off before we combine in the beggining of July, I have to read the whole BofM in Korean, I am only in mosiah, talk about hard! Not much time this week as we hafve to head home but I want you all to now that I love you and that in Christ we can do all things!Love,Elder Grant

Killer Combination Companions

Hey ya'll‏
From:
Charles Grant (greg_grant@myldsmail.net)
Sent:
Fri 2/12/10 3:23 AM
To:

Hello Everyone!So lets start out by making a clarification on when our baptisms will be happening as my district leader thought he would do for us between him receiving them and the APs. Our baptisms are all set for between the 27-28 of February because we only have one normal Sunday here this month so it has been hard to get people to church. Elder Mills my last companion moved just one area over and became district leader and last week apparently thought he knew more than I had told him about our baptismal plans because we had spoken with him about our investigators who they were, when they could get a date, he reported that and more to the Ap’s making for us receiving a lot of phone calls from them. We all had a good laugh about it in the end because they had like three names of people we had never even heard of and yet were supposed to be baptizing!Lol However we do have a lot of people looking up for the end of this month and the first week of next! I love working with Elder Lee and we are seeing miracles everyday! As a member who went to Korea put it today as we pulled a student in off of the street to meet with him after having an investigator call and cancel, “ You two are a what they call “Killer Combination!” I laughed right out loud cause he said that in english, but it is way fun! We of course have our ups and downs and two days ago was one of the downs but we still see bright spots. With the holiday many people are leaving town, and that day we had a full day planned with an appointment every hour but all ended up calling and canceling! Talk about a long day of street contacting!!!!!!!!!! However in the moment where I thought I could do no more we said a prayer and were blessed to actually be able to take someone to our church with us and teach them! Tender Mercies of the Lord!So I am sorry I didn’t write yesterday but with the crazy holiday weekend we are supposed to have p-day Saturday. We were supposed to write yesterday but we wanted to get everyone met at least once this week so we had appointments every hour plus we went to the temple, full day! Oh, yeah, I got the new camera to! Thanks mom and dad! I got a Blue waterproof shock proof 10 mega pixel camera! Its way nice and I can;t wait to use it in the mountains of Good old Idaho! It was just what i was looking for because I wanted something that could take the outdoor activities! The temple was great, always is! I went yesterday wanting to learn about the atonement some more and other things, In focusing on the atonement I learned so much, many things I hadn’t even heard while at the temple before! Its amazing what a little bit of preparation can do for and experience! This week is a Korean holiday called solar or something like that in English, it should be fun! Right now we have no appts. And are instructed to clean our houses and update record books! Yuck… I hate days spent in the house! However we can do it and be happier for the clean aspect! Not gonna lie but I am ready for Summer to be hear, I am sick of cold and overcast skies, we had sunshine about a week ago and it just makes my soul yearn for more! I love you all and hope you have a great week!Love,Elder Greg Grant

Once a big brother, always one

Thanks momma bear, and tell mikey that thats my name for you and that youre my mommy not his! Well alright, since I am supposed to be learning charity I guess we can share! Not gonna lie I miss the joking that comes when you have an american companion, Koreans don't understand sarcasm a whit, and you know our family! Rolling eyeballs!I'll keep you all in my prayers!LoveGreg

Re: This is Grace

Hi Susan,

Thank you so much for your warm reply.
How happy to confirm your email...!
Thank you ,Thank you...^&^

Lunar Holiday is the biggest Holiday in Korea.
It is smilar to your New Year Holiday.
During this Holiday, our family gather and have Korean traditional food
as like rice cake soup(떡국,ddeog gug),barbequed beef(불고기,bulgogi) and many kinds of fried food(전,jeon).
Ah,,,! The Yu Goa that I sent to you is one of them.
It is made of rice and honey...
It is sweet and smells a spicy fragrance.
We bow to our family who is older than us saying "새해 복 많이 받으세요(Best Wishes in New Year)"
This traditional customs means we repect our family who is older than us.
After having delicious meals, we play 윷놀이(yuk nol ri).
I think Elder Grant explain to you much better than me.
He had experience to play it with us in New Year of the solar calendar.
I hope you understand about the meaning of Lunar Holiday through my bad English...*&*

We have Valentine's Day coming up in the 14th of February,too.
We send cards to one another expressing their love and care for each other.
Some people send flowers or chocolate in Korea...
Not ballons and stuffed animals.
Yes, I agree with you on that it seems like the shop keepers benefit the most...^&^
But as you said, it's the great day to tell people they are loved as a neat reminder .

I already knew when Elder Grant's birthday is.
Sometimes I cannot believe that I have two daughters who they are 20 & 18 years old..^&^

We all love you.
PLS give my regards to your family.

Take care
With Love

Your Korean Friend Grace

Ouch! 2-3-10

OUCH‏
From:
Charles Grant (greg_grant@myldsmail.net)
Sent:
Wed 2/03/10 8:46 PM
To:

Hello one and all and it is once again cold in the far reaches of south korea, I love the cold, I love the cold; at least I am trying to love it! This week has gone by in a whirlwind and I really don’t know what has happened to it. It seems the further along you get in the mission the faster time flies! We have four baptismal dates for the 20th of February so hopefully we can pull them all through without satan working his force upon them. It really is sad how people can be so close to the truth and just end up getting swept away in the little things of life and not commit to coming all the way unto the savior.So today is one of those p-days that I am really not looking forward to. Last Saturday we were playing basketball with one of our investigators and my foot got stepped on and it ripped my toenail all the way down. In short it caused an in-grown toenail which is something I can handle but I thought I finally had it fixed only to realize I wansn;t even close to getting it in the right place(cotton swab) The toenail split way down deep and that is where it is causing me all of the grief. I’ve been trying to fix it on my own cause I would rather die than go to the doctor in America let alone in Korea, however after not being able to sleep cause it hurt so much last night I called up to sister burton and it looks like I have to go have it cut out, YUCKK! NOT Happy BOB! That’s the biggest news of this week but there is even bigger news coming for next week okay its this Sunday I guess but I have no sense of time out here. Elder Oaks is coming to speak to our stake, and we all get to go. Everyone is really excited for it because he is here and there is really no purpose for him to be here so they all think that some big announcement is coming. I think I will wait to here what he says before I start to speculate!Lol No other big news this week, we were supposed to go to the temple today but that got canceled because they are calling a whole mission conference for tomorrow, wonder who will come?:) I love you all and just a little hint of what makes the best package ever here in Korea, mom stumbled on it the last one! PRE-PACKAGED OATMEAL! Did I just say oatmeal, elder Grant is starting to develop tastes for everything he did not like before, onions, pickles, saur kraut, however I stand firm against the tomatoes!lolLove you all,Elder Greg Grant

Oatmeal is where it's at 1/27/10

I love Oatmeal!!!!!!!‏
From:
Charles Grant (greg_grant@myldsmail.net)
Sent:
Wed 1/27/10 8:51 PM

Hey momma,Great to hear from you and all of the news from home!I got the package you sent yesterday, did you use enough tape? I was trying to get the shoes out cause my other ones are painful to walk in now and all I had was a key, I sat on the bus ride home for thirty minutes working that tape with a key only to finally have a man hand me a pocket knife from behind, though that did spark a discussion about the gospel so maybe it was fate!Lol all the stuff in there is awesome, the oatmeal is perfect and if you sent those and only those in every package I would be more than thrilled! I never thought I would love oatmeal, but lunch today was amazing! The shoes are great! Thanks for getting those and sending them to me! The camera thing I will start looking for and hopefully I can get one fairly cheap! I’ll start on that today probably and get one next week at the big electronics mall on our way home from the temple! I have no idea what happened to the other card, I probably have it but I can’t find it worth a dang thing!Lol This week we have once again seen miracles and I am not going to lie, I love serving with elder lee, I am already starting to thing in Korean!LolGrace wanted me to write you about her brother and his son. I need to start with background first though. When grace got baptized her two younger brothers were furious that she and her parents were joinig what they thought was, I think the word is kind of like a cult when you translate it to English, so a cult. Her youngest brother whom she live with at the time came whom furious one day and ripped a book of mormon in half and she had the choice for her and her family to continue living there or join the church she chose the latter obviously and moved in with her parents. Grace got endowed last week as you know and she told me a story about when she went into the celestial room, she was the first in and all alone for about 3 or 5 minutes- lucky duck!- but she was thinking and praying and she prayed for her brothers hearts to be softened. This isn’t all the story but part and the next day her brother called and said he needed help. This is where you may come in if you can help, I don’t know she just asked me to ask you and she said she would contact you to, but I will write this part latter. So that brother called and her other brother called about an hour latter and his business had gone bankrupt and he was aking her since he knew she believed in god to pray for him and the business to be blessed and she basically got to teach him the gospel and he is supposed to come out to church cometime soon. Okay back tot eh first phone call he called her and he has a child with special needs, I don’t know what, I just know he isn’t mentally able enough to go to school with normal kids and not disabled enough to go to another school so here in Korea there is no place in the educational system for him. This brother called her up and said he knew that she had contact with Americans in the church would he please talk to us. She knew about Kenny and so told him about me and our family and also about the gospel as well and he is supposed to come to church, however he wants to move his family to America next year to better his sons life, I don’t know what you can do but I did as told by grace so, all is well in zion!Lol Just contact her about it and maybe point her in the right direction or something!Incredible story hugh? I couldn’t believe it when she told me, she has wanted her brothers to simply learn about the church forever! Amazing! Amazing- in memory of hearing oh…beautiful evry time we were on top of a mountain!I love you tons moma bear!Love Greg

Hey y'all January 27, 2010

Hey ya'll‏
From:
Charles Grant (greg_grant@myldsmail.net)
Sent:
Wed 1/27/10 8:30 PM

Hello everyone,Can I just say I am happy or can I just say I am happy! The weather is still cold but it rained yesterday and got rid of all the snow and it is bright and sunny out today! It feels like a day in which I should be out playing tennis but I guess we will have to settke for ping pong! Which by the way Elder lee is amazingly good at, however, the only two times he beat me was when I was stuck using the Korean style ping pong paddle, other than that I am safe! I am currently reigning champion of the ward her in sheheoung but I have yet to play bishop and he is renowned for being very good!LolThis week has been great, we are still seeing miracles in our area and it is amazing to both of us! For the last three weeks straight we have picked up 7 or more investigators each week which is way good considering the standard is only about three or less! We are looking at two baptisms on the 6th and maybe one on the seventh, we will decide that on tonight but I will keep you updated! Working with elder lee is great, I finally have a companion who wants to work his rear end off and get the job right, the members see us working and you can already tell we are changing their mind set about the missionaries, we are just seeing amazing miracles together!One tender mercy of the lord we got to be apart of yesterday came in an appointment with one of the recent converts in our ward named 이화정 I wont even try to spell that in English. We were teaching her to pray in English because she is going to BYU in a little bit and also she will pray at our English class party-story day! We taught her and the other member we were with to pray and then we read in enos about prayer faith and desire. I have a huge testimony that prayer really does help us and we shared about that and that she could be blessed and receive guidance simply by praying. It was a really spiritual lesson and at the end she told us she hadn’t been praying lately and that she felt that the lesson was perfect for her and that she saw why she needs to pray. Unbeknownst to her the night before while we were planning we had something else planned to do but it just didn’t feel right so we decided to talk about prayer, I read enos that morning in preparation for the discussion and we decided to use the whole chapter. The lord guided us in what she needed! Just a tender mercy of the lord and one of those missionary miracles which lets you know that you are working by faith!This week has been a blast and we are looking forward to the next week as well. We plan to keep seeing the miracle of the lords hand in his work here by continually working hard! I love you all!Elder Greg Grant

Transfers Janary 2010

Transfers!!!!1‏
From:
Charles Grant (greg_grant@myldsmail.net)
Sent:
Wed 1/20/10 8:18 PM
To:
spunkyseaturtle@msn.com; grantk@byui.edu; argentinawarrior@gmail.com; bearmum2@aol.com; gay-grant@msn.com; gadairrealtor@aol.com; tetonwildflower@msn.com; bballwhiz@q.com; tggran@yahoo.com; caludy@burgoyne.com; joeadairrealtor@aol.com
안녕하세요,SO this week has been absolutely a whirlwind of a week. This week was the week of transfers and the weather actually starting to warm up even if just a little bit! The last two weeks have been absolutely amazing and it just keep as astounding me. We have gone from teaching no one to not having much time to contact on the street because we are always teaching, not gonna lie, I love it!This last weeks miracles are just amazing so I want to tell two of them. The first happened last Friday. We took an investigator who has been meeting with us for four weeks to our senior couples home and had dinner and taught the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We went with Grace and for any of you that have heard graces story she is amazing. Between grace, the senior couple, the spirit and our attempts this man will be baptized next month on the sixth. To tell the truth as we taught that lesson I can honestly say that I haven’t felt a spirit like I did in there very often. All present felt it and all present came to realize what it was. We extended the date for the 30th but it was a little fat for him, however so long as he gets baptized and stays true we could care less. The second Miracle came in the form of Grace. She is a recent convert of just over a year know and if you want to know about here ask my mom!Lol Her year anniversary for baptism was on Sunday so yesterday we went to the temple with her to see her get endowed. Never have I understood my purpose so clearly. You looked at her and you could see the light of the spirit radiating straight from the core. This woman is a daughter of God and she knows what her baptismal and temple covenants are and she is keeping them. I hope we can all have that same light and keep our covenants by inviting others to Christ through baptism but also as I came to understand my purpose more clearly, we have to realize baptism is only the first step and the true process we have to help in is getting everyone an eternal family, everyone must be worthy of that temple and being close to our father in his house.Alright so the other big and a little bit frightening news of the week is that ( No Mom I did not get transferred- I’m still with Grace) Elder Mills got transferred and I have been made a senior companion, however I am scared to death. I am senior companion with a junior missionary who has only been out for three months, and guess what- he’s Korean! I am with a Korean companion and I have never had such a stinking big headache, I am hearing Korean twenty four seven with very little English. This is going to shoot my Korean ability to the stars if I continue studying hard and we are willing to help each other in both languages! I am way excited. Elder Lee J. meen is how you pronounce it, is from an area down south and is the only member in his family, he is twenty four, has been to army service and back and is ready to get the work done, I can’t wait! SO this week has been way exciting!I love you all,Elder Greg Grant