A lot of kinds of crazy

Darling family!
From the various complaints I've gotten about ME sending this off at a weird time, I am assuming y’all went through a daylight sayings (which has just been confirmed by emily). haha That, and everyone seems to be doing well!  Life seems to be jammed packed full of fun times which is exactly what it needs to be!

Well this week here in Daegu started off normal. We were doing great missionary work!  Meeting with members and investigators, proselyting and all that good stuff. We had a fun mountain hike (a favorite past time of Koreans) with our investigator and some members.  During that hike, I was able to have an amazing talk with one of our members about faith and enduring to the end. She said that EVERY DAY it is a struggle to study her scriptures and pray, but the easy alternative is much worse. I asked her how she did it, how she kept going forward if everything was so hard. Her first reply was, when things get hard, when you might get offended or have a hard time, the first thing you DO NOT DO is leave church. She said "do not stop going to church!  You need the strength of the Church."  We touched on a few other topics as well, but I was just in awe at her amazing faith and testimony.  She has the heart of a missionary, the heart that I am striving to develop. It was an amazing hike learning from her.

Thursday we had our English Book of Mormon class with the Elders and our (now their) investigator. It was a neat lesson and we were able to also teach the Restoration and commit him to be baptized when he received the confirmation that these things were true. It was neat. After that lesson we went over to a members house to follow up on their "day of service.” Their 'reward' of sorts for their day of committed service was that we baked them an apple pie!! They absolutely LOVED it!  It was a delicious dinner of Duck, and then followed by an apple pie, made it perfect!  I'm grateful for the members here being so willing to strive to be a little better.

But that's when the crazy began.... dun dunnn dunnnnn. So we knew that we would be moving houses... but we didn't think that the move would happen till next month... and then the call came on THURSDAY night that we would be moving at 9am on SATURDAY!!!  헐 

Thursday night we also had some sisters from another area come to our house for the night... yeah, six girls...one house.  Y’all understand. Then comes Friday...our day of packing and cleaning.  And it was literally ALL DAY LONG!!! There was SO MUCH stuff!! Different from just packing up your own stuff for a transfer, we had to go through everything. Twas a very long and tiring day.  But by the time night time came around we were in pretty decent shape. That night, for our last night in our house, we had some fun!  We were all a little slap happy from a long day and lack of sleep, so we relaxed with some Korean face masks and reenactments of Harry Potter and Pirates of the Caribbean.. I was Voldemort, my companion was Jack Sparrow... it was epic! Haha Though I admit 10:30 bedtime was absolutely Heavenly!

Saturday morning comes around and the real crazy begins.. I'll have to give you the condensed version...we had the AP's, our bishop, and our district of Elders all at our house moving things downstairs and out (it was really really weird to have men in our house!!!). While they were coming in and out, I was finishing up the cleaning of.. Well everything... bathroom, kitchen, fridge, stove, cupboards etc. Then it comes time for the big stuff to be moved and they realized that there is no way the dressers and table are doing to be able to be taken down the 3 flights of stairs, let alone out of the window. In the middle of this, the people who are going to move into the house after we are done, decided to show up. As we are trying to move, they decided to take a look around and begin complaining about everything that they didn't like or they felt was wrong!  

At this point, the Bishop and the AP's (Assistants to the President) are no longer there  (they went to the new house to start putting furniture in)... so we have these angry people asking the Americans and ONE Korean all these questions that none of us understand, nor have the answer too. During this, a moving truck is called and through the window gets all the large stuff out. As they are loading up their trucks we get a call from the other sisters saying that the house is different then the one we saw before... different and smaller!!! So now we are trying to decide there, what stuff we can and cannot take with us... Good bye couch, good bye mattresses, good bye 2 out of the 4 desks.... Finally things are loaded, old house is empty, and we are about to leave when new people start getting angry again... apparently something was up with the water! Anyhow, they were throwing a fit over 600won.. the equivalent of $0.60...

By this point I’m stressed out, and it turns out it is only the beginning as we go into our new TINY TINY TINY apartment and have to figure out how to fit 4 girls in a house meant for maybe one and a half people! Closets in one room, desks and table in the bigger room, 'beds' in the other.  Our bathroom is the size of about 2 airplane bathrooms put together and our kitchen probably smaller then a camper's kitchen. It.. well... it was an adventure to say the least. An adventure and 3 very very long days!

Some highlights were: eating "dinner" amongst the boxes, sleeping on the floor, the contagious giggles brought about from lack of sleep, stress, and the ridiculousness of the entire situation.  It was a weekend to remember!!

But I have to say, that not doing missionary things for about 3 days was really really really hard! It made me realize how much I love the study time, prayer time, and mindset of a missionary.  It was an interesting perspective that I am grateful for! I love being a missionary!!

We also had a very special moment as we knelt in prayer in our new house. Amongst the boxes and zero walking space, we thanked our Heavenly Father for our blessings, and we asked that this new house be a place of learning, and of the Spirit, a place where future missionaries will come to and be able to have a place of refuge as they prepare to go out each day and serve with all their heart, might, mind and strength. I may have a face now full of stress acne, but I have a heart full of gratitude that I am a missionary and I get to dedicate myself to the work everyday.

I love you all! and I miss you! Be safe this week and have fun!

kiss love hugs!

Becoming Korean

FAMILY!!!! Hello!!!

It was SOO FUN to open up my email today and see all the lovin from family and friends! I miss all y’all so very much! Thanks for all the birthday wishes =]!! It was a good one! We had President Interviews 2 days before and, because President's bday is on the 9th, the District surprised us with a delicious cake and candles at the meeting. Then me and my house of sisters went out to eat and had Baskin Robbins. I admit that the food was really really gross, so on my actual birthday we ordered in DELICIOUS Korean chicken and I was satisfied ^__^ 

The morning of my b-day, the sisters all sang to me and gave me small little, hand-made gifts, and then I opened up the box from Dad and found the beautiful new scarves and gloves and opened up the skirt and shirt!!! Thank you thank you!! OH and the new orthotics!?!! I. Have. Happy. Feet! Thank you!

That night after dinner we all sat around laughing and talking and doing more of the crafts Mom and Dad sent. It was a fun day. That night it really hit me that I was 22 years old and that was a little strange (especially because now I have to say I'm 24 in Korean!! lol)  But it ended up being a good day!

OH YEAH!! hahah That night, when our District Leader called, I decided to give him a hard time lol  That day I had gotten calls from President, the ZL's, and my old district leader... yet I didn't receive a call from my DL!  So Elder Han (he's Korean, but he's from New Zealand...yes his accent is awesome) called to apologize to me from not calling earlier. He got out his guitar and their 4 missionary house all sang Happy Birthday to me! haha best way to end the day!

The rest of the week went really well. We are trying to find the balance of things here in Sangin. Ever since I was a new missionary, this has been my first area that I came to a new area with my companion already having been there...it's be a strange adjustment. I'm used to knowing the area, the people, everything that's going on, and because I feel so far behind this week has been a little hard. I'm ready to know these people!!! They are so wonderful!  Well, the previous missionaries in this area did a good job with meeting with the people who were in need, but the schedule they made has been the schedule of things ever since...to the point that we have NO time to visit ANYONE else. 

My companion expressed her equal desire to visit other members, and really start contacting the LA. So this week has been a week of a lot of thinking and re-evaluating. After Christmas we'll be making some changes, and I hope that it will allows to give our attention to more people who are in need of support and love from the missionaries. Luckily the members are always willing to help so I think it will be good.

Dad's email title was "White Christmas". Well it looks like we will be having a white Christmas here in Daegu as well!!!! Of course the weather is cold, and there will most likely be snow, but our White Christmas will be the White of Baptismal clothes!!!  We get to have an investigator baptism! =] I am so excited. Though I have only taught this cute girl once, the other missionaries have taught her well and her desire to be baptized is HUGE. She is a young woman and she loves coming to church. Her family has given their permission, but they don't really make things easy for her. But, she has been coming out on her own and participates in everything that she can. Her baptism will either be at the ward christmas party on Saturday the 22nd or Sunday morning the 23rd.  Either way, her dream of getting baptized before Christmas will come true. I'm excited for her to have another special reason to really remember Christ, this and every Christmas.

Overall this week was fun. I've been praying hard to be able to recognize why I am in this area and with my companion. I want to be able to accomplish the work that is needed of me. And little by little the vision is opening up to me. It's always so neat to have the opportunity to do the Lord's errand.

Something really fun this past week!!! haha On Sunday I made another step towards becoming a Korean! Are you ready... I MADE KIMCHI!!!  It was fun!!! Though I smelled like Kimchi for the rest of the day lol

They call it "Kimchi Jang"  and it's a big get together. We have all the cabbage and the spicy pepper paste and we go at it coating everything. While people took turns making the Kimchi, there was games and food and just chatting. It was a really fun get together!! 

I love you all dearly! and I'm SO SO SOOO excited to talk to y’all next week!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
kiss love hugs!!

I.am.a.popsicle!

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU ALL!!  Thanks y’all soo much for all the birthday wishes!  It was fun to see all the messages from family and friends!  Thank you!!  It's strange to think that this will be my first birthday without any family members.  But it's all good because I’m serving with a very BIG family!! They just happen to be Asian. =]  No really, thanks y’all.  I miss each of you and love you even more!

Family! Hi!  So Daegu...
Oh my heavens!! It is sooo stinkin cold here it's not even funny!!!  Yesterday the blistering high was a balmy 32 degrees, but don't worry the weather cooled off to a nice 18 degrees that night -___-  yeah...But, where the cold makes things not so fun, the area COMPLETELY makes up for it!

Family, I AM SO HAPPY!! All the time!! I love this area, I love the members, I LOVE my companion, I love my house, I love my district, I love my zone, I love the other two sisters that are with us...I JUST LOVE IT ALL!! hehe  Seriously!  SO happy!!

Right now is really fun. I am at Elder and Sister Helms house! They are the missionary couple working with the military branch. They are from South Carolina and they bring the South to Korea. I get to talk southern with them, lol! It's great. They have a "Transfer Breakfast" tradition. The first Monday after transfers they have everyone over to their house for breakfast. Today we had biscuits and gravy with sausage!! I was in HEAVEN! I made sure and brought all the fantastic crafts Mom and Dad sent me and we were able to do them together with the zone. They were adorable and everyone loved the crafts. The Helms also have us all coming over for Christmas Day and we will just have a fun day of games and snacking and goodness. 

Speaking of CHRISTMAS!! I'm glad that y’all got one of my boxes! That one y’all can open up  when everyone gets together. It would be fun to use it a couple of times before Christmas so you can tell me what you think. Y’all decide how you want to do it. There is another one coming, with more individual presents; so pray hard that it comes when y’all are all together. 

So this week I got the packages from Mom and Dad!! Thanks!! Question: the "wait for it..." package... are the things wrapped inside so I can open the box or do I need to wait?  And mom: you said that some were for my birthday right? Just curious...

Gwendel, THANK YOU!  For the music and memory cards and candy!  We have been listening to the music as much as possible!  lol Gwen, you're such a goob! My personal favorites as I have listen to the music have been Barry Manilow (made me think of Mom!) The Jets {Gwen has no idea what she is talking about here, LOL!}, Hansen and of course Aretha Franklin hahahah 

Oh! Also! Remember me talking about Bomi? She will be in America on the 15th and she wants to meet y’all!! Her English is good, but make sure you talk simply and a little slow! haha But really she wants to meet my family! I believe she found the girls on Facebook, so you can communicate with her through that =]

And now for the BEST part about Christmas!! PHONE CALLS!! SO daddy, you were right! We will be calling y’all on Christmas Day for us, Eve for y’all.  So, President and Sister Gilbert were worried about the fees and such for missionaries, and so they gave us permission to have YOU call US on our cell phones. I don't know if you want to do that or just have me call the Conference call phone because either way that doesn't cost me money (which is the point) 

This week has been fun!  Sangin is a VERY BUSY area!! We are constantly going from one place to another with meetings and lessons!  It is crazy and absolutely amazing!  I love it. It has been fun to begin meeting all the members. It's a bit strange to not know anyone... but I'm slowly learning all the names. The ward LOVES missionaries and they are always willing to help us. Our ward mission leader is amazing. He used to be the Stake President and he is so organized and on the ball. At our Missionary Council Meeting he was there as well as the ward missionaries. When we talked about the people we were meeting, they were actually interested and gave help when we needed!! They he gave us a list the ward wanted to focus on and told us all about them.  It was amazing!! I have NEVER been in a meeting like that before.

Sunday was a fun day, but my favorite part was when the Youth Curriculum was introduced.  I am so excited for this new program!!!  As I was watching the videos I realized that not only will the teaching and learning be done as the Savior did, but it's just as us missionaries are striving to do things. It was a tender moment.  The Lord is preparing His people even more to take this everlasting gospel to the WORLD!!  I am so grateful to be apart of this glorious work.

Thank you for all the love and support.  For the birthday wishes! I'll talk to y’all in 15 days!! EEKK!!!!

love ya - mean it!
Kiss Love Hugs! 

December

FAMILY!! Hello!!
How are all y’all doing this fabulous day!?! It was a fun week here in Ulsan Korea. 

We had a training meeting in Busan and it was, of course, a blast to get together with all the missionaries. My poor companion is having a hard time thinking that she is in her last week as a Trainee.  I remember my last week with Sister 이예정 and how scared and nervous I was to leave her and have to go somewhere else with someone new.  Sister Yoon has forbidden me to make any reference of transfer calls on Thursday, haha!

It's been amazing to see her change and grow over the last 12 weeks. They definitely aren't lying when they say that training is the hardest part of missionary work!! But President Gilbert's advice that he told me 12 weeks ago is very true; "Without hard things, we can't progress", and I have felt that I've progressed a TON these past weeks.  It's been hard, but I'll always be grateful for the refining moments I had with Sister 윤은지.

Transfer calls will be interesting this Thursday.  Currently I am the missionary who has been in our zone the longest, but because my companion is a new missionary, there is a possibility that she will be leaving.  So I might be here for another transfer, or I might go, or we will both go!  haha Really we have NO idea! I'll let y’all know next week though. Mom, you said that I should get an English companion but that might be weird!  haha I've only been with Koreans my whole mission; I'm not quite sure how to work with or live with another American!! ^__^

After the training meeting, the next fun thing was THANKSGIVING DINNER!!!!!! It. Was. So. Delicious! The Priedman family from our branch invited all of us over, and then they had an American family from the neighboring branch, {the Wood Family (they have 2 little girls who are adorable)} and then our friend Valeria joined the group.  There was homemade stuffing and mashed potatoes with gravy, homemade rolls (they were good, but I really missed Grammy's rolls), there was cranberry jello, fruit salad, and CHICKEN haha They couldn't find a Turkey.  Apparently Costco got about 200 Turkeys, and needless to say, those went fast. For dessert there was apple, chocolate and pumpkin pies. The pumpkin was so good!! Sister Priedman made everything from scratch, including the filling! So good! ((on the subject of pumpkin, I should tell y’all of the amazing change that has taken place with my tastebuds. I now, actually, GREATLY enjoy pumpkin, squash and the real shocker... Sweet Potatoes! (the yellow ones)... well, at least the Korean version of these things lol)

Overall it was just a nice relaxing night full of family time. I have to admit that it did make me miss y’all and our Thanksgiving traditions. I missed helping mom cook, and the chips and dip while we watched football. I missed the movie break, and of course, the week of leftovers and cold turkey sandwiches. But it was fun and I'm grateful I could still have a Thanksgiving. 

In y’alls emails you talked about Black Friday and all the crazy shoppers. There is nothing like that here!! And the stores actually waited till after Thanksgiving before they started putting up decorations! haha Weird huh!?!

Ok, so I've been talking about food... so I'll just continue (I promise I'm not hungry right now lol) Since I've been in Korea I have had a wide variety of meats! haha Well, since last night, we can officially add EEL to the list!! And actually...it was really good!! It was fun to watch the member prepare it as she cut it up and cleaned it out. Then she began frying it up and she coated it in this AMAZING sauce!! She mixed the spicy red pepper paste with a sweet grape juice sauce thing (Sorry, it was all in Korean. I don't know what it is exactly) and a couple other spices.  It was spicy and sweet and super good!  We ate it with rice in lettuce leaves.  We also had 3 different kinds of Kimchi (all at different ages).  The "best" kimchi was the 3 year old kimchi that we ate with some kind of pork (again...Korean name, not sure what it is exactly in English).  The meat and kimchi are cooked together and then you wrap the kimchi around the pork.. sooo goood!!! The member told us it was a "kimchi party" lol

On the subject of fresher food... Koreans are really really good about eating fruits and vegetables in their season. Really, if it's not in season, you either can't find it or it costs a TON of money.  But because they do this soo well, you end up eating the same fruits for m.o.n.t.h.s!!  Here in Korea was the first time I've ever had Persimmons and I have to say that I'm ready for them to be out of season!! There are 2 kinds.. the hard ones and the soft ones.. and the soft ones just freak me out! lol

The work this week was...well...it was kind of tough.  Every appointment that me made, including the back up ones, all got canceled.  But it's ok; this next week will be good. 

Kinda sad, one of the Elders in our branch had to go home for a couple of weeks because of medical reasons. Because of this, my companion and I are now on our own in Shin Jeong. This also means that we get to teach all their recent converts, which was fun. 

On the same day as our convert JuHee, two brothers SehMeen and SehJeen were baptized.  This week we taught SehJeen and it went really well.  But my favorite lesson was on Sunday and we reviewed with both the brothers about the Priesthood.  Then, they were about the be ordained to the Aaronic Priesthood.  After church I went up to the older brother and asked him how it went.  He replied with 성스럽다 which means like holy, sacred, solemn. It was a neat moment.

Sunday, the Elders also had one of their investigators get baptized!!! Actually, when I was with Sister Yeon, we were the first ones to begin to teach him and then the Elders came, so we handed them over.  His name is 김경수 (Gyong Su) and he is TOTALLY the "cool kid" personality and all. So teaching him was always a bit hard, haha! To see the changes that he has made and to see his heart softening has been really special. Then on Sunday, to see him shed some tears (while trying to hide it to keep up the "cool guy" persona) was awesome.  I know that his heart will continue to soften and he will be able to bless and lead so many people to this Gospel.  When I look at him I can always picture him at the MTC.

For Gyong Su's baptism I made him a scripture case for his Book of Mormon.  On it, I put pictures of Captain Moroni, the 2000 warriors and another picture of the warriors right after battle as they are helping those who are wounded.  On the top of the case I put the scripture Alma 53:20-21.  Thinking of President Eyring’s talk from Priesthood Session, I was able to pray about Gyong Su and really think about who he could become. 

Well the work here is moving forward. I LOVE being able to serve in this mission. I know that Heavenly Father is really aware of the people of Busan Korea, especially as we keep our sights and our hearts on a Temple. 

I love you all!! Thank you for everything!! I'm excited to share a bit of Christmas with y’all through packages, and I'm even more excited to talk to you within a month!!!!!!

Oh, and a follow-up from last weeks letter, when I talked about my gratitude from being a Wells-Longshore, I turned to Helamen 5:6 and thought that scripture applied really well.

You are in my prayers! Love y’all!

kiss love hugs 

Happy 추석 (Chuseok)

((추석 sounds more like Choo Suck, but i didn't really want to put that as the title... hahah))

Hello darling family!

 Sorry this letter is one day late, I was busy having a blast at the mission p-day!  It was such a fun way to celebrate the Korean Thanksgiving!  Everyone got to see everyone and catch up! I LOVE getting together with all the missionaries!  The crazy thing was, it that I don't recognize people because of all the new missionaries that have been coming in... that thought led me to calculate that I am now at my HALF WAY MARK! Ridiculous right!?!?!  I'm having anxiety trying to wrap my head around it.  I was looking through my calendar the other night and I could hardly believe that I was already on October! 

Well, Korean Thanksgiving went well!  It is tradition on this holiday for Koreans to go to the "land of their fathers" so to speak.  Typically they go to the Father's side of the family's hometown. (Typically it seems around the 3 major cities of Busan, Seoul, and Dejeon).  Because of the mass exodus from Ulsan to the other cities, the city was extremely empty!!! It was nearly eery to see the streets neither crowded with cars or people.  Everything was closed down, and at church we had 3 families come (which is actually a LOT more that we were expecting actually!  We really thought it was just going to be the missionaries! (and until 10:10am it was lol) 

After Sacrament meeting one family took pity on the missionaries and we got invited over for lunch!!  Of course it was delicious! And they gave us a HUGE bag of leftovers at the end. One thing I did learn from 추석 was how to make the traditional rice cake!! They are typically white, with sesame and sugar inside and they are shaped like a half moon (which is also their nickname). 

Our other 추석 adventure came Sunday night.  Again, the town was dead and everyone was busy, so at the church we had our own 추석 dinner with the Elders!  My companion and I cooked and we all ate together.  It was fun.  Reminded me a little bit of home because as we were cooking we had the MoTab playing and, because we weren't in an apartment, I got to FINALLY sing my little heart out without worrying that I would disturb the neighbors. I miss being about to sing out like that!!!

As I talk about the Feasts of 추석, I think about the Spiritual Feasts that I have been able to have this past week.  It's been a blessing as I have been with my new companion, who is also a new missionary, to realize, in part, what it is that Heavenly Father needs me to do and how it is we can work together.  This past week I really recognized the importance of asking questions.  Yes, I can speak Korean to an extent, but when you want to really try and get something across, I find that my limited vocabulary tends to still fail me.  Instead, I have started asking questions.  When there is a principle that needs to be taught, or a matter that needs to be discussed, instead of beating my way through an explanation, simple questions are much more effective.  Through questions, the answerer has to look within themselves to search the answer.  They ponder and think, they apply it to the knowledge and experiences they have accumulated, and then they answer.  This process allows us to come to the same conclusion that I wanted to share, but with one difference. Because the answer came within, it is already internalized and therefore can be applied. When affirmed by another or more importantly, the Spirit, the questioned answered now becomes a truth learned.  We have been able to grow a bit closer to the Savior and to each other this week because of questions. 

I've once again realized this week that the principles taught in PMG, are not just for missionaries teaching investigators, they are for everyone!  They are meant to help every person draw closer unto Christ.  PMG isn't just a guide to missionary work, it is a guide to conversion.  And when we are converted we will want to share the gospel.  I really like in the September Liahona (or Ensign..) Where it talks about sharing the gospel by FIRST being a friend.  I love that.  Be you.  Live the things that you believe.  And when you do this, others will see the light that you have and a gospel discussion will come naturally.  When you live what you believe, you are constantly testifying of Jesus Christ.  I am reminded of the quote by an Apostle of the Lord, he said something like "Share the gospel at all times, and when necessary use words". 

Monday was a fun P-day as all the missionaries traveled to Busan for a mission p-day!  Again, I LOVE getting together with all the missionaries. We played games, had spiritual messages, prepared a Christmas surprise for our families =] and just had a grand ole time. It was neat though, one of the requirements, your "ticket" to get in, was you had to write a letter.  Last week we were assigned a name of a missionary and for a week we had to pray for and find a scripture that we could share with this missionary.  It was a neat thing to do to inquire of the Lord of how to help a fellow Sister and servant.  Well, at the p-day, Sister Gilbert announced that for Christmas we were going to be doing the same thing.  But instead of a letter, we are now reading a Book of Mormon.  We are to pray for what Heavenly Father would have us mark and learn from the Book of Mormon, then on Christmas day we will receive that name of the missionary we will give it to.  Again, I'm excited to see the new things I will learn and what I'll be able to share! 

Anyhow, I love y’all!! Thanks for all the letters and love.  I'm jealous you got to see the RS Broadcast already... it might be a couple more weeks for us.  I know that we don't watch conference here until a week after y’all, but I think Sister Gilbert wants to get all the sisters together so we can watch it; we'll see what happens.

I love you. You are in my prayers!! I missed you lots this last week as my companion got to call her family for the holidays!! But it's only 2 more months till I get to hear your voices again!!! {Missionaries only get to call home twice a year...Mother's Day and Christmas.}

kiss love hugs 

Sorry...

Family...I was writing another email, but there is NO TIME to finish it... (You know why!) {she was email chatting with Mom, Emily and Gwen!}

So highlights.

-Had the WORST MEAL EVER...well so far...this week=PIGS FEET! It was disgusting...it was all skin and cartilage and it was just plain wrong....

-We got a service opportunity preparing and serving food to old people...it's lots of fun

-Zone Conference was this week and it was fun because we got to Skype with the missionaries on the JeJu Island. First time that has ever happened! I love technology!

-I met a super sweet girl from Colorado who is here to teach English. We got her number and hopefully we'll have dinner soon with the American family in our branch. She has lots of member friends and said seeing the missionaries reminded her of home.

-Korean Thanksgiving is this weekend, and so pretty much everyone is going out of town! At church, it might only be the missionaries....and maybe ONE family! But we get to go to Busan for a big get-together with the whole mission!

The work is good, study time is the best, and I love missionary work!!

Sorry, next week will be better, lol!

kiss love hugs!

Thanks for the rain coat!

Darling Family,

Well first, darling Mom and Dad!  Thanks again for the beautiful raincoat! It has come in EXTREMELY handy this past week.  Oh man!  The weather has been nuts and today is the worst of it all! I sure do love Typhoon Weather. So, everything should be ok... but at 1pm we have to be back at our house and we are house bound for the rest of the day.. But don't worry President had everyone update their 72 hour kits last night so everything should be good! ㅋㅋㅋ (Korean style haha sounds like a “K”) No really though, it shouldn’t be too bad...but the prayers would be nice!

WHAT A WEEK IT HAS BEEN!!!  I think Monday-Thursday had to be some of my most fun days (and hardest days) of my mission yet.  Monday, transfer day, all the missionaries getting new companions get to meet up at the Boo.  I love being able to get together with other missionaries!  But my most exciting moment was when I realized that I got to spend the next couple of days with my bestest friends Sister Kersey and Sister Chase as I waited for my new companion to arrive!! I love those sisters with all of my heart.  (Sister Kersey was one of my MTC companions and when I was sister representative in the MTC, I got to be the one to welcome Sister Chase!)  Anyhow, needless to say our study time together was a spiritual feast, and our days together where my most favorite!...(the nights were fun too! haha One night we were all craving cake... SO we went and got one from the store [on sale] and we ate it with chopsticks!  Yes, we had a very large sugar high by the time we went to bed, but it was totally worth it!)  I was extremely grateful for the love and support of those two sisters as I began my newest and most intimidating adventure of being a Trainer.

So...Training Days!! It was strange to be one the other side of things especially because it feels nearly like yesterday that I was going through those things as a new missionary myself.  On both Wednesday and Thursday, before we met with the new missionaries, we were able to have a meeting just with trainers.  That was amazing.  We talked about our role and our purpose and the need for our constant examples.  That the things we teach these new missionaries will affect the mission field for the next 18 months to 2 years (yeah, no pressure there!!!!!)  But we were able to go around the room and everyone shared an attribute they had learned from their trainers.  That was neat to see the impact that a trainer has.  I was able to think about the darling 이예정, my trainer.  From her I learned courage; that this work takes courage to do.  It takes courage to rely on the Lord and it takes courage to do this work HIS way, not mine.  It also takes courage to love everyone around you.  And when life gets hard, when trials come, it takes courage to continue to walk forward.  I hope that I can be a trainer like that.

Wednesday we did a proselyting activity with the new missionaries.  This time around, they had a scavenger hunt activity...like find a man in a hat and teach him about the restoration. Or find a mother and her children and share a message about eternal families. It was fun, but it was also hard. The place where we were at, people were VERY busy and it was hard to be able to talk to anyone for too long.  That night we had a delicious dinner and the poor jet lagged missionaries were more than ready for bed!

Thursday is the day that President (with Sister Gilbert and the APs) pray and decided who will be with who. (In my case, since there was only one sister it was a rather easy choice).  But it was fun to see who the Elders were all paired up with.  And of course, every match was perfect (Heavenly Father wouldn't have it any other way!)

SOO!! MY NEW COMPANION!  Her name is 윤은지 (Yoon EunJi).  She is 25 years old, from Seoul, and knows nearly NO english....... Haha yep, this will be an adventure! No really, she is kind and she seems nervous about missionary work, about being able to accomplish her purpose but I know that her humility, if she relies on the Lord, will allow her to become a great missionary. 

Things have been a little rough as she has dwelt with jet lag and adjusted to mission life and mission rules, but every day we grow a little closer together.  I am excited to see how things work out for the next 12 weeks.  No doubt it will be hard, but we are going to help each other grow soo much!  And besides, because we are both missionaries, if there is anything we can't understand with the words we use, we simply need to listen to the Spirit and understand with our hearts. 

Fun food story!! haha So to start off this new adventure we had a missionary meeting in Shin Jeong with our ward missionary leader and the elders.  As a special treat he took us out for a Korean favorite... DOG!!! Yep, I ate dog... again... and this time it was MUCH more delicious than the first =] haha Sorry y'all, but it's true.  Oh and then the next day it was my special treat (sarcasm) to have pig skin.. chowder? I'm not sure what exactly you would call it. But I will be VERY ok if I don't have to eat it again.

Other than that, the work is moving along here in Korea.  We are all excited for Korean Thanksgiving and General Conference coming up!! General Conference especially because we are hoping for a Temple to be announced for Busan!!!

I love you all! Thank you for all the fun stories (nice dream Gwedel!!), spiritual messages (Daddy you're my favorite), my favorite day to day updates (Mom, I really do love those!!) and all other funness y'all send me(...emily...matt...kaylani... JK!!)  Thank you for the prayers and for all the love! I miss y'all!!

Kiss Love Hugs! 

Hi! It's Me!

FAMILY!!! HI! How's it going?? Good, me too. 

I am slightly worried that August is almost over with...time goes by sooo fast! (though I have to admit I am extremely excited for fall and cooler weather!!) I have actually been having nightmares about it!  This past week I have had a couple dreams about me being home.  I don't know why I had to go home early, and no one knew either, all I knew is that I was there and I was heartbroken.  I knew that I needed to still be in Korea and that I needed to finish my mission!! Really though, I was devastated in my dream! But luckily I would wake up and realized I was still in Korea, still in the country that has taken my heart completely.

This past week was the first time I realized how much the Korean culture has affected me...if I come back weird, I'm sorry! haha This last week my companion and I had a dinner appointment with the American family that lives in our ward.  The dad works for Exxon and is working in Ulsan with Hyundai.  Anyhow, we got the invite and my companion and I were SO excited!!  First, when we walked into their apartment I was greeted with a strange smell... it smelled like America! haha That night for dinner Sister Priedman cooked lasagna!!  It. Was. So. Good.  So we SAT at a table with a table cloth and we had napkins!  The table was set with forks and knifes and the food consisted of ONLY the main dish, salad, and bread.  SO STRANGE!! haha THEN on top of that I struggled with trying not to speak Konglish (KOR-ENG) and I had completely forgotten the words "will you please pass" (sorry mom, I know you must be in shock right now).  I am rather glad that is wasn't spaghetti, so I didn't have to show off my nearly perfected slurping skills.  haha 

I hadn't realized how much i have changed... It was rather funny.  I am so used to sitting on floors with short tables that are jammed packed with side dishes that you just reach for with your chopsticks to add to the only thing that is personal, your rice bowl.  The dinner was delicious though, and they really spoiled us with the American cuisine. 

This week my companion and I were able to find 2 more investigators. One is the mother-in-law of a lady in our branch, and the other is the guard of the apartment complex of a Less Active member we have been visiting.  I am extremely excited to continue teaching the both of them.  The grandmother is so kind.  When we taught her we began teaching her about God being her Heavenly Father, but she stopped us mid sentence and said that she wanted to learn how to pray!! She has little to no religious background, but she knows the beliefs of her son and his family (they are in our ward) and she is finally ready to see for herself if these things are true.  She has always heard their prayers and she wanted to be able to pray on her own.

The Guard is a sweet older man. We pass by and talk to him every time we go and visit our LA and he is always grateful to have someone to talk to for a bit. After trying to meet the LA this past week, we stopped by and talked to him again.  Soon the conversation turned to the gospel.  What started as a simple conversation turned into us teaching him about our purpose, the purpose of life (Alma 34:32) and the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  During our conversation we found out that he has been looking for a church to join since his wife passed away.  Today we are going to go see him again and we will be teaching him the Plan of Salvation.  I am SO excited to be able to testify to him that God has a plan for all of His children, and that he will be able to see his darling wife again.  I definitely have a good feeling about this next meeting. 

Overall this week was really great!! We taught our last lesson to Sister Yang in preparation for her baptism THIS SATURDAY!!! I am soooo thrilled for her.  It’s kind of a bummer because she is moving to another branch (same district) but she'll be baptized in our area and then she'll officially be theirs.  Because she has been investigating for so long, she will already have friends in that area and they are soo excited to welcome her into the branch. 

This past Sunday was District Conference and we had our own General Authority visit. Elder Yamashita (spelling? Again, I only know it in Korean) come and spoke with us and it was wonderful!! His English was wonderful, so instead of going from Japanese to Korean to English he just had a Korean translator.  His talk was wonderful though.  He shared the story about Lambert the Sheepish Lion, explaining that this lion cub had grown up amongst the sheep and he thought of himself as one of them.  One night, as the howls of the enemy wolf drew closer to the flock, the lion cub felt something stir within him.  He started running towards the foe, and as he ran to save those he loved and stop this dreaded enemy, he realized who he was and who he could become.  He was a lion and he was stronger then his enemy.  Then Elder Yamashita asked a question of all of us.  He asked us if we were the lion or the sheep in this story.  I hope that we can be the lion in our lives.  I hope that we can recognize within ourselves the roaring lion of courage that can defeat it's enemy and protect those he loves.  I also think that because the lion had love is his heart, love for those who he thought to be his family, he was able to recognize the potential within himself.  Love truly conquers all; yeah it's a little cliché, but I still think it's correct =]

Thanks for all the love and letters!!
From the past emails, people seem to be curious if I have had any more bath house experiences... I'm sad to say that nothing outrageous has happened.  I still get stares (especially if someone new comes in that hasn't seen me before hehe) but its great because I am making LOTS of friends hahah  I did get a nice compliment for a sweet grandma the other day as she was glad to see that I was embracing the culture soo well haha!

I LOVE MISSIONARY WORK!! And I love y'all!!

**Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad!! 

Summer Has Come...

Hello darling family!!!

Sorry this email is coming to y’all early! (especially to you daddy! It must kill you that I keep having to switch up the times! lol)  But we have a fun day planned for P-day, so we got permission to get a little bit of an early start.  Today we are going to a members work place, he owns a pottery shop!  We get to go make some clay things. I haven't decided what I am going to mold yet, but it'll be fun, I'm sure. (and if I was having a conversation with you dad, I know that we would have a long talk building up an analogy! Don't worry, I've already begun and I'll share that with you next time =] )  OH!  And hopefully today I will be getting my haircut!!! Yeah!! I haven't decided how short yet, all I know is that I need a change! And with the humidity of summer finally showing up here, the long, thick hair has GOT TO GO! 

What a wonderful week it has been here in Korea!  Have I mentioned that I love everything about being here, because I do!  Like the week before we have been spending a lot of time meeting our branch members and building relationships of trust (BRT) with them.  I think they are really starting to see that my companion and I mean business and we are trying to work really hard.  Especially the Relief Society president and the Young Men's president; you can tell that they are trusting in our work because we have been getting a LOT of referrals from them for people that we need to visit.  It's amazing to see that in three short weeks how many people we now know about that we can help.  I love missionary work!  Though those two leaders are starting to trust in our abilities, I'm afraid the branch as a whole doesn't have the highest of hopes where missionaries are concerned.  I don't know what has happened in the past, and I'm sure past missionaries have worked their hardest, but I do know what we need the trust of the members in order to do the grand work of the Lord.  Without the support of the members, this work can not progress.  All we can do right now is work our hardest, be 100% obedient and trust in the Lord.  If we do that, I know the Spirit will prepare the hearts of the people of Shin Jeong to receive the gospel.  I am humbled to be a part of such a great cause. 

Speaking of 100% Obedient, that was the main topic of President and Sister Gilbert at Zone Conference (where all the missionaries in a decent sized are get together and have a spiritually uplifting meeting to learn about the Mission goals. There are usually 50-100 in attendance) this past week.  I LOVE when missionaries gather together!  It's seriously so much fun and the spirit that is present is nearly tangible.  President and Sis Gilbert keep reminding us that Heavenly Father is anxiously waiting to bless the people of Busan.  He is ready and waiting, He just needs us to catch up.  With conviction in their words they told us that this mission needs to rise, and it needs to rise quickly.  I can't help but think that a Temple is on the dawning horizon of Busan.  The Lord wants all of His children to come unto the House of the Lord and He is ready to make those blessings more easily acceptable to the people of Busan.  But now i need to do my part of the work.  As a servant of the Lord I need to prepare hearts, by inviting everyone to come unto Christ through faith, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost and enduring to the end.  That is my purpose.  I love how my purpose isn't to make people "Mormon" or to invite them to learn about our church, but we invite others to come closer to Christ.  Christ is my purpose, and it's through the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints that people are able to draw nearer unto Him than they could anywhere else.  With such an important purpose I need all the help I can get, and I know that I can only receive that strength through obedience. 

Sister Gilbert said something at the conference that reminded me a lot about you mom.  She told us that if we could glimpse even a small portion of our eternal potential, if we could see ourselves as God sees us, then we would be an unstoppable force for good in the world.  Mom, you always taught me that I am a Daughter of God and that I am precious; thank you for that.  In D&C 4 we are told that we need to keep our "eye single to the glory of God".  We learn in Moses that God's work and glory is to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of men.  We are God's glorious creations.  And all of His work is to bring us safely home; home to heaven, home to eternity.  That needs to be our focus.  We need to remember that we are children of God.  We have a divine heritage. 

This week we were able to meet with all the people that we found last week.  They are doing great.  One of our English class students, "Eric", is doing great and told us again that he wants to learn more about our religion.  We're planning on meeting him and his wife this week!!  I'm excited to teach him more about Christ and Christ's Restored Gospel. 

There isn't enough room to talk about all the people we have met, talked with and visited, but I am humbled to see how much the Lord is helping us help the people of Shin Jeong.  I LOVE MISSIONARY WORK!!! But really though, I do. 

In the MTC, Elder Holland said something along the lines of "This is Glory Work.  Prepare to Astonish People".  It's amazing to see that I have been one of the astonished ones as I have witnessed the love God has for His children and as He, through His servants, is actively searching them out and calling them back into the fold of His Son, Jesus Christ.

I'm excited for what this week holds and I can't wait to tell all y’all about it!!

I love you!! Kiss Love Hugs!!

**Food scare for the week hahah!! We were out to eat with our Ward Missionary Leader, and i was trying one of the side dishes.  He asked me how i liked it, and i said it was good.  Come to find out the name of that delicious side dish is "Mouse Jerky".... luckily it was only fish... but he then goes on to promise that next time he'll feed me real mouse...that'll be interesting.... 

TRANSFERS!

Dearest, Darlingest Family!

SOO sorry this email is coming to y’all late.  I promise I'm not dead =] BUSY with all the changes, but not dead.

Speaking of changes are y’all ready to hear about transfers!?!?  Are you sitting? (Because heaven knows I needed to be sitting when I got this call....)

I GOT TRANSFERED!!!!  Not only did I get transferred... I'M WHITEWASHING!! (*for those who don't understand missionary lingo, that means that two missionaries were in this area before, and BOTH of them left and two new people came in. i.e.: ME!) AND I HAVE ANOTHER KOREAN AS MY COMPANION!!  Did I mention that this was a crazy week??  I thought for sure I was going to stay in 금정 but the Lord had different plans for me.  So, now I am in Shin Jeong 신정 area in Shila Zone. Shin Jeong is one of top 5 biggest cities in Korea (she is in Ulsan), and we have the fabulous adventure of trying to figure our way around this place (yeah…my companion has never served here either!  And especially never in such a big city!)  She's awesome though, her name is 연수현 (Yeon Soo Heon) She is from Seoul, but she lived in the states for 7 years before coming back to Korea for school, so her English is fantastic.  She is going to school for Theater Tech, don't worry we've already gushed about our favorite musicals!  She's lots of fun and loves to laugh. We are both sacred out of our minds right now! So far we know how to get home, get to the super market and get to the church.... But luckily we are having fun with this new adventure!  haha  I'm excited to see the miracles that this next transfer will hold. 

The last week in Guem Jeong was fantastic!! I already miss the members there with all of my heart.  I was kind of sad that no body took a guess at what I would be eating... but maybe y’all figured it out and would have rather not have said. So last week, as part of the summer meals for stamina and strength I had 개고기 aka DOG!!!!!!!  Yep, I ate dog.  I didn't think that it would have happened sooo soon after being in the country but it did.  And I ate it. 

**Disclaimer: I am about to describe the meal.  If you don't want to know, skip ahead... So!  When we first went to the member’s house the smell was…well... interesting…I have never smelt anything like it before. If I hadn't known what we were about to eat I wouldn't have been able to describe it.  But since I did know, I guess it was a bit like wet dog. Gross, I know.  So, the member bought the meat and cooked it herself.  They put it in a soup with some veggies and such. The meat itself was interesting.  Very slimy actually and a little on the chewy side.  I couldn't eat too much of the soup though, that part was just gross.  And I can't even think of how to describe the flavor.  The Korean Missionaries later explained that it wasn't a very good meal, and that other people and places prepare the dog so that there is no smell and it tastes a lot better.  I don't know if I’ll ever get another chance to eat dog, but at least now I know I won't die from it.  (though after the meal I couldn't help but say a "sorry" to Rosie, and Buddy and Coal because I ate a cousin of theirs... sorry!!)

Sunday was a tough day to say goodbye to all the members. I was able to get up in church and share my heartfelt thanks and testimony.  That ward did so much for me when I was sooo new to a strange land. Because of the Geum Jeong ward I learned how to truly love Korea and it's people.  They had such patience and love for me, and as we said our farewells they thanked me for my hard work, and wished that I would return soon.  I hope that I may return to them someday, but it might not be in the plans.  So I’ll forever hold a special place in my heart for them.  And for 이에정 as my fantastic trainer.  It was hard saying good-bye to her.  She's actually getting a member for Seoul to be her companion for a transfer, so that'll be fun.  But it was hard to realize that since she is going home in 3 transfers I wouldn't see her very often anymore, let alone ever serve with her again.  She helped me begin to become the missionary Heavenly Father needs me to be.  And without her help there is no way I would be able to be whitewashing right now!!!!

I'm excited for my email next week to share with y’all all the fun things that are going on and all the adventures I’ll have.  I know that there will be a LOT of days when we are lost and confused, but those are also the days when we can completely rely on the Lord and have Him direct us where He needs to go. And in that case, I hope EVERYDAY this transfer is like that!!

*Also, I totally thought of Gwen this week.  So because we are replacing Elders we got their old house... OH MY HEAVENS!!! GROSSS!!!!! And the worst part is that they spent $300 hiring someone to clean the junk out of the place! I guess in all the confusion of getting rid of the trash they forgot the stove... fridge...sink... cabinets... floors...The bathroom is pretty good though.  Needless to say, there is a LOT of cleaning in my near future. EWWW!!!  Dear Future Elders KEEP YOUR HOUSES CLEAN PLEASE!!! 

Well, I’ll talk to y’all next week.

Thanks for all the love and support and super fun emails this week!! I love you all!!

Kiss Love Hugs!

Last week as a TRAINEE, 5 months as a missionary!

Hello again my Darling Family!!

Sisters: I LOVED the pictures!! hehe Thanks for them. I'm jealous you are at home right now!  Have a blast at girl’s camp, braid lots of hair and take even more pictures! And then send them to me!! Deal??

Last week Mom asked me what I wanted or needed in a package...what I really miss is seeing people!  SO, if anyone and everyone wants to send me anything, I would be MORE than grateful to get pictures!!!!! (Letters attached to them would be nice too).  Sister Griffin and Sister Stone THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU for the package!!! It was/ is fantastic!! I'll be sending a thank you card home with more gushings of my thanks, but seeing as that will take 3 weeks to get to y’all I figured I’d better tell you here first!  So thank you!

(her address is on the right hand side, you can send letters to either address, and they will get to her in about 3 weeks time...)

This last week was busy and fun!!  Tuesday was my last meeting as a Trainee!  Can you believe 12 weeks are nearly up!?!  I can't.  It was fun too see everyone again, of course, especially the younger missionaries that are a transfer behind us.  I haven't seen them since the MTC, so it was lots of fun to see them in Korea and see how they were adjusting. 

Wednesday was the Stake Sports Day!! Have I mentioned how fantastic Korean's are at planning and preparing activities? Because they are!! There was never a dull moment.  There were games, activities and food; one right after the other!!! It was soo fun.  Did I also mention how COMPETITIVE Koreans are?? Because that is also true.  It's never just all fun and games…there are always awards involved.  Here, all the wards were competing against each other to win.  With each activity there would be representatives from every ward to go against each other for points.  Most points win (of course).  After 11 weeks of serving in my ward I think I FINALLY and COMPLETELY won the hearts of the ward members.  My long legs gave me the advantage in the different races and I was able to help bring the trophy home.  They were so impressed that I even got a special thanks in the ward bulletin on Sunday, ahaha!! It was fantastic! And all the little kids now know my name, which is good.  lol

The rest of the week was pretty busy, especially with meal appointments!!  Oh man I thought I might explode a couple of times!  Saturday we had a lunch appointment with the Ward Missionary Leader and his family. There we had pizza (Korean style: potatoes, corn, meat, and lots of other veggies) pasta, and chicken salad.  Then we had to go to a primary activity were they had pizza and ice cream (though we had already eaten and tried really really reallllllyyyyy hard to refuse, they made us eat some, calling it our 'dessert'. Sometimes I think the members think of missionaries as a food trashcan and that we can just eat and eat and eat.... yeah, that's a lie.)  And THEN that night we had a Dinner appointment with an investigator at a member’s house.  The food was FANTASTIC!! it is called 해물탕 (hae mul tang).  It's like a seafood soup.  There were crabs, squid, clams, and other shellfish (the twirly shells were really delicious!  It was fun using the chopsticks to pull out the meat! MUCH easier than using a fork!!) with veggies in a soup. It was sooo good!!!!  And then there were tons of side dishes as well.  Some of the things were a little chewy...but over all I would definitely eat it again.  The hardest part about the meal was in order to keep the soup hot, the 2 pots were on camping style burners on the table and they were on for most of the meal.... IT WAS SOOO HOT!!  And of course, like with every meal here, no matter how much food they make you eat during the meal you ALWAYS have to have room for fruit at the end. 

By the end of the week I felt like I could be rolled home like the blueberry girl from Willy Wonka. 

While on the subject of food I’m excited for a meal appointment we have this week...  So Koreans have an old tradition of sorts called 삼계탕 (sam gyeh tang).  This is when you eat 3 special and specific meals during the summer time in order to keep you stamina in the heat and work of summer.  I had the first round of meals a couple of weeks ago when we had like a chicken and rice soup. The chicken part was literally a whole chicken just chilling over in the pot.  You cook it in the broth and rice with dates.  It's pretty bland, but over all it just tasted like a chicken and rice soup from Campbell’s.  Well, this next week we have round 2 of the meals... BUT... I don't want to tell y’all what it is I want y’all to try and FIGURE IT OUT!!! Google it, ask a friend, anything... hehe  =D Then, next week I’ll let you know how it goes!!!! It'll be a... memorable... experience for sure =]  (The meal is called 보신탕 (Boe Shin Tang) to make it easy for y’all)

The work here is going great and of course I am loving every moment.  Don't get me wrong, it is hard, but it's worth it. 

This week is my last week as a Trainee and transfer calls will come on Thursday night.  Both my trainer and I think that she is leaving (she's been in Geum Jeong for 4 transfers...)  But as I look back on the past 12 weeks I realize how much I have learned and how much has happened and how much I still need to learn.  For example:

- I still say a LOT of things wrong, but the people are patient and kind.  And an advantage of having a Korean companion is that my accent is pretty decent. 

- I don't remember the names of the foods I eat most of the time, but then again, I don't really know WHAT I’m eating either.  All I know is that it's delicious... Crazy moment, I realized the other week that I actually like the smell of Kimchi now!! hahah And I find myself craving it every now and then... dun dun dunnn lol

-I don't understand a lot of what people are saying, but I'm still happy to just sit and listen.  And I can help my companion teach.

- I can always find my way back home now! I know the bus numbers and I understand the subway for the most part.  Public transportation isn't a scary thing anymore.  And I find that my sense of direction isn't too terrible here (and that in and of itself is a HUGE miracle)

-I am more tired here on a day-to-day base then I have ever been in my entire life... but I’m also SO HAPPY!!  and Heavenly Father blesses me with the strength to make it through the day.

- I love the people here like my own family and I am honored to serve them.  That is one thing that I have been grateful to be able to learn from my companion, is how to love these people with all of your heart.  But I also find that no matter how much I loved them yesterday, they do something else that makes me love them even more today.

- I have been drenched in rain, yelled at, and told that I belong to a cult and that I don't believe in God and Jesus Christ.  I have been sick, looked at funny, and even laughed at as I’ve tried to talk.  But again, I have never been happier because I am serving the Lord and fulfilling my dreams.  I am Feeding God's Sheep. 

I know that there will be harder days ahead of me and that I have only begun to learn new things while I have been here.  There is still so much to learn and do and so many people to teach.  Every night when I review the day I realize there is so much more I can do and should do and need to do.  It's humbling, and I know that I will only be able to do it with the Lord's help. 

I'm excited for the Transfer calls on Thursday.  I think that this next transfer will bring a lot of learning experiences.  It might not be easy but I look forward to learn and grow.  But whether it's easy or hard I’m excited to do MORE! 

I love you all and every day I feel your prayers helping me.  I feel your support here in Korea and I am ever grateful!!

Take care this week!! Have fun, be safe and remember that I love y'all!!!

 KISS LOVE HUGS!!

ps. If you would like anything to send me I wouldn't mind a jump rope =] and some info about P90X.  Though I like to go running in the morning, I’m realizing that dragging my companion with me isn't always possible... so I just need some good exercises I can add to my morning routine... thanks!! 

사랑합니다!

Hello again dearest family!

So exciting news... I am currently emailing from the WORLD'S LARGEST DEPARTMENT STORE!!!! Centum City!! Yeah it's awesome. It is organized by levels, like women’s on one, sports and casual attire on another, etc., etc... And it is PERFECT looking. For instance, on the men's floor every thing is organized in rainbow order with everything perfectly spaced hanging up and on and on. Gwen you would be in heaven! No need for OCD moments here, they have it all taken care of haha!

Name the store and they have it here! I've already drooled over Tiffany & Co. as well as about died at the price of Prada and Louis Votaon (?? I have NO idea how to spell that... I just thought of the luggage named Louis from Leap Year lol {it’s spelled Vuitton}) Anyhow, P-day is tons of fun so far, I'll make sure and take as many pictures as I can.

So this week of course, was another great week. After emailing y’all last week my district went out for lunch. We went to a Meat Buffet! It was actually really delicious. It's actually what it sounds like, a buffet of meat. But all the meat is uncooked. You choose what meat you want, and then take it back to your table that has a grill in the center. You cook the meat and then enjoy. From time to time they come around and change the grill grate so you don't mix flavors too much. I don't think I've ever eaten sooo much meat in my life, but all of it was delicious. (Mom and Dad, its the same idea as when we went to the Korean Restaurant with the Hatfield’s). After that we topped everything off with some Baskin Robins... yummm! It’s funny to see the English names in Korean, especially when you are trying to read the flavor names and you realize that it's just an English word. Reminds me a lot of playing Mad Gab.

P-day was actually cut short because our investigator 김수진 (Kim Soo Cheen) called us and said she had some free time, so she wanted to meet! What missionary can turn that down!?! We met her and we taught her the first part of the Plan of Salvation, that we are literally children of God. He is the Father of our Spirits and He sent us to earth to gain experience and one day become like Him. I always love using what I call the "princess" analogy. God is our Creator, He is our Heavenly Father and He is the King. If He is the King, and we are His children, then we are all Princes and Princesses. Now, like any Prince or Princess, we have the potential of one day becoming a King or Queen. The King, Heavenly Father, wants us to inherit all that He has (Romans 8:16-17), but we must learn and grow and gain the experience that is needed to one day, worthily, inherit or receive the blessings from the Father.

She loves our lessons, and I love teaching her. To see her faith and testimony grow is such a neat experience and I am privileged to be apart of it. (More on her in a bit...) Tuesday was our ONE-MONTH training meeting!! (Dad, this was a kind of "right of passage"... though I like your ideas better!) It was so crazy to go and see everyone again! It seems like it had been soo long! I think my favorite moment was the reunion between Sis Kersey and I! (She was one of my MTC companions) It was nothing but giggles and squeals and talking about a mile a minute! Haha It was fun to swap stories and see the impact we are making in our areas. I love it. The meeting part went really well, but I just like talking with everyone! Haha It really is neat to see how much each of us has grown in just a month.

District Meeting day was SUPER fun! Elder Carpenter had a birthday this past week, so we threw him a surprise party. My companion and I bought a cake and made a banner, there was brownies, rice crispies and kim pop. I think the funniest things was eating the cake with chopsticks... it just doesn't seem natural haha. I seriously adore my district. We all really support each other in the work and it always just so much fun to get together.

Out of everything that has happened this week, my favorite day was Friday! So Friday, we were doing our weekly planning when we got a phone call from E. Innis, the DL. He called and told us that President and Sister SHIN from the MTC where here!!!!!! Pres. Shin in the President and Founder of Global Innovations Technology Consulting (I think that's what it's called...) Anyhow, he was in Korea from some seminars and while he and his wife where in the area they wanted to meet with some missionaries and go to an appointment with them. Technically my companion and I had NO promises (as was the case from the entire zone... yeah, not so good). But we always like a challenge, so we began to call around. One member that we had planned to meet invited us out for dinner, but she didn't feel comfortable meeting with Pres. and Sis. Shin. The, on a whim we called 김수진. She wasn't supposed to even be in town, but I felt like we needed to call and ask her. To our great surprise, not only was she still in town but she had time to meet with us!!! YEAH!! So we all got together and headed over to the Mission Home to have our lesson with both Pres. and Sister Shin and Gilbert.

It was such a wonderful experience. We didn't actually get to our lesson, but the Shin's (both returned missionaries) were just so excited to meet her and be able to share their testimonies. It was wonderful to have them help us. I love including members in our lessons, because it's one thing to hear about the truthfulness of this message from set apart missionaries, but when an individual can hear the same conviction we have of this gospel from someone else, there is always a special spirit and they can begin to realize that they too can have that knowledge and that testimony. (I hope that made sense).

After talking, the Gilbert's prepared dinner! Haha This was my first night (and probably not my last) to have 2 dinners!! Oh man! Was I uncomfortable by the time I got home haha! It was a special night though, and to close it up Sister Gilbert said that because we all ate together and had root beer floats, then we were automatically family, and they like to end every day with family prayer. =] It was nice to be able to all kneel down together and end the day perfectly with family prayer. I love how involved and supportive my Mission President and his wife are in this work. It's amazing.

As always my personal study time in the morning was amazing, but the Spirit really taught me something cool this week. So, as a mission wide assignment from the President, I have been studying Alma 1-37. (Aww they are amazing chapters!!) But this past week I was studying Alma 29 when a really neat analogy came to my mind. In Alma 29, Alma is thinking about his mission and teaching people and he begins to wish that he were someone greater! He wishes he were an angel! Because if he were an angel he thinks he could declare the word of God better then he has been. "I wish I were an angel...go forth and speak with the trump of God". But then he realizes something in verse 6, he recognizes his foolish thinking, That though being an angel would be something wonderful, he has been given a specific call in this life that only he can accomplish, and because of that he recognizes that he needs to be grateful. Then in verse 9, he exclaims his joy that he can be an instrument in the hand of God.

I love the references to an instrument here, and because I love music so much I instantly thought of a violin and a cello. Sometimes in our minds we see the life of another person and we wish, like Alma wished, that we could be more like them. "Why can't I speak Korean like her?" "Why can't I be a missionary like her?" Those questions come to each of us in every situation. Like a cello thinking, "why can't I be a violin?" "Why can't I make the sweet music that it makes?" What they cello is not recognizing is that within itself is endless potential to make amazing music. Just because the cello doesn't sound exactly like the violin, doesn't mean it doesn't have its own part to play, it's own harmony to contribute to the grand orchestra of life. This is how we can be instruments, we need to recognize that each of

us is unique and special and each of us has a special part to play, but next we need to put ourselves in the hands of the Master. We will forever have infinite potential if we just sit there, but our potential will never be achieved if we don't allow ourselves to be played by the Master. Only then can we share the music and the message that is inside us that can help someone else.

I love this work, and I love that I can be a cello here in Korean! I am still getting tuned and refined by the Master, but I feel privileged to be an instrument in His hands.

I love you all!! Thank you for the love and support!! 사랑합니다!!
웰스롱쇼어 자매선교사
(I love you!! Sister Wells-Longshore)