It's the end of the world as we know it! Oct. 30, 2016

Apologies to anyone who got the song stuck in their head upon reading the title of this email, but as many of you know, this will be my last email in Korea. I don't have much time left to email, but I'll go through some of the excitement of the week and then I'll be on my way!

The biggest event of the week was the ward Halloween party, hosted by yours truly, the missionaries. It took all week to prepare and even longer to plan, but the ward really loved it, and it's been an adventure to put together.

But as a result, we haven't had much time to find people or teach our investigators. So that's gonna be all my news for the week... Hope you all have a great week!

Those who want to continue to keep in touch can email me at jts54321@gmail.com , but please allow me a bit of time to catch up on everyone!

Love you all and hope you have an amazing week,

~Elder Skinner

I just don't know what happened Oct. 23, 2016

 Morning everyone! Hoping you had a great week, cause I did! And seeing as I have a short amount of time I'll get right into the email!

This tuesday we learned a lesson that cheating never works. The story is, we were planning to share an English class message, but the video didn't work last minute, so we had to swith last minute and make it into a paper airplane contest about honesty. The idea is that everyone throws their airplane, then the missionary goes last and crumples up his plane into a ball and throws it farther than all the others. Thing is, my companion goes right before me (the designated 'cheater'), and his airplane just wrecks the competition, flying almost out of the room... And I, even with my cheating ways, was unable to get it farther. So there you have it, cheating doesn't work.

Later on, we went to a combined mission conference with Elder Bednar! Saw a couple of friends from the other mission, and of course heard from Elder Bednar teach us a few things... He's quite the comedian, though.

And a funny story from the week... We were walking around a park with a lake, and me and my companion spot a balloon, rolling across the grass. We don't think too much of it, until we hear a girl let out a little scream, and we find that the balloon had snuck up behind her and bumped into her, and she was caught off guard. That made our day just a little bit more entertaining.

But that's all I have time for, so I'll talk to you all next week and once again I hope you have a great week!

~Elder Skinner

Elder Skinner's got 5 minutes left! Oct 16, 2016

Which means it's time for a quick summary of my week!

This week was a pretty normal one, though we did have a few fun events to report. The first one being a long time less-active member that just texted and asked if we could visit him soon... At first I didn't know who it was but we went and talked with him for a bit, he's really nice and though he didn't come to church, he did give us 20 kilograms of uncooked rice... which I then had to carry on my back all the way home.

Later on we had an activity with the youth and young single adults (not a lot ended up coming) where we were able to teach about missionary work and just have a bit of fun with the young people of the ward. Turned out pretty good, but that's probably because we had one of the members helping with most of it ^^

So with that, that's all the time I have, so I'll talk to you all here next week! Have a great day!

~Elder Skinner

The Dang, Wi City, and Ashley's Oct. 10, 2016

Hello everyone! How are things going this week? Things are going pretty good for us out here in Ilsan, Korea. The weather is cooling down, and it looks like as the weather cools off, the work of the Lord is heating up in Ilsan!

But first, it was P-day, and those of you who know Korea know about the love push machines- throw in a dollar and you have a chance to push a toy off a shelf and into your hands. My companion is a big fan, and I happen to be pretty good at them, so naturally we spend some time on one nearby the barber shop. With a total of 6 dollars (7 tries) we are able to win three prizes, with one of them taking only one try. It was pretty great.

But now back to the actual missionary work.

After zone meeting, I was able to go out to Wondang ('the dang' in the title above) with one of my zone leaders, Elder Ridge. Naturally, the first thing we do is go to a buffet with the other Wondang elders, but the thing is, one of them is vegetarian... So we are forced to go to a much more expensive buffet than normal, which was fine, especially when we get there and find that our vegetarian friend is able to eat like no one else. Quite the adventure.

While I was in Wondang, my companion and my friend Elder Dye met with our new investigator from English Class, Jin. Jin didn't have too much interest at first, but he accepted an invitation to General Conference on Saturday and seemed to really enjoy it! So we'll see how he progresses!

And last, but surely not least, what we ate in between conference sessions... One of the members took us out to eat by the church, and as there wasn't too much to eat nearby the church, we went to a restaurant specializing in fried Eel. Yep, that's a thing here too.

But that's my longer email this week, and I have to go, but I'll see y'all here next week! Peace out~

~Elder Skinner

Elder Skinner picking pecks of pickled peppers Oct. 2, 2016

But, before we get into the picking of peppers... Hello everyone! Kamusta ang araw mo? ...I'll wait while you go to Google Translate to figure out what that meant, and then I'll explain that this week was transfers and I have a new companion! Elder Saguinshin, from the Philippines! He's a young missionary, though my elder in years on earth, and he's a great companion and friend so far. We've already had plenty of adventures, the most notable of which being the above mentioned pepper picking!

Thursday, the day after transfers. We go to a members' house, who lives south of Ilsan proper and in the countryside... At the end of the bus route. We pick peppers for about 2 and a half hours and we maybe got halfway done. Pictures attached~

Later on, this Sunday, it started to rain. Me and my companion decided it would be good to go out and find people anyway, so we get out with high hopes and equally high spirits... and then it rains harder. Nobody's outside, and even those that are don't want to talk to us... Well, everyone has those days, I guess.

I don't have much time to make other announcements, but things are still going well out here in the old Ilsan. Hope you all have a great week, full of blessings and perhaps some Great Chocolate Pies (That honestly could be greater), but until then, James 5:7-8, and lots of love!

~Elder Skinner

Schoko Tatzen! Mein Deutsch be poopsen! Sept 25, 2016

Happy Monday everyone! This is Elder Skinner. I don't have much to report this week, except that we received some Schoko Tatzen from the sister missionaries, who got it from someone else, who probably got it from a snack store somewhere. The point is, they were super delicious and my companion ate way more than half of them. >.<

But I'm not bitter about it.

This week as well, I held a district meeting, like District leaders do, but as the other missionaries are reporting on investigators, President and Sister Sonksen walk in! So naturally I proceed to lose my mind I mean play it cool as the rest of the training goes on. Thankfully it was a good training, else he'd have had my head! 😌

Later on, we met a nice kid by the name of Oh, who met missionaries in Seoul about a year ago and wanted to meet again. So we met and ate some food, taught a concise lesson about the Book of Mormon, and he's super accepting and willing to learn. The thing is, he lives on the other side of the province, at least 2 hours away by train. So... send him to the other missionaries! 

Then at English Class, I played Balderdash with the advanced class! Using such words as Haberdashery and Spelunking, I totally stumped them! I think they enjoyed it, and they learned a few new words in the process.

Then came transfer calls! The news is......... I'm staying! But Elder Conley is moving to Seoul. I'll be receiving a new companion from the Philippines, who has just finished training! So I'll be working with him until I return home in 5 weeks.

Lastly, I want to share with you all D+C 90:24. I don't have time to paste it in, but please read it on your own and remember that even the little things make a difference! Have an amazing week, and remember: P Sherman 42 Wallaby Way, Sydney!

~Elder Skinner 

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Your weekly email in record speed! Sept. 18, 2016

This week was pretty great! Not much in terms of new investigators but that was because for half of the week it was Chuseok! A traditional Korean Thanksgiving, us missionaries spent the holiday doing normal P-day things, cleaning the house, and holding a special Chuseok conference at the mission office!

On Friday, I also conducted a baptismal interview for the sisters' investigator in Wondang ward. She has a great testimony and it was great to be able to do that for her.

I just have a short spiritual thought coming from my ponderizer for this coming week.

"Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God." ~Psalm 42: 5,11,43:5

Someone said at Chuseok conference that their favourite word in the Book of Mormon was "Rejoice". I think I'll steal that one from him, because it's just such a powerful word- a call to remember the mercies of God, to praise His name and be glad.

I love you all, I'll email better next week, hope you have an amazing, spectacular, all-good very happy day!

~Elder Skinner [?]

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Elder Skinner Learns English! Sept. 11, 2016

Morning everyone! This week was pretty normal out here in Korea, which also means that I don't have a whole lot of time left to write my email! So here are the big events of the week, as quickly as I can give them!

The biggest news this week will be quite a shock, because well I haven't actually said anything to my family about it yet but! This week at zone training we learned that due to our mission president leaving for Japan (Area meeting of some kind) on the week of November 10th, They've moved my return date back to the 3rd! So as for the plans that some of you may have had to come by on the 10th, you'll have to move them. Apologies, but there wasn't much I could do.

Moving on, the reason for the title- we met with an investigator named Tom this week (I don't know if I've mentioned him before, but he's a nice guy, basically fluent at English), and he told us about the work he's doing as part of his English Linguistics major- and I still don't understand it! Auto-logical words (look it up), pretty i

nteresting.

Then came Stake Conference, where we heard from Elder Choi of the Seventy, talking especially about caring for family and the responsibility of husbands and wives in raising children.

Time is short, but here's a scripture that helped me out this week, D+C 58: 3-4.

Love you all, hope you have a wonderful week! Hoorah for Israel!

~Elder Skinner [?]

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The Pirates who Don't Do Anything... Elder Skinner's P-day in 6 words! Sept. 4, 2016

 Morning everyone! Hope you had a great week. I sure had a great one out here, but time is short, as usual, so I'll move right on in to what that week consisted of!

We went up to a couple new areas in the area this week, one of them known as Wi City (Pronounced "Wee") with super nice apartments and accommodations, but really far away from the rest of Ilsan, especially the church. Another one turned out to have no one there, so at least now we know not to go back there unless visiting the member family that lives up there.

As for being pirates, me and Elder Conley didn't have anything to do this P-day, so that's exactly what we did- nothing. Slept, hung out, studied the scriptures.

But that all changed at Wednesday's District meeting, where, just hanging out on one of the sprinklers on the roof of the Wondang church building, is a HUGE bee. It didn't chase us down as we walked by, so we had district meeting (making sure the doors were closed), and afterwards Elder Conley (being the only other Elder there- I wouldn't even go near the thing) was commissioned to go and kill it. Seriously, it was almost as long as Elder Conley's pointer finger.

31 day at Baskin Robbins was this week, and you all know what that means. #Thebiggestsize

But that's just about all the excitement from this week. I do have one more to close things off, though, as we were able to see a fireside with General Primary President Sister Jones where she talked about the newly dedicated Sapporo Japan temple and how important the temple and family history work is in our lives. I know that both play a huge role in the work of Salvation in these days!

Love you all, eat some ice cream for me!!

~Elder Skinner

It rained buckets on us and now it's cold. Aug. 28, 2016

 Hello all! I'm short on time! Again! But I love you all and I'll do my best to tell you in great detail how my week was!

The week began like other ones in the recent past, with a lot of heat and sweat and all of the wonders that the hottest Korean summer in a long time brings, but then in the middle of the week, it rained... hard. It only rained for a few minutes, but it kept us inside for the rest of the night. Ever since then, it's been drastically cooler- meaning not quite cold, but cool. Kind of weird, but at least it's better than the blistering heat!

I made the Advanced English Class take a test this week, and following that we all got together and taught them how to play Go Fish. It was quite fun for all involved.

I went on exchanges this week to Wondang, the other area in my district, with my zone leader Elder Dye! For those that remember (cookies if you remembered), Elder Dye was my companion way back when in the MTC! So that was quite the adventure, a lot was learned and a lot was shared.

During our exchange, we were called to provide service for some old people at a care center. We came pretty unprepared (as we were expecting something other than what had actually happened) so we performed a play of the Parable of the Talents (I got 5 talents!) and sang some songs for them.

That's all I have time for, but I'll see you all next week, 6 PM Eastern, 9 Pacific! Love you all and hope you have a great week!

~Elder Skinner

I have no time for subjects! Aug. 21, 2016

This is gonna be a short weekly email, but it's okay because I didn't do much anyway!

How are you all doing out in the real world? Excellently, I hope. Summer is coming to a close out here, and pretty soon the nice, refreshing cold will be returning from a long absence.

In the midst of all this heat, however, we had plenty of appointments with potential investigators to keep us going!.. But alas, most of them fell through or had to reschedule. We did meet with a couple of nice people this week, though, the first of which being Afari, a nice man from India, working in research here in Korea. He'd meet missionaries before, but it had been a little while so he was happy to see us again.

Later on, we adventured into a part of our area we had never been! It was a nice place, kind of small, and the time we went wasn't ideal for contacting, but it was a good adventure for us, it got me excited to work!

But that's the news of the week. Stay cool,

~Elder Skinner

Faith, Prepared kids, and a lot of heat... Closing off another in Ilsan! August 14, 2016

 Morning everyone! Wishing you all a happy anniversary today... What of? Korean independence! Korea today celebrates its liberation from Japanese colonization shortly following World War 2.

So the atmosphere in Korea today is a lively one!

But as for the events of this past week here in Korea Seoul, our team has been starting to find lots of tender mercies as we set appointments to teach lessons at an accelerating rate to prepare ourselves for this coming week! It seems like God is trusting us with some of His prepared children to work with this coming week.

However, not all appointments are alike. This week, for instance, we set an appointment with, we thought, a nice kid we met by the lake and talked with for a bit, who we couldn't get a phone number from but we gave him a card with our number on it. So we go down there with high expectations, but soon we find that it wasn't him, but a middle-aged woman working as a missionary from a rather infamous church here in Korea. We quickly left the situation, with a warning from president not to work with people of that religion.

But later on, we were able to meet with Eliot and help him work on his commitment to live the Word of Wisdom. It went really well and we gave him a new baptismal date for the 2nd of November (which gives him enough time to quit entirely)!

And just yesterday, we left a ward gathering early because we felt like there were prepared people outside, and as the dinner had ended it wasn't too big of a deal to step out. So me and my companion go out to talk to people, and we find not one, but two really prepared kids on the street! One doesn't have a phone, but we're meeting with the other one on Wednesday to teach the Restoration!

And lastly, Transfers are in, and me and Elder Conley are to stay together in Ilsan! However, the other elders out here will be closing their area and combining it with ours as they move out to other areas. So we'll have a lot more people to talk about next week!

Thanks for reading my long email, and I'll close it off with a quick thought.

This week I learned that the principle of faith not only means faith in Christ, as important and essential as that is. It also includes faith in yourself. You have to believe that you, with God's help, are able to accomplish anything, and that you can do the things that God expects of you. Then, when you are weak or cannot go any farther, having faith in Christ allows you to have confidence in the future, and that things will all work out.

Love you all, and I'll talk to you next week!

~Elder Skinner

Exchange Miracles! Aug. 7, 2016

Morning everyone! How's it going in the world today? I don't really know, honestly, but if North Korea ever does something... Anyway. On to the weekly email stuff!

The monsoon season is up and roaring out here, and while there's not a whole lot of rain, it's sure been hot and humid. I'm not a big fan either, but so far I've been able to deal with it pretty well. Lots of water, sunscreen, shady areas and air-conditioned buildings, and just about anything we can think of to get out of the heat.

In the midst of all this heat, my companion (Elder the Best Companion Ever) goes down to meet with the Zone Leaders and passes the second level of LPP, the Korean language learning program. So we're all super proud of him and stuff.

Later on in the week we had a zone proselyting activity in our area, where we set up some fun activities and used them to teach people about the Gospel. As the district leader of Ilsan, it was my job to get everything prepared and set up and make sure it was good! And at first, it didn't look like it was gonna go too great, but amidst the stress of the situation, I took a minute to pray and was able to think clearly enough to move everything over to a better location and allow the zone to find lots of miracles!

We're still meeting with Eliot and though his baptismal date is fallen through, he's still doing well and we're trying to help him to progress towards a new one.

On exchanges, me and Elder Judd saw a few cool miracles! We met three nice people (all of whom spoke English ^^;; ) and though none of them were able to meet again, they were super cool! Exchanges always bring miracles!

Then on Saturday, we hosted a Mutual night with the YM/YW. I hosted a game of Mafia, and at first it turned out a lot like the zone activity- it looked like it was gonna be a flop, and no one was gonna come. But we waited it out, and the people that were there got it on like Donkey Kong and started calling everyone that wasn't there, so that 30 minutes later, we were able to have an awesome activity.

So this week I guess you could say I learned a lot about relying on the Lord in times of stress. It's comforting to know that after you've done all that you can do and things seem like they're about to fall apart, the Lord makes sure that things will work out somehow.

Long email is long, but one more item of business... This week we got 12 packs of the spiciest ramen in Korea! Wish me luck this week as I try to finish this 불닭 볶음면! (Bul-dak Bokkum Myeon- Spicy Chicken flavoured stir-fried noodles).

Love you all,

~Elder Skinner

They don't pay me enough to do this in only an hour! July 31, 2016

Meaning that once again, I don't have much time! But here's the week in wrap-up!

Monday was not P-day, but we still had a great time having a streetboarding activity and going down to Wondang (The other area in my district) to conduct Language-Progress assessment with one of the sisters in the district.

Tuesday was not only P-day, but we went to the Temple! As always it was an awesome experience, and afterwards we took some pictures, ate sushi, and went down to Dongdaemun to buy some fancy ties!

Wednesday I had district meeting! It was scary! But it went well and the spirit helped me to teach the district what we needed.

Friday we went back to Seoul to have a meeting with former Korea Mission president, President Brown! He taught us some cool lessons about missionary work and about the history of Korea in the gospel. I also went on exchanges with my Zone leaders!

Sunday we met with Eliot! He stopped answering his phone so we went down to his house and he was there and we went out and taught him a bit. He drank last night, but is still willing to meet and in interested in the Gospel!

Sorry but my companion's waiting for me! I'll talk to you all next week!

~Elder Skinner