Elder Kyle Jensen

Well, another little cultural fun fact about Korea. Last week on Pday we went to a Meok Yoek Tang, which is a public bath house. Simply put, it's pretty much just a place with a bunch of pools ranging in different temperatures, usually have saunas as well. Anyway, when you finally get over the awkwardness of realizing you're totally exposed, you can relax and let all your stress out by sitting in a hot tub and sauna. And to clarify, there's separate male and female houses of course, in Japan there aren't so missionaries can't go haha. My companion said that the mission president used to take the incoming missionaries to them when they arrived in Korea haha.... oh boy, but I have never felt so clean in my life. It was so refreshing and nice. Koreans really know how to take care of skin, I guess that's Asians in general haha.
I got some more pictures of the Koreans we associate with and some of the kids in our English class we teach each week! THis week we had a snack party because we made it through all the lessons the church provides to teach Englsih so we start back at 1 this week. It was super fun, and I feel so relieved to be able to understand waht people say who can almost speak English fluently. there's two Vietnamese people that come and I was able to have a nice chat with one of them.
Another fun adventure! This week we tried kakahoehoe-ing for the first time! haha that's door to door proselyting in English. In korea, there aren't really houses and if there are they are fenced off. so anyway we went to some apartments in our area to try a new technique because typical we just do street proselyting. no i don't really have an incredible "wow" story, but I can say we didn't get any doors slammed in our faces because no one ever opened up the door all the way! Haha ^^ it was so much fun trying to say something to catch their interest before they slowly closed the door. Alot of them say "bool hwe" which means Buddhist, but anyway, even though not a lot of success, after was quite great. We were walking out of the apartment complex at night and this guy all of a sudden takes me and my companion by the hand and drags us over to some chairs so we could have some water and talk. turns out my companion had met him once before and he loves us Americans. A little scary at first because a random guy grabbed us and started taking us somewhere, but hopefully he will set an appointment with us. Ah, the people here are so wonderful, I love them to death ^^.
Just for a little bit of a spiritual note, or I guess something more to learn from is that listening to the Spirit is the most crucial thing ever in life. We were teaching one of our investigators, Yu Doe Kwon, about the Word of Wisdom, something he's struggling with right now, and during the lesson it was pretty serious and intense. The spirit was flowing and I acted on the promptings to say things, but later on in the lesson, I had a strong impression to bear my testimony about Christ's Atonement. It's hard to slip a word in with this investigator because him and my companion love to talk haha, but there was a moment of silence where I had my chance... and I'm sad to report that I failed and missed the opportunity. I was so devastated. I felt like I had failed my God, failed my purpose as a missionary, and failed myself. I am glad to say though I was quick to repent, because that night I "fell upon my face" with a broken heart and contrite spirit pleading to forgive me of what I had done wrong. Through all the emotion, I felt one of the most incredible feelings in the world: God's forgiveness and love for me through the Atonement of our Savior Jesus Christ. Although it was a devastating experience for me at first, I can now look back at it as one of the greatest learning experiences of my life to not ignore the promptings of the Spirit. THat applies to life in general, living life without the constant companion of the Holy Ghost is like heading out to a stormy sea with no compass, sails, anchor, or rudder. The promptings of the Spirit are so tender, so real, and something we all need in order to follow God's will and to fulfill His purpose for us. Christ's Atonement is here for us to APPLY, to learn and grow spiritually, so we can become more like Him. If having the guidance of the Spirit in your lives everyday isn't a goal of yours, I would strongly strongly suggest to make it one and write it down! I love this gospel, and the learning opportunities I get to learn from and the opportunities I also have to teach. Love you family and friends! ^^

Elder Jensen