Life is Good Facebook Challenge [week 19ish]

I love these guys! Elder Jack Livingston is a good guy! So is Elder Jonah Del Priore and Elder  Joe Griswold. All great guys, and it was cool to watch them grow as a companionship. They weren't really best buds towards the beginning of MTC and by the end they were the closest of friends. I'm grateful I got to know these guys before they went to the Korea Seoul mission. I wasn't challenged to the life is good challenge, so I challenge myself today! The future posts are probably going to be shorter than this one though so I can write them in English and Korean. 

Feb 4th, Day 1: I'm thankful for my MTC 동기 (peers)

February 7th: Day 2 of Life is Good. I am super thankful for my siblings! I challenge Brigham Renfroe to participate in the 10 day challenge.

저는 여동생과 남동생이 너무 감사합니다.

February 8th: Day 3 of the life is good challenge. I am thankful for the people I am able to teach, here in Korea. I love them all so much. I won't challenge or post pictures of them for their privacy, but know that I love them!

제 가르침 진친구들을 사랑합니다!

February 9th: Day 4: life is good challenge. I am thankful for delicious Korean food. Today I challenge Adam Stucki to the life is good challenge. I love this guy! He was my roommate and he is on a mission right now. What a cool guy!

저는 한국 음식을 좋아하고 감사합니다!

February 11th: Day 6/10 of the life is good challenge in which I say something I'm thankful for, and challenge someone else to do the same thing 10 days jn a row.

Today I would like to say thank-you for the 몰몬 경. (Book of Mormon) and all the other great resources the gospel library has to offer. I look forward to personal study more than anything other than meeting with friends to teach. Good stuff. Today I invite 이승규 장로님 (a top notch missionary) to participate in the life is good challenge if he so desires.

저는 몰몬경을 사랑합니다!

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?

Thanksgiving at the MTC [week 9]

Hello 안녕하세요! How is everyone doing on this fine day? Sorry this email is a couple days late. 

SO! let me tell you what happened on Tuesday. Michael A Dunn from the 70 came over and gave a super motivating devotional.  He is the guy that told the story about the Olympic bikers in conference. His sports analogy on Tuesday was about cross-country skiing. I forgot the athlete's name, but her cool quote was that her biggest fear "is crossing the finish line with energy to spare."  His devotional was super uplifting and motivating.

Then on Thanksgiving Day, Elder Gary E. Stevenson came and gave a devotional. It was so cool! The big take-away from his talk was to be grateful for four things: the missionary purpose, change of heart, the restoration, and the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost. 

Then we watched a movie called Ephraim's Rescue. I think it would have been a really bad movie, (so very, terribly, really cringy and bad) but I haven't seen a movie in two months . . . so it was the greatest cinematic experience of my life! 

AND THEN, we did a service project with an organization called "fighting hunger" for two hours, led by Sister Sharon Eubank. The MTC bagged over 250,000 brown sugar oatmeal meals. It was a jolly good time. I was on "holding the bag under the funnel" duty. I talked to sister Anna Fenberg and Sister Peterson for two hours. They are the coolest sisters. We talked about spiritual stuff and movies and mission life and such. They said my Disney spirit character is "Dug" from the movie Up or "Crush" from Finding Nemo (that makes me happy😊).

AND THEN, we went to a musical number where the lead fellow from the Piano Guys (Jon Schmidt) came and played some Taylor Swift tunes. Some of the missionaries were absolutely losing their minds when they heard his songs. As for me I will give it a solid thumbs up. It was good. 

Blurry photo of Jon Schmidt himself

AND THEN!!! We were excused to go look at the Christmas lights. We got to stay out until 9:30 instead of 9:15, I am kidding you not. This was my favorite part. I just got to hang out and take pictures and laugh with my new besties from my district and the other Asian districts.  Best day EVER!

Elders Renfroe and Binks

Elders Renfroe and Harden

Elders Fisher, Belt, Dickey, Bailey, and Gallup, and ME

On Sunday, sisters Fenberg, Peterson, Hong, and Elders Binks and Fisher, all played a musical number. I think it was arranged by Elder Binks, but I am not sure. It was easily the best musical number I have seen in the MTC. I'll post it on Facebook. It brought two and a half tears to my eyes. I am going to miss those guys.😭

MORE PICTURES!

The Carpenters Gift is a painting done by my high school art teacher, Andy Berg. It represents God wanting to give us blessings, but we first have to let go of some of the things we hold onto that aren't Christlike.

The selfie is me and elder belt

Elder Renfroe and Elder Zac Belt, called to Nagoya Japan

The group picture is the Japanese district. Elder Asiasiga is the guy in the front doing the bow and arrow pose. He is super cool and chill and spiritual. AND he has a Naruto hoodie, so he is of the highest caliber. 

Elder Lucius Asiasiga in front, going to Japan Tokyo North

The selfie with lots of people is me and Elder Binks, and Campbell, and sisters Johnston, Hong, Peterson, and Rich. I love those guys!

Sisters Johnston, Hong, Peterson, and Rich.  Elders Campbell, Binks, and Renfroe

I Iove you guys! And I love my MTC buddies. I'm going to miss them just as much as I miss all of you! Don't forget to brush your teeth and read The Book of Mormon. 

Truly Truma- pfffff I mean

Elder Renfroe

Top: Me, Elder Fisher, Elder Pestana, Elder Prock, Elder Dickey, Elder Harden
Bottom: Elder Griswold, Elder Binks, Elder Del Priore, Elder Campbell, and Elder Livingston

Griswold, Fenberg, and Peterson

This is what I like to do for exercise--
the basketball gym is too competitive

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! 

Stay Completely Worthy of Revelation [Week Seven]

안녕하세요 여러분! (Hello everybody) how are you all doing on this fine Saturday!?! I'm doing pretty not bad so that is muy 좋아요 (muy means very in Espanola! 좋아요 means good or "I like" so together that makes VERY GOOD) Yeah, I'm trilingual. Deal with it!

Sooooo this week has been good. On Tuesday one of the quorum of the seventy came over and gave a devotional, and I forgot his name so we will call him 팕 장로님. He gave a great devotional about his conversion story. He made all the missionaries laugh several times while still keeping the spirit. The main take away of the talk was that this is a great work, and we don't need to be perfect, we just need to teach by the spirit and love the people. It was better when he gave the talk. He was so genuine and nice and sincere. I love the devotionals. I can't wait for the devotional tomorrow! There better be some good devotionals or sacrament meeting talks in Korea because I rely on those so much! 

That makes me think of the things I'll be teaching people who are looking into the church (we aren't supposed to call them investigators anymore, we are supposed to call them friends. But that is confusing because I am usually talking about my friends when I use the word friend.) ANYWAYS! What my relying on devotionals made me think of is what would happen if I messed up a message to one of my friends or investigators? It would probably be worse than what would happen to me if there was a really bad devotional. I have a testimony of the church and Christ's Gospel. I'll be fine, but the people I'm teaching might not have a testimony or might not know who Jesus is. I need to stay completely worthy of revelation so I can best serve those who need it most, and those who are relying on me to help them find their way in life.

I love you all! I am sorry if you emailed me and I haven't replied. I try to reply to everyone who replies to me, but alas I am imperfect. I'll do my best though! 

Again I love you guys and I hope these emails improve your day in some way. 

Here are some pictures!

1. The silverware in the blanket was found in the ceiling by an elder doing pullups who pulled up too hard and poked his head in the ceiling. Then he saw a blanket and was like "how queer?" And he pulled the blanket out and it was full of silverware from the cafeteria. Some Elders think they are soooo clever.

2. That's elder Dickey he always ties his ties in these crazy cool looking knots.

3. When I saw the picture of this chess board on my MTC phone I remembered that I BEAT ELDER HARDEN AT CHESS! I don't remember if I told you this already in a past email, but I beat him good.

Halfway Through Provo MTC! [Week Six]

Hello everybody! How are you all doing on this fine day? I sort of apologize for not sending an email last week. Only sort of because I am still in the MTC, so not too much has happened that is new.  I know however that reading my emails is the highlight of your weeks, so I don't want to disappoint you two weeks in a row.

The language learning is coming along nice and swiftish. Its hard but I'm learning more Korean in one month at the MTC than I learned in eight months of high-school Spanish. Gift of tongues 읍니까? Heh that's "question form" for all of you who don't know how to read Korean. So YEAH! the language learning is great, and the devotionals continue to be the highlight of my week. 

Oh! another great thing I discovered is going to choir practice every Sunday and Tuesday. The choir director is AWESOME! he reminds of George Clooney. I only discovered this recently because the first time I went to choir, there was a substitute and it was not that great. But yeah the  choir director (whose name I forgot so I'll just call him George Clooney) comes in and makes a bunch of first week missionaries who have never been a choir before sound awesome! Then George Clooney tells a cool scripture story throughout the practice. 

We will be singing one minute, then he starts tale telling for a little bit, then he tells us to start on measure 12 or wherever, and he repeats this process until we sound awesome and have heard a cool story. The last story that good old George Clooney told us was the meaning of nearer my God to thee. I would retell it but I don't remember enough details to do so with sufficient pizazz. So, just know that Nearer My God to Thee is about Jacob. 

I love it here and I'm happy to be learning about the gospel and my language and feeling the spirit all the time. 

I love you all! Shout out to my homies from the swimming pool. 

Here are the pictures I promised two weeks ago. My grandma sends these super pretty pictures that she draws herself! Then she writes really nice notes on them. I love my grandma!

I can't wait for the devotional tomorrow. It always brings the spirit and reminds me of the things I want to share, and that's the reason I'm out here.

Read your scriptures and remember Jesus Christ in everything you do.

Love you

른푸로 청놉니다

(Gasp!) Handwritten Letter [Week Five]

 

The top one says anyeonghaseyo which means "hello"
The middle one says sarangayo which means "I love you"
the bottom one says renpuro chongnonime
which means "Elder Renfroe"

Postmarked October 28, 2021

Hello, my family!  How are you on this fine day?  I just wanted to write you all and tell you how thankful I am for the nice notes you all wrote on those memes.

The MTC is great!  We have a devotional every Sunday and Wednesday.  Three of them were direct answers to my prayers.  one of them was about our relationship with Heavenly Father, another about the love and character of Christ, and another about daily repentance.  I have felt the spirit so strongly here at the MTC and I have felt it because of all the time I am giving to the Lord.

I sure love and miss you guys!  You all better email me or message me or send a letter.  I love you guys.

Truly, Truman

Korea vs Japan [Week Four]

Annyeonghaseyo! 

It's me, Elder RENFROE! The MTC has been a jolly fun time. I have  been playing volleyball almost every morning for my daily exercise. I'm alright because I played every year at family reunions. The Korean districts played the Japanese districts. The Japanese Elders got to the MTC last Wednesday. Almost all of them were reassigned already because Japan is not open to foreigners yet because of COVID-19. Korea is still open and ready to get PREACHED! My district has been looking forward to having a feud with the Japanese missionaries, so when they got to the gym to play volleyball it was really competitive on the Korean side, but the Japanese were just trying and failing fun because we destroyed them three times in a row. There were some cool Japanese elders and sisters, I met this elder named Elder Shisui. I don't know how to spell his name, but he was awesome! He was wearing a Naruto shirt, so you know he's one of the real ones. 

The KSSM MTC district! Elders Del Priore, Livingston, Griswold,
Prock, Renfroe, Dickey, Harden, Fallon, and Greene

Me and my companion went to the temple again today. That was a good experience of course. 

My district is doing good at Korean, we just learned about "glue" which is how you can make things past tense or make sentences in middle form of speech. There are three levels of speech in Korean. As missionaries we will mostly be using middle form and a little high form. Low form is for best friends and your spouse, so not for the missionaries. 

Elder Harden keeps winning at chess...that makes me mad. 

I just found out that the devotional with Elder Holland was moved to like two weeks after we leave instead of being on the last week we are here, so that is a bummer. We get great devotionals every Sunday and Tuesday from good speakers, so it's still a good time. 

There is a group of dudes in my building that sing their sweet little hearts out every night. They used to sing while in the showers, but someone told them to stop (because it's weird to sing with dudes in the showers maybe? IDK) So now they sing in the stairwell so the entire building can hear them instead of just one floor, so that's neat. 

I got a package from my mom that had a couple things I forgot, some DELICIOUS cookies, and printed memes with nice notes from my family on the back. OH! and my Grandma Patsy sends really nice and beautiful letters to me every week. I'll attach a picture later tonight. They look so cool. 

I really love being in my Korean classes. The instructors are all so good at teaching because the Holy Ghost is helping them out. I learn about what being a good missionary is all about in Brother Waggner's class, and my faith in the gift of tongues is always strengthened in Brother Harley's class. Sister Cho is the best at teaching Korean, and Sister Kim can invite the spirit better than any of them (if the district is ready to receive it). Then Brother WoolWine is really smart about Korean, and good at teaching us a lot in not that much time.

I can't wait to get in the mission field and get to know the people, and maybe help them out in life with the gospel of Jesus Christ. That's the goal. I love you guys! Pray for me to receive the gift of tongues.

Truly Truman 

Elder Renfroe