Splits, Interviews, and Discussions

Hey everyone! Another great week in beautiful Gyungju!

I had splits with my District leader (and dongee member) Elder Stephens....very fun. My dongee is awesome!

We were able to go up to Pohang this week, great place, very big and exciting, except apparently there's a HUGE red light district. I haven't seen it.

We also had interviews with Pres. Jennings this week. Didn't hear much about transfers. I'm probably staying (though I said that last time) and Elder Green could stay too.

We talked about various proposals to create an Ulsan Branch or Stake. In 2007-2008, the Ulsan District Sacrament attendance hovered around 260, now it is over 300, since Pres. Jennings came to the mission. The current Ulsan District includes the big city of Ulsan (Hogae Branch, Shinjung Branch, Bangojin Branch), the smaller but still big city of Pohang (Pohang Branch), and my city: Gyeongju (Gyeongju branch). Exciting stuff.

Also, we met with a lady who is regularly reading the Book of Mormon. Last week we gave her homework: read 3 Nephi 11-26. She read up to Chap. 15 this week. We talked about it, and she asked an interesting question about 3 Ne. 13 (I think?) where the Savior seemingly condemns divorce and the practice of remarriage after divorce. We explained that men at that time were divorcing their wives for frivolous reasons (mostly so they could marry other women). This is wrong, of course. We explained that the Savior was discouraging frivolous divorce. Also, we assured her that our current Prophets and leaders encourage us to work to overcome marriage problems, but divorce is not forbidden. Interesting conversation. We look forward to meeting her again next week.

We're still discussing interesting things with our recent convert girl, including the issues of foreordination and predestination. We discussed agency and the fact that even though God knows what will happen to us, we still have the ability to choose and our future is not set. Interesting discussions.

Gyungju is beautiful. Very peaceful here. I love you! Elder Bocchino