Hello dear family!!
Welcome to October!! The air is getting crisp, the leaves are changing colors and we get to watch conference!! Things can't get much better!! Though I haven't been able to watch General Conference yet, I did hear the news about the age difference! Can I just tell you how excited I am!!!! I am sooo excited that Sisters will be able to leave early to serve the Lord! What an exciting time! I'm also slightly jealous because those extra 2 years of waiting were excruciating. But I know I was supposed to serve at this time, so I really can't complain all that much.
I thought about y’all this past weekend watching Conference, eating "conference" food, and spending time with one another. I hope that you enjoyed every moment of it! I had a neat experience while saying my prayers this past weekend; I could feel the power and the strength of the Saints gathering together to hear the words of our dear Prophet. I could feel the power of the General Authorities as they made their final preparations to speak by the Power and Spirit of God. It was a tender and powerful feeling, and it only made me that much more excited to be able to hear their words myself!! I am so very excited! Words can't even begin to describe it!!
So this week in Korea was busy and wonderful! The extra P-day after the holiday was a little strange to have, but then we could get right on with the work. (and it really is my favorite work!)
This week we taught our dear grandmother investigator. She is so tender and I'm excited for the day she will be baptized!!! We talked this past week about Repentance. My companion and I came up with an awesome analogy to help with the lesson ((ps: after the lesson I was talking to the Elders and tried to tell them about the "비유" that we had used...I COULD NOT, for the life of me, remember what "비유" was in English!! It took me a good 2 hours of thinking and a couple of dictionary searches to realize the word I was looking for was "analogy"... hahah oh learning Korean! lol I love it!!))
Anyhow... So the idea started from watching the District Videos (Gwen will remember those well lol) In one of the videos, the Sister Missionaries where talking about "turning a new page". So to the lesson we brought a black piece of coating paper (lamination paper??) and a white board marker. We talked about how the paper is us, and the marker is sin. We talked about some of the things we may do that would be sins, and we wrote those on the paper (not keeping the commandments, lying, gossiping, etc). Then I explained, using the same 'sin' marker, that sometimes in our lives we grab onto sin, and only though repentance can we let go. We then taught the 5 steps of repentance: recognition, sorrow, prayer, turning away, and reconciliation. With each step and explanation I raised one finger away from the marker I was holding in my hand. At the end the marker dropped. My companion then explained that once we have let go of our sins, our hand is now free to cling to the Atonement of Christ, which is our eraser. We cannot erase our sins on our own; we do not have that power. But Christ does. And through Christ we can be made clean again.
It was such an amazing lesson!! It was first wonderful to see our investigator's understanding, but also, on a more personal side, to see how far my new companion and I have come. Our first lesson we had together was with this same investigator and, well...it wasn't very good. There was no love, no unity, and little spirit. (Which are the things that every missionary absolutely NEEDS to have!!) But this lesson, all those things were present. I think one of the biggest things is that we weren't focusing on ourselves or trying to teach the perfect lesson. We were just sharing the message that we know to be true and we were sharing it with love. It was amazing.
The rest of the week went well. We are still going out nearly daily to try and find the Less-Actives of our Branch. We have a list of 426 members that are supposed to be coming to church...currently we have about 65 active members who come every week. It's heart breaking to think that so many people have lost sight of the truth and light of this Gospel, but little by little we are trying to make contact and find those who have been lost. On Sunday, we spent about 3 hours walking around finding different houses. None of the people were home, but we were able to leave a note and a pamphlet and some cookies. Little reminders that God loves them, and we do too.
I'm excited for this next week though!! We have a couple of lessons with our English Class members that should go really really well! (One lady we taught 2 weeks ago (everyone who comes to english class is required to sit in on one 30 min Gospel discussion/ introduction of our church) after seeing a picture of Joseph and Moroni explained to her friend about who Joseph Smith was and the Book Of Mormon, etc... it was a neat moment to see that she HAD payed attention!! And that she remembered so many details! I'm excited for the next lesson with her!! )
And then we have a dinner appointment with the American family in our branch and a girl from Colorado we met out on the street!! She knows about our church, and her best friend served a mission in Russia. We, and the Elders, keep running into her... Heavenly Father is ready to have her hear the Gospel I think. Really though, the work is going great, and the next couple weeks should be pretty exciting!!
I love you all!! Thank you for all the love!!!!
Mom asked the question of how my Korean is coming along... things are going really well. I can understand a lot of things, though forming all that I want to say is pretty hard. My companion said that my pronunciation, especially when reading, is pretty good. I'm starting to learn more and more words everyday just from listening, which makes things nice. It helps to have a companion that doesn't speak hardly any English...it's hard to communicate, but it forces me to try, even when I fail =].
kiss love hugs! Have good week!!!
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| Her using Chopsticks at the MTC! |
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