Letter 12/15/2014

I played the piano for primary yesterday and it was super fun! I also helped the teacher teach a lesson that we had to throw together at the last minute because their teacher was sick. Sister Hoffman wasn't there because she attended the other ward. (Natasha and her companion are covering both wards)

We started doing FHE (Family Home Evening) at church on Mondays. We hope it will do well.

 

We were on the bus the other day and a woman standing next to Sister Hoffman suddenly started asking her questions regarding the name of our church, where we live, where we're going, where we're from, and other probing questions. It was so weird because some of those are questions that we sometimes ask poeple on the street. She told us that she had seen elders before but they're intimidating so she was excited to see us. We met with her two days later. She said she wanted to come to church but she didn't because her child was sick. She wants to come next week!

 

With combining areas we're busier than I imagined but it feels good to be so busy!

 

We taught a lesson to a member this week and as we were preparing we felt like we should ask her to repent. It was so scary to think about. But as we were talking to her it just naturally came up and she told us first that she wanted to repent! As we were leaving, she told me that she was really glad we met and it was exactly what she needed!

 

We were riding the bus home one day this week and something felt a little off. I didn't know what it was but I felt like I wasn't doing something right. I didn't know what it was so we kept riding the bus and got off to walk home. As we were walking a big crosswalk near the church came to mind twice so I decided that we needed to go there. We booked it over there but once we were there I didn't know what to do. So we just walked over to poeple waiting to cross the road and I talked to the closest woman next to me. The conversation went smoothly and I talked to about the Book of Mormon and she accepted a book!

 

In English class we teach the children and the elders teach the adults. Shortly after finishing, an elder came over to us and excitedly said, "The girl. She's downstairs. She wants to know!" We had no idea who he was talking about but "she wants to know!" had us running downstairs. We saw a girl in her twenties down there who wanted to meet with us. We met her yesterday and taught her the whole first lesson. We figured out that she was a former investigator who wasn't ready before! I think she's ready now~ !

Letter 12/8/2014

Last week we planned to teach an investigator the first lesson and we wanted it to be the best first lesson we had taught so we role played together, we studied, we practiced teaching it to two members, and we even taught it to a seven-year-old boy who is taking the lessons before getting baptized (his family are members). But then the investigator wasn't able to make it. We were so bummed. But then a member referred someone to us and we went to go visit her. We just showed up at her apartment because we only had her address and not her phone number. She let us in and WE TAUGHT HER THE FIRST LESSON! It was so cool!

And we taught a Japanese woman this week! She wants to learn English and she was referred to us because I speak Japanese. Her Korean is good so we mostly spoke in Korean so that Sister Hoffman could know what was being said. It was so much fun. She doesn't actually have gospel interest but we loved teaching her and her family.

 

At zone training we gave a training on the sacrament. I loved studying about the sacrament and being able to train on it because I want to improve my time in sacrament meeting. our purpose was to show the importance of it, how it can help us, how we can get more out of it although it's all in Korean, and how to turn those to help our investigators. We were hoping that by focusing on the importance of it and helping the missionaries feel more personal about it, it would give us all a little more 'umph' of helping our investigators come to sacrament meeting. What do you like to do doing sacrament meeting to get more out of it? I like to take a problem or question and seek an answer. I keep my planner open to write down Korean words that I don't know and I can also write down ideas that come to my mind. And I like to imagine Jesus and His attributes becoming a greater part of me as I partake of the bread and water.

 

I went to 안산 (Ansan - her first area) on an exchange this week! I called up some former investigators that haven't met with the missionaries for almost a year and we were able to meet them! The elders in 안산 (Ansan) had found a dog collar on the ground with a phone number on it so we called the number and met up with the lady to give it back to her. She told us that she was interested in learning English so we introduced the English program and she said she wanted to meet again!

 

We went to a member's house yesterday because he hosted the ward as a bonding-activity. We were very glad we went because a cute member went with her husband who is not a member and we were able to sit with them while we ate and it was time well spent! We were so happy!

 

Acts 8:28, 31

Letter 11/24/2014

We finally got our heater fixed!!!! Now our toes are warm. Our ward members all reached out to help us so much. One member ordered a plastic door to cover our front door to keep out the cold wind. One member brought electric mats to heat our floor. One member gave us various teas to keep us warm and heal our colds. And members would call us to make sure we were all right. Were it not against the rules for members to enter our homes, I think our house would have been flooded with members to come in and try to fix our heater for us. So cute.

We had so many teaching opportunities this week, especially to our ward members! We were able to visit with so many of them! Guess what? The stake president lived in Japan (about 20 years ago) and I found out this week that he lived in Senzokuike (where our family lived for 4.5 of the years we spent in Tokyo)!!!! The little boy in our ward that we've been teaching the lessons to was baptized by his dad on Wednesday! His baptism was very cute and a lot of ward members came to support!

We got to go to the temple on Thursday! We went straight down to Suwon, meeting a member on the way, to go visit the Hwaseong fortress in Sinpoong. It was so much fun. That's when all of the pictures are from. Our cute member who went with us is the best! She lets us teach practice lessons to her very often and she helps us with so many things! She's really the best! We walked around the castle there. We weren't able to see all of it because there was a drama being filmed.

We were calling former investigators a couple of weeks ago and a former member's mother answered the phone. She said she wanted her younger daughter to start studying (English) with us so we were able to meet this mother and daughter this week! They're from China but living in Korea, which is pretty common.

While we were doing our weekly planning we got a call from President Morrise (the mission president) telling us that our area will be combining with the sisters who cover the 금천 (Keumcheon) 2nd ward. (Natasha is serving in the Keumcheon 1st Ward) We got our transfer calls on Sunday morning telling us that Sister Driscoll will be leaving, sister Hammel will be leaving (she's going home!!), and Sister Hoffman and I will be combining the areas. I'm a bit nervous but I know that it's right so it feels good and I can feel calm.

We had dinner with a family who has a daughter who served with Emi (Natasha's best friend and roommate at BYU who recently finished her mission in Laie Hawaii)!
 
I have been interested in prayer lately because I believe that through prayer we can know God's will and better be able to accomplish His will but I'm not always sure how to have such wonderful prayers. These are some things that I enjoyed while studying True to The Faith:
If you have a difficult task before you, Heavenly Father is pleased when you get on your knees and ask for help and then get on your feet and go to work. We will help you in all your righteous pursuits, but He seldom will do something for you that you can do for yourself."

And in the Bible Dictionary we can read that sometimes we cannot secure blessings for ourselves and others that God is waiting to give to us until we ask. And sometimes our "no" answer is because the time isn't right and sometimes it's because our minds aren't the minds of Christ. When we pray in His name, we need to think as He thinks and ask for the things that He wants us to ask for. He knows what we need and what we should ask for. We can also know what to say as we follow the Spirit in our prayers.