Episode #001: The Barefoot Missionary

Well, it's official, I'm a missionary!! Without even leaving the house. Let me tell you about it:

Week Summary:

It's been a week filled to the brim with Zoom calls, scripture study, Korean flashcards, and bowls of cereal. I'm already super tired, and I'm already super happy too! :) I love my district! They're so cool! And my teachers are awesome. I've absolutely loved my first week as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

There's been some adjusting to do for sure. I'm feeling the social withdrawals, and it's kind of a weird half-step into missionary life, to be taking all the classes and diving into the language but still sleeping in my own bed. I guess I kind of miss music and TV, but not nearly as much as I thought I would. My sister Mollie does a great job of protecting me from breaking the rules, snapping at anyone who doesn't pause their show when I walk by or hums a song that isn't a hymn. When my mom started singing Travis Scott, boy did Mollie put a stop to it FAST.

There's definitely some fun aspects of Home MTC, but I'm definitely excited to get out of here and go to Provo.

Highlights:

-  As a missionary I now get the privilege of free meals from my mission prep teachers restaurant, so I took advantage of that earlier this week and it was delicious.

- I set up a Facebook, wish me a happy 80th birthday

- We got to do some roleplay to practice contacting and the elders got pretty into choosing characters (Mark Walhberg & Will Ferrel, Thug 1&2, the Bad Samaritan & a mime, etc.)

- After we discussed the Tuesday night devotional, our district just stayed on the call for like 30 minutes and talked about learning Korean and home MTC etc. They're really cool and I can't wait to see them in person.

Spiritual Thought:

In one of our lessons we read 3 Nephi 12:16, where Jesus tells the Nephites to "let your light so shine before this people, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven" which is very similar to Matthew 5:16, with a few small differences. I never realized that when Jesus was resurrected and visited the Nephites in the Americas, he gave a very similar message to the Sermon on the Mount! How cool is it that Jesus gave the same talk on two separate continents at different times, and through the grace and mercy of Heavenly Father, the records of them were preserved, passed down, and translated so that we can have both of them today! That is so awesome to me! Two continents. Two completely different settings. And Jesus Christ gave the same message. He loves all of God's children equally and they all deserved to hear His word.

Week one was absolutely a 10/10, and I'm sure it'll only get better. I feel like a part of the army of Helaman, and honored to learn and serve alongside hundreds of fellow missionaries. I know that I am exactly where God needs me to be, and of this I testify in the name of Jesus Christ,

Amen

I'll be sending these to my mom to send out almost every week if I can. I'm sure they'll get more interesting once I'm in Seoul. If this week's email was a deal breaker for you, email my mom (ksmith480@gmail.com) and she'll take you off the list. If you know anyone who wants to start getting these, same instruction, but she'll add you instead :)

Love you all! See you in 2!!