Michael's Bonsai tree

Dear family and friends,

 

I have been "under the weather" lately.  It has been raining almost 6 out of 7 days this week! Haha get the pun? It is pretty awesome, and really interesting especially when we don't have a car.  There was this one time where we were walking to our next appointment which would take 2 hours to get there.  As soon as we got out, it started to rain super hard.  We got super drenched. 

 

Anyways, there are a lot of interesting things happening in my area.  The ward is really helping on in missionary work!  It is so awesome to see that.  We were able to help them set a plan for themselves on what they want to accomplish in missionary work.  That is always so cool for us to see them think about what they want to do.

 

I have a random story that I wanted to share.  I was on exchanges with another missionary and for the whole week, I was thinking about trees and how difficult it would be to grow one, prune it, and graft it.  I was thinking that I was going to get a bonsai tree to see how difficult it would be, because I often read about trees in the Bible as well as the Book of Mormon.  Anyways, back to my story, we were walking home after talking to someone.  On the side of the road, my companion noticed a bonsai tree that was just dropped there.  It looked dead and looked like no one took care of it.  I decided to take it, and try to make it better.  There is my quest for the future. 

 

So now, I have a half dead Bonsai tree and I am ready to make it the best I can!

 

Pictures will come next week.

 

A miracle for the week is that there is a young man who was in the church but not very active.  The ward has probably been helping him for nearly 6-7 years, but the best thing is that he was able to come to church last week!  He loved it, and although his parents didn't come, they support him in coming.  I am so glad that I could see these miracles and recognize how important it is to go to church.

 

I am so grateful to be in Australia preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ.  I hope all of you are well this week! 

Love you heaps,

Elder Han

Goals and Plans

Dear Family and friends,

This week has been hectic, and awesome!  We were able to have done many things, and reach the goals that we achieved.  Although it has been difficult to find people to teach, we are trying our best and we know that as we do we will be able to find those ready to hear the gospel. 

A lot of the week, I was thinking a lot about attitude and setting a vision.  I have come to the conclusion that the most important thing in work in general is believing that you can achieve it, and acting on that belief.  If you think that you can do well in a garage sale, what plans do you have to achieve it?  This being said, it does require much effort in our part. 

There is something about missionary life that has helped me realize what I need to do in order to be a better person.  In missionary work, a lot of our day is spent on our goals and plans.  We take time every night to plan for the next day and what we will do.  It is quite effective, and it helps us establish a vision for our area and how we can achieve that vision.

This past week has gone super fast.  We are at our 5^th week of the transfer, and I have been with my new companion for almost a month and a half!  Time has gone too quickly.

We are starting a thing in our stake.  It’s called FREE ENGLISH CLASS.  Although it is not as populated as the city, we were thinking of ways to find more people to talk to.  We thought that English Class would be a fantastic idea.  Our first day will start this Saturday and we are really excited for that.
Also, we are starting to help our ward set ‘visions’ for themselves in order to do missionary work.  They are really excited! 

It is amazing to see the progress in everyone doing the work.

I love you all, and I hope that this week will be an amazing one for you all. 

LOVE YOU HEAPS,

ELDER HAN J

Autumn

Dear Family and Friends,

 

I am so excited to email you all this week.  There is something about being a missionary that makes you so excited for the time to email and get to share your weekly experiences with family and friends! 

I love Australia so much, and the opportunity to be here at this time.  I am hoping that all of us get the chance to do all I can to share the message we teach. 

 

There is one experience that I want to talk to you about about my companion and another missionary,

 

They were going to all the houses that are inactive in our church, but to their demise no one was answering.  However, when they got to one of the last people to see, they met someone on the street.  She is ukranian and is ready to hear the gospel!  We haven't seen her yet, but the miracle is that they found her and invited her. 

It is so awesome to see blessings and miracles on the mission. 

 

I love it here, and the weather at the moment. 

In other news, I hit my 9 month mark, and it is crazy that in 3 more months I will have been on my mission for a year!  It feels as if yesterday that I just came on the mission.

 

I love you all, and just want to share one of my favourite scriptures at the moment:

2 Samuel 22:29 in the old testament in the Bible, " 29 For thou art my ^alamp, O Lord: and the Lord will lighten mydarkness."  It is awesome, because Jesus Christ is our way.  Through Him, we are able to know where to go.  

 

I love you all, and hope that your week goes well!

 

Elder Han

Every minute is important

One thing I learned this week, was that every moment counts.  There was a training that I was in a while back telling me this story:

 

Imagine if a bank gave you $86400 dollars every day, you could use it however you liked, but when the day ended it would go back to zero, and replenish the next day.  The question is, How would you use the money every day?  What would you buy? 

 

Likewise we have 86400 Seconds every day.  How do you use your seconds?  How do you use your time wisely?  Do you live in the moment?

 

Hearing that story helped me to realize that I need to use the time that I have here wisely.  When Elder Nelson and Sister Nelson came, they talked about doing the best we can every single day.  To not waste the Lord's time.

 

I loved that talk.  It helped me realize what I need to do to be better.  

That was something I learned this week.  How I can effectively use my time.  

 

Another thing is that we were able to accomplish most of our goals because of our attitude.  Without the right attitude, I wouldn't have been able to do anything.

 

I didn't really take heaps of pictures during this week, but I'll send some of last weeks pictures. :)

I am so excited to continue on my mission, and I'll email you again next week.

HAVE A GOOD WEEK!

Love you heaps!

Elder Han

Life as a missionary

Hello everyone!

Everyone is probably wondering what I did this week.  Well, it has been pretty hectic.  

First, one of our good ward members that we got to know heaps is going on his mission to Leeds Mission, in England.  We were really able to get to know him, and I am so excited for him, because he is so prepared!  

Also, one of our members is a break dancer and so I had the opportunity to be his friend and talk with him.  He is ready to help with the missionary work, and I know that we will find many opportunities through him.  

Today, I was able to go on a hike (in Australia it is called bush walking) and it was very fun and hot.  It took about 4 hours, but it was well worth it.  The views were amazing and we even got to see wildlife!  We went to this place called Mt. Kuring-Gai trail and it was BEAUTIFUL. 

My companion Elder Somsen is leaving the mission soon, and it is really sad, because it feels like this transfer has gone by so fast.  So next week, I will let you know what has happened and who my new companion is!  

I just want you all to know that this gospel has blessed my life so much!  It has been the best decision of my life to be on this mission and to learn as I have learned.  To do all that I can in order to help others know what I know.  

I love you all,

Elder Han

Happy Australian Day!

Hey Family and friends,

First off, Happy Australian day!  Something cool that Aussies do is that if a holiday lands on a weekend Monday is a public holiday.  Cool, eh?  That is why I am emailing you on Tuesday instead of Monday, because the library is closed when there is a public holiday.

Also, I just want you all to know that I am healthy and doing well.  A lot has happened this past week.

It was cooler this week, and supposedly next week is only supposed to get to 32 Celcius!  Thank goodness for that! 

One random thing that I did: I picked up a dead cockroach with two pens like chopsticks and put it in the rubbish bin. 

A lot of missionary work is progressing here in Australia.  It is so exciting, and I am really excited to keep going and to push as hard as I can.

I love you all, and here is a picture of me and my companion, and our mission president, President Howes.

LOVE YOU HEAPS,

UNTIL NEXT TIME

ELDER HAN

Blessings!

Dear family and friends, 

It is another week in the beautiful, but hot summer in Australia.  We were privileged to be able to keep going in the ward and our area.  I am amazed at how many nice people there are here.  

Just wanted to share a couple of miracles this week.  First of which I thought I would never speak Korean here, but the first sunday, I met a korean family that was in the korean fireside a little while back.  not in the same ward, but just visiting.  Then this week, one of our ward families does this homestay thing, and we were able to meet two korean girls that are both 13.  It was really awesome, and so I am planning to get to know them and practice my korean.  One looks like KARA......  I'll take a picture sometime with them.

Other than that, Elder Somsen is very awesome.  He is leaving his mission in less than 4 weeks, which is kind of weird, knowing I will already get a new companion.  There is a term in the mission field where we get to 'kill off' our companion, and the person who ends his mission is dead.  So it's pretty funny.  

We have been really blessed to have air conditioning in our room, because if we didn't... we would die.  My old area just had fans, so it probably is really hard for them.  

I am using all of my christmas presents from my family, one of which is some modeling clay.  

I made me! (see picture)  

LOVE YOU HEAPS,

ELDER HAN