Monday, May 26, 2014

Transfer 5



Hello!

Wow, I cannot believe how fast time is flying by...when Sis. Kelly and I were Weekly Planning and it took us by surprise that our first transfer together was almost over! This week will be incredibly eventful because we get to go to the temple and receive training from Elder Quentin L. Cook of the 12 apostles. We are incredibly excited because it allows us to be spiritually enlightened and see all of our friends from the Seoul and Seoul South mission.

This week, Sis. Kelly has been really sick. So a lot of our time was spent updating records, calling less active members, studying Korean, and cleaning the apartment. I never realized how important keeping records are until this past week. There were so many past investigators whose information was not recorded, so we have no idea how to re-contact them. Lesson learned. I will definitely make sure that all of the records Sis. Kelly and I keep are up to date. 

Recently, the Anyang missionaries have realized that there are a lot of YSA members who are less active in our ward. We were trying to think of ways we could help invite them to come back to church and we decided on having FHE for YSA. We proposed the idea to the bishop and with his support we are ready to go. The hardest part now will be to find the YSA members. Apparently, they are really good at hiding themselves...so, I and Sis. Kelly are going to do a lot of praying and staking out the popular hot spots in Anyang. Elder Kasperian has decided to call the Anyang missionaries the "독신 salvation council." 

Another notable thing this weekend is that the Anyang missionaries have been streetboarding/ street contacting together more often. This past Sunday, we went to a park and shared our talents in order to attract attention. I hope you can imagine 1 Elder asking for permission to draw a caricature of someone's child, ukulele elder, soccer ball bouncing Elder, and 2 awkward sister missionaries can only giving out compliments because we are in skirts. It was probably the most hilarious things I have done, but there was a lot of good that came out of it. We got several phone numbers and had really good conversations with a couple of students. One of the students wanted to meet with us next week!

Also, even though I have been senior companion for several weeks....we still get lost all the time. It is quite a blast, but somehow we always meet someone and share a gospel message. So, maybe we were meant to get lost!

I think that is it. I am doing really well and Sis. Kelly is slowly adjusting to the food and culture. It will definitely be a few more weeks before she will eat Kimchi everyday, but I will make it happen. I miss you and hope you are all well!

Love,

Sis. Chao

Monday, May 19, 2014

안양



Hello!

I cannot believe that it is P-day already! Sis. Kelly and I have been busy meeting with investigators, members, and less-active members. 

The most notable thing that happened this week is that we finally had a member dinner with 하영, 건희, the young women, and the bishops family. It was really fun and our two investigators loved getting to know people their own age. 하영 really loves the YW and I know that the YW will love her. They have already started planning a YW activity specifically for 하영. I think it will be only a matter of time before 하영 is actively participating in Young Women.

Another member in the ward has made it her mission to help us teach our investigators and learn Korean. She is always quizzing us on random Korean terms and asks us to read things for her. It is really cute, but I don't think she knows that we can read in Korean. We don't always know what we are reading, but we can read. ㅎㅎㅎ The funny thing is that it is not just her, but a lot of the members have made it their mission to take care of us. It is really cute...so I have no doubt that we will be fluent in Konglish in no time! 

English Class was this past Wednesday and it was really fun. Sis. Kelly was not there because she was on an exchange with the Sister Training Leader. So Sis. Lyman came in her place. Sis. Lyman is from Blanding, Utah and has been here for a little over 2 months. Sis. Lyman and I were in charge of teaching the teenage English class. Essentially, there was a lot of laughter, charades, and candy. The YM/YW have started to open up to the missionaries. We plan on inviting a few of them to go street contacting with us. 

Our other investigators are doing really great. Kim Che Sook really loves conference talks and has been carefully studying the footnotes in every talk. She has a huge desire and wants to know if this church is true. 

Sis. Kelly and I are slowly experimenting with more and more Korean food. We haven't been to McDonald's lately, which is really good...but we still have yet to find a food that she really likes. The day we find something, you will be the first one to know. I have taken a new approach to introducing her to food though, I just don't tell her what it is until after she tastes it. The other day, a member fed Sis. Kelly her version of American food....it was hilarious! Essentially, Sis. Kelly ate ham, pan fried onions, and a garlic stem wrapped in seaweed. It was great, but our breath stunk for hours!

The weather is slowly starting to get warmer...

I love you!

-Sis. Chao




Monday, May 12, 2014

Another week in 안양




안녕하세요!!

I cannot believe that another week has come and gone. This week, Sis. Kelly and I have been traveling all over our area...and outside our area. On Monday, Sis. Kelly and I met up with 산본 sisters and went to a Buddhist temple to celebrate Buddha's birthday. We made some lotus flowers (don't ask me what mine looks like) and got a printout off Buddha's feet. While there, a lot of people introduced themselves to us and thanked us for coming.

I am doing really well and really love working with the members. We have several appointments set up to practice teaching. I know that it will be very helpful to us in terms of Korean and teaching abilities. 

This week, Sis. Kelly and I met with a lot of our investigators. Let me just say, that Sis. Kelly and I are going to have a fun time meeting with our investigators. I will give you a little mini bio on all of the investigators in our area.

1- Kim Che Sook (김재숙)

She is doing the 30/30 program and she has a sincere desire to follow Christ. The biggest hurdle that we have to help her overcome is the fear of offending people at her church. Other than that, she is reading and keeping commitments that we give her.

2- Park, Ha Young and Con Hi

Yesterday, we had a member lesson with Ha Young and one of the young women in the ward. I have never seen Ha Young laugh so much. We have figured out that we need to find ways to make lessons more interactive. So if you have any ideas, let me know. Right now, neither one of them has a real belief in God. So the most important thing we have to do is establish their relationship with Heavenly Father. We also want to make sure that if they get baptized, that is because they truly want to and don't feel pressure from ward members, etc.

3- So Soon Ok (셔순옥)
We met her for the first time this past Friday. She is 45 years old and really wants to learn how to communicate in English. Little does she know that my English is terrible now. Anyways, she really wants to be happy with her life and believe in God. She has a Christian background, but she says that her faith is not very strong. 

4- Kim Lee Soo (김이수)

She is having a really hard time living in Korea and is searching for peace. When we meet with her, she tends to go off on random tangents, but she has a sweet heart. We definitely know that this gospel will give her the peace that she is looking for.

5- Grace - Grace's husband passed away almost a year ago and has been attending our church for a very long time. She really wants her son's family to be baptized into our church, but she doesn't really have a desire to right now. We meet with her almost every Saturday and have slowly started explaining gospel principles.

We have a few other people that we are meeting with, but we don't know if we can call them investigators yet. Other than that, we have been working a lot with ward members, especially the young women. The ward members are really starting to help us. This coming week, we have 5 dinner appointments and 4 practice lessons. I really love this area and Sis. Kelly and I are seeing a lot of miracle.

In other news, I am getting a sister missionary leg tan. How is that even possible when the sun isn't shining?! Seriously, my tan line goes from right below my knees to my dress shoe socks. It is terrible. I am going to have start using handkerchiefs to block my legs. J

I love you and Happy Mother’s Day, Mom!

Sis. Chao

Monday, May 5, 2014

Training...Week 1



Hello Family,

Wow, where do I begin? So much has happened in my last email that I don't even know where to start. First of all, I have become trainer and senior companion in 안양. Great, right? FALSE. I have no idea what I am doing half the time and my Korean is just....a lot of making things up as I go. Luckily, my new companion is really good at really doesn't mind that I am still learning along with her. Bright side is that we both are learning Korean at an abnormally fast pace. She is picking up things, slowly but surely. I have hopes that she will be a master Korean speaker by the end of this transfer. 

Oh, I jumped a lot...well my new companion is Sis. Amanda Kelly from Ontario, California. I believe that she knows Naomi! Seriously, how small is the world? She finished a year at BYU in Recreation Management and her favorite food is....AMERICAN FOOD. Haha I think the biggest obstacle we will have to overcome in our companionship is not the Korean, but the Korean food. If you have any tips on this, let me know because I really need to eat rice everyday. 

This past Thursday, Sis. Kelly and I met with 김재숙자매님 and it was not as bad as I thought. We found out that she doesn't really understand the purpose of the Book of Mormon. She also had other questions, but we were not able to understand it because...we are only semi-fluent in Korean. So after her lesson, Sis. Kelly and I decided that we really needed to get members involved in her lessons. Luckily, one of the members in our ward has promised to come to her lesson this coming Thursday. Another way we have addressed our language barrier is by having Sis. Kim text us questions before her lesson. That way we can prepare beforehand and be able to answer any questions she has. 

I must admit that I experienced a lot of discouragement and doubt this past week. There are a lot of times where I just did not feel adequate enough to be able to train a new missionary. She trusts me a lot and expects a lot from me, but sometimes I question whether or not I can meet those needs. There was one point this week where I had felt totally abandoned and just really wanting to give up. Finally on Saturday night, I went down on my knees and I poured out my heart to the Lord. I told him that I could not do it alone and that I felt somewhat alone. The next Sunday, my prayer was answered and I know that the Lord knows what He is doing and is willing to help me throughout my training period. First, in Relief Society and Priesthood meeting the bishop asked all the members to allow the missionaries to come over and practice teaching lessons in Korean. He even sent around a calendar to make sure that people signed up. Secondly, during the meeting, they sang one of my favorite Korean hymns...and it had nothing to do with the lesson. Seriously, miracle! I have never felt so happy in my entire life. Don't get me wrong, I am still terrified and have no idea what I am doing, but I think everything will be okay. 

Oh boy, that is a lot in a nutshell! I love you and miss you all! Thank you for everything and will continue to work hard! :D

-Sis. Chao