Safe arrival in South Korea

Incheon airport, South Korea

Hello Parents,

Today we had 17 wonderful missionaries arrive safely at the airport and were transported to the mission home.
They all enjoyed their first experience of proselyting on the subway on the two hour ride home.
They had their first experiences speaking exclusively their mission language.

We had a wonderful dinner together and learned just a little about each of them.
Attached is the first picture of your son or daughter along with four office staff elders, four elders and two sisters of those who will be training your young missionaries.

Tomorrow they will be interviewed, oriented to the mission, and assigned a companion who will help them for the next twelve weeks settle into their new role here.
Pictures to follow!

Thank you for preparing them and allowing them to serve the Lord and invite the people of this mission to come unto Christ.

We have created a blog which we try to update each week so you can keep updated on what happens in this mission and in this country.
We will share as many pictures as possible for you.  Follow us at: koreaseoulsouthmission.blogspot.com

Know that Sister Turner and I will love these young men and young women like they are our own children.

Thank you again,
Please know of our love for them and for you.

Roger Turner
Korea Seoul South Mission

Week 8 - Last MTC Update

WOW, it's crazy to think that I've been here for 8 weeks already and It's even crazier to think that I'll be leaving for Korea in 5 days!!! As unprepared as I feel I am ready to speak Korean all day everyday, I'm so excited to get to Korea and to start serving the people! I'm trying to forget about my 13 hour plane ride but if you could all keep me in your prayers, that I can remain calm during that flight, it would be greatly appreciated haha.

This last week has been super exciting but also a little bit overwhelming. Ever since we got our flight plans on Friday, the days have been flying by and it's actually a little sad. I'm going to miss all the experiences and friends I've made here at the M.T.C. No one told me I would have to say a ton of more goodbyes after leaving for my mission! But, it's super exciting to think about all the great work our district and zone will do, and we are all ready to be in the field and to get to work!

We have In field Orientation tomorrow and then Saturday we have to say bye to our teachers :( Both of my teachers are amazing and I've learned so much from them. Brother Watts is amazing at Korean and truly cares so much about each of us. And he is returning to visit Korea next year so he is going to visit us so that's exciting! Sister Zundell is really awesome too. She teaches so well and we always seem to have something hilarious happen each lesson or class time we have with her. I was truly lucky with both of them! My next teacher will be my first companion basically. I'm excited to meet my trainer and then I'll be with them for the first 12 weeks in the field so all the way until December!!!!

Last night's devotional we heard an awesome message from Sister and Brother Clayton of the 70 presidency. Sister Clayton had the best advice to leave us as we prepare to leave this week. She gave us 4 suggestions:

1.Note the miracles in life. As we keep track of the miracles each day we can see how much of the "Earth is Crammed with heaven". As I've been at the M.T.C, I've kept a gratitude book to keep track of what I'm thankful for each day. I'd encourage everyone to write down any miracles and blessings they feel each day so you can pay attention to just how amazing God's hand is in the World.

2.Trust in Heaven. "If we work our hardest by the grace of God it will be enough".

3. Be patient. "Everything takes time". We think in terms of right now and tomorrow and God thinks in terms of lifetimes and eternals. We have to be patient and know that all things will come eventually and that everything will work out for the best in the end through God's plan.

4. Live with Love. "If we live with love God will help us". We have to love every person in the world like our family, because we are all sisters and brothers. Through love, service and charity we can impact the lives of so many people and serve as our savior did. I want to try and love every person I meet in Korea and do whatever I can to serve them.

These 4 suggestions were just what I needed as I prepare to leave the M.T.C this week and I hope you all can apply them in your life one way or another too.

I love and miss you all so much and greatly appreciate all the love and support from back home!

Until next time from KOREA!! (My P-day will be on Monday in Korea so Sunday night back home!)

사 랑 해 요!!! ( Love you all!)
버 리 지 장 로 (Elder Burridge)

Elder Folkman and Elder Hanson

​삼들 (3's)​​​

Elder Armistead

Elder Smith

Elder Maio's sassy face

Selfie chilling with Elder Smith

Zone leader Burdett with brand new technology!

Elder Maio

Week 7 - MTC Update

Floral ties with my two companions (Smith & Maio) and Elder Ha (the original roommates!)

안 녕 하 세 요 !!!!!

Where has the time gone? I can't believe I have just 12 days until I head off to Seoul! Even though this week felt like a day and a half, I have so many amazing experiences I have no idea where I even want to begin.

My new all Korean Name Tags!!!!!

This week was our first week as a trio companionship and it went really well! Elder Smith's mom is Korean and so he understands and can hear Korean really well, which helps a ton during our lessons and T.R.Cs. Our new room is 1000 times better than our old one too, and so even though we had to move twice it worked out well! The new Korean Elder, Elder Kim, Is totally awesome. He likes to work on his English so we talk to him in Korean and he responds in English! His English is way better but it's still a ton of fun! It's his first time ever in America and so he has so much fun learning about every little thing! We talked about computer games we played, sports, school and about some places and cities in America and it was hilarious. He said the mountains were so pretty but he was worried there would be gangs up there. 😂 Because of Elder Kim, I definitely love the Korean people so much already!

Elder Kim (left) Elder Maio (middle) and Elder Dygert (right)

The Language is getting a little bit tougher as we learn new forms and try and retain them, but I feel like we've all progressed so much over the last week. I have the opportunity to be the District Leader for our last 2 and a half weeks and it's already been quite a blessing in just a few days. I decided we should all try and do a full day where we speak no English! And so yesterday was a complete English fast! We were so worried we wouldn't be able to say anything but it turned out we knew a lot more than we thought we did. It was super nice to practice and learn which common verbs and nouns we didn't know, and I feel like we all benefited greatly from it! It's just quite amazing to see how much you can learn in just 7 short weeks when you’re doing it in order to help and serve others!

We also have had some tremendous luck here at the M.T.C, the last three devotionals we've had have been Apostles!! No JOKE! We had Elder Christofferson last Tuesday, then Elder Ballard on Sunday, and then we were even more shocked to find out Elder Cook was our special speaker last night! They were all such blessings to hear from!

Elder Ballard talked about the impact and everlasting touch of our missionary work. He said "When we die, there will be so many people there to rejoice and embrace us for the work and love we did and showed them during our missions and our lives". I just can't even imagine how excited I would be to meet just one person, much less tons of people that I help and showed love to in my life.

Elder Cook talked about the atonement and our purpose teaching others about the Plan of Salvation. He said " The Atonement of Christ covers everything unfair that's happened in the world". Tough trials and obstacles come into people’s lives and our purpose is to help them understand that Christ's Atonement makes up all the difference. He loved us so much and sacrificed it all, so that we can overcome these trials and live with him and our families again one day. I hope all of you can recognize what an incredible blessing the Atonement is, Moroni 7:41 helps me recognize that and feel our Savior's love each time I read it.

Both of these amazing Apostles left us with such powerful and impactful testimonies and blessings, and I've never felt so sure that I'm really doing what I'm supposed to.

I Love this work and I love growing so close to our Savior and I'm already so thankful for how much I've grown and learned in 7 short weeks. I can't wait to leave in 12 days and I hope everyone back home knows I love and miss them so much!

Thanks for the motivation letters and prayers!

Love and miss you all!

Elder Burridge

Elder De La Bruere (left) and Elder Taylor (middle) from my District

Temple Selfie with Elder Folkman

 "Squad"ing

  Elder Ha's Birthday

Elder Ha and Elder Periera

P-Day, Laundry room Elder Smith, Elder De La Bruere and Elder Maio

Week 6 - MTC Update

My companion Elder Maio, me, Elder Folkman and his companion Elder Armistad

안 녕 하 세 요 !!!!!

Another week down and it flew by once again! This week was so fast but a lot changed and a lot of really neat things happened.

Last week we had to move buildings because of construction and because the Sisters had to move buildings because there were bats flying around in their building! So me and my companion moved into a new room with two Elders learning Chinese haha. They were pretty cool but then yesterday we were told by our mission president we would have to move again... In the group of missionaries coming today there is only one Native Korean elder. And so Elder Ha from our district (Who is pretty much fluent) is going to be his new companion. And so with that Me and Elder Maio are getting a third companion for the last three weeks!! Elder Smith is our new companion and we were rooming with him and Elder Ha before we moved the first time so we are really excited. But we had to move all of our stuff for a second time to move into a bigger room to fit everyone... so there is that!

With the new companion Elder Smith

This week the oldest group of Korean speaking missionaries left and so now we are the oldest group in the zone! It's crazy to think we leave in 19 days but at the same time I'm so ready to be there. The Korean is going pretty well too. Our district has been doing our best to SYL (Speak your language) and so we have been progressing a lot this last week. We get to teach two lessons with actually Korean "Maybe Investigators" so that's really exciting!!!

We had two amazing devotionals this last week and two super awesome speakers! We had Chad Lewis who played football for BYU and in the NFL on Sunday, and then yesterday Elder D. Todd Christofferson of the 12 Apostles! Chad Lewis told a lot of amazing stories from his mission and how he was impacted and changed because of all the people he met and loved. That night I couldn't sleep just feeling so amped to meet the people I will be serving.  He said his mission was more important than 9 years in the NFL and catching touchdowns to make it to the Superbowl, which blew my mind.

Elder D.Todd Christofferson's talk last night was pretty amazing too. He taught on repentance and how to help our investigators turn towards God. He also promised as we worked hard and did our best, we would see miracles every day in our lives and in the lives of our investigators.

I'm getting pretty far in the Book of Mormon (Alma chapter 23), and I just restarted it here at the M.T.C. All I can say is that book brings so much happiness and I encourage every one to read and pray about it and you will feel the power and Love of Christ as you do.

I love and miss everyone and love hearing from everyone too!

Elder Burridge

The District squad (Elder Taylor, me, Elder De La Bruere, Elder Maio and Elder Ha

Elder Ha giving me a back massage because I tweaked my back