Come, O thou King of Kings! Elder Skinner gets into the Christmas Spirit!

...Okay, I know it's not technically a Christmas song, but I like it anyway!

This week, the Christmas spirit has been very apparent in the mission, as now missionaries are willing to sing Christmas hymns and the church has just today released the "A Saviour is Born" program, so for the next 26 days, Christmas Spirit will abound!

Plus, out here in Korea, the weather just turned on the AC! It's cold out here! I'll attach a picture of me in my full getup for this week!

This week's been pretty normal, but there are a few things I'd like to share about.

On Friday we met a guy who isn't interested in religion at all, but wanted to meet with us just cause. But wouldn't you know it, the Book of Mormon answers all of his questions and concerns about religion and he wants to know more about what we teach. It's almost like the Gospel is true or something!

This Thanksgiving in Korea, as missionaries we ate a heaping Thanksgiving meal of... Pizza! It was delicious, but not anywhere near the good stuff I'm sure you all ate and gave thanks for.

I'm thankful this week for the perspective of the Gospel! That's helped me a lot through recent times, just recognizing that there is an eternal plan for us, and that the work WILL move forward!

To close out, here's a verse I've been studying, in Ezekiel 34:12;

As a shepherd seeketh out his flock in the day that he is among his sheep that are scattered; so will I seek

out my sheep, and will deliver them out of all places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day.

I took that verse two different ways this week... as the shepherd, and as the sheep. It's interesting to think that as missionaries, and as members generally, we are at times shepherds searching out the flock, and other times sheep in need of rescue. I can think of distinct moments on my mission where I've felt like I was both at one time or another. Brothers and Sisters, the Gospel is true, and we do have a Saviour!

I hope you all have a wonderful week. Best of luck to all my friends in Christ Jesus,

~Elder Skinner

Out of all the students in the world, he might just be the busiest... Elder Skinner turns 1!

Hello everyone! I don't have a lot of time and my keyboard is having some trouble typing so I'm gonna just send out a quick email this week!

This week has been pretty good, contributing slightly to the fact is this past week was my mission hump day! On November 5th last year I entered the MTC! We celebrated by going to a theme restaurant called Chicken Toilet! We get fed chicken out of toilets! That was lots of fun.

 

This week we meet a ton of cool people, including but not limited to a music kid who likes to sing Gospel, a kid who wants to learn English, and others!

Also this week one of our investigators decided to get baptized! He's been taught everything but has some other issues to work through, so we set a date for the 6th of December. He's super sincere though and we have faith that he'll be able to make that date!

This week also I passed a Korean language test, got visited by President, ate dinner with an investigator who's pretty cool, and of course traveled thee entire area!

I love you all! Super sorry for the short email, but I'll make up for it next week! This week's ponderizer is Romans 9:38-39!

~Elder Skinner 

Our bus driver is definitely Crazy... Elder Skinner wanders around Imun! Nov. 1

Hello everyone, and welcome to another episode of Elder Skinner's uninteresting adventures, starring Elder Skinner!

I'm not proud in my heart, I swear.

This week I got transferred! On Wednesday

we went down to the Mission Office (where transfers would be held) for Elder Bybee's final interview, and we decided to take the bus there rather than taking the train as we normally do. That turned out to be a bad idea, as it took nearly twice as long, (we also had to carry some luggage) and our bus driver was quite the crazy driver! It was kind of scary!

Then we transferred, and my new area is smaller than I thought it would be... We can literally walk around our area in a big circle once in a normal day (assuming no appointments)! It's a lot of city, but not quite the same city as Shinchon or even Guri... I guess it's kind of a smaller city sort of feel, a little bit more compact, maybe. Plus there are 7 universities within our area, a few of them being pretty big.

New companion's name is Elder Wyckoff, from Orem. He's in the same MTC group as Elder Bluhm (about 4 or 5 months ahead of me), and he's a fun Elder to serve with. He's energetic and really gets involved in things. He's a nerd like I am but he just doesn't express it as openly. XD

New apartment is bigger than my old one but still not quite the size of the ones before that. Not too much special about it, except for the other Elders living there... I'm with Elder Seely, from the MTC! He's finishing training a new missionary (also from Utah) who I don't know as well but seems cool.

The branch out here is super cool so far... It's about twice the size of Gangneung but still only half the size of Gyomun (Guri) or Shinchon... We're gonna make it a ward while we're here. ;)

But that's about it for this week... I've attached a picture of me and Elder Wyckoff being awesome, but that's about it for events this week.

This week's scripture is my Ponderizer for this week, Alma 30:41. It reads like this:

41 But, behold, I have all things as a testimony that these things are true; and ye also have all things as a testimony unto you that they are true; and will ye deny them? Believest thou that these things are true?

This scripture is a good reminder that we have a stronger testimony than sometimes we think we do. Just remember the basics and you can see yourself as God does- a person with a lot of potential! Have a wonderful week, everyone, and as always, Let us All press on!

~Elder Skinner

It's a wonderful day in the neighbourhood... Elder Skinner and the Awesome Investigator! Oct. 25

Good morning to all who roam the earth! I had prepared a video for this week's email but it's too big to send so we'll have to find some other way to watch it.

For now, though, I'm still in Korea and this week, as usual, has been awesome.

This Monday we went on quite the adventure up to Uijeongbu (의정부) to get some cheap, custom-tailored suits up there for my companion and our roommate, Elder Sullivan. 100% custom, delivered to our house, all for about $150. Pretty nice deal, I think, but I didn't get one this time around. Next time, maybe.

Also had interviews with President this week. Just some 'how are you doing' questions mostly, some advice on missionary work.

This past Saturday we met a potential investigator named Yu, and as it turns out, he knows where the church is, has taken all the discussions, and read the entire Book of Mormon. He's been busy lately because his father is in a hospital 2 hours away and goes down there whenever he's not working (also quite a distance away). He lives in our area though, so we were able to meet him for a little bit and discuss some of this. He's super cool.

Also on Saturday we got transfer calls... You all knew my companion would be going home, but guess what?

...No guess again.

...Okay, fine, I'll just tell you. I'm getting transferred! Even though I've only been here for 6 weeks! I'll be going to Imun (이문). It's the smallest area in the entire mission. O.o

So next week's email will come from Imun. Until then, here's a scripture I found lately that I've enjoyed...  It's Isaiah 61: 1-3.

 1 The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek;he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound;

 2 To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn;

 3 To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he might be glorified.

This scripture, to me, means that not only through the Atonement of Christ can we be released from bonds of sin and death, but also reminds me of just how much good we as individuals can do, as well as as a church. Think about the service of the Humanitarian program, the way Fast Offerings are given, and even just how much good we can make in the lives of those we meet personally. This is our mission in our lives- to do good, and to proclaim the Acceptable Year of the Lord.

Love you all, hope you all have a wonderful week, and as always, DFTBA!

~Elder Skinner

Korea Seoul ("Best") Mission

Birthdays, Anniversaries, and North Korea! Elder Skinner and the Creative Album Title!

Morning, brothers and sisters! Whether or not it's morning wherever you are, have a good one!

As suggested by the title of this email, this week's been a busy one. Tuesday was my companion's birthday (we went on exchanges to celebrate 😸), so everyone wish him a happy 생일!

Thursday our district (excluding the sisters) went up to the DMZ up by Imjingak! We took a tour of a train station (the last station before the line goes into North Korea- not used by the public), saw North Korea from a big tower, and went into some tunnels that North Korea tried to dig into South Korea to invade. Obviously, they weren't successful, I guess you can't blame 'em for trying, though, right?

On Friday was my companion and our roommate's 2 year anniversary of missionary work! To celebrate, we went to Outback! It was pretty delicious, and we had some help from a trusted source to pay for it so that makes it even better!

Later that day we went to a Kim Jang! What's a Kim Jang? Well, it's a place where people go to make Kimchi. We were invited to help make Kimchi for the poor (or maybe North Korea, I'm not sure) so that was super fun. We were even given some to take back home!

That's all for this week, but I hope you all have a wonderful week! Here's a picture from the Kim Jang and a whole bunch of love,

~Elder Skinner

As long as I've got my suit and tie...

That's right, it's back to suit weather here in Seoul! Us missionaries are now approximately 32% more stylish than before!

Before I begin, I have a confession to make... I totally slacked off on pictures this week. ㅠㅠ I have since repented and talked to my Mission President and I'm good to stay on my mission, but he told me to take more pictures this week, so expect plenty of pictures!

In other news this week, me and my companion failed to throw out some old trash last P-day. You would think it would be easy, but with the Korean trash system... You Korean Missionaries know this, but let's just say we were running around like chickens with our heads cut off trying to find the needed stuff.

Also this week we met two new investigators! We'll call them Kim and Jang. Kim is Christian, with a lot of scriptural knowledge and background. We kinda had trouble understanding him so next time we'll bring in a Korean. ^^

Jang has no religion, but was interested when he met some other missionaries in our zone. We met him and talked about God, mostly. He'll be busy for a while but he's really interested!

Also yesterday we met Kamran again and taught him about the Book of Mormon. He's doing super well!

And of course, it was Conference weekend out here in Korea! A lot of good words spoken, and I don't have my notebook so I can't share a good quote right now, but I really enjoyed President Uchtdorf's talk about simplicity, as well as Elder Rasband's talk.

Gotta fly, but some exciting adventures await us in next week's episode!

Love you all and hope for the best! DFTBLJ! Don't Forget to Be Like Jesus!

~Elder Skinner