Happy New Years!! 새해 복 많이 받으세요!!!
2013 was definitely a roller-coaster. I was reading through my journal last night, since it has almost been exactly a year ago that I went through the temple, which is when I started this journal. I was flipping through different parts. Being scared at the MTC, then getting sick and having to come home for a bit. Then coming here, and experiencing tons of new things. Then all the craziness in September. I think my journal became a vent book for a little bit. Then I was reading stuff I have written recently. I really feel like I was literally carried through all the hard stuff that happened last fall, because when I was in it, it didn't seem too bad. But now, seeing how happy I am, and how well things are going, I am so grateful for trials, because I can literally see the comparison between the good and the bad!
So what you said about new years totally reminded me of one of my favorite articles ever that I found in an old Liahona a few months ago. I just found the link on lds.org http://www.lds.org/ensign/2010/01/the-best-is-yet-to-be?lang=eng I may have sent it a few months ago (I don't remember) but you should read it. It's awesome.
So basically this week has been awesome. This morning, we compared our branch to popcorn. There have been lots of little things going on for a while and the oil has been heating up. But now all the kernals are starting to pop, and once a few start, the rest follow! (Ok random analogy but it works!!)
Monday, we had an English class party to celebrate the New Year/Christmas. It was fun, but nothing too exciting to report!
Tuesday, we took a note to a less active, and then as we were walking down the street, we heard this cat sound. It sounded too fake to be a real cat, but we were confused who would be following us down the street making cat sounds. We look around a little more and the elders were in one of the members cars following us. Haha. They took us to get chicken (like fried chicken. it's great) though so no worries. That night we went to visit one of the members and teach her a short lesson (she is the cute old lady preparing to go to the temple) about having faith in the new year. We shared the quote, translated by my comp of course by President Monson: "Be of Good Cheer. Your future is as bright as your faith." It is one of my favorites, especially thinking about the new year!
Wednesday was NEW YEARS!!! It was also my companion's birthday, so that was fun. We got up bright and early at 5:15 and went with some of our branch and hiked to the top of a mountain to welcome in the New Year's sun! Its a Korean tradition. Get ready to do it new year with me! We sang "High on the Mountain Top" (naturally) and then the Branch President said a great prayer. He prayed for all of the members, and missionary, work, and that there would be a stake in Andong one day!!!!!! Our future is as bright as our faith! Then we went back to the Branch President's house and had 떡국,aka like little rice cake soup. Ok that totally makes it sound weird but, it was actually pretty tasty. When you eat it is when you traditionally turn a year older. So I am offically 22 in Korean age! (It is by birth year). I may or may not have been singing the Taylor Swift 22 song all week... We tried to teach the youth Phase 10, which was pretty entertaining. I think they got bored pretty fast. Now they want to teach us a Korean card game this week that is supposedly super complicated. We'll see! That afternoon, since New Years is bigger than Christmas here, and everyone was in their homes, we decided to ride some of the random buses we had never been on, find where they go, and jundo. On the way to literally the middle of nowhere, we taught the restoration to a lady. She didn't want to give us her contact info, but we left her with our number, so we'll pray that something will come of that in the future! The we went to dinner with the elders to celebrate my companion's birthday (dad's treat. Thank you!) and then had area meeting with them to plan our awesome new plan!
So the church is moving at the end of February or beginning of March, and we really want to take this as an opportunity to get all the less actives (well lots at least) who haven't been to church in a while to come, and stay, as well as lots of investigators, and lots of members to bring people. We came up with a list of 40 investigators, potential investigators, and former investigators that could potentially come. Plus less actives. Yesterday we had 37 people at church! The average a year ago was like 15! 3 members brought friends yesterday, and we are going to visit a family and another lady that members have for us this week! See, the kernals are popping hahaha. Our goal for the church move, which Elder *** has officially named 주님의 집들이, or basically the Lord's housewarming party, is 70 people, and we may bump it up to 80! We are really working with the youth too, and trying to help them be the ones to plan all the activities, so they will want to bring their friends, and we will be the ones to facilitate it. So exciting!!!
Thursday, we went and helped a lady at our English class, then her daughter took us to get delicious pasta for lunch to thank us. We we were going bowling with the youth later that day, so *** just stayed and hung out with us the whole day!!! She has been pretty shy up until now but, has totally opened up, and wants to come do stuff with us now!!! We are hoping that if we can teach her, then her mom will come along with her. We had to teach some of the youth, and my companion, how to bowl. It was pretty hilarious at first, but they got progressively better!
Friday, we had district meeting, which takes up lots of the day, and then came back and taught our Chinese investigator. We love her so much, but have the hardest time because we cannot communicate with her. We really need to figure something out. We do have a Chinese Book of Mormon, so we can share scriptures with her from that which is good. Her daughter comes at the end of February, so we are excited to meet her! She is continuing to go to church in Seoul!
Saturday, we met with one of the oldest members in the branch (who is like mom's age) and asked her which less actives have the potential of coming back. Then that night, we went and visited an old couple in our branch, who just got baptized in July. Their story is pretty awesome so I will try to summarize it for you. Between 1963 and 1964, Brother *** met missionaries in Daegu, and had all the lessons, but was never baptized. Then he was really strong Presbyterian for a really really long time, along with his wife, Sister ***. Then, he started remembering about our church like 5 or so years ago, and was curious, so ordered the Liahona and started to read the Book of Mormon. Then he met the missionaries on the street, or something, one of who was one of my MTC teachers! Then the missionaries taught them for 3 or so years, and they were finally baptized in July! So we went and visited them the other night, which was the first time the Sisters had ever visited. Before that, it was always the Elders. So we went over, and ended up talking for like an hour and a half!!! She told us a story about a lady going into the store she works in and seeing her Book of Mormon, and getting really excited about it. The lady said that she was an active member of the church for like 10 years, with her family,but her husband's family is strong Buddhist, so finally gave into pressure from them and stopped coming to our church. They ended up talking for like an hour, and Sister *** told her, very boldly, that she needs to come back to our church. The lady didn't want to tell Sister *** her name or anything yet, but we talked with the old members, and found out who it was based on the story. We have been texting the lady's daughter, because her number is the only one on the record list, and have been trying to meet with her, but we have both been busy. WE will definitely try harder now!!! We have studied a lot about how to work better with members and getting them involved more. We have said how we want to be the tools, but really let them be the building blocks. The missionaries will come and go, every few transfers, but they will stay, so we really need to make sure they are strong!
Sunday, we went to church, which was a great testimony meeting, and then went home with one of the less actives and her daughter and friend (who is not a member but we will probably teach) and had a late lunch with them.
We are so excited about all the great things are happening! We know that we will have another amazing week!!!
I love you all so much!!! I hope you all have fabulous weeks!!!
Em
Monday, January 6, 2014
Monday, December 30, 2013
Merry Christmas
Man!!! It sounds like everyone had an AWESOME Christmas!! Not surprised at all though. Christmas is always great, eh?? As you know (since we talked of course) Christmas was great here as well! Since we didn't talk lots of details, here's a little bit more of how my week went:)
Tuesday, we had our branch Christmas party. We planned it all and it actually turned out really awesome! We had dinner consisting of kimbop, pizza, kimchi, rice cakes, bread (we made banana bread and brownies) and a few other random things. (It was a pot luck haha) We then had a program. The relief society president read some poetry she had written, our potential investigator/semi-active non-member read a poem and then sang "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" with actions and all. The four of us missionaries sang the song we did with our whole mission (did you see it on YouTube? I'll forward you the link) and then we did a skit with the youth and sang a medly of "Jesus Once of Humble Birth/Silent Night" (I sang the piano.) The members loved it. We had a good amount of investigators and less actives there too which was awesome of course! When we were together that night, it finally started feeling like Christmas here!! Then we went home and got our stockings ready and put all the presents under the tree, read Luke 2 and went to sleep (while dreams of sugarplums danced in our heads).
Wednesday morning, we woke up and opened presents (which was AWESOME! LOVE YOU!!! THANK YOU!!) and then made breakfast (blueberry muffins from a mix you sent, bacon from our package from the branch, milk chocolate milk) and got ready to go to the church to Skype! Then I Skyped y'all (!!!!) and then we went to lunch at an Italian place with one of the members and his friend, who is the elder's investigators, whose computer we used to skype. Then we went to the Stake Christmas music meeting. After that, we did exchanges. We had a few minutes for dinner though and were with the elders and a few of the young men. One of them had NEVER been to McDonalds so we defs took a trip there so he could get his first BigMac on Christmas hahaha. He thought it was pretty good, of course!
Thursday, we had exchanges. We took a card to a less active, jundoed a bit, and then made the hour and a half trip back to switch back. Then came back home and the day was over!
Friday, we cleaned up the church and planned for a bit. Friday night, we taught our two investigators who are sisters. A few weeks ago, they didn't know ANYTHING about Jesus Christ. So we did English for a bit, and then we gave them copies of the Book of Mormon that we had written them a letter and our testimonies in. They were really excited about it, and started flipping through immediately. We explained a bit more about it, and then asked them to read Moroni 10 for next time. We smoothly (blessing) transitioned into how it talks about Christ and how all of this is part of Heavenly Father's plan for us, so that we can teach Plan of Salvation next week!! The older one prayed at the end, and the spirit was SO strong. It was AWESOME!
Saturday, we jundoed, got a plan together to visit less actives, made some new years cards to mail (since lots live too far away to realisticly visit) and contacted old contacts and investigators. Oh! When we jundoed, we weren't having much luck, so after we had been out for a while, it was time for dinner. So, we followed my stomach (to Korean food of course. My companion laughs at me because I like it more than she does) and met a Chinese lady (either there's a ton here, or we just attract them all) who started talking to us about English!! We are hoping to meet with her this week!
Sunday, we had church. During Sunday School, all of the members bore their testimonies and thanked someone else in the branch for something over the past year. It was really great! I really love this branch. They are wonderful!! We also taught one of our investigators
So overall, it has obviously been an awesome week!! It went by super quick, probably because of the excitement of Christmas!!
Haha funny story. We were deciding what to make for lunch the other day and I said "Ah I just want a turkey sandwich." But you can't get turkey here. So Sister Sung's response was "Who needs turkey when you've got dog?!" Hahahaha I am teaching her sarcasm very well!! (Koreans don't usually know how to use it)
This week, I have thought a lot about being more Christlike. I feel like this transfer, I have been kind of selfish and studied for myself a lot. I have learned a lot, but really want to re-focus on other people. I had the impression come to me that we need to make more of our lives a part of the lives of our investigators, members, and less actives. When Jesus Christ was on the earth, his learning, ministry, and service was not seperate from the people but instead it was a part of them. He was on the streets, where people lived their daily lives, teaching and serving them. He was feeding the five thousand, raising people form the dead, healing the blind and curing the lepers. All things that immensely effected people in their daily lives. I am trying to recommit to follow this pattern. I want to visit more of our people. Call them and see how their day went, or text them a scripture we liked. This is the way I know that people will come closer to Christ and we will see miracles!
Ah! I love being a missionary! So many great things are happening here and we are seeing so many blessings!
LOVE YOU ALL!!
Em
. She is having a really hard time understanding the Book of Mormon, so we read it with her and tried to explain it. We told her we would text/call her throughout the week to try to explain more, and emphasized how when we pray when we read, we receive the Lord's help to understand. Then after church, we jundoed for a bit, using a survey for English class and got like 9 contacts, and then walked home from shinae (downtown) which took like an hour and a half. I was realy grumpy until we got home and I got some food in my stomach haha. Pretty funny.
Tuesday, we had our branch Christmas party. We planned it all and it actually turned out really awesome! We had dinner consisting of kimbop, pizza, kimchi, rice cakes, bread (we made banana bread and brownies) and a few other random things. (It was a pot luck haha) We then had a program. The relief society president read some poetry she had written, our potential investigator/semi-active non-member read a poem and then sang "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" with actions and all. The four of us missionaries sang the song we did with our whole mission (did you see it on YouTube? I'll forward you the link) and then we did a skit with the youth and sang a medly of "Jesus Once of Humble Birth/Silent Night" (I sang the piano.) The members loved it. We had a good amount of investigators and less actives there too which was awesome of course! When we were together that night, it finally started feeling like Christmas here!! Then we went home and got our stockings ready and put all the presents under the tree, read Luke 2 and went to sleep (while dreams of sugarplums danced in our heads).
Wednesday morning, we woke up and opened presents (which was AWESOME! LOVE YOU!!! THANK YOU!!) and then made breakfast (blueberry muffins from a mix you sent, bacon from our package from the branch, milk chocolate milk) and got ready to go to the church to Skype! Then I Skyped y'all (!!!!) and then we went to lunch at an Italian place with one of the members and his friend, who is the elder's investigators, whose computer we used to skype. Then we went to the Stake Christmas music meeting. After that, we did exchanges. We had a few minutes for dinner though and were with the elders and a few of the young men. One of them had NEVER been to McDonalds so we defs took a trip there so he could get his first BigMac on Christmas hahaha. He thought it was pretty good, of course!
Thursday, we had exchanges. We took a card to a less active, jundoed a bit, and then made the hour and a half trip back to switch back. Then came back home and the day was over!
Friday, we cleaned up the church and planned for a bit. Friday night, we taught our two investigators who are sisters. A few weeks ago, they didn't know ANYTHING about Jesus Christ. So we did English for a bit, and then we gave them copies of the Book of Mormon that we had written them a letter and our testimonies in. They were really excited about it, and started flipping through immediately. We explained a bit more about it, and then asked them to read Moroni 10 for next time. We smoothly (blessing) transitioned into how it talks about Christ and how all of this is part of Heavenly Father's plan for us, so that we can teach Plan of Salvation next week!! The older one prayed at the end, and the spirit was SO strong. It was AWESOME!
Saturday, we jundoed, got a plan together to visit less actives, made some new years cards to mail (since lots live too far away to realisticly visit) and contacted old contacts and investigators. Oh! When we jundoed, we weren't having much luck, so after we had been out for a while, it was time for dinner. So, we followed my stomach (to Korean food of course. My companion laughs at me because I like it more than she does) and met a Chinese lady (either there's a ton here, or we just attract them all) who started talking to us about English!! We are hoping to meet with her this week!
Sunday, we had church. During Sunday School, all of the members bore their testimonies and thanked someone else in the branch for something over the past year. It was really great! I really love this branch. They are wonderful!! We also taught one of our investigators
So overall, it has obviously been an awesome week!! It went by super quick, probably because of the excitement of Christmas!!
Haha funny story. We were deciding what to make for lunch the other day and I said "Ah I just want a turkey sandwich." But you can't get turkey here. So Sister Sung's response was "Who needs turkey when you've got dog?!" Hahahaha I am teaching her sarcasm very well!! (Koreans don't usually know how to use it)
This week, I have thought a lot about being more Christlike. I feel like this transfer, I have been kind of selfish and studied for myself a lot. I have learned a lot, but really want to re-focus on other people. I had the impression come to me that we need to make more of our lives a part of the lives of our investigators, members, and less actives. When Jesus Christ was on the earth, his learning, ministry, and service was not seperate from the people but instead it was a part of them. He was on the streets, where people lived their daily lives, teaching and serving them. He was feeding the five thousand, raising people form the dead, healing the blind and curing the lepers. All things that immensely effected people in their daily lives. I am trying to recommit to follow this pattern. I want to visit more of our people. Call them and see how their day went, or text them a scripture we liked. This is the way I know that people will come closer to Christ and we will see miracles!
Ah! I love being a missionary! So many great things are happening here and we are seeing so many blessings!
LOVE YOU ALL!!
Em
Monday, November 25, 2013
A Good Week
Hello!!!!
I am glad, as always to hear that you are all doing well!!
So funny story for this week...I thought that Thanksgiving was on Thursday because it's usually about that time right? (The Elders and I couldn't remember if it was the 3rd or the 4th Thursday but decided on the 3rd) Haha so in the morning before study I started making some delicious apple crisp...then after I had peeled all the apples and started mixing the crust, yeah...looked at my calendar and realized that it was this week. Haha I had a good laugh, and my companion doesn't understand why I love holidays so much, so I think she laughed at me more than anything hahaha. So we enjoyed the apple crisp and I'll probs make some more on Thursday and maybe even take it to District Meeting to share with the Elders. P.S. Cooking sucks here. We have literally 0 counter space so imagine me sitting on the floor in my harmony pants, a cat shirt jamming to EFY music and mixing up some pie crust in two separate bowls since there's not one at our house that's big enough. #koreaproblems.
Here's my other #sistermissionary problem for the week. I have vetoed shaving my legs for the last week and a half, since I wear tights every day anyways and sleep in pants. Yeah but realized yesterday I could feel the hair through my tights. Hope you got a good laugh out of that one, and weren't just disgusted haha.
Quick update of the last week...
-Monday we had family night and did a scavenger hunt with the kids of papers hid all over the church. One of the Korean elders was super clever and put number values on them and then like plus or minus signs so whoever's added up to the most points at the end won. It was fun!
-Tuesday, to celebrate HALF WAY through our missions we treated ourselves to Karbi aka Korean BBQ with Dad's card (THANK YOU!:)) It was super delicious, of course, and we had lots of fun. Then we met with the girl who gets baptized THIS SUNDAY and taught her a few more of the commandments. Then that night, we met with the girl (she's like 30) who we are doing Family English aka 30/30 with (30 min english, 30 min gospel). She opened up a little more about religion this week, which we were so stoked about. We'll meet with her again this Tuesday and are planning to teach her about the atonement and how through Christ we can forgive and be forgiven.
-Wednesday, we had interviews with President. While he went through and interviewd everyone in our district, Sister Gilbert taught. We talked about lots of things but what stuck out to me most was about spiritual gifts. We were all given spiritual gifts before we came here. They were first developed in heaven, and now we have to continue to develop them and grow while we are here on earth, so we can be the person we were designed to be when we return to heaven. We can develop these spiritual gifts into power to do what we are asked by our Heavenly Father through the spirit. Pretty awesome. We also talked about how we need to teach how the spirit teaches us. Chokum sheek, chokum sheek (little by little) and exactly how we need to hear it personally. Pretty awesome!
-Thursday, we worked on making new flyers for our English class, visited a few less actives houses, and then taught English. Pretty routine.
-Friday, we visited a Guejeong member for lunch and ate SOOO MUCH FOOD!!! Seriously I had a hard time moving after. Curry and rice, and chop-chay (the clear noodles), and dokboki, (2 bowls of each of those) and fruit. Then we were laughing really hard with the Elders afterwards and my stomach hurt so bad. It was pretty funny. I guess there are worse problems, eh?
-Saturday, we taught Ye-jin again and finished up all the lessons!! I taught "obey and honor the law" and committed her to be a hulionghan (basically transfers to awesome or fantastic, can't really do direct translation though) citizen. Have to make it fun right? Then we made banana bread to eat after church on Sunday because
-Sunday, we got a NEW BRANCH PRESIDENT! Yes, it is exciting. We now have a little more direction, instead of 4 20something year olds running the branch haha. He and his wife just got back from serving a mission in Seoul and I think they will be awesome. We are going to have dinner/meet with them again on Friday to get more of a plan so it will be GREAT!
For my sermon of the week, I was reading in Helaman 10 the other day and LOVED verse 4-5. "Blessed art thou, Nephi, for those things which thou hast done, for I have beheld how thou hast with UNWEARYINGNESS declared the word which I have given unto thee, unto this people. And thou hast not feared them, and has not sought thine own life, but hast sought my will, and to keep my commandments...Behold, I will bless the forever, and I will make thee mighty in word and in deed, in faith and in words." Nephi is seriously the perfect example. He, with unwearyingness, preached the gospel. I imagine that he did this by words, as well as by example. He was completely selfless and turned himself over to the Lord, and was receptive to all the guidance and commandments he was given. As he did this, and consecreated himself to the Lord, the Lord promised to bless him FOREVER and promised to make him mighty in all things. That is pretty amazing!! I love looking for all of these examples in the scriptures, and our lives today, of what we can do better to become more like the Savior and give ourselves to him. I love this time I have to focus on what I can do to grow and give myself more and more to the Lord, even though I have a long way to go. I know this is setting a great foundation for what I will be able to do throughout my life.
Our plans for this week are mostly preparing for the baptism. Most of the week is already planned out, which is such a blessing of course! Lessons, as said above, are going well. We have had a few setbacks with some other people we wanted to teach, and jundo has not been very successful lately, but we will keep working hard and being obedient, and as we do so, we will see miracles. The mission has 22 baptism dates this week and next week , which is more than any other two weeks together since President and Sister Gilbert have been here! Lots of great things are happening here!
I really want to stay here and not get transfered, which is kind of what we're thinking, but who knows! I had a dream the other night that I got called to whitewash an area that was super sheegore (like forest) where there was no branch and we had to start it. I woke up and was glad it was just a dream... hahaha
I play the piano every week in Sacrament, and every week at district meeting, and at zone meetings, so I have had lots of opportunities. I brought some and have copied some music from other missionaries here, and haven't had much chance to play actual like performance pieces--mostly just hymns.
I guess that's about it for now!!!!! I'm glad you're all doing so well and I love you all so much!!!
Em
I am glad, as always to hear that you are all doing well!!
So funny story for this week...I thought that Thanksgiving was on Thursday because it's usually about that time right? (The Elders and I couldn't remember if it was the 3rd or the 4th Thursday but decided on the 3rd) Haha so in the morning before study I started making some delicious apple crisp...then after I had peeled all the apples and started mixing the crust, yeah...looked at my calendar and realized that it was this week. Haha I had a good laugh, and my companion doesn't understand why I love holidays so much, so I think she laughed at me more than anything hahaha. So we enjoyed the apple crisp and I'll probs make some more on Thursday and maybe even take it to District Meeting to share with the Elders. P.S. Cooking sucks here. We have literally 0 counter space so imagine me sitting on the floor in my harmony pants, a cat shirt jamming to EFY music and mixing up some pie crust in two separate bowls since there's not one at our house that's big enough. #koreaproblems.
Here's my other #sistermissionary problem for the week. I have vetoed shaving my legs for the last week and a half, since I wear tights every day anyways and sleep in pants. Yeah but realized yesterday I could feel the hair through my tights. Hope you got a good laugh out of that one, and weren't just disgusted haha.
Quick update of the last week...
-Monday we had family night and did a scavenger hunt with the kids of papers hid all over the church. One of the Korean elders was super clever and put number values on them and then like plus or minus signs so whoever's added up to the most points at the end won. It was fun!
-Tuesday, to celebrate HALF WAY through our missions we treated ourselves to Karbi aka Korean BBQ with Dad's card (THANK YOU!:)) It was super delicious, of course, and we had lots of fun. Then we met with the girl who gets baptized THIS SUNDAY and taught her a few more of the commandments. Then that night, we met with the girl (she's like 30) who we are doing Family English aka 30/30 with (30 min english, 30 min gospel). She opened up a little more about religion this week, which we were so stoked about. We'll meet with her again this Tuesday and are planning to teach her about the atonement and how through Christ we can forgive and be forgiven.
-Wednesday, we had interviews with President. While he went through and interviewd everyone in our district, Sister Gilbert taught. We talked about lots of things but what stuck out to me most was about spiritual gifts. We were all given spiritual gifts before we came here. They were first developed in heaven, and now we have to continue to develop them and grow while we are here on earth, so we can be the person we were designed to be when we return to heaven. We can develop these spiritual gifts into power to do what we are asked by our Heavenly Father through the spirit. Pretty awesome. We also talked about how we need to teach how the spirit teaches us. Chokum sheek, chokum sheek (little by little) and exactly how we need to hear it personally. Pretty awesome!
-Thursday, we worked on making new flyers for our English class, visited a few less actives houses, and then taught English. Pretty routine.
-Friday, we visited a Guejeong member for lunch and ate SOOO MUCH FOOD!!! Seriously I had a hard time moving after. Curry and rice, and chop-chay (the clear noodles), and dokboki, (2 bowls of each of those) and fruit. Then we were laughing really hard with the Elders afterwards and my stomach hurt so bad. It was pretty funny. I guess there are worse problems, eh?
-Saturday, we taught Ye-jin again and finished up all the lessons!! I taught "obey and honor the law" and committed her to be a hulionghan (basically transfers to awesome or fantastic, can't really do direct translation though) citizen. Have to make it fun right? Then we made banana bread to eat after church on Sunday because
-Sunday, we got a NEW BRANCH PRESIDENT! Yes, it is exciting. We now have a little more direction, instead of 4 20something year olds running the branch haha. He and his wife just got back from serving a mission in Seoul and I think they will be awesome. We are going to have dinner/meet with them again on Friday to get more of a plan so it will be GREAT!
For my sermon of the week, I was reading in Helaman 10 the other day and LOVED verse 4-5. "Blessed art thou, Nephi, for those things which thou hast done, for I have beheld how thou hast with UNWEARYINGNESS declared the word which I have given unto thee, unto this people. And thou hast not feared them, and has not sought thine own life, but hast sought my will, and to keep my commandments...Behold, I will bless the forever, and I will make thee mighty in word and in deed, in faith and in words." Nephi is seriously the perfect example. He, with unwearyingness, preached the gospel. I imagine that he did this by words, as well as by example. He was completely selfless and turned himself over to the Lord, and was receptive to all the guidance and commandments he was given. As he did this, and consecreated himself to the Lord, the Lord promised to bless him FOREVER and promised to make him mighty in all things. That is pretty amazing!! I love looking for all of these examples in the scriptures, and our lives today, of what we can do better to become more like the Savior and give ourselves to him. I love this time I have to focus on what I can do to grow and give myself more and more to the Lord, even though I have a long way to go. I know this is setting a great foundation for what I will be able to do throughout my life.
Our plans for this week are mostly preparing for the baptism. Most of the week is already planned out, which is such a blessing of course! Lessons, as said above, are going well. We have had a few setbacks with some other people we wanted to teach, and jundo has not been very successful lately, but we will keep working hard and being obedient, and as we do so, we will see miracles. The mission has 22 baptism dates this week and next week , which is more than any other two weeks together since President and Sister Gilbert have been here! Lots of great things are happening here!
I really want to stay here and not get transfered, which is kind of what we're thinking, but who knows! I had a dream the other night that I got called to whitewash an area that was super sheegore (like forest) where there was no branch and we had to start it. I woke up and was glad it was just a dream... hahaha
I play the piano every week in Sacrament, and every week at district meeting, and at zone meetings, so I have had lots of opportunities. I brought some and have copied some music from other missionaries here, and haven't had much chance to play actual like performance pieces--mostly just hymns.
I guess that's about it for now!!!!! I'm glad you're all doing so well and I love you all so much!!!
Em
Monday, November 18, 2013
Time is Zipping By
Happy November to you! I seriously can't believe how fast the month has already gone either. Crazy!! Time seriously is zipping by! Christmas is not NEARLY as big as it is in the US. I guess lots of people celebrate it as a couples holiday...but a lot of the stores do have decorations that are kind of fun. Yes there are transfers on the 12/2 so I don't know if I will stay here or not! It's totally up in the air for now! For my week...
Monday we had FHE. We played jeopardy--the elders wrote all the questions. I understood the ones about the gospel but was pretty lost the rest of the time. It was funny. It was also pepero day (those sticks dipped in chocolate) because it was 11.11 and the sticks look like the date (clever marketing scheme eh?) and so a bunch of the YM brought us pepero which was fun and we were happy about it of course!
Tuesday we once again tried to find less actives houses, started to plan our Christmas party and then taught our new investigator who we are doing 30/30 program with (aka 30 min English 30 min gospel.) I
Wednesday, we went to the hospital with my best friend Harmony for her every-other week check-up! She literally talked from 8:00 when we got there until 12:30 after we had gotten back and eaten lunch with her. I zoned out for most of it. She is funny. It's all about all the service she has given, and stories about former mission presidents, and then every so often about how she is old and her legs are sore. Then as we're about to leave she whips off her shirt (no she is not wearing anything underneath) so that we can put some cream on her sore shoulder. I was dying. Oh Korea. We also had English class that night, which is always one of the highlights of the week. I love teaching and asking stories, and thinking of funny stories to tell.
Thursday, we had district meeting. We talked about how we can help get our investigators excited about reading the Book of Mormon. My comp and I talked about finding scriptures that are specific to them and they can personally apply. We are excited to try this out as we teach this week! Then we weekly planned, and taught English that night. Friday, we went to our service project, did some oragami with old people, and then did exchanges. We jundoed and got a bunch of contacts--they have a really good area with lots of people to jundo in.
don't think she has a ton of gospel interest right now, and her mind is pretty closed but we'll see what happens over the next few weeks. She is super nice and fun to talk to, and I could totally see her as like a YW leader or something one day! Guess we have to see people how the Lord sees them and what they can become, right?!
When we were on exchanges, my comp taught one of our new investigators and I guess that went really well. They also taught the girl who is getting baptized on 12.1 so we're working on planning that baptism too! (Of course we have to do exchanges on the exciting day right?!)
Saturday night was the adult session of stake conference. It was all about..you guessed it! Missionary Work! It was actually really cool how they did it. They had a girl who just got back from Seoul speak, then a man who just got back from serving with his wife, and then a recent convert, one of the APs, a current senior missionary serving here, the stake mission leader and then the stake president. So basically got a bunch of missionary roles covered! They said there were 35 converts in Busan stake this year, 49 missionaries currently serving in the stake, and 140 in the mission, which is up from 80 at this time last year! They showed some of the video clips that are on LDS.org so it was neat to see those too!
Sunday was the general session and it was a broadcast from SLC just for Korea! Bishop Davies, Sister Burton (whose husband was the mission president in Seoul West mission a few years back), Elder Cook and Elder Hales spoke. A lot of the focus was on first, building faith, and second, the family. So those are obviously the things that they are concerned about here in Korea, which my comp and I have now talked about being grateful for some more direction now we can focus on! One of them (sorry don't remember who) said that we need to take ACTION to be an example. I love this! There is not time for us to just sit still and wait for the things going on around us. We need to have courage to stand up and take action for what we know is right and what we know is our responsibility as members of Christ's church. I loved how our stake mission leader talked about how we live like this, sharing the gospel should be a natural thing in our lives. Just the way we live should invite others to come Christ!
Oh other random story for you. I guess they sterilize the air here...? There are trucks that go around spraying stuff in the air and I guess its supposed to clean it or something. And the elders were saying in their building they got a knock on the door to leave because they were sterilizing the air in the building. What the heck?! Yeah there's quite a bit of pollution but I think its hilarious. Only in Korea!
Well I am glad to hear you are all doing well. I love you all SO MUCH!!!!!!!!
Em
Monday we had FHE. We played jeopardy--the elders wrote all the questions. I understood the ones about the gospel but was pretty lost the rest of the time. It was funny. It was also pepero day (those sticks dipped in chocolate) because it was 11.11 and the sticks look like the date (clever marketing scheme eh?) and so a bunch of the YM brought us pepero which was fun and we were happy about it of course!
Tuesday we once again tried to find less actives houses, started to plan our Christmas party and then taught our new investigator who we are doing 30/30 program with (aka 30 min English 30 min gospel.) I
Wednesday, we went to the hospital with my best friend Harmony for her every-other week check-up! She literally talked from 8:00 when we got there until 12:30 after we had gotten back and eaten lunch with her. I zoned out for most of it. She is funny. It's all about all the service she has given, and stories about former mission presidents, and then every so often about how she is old and her legs are sore. Then as we're about to leave she whips off her shirt (no she is not wearing anything underneath) so that we can put some cream on her sore shoulder. I was dying. Oh Korea. We also had English class that night, which is always one of the highlights of the week. I love teaching and asking stories, and thinking of funny stories to tell.
Thursday, we had district meeting. We talked about how we can help get our investigators excited about reading the Book of Mormon. My comp and I talked about finding scriptures that are specific to them and they can personally apply. We are excited to try this out as we teach this week! Then we weekly planned, and taught English that night. Friday, we went to our service project, did some oragami with old people, and then did exchanges. We jundoed and got a bunch of contacts--they have a really good area with lots of people to jundo in.
When we were on exchanges, my comp taught one of our new investigators and I guess that went really well. They also taught the girl who is getting baptized on 12.1 so we're working on planning that baptism too! (Of course we have to do exchanges on the exciting day right?!)
Saturday night was the adult session of stake conference. It was all about..you guessed it! Missionary Work! It was actually really cool how they did it. They had a girl who just got back from Seoul speak, then a man who just got back from serving with his wife, and then a recent convert, one of the APs, a current senior missionary serving here, the stake mission leader and then the stake president. So basically got a bunch of missionary roles covered! They said there were 35 converts in Busan stake this year, 49 missionaries currently serving in the stake, and 140 in the mission, which is up from 80 at this time last year! They showed some of the video clips that are on LDS.org so it was neat to see those too!
Sunday was the general session and it was a broadcast from SLC just for Korea! Bishop Davies, Sister Burton (whose husband was the mission president in Seoul West mission a few years back), Elder Cook and Elder Hales spoke. A lot of the focus was on first, building faith, and second, the family. So those are obviously the things that they are concerned about here in Korea, which my comp and I have now talked about being grateful for some more direction now we can focus on! One of them (sorry don't remember who) said that we need to take ACTION to be an example. I love this! There is not time for us to just sit still and wait for the things going on around us. We need to have courage to stand up and take action for what we know is right and what we know is our responsibility as members of Christ's church. I loved how our stake mission leader talked about how we live like this, sharing the gospel should be a natural thing in our lives. Just the way we live should invite others to come Christ!
Oh other random story for you. I guess they sterilize the air here...? There are trucks that go around spraying stuff in the air and I guess its supposed to clean it or something. And the elders were saying in their building they got a knock on the door to leave because they were sterilizing the air in the building. What the heck?! Yeah there's quite a bit of pollution but I think its hilarious. Only in Korea!
Well I am glad to hear you are all doing well. I love you all SO MUCH!!!!!!!!
Em
Monday, November 4, 2013
It was a good week! I feel like we don't stop moving, but then I look back at the week and think "what did we even do?" Here's a brief overview for you (I hope you like that I do this. I figure its the best way to get info over)
Monday we had to go to Changwon, a city about an hour bus ride away because my comps back has been really sore and we had to go to a dr there who is a member. So I got to see a new city which was fun. On the bus ride back we laughed and laughed and laughed.
Tuesday, was one of the busiest days which is a blessing of course! We had lunch with a less active. She is like 17, but her parents are divorced and live in Seoul so she and her brother live with their grandma but they have no money so she had to drop out of high school to work. Its really sad, but she is cute and we had fun with her. I don't think she totally understands the gospel, but we are going to keep trying to meet with her every few weeks and buy her lunch and hopefully get a good pokum (gospel) message across! Then we visited one of our non-progressing investigators who was basically just best friends with my old comp (they're close to the same age.) It was kind of weird, and she wasn't too excited to see us. I think she just likes the social aspect of meeting with the missionaries. So I don't know what we'll do about that. Then we taught another lesson that night to a NEW INVESTIGATOR in Goejeong. We met her on the bus and introduced our English program to her. If they can't come to regular English class, we can teach them for 6 weeks 30 min gospel and 30 min English. She lived in Sydney for a few years studying, and then taught English here so her English is really good. She asked about the Book of Mormon, so I got to introduce that which I love (it was like half in English and half in Korean. She wanted to hear it in English, but didn't know all the gospel words in English so that's where the Korean came in). I guess when she lived in Sydney, she went to church EVERY MORNING because she loved the peace she felt when that preacher spoke. She hasn't been attending here very frequently, however, so hopefully we can get her to come to church and feel the real peace and happiness that comes from the TRUE gospel!! We meet with her again Tuesday
Wednesday, We had zone meeting. They challenged us to share the miracles we see as we work with the members to help get them excited about the work we are doing, and further help them get excited to do missionary work themselves! I thought it was brilliant. Then that night, we taught our investigator that is set to get baptized on Dec 1! We talked about the importance of reading the book of mormon, and how when we do so we are following the words of the prophet. She is only like 15 but, is seriously so mature! I love her!
Thursday, we had our service project and then taught English class in Goejeong. And it was Halloween, so yes we wore Orange and Black (my comp does not like how they look together but I made her do it anyway haha) and ordered chicken that night haha #fatmissionaryprobs
Friday, we set up for our halloween party/fall festival at the church. Then we did weekly planning. If you don't know, this is like a 3 hour process that goes by SO FAST! We are really trying to make planning a revelatory experience, and to really PLAN not just schedule our day. We are excited about this week and have some good finding ideas!
Saturday, we tried to find less actives houses. This is seriously a process here. They changed the address system a few years ago, so there are two different systems and the old one makes absolutely no sense, but we can usually find them on the map. The problem is none of the old addresses are on the houses so we have to take pictures of the map and pray that we go the right place. We found houses, but most of the addresses are really old and people don't live there any more. We'll keep working on it... Then we had our halloween party!! We got all the missionaries in our district to help and had games like bean bag toss, the donuts from a string (except donuts are super expensive so we just used cookies with a whole in the middle haha), pumpkin craft, fishing, bowling, bobbing for apples, and then just games like uno. It turned out really fun!! Then after, we had one of the elders play the violin and another play the guitar. Then we did a skit of the mormon message "the coat" for our spiritual message and the Elders sang "Love is Spoken Here" while I played the piano. It turned out really well and I think everyone had fun! I'll send a pic of the group.
Sunday, We had meetings of course. I bore my testimony in sacrament meeting about sharing Christ's light. We went to branch council in Goejeong which was really neat. The branch is small, but it was so neat to see them all working together and really setting goals and plans to help the branch grow. Then we had linner (3pm) with a member which was nice! Like I said earlier, ate SO MUCH! (Ok maybe it wasn't that much but my stomach was just nice and small from fasting) and then MCM.
So overall, a great week!
So this morning, I started by studying the Book of Mormon and then somehow found my way to Romans 12. I loved verse 21 "Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good." I thought about how we can't let the evil things of the world affect us or weaken us. Instead, we must live so that we are able to beat Satan, however clever he is. As we get ride of unchristlike attributes, like pride, disobedience, pessimism, "slothfullness", etc, we will be able first to overcome that darn natural man inside of us. Once we learn how to fight the evil, aka things that pull us away from Christ, we will have a better idea of what we need to do to envelop the evil with good. Can't you just imagine when Christ comes and there is a big cloud that wraps all the bad, evil things of the world inside of it and sucks them in to a big black whole?? Christ has the power to do this, because Satan cannot have power over him. As we become more like Christ, we will be able to start overcoming the evil things in the world by replacing them with good things. Elder Jeffrey R. Holland said "The future of this world has long been declared; the final outcome between good and evil is already known. There is absolutely no question as to who wins because the victory has already been posted on the scoreboard. The only really strange thing in all of this is that we are still down here on the field trying to decide which team's jersey we want to wear!" We just need to focus on how we can individually give ourselves more to the Savior and what we can do-however small it is each day- to become more like him and replace those evil habits, thoughts, actions, doubts, or whatever it is holding us back, with the things of God. We are only able to do this as we trust in the Lord and rely on His atonement to bring us through whatever the current battle is. It's like Peter walking on the water. We we feel like we're sinking, we just need to cry out "Lord, save me" and IMMEDIATELY the lord will reach out to us, as say to us, I imagine with a smile on his face, "O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?" and the winds will cease and we will be carried through by the light and love of our Savior Jesus Christ. (Cue Hymn "The Lord is My Light") Ah this is why I love the gospel. It is so happy and makes so much sense!!!
Tuesday, October 22, 2013
HELLOOOOO!!!!
HELLLOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!
I am glad to hear that you had a great week.
Quick update on my week:
Monday, we went bowling for FHE with a bunch of the young men in the ward. It was pretty fun. Only in Korea is the bowling alley on the fourth story of a big building...
Tuesday, we taught one of our investigators and committed her to a baptism date for December 1 which we are so excited about of course! We still have lots to teach her, but we will be working towards that date:):)
Wednesday, we went to service, worked on some projects at the church, and taught English.
Thursday, we had MISSION TOUR! Elder Scott D. Whiting came and spoke to us. I only got to talk to him briefly. He talked a lot about how as missionaries, we all have authority. We were all set apart and given the same authority. But, in order to be successful missionaries, we need POWER! We need power as we teach, testify, serve, and share the light of Christ. What this power is is the Holy Ghost!!! When we teach, testify, serve, and share Christ's light, we HAVE to do it with the spirit! The way that we are able to have the spirit more fully to develop this power is, you guessed it, be more obedient!!! And when we are being disobedient, we are just being prideful, so we have to get all of that ugly pride out of the way, humble ourselves and be submissive to the will of the Lord! He also said we need to testify with Boldness. Sweet Boldness! I loved thinking about Sweet Boldness. In order to be bold, we don't need to go up to someone and sing some "Glory Glory Haleluiahs" and command them to repent (even though that may work for some people...not really my style). What I take this as meaning is being able to share the love of Christ and be bold through our actions and make it so that everybody around us can feel the Savior's love. It's pretty amazing.
Thursday night, we went to an orchestra concert. The girl is in her 3rd year of Jr. High. The Jr. High orchestra concert here was pretty legit. They did a couple songs from the Sound of Music which I quite enjoyed...:)
Saturday, we worked on more of our projects at the church (making new boards with church info and stuff like that) and then because my comp was getting transfered, I treated us to dinner using Dad's card (thank you:)). We went and got Vietnamese Pho which was pretty delicious. Had to try something new!
Sunday, I spoke in Church about the Holy Ghost. I had a scripture and a quote in there, and think it went pretty well! It was only like 10 min, but still good:)
Then, this morning, we had transfer meeting! I have a new companion. I love her already!! She speaks pretty good English, but I told her that she has to speak Korean to me so I can keep learning, and to fix my grammar too. She is so positive and funny too. It is going to be a fun transfer:)
So this week, I was reading in Mosiah 18:9 about standing as a witness of God at all times and in all things and in all places. Yes we all know the scripture well, especially thanks to the Young Women's theme. But I started thinking about this, and how we also need to stand in Holy Places. Whoa--Connection! As we stand as a witness of God, we are able to make where we stand that holy place, that has been talked about so much lately. When we, as Mosiah 18 says, bear one another's burdens, are WILLING to mourn with those who mourn, comfort those who stand in need of comfort, etc, we will have the strength to do what the Savior would do and use that power of the spirit to make wherever we are a holy place. Right now, I have Christ's name constantly pinned on my shirt, but as Elder Andersen said last conference, we can all paint that missionary name badge with Christ's name on our hearts:)
Oh cool fun fact. President told us this morning that recently the church gave North Korea 310,000 apple trees that the planted there!! Whoa! Maybe we will be in there sooner than we think!
Well I guess that's about all for now! I love you all so so so so much!! The gospel is true and I'm so glad to get to share it!
Em
I am glad to hear that you had a great week.
Quick update on my week:
Monday, we went bowling for FHE with a bunch of the young men in the ward. It was pretty fun. Only in Korea is the bowling alley on the fourth story of a big building...
Tuesday, we taught one of our investigators and committed her to a baptism date for December 1 which we are so excited about of course! We still have lots to teach her, but we will be working towards that date:):)
Wednesday, we went to service, worked on some projects at the church, and taught English.
Thursday, we had MISSION TOUR! Elder Scott D. Whiting came and spoke to us. I only got to talk to him briefly. He talked a lot about how as missionaries, we all have authority. We were all set apart and given the same authority. But, in order to be successful missionaries, we need POWER! We need power as we teach, testify, serve, and share the light of Christ. What this power is is the Holy Ghost!!! When we teach, testify, serve, and share Christ's light, we HAVE to do it with the spirit! The way that we are able to have the spirit more fully to develop this power is, you guessed it, be more obedient!!! And when we are being disobedient, we are just being prideful, so we have to get all of that ugly pride out of the way, humble ourselves and be submissive to the will of the Lord! He also said we need to testify with Boldness. Sweet Boldness! I loved thinking about Sweet Boldness. In order to be bold, we don't need to go up to someone and sing some "Glory Glory Haleluiahs" and command them to repent (even though that may work for some people...not really my style). What I take this as meaning is being able to share the love of Christ and be bold through our actions and make it so that everybody around us can feel the Savior's love. It's pretty amazing.
Thursday night, we went to an orchestra concert. The girl is in her 3rd year of Jr. High. The Jr. High orchestra concert here was pretty legit. They did a couple songs from the Sound of Music which I quite enjoyed...:)
Saturday, we worked on more of our projects at the church (making new boards with church info and stuff like that) and then because my comp was getting transfered, I treated us to dinner using Dad's card (thank you:)). We went and got Vietnamese Pho which was pretty delicious. Had to try something new!
Sunday, I spoke in Church about the Holy Ghost. I had a scripture and a quote in there, and think it went pretty well! It was only like 10 min, but still good:)
Then, this morning, we had transfer meeting! I have a new companion. I love her already!! She speaks pretty good English, but I told her that she has to speak Korean to me so I can keep learning, and to fix my grammar too. She is so positive and funny too. It is going to be a fun transfer:)
So this week, I was reading in Mosiah 18:9 about standing as a witness of God at all times and in all things and in all places. Yes we all know the scripture well, especially thanks to the Young Women's theme. But I started thinking about this, and how we also need to stand in Holy Places. Whoa--Connection! As we stand as a witness of God, we are able to make where we stand that holy place, that has been talked about so much lately. When we, as Mosiah 18 says, bear one another's burdens, are WILLING to mourn with those who mourn, comfort those who stand in need of comfort, etc, we will have the strength to do what the Savior would do and use that power of the spirit to make wherever we are a holy place. Right now, I have Christ's name constantly pinned on my shirt, but as Elder Andersen said last conference, we can all paint that missionary name badge with Christ's name on our hearts:)
Oh cool fun fact. President told us this morning that recently the church gave North Korea 310,000 apple trees that the planted there!! Whoa! Maybe we will be in there sooner than we think!
Well I guess that's about all for now! I love you all so so so so much!! The gospel is true and I'm so glad to get to share it!
Em
Monday, October 14, 2013
TYPHOON!
I am sitting here in the Branch President's office at the church drinking a nice kind of cold coke-zero. The only thing that would make it better if it was 1) real diet coke and 2) from the fountain but you do what you can right?! Haha
The word for Tuesday was 태풍 aka tay-phoong. Can you guess what that is? TYPHOON!!!!!!!! Remember when you asked me about it last week and I said that we hadn't really seen anything yet? Well I spoke about 12 hours too soon. It started raining Monday night and I don't think it stopped until Wednesday morning. And when I say rain I mean RAIN! I don't think I had experienced anything like it! We jundo-ed in the subway for a lot of the day where it was dry, but had to go out for dinner and then to meet with one of our investigators, and I think I used my umbrella to block the wind more than the rain because I was soaked anyways. Then our investigator canceled because it was too wet and she didn't want us to have to go all the way to her house, so we went home and called less actives instead. My shoes didn't dry until Friday!! Good thing I have a few pairs... It was pretty fun though looking back on it!
Wednesday, we had zone meeting. The zone leaders taught about how we need to have faith in Jesus Christ, not just faith. One of them said how when we went to the MTC, his dad said to him was "Don't look to the sides. Look up!" I have thought about this a lot this week. It reminds me of the talk you sent me by Elder Carl Cook about how it is better to look up! I have thought about how we need to look to the Lord for help first and trust in his guidance. Also, how we can't compare ourselves to those around us, but to always just keep climbing at the pace Heavenly Father has set for us. Also how we obviously we live in the world, but we can live on that higher plane and not be of the world. I made a great analogy in my journal about it and climbing the ladder in the SL temple to the Angel Moroni, but that is really long to type so maybe I will just copy it and mail it to you:)
Thursday, we met one of our investigators for lunch at Pizza Hut. (Pizza Hut is actually a nice restaurant here, and pretty different from the US. Still tasty though!) She has been an investigator for a few years, and has progressed on and off, but she is super sweet. I have met her a few times now. She is going to graduate school for English interpretation, and so speaks English pretty well, and uses really funny colloquial phrases like "getting all dolled up" or "PDA". It was pretty funny. She has a big test on the 26th, so we can't meet again until after that, but I hope we can get her progressing then!
Friday, we ate lunch with another investigator (who is sadly not progressing either but really likes us) which was fun, and then jundoed a bit and weekly planned. Kind of an uneventful day! (Except I did get letters from all of you which was very fun)
Saturday and Sunday, we watched conference!!! I had downloaded it earlier in the week so had already listened to it, but it was fun to watch/listen again. I listened through headphones and watched (except the timing was off by like 3 seconds in my ears from their mouths moving) while the Koreans listened to the translated version. I loved it!!! I especially loved President Eyring's talk!! I loved how he combined talking about families, and obedience, and forgiveness, and happiness all in one talk. It seriously answered a few of the questions I went into conference with which was awesome! I especially loved a few things he said. One, about how the Lord will give us assurance of forgiveness in His time and in His way. It makes repentance and the opportunity to grow such a personal experience. It really makes me think about how much my Savior loves me individually, as well you, as the people I teaching here. I also like how we said the Lord know what difficulties we will go through, and that is why he sent His son. This makes me want to deepen my relationship with the Savior even more! As I constantly reach out to him, I will be able to become what he needs me to be. I also loved Elder Christofferson's talk on the value of women! I am so excited to go back and watch/listen/read them all again. I love that we have conference every 6 months and can learn so much new stuff!!! I am also glad we have 6 months between to study and apply all that was taught in the previous conference.
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