It's been a crazy first week in Korea, but I'm loving it. I love going out and sharing the gospel with others. I just wish I could say and understand more. Elder Moore is a great trainer and extremely proficient in Korean. I'm learning more each day. 

One thing I have been working on is setting goals and carrying them out. This is something I've never really done before coming on my mission, but I'm beginning to see why it is so important. I also am working and trusting the Spirit and talking with everyone, even though I know beforehand I won't understand what they say. The scripture in doctrine and covenants that says to open your mouth and trust the Spirit more that we fear man has helped a lot. I have a lot of improvement to make, but I am trying to be more diligent and faithful so that the Lord can more quickly bless me to understand and get there. 

We have two investigators - one is a 21 year old ), and the other is an 11 year old. They are friends and we sometimes teach them together. Unfortunately, we were recently told that they can't be baptized because of their circumstances, but we are continuing to befriend and bring them to church. 

I'm kind of disappointed that we now don't have any investigators who can be baptized, and I feel this is because we need to work harder and be more focused on others in our thoughts, prayers, and efforts throughout the day. It's so hard to be 100% all the time, especially in language efforts, but I'm learning and setting goals that, with the Lord's help, I know will help me get there, and He will entrust us enough to lead us to some of His children who are ready to hear the Gospel.

We spend a lot of time out on the streets looking for contacts, and Elder Moore and I decided a couple times to go into shops and talk to the owners in there. The first one was really cool - he sat us down, ran to get a couple of grape sodas, and talked to us about his job and family. He said we could come back, so hopefully we can start teaching him the lessons. 

The second shop we walked into was a barber shop, and the owner did the exact same thing - sat us down, got us some drinks, and talked to us about things (not sure exactly what because it was in Korean). Elder Moore told me this is part of Korean culture, and that by treating us so respectfully and courteously he was taking the role of an "older brother." I'm learning lots about the Korean people and their culture, and it's lots of fun. Hopefully we can keep on teaching both of these and find some more people to teach. 

The craziest thing that happened was meeting { name  }.  He's a less active who we teach, and he is pretty crazy and spontaneous. During our lesson, I wasn't really understanding anything that was said, until at some point he mentioned the name Chandler. I spoke up and asked, "Brother Chandler?" He looked surprised and said, "Yea, Craig Chandler?" So then I said, "Yea!" I told him about Brother Chandler being my MTC teacher. It's just crazy that the first lesson I taught in Korea happened to connect so well. 

Thanks for your messages everybody! 

-- 

Elder Tyler Crisp

Elders Moore and Crisp

Dear Brother and Sister Crisp,

I just wanted to send you an email letting you know your son has arrived safely in Korea. He looks very happy to be here and ready to work hard. We are excited to see him serve here in the Korea Seoul Mission. Attached below is a picture with President and Sister Sonksen.

Regards,

The Korea Seoul Mission

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints       예수그리스도후기성도교회

Korea Seoul Mission                                                            한국 서울 선교부

Office - 82-2-734-3653                                                  사무실- 02-734-3653

Arrival in Korea

Tyler with Mission President and Sister Sonksen.

Week 8, Final Week in MTC

Leaving for Korea in 4 days! I'm so excited to finally be out there teaching and working. 

We had our last lesson with Lee Jaeseung yesterday (not a real investigator, but still very sad). I've really enjoyed teaching him and learning how to invite and follow the Spirit to meet the needs of an investigator. It's such an important thing to learn, because my own teaching ability would rate at maybe a 2 out of 10. Through the Spirit, though, others will never forget the way the felt when we spoke, even if they don't remember what we said. That's why it's the Spirit, not the missionary, that converts people. 

This week has been a great week, especially because of the devotionals that we've had. I've been thinking a lot about what Bishop Causse said about teaching with the Spirit and with power. One of the things we must do to qualify for this gift is to be pure and virtuous. I've been thinking a lot about what this means, and yesterday I was reading Alma 31 and was very impressed by how Alma is completely focused on the Lord. His joy comes from the joy of others as they are repenting and coming unto Christ. His afflictions, as he puts it, come from seeing his brethren in wickedness. The prayer he offers is focused on others, including the missionaries he brought with him. He prays for himself in order to be able to help bring others unto Christ. Alma definitely had a pure and virtuous heart - one centered on Christ. I had the question, then: How do we stay centered on Christ? Distractions abound, and the natural man far too often besets us. I thought of three examples of why we must never lose sight of Christ and our purpose. 

First is Lehi in his vision of the tree of life. At first, he was totally focused on the love of God, desiring for others to partake of its fruit. His joy was undiminished until he saw others looking away from the tree and saw the great and spacious building, and his heart was troubled because of it. 

Another great example is Peter. When he jumped out of the ship to meet Christ on the water, his attention was solely on Christ. He had only one thought in mind, which was to reach Him. Then, he looked away. Seeing the storm around Him, he fell. 

One last example is Lot's wife. Though commanded to look ahead, she looked back toward Sodom, and was turned to a pillar of salt. 

I love at the end of Alma 31 where it says they had no afflictions save they were swallowed up in Christ. When our attention, focus, and efforts are committed solely to Christ, nothing can get us down. The knowledge of Christ and His incredible gift to us is always permeating through our minds. Our afflictions are meaningless relative to our faith in the power of His atonement and his loving suffering for us. We are not even capable of sparing a thought for ourselves. 

I've committed to always keeping this focus and attitude through my mission. Our message is the most important word that could possibly be spoken on this Earth. How can I possibly allow my own insignificant problems to, in any way, distract or hinder it? 

Korean is coming along, and I'm understanding most of what the teachers are saying. I can construct sentences way more easily. I haven't talked much about it, but Korean is basically backward from English. If I wanted to say, "Through praying and reading about the Book of Mormon, you can know this church is true," in Korean, it would be ordered, "Mormon's Book reading and praying through, this church is true if can know." It is also apparently rude to use the word "you" in Korean, so that is always just left out or a different title is used. I'm finding, though, that my mind is starting to more quickly process Korean without having to think so hard about every little part of it. More of it is happening naturally, which is so exciting.

Hopefully not all Korean speakers talk as fast as the native speakers here, though. 

I've also been thinking a lot about the Atonement, and how little I actually understood about how to use it before coming out. The part I've learned about most is having a change of heart. I know now that this means much more than mere desire. We must be ready, absolutely committed, to change our ways when we received forgiveness. The Lord is prepared and wanting to give us mercy and strength to change. First, however, we need to show that we will actually be different. We must do all that we can to make the change we want in ourselves happen. When we are sincerely and diligently working to improve, we will receive what we lack through the empowering grace of the Atonement. 

Thanks for the messages that you've sent! It's so nice to hear how everyone is doing. Also love hearing other missionary experiences. 

Week 7

This last week has been a great week of learning to be a better teacher and learning Korean! 

Last Thursday we went to the temple and did a sealing session. I've never seen one of these before, so it was an awesome experience. The blessings promised are amazing. My goal for my future investigators is to get them here and to help them understand the blessings the gospel can offer. There's nothing like the joy temple blessings can bring, both in this life and throughout eternity. 

A common theme throughout the last week for me, and especially in my prayers, was to stay completely focused on the Lord and on this work that I'm doing. It's so easy to become distracted during the end of a study time or toward the end of a day and not study as efficiently as I should. So I decided to just look at one day at a time. I pray in the morning just to have focus and diligence that day. Throughout the day, I work as hard as I can to focus on studying the language, the scriptures, and Preach My Gospel to learn to be a better teacher. I think about the "investigators" we are currently teaching and how I can help them, and how I can better serve them and the Lord today. Then, when the day is done and I've so clearly seen how the Lord has helped me to be diligent and focused, I end the day with a prayer of deep gratitude. Doing this has made my language skills increase in leaps and bounds. I can construct thoughts and ideas far more easily, and I'm understanding way more of what people are saying. I'm learning so much about how much I can do when I trust in Heavenly Father to help me and how much joy we can receive when were serving Him and others, sparing not a thought for myself. 

Elder Dallin H. Oaks talked during our Tuesday devotional this week. He focused on teaching by the Spirit in order to meet an investigator's needs. This is something Elder Cable and I have been focused on improving in our lessons. In our last lesson with Lee Jaeseung (Brother Chandler), we were more focused on what he understand and what he wanted than teaching him another lesson. We were shocked by how differently this went. Lee Jaeseung talked about his parents, and how he wasn't sure he wanted to spend eternity with them because they had never been very focused on him, but rather on their careers. They now spend their time traveling. We weren't sure how to respond at first, but we told him that the Lord could help him with anything, and challenged him to study the Book of Mormon and pray in order to receive answers and help. We also asked him to share the Book of Mormon with his parents. My goal for him is to realize the purpose and joy Heavenly Father's plan can bring us. It seems that his parents are searching for joy and purpose in their own lives, so I hope they recognize that Lee Jaeseung has found it.

It truly amazes me all that we can do in a language that was gibberish just a couple months ago. The Lord really does bless on when we are committed to serving him. I haven't even gone to the field yet, and I already feel like a different person.

Thanks for all your messages! I'm so excited to be leaving for Korea (a week and a half left!). 

Me, Elders Lujan, Biesinger, Sanders, Cable, Peterson, Gottfredson, and Anderson

Our Zone in the MTC

Week 6

The MTC is going by so fast! We're already the oldest Korean group here. My companion, Elder Cable, got called as zone leader this week, so he's pretty busy with learning the language, teaching lessons, and doing these new responsibilities. Elder Anderson and I also received the opportunity to experience Viral Bronchitis this week, but that isn't as exciting as some of the other things that happened. 

We had an incredible lesson with 이제성 (Lee Jaesung) on Monday (the investigator that Brother Chandler role-plays). We only had fifteen minutes, so we couldn't teach a full lesson (especially not in Korean), so we just went over our challenge from last time, which was to read the first vision. He asked us if we believed what it said. Elder Cable and I bore our testimonies of the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith and told Lee Jaesung that he could find the truth as well, through reading and sincerely praying about it. The Spirit was incredibly powerful in that room and it was a very humbling experience. We taught in unity and backed each other up with our testimonies, and the Spirit made manifest the truth of what we were saying. I learned from this that the Spirit is the most important part of our missionary work, before the lessons or our own teaching skills. With our limited Korean, we could never teach an inspiring or convincing lesson on our own, no matter how well we knew Preach My Gospel or the scriptures. These things are all important, but the thing that will pierce an investigator's heart is feeling the Spirit. They will remember that feeling, and even if nothing else makes sense or if they have questions or concerns we fail to answer, they will want to learn more about it. That is why it is so important to be obedient, dedicated missionaries - we will achieve success when the Lord is working through us, not when we try to work with our own wisdom or abilities. 

Our lessons with Jang Jeeyung, our other investigator role-played by Sister Washburn, are more difficult, partially because I can't understand any of her Korean. I'm going to try hard to focus mainly on bringing the Spirit into the lessons. The speaker in the devotional last Tuesday talked about our model of teaching. We first talk about the "why" of the gospel: why it is important, what is at stake, how it personally, significantly, and eternally effects us. Second, we talk about "how:" accepting the gospel, faith in Christ and His Atonement, Repentance, baptism, receiving the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end. Third, we leave them with a witness, commitment, and/or promise of the truth and blessings of these things. I'm working to improve on these things and becoming a better teacher. My favorite part of this model is how simple it is. Effective teaching comes when we speak simply for our investigators to understand, especially if they are unfamiliar with God or Christ. 

Thanks for your messages and updates! Also thank you for your prayers for the missionaries. I appreciate everything you do for us!

Our district and the older departing district visiting our residence - Elder Cable, Elder Anderson, Elder Jones, Elder Bowers, me, Elder bacon, Elder Sam-yiou, Elder Biesinger

The classroom where we spend all our time - Elder Cable, Elder Anderson, Elder Biesinger, Elder Sanders, Elder Gottfredson

Selfie with Elder Biesinger trying to look stoic, Elder Cable, Me, Elder Anderson

​Me and Elder Cable from the Sunday Walk

Week 5

Wow, my time in the MTC is already more than halfway over. It's going by so fast. I'm excited to go to Korea, but also pretty anxious because I still can't understand anything the native Koreans say. 

I've learned lots this last week. The language is coming and I am improving in my teaching and understanding of Preach My Gospel. One big change I've noticed in myself is how much I love personal study time. I never could have thought before coming on my mission that I would want more time to study, but I am absolutely loving the time I spend studying the Book of Mormon. I learn so many things every time I read it, and I always feel the Spirit as I do so. I had a testimony of the Book of Mormon before my mission, but it has grown exponentially stronger over the past few weeks. It really does contain answers to any and all questions and concerns we have, especially when we read it with the Spirit. It is one of our greatest gifts from God, written specifically for all the problems we would face in our day. 

A slightly less exciting thing I've noticed is that it isn't easy to always be on a spiritual high. There are days and times when I feel tired or exhausted, and another three hours of language study seem daunting. It's hard to feel the Spirit during these times. I've been reading a lot about the sons of Mosiah, though. I was reading in Alma (chapter 24ish?) where Ammon is praising God for all the mercy and blessing He poured out upon them and the Lamanites. There is a verse where he says that when their hearts were depressed and they wanted to turn back, the Lord comforted them and told them if they were patient and persistent, He would give them success. This meant a lot to me because the sons of Mosiah are the examples of the kind of missionary I want to be, and most of the times in the Book of Mormon we only get the highlights - the times they were at their very best. Converting thousands of Lamanites and receiving a spiritual outpouring seem to be the only thing they did. Even the sons of Mosiah, possibly the greatest missionaries ever, however, had hard times, even to the point of thinking about turning back. So, certainly, we will all have hard times, and as long as we push through them patiently and humbly, we will be blessed even more so than we were before.

My favorite part of the past week was watching a previous MTC Christmas devotional with Elder Bednar. It was easily the most inspirational and uplifting talk I've ever heard. He talked about the Character of Christ, and how it is essentially the opposite of the natural man. When trials and hard times come, the natural man will turn inward and think about themself and their own trials. One who has the character of Christ, however, will turn outward in their trials, seeking only to help and comfort others. True conversion is to cast aside the natural man and develop the character of Christ. He shared a story about this that I want also to share with you. 

When Elder Bednar was a stake president, he received a call from a relief society president about a group of three girls in the ward who had been involved in a terrible accident, as a result of which one had been killed. When Elder Bednar asked how he could help, the president told him he could go to the hospital where they were being transferred and help identify them. As Elder Bednar spoke to the relief society president, he realized she was talking to another person on another phone at the same time. From what he heard going on, he realized it was a nurse or doctor that was taking care of the girls. At some point, news came in about the identity of the girl who had been killed. As the nurse talked to the relief society president, and Elder Bednar heard what was going on, he realized that the nurse was telling the relief society president that it was her daughter who had been killed in the accident. Elder Bednar was stunned when the president responded to him, the very first the she did after learning her only child had just died, was to tell him that they needed to communicate with the other two mothers of the girls involved and let them know what was going on and comfort them. 

This is the character of Christ. In the midst of terrible pain and suffering, Christ thought only of others. This, Elder Bednar said, is true conversion. Once we have been converted, therefore, we can not possibly fall away. 

I've thought about this talk and applying the character of Christ to my own life every day since that devotional. It isn't easy and it won't come right away, but if we remember Christ and His love for us, and seek, through the power of His Atonement and our testimony, to be more like Him every day, we will find peace and solace in our trials. We will gain love and charity for those around us, to the point where we cannot even dwell on our own relatively small pains and troubles. This will bring us happiness and peace that we have never before known.

Thank you for all your letters and emails! I love hearing about what is going on back home. I hope Montana doesn't burn down while I'm gone.

MTC Week 4

It's been a great week at the MTC! I'm learning so much about following the Spirit during discussions or lessons. This is the most profound thing I've seen on my mission so far. I used to have to write everything out I was going to say. Now, I don't take anything but scriptures and maybe a pamphlet to our "discussions." Before lessons, we always pray as a companionship to have the guidance of the Spirit with us as we teach, and this has made all the difference. The language comes easier when we are teaching than any other time (we are teaching "investigator" role plays with our teachers that are like teaching lessons to a real investigator). I don't think I ever really knew how to recognize the Spirit before I came out here, and this is something that always concerned me because I didn't always know if it came from my mind or from the Holy Ghost. We watched a video of a talk by Elder Bednar is class this week that was exactly about that feeling. In response to the concern about now knowing whether or not it was the Spirit speaking to us, he said, "Quit worrying about it." He then shared a story of when he was on his mission. He was picking up an apostle (Elder Packer) in Germany because their flight was canceled, and he dropped the apostle and his wife off at a train station. In the moment, Elder Bednar decided to give Elder Packer twenty marks for food or anything else he might. Then, Elder Packer went on his way. It wasn't until about forty years later that Elder Bednar spoke with him again and learned what that twenty marks had done for Elder Packer. When the train crossed into East Germany, a guard began giving trouble to Elder Packer's wife for having a three-year passport that had been extended to five years. The guard probably would have taken her off the train, and it would have been a serious situation. But, almost without thinking, Elder Packer reached into his pocket and put the twenty marks into the passport and handed it to the guard. A few minutes later, the guard returned the passport (with the marks not in it) and sent them on their way. (Elder Bednar called this a "righteous exchange," not a bribe.) Elder Bednar had no idea until forty years later that handing the marks to Elder Packer had been a prompting from the Spirit and that it had saved the Lord's Apostle from a lot of grief and trouble. Likewise, in our own lives, we may not know exactly how, when, or why we received a prompting. But if we do what we feel is right, stay obedient, and do as we feel we must and are directed, we will begin to see times that the Spirit has guided and helped us. 

I'm also learning to be more diligent and focused in studying. It's a lot of work to study for so long every day on the language and on the gospel, and I find that I too often will lose focus for a time. C. Scott Grow from the Seventy came this Tuesday and talked to us about consecrating out heart, might, mind, and strength to the Lord. To consecrate is to give all, nothing withheld. This is something I've committed to do. As a district, we talked about how important it is to be 100% focused on the work, not just 98%. When we are totally focused, we give ourselves to be instruments of the Lord. The sons of Mosiah are possibly the best examples of missionaries we have. They were diligent every day in preaching and serving the people. They bore all their afflictions patiently. They were entirely selfless and focused on the Lord and those they served. Had they not been, and had Ammon not done exactly as the Spirit directed him, he could never have converted King Lamoni or the other Lamanites. We don't know who is looking for the truth or how to find them, or even what their needs are. But the Lord does. We need Him to guide us and help us. A true representative of Christ is one in whom who others can see the love, humility, and power of Christ manifest in. Christ loved all and dedicated his life to serving them, and we feel his love each and every day through His Atonement. Our job as missionaries is to share a piece of that love with others so that they will feel prompted and inspired to get to know Christ themselves and partake in the same love and joy that we have. I have so far to go, but my goal is to be like the sons of Mosiah - loving and feasting upon the words of Christ and consecrating all my time and thoughts toward Him. 

Elder Crisp

 

Here are some pictures from the temple on Sunday.

Left to Right: Elder Anderson, Elder Biesinger, Elder Gottfredson, Elder Sander, Elder Crisp, Elder Cable, Elder Peterson, Elder Lujan​

Left to Right: Elder Anderson, Elder Biesinger, Elder Gottfredson, Elder Sander, Elder Crisp, Elder Cable, Elder Peterson, Elder Lujan​