안녕하세요 me homies? [week 18]

촌아칩니다! Gooood morning or whatever. I'm on the other side of the planet so I can say "good after midnight" and you can't correct me! ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ 

So! What did I do this week you ask? Well thank you for asking! On the day of Tuesday, Elder Titensor and I met with a teaching friend named 아리 (Ali).  She is from Cambodia and she has a different name there. I've heard like three names that people call her, so maybe she is an identity-thieving con artist. Anyways, we had some tea and talked about how we are missionaries and we teach English and about the restoration a little bit. She is super nice! And super short. It was fun talking to her. I didn't understand all of it because one of the three languages she speaks is not English. She speaks fluent Korean and Cambodian and one other language I forgot. She is super nice. Later in the week she took us to a 삼겹살, he most delicious Korean restaurant you can go to. She is so super nice! And kind of weird, but who cares! She is nice and wants be friends and took us to eat expensive, delicious food!

At the end of the day (the literal end of the day, not the stupid colloquialism that people use when they are about to say something profoundly moot and obvious {there is a good bit by Gary Gulman about "at the end of the day". You can probably find it on YouTube}) ANYWAYS 앟마튼, at the end of the day I talked to 이승규 장로님 (Elder sung kyu lee) and I was in an especially chipper mood and he asked, "How is the Korean coming?" And I was like, "Awesome-euh!" (Which is "awesome" in a Korean accent). He was silent for a few seconds and then said, deadpan as can be, "I'm speechless-euh." He is a funny dude. We about my can-do attitude in learning the language. He ended up talking me up in district council the next day, and saying how cool my positive attitude is. I like him! 

On Sunday two teaching friends came to sacrament meeting! Wooooo! This is super hard to get people to do because it's over Zoom. But they came to the church building and we watched sacrament meeting on a TV. Good times. 

Allright! I love you guys, you are all the best. Have a jolly good week. Over and out! 사랑해요  I love you.

Truly, Truman 

PICTURES!!!

I pretend to feel disgusted with myself for sending you memes, but they are fun. I usually send pictures that I take the day I write, because that is Preparation Day. But this P-day is kind of another work day, because I'm trading companions for a day for training purposes or something. The only picture that needs explaining is the bottle. It's a delicious scrum-ba-dilly-umptious tea. Best served warm. Would recommend. 

Year of the tiger!

안녕하세요 여러분 (Hi, Everyone!) [week 17]

Hello everybody. How are you all doing on this fine day? 잘지내신가요? I am doing right well. 잘지내요! OhhhhKay, what did I do this week that is worthy of notation creation? WELL! I'm glad I asked, because the answer to that question is "a lot." 

My companion and I met with Mollie at a Cafe and talked about what its like to be in Korea and religion and such. She went to Williams Baptist academy something or other. She is definitely Christian and I can assume she is Baptist, but she mostly just seems to believe in Christ. 

We also met with our friend 서종봄 (so Joeng boem) we ate udon. It was absolutely delicious! And we talked about cooking and War and video games. All things I don't know much about. He speaks perfectly understandable English which is nice. And he is a returned missionary. 

AND THEN  we met with a Cambodian girl named Alli with an ah instead of an a and a Lee instead of whatever you were thinking. 앟마튼! Which literally translates to ANYWAY. We talked to her about the different cultures she has experienced and teaching her English. She is already trilingual with Cambodian, Korean, and I think Vietnamese. She was super nice! We need to baptize her.

AND THEN  we met a guy named 방춘성. Bahng choon soeng. He bought us some absolutely delicious chicken. The Korean fried chicken is superior to American fried chicken. I'm just as patriotic about our country's fantastic obesity inducing junk food as the next cowboy, so when I say the Koren chicken is better, you know I mean it, and that I will always have a spot saved in my heart for American food to clog up. What was I talking about? 방춘성. 그래서 (pronounced ku ray so, but kinda sounds like Kay so, and It means so. It works out in English too) we talked to this guy about religion for the whole meal and he didn't seem uncomfortable or like he was just forcing himself to be polite at all. He was just a super duper open-minded guy. I like him a lot! We met all three of these people last Saturday. It was the best day of the week. 

Then the next day we taught 윤채린 and her dad 윤석붕. Yoon Chae rean and Yoon soak boong. And 석동진 soak doang Jean, a super nice member was there. We taught English then talked about the book of Mormon. It was very successful. We gave them both a book of Mormon and invited them to read a scripture out of Third Nephi. 

It was great to meet all these great people and share a message about the restored church with them. 10/10 I would recommend going on a mission. 

PICTURES!!!

There's a cat that thinks he is so cool but HE IS NOT!

There's my companion getting stolen on one of those beat outdoor gyms.

There is a picture of me making a heart because I am filled with love

There is a 할머니 harmoni  or "grandmother" pushing her cart and being awesome. When I called home Monday morning, I told my mom that all the harmoni's push around their carts kind of hunched over, wearing big, purple, puffy coats . . . this lady was the first person we saw when we went out that day.  Her coat is pink, but her pants are purple. You get the idea. 

A selfie and a meme... I guess I ran out of ideas.

I got my First Baptism! [week 16]

You guys are not going to believe what happened this week! So I was on my way to the missionary house doing missionary things. I was the missionariest missionary that ever missionaried! ...

Just kidding. No baptism.

But what did happen is my companion and I found some great people to teach. Including a cute American from Arkansas. Her name is Mollie and she is cute and she is an English teacher and she is also very cute. Good thing my heart is locked or I would be more focused on how cute she is than how cute her eternal SOUL will be when she is baptized! 

We also kept teaching the 윤s (yoons) I forgot their full names and it's disrespectful to only say their last name so don't snitch. Shhh🤫 the daughter seems like she could be baptized. She believes in God and wants to know more. The father is just happy to let his daughter explore her interests and learn English for free. I like them. 

We played basketball with some guys. One of them just plays basketball with missionaries sometimes and we get to know whoever he brings over. Oh and me and elder Titensor lost three out of four games... I'm 6 foot 4! Losing is unacceptable behavior for a representative of the church. On offense I could just stand under the hoop and Titensor passes the ball high and I can shoot over and over while the guys on the other team try to leap for a rebound. I'm not even jumping this whole time. So how did these super short Korean fellows get the drop on me and Titensor??? They were NINJAS! and it was icy... and I'm not that good at basketball... and I went easy in them to get them to like me and be baptized. 

I have been getting better at the language. I made up some sentences that Koreans could understand. It was good stuff. 

It has also been a good week for teaching and learning. I know it's because of my family's prayers and the help of the Savior. I love you guys, and I encourage you all to read The Book of Mormon and pray every day. It helps.

PICTURES!!!

All the pictures with a bridge or water were taken today at a lake.  That was fun.

I ate an octopus! It was scrumptious.

The statues were made by a friend from hello talk that I am both hello'ing and talking to. Aren't they awesome?

Allright love you guys, that's all folks.

Truly Truman. 

안녕하세요 제 사람들 (annyeonghaseyo je salamdeul) Hello My People! [week 15]

Hike on P-Day to another Buddhist temple

Hello everyone. How are you on this fine day? I am doing pretty well. This week I went on an exchange with Harmon 장로님. What a nice guy. We taught two English lessons. The first one was with an old guy and the second was with an old gal. They were both super enthusiastic about learning English and very open to The Book of Mormon. The old lady spoke fluent Korean and Chinese and now she is learning English! She liked me because I could guess what she was trying to say in English really well. I taught her the words feminine and masculine when she was describing Biden and Trump. She thinks Biden is handsome. She also knew more about American history than me which makes her SUPER smart. 잰 도 (the old gal) inspired me to learn Korean with a renewed enthusiasm. She was super excited to learn. 

The rest of the week consisted of lots of Facebook finding and language study. Fun times. 

My favorite scripture is Moroni 10:32. Read that.

PICTURES!

The only picture that needs any explanation is the candy and Mountain Dew. I got the drink for free! When a clerk says "service," that means it is free. I had to tell my companion this because I knew this Korean tidbit and he didn't. So yeah! Free Mountain Dew, and some sub-par, on-sale chocolate. Delicious!

Fun Facts About My Companion: Elder Titensor

Elder Sean Titensor, from Bountiful Utah

• Where do you fall in your family?  2nd oldest 
• How many siblings? Order of brothers/sisters: 3 siblings, 1 older brother and 2 younger sisters
• What do you want to study/work after the mission? Physics / aerospace engineering 
• What is your favorite thing about Korea?  The church members
• Favorite color: Green
• Favorite candy bar: Milky Way
• Favorite book: The Dawn of Wonder by Jonathan Renshaw
• Favorite movie: Your Name (2016 Japanese anime film)
• Favorite gospel quote: the words to the hymn, "Be Still, My Soul" 
• Favorite scripture and why? 2 Nephi 1:23 "Awake, my sons; put on the armor of righteousness. Shake off the chains with which ye are bound, and come forth out of obscurity, and arise from the dust."  I like the imagery used in the scripture and it has been a motivation for me.

Sharing the Gospel on the Facebook! [week 15]

 January 3rd, 2022 Facebook Post:

Here is a picture of me and my uncle Eli before he went on a mission. He was one of many good examples who showed me the right way to go. Who is an example in your life?

제 삼촌는 선교사업을 했습니다. 저는 선교사로 봉사하도록 그것이 도와주었습니다. 여러분은 누가 모범 이예습니다?

Short Update from President Sargent [week 15]

 Elder Renfroe's Mom: It makes my heart happy to get an unexpected message like this:

요! Yo! [week 14]

 안녕하세요 여러분 어떻게 지내세요? What's up my fellows? (That's not a literal translation, that's just me saying "what's up my fellows?") This week has been a good time. On Tuesday we ummm... I forgot. On WEDNESDAY we uh... well I forgot that too. It's in my journal, read that when I'm dead if you want to know what happened those days. I do remember the cool things that happened this week, just not when, so let's just talk about that. One time (some time this week don't ask for specifics because IDK) a guy honked us down and asked if he could take English lessons from us and we were like "네!" That means yes! 

Today for preparation day, Elder Titensor and I went to a 목욕탕. (Mogyoktang) for those of you who don't speak Korean, I will describe to you what a 목욕탕 is, so you may better grasp the tale I am about to tell. 목욕탕: imagine a cluster of hot tubs underground, with soothing music, saunas, and . . .  everyone is naked, because they are not hot tubs, but are in fact public baths. That's it, that's a 목욕탕. It was neat. Don't you worry about nothin' though, this was a gender specific  목욕탕. (As they all are in Korea nowadays) Unfortunately because of Korean privacy laws that prohibit sharing pictures of people which include their face, I cannot give you any of my 목욕탕 pictures. Also everyone was naked so I elected TO NOT take pictures.

It was the first time I tried a sauna, so that was cool. Also I like to be clean, and I like hot tubs. So it was like a win win win LOSE sort of situation. Just kidding, it was chill. It's pretty normal here. Missionaries are allowed to do it, because they used to not have showers in certain apartments, so it used to be a necessity. I actually think it's a neat bit of Korean and Asian culture. I would give this Preparation Day eight out of eleven thumbs up. Three out of three and a half stars, for sure. 

And this other time, we taught a 13-year-old girl and her dad English lessons. It was the first "find" of the transfer in me and Elder Titensor's area. It was my first find in my entire life! I'm super excited to teach them English and about the gospel. Missionaries in Korea are not allowed to teach English unless we incorporate a gospel principle because we are licensed to proselyte, not teach English. That's a good thing. It's easier to teach people who are hungry for English about the gospel if they can't have English without the gospel! That's called logical math magic.

This week has been awesome because of the people we found to teach! I haven't written about how dry this area has been because it goes against my positive nature, but it has been hard! But now we have two people to teach and two more on the way. I'm so happy! 

OH! there was also a member meal I went to this week. I understood absolutely nothing which was said, but it was still one of the best nights in Korea, because of how nice the people were. And the family atmosphere that was there was awesome. I love those members!

OK, I love you guys! You're all awesome. Thanks for your prayers and encouragement. Love you. 

Truly, Truman
PICTURES!

I saw some vintage cameras and I was like "huh neat." and I took a picture. There it is.

That picture with all the handsome and pretty missionaries is me and my MTC pals in front of the temple. I thought we were doing a smolder picture, but we weren't. I like it.

Outside of a Taekwondo dojo there were two little girls all dressed up in their 기 (gi? Idk) and they were making these cute snow bears. 

There's a picture of me hugging my brother for the last time in 2 (maybe 4) years. It makes me sad. He's my best friend.

The painting... idk if I showed this before, but I'm showing it now either way because it's my favorite painting of all time. 

It was painted by my high school art teacher, Andy Berg, you can find more of his stuff on Facebook. I hope it's OK I put this here, Andy! I love you and your work.🙏  

If you read this whole email and your thinking "man when will it end?" I apologize, but if you read anything, read what Andy said about his painting. Here it is: 

Feb 16, 2021
I just finished this painting called "The Carpenter's Gift. "
In this painting, a little girl holds onto a rudimentary straw horse, while the carpenter extends his hand, to see if she is willing to give up the valued possession. Behind him, he holds a gift, a delicately carved wooden horse, that he longs to give her.
Sometimes, Jesus Christ asks us to give up some of our favorite things. The straw horses that we cling onto that only offer a crude resemblance of something important, but never last. They offer temporary comfort, excitement, or pleasure but eventually unravel, fray, and decay.
But, unbeknownst to us, the second we offer up our sacrifice, His gift is given. A gift of substance and heart, that is everlasting. A gift crafted by the hand of the very creator of the universe, and specifically tailored to its recipient. The most wonderful gift you can imagine. 
"But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for those them that love him." 1st Corinthians 2:9 
"Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and dust doth corrupt... but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven...
For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." Mathew 6:19-21
What is your straw horse? Are you willing to give it up for the Carpenter's Gift?