Monday, March 31, 2014

It's Spring!



Hello Family!

I have so many things I need to tell you! First of all, it is finally Spring in Korea and it is beautiful. Remember in Mulan when the cherry blossoms are in full bloom, but the dad is super depressed because Mulan ran away? Well, that is what parts of my area look like...minus the sad father. It is amazing and I will definitely be taking pictures with Sis. Kim this week. Be prepared for some epic sister missionary photo sessions. I will send photos once I figure out how to make the computer stop corrupting all of my photos. I really like them and want them to stay forever!

Things here in 안양 are getting busier everyday. This past week, we met with a lot of potential investigators and progressing investigators. One of our investigators (김재숙) previously met missionaries, but had to stop meeting with them because she got really busy. Well while street contacting, I introduced myself to her and she was incredibly excited to meet Sis. Kim and I. We met with her a couple of days ago and she is so sincere and really wants to follow Christ. She asked a lot of good questions about our church and took notes. We will be meeting with her again tomorrow and I cannot wait! Ah, seriously...heart of gold. The other investigator is 오해진 and she is 23 years old and suffers from a mental disability. She loves coming to our church because of the pure feeling that she receives every time she enters the front doors. We don't really know what we can do for her, but we really want to help her come closer unto Christ. 

Another cool experience that we had this week is that Sis. Kim and I finally understand the missionary purpose. Everyday when we street contact, people ask us what makes us different from the other missionaries. As we thought about the question, Sis. Kim and I realized that we are not telling them to join our church and that all of the other churches are bad. We are merely inviting them to come and listen to a happy message about the restoration of Christ's church. If they reject the invitation, we still love them and chat with them about their lives. Not to mention, other churches wouldn't hire a person like mw who has terrible language skills to promote their church. 

Oh, cool miracle...yesterday 12 less active members came to church! MIRACLE!! 

Other than that, there really is not anything new in my area. We are working hard and trying to help strengthen the church in this area. Um, I really wish I had something funny to say...but I don't. Sorry!

Love you all! 

-Sis. Chao

Monday, March 24, 2014

Working hard



Dear Family,

This week has been exceptionally good because Sis. Kim and I have been working really hard on trying to help our investigators progress and find new investigators to teach. Two of our investigators 강윤경 자매님 and 김허자 자매님 are progressing slowly, but surely. 강윤경 자매님 has a real desire to know God, but she still has a hard time wrapping her head around a loving God who allows His children to experience trials. She has not come to church yet, but we are going to try our best to have her attend one of the General Conference sessions in 2 weeks.  김허자 자매님 is still trying to convince us to study the Bible with her, which isn't a bad thing but I think she is trying to convert us to Presbyterianism. Whenever we try to talk about the Book of Mormon with her, she always asks why it is called the Book of Mormon and the symbolism behind the Bible's title in Korean. I try not to laugh every time she asks it because I think it is sincere, but she asked the question like 50 times. I am not exaggerating. 

Another investigator that we have been meeting with is 오해진 자매님. She is incredibly interesting and we don't really know how to approach teaching her yet. Mentally she has a few problems, so it is hard for her to fully comprehend what is happening at church. That being said, she has told us multiple times that she loves the feeling of church. She comes almost every week.

하영 and 건희 still come to church every week, but they really don't like Sacrament meeting. I don't blame them because I don't think I liked them when I was there age. We are trying to think of things that could keep them busy at Sacrament, but we really have no idea. If you have any ideas, please let me know because we are stuck. 

 I am attaching a picture of a recent convert 이예솔자매님. She is probably one of the most incredible members of this church. Whenever we talk, she brings up a scripture that she liked from her studies the previous night or something that stuck out to her. I also really like her because she gives me jelly. (I know...I need to control my sugar intake).

Love ya!

Sis. Chao





Monday, March 17, 2014

Transfers ...




Hello Family,

Ah, I cannot believe how stressful transfer calls are for missionaries. Literally our lives could be shaken in a 48 second phone call from the President or the AP's. Luckily, Sis. Kim and I will not have to pack our stuff today because we are both staying in 안양 for another 6 weeks together! When we got the phone call, we had to hold in our screams until after we hung up the phone. We are so excited to stay together because there are so many miracles in store here. We have met so many incredible people the past few weeks and are excited to help them come closer unto Christ. 

First off, my conversation starting abilities have improved since the last email. I still creepily approach people, but more people are willing to talk to me. This past Wednesday, I felt like I should talk to this lady standing on the corner. At first, I was a bit hesitant because I had literally talked to and was rejected by someone next to her. However, you know how the impressions work...you can't find them, you just have to do it. Long story short...she had met missionaries a while back but was too busy to meet with them. Nowadays she has a lot more time and wants to meet with us!

Our other investigators (강윤경, 허경자, 박하영, 박건희) are all doing very well. 박하영 and 박건희 still think that church is incredibly boring, but they love inviting their friends to come with them. I am pretty sure that those 2 have referred almost 5 different people to us. It is absolutely crazy! The other day, we asked them how we could make church more interesting for them and their friends. It is safe to say that this may be more difficult than I anticipated. I don't know if I know anyone who enjoys sacrament meeting when they are 11 or 12. I think we are going to have to create some fun church games...do those exist? 허경자 is just interesting. Whenever we meet with her, she seems super interested in the Book of Mormon but then refuses to read it because she loves the Bible. We think she might be trying to convince us to join Presbyterianism.

Non- Spiritual

Sis. Kim and I have been eating super bad lately, but then sometimes we also try to eat super healthy at the same time. I know this system has a lot of flaws, but we would try to stay health. We will be going to Gangnam for some shopping today. As far as non-spiritual things go, nothing really exciting happens after being on your mission for a while. How are you?

-Sis Chao

Tuesday, March 11, 2014

Sometimes People Like to Say Awkward Things to Me



안녕하세요!

Ah, I cannot believe that it is P-Day already. This transfer with Sis. Kim has literally flown by. Whenever we look at our planners, we are amazed that we have already been together for almost 5 and a half weeks. It is almost too sad to think that we could possibly be transferred in little over a week. 

This past week, Sis. Kim and I have been really focusing on finding new investigators and having street lessons with people that we come in contact with. The first day we tried it, we failed miserably. We would say hello but then get tongued tied for some reason. After a several failed approaches and brutal rejections, Sis. Kim and I decided to take a different approach to street contacting. Instead of talking with people separately, we started talking to people together. Soon we became street contacting masters! Here are a couple of my favorite conversation starters that I used:

"Wow, your hiking clothes are so stylish. Where did you buy them?"
"I'm learning Korean, do I have an American accent?"
"Is that a Chupa Chupa?!"
"Oh wow, today is very cold and I forgot a coat. How dumb!"

My favorite one has to deal with the Chupa Chupa, which is a type of sucker. Most people laugh because it is a weird question, but it gets the conversation started. From street contacting and referrals, we have picked up 3 new investigators and potentially 2 other investigators. We have to meet with them this week, but our hopes are incredibly high because they gave us their phone numbers! 

Random tangent from scripture study today...was Lemuel actually a bad man or was he just easily swayed by his brother Laman? I was reading the scriptures today and it seems like Lemuel didn't really have an opinion but simply followed what Laman said. I take it to mean that there is no such thing as a fence sitter when it comes to doing good or bad. You have to choose one or the other.

Non-Spiritual

In regards to the "Sometimes people like to say awkward things to me" subject line...I love people, especially Korean women. Every Friday, the elders and sisters in 안냥 serve food to elderly people at a social services welfare center. Well after service, I was standing with the elders in the dining area waiting for Sis. Kim to come out of the kitchen. The supervisor lady comes up to me and the elders and says "Sis. Kim is so beautiful, but she is sexy." Like a gem, some of the elders ask her to repeat what she says and unfortunately she repeats it even louder. *AWKWARD TOOT SOUND!*

Anyways, I have some pictures but I don't know if I will send them yet. I realized that Sis. Kim and I don't take a lot of pictures of us together but of each other. Haha. Work in progress.

I love you!

Sis. Chao