Tuesday, July 15, 2014

Six Months Later ...

So tomorrow I hit 6 months on the mission, and I thought I would do something a bit different than my usual email that I write every week.  I want to reflect back a bit on everything that I've learned so far on the mission and what it's actually meant to me.

First of all, I can easily say that the mission has been the best experience of my life so far. I can also say that it's been the hardest, but every second of the sacrifice has been worth it.  When I look back at who I was when I first left on a mission, I really can't believe that I was such a spoiled-spoiled-complainer.  I had an amazing life, but I didn't appreciate it at all.  I didn't realize how great all of you actually were and how patient you were with me.  There's no other way I would have realized this without going on a mission.  The mission has honestly changed me so far, and I can't wait to keep growing physically, mentally and spiritually over the rest of my mission.  I really hope that I can turn into someone that all of you are proud of, because I definitely wasn't that before the mission.  When I left I remember thinking that I didn't want to change at all, I just wanted to do my 2 years and go home to my life that I had before. My mission would have been such a waste if I had done that.  While I definitely have plans for after the mission, a lot of them have changed as I've grown.  I'm excited to see what life brings!

The MTC and the first month I was in Korea were easily the hardest 3 months of my life.  My life was turned upside down those first few months.  My life seemed perfect the 2 months before the mission, and I thought I would never have that again.  I thought that I had a solid plan in life and it would go perfect, I thought I had good Korean in the MTC, I thought that missionary work outside of the MTC was going to be easy.  All of those things weren't even close to the truth.  I thought that I would never like the mission and that I was going to just suffer the whole time.  About half way through the 3rd month things started to click.  I started realizing that it wasn't so hard and that I just had had a negative outlook on things.  BEING POSITIVE IS SO IMPORTANT!  Life is what YOU make of it, so choose to be happy.  When I started actually trying to be happy and enjoy things is when I realized that I love being here.  I love Korea, I love all the weird food here, I love the people that reject me and cuss me out.  I'm still not positive 100% of the time, but I'm working to get there!  I can honestly say that life is perfect right now here in Korea.

To all my friends who haven't gone on a mission yet or are about to go on one: it's worth it.  Every second of it is worth it.  Being on a mission is the best choice that you can make, even if you don't think that it's for you.  I remember hearing people talk about how a mission just isn't for them and how it's just too hard to go on one.  YOU CAN DO IT!  There's a girl in my ward right now who's parents HATE the church.  Her whole family got baptized, then the parents went crazy a few years later.  She's 19 and is about to serve a mission.  She gave up a full ride scholarship to one of the best music composition schools in Austria, and her family hates her because she's serving a mission, but she's going.  So if you think that it's just too hard to leave, think of the sacrifices my friend is making.  You can do this! Have faith that it'll all work out in the end, because the Lord will bless you for serving him.

The language is still pretty nuts to me.  I'm not even close to understanding 90% of the things people say, but I'm able to have full conversations with people if the stars align and we're talking about the right stuff.  When that happens it's pretty much the coolest thing ever.  I'm so set on mastering this language.  I WILL get it at some point!

I seriously love ALL of you and you all mean everything to me.  I want to thank everyone for helping me get on a mission.  There are a few of you that I couldn't have done without, and I really thank you for being there and pushing me to do this.

Love,
Rob

P.S. Everyone needs to get better at emailing me! :P  I don't get enough emails anymore!

Photo -- I only took one this week.  I went to Taco Bell and it was possibly the best thing ever...