MTC week 6

Hey Family!

 Oh so mom, yes I did get my camera thank you very much!! I've taken all sorts of wonderful pictures!

 And I also got the package Grandma and Grandpa Oaks sent to me, I think they're trying to get me fat!!

 So this week i'm pretty sure i've like doubled my Korean again! We've learned soo much and we can now form some complex-ish sentences. We can say things such as "through Joseph Smith, the Gospel was restored to the earth because he prayed to God" It's not bad. I've also gotten pretty good at memorizing things. I was able to memorize a big part of the first vision yesterday, I pretty much read it over and over, then I just read it from my mind (kinda like a photographic memory, but not quite that cool) (if that made any sense). Well last saturday was our last time teaching in English in the TRC, now we're only allowed to speak korean!!!! I'm not sure If I can speak that much korean but I know the Lord can. During the last TRC, we actually did pretty well. During the Korean portion I taught our 'investigator' how to pray and told her about my family. It took me a while to say what I wanted, but I think I said it correctly! While we were teaching our lesson in english, I spoke for a long time! It was awesome! It was hard because our investigator had one dad die from cancer then her next dad die from a plane crash, but it was a good way for us to bring the plan of salvation into her life. So yesterday all of the older districts left for korea! Im excited for them and I know they're going to be awesome missionaries but it was sad to see them go. I had gotten really close to some of them and we're going to hang out when we're all back home. Now there are only 13 korean missionaries in the MTC! but next wednesday we're going to be getting a bunch more, hopefully they'll be awesome. Our district has decided that when the new missionaries come, we're going to only speak korean to them, that way they can progress faster. We wish the missionaries had done that to us. Today we decided to wake up really early so that we could do our laundry before anyone else got up, it was a great idea. Usually when we do our laundry at our assigned time, there are a ton of other missionaries and we have to wait a long time to get a machine but not today! By doing this, I will have more time to relax and write letters/ take naps. So guess what! the missionary field is probably going to be open this next week! That means that we can go out and play soccer or frisbee or something! I'm super excited! Don't get me wrong, playing basketball is fun but it's not enough cardio for me. I've been trying to run on the track in the gym but it's SOOOO hot that it's just torture. Usually I get a mile done and that's all I can handle, so going outside in the fresh air will be super awesome! So i'm going to get some pictures developed today and was wondering if you wanted any prints or if you just wanted for me to wait until I get in the field where I can upload pictures to the computer and email them to you? I can do whichever you want. Well It sounds like you have all been having a fun time at home! Tell Chandler that it's awesome that he pole vaulted that, even if it wasn't what he wanted, he has plenty of time to progress. Just keep working at it! Tell Morgan that I'm going to probably play some soccer tomorrow! I'm really excited to play! She's probably way better than I am though! So I heard about BYU losing to SDSU, that's too bad but hopefully they'll make it to the final four this year. Oh guess what! so when my whole district studies in the classroom, nothing ever happens because we just talk and are distracted the whole time but the other day we went looking for a place to study where it was quiet and we found a place downstairs. It's in the offices where the teachers get ready and do whatever they do dowwn there, but we found three nice couches and we just sit there and study without any distractions, it's the best! Usually we're the only people in the whole bottom floor of the building and so it's super quiet! I've been able to get a ton more done! We're going to be going down there a lot since we've got a lot of korean to learn before saturday!

Well I'm so happy that you are doing well and I'm grateful for this opportunity that I have to serve my Lord. I know that he will help me as long as I'm doing what i'm supposed to and I've realized that it doesn't matter if I can speak korean well because that's not really what this mission is about, the spirit will still witness to the people even if i use simple phrases. I can't wait to get to Korea so that I can serve the people, find my friends and remind them that God lives and has a plan for them. That's what we're really doing, we're finding the people who we promised we would bring back into the light of Christ.

Well I Love you all and I'm doing just great here.

Love, Elder Oaks