Week 6

Family and Friends,

Happy Birthdays Travis and Tyler. i tried to tell you last week but i ran out of time. sorry i heard you had a good gift of tie and cuff links. Wow half way done with the MTC and it still feels like i came in last week. i had an awesome week with korean and just some great spiritual experiences. first i got to listen from Elder Dellenbach from the quorum of the Seventy. He talked about making each day count and about how he got challenged by his mission president for not working hard enough and he had grown up on a farm so that cut him to the core. He also talk about keeping a good journal and talking about all the positive and keeping everything outside of mission work outside of your journal. I've been pretty goood with my journal but i feeel i can put more in about what im learning as a missionary instead of jsut a travel log foer the day. those are two thing i took from that talk. this last week was a busy week in the language because we had to teach a full lesson in korean. so the entire week i scripted out exactly what i want to say and took the week working on translating it over. when i practiced it on saturday brother Im, the natvie korean teacher, said it was good but our districe sounded like robots. he said that he didnt remember a whole lot of the information from when the misssionaries taught him but he did remember feeling the spirit and said that it more important than covering the lesson. so when we went to go teach in korean, i left my script behind which really scared me and i didnt know what possessed me to do that but i did. before we went to our rooms we had a companionship prayer and asked that we might know what to say in the lesson. the lesson went great!! we were able to say exactly what we wanted, very slowly of course, and testified strongly and it was the first time i had really felt the spirit teaching in korean so i learned that the spirit really does speak all languages. on Sunday we had some good meetings. i taught the District lesson on paitence. i learned a lot from teaching and i think its going to help a lot to continue to be paitient with everything. I also found out that i am the new district leader because we switch half way through here. I realized i need to pick it up in all areas and work harder than the rest of the elders in my District if i want to influence them to be better missionaries just like i want to be a better missionary. i think about king benjamin was so revered by his people because himself as king labored among them. so i think i can best serve my district by being a harder worker than i have been. i am trying very hard to finish the book of mormon this week. i want to finish it twice while im at the mtc so i have to get working this week so i have plenty of time to do it next week. on sunday night we got to listen from Sister Jenny Oaks Baker, Elder Oaks daughter. She played the violin amazingly and it was the best musical concert i've ever been too. she did incredibly and i guess she plays at the mtc every summer. thank you for the package Kyle and Amy and all of the kids. the Letters were great and i really enjoyed them. The puzzle was hard but after a couple hours i figured it out. thanks for all the words of wisdom Kyle. im going to read some of it to the members of my district tonight after our devotional. Finally today we got to go work in the TEmple for three hours cleaning up. it was a great experince. the temple will be worked on for another two weeks before they open it again. i had a lot of time to contemplate since i was on my hands and knees for three hours scrub the corners for dust. it was good. i thought about all the ways i can set good habits to improve myself as a missionary. thanks mom and dad for all the knowledge you blessed me with im so thankful for my family. i love you all very much. im excited to see the person im becoming and the habits im creating for the rest of my life. Missions are Awesome. I love you All.

Elder Chapman.

Ps please send my some of the elders from our wards addresses so i can writed them before i leave the mtc

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

Week 4

June 29, 2010

How is everyone doing this week? I’m having a great time at the MTC. This past week I had a lot of good moments both spiritually and with the language. Before I get to that, I just wanted to thank everyone who helped me to get ready for my mission and for all the love and letters so far. Feel free to keep them coming.

So this week I basically got really pumped to go to Korea because the two older districts in our zone and flying out to Korea next Monday!! So in two weeks we will be getting new missionaries and we will only have five weeks to go. It’s crazy to think of how fast this is going in the MTC. I feel like I’ve only been here forever though. Next week is our halfway point in the MTC. I also need to mention that I saw Bentley Boyens and Jeremy Rios. Elder Boyens is going to Arizona and I think he leaves next week!! Elder Rios got here on Wednesday and I’ve seen him everywhere, which is a surprise since he's short and there are so many elders here. I’m just kidding, it’s actually because we are in the same Residence Hall so I could go visit him whenever really.

Anyways, this week was the new mission presidents training seminar so all the new presidents starting were here. The entire administration building was closed off. On Friday we had a special fireside where we got to listen from Elder Dallin H. Oaks. It was pretty amazing and one of the benefits of being in the MTC forever is that you get to see some sweet talks like that. Also in attendance was Elders Holland, Cook, Bednar, Scott, Anderson, Christofferson, and Nelson. A companionship in our district got to shake Elder Nelsons hand during the week when he was walking around and another one got to shake Christoffersons before the fireside. It was a cool experience to see so many great men in one setting and it definitely makes you want to aspire to act like they do.

Speaking of great men, Congratulations Bishop Chapman. I know that you’ll do a great job. You've always been a great example to me and I know the ward in Valley Center will benefit from seeing your example to them.

On Monday we had a meeting that really has inspired me to develop the faith that Ammon and Alma had along with other great missionaries in the Book of Mormon. It was a cool meeting and gave me a lot of ways to improve how I look at the missionary work. Something I want to be the first things that I change in myself is the way I see people and how I perceive how receptive they would be of the gospel. I just need to work hard and talk to everyone and see them how god sees them. I don’t think that will be too difficult since I haven’t seen non-members in weeks. I’m really excited and it gets more and more exciting each and everyday. I’m working hard on the language to prepare myself as best as I can now and I can’t wait to learn a whole lot more of humbling lessons from Heavenly Father. The Gospel is true. I love you all very much. I cannot wait to hear more from you.

Elder Chapman

Week 3

June 22, 2010

So I’m in my third week now and I cannot believe how fast things are going. In two weeks the two older districts are going to be heading for Korea and two days later we will be getting new elders. It’s crazy!

First, thanks for all the letters and thanks to mom and Lauren for the package it was really good. That’s a lot of candy and everyone has a bunch of it here so I’ll try and eat it all.

Thanks Sean for the email. It was really helpful to get my mindset off of my struggles of the language and on who I’m going to be trying to serve. I’m going to work hard on myself and allow the lord to fulfill His will through me.

Thanks Allie for the letter you sent me, it made me feel really good and makes me want to work harder so Brody can see that I’m being a “missionary lion.” Tell Brody I want him to be a missionary lion when he grows up so he needs to be a good boy. Tell Sydney that I loved our seesaw picture. Especially my rainbow hair. Thanks for the note on the back too.

I had a great "missionary day". This week has been kind of weird with the mail. The dear elder thing was doing something weird so we got a huge stack of them from all weekend and yesterday. However, I did hear about the Lakers winning the championship and I have an even stronger testimony that the Lord blesses those who sacrifice the NBA finals to serve him :) I was really excited when I found out and told everyone in my zone. I guess my zone leader is from Los Angeles so he was excited to hear that too.. And I found out that his birthday is April nineteenth too, except he’s like 24.

Anyways, the week went by fast. Korean is still really hard but I’m starting to understand all the grammar forms and how to conjugate the verbs which is the basis of making sentences. Right now all I can do is just memorize sentences out of our language study book. But eventually if I learn enough vocab I hope I’ll be able to make my own sentences. I also bore my testimony in Spanish for like a minute just because all the words sound so much like English when we hear Spanish elders speaking so I just copied a lot of what they said. I was just joking with one of the elders in my district about how lucky English speaking elders have it. I actually would prefer speaking another language because the Lord challenges them in so many ways that a different from mine. But anyways, the language is hard and I still feel like I did the first day here. But I guess ill see how much I really know when we get new elders in two weeks.

Lindsay, thanks for the email.. I’m glad to hear that you're waking up early and working out with Lauren. It was my favorite thing to do before I came out. I hope your trip was really fun you should dropped me off some doughnuts. A lot elders get crispy creams dropped of here so that would have been good ha.

But anyways, I have been playing a lot of basketball when we have gym and it’s alright but definitely not as fun as playing with all the brothers. I bet the house is empty without the coolest brother on the planet. Oh and by the way I forget to congratulate Tyler on graduating. I know you are working hard on your studies and it’ll help you a lot when you get out here on a mission. Keep setting those high goals and improve your study habits constantly. I saw those pictures that you sent me of your clothes. That’s a nice blue.

Lauren, I have only one question, how did you do that to your truck? I had just barely washed it too a couple weeks ago. That looks pretty amazingly sweet. Anyways I got to go but I just sent you a letter but found out about that just now. I love you guys have a good week ill be back next week :)

Week 2

June 15, 2010

Thank you all for the wonderful letters. The MTC is going fine. I have been having a blast this past week. Its still so hard and at times it gets frustrating trying to learn the language but than I just stop and take a second and think what the Lord might be trying to teach me for all struggles he puts me through. I’m extremely thankful for all those opportunities to grow. I’m glad you all sent me a bunch of pictures. It’s good to see Kaylee’s flowers she wanted me to have. I would like to have a real copy of that and many more. I forgot to mention that a little book of family pictures would be nice so I can show all the elders in my district how big my family is. I guess Koreans are going to freak out because a family of four is huge over there.

Anyways thanks Trent for the update on your fishing and weight gain. I've been pounding down the food but I haven’t weighed myself yet. There is a scale in the gym but I keep forgetting to go and weigh myself. I’ve just been doing pushups and pull-ups. But we have Monday night competitions for pushups and pull-ups so it’s been good with that. Those fish are pretty big that you caught. You could send me a copy of those too if you want. Does Easton have a fight coming up? Maybe I can get to post fight picture or something.

Bishop, thanks a bunch for that copy of Zach's talk about Jarred. I’m going to try and read it if I have time left over after this email but you know how they only let you on for thirty minutes so I didn’t want to risk running out of time. Thanks for all that you have done for me. Your little makeshift note you wrote me really has been helping me. It’s my bookmark for my journal so I read it every night and I promise I’m being obedient.

Thanks family for all the letters you wrote last Sunday. I got them like on Wednesday and I wrote you all back today so you should get it in a couple days.

Thanks Tory for the letter. Our zone is really cool except for a couple of the older elders from the older district. I can totally see what you mean when you said that they’d try and act like they are fluent with the language and tell you how to speak. One of our teachers told us not to listen to them when they give us advice so he was basically saying the same thing you were. Speaking of the language, It’s really hard and I can barely struggle through a testimony and prayer. It’s getting a little easier each week but I am far from being able to hold a conversation of any kind.

Thanks for the dearelder letters they help out a lot because I don’t have to read the emails on here so keep them coming. Lauren I would prefer if you just kept up with the amount of letters you send because they help. They are kind of like little pep talks everyday so they’re keeping me motivated. I cannot wait for the package from mom and you. I’m going to write you a good letter today. Sorry if you thought my last letter was weak, I’ll do better.

This past week we started practicing our teaching on fake investigator but it was still really nerve-racking. Our first time we taught was brutal but that’s all I’m going to say about it. We got a chance on Saturday to teach again and it was a hundred times better. Even though you know its fake and that no matter what you say they’re not going to stop going to church, its still really awesome to teach someone and see how you can answer their questions about the gospel. Over the past two weeks, which feel like forever, I have learned so much about how to become an effective missionary and how I can be a tool in the Lords hands. Preach My Gospel is really amazing and I suggest the Priests in the ward start to read it and study from it because that coupled with the Book of Mormon will help you become not only a better missionary but a better person. It’s something I’m going to use for the rest of my life. Please use it now and don’t wait like I did until I got out here. I could have been so much more prepared if I had used it. Well I’m getting numbers flashed at me telling me my times up. I’ll send your letters out today and I can’t wait to here from all you. I would say goodbye in Korean but I don’t think I can do that on the computer. I love you all and I miss you a bunch. Pray for me :)

Love,

Elder Chapman

Week 1

June 8, 2010

First off I only have thirty minutes and I’m not that fast at typing so I’ll try to tell everything about my first week. Also anyone can go to dearelder.com and can write me and the MTC will print out the letters to me in the same day so that way most of my thirty minutes can be spent writing you instead of reading a lot of emails. Thanks for the emails and letters from mom and from Lauren. I’m glad two people love me. Just kidding but anyways I’ll get to the MTC stuff. Actually I would like to say I’m so sad to hear about Jarred Butler. I cried so hard that whole day and it was rough because I was being thrown from class to class and it didn’t seem like I could just sit there and think about it. I loved him. Despite the problem he had in life, I know he was an amazing person because I had talked to him and he always was the most polite and nicest person you could meet. I’m sorry that drugs lead him to what he did but thanks mom for calling and letting me know. I don’t want to brush over that but I’ll talk about how my week went now.

The first day was mostly just getting situated and then after everyone was here and registered we went to class to meet our district and our teachers. We have 11 other elders in my district and there are two more districts that are going to Korea that came in the same day so we have a lot of Korean elders. Our branch has five districts: two older Korean districts and three new ones (my district). There is in total like fifty elders and two sisters so its pretty sweet for me. I’ll write about each of the elders in my district because there is already so much to write about them. They are so awesome and we are so strong already in just a week. After we met each other we started Korean. Saying it is hard is an understatement. There are like five of the vowels that sound like exactly the same. Some of the letters are two sounds mixed and it’s really hard to make all the sounds. I’m still learning the alphabet but its slowly getting easier. We learned how to read on Thursday, which is basically us slowly saying the words. It takes like five minutes for me to read a line out of our Korean Preach My Gospel and I don’t even know what I’m reading but that will all come in time. We have also learned how to pray and bear our testimonies in Korean, but it’s basically like saying, “I know Christ lives amen” and then our prayers are like, "we are thankful for the church, in the name of Jesus Christ amen." It is really hard. Oh, Elder Olsen just asked me to tell mom he says hi. He’s in my district. So anyways, the first four days were the hardest thing I have ever done mentally. Just getting more and more Korean thrown at me everyday nonstop. It was really hard to handle but I just kept remembering how worth all this is. President Shin, my branch president, said that the reason why this is so hard and why it requires so much of the young men is because we are the future generation of the church leaders. He said that those who don’t serve missions are least likely to be called to high callings in the church. I thought that was a pretty cool thing to consider. After hearing that from him I calmed down and relaxed a lot. I had been stressing out about the language even though it was my first week because I was having such a hard time with the language.

Yesterday was my first day where I had a perfect attitude and the language went so smoothly. This whole “good attitude” thing really is worth it. But yeah, I’ll definitely keep a good attitude and just let God take care of the rest. I can work as hard as i can and if he wants me to learn the language he will. I just need to keep my patience. Today is finally prep day and I have a bunch of stories and examples of Korean that I’ll send to mom and Lauren. Oh, and before I forget my date to go to Korea is August 16 so change my address when anyone sends letters to 0816 after the KOR-SEO part. I can’t really write Korean on this email or I would. I love it here. I’ve never gone this long with thinking about God twenty-four seven. I know that sounds bad but I honestly think of my mission, my family, and how I can become a better missionary. I love you guys and I promise I’ll write today, since its our only day to write letter, and I hope to hear from you all soon.

Love Elder Chapman