May 18, 2015

 

We visited a place that sells weird candy and bought this.  None of the other Elders would have more than a sip so I drank all of it.  It wasn't bad.

We found this Santa on a curb and took it home.  We decided it needed to be holding something and the chastity pamphlet was the weirdest thing we had.  We dropped by the zone leaders apartment and hid it in their shower. 

Howdy,

Emily, to answer your question, from what my Korean MTC teacher said the  form you use most depends on the type of person you are.  He said that he used mostly high form.  However, when I got there I felt like using too high of a form for the situation was just as weird as using too low of a form.  I usually used middle form but honorfied everyone.  You should use both but emphasize high form in the MTC.

I think I mentioned that we were working with some friends of J and S.  We haven't been able to teach the whole family because the mother never wanted to talk with us.  She'd let us come over but would never even leave her room while we were there.  This last week we happened to stop by while S was visiting and we were actually able to have a real conversation with her.  She mentioned that her car was broken so we called a member who knew a lot about cars.  He came over and fixed it no problem.  Yesterday she actually came to church!  Unfortunately we had to transfer her to the other ward.  J and S as well since they just moved.  The African family with the deaf grandmother will also go to that ward since they have interpreters.  We gave that ward about 13 people this last week.  We have to start our teaching pool over again but we are actually feeling good about how those people are doing.

I have been struggling for the last transfer on being bolder with people.  I have made a little bit of progress but haven't changed that much.  I sat down recently to reevaluate.  I was reminded of an Elder I served with in Korea.  I went on exchanges with him a couple times.  I hadn't thought of him as bold but he stood out as being kind.  He always saw the good in people and pointed it out to them.  He made me feel better about my abilities as a missionary and helped my confidence.  In my studies I have noticed that boldness is often paired with love.  When we truly love the person we are working with then we are more motivated to be bold when helping them.  We can call them to repentance more naturally and it will be more effective because they trust us.  They have more confidence that they can change if we have positively reinforced the good things that they are already doing (check out the episode in Avatar where Aang learns Earthbending).  So I'm going to work on boldness later and am instead trying to sincerely compliment others as a way to develop my love for others and to get into the habit of showing that love.  Once I've done that I hope that I can be more bold in calling them to repentance.

I'm out of time. Love you,

Elder Stapley