A BAPTISM AND A DRUNK MAN

Yesterday we had a baptism for a girl named Lee Ah Rhan. SHe is 18 years old. Her friend was baptized a year ago, but quickly went inactive because it was her senior school of high school. And in korea that means you go to school at 6am and don't come home till midnight. Its a really stressful year and they never have time for much. Her friend's name is Son Gee Won. Well Gee Won came to church and invited Ah Rhan to come along. That was in December and since then she has never missed a Sunday. My Companion, Sister McCellan and Sister Paul started teaching her December 20th, 2011. They taught her twice, until I came in and replaced Sister Paul. Within two weeks we taught Ah Rhan the remaining lessons and got her ready for baptism on January 15th 2012. The second time she met with the missionaries, they watched The Testaments with her and at the end of movie she asked "When do I get baptized?" She was golden!

Her baptism was wonderful, her mom was able to come and our mission president was unexpectedly there. We sand alond with the elders "Teach me to walk in the Light." And Ah Rhan's friend Gee Won shared her testimony. It was so good. She talked about how she wasn't able to come to church and how she forgot alot, but because of Ah Rhan, her faith has been renuined. Really sweet testimony, she started crying. Since they are great friends I think they will help each other stay strong in the church. Afterwards, we ate Costco muffins, bananas and Caprisans. For Ah Rhan we bought her a skirt, she didn't own one, and a picture of Christ from the Plan of Salvation Pamphlet. It was kind of a joke because when we showed her that picture the first thing she said was "He is sexy." She was embarassed when she found out it was Christ. Overall, such a wonderful baptism!!!

Now for another exciting drunk/crazy man story. Love my new area. So we are stopped in the subway station as I am looking for my subway card. As I am looking this man comes out of no where up to Sister McCellan and says "Hi" in Korean to her. He ask where are you going, she tells him, and he suggest that we go together. Shortly after I found my card and quickly scanned into to the subway with Mccellan right behind me. This old man is tailing us and telling her and me that we are beautiful and just won't leave us alone, even though we are ignoring him. A subway is stopped, I just jump on not knowing if it is the right one. Sister Mccellan gets on as the doors are closing and so does this man who then gets stuck in the door. The whole train gasp. We just stand there staring at him not knowing what to do, and the people on the train stare at him to us, to him again. He doesn't seem very concerned because he casual ask a korean if this train went to a certian station. The doors open again and slowly steps off the train as the doors close again, but he manages to pull his body out. Good to know God watches over you and gets the crazy's stuck in doors so you can run away.

Then while street boarding shortly after the drunk man we had a lady riding a bike with a kid hit one of our street boards. Thankfully her and her kid were fine, but she destroyed out street board statnd. Pinched the leg off and parts were just falling off as we put it away. Sad thing it I didn't give her our card!

 

힐 자매

      Sister Hill

NEW AREA

Exciting news, I am no longer in my greenie area. My new area is close into Seoul. I LOVE IT. So different from my first area. Its alot of people and all these small apartments crammed together and these randomly planned streets. This area is so confusing. Especially finding homes. The numbers jump from 20 to 70. The address system here makes no sense. We got lost for one hour on these creepy streets and no people. We were fine. It just makes you a little paranoid.

When transfer calls came my greenie, Sister Ha, hands me the phone and says you are transfering. They news was exciting, but i am sad to not spend another transfer with Sister Ha, she is great. She was so cute and started crying. She didn't want me to leave and was scared about getting a new companion. The only bad thing with transfers is that it happened before a baptism we had scheculed for that sunday. When I called Yoon Sang Ah to tell her I was transfering and if we could see her that next night before I left she just screamed on the phone. And then when we met her the next night she started crying when she saw me. I just love the relationships you build with investigators, because I can't say much Korean still, but you just have this special bond with them and love for them. Its great. She was so sweet and bought me and goodbye present and we took lots of pictures together.

But the good thing is my new area had a baptism this past sunday too (Sister Paul went from my new area to my old area. We just swictched places) So we went on splits and me and Sister Paul were both able to see our investigators baptism. Such a blessing!!!!! Yoon Sang Ah baptism was great, us and the Elders sang primary songs. Its was not well sung, but she was crying the whole time. The spirit is so strong on baptisms, and I love seeing how it effects the investigators, its just confirms to them that they are making the right decision. Even after the baptism she started rying again. So adorable.

Then after the baptism we visited a member along with a girl named Kim Joo Mong. We gave her a baptismal commitment 3 transfers ago, but this cute little girl feels pressure easily and said no. She wants baptism, but the commandments scare her. Just about "what if i make a mistake/" SHe is only 11 years old. She is friends with the members son and always goes to church with them. It was good just to see her and talk. Build a friendship and she was sweet and just gave me a hug because I was leaving. So hard to leave theses people. you just love them so much. But she will be okay. But the member who is this little girl's fellowshipper is an amazing Traditional Korean Artist. A couple weeks ago I asked if I could buy a painting. And , being korea, she said no I will just paint one for free for you. Koreans are soo giving.So yesterday she showed me the painting and I ws so shocked. I expected a little painting. But no, she is painting me two that will be a set and they are both 2 feet tall. Absoluely beautiful!!! This will be the coolest thing I bring home from Korea. I gave her cookies yesterday, but it is not enough. Not sure what I can give her, but I really want to give her something cool. Any ideas?

Oh quick,funny things that have happened in my life. One with our investigator E Ah Ran. She is 18 years old and after first lesson go a baptism commitment, said "yes" and will get baptized this sunday, three weeks from when she was committed. Anways, we taught her Plan of Salavation and gave her the pamphlet for her to read. She looks at it and points to the front picture and says "He is sexy", in english. We just start laughing and say "that is Jesus". She always ssays hilarious things. She also thinks Joseph Smith is handsome. She is hilarious. Then on the subway back to my new area, there was this really drunk old man sitting across from us. And he was talking so loud to us and saying we looked like movie stars and mad a heart shape with his arms and told us he loved us. And that his home of open to us. He was harmless, but we still walked quickly away from him once we got off the subway. Love my new area!

힐 자매

      Sister Hill