Well I'm here in New Jersey. My P-Day for this week is Wednesday because the other Elders all did a service project on Monday. My P-Day will normally be Monday and I will have one next week. We also get two hours to email here instead of one. So that's pretty awesome.
I'll just start by saying this is absolutely not what I expected. A couple transfers ago, President Taggart (my mission president) changed things for the Korean missionaries a little bit in order to help us find people. We don't just teach the Koreans in our area. We teach everyone. The area is probably about 50% Korean so there are a ton of them, but we also teach a huge variety of other people. We have already contacted people in Spanish, attempted a Portuguese, and English and we do the same for teaching. We teach whoever we contact unless we just can't communicate, then we pass it over to the other missionaries. So when I come home, I will probably be able to speak Spanish as well, which is pretty awesome. The downside is that it will be a little harder to learn Korean because of that. Fortunately my trainer, Elder Koo speaks Korean fluently so I will still be able to learn if I put in the effort. Elder Koo just finished his training and has only been here for two transfers, but he is really knowledgeable about the area and he is pretty good at teaching. I have a lot to say so I will just start with the beginning.
Monday, I woke up at 2:00 A.M. to see my district off at the MTC and then I left the MTC at 5:00. We rode the train to the airport in SLC, and after I was check in, I got to call home for about an hour and 15 minutes. Then I got on the plane and left. The flight felt like it took forever because I was tired, but couldn't sleep. President Taggart picked me up from the airport and I learned that I actually got here a week after transfers which explains why I flew alone. He took me straight to the apartment. It's a pretty nice apartment, or so I hear, compared to other missionary apartments. We have two bathrooms, a kitchen, 3 bedrooms, and a living room, so we have too much space. But we're getting kicked out because there is a cockroach problem. So we move on the 16th of October. Within 10 minutes of getting to the apartment, Elder Koo and I left for an appointment. We did not waste any time getting to work. We taught a man named Macsood. He is Muslim, and a very very kind man. That was only Elder Koo's second time meeting him, so it was pretty new to him too. We had a very nice discussion about the similarity between our two religions. After that, we went to go teach English to a Korean lady. We teach English class like 4 times a week and then share a gospel message at the end. This lady was extremely nice and fed us a really good kind of grapes and some other fruit that was really good. The grapes, you don't eat the outside, so it can be a pain to eat, but it was really good anyway. I am quickly learning that I speak no Korean, so they always speak to me in English, but I trust that it will come in time. After English class we got the chance to contact a bit and then we went back to our apartment. I unpacked a little, but we ran out of time because we had to eat dinner. We have been working that much since I got here. I still am not even close to done unpacking, but we move in 9 days so I probably won't unpack all the way. We live in an apartment with all of the other Korean missionaries. There are 4 of us. President switches the other two in and out of Korean and English. So we never have more than 4 people in the Korean program at a time. I'll probably serve English (or Spanish) for about 6 months while I am here. I really like the Korean missionaries. I've only met 3 of them, but I hear the other Elder is super cool. We have as many weights as I could ever want or need. We have so much stuff for lifting it isn't funny.
I'm loving it here so far. We've met a lot of people, with a lot of hopeful investigators. We teach another English class tonight and I look forward to that. I get to speak English (which I do a lot anyway, but I want to get better about SYL). That's pretty much all I have to say about this week because I just got here 2 days ago. I have P-Day next Monday and so I should be emailing again pretty soon.
I love what I am doing here. This may be a traditionally hard area, but I know this is where I was called. I'm here for a reason and I will find it. I love doing the work of Jesus Christ and I am so thankful for the opportunity to serve him.
Until Monday!!
-Elder Jacob Nickerl
This is Elder Koo, my trainer. He's been super awesome so far.
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