Faith, Hope, Charity, and Hard Work

FAMILY!!
Oh! It was so much fun talking to y’all last week! I think the greatest part about those phone calls is how familiar y’alls voices still sound, even though I haven't heard them in months.  I loved it!  Glad this round worked A LOT better than Christmas. I think my favorite part was just all the giggles and laughing. I love that about our family. Yes, we are excited to hear and talk to each other; yes, we want to share all the good experiences; but at the same time we can have fun and laugh and be ourselves!!  I'm excited for the day-that-shall-not-be-named that we can do all of that around the kitchen table.  I miss y’all, but I am not so sad because I'll be seeing y’all in due time.

WELL!! I'm sure y’all are ready to hear about my fabulous new companion right?!? Ok, So, she is from San Diego (Temecula), California.  She is 20 years old and "awesome" haha ccording to her introduction! Her name is Sister Alexandria Scott. She is the middle sister of the 5 girls in her family.  She loves obedience, she loves hard work and she is not afraid to just go, go, go!  (Which, being over 2 areas, comes in REALLY handy!) She is a little shy to begin with, but her dry and slightly sarcastic humor keeps us going strong! With so many new sisters that just came (14) we didn't actually talk to each other or really interact during the training activities, but Heavenly Father knew that we needed each other and it was a fun surprise on Thursday morning. (Fun side note, I worked with Sister Ellingson for a little bit and fell absolutely in love with her!  She's in Daeshin and will do fantastic!  She'll be an amazing missionary!)

Since the end of Thursday training activities we have been going like crazy! Every night we can barely make it through planning for the next day because we are so blissfully tired. Going between both areas has been an adventure for sure. Thankfully the Elders haven't been too bothered with our constant cascade of questions. Really, they are just excited that there are finally sisters here, and for that I am extra grateful.

With only a few days under our belts in this area, we are doing pretty good.  The Area Books are nearly organized, we finally got a map book so we know (slightly) where we are going, and our we have been able to meet some amazing people throughout the days that seem to have a lot of potential to have their hearts opened to the gospel. One person I'm really excited about, came on our first day together in the areas.  We were with the Haeundae elders headed over to visit a LA lady.  On the bus ride over, Elder Gomez started talking to this mother.  After a bus ride conversation she gave us her contact information and we have set up a time to meet with her in her home this next Thursday!!  I'm so excited.  We actually have a couple more of those stories so we'll let y’all know how they turn out.

We had one round of our 3 English classes ((all in different areas.. we have to help out the SuJeong Elders too...)) on Saturday and my companion was excited for that one. Being a new missionary is rough.  Sometimes I nearly forget.  One of the things that I am most grateful for about Sister Scott is her love for the Korean people already.  She, kind of like when I first came, just wants to talk with them!  She loves them already, now she just wants to be able to express that and share the gospel that she loves so much. But English class was a good de-stresser for her.  There we are able to talk in both English and Korean AND be able to fulfill our purpose.

My favorite day of the week was SUNDAY!! Oh my heavens...I am in LOVE with this ward!!!! We went to Haeundae ward for the first Sunday because one of our investigators was present.  It was so much fun to great everyone, ask their names (we made a list of all the sisters there and wrote a small description of each one's outfits or qualities, so we could start memorizing and using names!) and then introduce ourselves as the Sister Missionaries now in that area. I think the most humbling part was their overwhelming excitement to FINALLY have sister missionaries back in this area!  They were all SO SO excited to see us and great us. It gave us the motivation to want to work even harder.  Not that we weren't going to, but now we want to live up to, not only the Lord's expectations and Trust, but also theirs.  Though we are working hard, the Lord seems to have spoiled us with the best ward in the mission.  I have never felt so instantly welcomed. It was amazing!!

After Church we were able to set up some appointments for that week and now we have an entire week with only about 5 hours of time left unplanned at the moment. Whew! 

Sunday afternoon and night we headed over to our other area and met with those sets of Elders and began planning a fireside that we want to have in a couple weeks.  We are talking about Faith, Hope and Charity, and it’s a fireside that is going to be focused on doing missionary work, especially through Family Home Evening.  When thinking about the member's needs we realized that they want to do missionary work, they just don't know quite how; and two, if there is any program that is not living up to its potential it's FHE.  This fireside is going to be really focused on teaching the members how to do missionary work within the walls of their own homes and inviting others through their hope, their faith and their charity to learn more about and partake of the gospel.  I'm excited for how it will turn out!

The night ended with a wonderful dinner at the couple missionary's house in our 2nd area Gwangan.  They are amazing and so full of fire. It was amazing to see the work they have been doing with LA's and others in the area.  I'm excited to work closely with them and use them to our advantage!  Their house is a place of the spirit.

Wow! So much has happened and so much more is about to happen! It's amazing to be here and I am loving every minute of it!! Thank you all for your love and support. Thank you for the prayers and for sharing with me your missionary experiences.  The next step in your sharing is the invitation to act.  As Elder Nelson said, if you ever need ideas or help "Ask the Missionaries!!"

I love you all!! thanks for everything! you are in my prayers!!
kiss love hugs!