Trials make us great!

Helllooooooo!  

This week has been an adventure.  It has been kind of trying, and I have learned a lot.  So my new companion is 28 years old (She was born before Dad graduated from high school haha) and is from Seoul.  She does not speak very much English, but is fairly fluent in Japanese...?  Haha she graduated from college (her major was jewelry), worked for a few years, then decided to go on a mission.  My Korean has shot up a ton and my attitude is improving every day!!  

She does love making Korean food though which has been super fun!  I can't wait to make some of it for you at home!!  Every night after planning, she makes herself super spicy ramen, which I choose not to eat haha:)

As I have been thinking about this, I have studied a lot about patience.  I loved the talk you sent by Elder Carl Cook about looking up!!  Also, I read about the Sons of Mosiah on their mission.  They experienced "all manner of afflictions" (Alma 26:30.  Their hearts were "depressed and they were about to turn back" (Alma 26:27) but they cast their burdens on the Lord and trusted in the promise that they would be blessed and continued on in their service.  They were comforted by the power of the spirit!  The lord told them to go forth and serve the Lamanties (Koreans) and establish his word.  He also counseled them to be patient and long suffering in their afflictions (Alma 17:10-11).  Through their patience, they were able to be good examples and instruments in the hands of the Lord!   Even great missionaries like Ammon had great trials.  But the trials were what made them great.  The trials were what made them trust in the Lord so they could be joyful and glory in Him and His gospel.  We are promised countless times through the scriptures that we will be blessed as we are faithful, hopeful, and patiently endure what trials Heavenly Father gives us because he knows exactly what we need to learn from them.  I am going through one of those times of testing now, but I can't wait to see what I learn from it and how I improve because of it!!  

Maybe that's more of a pep talk to myself, but I know that its true!  

We got to hear from Brother Randal Ridd that is in the YM General Presidency and Elder Aoiagi, who is in the 70 and area presidency over Asia North, on Thursday which was awesome!  Brother Ridd talked about having "Real Intent" like talked about in Moroni 7, in everything we do.  It was really good!  Sorry I don't have much time for more details:)

So our branch had like 20 people at church yesterday.  The church is really pretty and big--it was the first chapel built in Korea way back when.  The missionaries are basically in charge of all of the callings.  The Elders are the counselors in the branch presidency, we do YM/YW activities, clean the church, teach sunday school, and whatever else you can think of.  I taught Gospel Principles yesterday.  But I didn't find out i was teaching until after class had started...and the manual was all in Korean!!!  Haha fortunately it was on the Scriptures, so I picked out a few things of the manual that I could, had them look up scriptures, and then just talked about the Restoration and the Book of Mormon because I've got that down pretty well by now!  

Other funny things that happened this week:

-We were teaching English the other day and one of the missionaries who was saying the closing prayer said Amen, and his companion who is Korean said "B-Men"  Hahaha he thought he was hilarious.  I thought it was pretty funny too.  

-I have seen more fish in the last week than I think I have my whole life.  I have tried a little of it and it isn't bad.  Lots less fishy than the US because its so fresh.  they don't gut it or cut it though.  The whole fish-bones, eyeballs, and all- are on the plate and you just eat around it haha.  

-There is a Chinatown.  Don't know why I thought it was so funny, but I did.  

-So people in the hospitals can just leave and go walk around as they wish.  It's not uncommon to see someone in their hospital gown, hooked up to an IV, just taking a casual stroll down the street!

Ooh!  I read a talk that you would like.  Look up in the February Ensign the one by Pres Utchdorf that is titled "A Word for the Hesitant Missionary".  It goes along with what we have talked a little about! 

I guess that is about it for now!  Sorry there aren't too many specific details about what we did!  Lots off learning and prayers!  

Love you all so much!!

Em

McDelivery or Costco anyone?

So I am sitting in the mission office emailing because I am being emergency transfered to South Busan--an area called Daeshin.  One of the sisters has to go home because she is sick or something and so I am taking her place.  When President called the other night, he started by saying, "since nothing has been normal in your mission so far, we are going to have an emergency transfer and you are going to Daeshin."  My new companion is Korean sister.  I don't know too much about her except that she is like 26 or 27.  So one of the youngest missionaries with one of the oldest!  Crazy!   So this will be an adventure!   I am so sad to leave Shinjong--all the members, less actives, investigators, etc. that I have gained good relationships with, and of course my companions, but I know that the Lord wants me in Daeshin right now!  It will be good to have a new start--no one knows how good my Korean is, or what mistakes I made in Shinjong--I know I will learn so so much!  Funny that I am getting transfered exactly 2 transfers worth of time (12 weeks) after i got here! 

We had a good week in addition to that too!  Costco was super fun last Monday.  It looks a lot like Costco at home--with a lot of the same stuff too!  We bought muffins, cheese, cereal, a little candy, etc. that all looks very familiar.  I took a box of Lucky Charms and a thing of peanut butter with me so I will still have that! 

We met with lots of less actives last week.  One of my favorite things is meeting with less actives because I love helping remind them of the faith they once had.  Sometimes it is hard, and you have to dig really deep,but it is all part of the challenge!  I just bear my little heart out and tell them that I have faith in them.  I have felt the love of Jesus Christ in my life and know that he loves them too.  Even when they don't see their faith, the fact that they will meet with us is a step in the right direction.  I am sure there will be more less actives in my new area too!   Sadly, such is the church. 

Thursday, we went and helped one of the members clean her house.  She is probably about 26 or so.  She served a mission at Temple Square, and now is married has a little girl.  She just had a miscarriage, and was really sick before then.  It was fun to talk to her about Salt Lake and Temple square.  It was also so neat to see her faith, and trusting in Heavenly Father.  She said the first thing she did was pray to Heavenly Father saying, "help me to believe what I know I believe."  I thought that was so sweet.  People have the same trials here in Korea as in America.  And the gospel can help everywhere.  Such a testimony builder! 

Sunday, we went to church (of course).  I bore my testimony and thanked the ward for being such great examples to me.  I told them how I can see the love they have for one another, and for the missionaries and that I am so grateful for their example.  I love them, and will miss them!  All the missionaries also sang "Oh How Lovely Was the Morning" while my companion played the violin.  It was awesome! 

Sunday afternoon, we went to a wedding for the Relief Society president's daughter who is less active.  Imagine Korean traditional wedding, with all the bowing and a bunch of other stuff I couldn't understand, and then the announcer guy (they don't have a priest, just some guy that talks about what they are doing...I don't get it.) broke in to song.  Yes he was wearing white pants and a orange blazer with sparkly buttons and a big flower.  I had to work really hard on not laughing.  Then a girl sang the "Beauty and the Beast" song, but all the words kind of ran together because she was singing in English that she didn't know how to speak. It was fairly entertaining too! 

Last night we went to the area next to ours because they don't have sisters there and they have a few female investigators.  The branch president was super nice, and gave us like 3 people that they want us (well my comps and their new companion--a girl who is going to Seattle but doesn't have her visa yet.  She is from within the mission boundaries) to teach!  What a miracle! 

Well I guess that is about it for now.  I am excited to tell you everything that will happen next week!  Apparently we are having a general authority speak to us on Thursday too!  So fun!!! 

I love you all!!!!!!!

Em

Photos

Adventures of the Waygookings

The week has been pretty good! It has actually not rained very much at all! It is just stuffy and hot. All the time. I actually have heat rash on my arms and neck which kind of sucks. 

The adventures of the Waygooking (Forigner) threesome continue! I got us lost on Wednesday. That was a struggle. We were going to visit a less active. I had never been there before, but was really proud that I found her house on a map. So I thought I knew exactly how to get there. And I thought we could get on any bus going to the University and it would pass it. Of course I lead us on the one that went the roundabout way there though. So as soon as I figured out we were going the wrong way, we tried to ask people where to get off, and our Korean skills failed us a bit, so we got off at the wrong place. So I tried to figure out where we were (I relatively knew) and figured we could just take a Taxi there. Yeah of course none passed us though. So we just started walking back the other way until I saw familiar things. Then we made it to another bus stop where a bus that actually did pass her house went, and got on it. It is really hard navigating bus maps and reading the sides telling where they go in Korean super quick and have to make a decision immediately on which one to get on. I am doing okay though, and definitely feel lots of help. We got there like 35 minutes late, and shared a message. Unfortunately, her husband's family is totally against the church and she said she wanted to meet with us this once, but couldn't again. So we will pray that their hearts will soften and she will want to meet sometime. We left her with all the pamphlets, and want to text her some scriptures to read to at least keep her mind semi thinking about the gospel.

On Thursday, it was Korean independence day so we got to go to the Branch party in the mountains. It was right by a river, and all the members were sure that we could get in, even though it was against the rules. It didn't help that a few of the elders got in a bit, but anyway...We just stayed on the side and talked to some of the moms which was good. It was hilarious. There is no such thing as camping food here. When it was time for lunch, they opened their tupperwares of Rice, Kimchi, Meat, etc. and we ate that! Then for dinner, they made this soup called Suejaybee which is broth with noodles and potatoes. I love it, but it was pretty funny that they just whipped out their camping stove and made it all from scratch right there! I will send pics of the activity.

We got to meet with our investigator again this week. She asked us if we had ever heard God's voice, and we tried to explain how we have felt a warm feeling, which is the spirit, and that is how we receive answers a lot of the time. We asked her if she had ever prayed when she was scared or needed help, and she said yes and that she felt good. We told her that was the spirit! It is so fun helping people realize that they have already had those experiences in their lives! We talked a little more about baptism and showed her the font because she is scared of the water (lots of Koreans are and don't know how to swim). She still wants to think about it, and we haven't set an actual date, but hopefully we can meet again this week! Keep praying!

Because there are 2 American families in our ward with kids in primary, we have gotten to go help in there the last couple weeks. I am basically the new primary pianist, which is pretty fun! Then we help translate for the little kids. It is testing my Korean skills but I really do love it.

Last night, we went and kapjoggie (suddenly) visited some of the members. My companion has a violin so she played while the other two of us sang. They loved it and the spirit was so strong! Hopefully we can do it again next week:)

The language is coming. No--I don't understand most of it. Still. One day. Probably in like 9 months I will... I am picking up more and more every day though. I am trying to work on both learning new words and grammar forms, and just spitting it out even though it is really hard, and I usually say things wrong. I have gotten really good at praying in Korean though because I do that a lot. Being just the 3 Americans, it has forced me to have to understand and say more though, because we have to rely on each other a lot. Heavenly Father definitely helps us a lot, even if we translate things wrong sometimes:) I don't know if it is harder or easier than I thought it would be. I just can't compare myself to those spanish speaking missionaries who are already fluent after a month. Korean takes lots longer…

We are in a really nice part of the city and spend lots of time outside! Its kind of hard to explain the "neighborhood." We jundo at bus stops a lot becuase that's where a consintrated amount of people are I will try to take more pictures to send to explain.

So Many Blessings

Sounds like you all had a great week, as did I!!!!!!!  Thank you thank you thank you for the birthday packages, notes, letters, etc.  

This summer has gone by super fast!!!  So crazy!  I'll be there the end of next summer which is super crazy!  It has almost been 5 months since you dropped me off at the MTC.
 
We have seen so many blessings here this week!  Obviously, Heavenly Father is hearing all of our prayers here, as well as all of yours at home!  Amazing things are happening!
1. I haven't gotten us lost yet.  i'm pretty proud of myself.  Even on the buses!  Remember how scared I was to ride the bus to the U the first time?  Well now I can navigate the buses in Korea (more or less...wouldn't be suprised if we got lost this week haha) so that's exciting!  And i got us to Busan the other day.  Thank you Heavenly Father!!!
2. We have a super solid new investigator.   On Tuesday, she came to English class. She started asking us questions about English and missionaries, which led to a gospel discussion and she asked why we were so happy all the time!  Perfect way to introduce the church eh??  So she shared a little about the plan of salvation and then called me over to help.  She said, "if it isn't too much of a problem, could you possibly meet every day this week and we could talk about English and your church?"  WHAT?!?1?!?!?!?! Nobody says that!!!  We already had  few other appointments, but we met with her on wednesday and Friday.  We got permission to do the 30/30 (30 min gospel and 30 min english) program with her.  She is trying to learn English (She said she doesn't know what sparked her recent interest in English, but we do.  Obviously Heavenly Father wanted her to find us!)  so when she got there on Wednesday, the first thing she wanted to do was read the intro to the Book of Mormon in English since we had already read it with her in Korean!  Then we told about our families a little bit, and taught the first part of the restoration.  We try to teach as much in korean as we can, but she likes us to speak English, so we are trying to find a balance to the point that she can still understand.  THEN on Friday, she brought her 2 daughters to meet with us as well!!!  One is 15 and the other is 11.  SO CUTE!!! They didn't come to church yesterday, but we are hoping we can stress the importance of church this week and get her there next!  Ahh!!  We are so excited!
3. We met with the less active we meet with every week, and had a really awesome lesson with her and got her to consider coming to church next week which is a huge step for her!  I have already seen her faith grow so much in the last 9 weeks i have been here!
4. We met with another less active who was baptized last year.  (Really sad that she's already less active and got baptized less than a year ago.)  Anyway she reads her Book of Mormon every day and it is super marked up, but she has had lots of trials in her life, and had to move a few times.  it's kind of a long story, but it was neat to hear her talk about how she can see even though she has the trials, she prays that she can receive help from Heavenly Father to forgive people.  She wants to go to church in the neighboring branch and not ours, so we're not sure if she went yesterday or not, but we are definitely going to keep an eye on her and get her to church so she can learn from the spirit there too!
5.  The girl who got baptized 2 weeks ago answered so many questions in Gospel Principles yesterday.  I was so excited to see how she has taken what we taught her and let it into her life:)
6. I got to celebrate my 20th birthay in Korea!!!  We got up early and took the bus to Busan!  So i got to eat tacos there for lunch at the mission president's house, which was delicious haha and we got treats there and the way back.  Basically I used it as an excuse to try all the treats I have wanted to here!  Then for dinner, we went to a Korean BBQ place (I will send pictures) and bought a cake at Paris Baguette--the bakery that is literally everywhere here. 

So I was reading Alma 5 this morning and loved verse 13 where it talks about the people having a mighty change wrought in their hearts.  I got the institute study guide for the Book of Mormon at the mission office the other day, so have been studying it along with the Book of Mormon which has been awesome!  I read this quote in it about being converted and thought i would share!  (It is super long so I paraphrased...)  "When you choose to follow christ, you choose to be changed.  The Lord works from the inside out.  The world works from the outside in.  The world would take the people out of the slums.  Christ takes the slums out of the people and they take themselves out of the slums.  The would would shape human behavior, but Christ can change human nature.  To paraphrase Harold B. Lee, they set fire in others because they are on fire.  Not only would they die for the Lord, but most importnatly they would live for him."  -President Ezra Taft Benson

I love this!  First I love thinking about it as I teach others and want to help them draw closer to the savior.  I can help them see the light of Christ in their lives, and then help their lives improve because of it.  Then I love applying it to my own life.  I have to continue to convert myself to the Lord more and more each day, and as I do, my nature can change because of the atonement!  I know that you can do the same as you let the power of the atonement work inside of you.  it is amazing what we can do when we do it with the Savior!

Love you!!!

Em


 

Time is Flying

Time really is flying by!  I have been here two months in just a couple more days crazy!!

First news of the day.  Today was transfers and I got two new companions!  We're all pretty new here!  I am super excited to work with them!  We will have to study the language a lot, and will have lots of adventures trying to communicate with people.  I am very scared to be the one that has to get us places and know all the members, and investigators, and all that good stuff but I know there's something Heavenly Father wants me to learn from this!  I can't wait to see what it is!!

A brief overview of my week for you:
Monday, we went to gyoungju world--an amusement park an hour or so away from is!  It was super fun--about the size of lagoon.  We went on this one ride where you all sit in a circle and the thing you are sitting in raises up and bounces around. You're not belted in or anything.  My comp couldn't hold herself down and her legs flew in my face a few times.  I have a nasty bruise from where I hit my arm a few times trying to hold on.  So that was kind of awful but the roller coasters were fun.  Definitely took a Tylenol PM before going to bed though because I was so dizzy!!

Tuesday, we visited a referral from one of the members.  We taught her once before, and she now is thinking she wants to be Buddhist.  We are going to keep visiting her though.  We then had dinner with a bunch of the moms who bring their kids to our english class which was fun.  They are all super nice! 

Wednesday, we went to this old lady's house for dinner.  She is a less active member.  We ate rice and food I think had been sitting out for a few days, then she fed us this juice that was tomato and melon, but I'm pretty sure it was super super old and fermented because it was basically carbonated.  Discusting.   I thought I was going to die.  Good thing my stomach has learned to be nice and strong!

Thursday, we had dinner with a new American family that moved into our ward.  The dad is working here for one of the oil companies as an engineer.  They have 5 little kids who are crazy, but so fun.  She wants to have us over for dinner every week so that will be super fun!

Friday, we went to lunch with some members, and then my comp packed and explained the area to me.  Nothing too exciting.

Sunday, we had church (of course).  Our crazy ward mission leader was watching the Dodgers baseball game while teaching gospel principles.  Don't worry. 

Today, we went to Busan for transfers and I got my new companions!!!

So another fun week!!!!  I am a little frustrated because we don't have any solid investigators right now, but we are going to work really hard and try to contact lots of people this week!!!

This week, I have been trying to focus on putting off the natural man and become more like the Savior.  I love studying in the Book of Mormon about all the prophets examples, especially Nephi.  He had so many chances to give up and be like his brothers, but he stayed strong and did what the Lord asked of him!!!!  It really is so amazing!!!

Seriously the last 6 weeks have flown by, but so much has happened!  I didn't really understand how people said their missions went by fast, and I still don't really understand how it happens, but its happening!!!  I go to bed physically and mentally exhausted every night, and wake up still tired but so excited for all I get to learn and teach the next day!  

So weekly report quick:

Monday, we went and visited one of our former investigators who dropped us, but we're still visiting.  She owns a restaurant (korean fast food--aka rice, spam, eggs, dumplings, etc.  I'm learning to tolerate eggs.  And spam.  Weird.)  and then taught her about repentance and forgiving yourself.   She doesn't believe in Christ, but knows that the gospel can help her family.  Her daughter was baptized like 3 years ago, but isn't active.  Obviously there's lots of work to be done there so we're just trying to do as much as we can and leave the rest up to the Lord!

Tuesday, it was SO HOT!  Imagine like how hot it is at home, then add humidity.  Actually, you've probably been checking the weather here.  I sweat all the time. Its disgusting.  But everyone else does do and who do I have to impress anyway?!   We had lunch with a member, then visited one of the less active members who we visit each week (I've told you about her before--the one who speaks English) and talked about Christ appearing to the Nephites.  I just pray we are helping her faith grow, even if it is just a little bit at a time.   Then we had English class with the crazy little kids.  I always have so much fun, even it if takes the end of the energy I have for the day haha

Wednesday, we had district meeting!  I didn't have to teach at all which was nice.  Just got to listen. We talked about families which is one of my favorite topics of course!  I'm convinced I have the best family in the entire world.  I'm sure you would agree!

Thursday, we had training meeting which was awesome.  President and Sister Gilbert are so amazing!  It was everyone that came to Korea at the same time as me (ok 4 weeks ahead of me...but I just jumped right into where they were!)  and their trainers.  Sister Gilbert taught about intelligence, knowledge, and understanding.  I guess Elder Bednar has a book about it.  One of my favorite things she said was how when it talks about grace in the scriptures, it means the enabling power of the atonement.  The next day, I studied this in my scriptures, and am honestly amazed how much I learned.  I took a picture of what I wrote in my journal and am going to send it to you.  It's too hard to summarize... haha  Then I had an interview with President, and he just asked me how everything is going.  I said awesome of course!  It is so neat to hear how much he loves the missionaries, and would seriously do anything for us!  Don't worry--I'm in excellent hands here!  

Friday, we went to lunch at a member's.  She is in school for English (it's like if mom were to go back to school and major in Spanish, or Korean, or German haha)  and I helped edit one of her papers that she has to give as a speech at one point.  It was really fun for me because I got to bond with her a little bit.  I am starting to really love the members here.  It's hard sometimes because its hard to connect with them, but I do the best I can, and ask Sis Choi to translate some of my questions for them!  

Saturday, we went to lunch at another members house and I ate so much food.  We had meat (which is like 50% fat here and its totally normal.  i try not to think about it) and then these noodles, and then potatoes and i don't even know what else. Delicious, but so much food.  Then we had English class again.  I learned its really hard for Koreans to say the word "pearl".  Sister Choi and I have been working on it hahahaha Then we went to visit a former investigator who the sisters before us taught--she's like 75 and her house is far away, so we hadn't ever gone, and they dropped her (not exactly sure why--all the progress records are in Korean).  So we were going to find her house and this old lady came up to us and asked if we were missionaries! We said yes, and then it happened to be the lady we were going to visit!!!  Just another miracle from Heavenly Father!  He is watching over us! 

Sunday, we taught our investigator who is supposed to get baptized next week!  (She is like 17 and her mom and brother are members...her dad is too but very less active).   We still have a bunch of the commandments to teach her this week, and I'm just praying we can get it all in.  Sis Choi thinks we can though, so I'm just trusting her!  I will update you on that next week!!!  So exciting!!!  Then we went to try to find the house of a referral we got, but it was literally in the middle of nowhere. I will send a picture. It was slightly hilarious. We called her, and she wasn't even home.  So we took the bus back haha.  Then we went to the church on our way home to grab something and we turned on the light and there were like 2 cockroaches in the hallway!!!!!  We both started screaming.  So I grabbed the spray to kill them from the janitors closet and there were a few more in there along with a bunch of little bugs!!!!  I told my comp she was the Senior Companion so she had to kill them (yes we were screaming this entire time) and then they were just really fast and it was really gross and we just grabbed our stuff and left.  We told the elders they have to go kill them.  And that the branch needs to get an exterminator.  Gross.  It's kind of hilarious now though.  Then we came home, and I ate oreos with peanut butter and milk and was happy again haha.  

I got the letter you sent this week with President Uchtdorf's talk about light!  Perfect timing!!!  I got it at training meeting, and it went along really well with what we talked about!!!  So I have studied a little more about light as well, and emulating the light of Christ.  I loved Romans 13:12 that says, "let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armour of light."  So.  We need to get rid of all the darkness in our life (sins, disobedience, etc.) and then be strengthened through Christ.  When we do this, and try to spread his light, we will have literal armor that is strength and power against Satan!!  It is conditional, however, on our obedience, and service to others.  We need to hope and have faith that we can do all things through him!  I love it!!!!  

I love you all so much!!!

Thanks for all you do!!!

Em