Week 5

July 6, 2010
Hey everyone!!! Thanks for all the emails and letters. This weekend the MTC closed the mailroom for the fourth of July so we had a drought of letters but today I got my package that Hope sent, so thank you for that. I haven’t gotten any letters though since last Sundays batch so I’ll probably get a lot tomorrow.
Anyways, this past week was a blast!! My Korean is absolutely terrible but it’s a blast and I’m working hard on it. I know I’ll be fine and I’ve found it amazing that I haven’t been getting down on myself if I can’t remember certain words so I know that the Lord is helping me stay patient. I've been working hard at studying this past week. Trent sent me a letter that helped me to realize that I can’t let up one bit in my studying. I promise I’ll keep boosting it up and working and studying Korean and the gospel.
Last week we had Sister Dalton come and speak to us about Faith and Diligence. It was an awesome talk and I really learned a lot about how if I have faith I can help bring souls unto Christ. I’m really glad for all the time I have here to think about my role in missionary work and how much realize on me to put forth the effort and to try and bring the spirit into every meeting I have with people. We had a zone conference on Friday and I got to bear my testimony. We have older districts that left for Korea on Monday so we were having a testimony meeting before they did. I thanked them for their examples and helping us get used to studying Korean. They helped a lot and I made some good friends while they were here. One thing I’m thankful for is that I gave them my journal to write in before they left so I will remember them and they all thanked me for my testimony. That made me feel good because I felt like my testimony wasn’t strong enough when I first got here. I really feel it getting stronger each day and after each fireside. I’m really excited to go to Korea though. I’m so glad for my life and the direction that it is headed in. I’m thankful for all of you who supported me and taught me and helped me get to where I am. I couldn’t have done any of it with out. I’m also thankful for Jesus Christ. A member of our branch presidency told us that in order to always remember someone, we need to first know them pretty well. So I’ve been working really hard to get to know the savior these past couple weeks and take all the time that I have to come closer to him. Brother Stoddard, the branch counselor, also told our district that we should be reading the book of Mormon for at least five pages a day and we would read it seven times over the course of our missions. I told him that I read twenty a day so he filled me in that I would finish it 28 times if I do that. I thought about how cool that would be and how much that would help my testimony so I decided that my goal is not 24 but its 28. I’m really excited for these next two years and I hope that I can learn Korean well enough to proclaim my testimony to Korea. On Monday we had a meeting where we talked about the importance of the Book of Mormon in our reading. I was surprised because that seems to be the theme this week and its something that I want to make a very big part of everything I do in life not just for the next two years. Chapter 5 of Preach my gospel is really good in helping me understand the Book of Mormons importance. Take a look at it and study from that chapter. I got to get off in a second so I’m going to wrap up. I love you all and I’m so thankful again for your support.

Love Elder Chapman