Letter from Elder Britsch

Dear Fam, September 12, 2010
Glad to hear everyone is recovering. I did some my recovery myself after a few spicy lava attacks (if u know what i mean) (been in korea this long and it still gets me..).
Blessings:
On Saturday night I called su hwa who hadn't met all week because of work. She somewhat hesitantly agreed to come to church. With this news I called our gospel principles teacher and discussed her needs. Based on our conversation he decided to scratch the set lesson and teach to her needs. I told him she had been feeling stressed by work and not feeling a lot of peace - she told me she feels like god is giving her trials sees little blessings; wondered why we need the atonement; and didn't have a great understanding of post life; plus this was probably a make it or break it experience for her because she hadn't been to Church since she was in elementary school. The conversation ended right before bed and I was unable to call anyone else. I prayed in my bedtime prayer, morning prayer, and breakfast prayer that the speakers would teach to her needs and would be open to the spirit's direction as they spoke.
The next day she came to church. The first to speakers spoke on keeping the sabbath. I realized it was just what she needed to gain a testimony of church attendance.
(when i thanked the 1st speaker after church, she told me that she felt to stop looking at her notes and say things she didn't expect to say) . I felt the spirit as i read the title of the middle hymn "Because I have been given much". Another answer to her needs. The final speaker was the bishop. He spoke straight from DC 76 about the salvation and post life. He became unusually emotional during to parts of his talk. He expressed how he knows god loves us even more than he does and it brought him to tears. he told everyone he loves them. very uncharacteristic of Koreans to express publicly or privately. Towards the end of his talk he commented that he had actually prepared a totally different talk on DC 90 (if i recall) but during the middle hymn (i cant remember what u call it in english. ha ha) he felt strongly that he needed to talk about something else. It made me a little emotional as I felt another prayer answered through our leader. The closing hymn was "Sweat is the peace the gospel brings". Once again I recognized an answer for su hwa. As decided our gospel principle topic was the atonement. an elderly korean couple happened to be visiting who had converted just months before while living in texas. they shared powerful sweat testimonies and encouraged her to be diligent in her reading.
When we asked her if she like church she just said she wasn't sure about a lot and it was all very new. I don't know if she recognized the many answers that came but i stood amazed at the lord's manifestation of his love and concern for her. I hope we can help her to see it too.
Later that day we met 2 new investigators. We hadn't had any luck the whole week. The constant pouring rain seemed to make people less friendly. However on sat. night i talked to a 14 yr old who said he wanted to meet the next day. partly to our surprise he met and when he saw the church he said "wow, I came her 4 years ago. As we gave him a tour he looked in the primary room and said that where I was. He said he came with his mom for a year but stopped when she had to start working on weekends. We watched a introd. to our church movie "Do you know us?'" and he said i remember joseph smith, he saw god and Jesus. He looks promising.
Sunday night we went to stop by a members . Her grandson happened to be there . He Chinese and from hong kong but came her a few weeks ago to go to college (he's 20). At first he said no to our invitation to meet with us as he goes to another church and in hong kong he heard we are a colt. after explaining more of our beliefs and clearing up some misconceptions he was eager to meet us again. he'll meet us this Sat. He's attending Korea's Harvard right now.
My comp. and I were thrilled at the miracles.
The Lord is active in our lives. I fear my ingratitude keeps me from seeing his hand more. How often we look for the things to criticize rather than uplift. My comp. and I have made a goal to never say anything negative or unkind about anyone. I want to develop an attitude of seeing someone on the street or anywhere and thinking about their good qualities rather than how drunk or strange or etc etc they look.

I love this work. It really pains me to think I will leave this place and this work. However, although the name tag will come off, the name of the savior has been written on my heart by the witness of the spirit. I know the name by which I am called. This is His work. The mission has never been "my" mission. I pray I never hard my heart to the point of rubbing away the name imprinted there.

I love you all.
I love missionary work.
The Lord loves you even more than me.

Elder Britsch