Letter from Elder Britsch june 24th, 2009

Dear Fam,
I’m staying in bupyoung. However, elder walters left to go out to the country and I got a new companion named Elder Hatfield. I really liked serving with Elder Walters but my new companion seems to be very excited and willing to work (though I’ve only known him for a few hrs). He is starting his 3rd transfer or almost 3rd month in korea. He has only been with his trainer. I’m excited for the opportunity. He is from provo and actually new my cousin Chase in elementary and knew great grandma’s house. Attended Timp View and BYU for a semester. He’s tall and likes to talk. We will be learning a lot of Korean together. I’m excited. I will be praying more and harder than ever before. I can’t turn to Elder Walters and say “what did he say?” anymore. In the past week we met some new people. A college kid who is very interested in the book of mormon. A 40yr old man who’s had a hard life and has nothing save a pension right now.. And a teenager who wants to have religion. All are fun to teach. We are grateful for the time teaching and off of the hot streets. We also ate dinner at one of the senior couple missionaries houses with an investigator who speaks great English. It was great to eat pasta and fun to teach him with them. The ward is going through many changes. The new bishop is interviewing everyone in the ward and then calling new people. It will really stir things up. We met with a deaf lady and her deaf husband in the ward at their house. We had a conversation on a white board in her living room. Her middle school age son came in half way from school and then we could speak Korean and he signed. It was a relieving feeling to be able to speak but yet we still had to speak in Korean to communicate. We learned some sign and had a really unique fun experience. It was cool to see my companions prayers translated to sign right in front of us. The couple although watching with open eyes, still had a really reverent manner about them. I thought a lot about how the spirit can be felt in different ways.
Love
Elder Britsch