Happy Halloween!!

Hello Family,

This week has been incredibly stressful, but now I have come to understand how much effort goes into planning parties. A few weeks ago the bishop asked the missionaries to plan a Halloween party. Apparently, the missionaries have been organizing this party for a long time. At first, we accepted happily because it is Halloween...all you have to do is buy some decorations and some candy. Easy right? Well, it turns out that Halloween parties are a lot harder to put together when the country you are serving in doesn't really celebrate Halloween. So in addition to everyday missionary work in Mansu, all of the missionaries had to put in extra time to make decorations from whatever we could find. That included making tissue ghosts, bat/witch/pumpkin cutouts, cardboard decorations for the wall, and a pinata. We put in a lot of time, but at the end of the day it was worth it. Lots of members attended with their children and potential investigators. There was a lot of laughter and other memorable moments. That beings said, I am glad that I never have to plan another Halloween party in Korea. :) 2 of our investigators could not come, so we are planning to make them a candy bag today during P-day. I would give them some of the candy from our party, but the children were much too cute and were given 4-5 more pieces of candy then they were supposed to receive. Oops...

Another miracle from this past week is that we picked up another new investigator. Her name is 노 송이. We met her last week when were streetboarding at a downtown area. For our first appointment, all of us were a bit nervous because the first meeting is always a deal maker or breaker. After about 3 seconds we broke the ice and were laughing and getting to know each other. She is really interested in learning English, but also has a desire to learn about the gospel. We have really high hopes for her because we've only met her once, but are practically great friends. :)

Oh, I also went to the temple the other day and saw the newer version to the new temple video. It was good!! It was definitely surprising in some areas...but it was interesting to see each actors portrayal. The temple is always great and gave me a much needed recharge. The church is true. That is all I have to say. :)

Yes, the rain is coming down and I cannot believe that it is already Fall.

The new investigators are doing well and are relatively open to our message. We hope that they will progress and come closer to baptism in a few weeks. They do want to listen to the gospel.

Have a wonderful week!

Sis. Chao

I love you all!!! I am so sorry that I have been terrible at emailing.

Week 1 with Sis Gooch

Goodbye to Sis. Gapinski

My new companion Sis. Gooch

Hello Family,

Can you believe that it is already October? I guess Mid-October now, but nevertheless...it is super weird to think about! I am still not sure what is going to happen with my release date, but I will let you know once I figure it out. The more I think about it, the more I am leaning towards February. 

This week, Sis. Gooch and I have been on so many adventures. Well, they are adventures for sister missionaries. Here are the noteworthy events from this past week. I have decided to put it in bullet form because that would be easier. 

1. We decided to find a less active's house, but because we did not know how to navigate the area...we got lost for 2 hours, ate ice cream, and then went in a large circle. We never actually found the house. Haha. This week, we will succeed!

2. We met a new investigator named Jay, who has the cutest baby of all time! Literally, when we walked in and met for the first time her baby walked up and gave me a huge hug. She then proceeded to give me hugs throughout the night and drink my juice. Haha. 

3. We met and talked with over 160 people this week! It was incredible and we have appointments to meet with several people.

4. Sis. Gooch and I laugh way too much, which makes missionary work even more enjoyable (which I didn't think was possible).

5. Conference is just amazing. :)

That is pretty much it. I am sorry that my email is kind of lame...let us be honest, pretty lame for the last weeks. I will repent next week. :)

-Sis. Chao

October and General Conference!

I cannot believe that it is already P-Day! One of these days, I will not be surprised with how fast time is going by...but I don't think that day will come very soon. This week has been incredibly crazy, but I am learning a lot and am excited for the upcoming transfer. Well I guess lets us get to the most important parts..TRANSFER CALLS

This transfer, Sis Gapinski will be leaving and I will stay in my current area. My new companion will be Sis. Gooch, who is Sis. Kelly's MTC Group and Sis. Rose's old companion! Haha, I am so excited because it seems like all of my companions will eventually come from Sis. Kelly's MTC District. As for me, I will still be STL but I will be the only one for my zone. Unfortunately, with less sisters...there really is not a need for 2 STL. It will be slightly crazy because that means I have to go on 2 exchanges a week, prepare for zone conference training, and go to meetings by myself. I don't mind too much because that means more papers and folders. 

General Conference was amazing and I learned a lot about following the prophet. My favorite talk was by Elder Cook in the Priesthood session. Sis. Gapinski really wanted to see it, so we just joined the elders and learned a lot. My other favorite talk was given by Elder Holland. His talk about serving others really hit home and made me realize that I need to do more to help those around me. The Women's Conference was really good! I loved the video of Korean Primary Children. I love their emphasis on including people from all over the world! We shared the video with one of our investigators and she loved it, but she said that she couldn't understand what they were saying. Haha...next time. 

One of my favorite things about this area is that we are really focused on helping investigators and members have a true conversion to the gospel. In the Book of Mormon, one of the greatest examples of true conversion is King Lamoni's father. In one chapter, King Lamoni is afraid for his life and is only willing to give up half of his kingdom...which really shows how much he loves his position and power. However, only 2 chapters later he is willing to give up everything he has to obtain eternal life. That is what I want for the people in the ward, investigators, and me! 

In other news, I also got my return date and it is a bit later than I expected. Sis. Groesbeck called and said that my return date would be around April 3, 2015. That puts me at about 6 months from now. I am not really sure what I will do, but there will definitely be a lot of prayer and studying involved. 

Love you,

Sis. Chao