DO NOT anger the haircut lady [Week Eight]

Hello, everybody! How are you all doing on this fine day? 

I am doing pretty alright. It's been a good week. Made some new friends whose names I cannot recall at this time. And I learned some Korean words, and I got a haircut.  For those of you about to come to the MTC (*cough cough* Caleb), DO NOT anger the haircut lady. She is a scary lady! She got to the salon and started angry-talking us where to sit. Some idiot elder told her that he "was supposed to get a haircut yesterday at 2:30 and you guys weren't there." And she was like, "Yes, we were. We got done early and waited for a half hour till 2:45, and you guys didn't show up!" She was talking smack about that elder (and her husband) when she wasn't yelling at us to rotate seats.

So yeah, don't mess with her or she'll talk some serious smack on you and give you a bad haircut. 

I showed Elder Prock how to play Janggi (Korean chess) this week, and he beat me the first game, (because I was going easy on him) and the second game (because he isn't terrible) and I'm about to beat him in an ongoing game. Fun times. 

I brought the Janngi pieces, but we had
to make a Janngi board out of cardboard

I'm leaving in a weekish. Either next Monday or Tuesday. I don't have my flight plans yet, but I do have my visa. (HUZZAH for visa!) We had an early departure meeting because this coming week is Thanksgiving. And what we learned at that meeting was that we should follow the instructions given on our itinerary.  Really useful info from that hour-long meeting. Just incredible what you can learn in one hour. Actually, it was uplifting and they psyched us up to get into the field, so that was good I guess. 

OH! Brother George Clooney (the choir director. I found out his real name but he will always be George Clooney, Jr. to me) told us if there was one week to show up to choir it would be this coming week, and he dropped some subtle hint-bombs that there would be an apostle or one of the presidency coming next week for Thanksgiving. Exciting!🤪 

PICTURES!

OK I'll tell you their names in the order their faces appear, but I'll tell you in the order as If their faces are Korean characters. So left to right in conglomerates of 2, 3, or 4. Going either 12 / 34 / 1 / 2 / 3 / 12 / 3 / 12...

Just kidding, I'll just tell you their names. The girl that's wearing a blue dress and a green coat in two pictures, and a blue vest in the others, is Sister Rich. She's cool. Southern accent. She's going to Canada ; Japanese speaking.

The fellow with glowing eyes and throwing up gang signs is Elder Belt. He is Native American and Japanese speaking. He has some cool rings. Super cool guy.

The guy standing next to Elder Belt and Sister Rich with the huge smile and yellow tie is Elder Binks. I love this guy! He is super cool and we are going to the same mission. I hope we are companions after we both know the language because he is a nice dude.

Elder Binks, Elder Belt, Sister Rich, Elder Prock in background

Elder Fisher is the guy with the super short tie, glasses, and a dark plaid jacket. He is so chill and funny. We are going to the same mission as well.

The three sisters on the left of the two dark blurry pictures are sister Johnston (top) fenberg (right) and Peterson (left) they are all super nice. They are all going to Korea Seoul. Sister Hong is not in any of these pictures, but she is in this group as well. 

Everyone else in these pictures are irrelevant swine whose names I don't know. (Except for Elder Prock my companion who is in all the pictures)

Sisters Johnston (top) Fenberg (right) and Peterson (left)
Elder Fisher in plaid jacket, 

The picture of the temple is the temple.

The picture of me is ME! 

Home MTC [Week Two]

Hello Everybody! It’s the end of the week (yes Sunday is the end of the week because God made the world Monday through Saturday, then rested on the LAST day, so there) and you know what that means… You get an email from your favorite missionary in the whole wide world! 

My last Sunday at home

Good ol' Harry Potter Clue.  The only version worth playing.

I am still at home-MTC which is a jolly fun time. Almost every day me and my district meet with Brother Waggner and Brother Harley. Brother Waggner is super chill. He starts out the class with 10 minutes of showing us elders cool pictures he took in Korea. Then for the next two hours and fifty minutes we have ourselves a practice session from Preach My Gospel and do role-plays to practice being missionaries. Brother Waggner does a good job of keeping us all engaged and interested. He reminds me of my high school art teacher Mr. Berg (yeah, he’s that cool). Brother Harley is ALSO  a very cool teacher. He is very excited to teach us the things we will need to know to teach other people about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He is more business, but that is more because Waggner is less business than anything. We learn out of the Preach My Gospel (PMG) handbook for the most part in both of those classes.

The other teachers we only see once or twice a week. Sister Cho and Sister Kim. They are both Korean, and both so incredibly, so super nice! Sister Cho is teaching us Korean twice a week, plus any time we schedule a one on one lesson. She speaks perfect English, and I assume Perfect Korean. Sister Kim teaches us the same stuff as Brother Waggner and Brother Harley. We have lessons out of PMG, and practice proselyting. Her teaching style encourages us to share our testimonies and invite the spirit more than the Brothers' classes (they still do this just not throughout the class), and her classes do help us invite the Spirit. She is one of my favorite teachers for that reason. My district is her first group of American English speaking boys she has taught, so I think we are more rowdy than she is used to. I can also tell that some of my district thinks she isn’t very engaging, but I think it mostly has to do with the slight cultural differences and a language barrier. Her English isn’t perfect, but we can always understand what she is literally saying, just not always what she is trying to say. But this is GOOD! We are supposed to be learning Korean, and learning to talk with people who don’t speak English as their first language. 

So yeah! I have some great teachers, and I am really excited to go to the Provo MTC this Wednesday. I can’t wait to attend all these cool classes and workshops live, and meet new people and see my district IRL. I am so grateful to be able to feel the Spirit every day, and learn more about my Savior Jesus Christ. I cannot wait to serve and teach the people in Korea! I love them already. I love all of you as well! Thank you for reading my emails and staying in touch with me. 

Truly, Truman

Last time to see my mom's best friend, Cori

Olivia Byram was at the Corn Dog shack when we went

Also, the guys working there gave me my food for FREE
because I am a missionary and when we went the second 
time, the guy handed my food and said, "Do your best,
and the Lord will bless you."  I love being a missionary!

I'm a Missionary! [Week One]

Hello all! 안녕하세요? I just thought I would send you lovely lot an email. Feel free to write back and tell me how swell I am. Today is day seven at home MTC, and it has been a jolly fun time. I've had about eight hours of zoom meetings a day, and the rest of the day is full of studying, meetings with my companion, practicing the Korean alphabet, and I eat on occasion as well. It's GREAT! I love having a purpose all day long. I never have to wonder if I'm wasting my time. I'll get a ten minute break out of the blue every once in a while and I don't know what to do with my life so I have a banana and read some of the Book of Mormon (another testament of Jesus Christ). 

So yeah good times. I got to meet my MTC companion, Elder Prock. He is a bodacious dude, He is as committed to the work as me if not MORE. I am super glad for that, It's easier to go at the same pace as your companion than slower or faster. He plays baseball, He is from Mesa Arizona, and he is shorter than me, and he always shuts me down when I comment on how cute our Korean instructor is. That's a good companion right there keeping my mind in the right spot (but she's still cute).

So I met my companion, you now know him, and I met the rest of my district. I could write a ton about them, but I'll give you the shorter version. 

• Elder Greene is a smart dude with huge eyebrows (like Rock Lee level eyebrows) and I think he is a convert to the church. He is serious.
• Elder Dickey is from Arkansas and he looks like a ladies man. He's kind of quiet in group meetings, and more extroverted in small group rooms. He likes shoes. 
• The best way I can describe Elder Harden is un-weird. He just seems like a nice normal dude that everyone would get along with and like. He built his own computer. 
• Elder Del Priore is the guy who raises his hand whenever he can (I am in second place after him for the teacher's pet award) . We get along really well and have a lot in common. I have talked to him the most after my companion. He likes anime. (I forgot his favorite, but my favorite is Naruto, thank you for asking)
• Elder Griswold, I don't know very well yet, but he seems like a popular sort of guy. He isn't shy, but he doesn't talk much either. I thought he was a grumpy pants until we did an exercise together and it turned out he was a funny guy. He has nice hair.
• Elder Livingston is really nice! He makes everyone feel included and special. He was in theatre in high school, and he was good at math. 
• Elder Fallon loves drums... And he is a member of the Church of Jesus Chris of Latter Day Saints and serving a mission, so that must mean he is a very righteous dude! I know the least about him.
• Then there's me! I am the oldest, loudest, biggest, and most handsome. 

Earlier Today before the first Sunday session of Conference, a righteous guy named TR and his wife Amber came over to my house for crepes. He grew up in Soda Springs and he went to Seoul, South Korea for his mission as well. Since I have been a missionary the spirit comes whenever somebody bears their testimony to me, and they usually tear up when they talk about the thing that they feel the most blessed about. TR (who doesn't seem like the kind of guy who would cry for no reason) teared up when he told me about the people in South Korea who came to him to hear his message and be lifted up with the help of and in the eyes of the lord. This was a really cool message for me and made me look forward to serving in Korea even more. And TR was a super cool person. His church calling is being an Addiction Recovery Facilitator, which is sweet in itself. He and his wife were easy to get along with, and he told me some cool stuff about being in Korea.

This is TR--such a cool guy!

  

I don't want to make this email too long, but I have to mention some great people who helped me get to where I am.

My Mom and Dad are at the top of the list, and I love them very much. They have helped me through every tough time in my life and I wouldn't have a testimony if it wasn't for them. 

My Stake President, Wade Clark, is the most in tune with the spirit person I know, and he doesn't have a mean bone in his body. He is really great and helped me enter the mission field as a strong member of the church.

Me and President Clark--haha, he is doing a weird face--
he usually looks like he is about to laugh

Chad Harris and Karen Bartlett taught me how to work hard and well, and they are both good friends now. I have some good memories with those great bosses. 

My cousins and aunts and uncles and grandparents are at the core of my testimony. Their examples have shown me how powerful living by the gospel can be. I love them all and I wish them the best.

All my friends from working at Lava and living in Soda and going to Rexburg. I am going to miss you guys!

The MTC has been a great experience for me. I have never felt the spirit more fully and consistently, and I can't wait to get into the mission field and spread Jesus Christ's Gospel. I already love all of my future companions, and mission leaders and most of all I love the people I am going to teach in Korea. I can't wait! I love you guys. Thank you for your support and friendship.

Truly, 

Truman 

My favorite scripture