October 31, 2011

Oh my gosh it's been quite a week.....let's take it from the top haha.

So on Saturday we had this stake Halloween party that....because nobody was actually asked to help the missionaries had to do EVERYTHING. Which is understandable....in Korea it's not as....big? I dunno, with the exception of a large amount of kids (probably an English class) close to our apartment that were walking around in costumes saying Happy Halloween, I haven't seen the "influence" out here much. With the exception of themed donuts at Dunkin Donuts (it's here) and something at Baskin Robbins.

So anyway, Elder Olsen and I got to work on the bean bag toss, and let me tell you how THAT went. We made it out of foam padding thinking that we'd be safe with it. We made three boards, and in all it took us like 6 hours to do it. Two of the boards were completely destroyed within the first half hour.

We also were put in charge of decorating a room.....that took most of Saturday and it was completely trashed by the end of the day.

Nice, right? Haha.

So on top of getting ready for THAT we also had a baptism to go to on Satuday....a couple going to the military branch got baptized and a lot of the missionaries that worked with them over the course of the last year, my companion included, showed up for it. It was really cool to see, especially since the husband at first didn't care much; he had a good UNDERSTANDING, but it didn't like....mean anything to him until the last part. Like, he decided to get baptized with his wife about two weeks ago, she's had a date set for nearly a month. It's cool, I even got to teach them a little on exchanges....it's cool to see that the gospel really IS for everyone....and I actually had a profound thought the other day. Everyone....EVERYONE...has the exact same questions regarding life. Everyone has the same core belief that there's a reason for our being here, beyond to....just exist? Pay taxes? Whatever. Everyone in some way believes more than that....and that's why a lot of people get lost in things like drug addiction, alcoholism, and such....to distract them from what's truly burning inside. Some people get so stuck on those distractions that they either lose sight of any true purpose or, worse yet....assume that that IS their purpose.

But regardless...everyone has that same thirst for knowledge and understanding.

Trippy....haha.

So one more thing....one of our French investigators mentioned wanting to go to church with us! This is incredibly significant because he talked about already going to church, but my companion told me it seemed like he just kind of picked a random church to go to for some spiritual enlightenment while he lives in Korea. Anyway, we gave him a French Book of Mormon and he was really excited about it. So we'll see what happens there!

Anyway...I don't think I'm going to transfer, I think first Elder Olsen will leave and I'll (FINALLY) get a junior companion, and THEN I'll leave. Maybe. No telling what's going to happen haha.

About my package.....I need a casual (P Day) jacket (just grab either my blue one or my black one at home)....and obviously....candy haha. Maybe a cool t-shirt? Haha

And Christmas.....just money.....and a cool t shirt and some candy :D

Anyway, I'm enclosing some pictures from the Halloween party. Also...notice how skinny I am in that picture? Haha.

Oh hey....I'm flip-flopping on whether or not I want you to come out......here, try this. I could come home in October or early December....so....between those two which would you want to take time off from school for? GET BACK TO ME ON THIS!

Outside of that....not much else for this week. Have a good week, thanks for all the support and love! It's greatly appreciated!
Love,
Aaron
--

사랑 보내셨으니까 감사합니다! 사랑해요!

Elder Cahoon in Korea. November 2010 to November 2012

1.  

   100_1549.JPG
2.  
3. 100E1600.JPG
4.  

Where does time go?

Sorry I haven't posted here.  I've been busy keeping up with Sister Howerton's blog in the Busan Mission.  Aaron is now in that area, and she has so many pictures of the missionaries it's so fun to read, and see what is going on. 
Here is the lastest letter from Aaron.  Enjoy! Oh...check out sister H's blog if you want.  I'll post a link.

Wow....sounds like a roller coaster of a week.

As for us, well, it's really hard to meet people. We can't even meet our members without another man, but the problem is our priesthood are either busy or.....I'm not sure if I want to take Branch President to visit less actives. He's a nice guy, but....he's someone that MIGHT scare them. (he is 6'8")

So anyway....my birthday was really good. We had our zone meeting that day, and the Howertons DID feed me and my companion....not long after we heart-attacked their door. They KNEW it was us haha...they required a picture of us by the door, and it's on the blog. But I'm sending it here too haha.

And the package DID show.....the suit is AWESOME! Really comfortable! Thank you soo much! Same with the shorts, it's really good. And the candy, oh man :D thank you so much!

I'm trying to write people but I really don't have a lot of time for it....we never have boring P-Days here haha.

Oh, I'm still in Gyeongsan, but I had this idea as far as using a contact on base to get packages, but I don't know ANYONE who goes to the Suseong English branch so we have no contacts. But Sister Howerton could have an idea haha.

Oh, conference was amazing, as usual. I really liked how Elder Holland really got after people about serving missions, and how much ENERGY President Monson had. That alone was a good pick-me-up.

Let's see....outside of that this week was kind of......strange. We've come up with some new IDEAS proselyting, but we're going to have to get to work on putting it to action. Stay tuned :D

Outside of that....unfortunately I don't have much news. I'm really grateful for all you're doing.....just think about all that's happened in the past year. Right? Haha....

Anyway, we've got kind of a big day today, so I'll post the pictures and leave you with a charge to have a good week.

Love,

Aaron

--

사랑 보내셨으니까 감사합니다! 사랑해요!

Sept. 25, 2011

Dear Mom,

So this week Elder Olsen and I got an appointment with this less active family in our area. They have these really cute kids that remind me so much of the kids back home. Well, we had dinner with them and the mom made a comment about how hard it must have been for you raising three sons, right after her two sons got in a fight over a game one was playing on their dad's iPad. She was like "Yeah, these kids are always fighting over it, Pokemon cards, iPad, video games." And I kinda smiled and said "Oh, I know very well." And she, with a completely straight face, said "You gave your mom the same problems didn't you?" I laughed and I said, "Well no, but there were those kinds of problems. My brothers fought constantly"

It was really fun...and as a spiritual message we talked about temples, specifically the possibility of a temple in Busan (or Daegu) to which they were....really receptive. The mom mentioned that she has been sitting for ten years on doing her dad's work....and even mentioned having a dream where he came and spoke to her and asked her why she hadn't done it yet. I instantly thought of you. I know you're doing so well with it and I'm so proud of you, to think soon you'll be doing the work.

There's your spiritual message for the week :D Anyway, sorry so short but I'm at a public computer with no chair and no time. Again, I'll be on the lookout for that package :D continue to pray every day, do all you're supposed to do, be nice to your kids, your employer, etc. Tell everyone I love them, and give some hard times about my lack of mail! People are slackin' off! Haha! Even email's fine, just get on it, y'all! Haha.

Love ya,

Aaron

--

사랑 보내셨으니까 감사합니다! 사랑해요!

Elder Cahoon in Korea. November 2010 to November 2012

Sept. 11, 2011

Hey mom!

Strange that Johnson is now out....Kaleb is next, dang. Wait, already? He JUST turned 19....of course, I suppose, so had I. Whatev's haha.

Anyway, yeah, I've been doing tons better since I got here. Yeah, our current branch doesn't have a whole lot going on either, but at least we don't LET that get to us. I dunno, it makes me feel better anyway.

P-Day casual stuff...well, I have a lot of shirts. My problem is pants....I go around in my gym shorts because my pants are HUGE on me now....and I've made a discovery....my pants are all too long on me. I realize I should have realized that sooner, but yeah....and my current pants are kinda loose on me (but a good loose, thankfully :D) my shirts need to be hemmed so I'm gonna do that once I get the money out of my account, so....thanks to all involved :D

Let's see...contact perscription should be fine, but I guess if you did mail that to me it would make it easier...it's on the box but still.

So this week is weird because it's the Korean Thanksgiving so everything is kinda shut down and we're not supposed to approach ANYONE until after tomorrow, so we're going back down to Busan for a party. And today is also our PDay because....I dunno, it's kinda weird. Yesterday we couldn't do much either so we just cleaned the apartment which I have pictures of so you can't ask me this time :P I especially want to show my bed, since you'll not BELIEVE this haha.

Yes, that's a picture of my companion sleeping, and some pictures of the fog out the window this morning. But yeah....the bed is basically a mat on the floor, and it's....pretty comfortable oddly enough. 4 years of sleeping on the floor on school trips has really helped train me for that haha.

Well, tell me how the new ward is....oh shoot I gotta tell President that my ward changed. Last month. I'll get on that haha. Who's in it again? It's pretty much the same isn't it? I know we got neither Josh and picked up Jenks, right? What else? Let me know.

What else? I guess there's not much more news. Oh, we had a baptism in a town called Hogye that we went to because that was my companion's last area and it was a lady he had worked with. But we actually missed the baptism because the missionary baptising her was LATE by like 40 minutes and the train we had to ride home on was leaving at the time the baptism was SCHEDULED to end. So....we missed the baptism unfortunately...but it was still really good.

That's about it for now. Stay tuned for updates. Stay safe, and thanks for all you've done for me, sincerely. I love you more than you realize.

Love,
Aaron

September begins 2011

Hey mom!

So I'm really liking this new area. My companion is a hard working guy, and as a result we spent a lot of time outside or on the subway proselyting (we don't have a lot of people to teach quite yet) and you know what happened? In one week we got 16 phone numbers. Obviously that's nowhere NEAR what Harman and his last companion got last transfer (them and their  55 contacts) They're really doing well though. They're not working together anymore but that's not stopping them by any means. Actually funny thing is my companion has a competition going with Harman's old companion. So far he beat us by one this week, but they started a day earlier than we did.

So my new companion is awesome, it's nice to have one I can relate to a little more.  Yeah, I'm doing a lot better than I was. Your prayers are appreciated.

So today is a special P Day that the Howertons put on for the zone to meet new missionaries, feed us a crap ton of food, and play games. It. Is. AWESOME. At the moment I'm kinda missing out on the action so I can email but it shows you how much more important communication with my family is :D

It's cool to hear what y'all are doing with school this year, as far as having one teacher focus on one subject. Somehow I saw THAT coming a mile away, you teaching English that is. And to think you wanted to teach....what was it, science? Bah. Hehehe. So wait, for science and history do you still have a homeroom class? How's that gonna work? Let me know.

So birthday, half, etc. Ummmm......money should suffice. Half....tons of candy? I dunno haha.

The pants fit REALLY well, in fact. My problem is I gotta find some smaller shirts....see, my shirts fit fine, they just have a lot of room in the stomach. A LOT of room. A LOT OF ROOM. But the problem with American shirts is....if you have a big neck and you're tall, OBVIOUSLY you're fat as well. So....I'm going to get my shirts hemmed. Our office missionary Elder Roskelly told me that it's pretty cheap, he had like 5 or 6 shirts done for $30. Just an idea.

What else? Oh, I tried on my suit coat. I CAN wear it, but it's....pretty big on me. But Sister Howerton said if I gave her my measurements she could look one up on the base or online for pretty cheap and I could pay her for it. So....we'll look into that. Stay tuned.

Anything else...? Oh, contacts. I actually think I can just buy them in stores here, since I don't have a problem with astygmatism anymore. The perscription is right on the box. So....I'll try that this week or sometime and get back to you on that one.

I don't think there's anything I missed....halfway, I'm not sure yet, birthday, I think money would be good. I'll think on it this week and get to you :D

So that's all for this week. Glad to hear things are going well, and things are good on my end too. Stay happy :D

Love,
Aaron

PS. Oh, hi to all the missionaries and members and anyone who still cares about me :D

--

사랑 보내셨으니까 감사합니다! 사랑해요!

Elder Cahoon in Korea. November 2010 to November 2012

August 30, 2011

1 recipients

CC: recipientsYou More

Show Details

FROM:

• Aaron Cahoon

TO:

• Shirley Matthews 

Message flagged

Monday, August 29, 2011 10:44 PM

Message body

Sorry I'm late! It's been a little crazy! Let's begin.

So I was transferred to an area called GyeongSan, which is right outside of Daegu (yes!) and the best part is the fact that the Howertons (senior military missionaries) are in my district! But I'm sure you already know that if you've been talking to Sister Howerton.

The cool thing about having the Howertons in my district is the fact that they get stuff from the military base for the missionaries, and it's actually comparable in price TO America. Which will be amazing NEXT week when I have money since we don't get MSF money until Thursday.

Also, my companion is really nice. I'm still a junior, but my companion doesn't really care. Legitamently....my previous companion said he didn't care, but that's PROBABLY because he wouldn't listen to me even if I WAS co-senior.

I regret to say I was witholding a lot of frustration in my emails home as I'm sure you could sense...

So about my new companion, his name is Elder Olsen, he's from Alaska, he has been in the country for about a year and 2 months, and he's really cool. He follows the same ideal that I follow. Namely....work hard, play hard. Like, duh, it's important to work hard as missionaries, but it's equally important to have fun. Not breaking rules by any means, but....like, just enjoying life. So I think we'll get along just fine.

As far as why I couldn't email yesterday, well, here's the story.

So we gathered at the mission office for transfers, but what happened was those who were waiting in Daegu for new companions didn't come down, they just sent their old companions. So a bunch of us were supposed to go up, and there was a group of 3 that were going to meet our new companions, those three were me, Elder Gee, and Elder Allen (names probably mean nothing to you). Well, what happened was Elder Allen had an interview with President Gilbert, and we were told that Gee would be fine since our companions would be at the station to catch him (apparently the missions do this all the time, sending one person just having teams at each end to catch them (out of the mouth of President himself)). So I waited back with Elder Allen. It was about 4 PM before we could leave because of the interview and him needing to talk with the office staff. But we got to the train station at about 4:45 or so. Now, I had been told that there was a car on the train we took that would have computers and internet. It did...but it was closed. By this time it was fairly late in the evening (we arrived in Daegu at like 7:30) And President had said that if we didn't have time to email yesterday just to do it when we had time today. "Just get it done, I don't want calls from worried mothers," he said. It was pretty funny actually.

But that's about it for updates....I don't really want to talk about what happened the last couple transfers. It wasn't bad, we just didn't DO anything. I just want to do as my new companion, Elder Olsen suggested. "Work hard, play hard." So far, it's pretty good, I'm already feeling better than I had been in Daeshin. Which isn't to say that that area's bad, the members were absolutely amazing. Like this one old lady who was actually baptized by Elder Choi Yoon Hwan when he was attending college at BYU Hawaii. She still gets letters from members of the Quorum of the Twelve and has met personally several of them. And that's just one example.

Well, I hope things aren't too stressful with school starting up (although I know they are) Oh well, you're a good teacher (the best that school has actually)....so it's nothing you can't handle.

Oh, as far as being late for Josh's farewell, think of it this way....you were doing service because nobody was watching the kid. Don't take this the wrong way, you still have to go to church, but don't be too hard on yourself ;)

I don't really think there's anything else on my mind at the moment. I'll have more for you next week, since my companion and I have planned to hit it and hit it hard. Which it's about time, if you know what I mean. Anyway, love you, be safe, tell those who still care about me that I love them, keep giving people pressure to write me, and all those other things I normally ask of you. Also...remember that God answers EVERY prayer, no matter how small or insignificant you may feel they be. But you already know that :)

Anyways, have a good week! Suffer much! (it's a joke based on the Korean passing "수고하세요" (Su-go-ha-sae-yo) which taken in CONTEXT means "Work hard!" but it's literal translation is "Please suffer much!")

Yeah, Korean does weird things to your brain....

Anyways, see ya!

Love,
Aaron

PS You probably thought I'd forget but I didn't. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MOM!!!!!

--

사랑 보내셨으니까 감사합니다! 사랑해요!

Elder Cahoon in Korea. November 2010 to November 2012

NOTICE: This email message is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply email and destroy all copies of the original message.

August 21, 2011 Beginning month 10

Hey again, mom!

Wow, hard to believe I'm already writing back.....that last week just kinda flew by, because we were so busy setting up for our activity on Saturday. It was pretty cool, we did a youth activity where we made the church into a haunted house and the teaching theme was actually based on Lehi's dream (the iron rod)....strangly enough (believe me I didn't come up with it) It was really fun, even though only ten people actually came and we bought snacks for 30+...so.....yeah we had a lot of snacks that we either had to leave in the church or take (which....I decided to do the latter (don't worry, I asked permission))

And this week will fly too, my companion has army reserve training tomorrow so I'll be on exchanges, then we have district meeting on Wednesday, and Thursday is our transfer calls, and then from then on the week will be spent packing either way because, if I transfer, I need to pack, and if not, I need to pack anyway because we're changing houses (which is good) The house we found is right next to the church, which is awesome considering we have to go there every day.

I dunno, my companion thinks I'm out. At least he says that, I don't really know what he thinks....he flip flops more often than a lot of Democrats I know (sorry, to all my Democrat pals, you know I love y'all)

As for the pants, I dunno yet. I haven't gotten the package because the office is holding mail until transfers are made so nobody knows where they are going (makes sense) but I'm going there today so I'll probably pick it up there.

I hoped you'd like the gift I sent....it was admittedly pretty hard to find and I wasn't sure if I should or not, because it was pretty expensive. But yeah, I'm really glad you liked it. Happy birthday, mom :) hard to believe mine's next (at the end of the next transfer as a matter of fact :D)

Oh, I'm not at ten months yet. I'm at 9. This is the beginning of my tenth. But thanks anyway :D

I'm glad you found Sister Howerton's blog, she and her husband are really nice (as a matter of fact I want to serve in Daegu so I can be in the same place as them) We do have senior missionaries in this area but my companion is kind of a recluse so he kinda avoids being with other missionaries. Well, he prefers Korean missionaries anyway.

Either way there's a high (extremely high) percent chance of us splitting up. Oh well, you'll know next week, and I'll know Thursday.

Thanks for all the support, mom. Sincerely, thanks. You've no idea how much it means to me and the others that you're writing. If you wind up becoming teaching partners with Jan again, be sure to have her give Elizabeth a hard time for taking so long to write me :)

Well, I need to get going. Tune in next week to find out where I'm going. I love you!

Love,

Aaron