June is almost over!

안녕하세요!!

I cannot believe that June is almost over! There were so many miracles that happened in our area this week and I know it is because of your continual prayers for the missionaries. Recently, Sis. Kelly and I have been in sort of slump. Our investigators, although amazing, are just not progressing or keeping t he commitments that we give them. As we thought about the situation, Sis. Kelly and I decided that we needed to be more consecrated missionaries. So we have been trying our best to keep our thoughts focused on the savior, being more obedient, and exercising faith and hope. Well, as it says in the scriptures (not a direct quotation) but after exercising faith...miracles come!

On Saturday, we received a random text message from a potential investigator. All it said was "I hope you contact me soon." So we called her immediately and talked with her. She said that she really wanted to come to our church and meet with the missionaries. After that, she said that she will be coming to church the next day with her daughter, two grandsons, and husband. At first, Sis. Kelly and I were caught off guard because stuff like this never happens. The next day, Sis. Kelly and I were standing outside the church before the Sunday service started. As it got closer to 9, we did not see a car that we did not recognize. We started to doubt a little bit, but we quickly said a quiet prayer that the potential investigator family would come. Soon enough 9 arrived and went and no one came. After a few more minutes, Sis Kelly and I decided that if they did not arrive around 9:15 we would go inside to Relief Society. 9:13...comes and we see this little white car pull up to the parking lot and out pops the family we had been waiting for! The ward was incredible and befriended this family almost instantly. During Relief Society and Gospel principles class, the grandmother asked really good questions about the Book of Mormon and the restoration of the Church of Jesus Christ. It was like the first lesson but even better!  

Another notable thing that happened this week is that we were able to spend time with a member 이수호자매님 and her mother. Her mother is incredibly ill and has to stay in bed all day. She is in so much pain that she cannot hold herself up or eat without help from someone else. Yesterday, Sis. Kelly and I visited with  이수호자매님's mother and we just sang hymns, ate lunch, and talked. It was such a sweet experience and it was strange because we could feel the love the Savior has for her. We definitely want to come back and visit soon!

Lately, Sis. Kelly and I have been laughing a lot but for some reason and I don't know why. Maybe it is because we are weird and just think everything is hilarious. We just found out that yesterday Sis. Kelly and Chinese food don't mix. Seriously, things are just amplified when we are on Yo's. 

Love you,

Sis. Chao!

Week 3 - President Visit

Hello Family,

I am sorry that it took me so long to reply this time. Today, President and Sister Morrise came to visit our house and do interviews. It was actually really good and we learned a lot even though we only visited with the President for fifteen minutes. I do not know how accurate this is, but I feel like Mission presidents have to be really good at analogies because President Morrise has lots of them and they are always inspiring. Today he talked about his love of growing lawns, but that he was never satisfied with his lawn because he could see all of these imperfections. Sis. Morrise would always tell him that he is being ridiculous and that he shouldn't worry about it. In fact, Sis. Morrise often said that the neighbors would admire their lawn. Long story short, we all have small imperfections but we need to look at the big picture. 

Sis. Kelly and I have been having a wonderful time in 안양 and we are working with our investigators everyday. This past week, we have been praying for an opportunity to meet with 하영 and 건희. We haven't been able to meet with them recently because of school and traveling. Well, our prayers were answered and we were able to meet with 하영 and 건희 yesterday! It was a great lesson and we read out of the Book of Mormon together. 하영 and 건희 do not have a large testimony of the church, but I can see that they are in the beginning stages. 

This week, we will be going to the temple! I cannot believe how fast time is going, but it is flying by. My half way mark has come and gone! That being said, Sis. Kelly and I are going to work our hardest to try and be more consecrated missionaries. We know that everything will happen in the Lord's timing, but we want to make sure that we can help our ward see miracles. 

On Saturday, the ward got together to clean the church and get members excited about the summer. It was really fun and Sis. Kelly and I got to work with a lot of the members and YW. The YW have really started to open up to us, but now they are giving us so much attitude. Do you know what that means? Haha, Sis. Kelly and I are finally one of the cool sisters. That being said, becoming their friends has really helped with 하영 because the

YW really want to befriend her now and help us with missionary work. The highlight of the cleaning was the rainstorm that popped out of nowhere. The 1st counselor was outside doing pruning when it happened. However, instead of stopping and coming inside, the Ward clerk went out with an umbrella they continued pruning. I've included a picture.

I love being a missionary and I love being in Korea!

- Sis. Chao

 

Hello, Hello!!

안녕하세요!!

This week has been incredibly busy and Sis. Kelly are super excited to see all of the changes that are about to come to this area. On Wednesday, Elder Campbell left and a new elder came to 인양. His name is Elder Ethington and I believe that he is from Arizona. That being said, he seems like a great person and I am sure we will work a lot with him and Elder Lion in the near future. The elders and sisters are really starting to work together. One of our main goals this transfer is to reactive a lot of the YSA and strengthen ward members. As a result of our new goal, I started making a lot of appointments with members. The members are really excited about helping with missionary work and really want to do member lessons. This week we have 5 practice lessons with members. Crazy!! The members did not use to feed us a lot, but we have been meeting with them a lot more lately. They really want to help us to be better teachers and master the language.  This past week we had 3 meals with ward members and members of the bishopric.  

So we have been eating abnormal amounts of food, but we love it and Sis. Kelly is starting to love Korean food a little more each day. I still force her to eat a piece of Kimchi everyday, but I think it is doing some good. She doesn't gag as much as she used to. Success!! For Sis. Kelly's birthday, we went up to Gangnam and shopped a lot, we then went to her favorite places to eat. Surprisingly, there is a Taco Bell in Gangnam and it is super nice. I almost felt like a celebrity going there because it was so fancy. Now, Sis. Kelly has promised that she will eat Korean food only...so I can't wait to see how that goes. 

A miracle we saw this past week is with one of our 30/30 investigators 선순옥자매님, At first, she did not have a lot of questions about the church, but she wanted to listen to our discussions. We had initially planned on teaching her about the Atonement because she doesn't really have a deep understanding of it, but the spirit prompted Sis. Kelly and I to teach the Restoration. It was amazing and 선순옥자매님 just wanted to know everything now, which is great but also meant that she had to suffer through some pretty bad Korean. Although we couldn't explain everything perfectly, the spirit was present and bore testimony to her what we were saying were true. After we had finished the lesson, 선순옥자매님 said that she wanted to meet more than once a week and that now she wanted to learn more about the church. Yay!!

Korea is HOT...but only my legs are getting tan. I really would take a picture of the tan lines, but it would be too embarrassing. Whenever I look down at my legs, I think that I am someone else, but then I realize that it is still me. Sis. Kelly laughs at my tan lines all the time. Actually the weather in Korea is strange. Some days it can be really hot and other days it can be raining like none other. Lately, it seems like the rain is coming a lot more than the sun. That is okay though because I love the rain, but my shoes surely don't. Out of control. Positive note, people think I am Korean sometimes. I don't know if that is true or they just think that because my companion is a red head. Either way, I'll take it. That being said, I still don't understand half of what the people say to me, but I can fake it! Success. :)

Also another thing I learned today...don't eat a lot of bananas in one day. I have been on a banana binge and have been eating so many every single day and now mosquitoes love me and my stomach hurts. You think that would make me stop, but it doesn't because bananas are delicious and they spoil fast. Did you know that if you wrap tinfoil around the stem it makes them last longer?

I am glad that Tiffany made it to California safely with her friends and that she is having a good time. I cannot believe she will be 17 this week! She is much to young!!! 

I am so excited for Sis. Kwong!! She will be an amazing missionary in Taichung and I know she will do a lot of good, not to mention that she has one of the best mission presidents in the world! I am quite jealous, but I know that Korea is where I am meant to be. I really hope to continue studying Korean once I get back home. 

Love you all!

Sis. Chao

Yay! Summer has arrived!

Hello Family!

Well, Summer has definitely arrived in Korea and Sis. Kelly and I are melting. Sadly, I don't think Summer has actually started but it sure feels like it to me. Sis. Kelly and I are hoping that it will not be as intense as everyone says. Who knows though, we may have an advantage over Elders because we get to wear skirts everyday. This week has been filled with miracles and Sis. Kelly and I are seeing quite a bit of progression among our investigators this week.

One really notable thing that happened this week is that our district received 6 referrals, the sisters alone received 3! It was amazing. Things are really starting to pick up and we are meeting our potential investigators this week. I guess what they say is true, the Lord will help you find people people to teach. Another notable thing that happened this week is that Sis. Kelly had a street lesson! Lately, she has been struggling with street contacting. One day, we were at a park and I told her to talk to a woman sitting on bench watching her children play in the water. At first, Sis. Kelly was super hesitant, but she mustered up the courage and went to talk to her. As I watched her, I was praying that it would be a great experience for her. Well, one thing led to another and the woman she met was really interested in hearing about the gospel. As I listened to Sis. Kelly talked, I could feel the spirit especially when she bore her testimony. I jumped in every once in a while to translate and explain things simply, but it was a powerful lesson. We hope that she will call us back, but her friend is a pretty hard core missionary from another church. 

We also met with a couple of members this past week. I am really excited to work with the members more this coming transfer. President Morrisse has really emphasized to us that we need to help strengthen the ward and its members. The bishop of our ward has asked us to take a bigger part in the YW program. We have started attending their meetings a little bit more and the YW have really started to open up to us. It is great!

Oh, I also became super domesticated this past week. I made banana bread and it was delicious! I also cleaned the entire house in a skirt...including the bath tub. Haha I never thought this day would come, but here it is....I can actually clean in a skirt and bake. Weird. I still cannot cook the best, but Sis. Kelly is a champ and is letting me try things out on her. 

Other than that, I don't really know what else to say. Sis. Kelly and I laugh a lot nowadays and we have started talking at night. I know, terrible idea but we just have so much fun together. Oh, yesterday was Sis. Kelly's birthday so in order to celebrate her birth we are looking for Taco Bell!

Love you,

Sis. Chao