BIG NEWS . . . I'M TRAINING

Yes its true. I never thought it would happen. Me and Sister Nelson figured out the odds of that happening this transfer and they were very low. But the Lord went against all odds and my reasoning. Monday we got transfer calls. President Lee told Sister Jung would be training and white washing (that's when two missionaries leave an area instead of just one. It's really hard because no one knows the investigators, area or ward members). No surprise, I predicted that one. She was ready. Next I talked to President Lee. He said "Sister Hill you will continue to serve in BoonDang. And you will be trainer." At that moment my heart dropped, I was so scared. I've only been in country for 5 months and barely know the language. He said it again "You will be trainer, do you understand." Yes I replied. Then the call ended.

That night I felt like it was the first day of school at a new school. My stomach was just churning and I felt nauseous, it was horrible. I even woke up early the next morning at 5:30am feeling so nervous. I was not able to fall back asleep. On transfer days we had to wake up so early 4:45. It took us an 1 1/2 to get the station where everyone meets to exchange. Transfer days are so much fun. You get to see all you friends. I love it. Elder Gunnell, who I knew when I lived in Washington State 8 years ago, is leaving this transfer. Actually he should be home by now. So crazy that we were on the same mission.When ever I saw him around the mission I could just remeber him as a quite little deacon, but now he is a return missionary. That is so crazy. He was an awesome missionary. People always told me really good things about him. And his last speech at zone conference so good. It was about being an example of Jesus Chirst.

So after saying "HI" to everyone me and Sister Manley went to Presidents house for training on being a tranier. Yes my MTC companion is training too. She is so awesome. So we had four new sisters come. Me, Manley, Jung and Bennett and Lee are all training. Sister Bennett and Lee are together training a greenie in a threesome. The training was great. Then after training from the President all the new greenies came into the room. They had us all stand in the back of the room and matched us up with our greenie. Standing there was nerve racking. All I could think was "Please give me the Korean not the Monoglian." Thankful my prayer was anser. I got the Korean!

Her name is 박소연. She has had an interesting start to her mission. She ws originally callled to servi in Tornonto, Canada, but her visa got rejected. While she was waiting for her visa she started serving in the Daejeon mission. She waws there for 1/1/2 transfers, then after her visa got rejeted she went to the MTC and is now here. So bascially my greenie came pre-trained. Its a blessing. If I had an America, we would have been really lost. But I know if that would have happened the Lord would have blessed me with the language. Next transfer we have six new greenies coming. I think all are America except one. So this next transfer call could be very interesting.

We get along really well. She is a really fun person. We have nothing but good days together. Saturday after English Class we went to go visit an inactive member. Before we left members asked what we were going to do next and we told them we are going to visit this person. Immediatley after we said that their response was, "She hates missionaries." Great. I was already worried about this before because of her member record. Apparently some missionaries beasted her about drinking coffee, so she hasn't like missionaries since then. But we went anyways. We were both nervous to knock on the door but just did it. What happened next was a pleasant reaction, she welcomed us in. She even fed us ice cream, fruit and ramen. We ended up staying at her home for an hour visiting. She told us she hasn't been to church in five years.And how for the past two yuears she has been going to the Catholic church. She explained to us how she drinks coffee everyday and feels so quilty about it and how she had had problems with ward members in the past which is why she doesn't attend our church anymore. We invited her to english class and the Stake Fall Concert next month and did Book of Mormon chain with her. Together we read one scripture. She choose one from Alma, it is her favorite book to read (mine too). We read the scripture on how through the strength of God we can do all things. We bore our testimonies on the power of the atonement. It was such a good visit and we felt really good afterwards. We plan on visiting every week and helping her overcome those things that have hindered her from coming to church. Visiting her it felt like she wanted to come to church, but had some bad experiences and felt tremendous quilt over drinking coffee.

So many miracles. I am so happy to be serving a mission.

I'AM A SENIOR BABY

Well, I have officaially made senior companion! I finished my pass-off this past thursday. For pass-off we meet with the APs and have to teach a lesson (one prinicple from each of the four PMG lessons), basic proseleting approach, 10 minutes Restoration lesson, recite D&C 4, first vision, 3 Nephi..., and vocabulary from the 5 lessons (you can only miss 3 out of 30).

The second week of this transfer I passed off on my memoraization things, but not on teaching because we ran out of time. So, Ocotober 6th I met with the APs to finish pass-off. The first time I did pass off I did it with an Australian, but this time I did it with the Korean AP. I was like "crap", he knows Korean, I don't want to teach him! But it ended up being fine.

We started our with basic prosetleyting approach. He had me do it two times. Then we stopped and talked about it. He prosetlyed to me and then had me implement the things we talked about and proseltye one more time. He told me to focus more on the Restoration, because that is what makes our message unique. Whatever what we talk about with people, always make a reference to the Restoration. So I did that and he passed me on that one. Yeah. He said you smile and have confidence in you message, so that's good. Smiling really does make a difference on how people speak to you on the streets. It's important to be happy always.

Cool experience me and my companion where prostelying on the street corners and we were in a really good mood. Sister Jung had just passed out a Book of Mormon on the bus to a lady you seemed geniuely interested. So we were excited and happy and while we prosetlyed people recieved us really well. Everyone accepted our flyers and were kind. One lady told us "you two look so happy."  What a wonderful compliment to recieve. Our Stake President always stresses to us about being a happy missionary and always being polite when people reject you. It was a good lesson for me, but I was able to understand how it affects how people accept our message. Even if they don't accept it, at least they have a good memory of us and remeber us to be happy.

Anyways, back to pass-off. So after that he had only 30 more minutes because he had an appointment to go to. So he told me I only had to teach one priniple and I could include any other principle that I wanted to. The principle he gave me was tithing. Such a blessing because the week before for Language Study I figured out sentences to explain tithing, because I couldn't do it at all.  And then we did practice teaching it because we had to teach it to an investigator. So the Lord had prepared me to be able to teach it. I included the principle of obedience. And he accepted my committment to pay tithing once he was baptized. It went well. He asked me if I felt prepared to be Senior companin and over my own area. I explained to him I feel like I can do missionary work, its the language the makes me nervous. But I know if the Lord feels I can do it, then I know I can do it. On each thing he signed me off. Even quick restoration lesson, which I didn't teach. I lucked out, espeacially only having to teach only one principle instead of four.

I am nervous because I most likely will be over my own area next transfer with a companion youger then me. That's a scary thought. But I know they Lord blesses us and will give us the ability, in language, to accomplish his work. One Sister I did an exchange with trained her 6th or 7th transfer. She said "I was horrible at understanding, but once I started training, I was able to understand people a 100%." Then she said she did an exhange with another Sister who had been on her mission a long time and when they taught a lesson she could barely understand anything. It was a reminder to her that us being able to understand and speak Korean is a blessing and is given to us when we need it. So I know if I get more leadership responisilites, like being over my own area with a JR., the Lord will bless me so I can do his work.

SPILTS

So this past week I got to go on splits for the first time. My area is so far from any Sisters that we never get to go on splits. But all the sister's went on splits wednesday. I stayed in my area with Sister Ellis. She is hilarious, so much fun. This is her 7th or 8th transfer. She trained one of my MTC companions.We worked on Street Contacting. I am always trying to improve to talking to people on the streets. I feel like I say pretty much the same thing and sometimes come off as aggressive, which I don't like. But Sister Ellis has a casual, friendly style I really like and feels more like me. Each person does it differently. I've been doing it the way I was taught, sounding kind of robotic and not the way that was my style and natural. We had training in district meeting about being yourself and doing things that feel natural, instead of being a robotic missionary.

Anyways, it was really fun and helpful for me. And just showed me different ways on how to talk with people and approach them. I no longer care if people reject me anymore. Last week I went to talk to a lady by myself and she went off on me, telling me something, I don't really know I didn't understand, you could just tell she was an intense woman and heard something bad about our church. Afterwards, I felt fine, I didn't care. Sister Jung came up to me and said she was going to come over to help me, but she thought "Sister Hill doesn't know what she is saying, she's fine." She decided to leave me! So funny.

Even though I am not afraid to get rejected anymore, I am still nervous about approaching people by myself and my lack of understanding skills. When we went on splits it was different talking to people with another American then a Korean. People had different reactions. A lot of people laughed and were surprised to here us speaking Korean. And even though I love my Korean companion and she is an awesome missionary, we defiantly get rejected more. Korean's get contacted by different churches all the time, so when another Korean comes up to talk to them about church usually they are like whatever. But if you are a foreigner they listen more and are kind even if they are not interested. Friday I just went off by myself to talk with people and it was really fun. I tried all the new things I learned and I just felt more comfortable because I didn't feel "Oh I have to do it this way." It was really good. I want on to got on more splits they are very helpful.

I still have so much to work on and fears to overcome, but it is getting easier and more fun as the more comfortable I become with missionary work.

THE MOVE IS OVER

Well Me and my Companion Sister Jeung has finished moving. Even though we didn't have much to move its still stressful. We got a new apartment and our Mission President had furniture delievered to us.

Unfortuanltley he forgot some essentials, like cups!

Monday did not feel like a P-day, after email and eating lunch we had to clean our new apartment. It tooks us an hour, but we had to go home, get cleaning supplies and come back, which took an hour and a half. I miss having a car.

Then Tuesday, Suji Elders came to our house to help move our stuff onto the truck. We got that done in 20 minutes. Then President drove us to our new place and ther our Zone leaders and two other Elders in our district joined us. So we had six Elders moving our stuff. It was nice. And they put together our desks. Also, our Bishops wife came over and helped us clean. She is awesome. She even took us out to lunch, we had 고기 (meat: really expensive in Korea). Then she bought us some basic cooking and cleaning things we needed and then helped us clean our apartment more. That took up the whole day.

Then wednesday and friday we crazy and we didn't get much missionary work done. Our numbers for this week are so low, 43/140 for contacts.

Wednesday the new BoonDang Elders came and we had a two hour meeting updating them on the area and thier investigators. Then Friday was planning day, so we don't leave till 3pm. But that was interrupted a couple times by the APs. They came and delievered us shelfs and a kitchen table. Then a couple hours later they came back with a oven, which was abosultely disgusting. You know when the microwave or parts of the stove get greasy? Well, it looked like that, all over the oven.

Baked on grease. And it looked like this oven hadn't been used or cleaned in years. We started cleaning it that day, but this morning we finally finished. Yes...it was that bad.

But even though our schedule has been crazy and our numbers extermely low, we have seen severval miracles this week. So Wednesday, we only had 10 minutes to do some contacting and then we had to go to an appointment. Within that time we got a number from a girl who seemed genuily interested.

Then the next day we were dong some contacting while we waited for the subway. While talking to a woman, this little old man came over and was listening. I look over at him and he says "Joseph Smith." I say "yes" and we start talking. Apparently 50 years ago he joined the church. Right then our subway came and for some reason we got on different carts. While in the train, I was like we got to go find him.

So as the train was moving we moved up to the next cart. We didn't see him, but as we kept on walking, there he was sitting down. The train stopped again and he got up and moved to a place with several seats that just opened up. He pats his hand on the seat next him. We got sit with him and start talking some more. I asked if he had a Book of Mormon and he said not anymore. So we gave him a copy and then he gave us his number. He told us to call him and that he'd come to church.

Then on Friday we were waiting for a bus for over 15 minutes. The buses in Korea are good about coming ever 5-8 minutes. While we were sitting there waiting, this man walks up to us. He explains how he went to church once in Japan and ask if he can have a copy of the Book of Mormon. He also gives us his number for us to call him later. After we got his number our bus came! Coiencidene that our bus was late, I think not. I love being on a mission and seeing the Lord leading us to people or people to us, and you don't even realize it till after it happens. If our bus was on time we would not have met this man. Its so amazing to me and strengthens my testimony that there is a God and he knows us and helps us in our lives everyday.

I think this new transfer will be full of miracles and great experiences. Oh we had transfers this last week and my and Sister Jeung are both staying. This will be our third transfer together. I really love her, she is awesome!

START OF A NEW TRANSFER

Well me and my companion are keeping busy. We picked up five new investigators this week. One we are super excited to teach because her brother is also meeting with the missionaries. Her brother is 25 yrs. old and she is 22 yrs. old. His been talking about the church and Book of Mormon at home so she was curious and wanted to come to church. For Sunday school class we went to the marriage preparation class. Which was so fun. The teacher is really good and makes it fun, not akward for people. I was a little worried taking investigators to that class, but it turned out really well and she made friends with our Ward Mission Leader's daughter. Yes!

Even though we have had many miracles these past couple weeks, this past week we had a very sad experience. Our little 안태현's mother said "no" to letting him to get baptized. It's really frustrating because her and her husband are MEMBERS! They are inactive, but his two older sisters are active. The reason why is because the Dad's parents are Catholic. I don't understand this about Korean Culture, but children, even when they are 40 years old still base off their decisions on what their parents say. Its so frustrating to me. And the worse part is they are moving soon and she told us once they move they are not going to let their kids attend church anymore. It's a horrible, depressing situation. I still pray something will change, I love that little boy.

So Monday was a bit Korean Holiday 추석{JooSok}. It's basically American Thanksgiving, but way more intense. They go up to their ancestors gravesite to pay respects and prepare food for them that they set at a table. It's alot of food preparation and no women likes it. Because men don't help with cooking or cleaning! How horrible. And they have to deal with their husband's family. Its all very stressful for women apparently.

But we had a member invite us over to eat a JooSok lunch. It was diclious. We only stayed for an hour then traveled to Seoul to meet up with some sister's and go to the Place. For this P-Day we had the entire day. 11am-9pm. It was awesome. The Palace is huge! And so beautiful. And since it was a holiday it was free and they had speacial events happening all week. We got to see a Korean drumming show. Some how me and Sister Nelson managed to sneak up to the front. It was perfect. I got awesome video of it. But because we watched the show we only saw a tenth of the Palace. It's like the Smithsoian in Washington DC. It would takes days to see everything there. It was so much fun.

THE MOVE IS OVER

Well Me and my Companion Sister Jeung has finished moving. Even though we didn't have much to move its still stressful. We got a new apartment and our Mission President had furniture delievered to us.

Unfortuanltley he forgot some essentials, like cups!

Monday did not feel like a P-day, after email and eating lunch we had to clean our new apartment. It tooks us an hour, but we had to go home, get cleaning supplies and come back, which took an hour and a half. I miss having a car.

Then Tuesday, Suji Elders came to our house to help move our stuff onto the truck. We got that done in 20 minutes. Then President drove us to our new place and ther our Zone leaders and two other Elders in our district joined us. So we had six Elders moving our stuff. It was nice. And they put together our desks. Also, our Bishops wife came over and helped us clean. She is awesome. She even took us out to lunch, we had 고기 (meat: really expensive in Korea). Then she bought us some basic cooking and cleaning things we needed and then helped us clean our apartment more. That took up the whole day.

Then wednesday and friday we crazy and we didn't get much missionary work done. Our numbers for this week are so low, 43/140 for contacts.

Wednesday the new BoonDang Elders came and we had a two hour meeting updating them on the area and thier investigators. Then Friday was planning day, so we don't leave till 3pm. But that was interrupted a couple times by the APs. They came and delievered us shelfs and a kitchen table. Then a couple hours later they came back with a oven, which was abosultely disgusting. You know when the microwave or parts of the stove get greasy? Well, it looked like that, all over the oven.

Baked on grease. And it looked like this oven hadn't been used or cleaned in years. We started cleaning it that day, but this morning we finally finished. Yes...it was that bad.

But even though our schedule has been crazy and our numbers extermely low, we have seen severval miracles this week. So Wednesday, we only had 10 minutes to do some contacting and then we had to go to an appointment. Within that time we got a number from a girl who seemed genuily interested.

Then the next day we were dong some contacting while we waited for the subway. While talking to a woman, this little old man came over and was listening. I look over at him and he says "Joseph Smith." I say "yes" and we start talking. Apparently 50 years ago he joined the church. Right then our subway came and for some reason we got on different carts. While in the train, I was like we got to go find him.

So as the train was moving we moved up to the next cart. We didn't see him, but as we kept on walking, there he was sitting down. The train stopped again and he got up and moved to a place with several seats that just opened up. He pats his hand on the seat next him. We got sit with him and start talking some more. I asked if he had a Book of Mormon and he said not anymore. So we gave him a copy and then he gave us his number. He told us to call him and that he'd come to church.

Then on Friday we were waiting for a bus for over 15 minutes. The buses in Korea are good about coming ever 5-8 minutes. While we were sitting there waiting, this man walks up to us. He explains how he went to church once in Japan and ask if he can have a copy of the Book of Mormon. He also gives us his number for us to call him later. After we got his number our bus came! Coiencidene that our bus was late, I think not. I love being on a mission and seeing the Lord leading us to people or people to us, and you don't even realize it till after it happens. If our bus was on time we would not have met this man. Its so amazing to me and strengthens my testimony that there is a God and he knows us and helps us in our lives everyday.

I think this new transfer will be full of miracles and great experiences. Oh we had transfers this last week and my and Sister Jeung are both staying. This will be our third transfer together. I really love her, she is awesome!

I NEVER WILL ESCAPE

All my life I have been moving. I have lived in 10 different states and two different countries. I have moved eleven times with my family. So when I got my mission call to report to the MTC on March 23rd, I was exteremly excited. Because that June my family would be moving again and this time I got to miss it. To not have to move heavy metal shelving or spend weeks unloading and loading the same boxes sounded refreshing. But unfortuanltey this past wednesday I heard some disturbing news from my companion at Zone Conference, "We are moving next Tuesday!"

Some background information. Within the past several weeks we have been meeting so many men. Men with geniune interest in learning about the gospel. The man in the wheelchair, the guy we contacted during Door Knocking and two other men we met within this past week. Tuesday, we had just left our house and hopped on the bus. Sister Jeung went and sat in the back, I saw a seat and headed towards the back as well. Before I sat down an older gentleman said "Hi" to me in English. We start talking and I explain to him that I am a missionary. The man was sitting right across form Sister Jeung, so all three of us started talking about the Book of Mormon. Before we got to Yatap station (5-8 mintues), he asked for a copy and we exchanged numbers. Then in church yesterday we had a member refferal, from another ward, come to church. He is a couple years older then me. Super nice and the Bishop wife said "He's cute." Which he is, but I am a missionary. Anyways, he came to sacrament and we introduced the Book of Mormon to him after church. He says next week he will come to all three hours.

So, as you can see we've been meeting a lot of prepared men in our area. And before Zone Conference I told Sister Jeun, "I wonder if we BoonDang is going to change to Elders." Because we've been meeting so many men, but they are really hard to meet with for us, because we have to find another woman to come. So at Zone Conference, wednesday, President Lee told Sister Jeung that Elders are moving to our Apartment in Yatap and we are moving to Migeum. Migeum is still the same area, so BoonDany area will have Sisters and Elders. It's all very exciting except we have to move into a new apartment.

So yesterday night and this morning we have been packing. It is alot easier than moving with my family, but I just thought for at least a short time, I would have escaped the trials of moving.