Hike, hike, hike, hike ...

There was so much cool stuff that went on this week.  I got to go to the Seoul Temple for the first time on Tuesday, which was super cool.  Everything there has a Korean theme to it, and it was an amazing experience.  After the temple we had P-Day, and all the Elders in our district went out to Dobongsan to hike. I have never been on a hike that's had such stunning views, it was way different than hiking in Yellowstone and Yosemite.  The whole first part of the hike we were completely convered by trees and brush, then about half way through we hit this clearing and you would see all of Seoul.  It had rained the day before and the air was super clean and fresh, which made the view just that much better.  The second half of the hike was almost completely vertical climbing rocks and steps through more trees, but when you hit the top you could see over the whole city and the mountains outside the city.  We had some of our Korean friends with us, and they pointed out that some of the mountains way far out north are actually part of North Korea.  It was such an awesome experience and a great workout too.

Missionary work this week was really hard but extremely rewarding!  We had our highest stats yet this week and talked to hundreds of people.  We ran into a less active named Pong Jay Hong this week, we usually go over to his house and visit him, but we ran into him on the street this week.  We've been trying to get him to church, but he never wants to come.  So when we ran into him I may have resorted to begging and pleading, but...he was at church on Sunday!!! We really enjoyed it and he told me that he felt a lot of peace while in sacrament meeting -- hopefully he'll come again next week!  Do you remember that less-active family that I tried visiting 2 weeks ago out in Namyanju?  We tried to visit them again and they actually let us in!  Turns out that Sister Kim's father is a preacher at one of the big anti-Mormon churches here in Korea and he was visiting when we knocked on their door this week.  Apparently he has no idea that they're members of the church, which is probably why they haven't really been attending lately.  Brother Kim used to be first counselor in the bishopric in our ward. They said that they're interested in taking the lessons again and coming back to church.  We're gonna work hard to bring them back!

I'm really loving it here and I feel like I've grown so much over the last 3 months.  I seriously never want to leave Korea.  Being here is such a blessing.

Rob

    Noodle run?

Halfway there ...

Getting closer ...

The summit!