Week 5

WEEK FIVE

So many amazing things have happened! This past Tuesday Elder Richard G. Scott came and spoke! You can just feel the spirit when he enters the room and especially when he testified "I know that Jesus Christ lives." I was sitting five seats back on the floor, off to the left. I was so close. During his talk he had all those learning a foreign language raise thier hands. He then invoked an aposotlic blessing on us of the gift of tongues. "But you still have to study" he said. So cool, defiantly need the extra help.

Yesterday I prayed for help, that I would understand the grammar and be able to make sentences in my head, rather than on paper and I was able to. It was so amazing. Its only been five weeks! The lord is truly helping me learn this language. So this week in the TRC we have to do our lesson in Korean! It will be intense. But I am feeling okay about it, because yesterday we did short lessons in Korean and I was able to translate my english sentences out loud and never had to look at the korean sentences. So COOL.

Oh and the TRC this past Saturday so great. We did our Korean task perfectly and our lesson so powerful. The Spirit was there start to finish and me and my companions were unified. Before we each taught one principle, because its hard with three and some talk for a long time. But we have been working on this and this week we didn't have set parts we just talked and would pause so someone else could jump in, it was so good. And then we committed our investigator (who is fake) to baptism! He said yes. After we ended with prayer he asked what he could do until we met again. Thankfully before we had left to go to the TRC i grabbed the Plan of Salvation and Restoration pamphlet and gave him the Plan of Salvation one to read, answer the questions and pray about. Those promptings of the spirit are so real, even if you are just role playing. It was an amazing TRC lesson and afterwards, our investiagor, Brother Ball, said we did great and he felt the Spirit. All you need is the spirit and all goes well.

So my Korean zone is full of traditions. Like every Saturday night we meet at the vending machines and eat ice cream. Well just four days ago we learned of another tradition. So there is an Elder Warner, who is in the older district and he has a bristish accent. His dad is from england, mom from Idaho. Grew up mostly in England and just recently has been living in Rigby, Idaho...so we thought. We were told Elder Warner actually doesn't have an accent and has lived in Idaho his whole life! We were in disbelief and felt betrayed! But at the same time in compelte "aww" of Elder Warner that he had pulled off a British accent for 6 weeks! He even fooled real Bristish people and couldn't convince them that he really was American. So funny. So the tradition is past on as the Older district leaves. They just left yesterday, so now Elder Theobald will carry on the tradition in an Austrilian accent. Which is really good, but super thick. Plus he uses slang all the time and knows so many people in the MTC. So there are some problems that could arise, but I think he will be able to trick the new district coming in next week.

One more thing, I sparined my thumb a month ago in volleyball, it still is sore and I can't really curl my eyelashes with my right hand, because it hurts. So decided to use my left hand...bad idea! While curling them my hand jerked and I pulled out like 6 eyelashes. I have this little bald patch in my eyelashes...so sad. But they are growing back fast and it only looks funny if you look close.

Week 4

WEEK FOUR

This week we got to teach Plan of Salvation at the TRC. But we didn't find this out till wednesday! Therefore we didn't have much time to prepare. This lesson was so hard for me to teach. Everytime we did a pratice I never, ever knew what to say. I know the material, but to put into words was beyond me. Thursday night I prayed for help and the next day i had such an easier time explaining principles from Plan of Salavtion during our practice lessons. But come TRC day I was not in the best of moods. I didn't feel prepared at all or that I even knew my Korean task and when we did the task i actually forgot alot of it. When it came around to teaching the lesson, I prayed that I would feel the Spirit and know what to teach.

The investisgator asked about why she would need to get baptized agian? She was Catholic and had already been baptized. I was able to bear witness to her about the importance of authority and baptism by immersion, sharing scriptures along the way. Then my companions also bore witness. It was awesome, defiantly the highlight of the lesson. After the lesson, the investistgator (who was a returned missionary from Chicago) said if we would have asked she would hasve been baptized! Me and my companions were like "oh no", because that was not the commit we had asked her to do.

We still have so much to learn. On of the things our observer and investiagto commented on was about asking questions. So during companion study we will read a principle and come up with a list of questions we could ask an investiagtor to guage thier understanding and to help us understand their beliefs more. Our questions are getting better and better. When we did a 10min principle lesson with one of the Elders we were on a role with the questions. It was awesome, he even commented on how we asked good questions. It was a great feeling, especially because one of my companions had a little outburst the other day on her frustrations on not knowing what questions to ask.

I have to say the stress of the MTC has not hit me yet. I am so grateful! A couple days ago one of my companions broke down into tears after lunch. Our teach had not been patient that day (stress of college finals we think) and it made her feel really bad. She was understanding everything and she felt she couldn't ask the one teacher for help. But she is good now. I think from my 21 credit semester I had at school, waking up to sew at 5:30 am and not going to bed till 2am, really taught me about how to handle stress. As my teachers always told me, do your best and the Lord will help you with the rest. During companion inventory both said I was really laid back. So i am so grateful to not get stressed easily over the Korean and such. Such a blessing :)

Week 3

WEEK THREE

At the MTC we got native Koreans, they are hilarious. The four Elders came and played volleyball with us, I don't think they have ever played before. So funny one of them would get hit in the chest everytime on a serve in trying to hit the ball, then he would fall on the ground. Everyone would just bust up laughing. It was so much fun. My thumb is ok, still hurts, but at least I can play volleyball :) MTC food, not the great, however the desserts...WONDERFUL. I have been trying so hard to resist the cookies, but I can't. They are so soft and amazing.

In class we did an exercise where we had to testify to commit. We had to testify of the restoration within 10 minutes. And it was so awesome to realize how the Spirit works through us. I had an idea of how to begin, linking a scripture in relation to Joseph Smith's First Vision. And it just flowed from there. I tesified of how we recieve answers to prays and how God speaks to us through the Holy Ghost. I then shared how I felt the spirit and issued a committ for the investitigator to pray to know if what happened to Joseph Smith was true. I was so powerful, the Spirit was strong and directed my speech, it was really cool :)

This past Sunday we sang in church the EFY melody of Sisters in Zion and Army of Helaman. So good. We had 9 sisters and 10 Elders. The Spirit was strong and people had tears coming down their face. One Korean Native sister was crying as well. It testifed to me how even when there is a language barrier the Spirit still will testify to us all. This gives me great comfort. Korean is not an easy language. When I am there I may say grammtically incorrect things or say the most simpliest things because of my limited vocabulary. But I know that it won't be an issue, because the Spirit will testify and they will feel the power and importance of the message shared. It is amazing to think how many people get baptized around the world by missionaries who barely can speak thier language. It truly is the Spirit that converts others, that changes hearts, not me or any other missionary.

 P.S. Jess's mom here, Somewhere amidst the move, I can't find week 2, but when I find it, I will post it!