Letter 10/13/2014

I'm transferring to 금천 (Keumcheon) 1st ward. I'm moving closer to you! (to us in Daejeon - so she must be moving south) It borders my stake in the 안양 (Anyang) stake where I started my mission! (This is only her second transfer, and she's been in Korea for 11 months.)

Because of General Conference I didn't think I'd get to give a good-bye talk in sacrament meeting. (Conference is broadcast a week later in places like Korea, where there are time zone differences, and translation that needs to be done) But right after lunch between the sessions (at the stake center) the stake president asked me to go up and talk. The tears started streaming after the first sentence. I'm so glad that I have been able to serve in Mok-Dong. I have loved it so much and I have learned so much. The members have been so wonderful and shown me such good examples. After I finished my talk and tried to stop my sobs I walked to the back of the chapel and Jee-Seung (the 15 year old girl that was baptized a few months ago) and I cried on each other's shoulders. Leaving her will be the hardest part about leaving. She makes me so happy and I'm so proud of her!

This week was crazy! We had MLC (mission leader council - or something to that effect) and a meeting with our ward missionary leader (no proselyting time) on Tuesday, we had our Culture Night at the church (NO proselyting time) on Thursday, Zone training (minimal proselyting time) on Friday, three sessions of conference on Saturday (no proselyting), and two sessions of conference with weekly planning on Sunday (no proselyting time).

During conference on Saturday we were seeking guidance of how to find new investigators and God answered our prayers! A girl who kept telling us that she wanted to meet but was too busy texted us on Saturday night, asking to meet on Sunday. She was only available in the morning so we skipped our morning session(of conference) and just watched it later. She is so cool! She told us that she wanted to know whether or not God exists and we taught her how to pray so that she can know. She was really excited to pray and find out.

Our zone trainings have become increasingly more intense. In this last training Sister Blickenstaff and I spent some time talking about learning the language. Missionaries often get discouraged with the language so I shared your story that you shared in Relief society a year or so ago. You talked about communicating with people through the Spirit, rather than Japanese to fulfill your RS calling. I wanted to share this story of yours and as I thought about it, I couldn't think of a time in my whole childhood when you complained about Japanese being 'hard' and I was so impressed. (I'm sure I did complain, but I'm glad she doesn't remember :) ) So I used your story to encourage them to seek learning the language through the Spirit as we put in as much effort as we can and not complaining.

We finally watched women's conference! There are two girls from our ward in that movie (of the primary girls in Hanbok - traditional Korean dress, singing "I Love To See The Temple)! It was filmed in 영등포 (Yeongdeungpo), which is right next to us! That's where we have our mission conferences because it's the biggest building.

I knew one of the girls would be singing. The other one surprised me. I only recognized the two. But the cute family at the beginning (in front of the temple) is the bishop is Ansan (her first area)!

I asked if she knew her release date yet, and this was her reply:
Yeah. I got the call as I was leaving (the internet cafe) after emailing last week. My release date is April 3rd. (That will give her a nearly 19 month mission)