Elder Garrison Lott

Mom note: We had a wonderful time with our video call from Elder Lott. He looks and sounds so happy, healthy and excited to be serving. What a blessing for us to have the opportunity to talk to him.    Because of the phone call, he didn't have much time for emails, but he did answer the question of the week and send pictures.  Enjoy! A Christmas Message from Mormon.org - watch video here  Question of the Week: Are there traditional Christmas foods in Korea, or is too much of a Western holiday for that? Answer: Yeah there's not really any for Christmas.. they have tons of other food though that's special for their holidays of 추석 [ Thanksgiving ] and 설날 [ New Year ]!! and that's really good! (: Me and Elder Kellis! Me and Elder Campbell on exchanges! We found the most American area I've seen in Korea! It had houses and yards, and there was even a grill in one yard! Ahhh, so great! Zone Chris...

Ahh! I cannot describe how awesome missionary work, 이전, and this gospel are!! It was another great week!! So this week I would just like to talk about one of my best Korean friends that I met a little bit ago! He is amazing and I honestly love him as much as a bro can love another bro and I have to thank God for the miracle that he gave us to allow us to meet. Anyways, on Saturday I got to spend a lot of time with him at stake party for investigators and new converts and that was super fun! I honestly cannot speak Korean very well (especially when it's not on a gospel topic, if it's about the church I can usually do pretty good) and he doesn't speak English, so we struggle to communicate sometimes, but he's the best! He just smiles and we laugh together as I struggle to communicate and often mess up, but he's honestly so nice about it! Well on the car ride home, the topic of the conversation turned to missionary work and is was so cool to see him getting so in...

This week was so amazing!! So many miracles I want to tell you about but I could literally go on for days about the miracles of this week, so all of them will have to wait until I'm home and you have a lot of time to listen (and probably fall asleep because I go for so long) but one of them really quickly is about a member visit this Sunday! First off, he's one that has been really important to missionary work here forever! He was one of the first members in this area, and is the boss of about half the ward and refers people all the time to the missionaries. Until some made him mad a while back... but to put it simply he's a very important member to be on good terms with. Oh! and he has the cutest little girls on the planet!! They're 4 and 5, and absolutely adorable and love the missionaries. But back to the point! We went to his house for a dinner appointment and things went so well! He actually referred someone to us while we where there too! And did so much more! ...

Question of the Week: I've read that it's considered impolite to smile at strangers in Korea. Is this true? Answer: hmm, not that I've noticed but I am a foreigner, and people react way differently to us than other Koreans. It is way out of their culture to talk with or start conversations with people randomly in public, but we have to ignore that and just do it as missionaries. But yet again, because we're foreigners, they react differently than they normally would so it works (: Also something about their street culture that I have a story to share about this week is that they never accept help. Ever. I can't tell you the number of times I've offered to help someone carry something or clean up something and they've been like no, I'm good, or something like that, and then if you try to help they very strongly protest. Well this week we had a zone 전도 [proselyting] activity on Friday, so we all ate dinner together and then just blizted this one area an...

Question of the Week: What is a favorite feature of your new apartment? Answer: Hahaha funny you should ask that question. So to preface this, it is one of the newest houses in the mission (missionaries moved in just a few weeks ago) and it is a smart house. So you can call the elevator from inside the house, control the the lights and everything from one panel and a ton of other stuff! It's so much tech I don't know how to use it all. Oh, and you can set the house to wake you up, so I haven't had to use my alarm clock at all. So there's a lot I like about it, but my favorite thing... I don't know, haha it's all really good (: Anyways, on to my new area and stuff! Ahhh I love it out here in 이천 [ Icheon ]! It's great! It is soooooo much more country side though!! There's fields and street markets (I love those, haha I'll have to send a picture sometime of those and the fields and the houses!!! (yes real houses!!! I haven't seen one of those...

This week we recieved transfer calls. On Wednesday I will be going to 이천!! [ Incheon ] And will be serving with Elder Forthman (you might recognize him from earlier pictures, he was in my house before it went down to a two man house). So there's that. I had to say goodbye to so many friends here in 교대 on Sunday and it was really sad, but I know I will see them again in this life or the next. I'm also really sad to go because we were really seeing some success these past few weeks, but I know it's God's work and he'll use another tool to finish and make sure the work continues here (: And I'm excited to find out what he has in store for me in 이천! God has always guided my paths so this one will be no different. Excited to tell you all about it!! Incheon, South Korea picture from TripAdvisor.com This is really short because I have to catch up on personal emails... sorry, you all can look up 이천 a bit if you want! Love Elder Lott Question of the Week: Do...

Where to begin this week? So many amazing experiences but too little time!! (and I can't remember them all) I guess I'll just talk about love, charity, and fear. Those were a big part of my personal study this week and came up in comp. study as well. Anyways to tie it in to some stories from this week, basically I was having a little trouble with 전도 [proselyting] and talking with people because honestly it is a bit scary sometimes to just go up to the big guy on the subway who looks like he's having a bad day and say "Jesus loves you! Do you want to know more??" (ok a little more elegantly than that and in Korean, but basically the gist haha). So something I've been working on is loving everyone and trying to love them and see them as Christ would, and every time I fear talking to someone saying a little prayer in my heart and then going for it. This is because through those studies and talking with my companion, we came to relize/re-relize the truth that Sa...