Elder Kyle Jensen

Happy Thanksgiving!!
Yes, you did read that right, it is thanksgiving here in Korea. Well a comparison of the holiday anyway. Here in Korea it's harvesting season and it's a celebration called Chuseok. (btw romanizing Korean is really hard because I never learned it so I'll use it very little and if I do it may not be right.) Anyway, Chuseok is today and our city is pretty much empty haha. people spend a lot of time with their families for the next three days so missionary work is kinda hard. Tomorrow we are having a big mission conference thing in Seoul, some more training, food, and fun I'm sure. But it's really interesting to see a bustling city go from lots of people on the streets to very few.
oh and before I forget, here's my address for Korea

29, Wiryeseong-daero 22 gil, songpa-gu
Seoul Korea 138-855

Yes, that's a long first line, kinda strange. Anyway, some more about the culture. At most of the lessons I've taught at and even at the restaurants, we ALWAYS sit down on the floor, and that means I have to cross my legs... which recently has been a huge challenge because I'm not too flexible. I'm sure the natives get a kick out of watching Americans struggle to sit down and then afterwards get up and have kimchi legs (it makes your legs feel so weird after sitting cross-legged for a while). The food so far is still wonderful! I haven't had anything too bad, but I've had to gag some things down. Especially here in Korea, it's very disrepspectful to leave food on your plate, you have to eat all of it. BUT, I do have to say my favorite thing here so far is the fruit!!! Oh my goodness, especially right now during harvest season the fruit is so incredible you could eat it as a desert. All this healthy food, running in the morning (my companion is addicted to running so we run like a 5k every morning, no joke), the humidity and climate is helping me a lot. It's really funny because almost every time we talk to someone, they mention my companion and my acne and they always give us some sort of method to make it get better. In America, lots of people wouldn't do that, but here they do because they want to help out haha, they aren't ever in it to disrespect someone. Another thing aboutt their cultures is the birthdays. They typically don't celebrate the day they are born, but they celebrate the year they are born. So technically right now I'm 20 years old heheh, and I'll be 21 this coming January. Another example, if someone was born on December 31st, they would be 1 year old and the next day (January 1st) they would be 2 years old. Interesting huh?
Anyway, even though we have a very small branch here in Anseong we have quite a few investigators. I had the chance to meet quite a few; Yun Jong Ho, Jeong Jeong Hoon, Yun Hye Jeong, Champ, Lee Hyo Chang, and a couple more. I wish I could tell you about all of them and their situations, but I don't have enough time. It's been really interesting to get to know each one through my companions translation and what I understand, but it's incredible of how you can come to love people despite the things they do and may say. Yes, I'm still learning to love them all because I've only briefly got to know each one, but I will tell you that every time we meet with them, especially around a time when they eat, they ALWAYS feed us. They sacrifice a lot to feed us and my companion and I have been blessed to be invited by some ward members to have a Chuseok meal with them. They celebrate it not with TONS of food like in the US, but more over with the unity of the family from what I hear. I guess we will see, but yes, I won't starve over here, even when we cook for ourselves haha.
Some more exciting news I have! I finally got to see Elder Matt Dewey here in Korea!!! (For those of you who don't know him he's a guy I went to school with a year older) Ahhh, that kid is so cool, and we got to meet up and catch up a little bit about what's been happening with Cache Valley friends and such. Anyway, had to share that because it really helped out my day.
One thing that I struggled with this past week is patience in the language. It's been hard to understand for the first part, especially the native tongue, plus my left ear still hasn't popped since I got off the plane 2 weeks ago haha. Anyway, I don't want to complain, but I'll share how Satan tried tearing me down. With all this happening I felt like I wasn't progressing at all because I couldn't understand and I felt like I couldn't speak either. Satan placed fear inside of me and that kept me from opening my mouth. Through my personal studies I was able to realize that I need patience for all of this. I received my answer from Preach My Gospel when it says something to the extent of how learning the langauge takes time and patience, but in time you will learn the language to fulfill your purpose as a missionary. Even though Satan blinded me for that time, I was able to see the light and realize that I can't learn Korean or any other language in a day. It's going to take a while, and patience is essential to all this. D&C 9:3 also helped me out, it says something like, "Be patient my [son or daughter], for it is wosdom in me that it is not expedient to [learn Korean all at once] at this present time." If you need patience, insert you situation where I placed mine. God has the eternal perspective and He knows how and when things need to happen. And while you learn patience SMILE!!! During one of our conferences, a Japenese Sister talked to us a challenged us to smile all the time. I've heard that so much so I'd like to extend the challenge to you all as well. Go throughout your day with a smile and smile at others. It's made me so happy here to see that some people even smile back. Try it out and tell me about it :).
The work is incredibly amazing, and incredibly hard, but I know if I can push threw with a smile and positive attitude, Satan's discouragement can never get me down. I love the people and the Gospel I get to share here and I can't wait for more incredible experiences I will have. I send my love and prayers your way :)!!

~Elder Kyle Brian Jensen