Does anyone know where the book of Micah is? Elder Skinner does now! June 5, 2016

Afternoon, all of my best friends and family members! It's a wonderful day out in Ilsan, and email time is coming to a close, meaning it's time to send out my weekly email.

This week, it's been really hot. Nothing too bad, but it has been noticeably warmer this week. I just can't wait for this summer! (sarcasm)

But this week has been pretty good! I don

't have too much to talk about, though, as not a lot has happened between last week and now. We had a new family come to English Class, a service project delivering food to people who happened to be a little bit more advanced in years and also super nice, and to top it all off we had an awesome 2 hour choir practice, practicing a secret song that I'll try to share with you all in a few weeks!

A cool miracle we saw this week, though, was when we were out trying to find a member's house to give her a thank you note and some cookies for participating in a ward event recently. Unbeknownst to us, we had passed the turn-off and walked for about a kilometer in the wrong direction before we even realized it. So we find this out and it's almost 8:30, and we're really far from home, so we just decided to hail a bus and head back. So we get on the bus and guess who's sitting in the back of the bus, but the member who we had planned on visiting that same night! So we were able to give her the note and cookies and get home... before 9:30! (We were still late ^^;;) But miracles happen everywhere here in Ilsan!

I thought alot this week on one of my new favourite scriptures, in the book of Micah (Old Testament, near the end) chapter 7, verse 8. It reads,

"Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy; when I fall, I shall arise; when I stand in darkness, the Lord shall be a light unto me". I know that the Lord will never let us fall alone! He will guide us and help us to be strong in all things!

Hoorah for Israel!

~Elder Skinner

I run around, you run around... May 29, 2016

Morning everyone! I'm Elder Skinner, and I'm coming at you live from my new area, known as Ilsan! It isn't in the big city of Seoul, but outside of that it may be the biggest city in the mission! It's a really nice place, lots of parks and stuff, and I already love the area!

My new companion is Elder Paulsen, from guess where? Sandy, Utah! He's an actor and singer, and super talented in that field. He's a great missionary as well.

 

As for the events of the week, this Saturday we had an English Class Talent Show with the entire Stake! Ilsan was obviously the best, but I've gotta give it up to the other wards that participated, cause they were good too! It was all very well done and it seems like a lot of people really enjoyed it.

Our most progressing investigator is Eliot, who was born in the US and lived all around in Korea, the US and Canada for his entire life. Now he's looking for some more direction in his life, and is really accepting of the things we teach. Unfortunately, we couldn't get him to church yesterday, but he'll probably come next week!

That's all I've got for now, but here's a picture from Ilsan! Love you all and I'll try and send a better email next week!

~Elder Skinner

Elder Skinner learns how not to golf! May 15, 2016

The biggest development from this week is that I stink at golf, including screen golf! The bright side is, I got the highest score out of our district!

 

But anyways. Morning everyone! Unfortunately time is limited, so this will be a short, to-the-point kind of email!

This week was Branch Conference, which was super cool, but mostly because there was a huge lunch afterwards.

We got a new investigator this week named Richard, from China! He, like other Chinese people we've met in the past, is super awesome!

To close off, this month in Korea is Family Month, so I thought I''d share a cool scripture we used for an English Class message: Jacob 3:6-7.

"And now, this commandment they observe to keep; wherefore, because of this observance, in keeping this commandment, the Lord God will not destroy them, but will be merciful unto them; and one day they shall becomea blessed people.

 7 Behold, their husbands love their wives, and their wives love their husbands; and their husbands and their wives love their children;"

The blessings of families are as innumerable as the sands of the earth, and I hope you all this week will take a moment and think about the impact your family has had on your life, whether you be parent or child, husband or wife.

Have a wonderful week and I'll send another message next week!

~Elder Skinner

It's a great time to be a mom... Of a missionary! May 8, 2016

 And you know what that means... Today was my call home for Mother's Day! A big shout out to all moms out there on this special day!

 

This past week we've met some awesome new people, amounting in a grand total of four new investigators! We've got Yun, who has a lot of interest in religion in general, Jay, who accepts everything very well, and Lee, who likes to hang out with us mostly haha... That's been really cool though.

In other news, I successfully made about 60 cookies for our zone activity, and I only burned one batch! That's a new personal record!

This past Thursday was Childrens' Day, and as a zone we all went down to Childrens' Grand Park and gave out cookies, painted faces, and I also played a bit on the Ocarina (Hymns, or course). It was a lot of fun and the other teams found a lot of new people out of it.

And even here in Korea this Sunday was Parents' day (and we all know who the more important parent is, I mean come on), and it was a time to stop and think about the awesome moms in our lives. We didn't do any fun activities for that I'm afraid, but we did have plenty of cool people to talk to!

 

But that's all the exciting news going on around Seoul this fine day... Hope you all have a wonderful mothers' day (or the day after), and don't forget to say thank you to some of your favourite mothers out there, all the time!

God Speed the right,

~Elder Skinner

Wait... You're riding the bus wearing those clothes? May 1, 2016

Afternoon everyone! This is gonna be a short email, but I hope you enjoy it just as much as the other ones that are longer!

Not a lot of exciting news to report this week, but here are some updates for our progressing investigators:

~Brother Kang was a potential we met on the street outside of a hotel he works for. He was able to come to church yesterday, which is super cool. He really seemed to enjoy it!

~We met Mordecai this week in street contacting. He's from Ghana, going to a church nearby, but we talked to him and he agreed to hear our message. We were able to teach him the first lesson, and it was possibly the best first lesson we've ever taught, and he's super willing to progress in the gospel.

Other potentials are out there, but I'll update on those next time!

All in all, things are good! P-day adventures have included Ice Skating last week, and Costco this week, and spirits are high in the Imun branch! I hope all of you to have a great week!

~Elder Skinner 

I'm not very good at taking pictures! ~Elder Skinner and the broken keyboard! April 24, 2016

Morning everyone! Shortened email time leaves me with about 5 minutes and 22 seconds, but I think I can make it in that time!

This week began last week with a soccer game at University of Seoul, right by our house. It was us four uncoordinated Americans versus four native Koreans, and it was a match to remember! We only lost 3-1!

In more missionary-related news, however, we found a lot of people on the street who were really nice and wanted to meet again, but were also to one extent or another... drunk. So, I guess we'll see later on, but I thought it was interesting that almost everyone we were able to talk to for a whole day was drunk.

We also met some really nice people who weren't drunk this week! One works at a hotel down the road from the church, and he's really interested in meeting us again and coming to church! He couldn't come yesterday but he'll come next week!

Later on, a drunk person brought us into this 상가 (I don't know how to describe it in English) and brings us to this Taekwondo dojo. The sensei there tuurns out to be really interested in the Book of Mormon and also wants to come to church! He didn't come yesterday either, but he's still awesome!

That's all for now, but here's a picture of me at a cheap restaraunt by our house!

Elder Skinner