전도 DETERMINATION

Sunday, we did some subway contacting. It was not a good 전도 (contacting) day. It took us two hours to get 20 people, when normally that would take an hour. We would say "Hi" to people and then they say "not interested" and walk away. Or they'd just ignore us, even though we are the only people on the subway platform. And I am thinking "I know you hear me lady!" Anyways, we were getting rejection, after rejection. I was getting frustrasted and depressed. Then I thought about the Sons of Mosiah. At one point on their mission they were so depressed and were about to turn back home. Then the Lord comforted them and told them if they bore with patience their afflicionts, he would give them success. They suffered so much. They were rejected, starved, put in jail, beat up and people tried to kill them. Yet at the end of their mission they helped bring thousands of the Lamanites unto the gospel.

So while I was getting rejected, over and over again, I thought about this. My situation is not that bad, at least people are not trying to kill me. Right then the Lord gave me a boost of confidence, courage and determination. And I continued to 전도. And eventually we found those people who were nice and let us share our message.

At one point during our 전도 time, we had three people call us in a row. Sister Jeung was on the phone for at least 20 minutes. You see up to this point I have never walked up to a person by myself to share the gospel. It makes me so nervous, because I don't understand Korea and can only say so much. But as I just stood there, I was like, "I gotta 전도 (jeun-do)". So I walked up to a girl sitting on a bench and explained what the Book of Mormon was. She kept on saying to me, in English "I just came from church." She was trying to politely tell me she was not interested. But I just acted like I didn't know what she was saying and kept on talking. I was determined to share the message of the Book of Mormon and Jesus Christ and she was going to hear it and take my pamhplet; which she did. The Lord just gave me this determination I had never had. It was an amazing blessing. And every person after that, interested or not, I would continue to talk and made sure they didn't walk away from me without a pamphlet. Maybe they won't listen to me, but they might read the pamphlet.

INVESTIGATOR MIRACLE: After sarcrament meeting we meet with our ward mission leader. He told us that 안다희's mom agreed to let her get baptized. 안다희 (an-da-hee) is 11 years old. Even though she is not baptized, she is basically a member. She knows so much and comes to church every week. Her older sisters are extremely active in the church. Her mom wanted 안다희 to wait to get baptized when she was at least in middle school. I am not sure how the Lord changed her mind, but I can think of a couple things that may have helped. One, her daughters are active in the church. Two, we got to spend time with 안다희 and her mom a couple times, just building the Jeung (Means building trust and friendship. Eating a meal together is the best way). Third, our primary President is amazing! She is the one who called the mom and asked if she'd let 안다희 get baptized. I think she's talked to her at least a couple times now about how 안다희 is growing so much in the knowledge of the gospel. Fourth, the Lord's mysterious ways. I am so excited! 안다희 wants to get baptized, now we just have to offically ask her and give a date for her to be baptized. So exciting. She is a special little girl.

GIFT OF TONGUES

So wednesday and thursday we did exchanges. My trainer had to go to a two-day training meeting. Sister Manley (my MTC companion) came on exchanges with me and Sister Jeung. It was fun. Sister Manley is a master at 전더 (street contacting). She just goes off by herself and starts talking, even though she can't understand or say much. She was such a wonderful example to me. I struggle with street contacting when it comes to doing it by myself. But I am slowly but surley getting over those fear. I love doing street contacting and now feel comfortable with it, just not by myself yet...soon though...I hope.

During the second day of exchanges we taught 박문자 (bak-moon-jaw). We were teaching her for the second time the Plan of Slavation. We quickly went over it the previous week and decided to go into more detail this week. There is a lot to the Plan of Salvation, it is hard to teach simply. I got to teach about the Atonement. I had prepared and practiced for it during companionship and language study. But during the lesson I was able to say all that I practiced and more. I said it so fuildly. At that moment the Lord truly did bless me with the gift of tongues. It was AWESOME. You could just feel the spirit. It was a really great lesson and she asked about how to repent and things like unto that. Such a fabulous lesson.

This past week has been filled with some funny experiences. We were at an investigators home and she was tyring to get her boys out of their rooms to say "hi" and talk for a little while, but they clearly did not want to. They are teenagers. But one of them, who we've taught before came out of his room half-asleep in bright yellow boxers. When he realized we were there he quickly went back into his room. All three of us died laughing. I had tears in my eys and was tyring not to pee my skirt. It was hard to maintian control when the mom came back and sat down. I had to excuse myself to the bathroom or I was gonna loose it.

Then the next day in English Class we played a game, it was bascially Catch Phrase. And one of our students (he's about 50 years old) got so excited when he was describing his word "bus". You can tell he is competive. He was describing it, but no one understood him. LOL. Then he was like "really", in Korean, you don't know!?! Someone evetually got it, but he was like give me a harder one. So we gave him the work "skyscraper". He used the word to describe the word though, but no one else realized that. After that word he was like give me another one, so we gave him the word "seashell." He started saying words like "king", "fire" and so many other random words. All three of us were laughing so hard. I was under the table laughing. I didn't want him to think I was laughing at his english. So funny.

English class is always amusing. We have another man, Brother Em, he is about 70 years old. No one can understand him when he speaks English or Korean, even for the native Korean speakers. I gave him the word "phone", but he started to describe a person he had a question about. He said he had a "pan on his head" and some other really random things. We were all so confused, then Sister Marchant yelled "Johnny Appleseed"! And he was like "yes"! So funny. Best part thought, Steve, who tends to be the know-it-all in the class, was so impressed. And was like "How do you know this thing?" He wrote down "johnny appleseed" on a piece of paper and you know by next week he will know everything there is to know about Johnny Appleseed. I love all the people in our English Class, they are so much fun!

FIRST BAPTISM

On July 10, 2011 민다빈 got baptized. She is a wonderful little girl. The Sister Missionaries have been teaching her for a year now, gospel and english. So it's nice for me, who barely knows Korean to be able to speak to her in English. She is really good at it and understands you completely. The ward put together the baptismal events. 분당 ward is full of talented, hardworking people.

After church, at 1pm, we had a reception of  떡 (rice cake)  and 김치 (kimchi). Not sure why we had it at the beginning, but we did. 민다빈's family came. Her two aunts, grandma and grandpa and her father. She has so much support. Then at 1:30 everyone went down to see the main event. Our primary put on an exceptionally musical number. Two of the kids played violin, they like 10 years old and are really good. I was super impressed. We have advanced children in our ward.

Then a counselor in our Bishopric gave a talk, then we sang "I am trying to be like Jesus". That was hard for me. I don't like to sing infront of people, but I did it and I think we sounded descent. The actually baptism was kind of comically. She had to get baptized FIVE TIMES!!! 1st time her hair, 2nd tine her feet, 3rd time her hair, 4th her feet.....then finally, on the fifth try, SUCCESS, baptism by immerision. The children were so cute. When 민다빈 got out of the water they all ran to the bathroom to congradulate her. They were so excited.

After the baptism 민다빈 got a couple presents. A set of scriptures from the ward, a picture of Jesus Christ helping up a little girl from us and a large teddy bear. She had a good day. She had fun. It was such a good day. Oh and in none of the pictures is she similing. For some reason Koreans don't like to smile in pictures, but I promise you she really was happy that day.

Other fabulour news, we found a new famiy, or rather the Dad found us. In English class he came in and then decided to do the 30/30 program with us. So this past Tuesday we went to his house. We met his wife and son. His son is 5 years old. So cute. Loves dinosaurs. He was very shy when we got there, but by the end he was showing us his tai-kwon-do moves. It was a really good first meeting. You could feel the Spirit in their home the entire time. This family is very special. They are a dedicated religious family. I really think the gospel, especially concerning families, will really hit home with them. This past Saturday for English class, we had everyone share good news from their week. He shared how the missionaries came to visit his home. And how is wife and son were very happy. I think they like us. We meet them again tomorrow. I am so excited!

WEEK FOUR IN KOREA

I've been in Korea for a month! Wow. That's amazing, seems unreal. I think I am adjusting well to the. This week was an adventourous week, it's rainy season. And when it rains here, it pours. I step outside with my umbrella and within in five minutes my shoes are sloshing water and the back of my skirt is drenched. But thankfully the weather is still warm, so I am just wet, not cold and wet. Yesterday the rivers were overflowing covering the side walks. One street we were walking on was a river. But as soon as the rain stops the water on the road and in the river quickly dies down. Nothing dangerous, just adds a challenge in doing missionary work.

Next week we have a baptism! So exciting. A little girl named 刮促后.  She had her baptismal interview and did great. She's excited to get baptized. We were a little worried about her because when we reviewed the questions with her Saturday she was not answering very well, she was very distracted that day, just being a kid. Us and the ward are just so excited.

WEEK THREE IN KOREA

Well, I still barely know any Korean. But good news, my English is getting worse, so my Korean must be getting better. Yesterday was refreshing because we shared a message with a member who spoke English. And she tends to talk to missionaries in English, so it was so nice to get to know her and understand what was going on.

Korea is being hit by a typhoon at the moment. It's not bad, just always raining and my feet are never dry. But it's still warm weather, so I am not cold and miserable, just wet. But we are not even into the rainy season yet. It's sounds like we get more rain than we do now and it feels like a sauna...I can't wait.

Exciting missionary news, we got a baptism set up for July 10th, little girl named 刮促后 (min-da-bin). She is 8 years old and has been taking english classes form the missionaries for a year now. She's really goo at it. She lives with her grandma and grandpa who both are Buddist. Her grandmother loves the church and consented fro 刮促后 to get baptized. So exciting. Everyone in our ward loves this little girl and has truly embraced her. She has so many friends and loves coming to church. With the great support system she has now, she will continue to remain active in the church.

Other exciting news, we picked up two new investiagtors this week. One gril is 26 years old and is working on getting her masters. She is looking for another church, didn't like her old one very much. Her mom's best friend is a Mormon and reffered her to us. She came last Sunday for all three hours plus the linger longer with her Mom's friend. Then we met her this past Wednesday and talked about God and introduced the Book of Mormon. She's very quiet and hard to read, but she wants to meet again so thats good.

Our other new investiagor is  傍家捞 .  She is 17 years old. We meet her through street contacting. She's the very first person I gave a Book of Mormon too. And Sister Jung got an appointment with her, which initially fell through, but she's been wanting to meet and Saturday we were able to. She had a break in her busy schedule. We talked about God, got to know her and religious background and talked about the Book of Mormon. It was good. The next day she even came to part of church, which she liked. There are lots of youth her age and that really appealed to her. Not sure when she can meet again, but hopefully soon. Interesting thing about her is she does gun shooting competitions. It's cool because no one in Korea owns a gun. It's super safe here. It's pretty awesome. I am learning gun vocabulary so I can ask her more questions about it. I forget who I was talking to, a member I think, and we were talking about America and thier guns and I said my Grandma has a gun...lol...her reaction was so funny.