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

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

Missionary Work in 안양

Is it really P-Day already? I cannot believe how fast time is going right now. It literally feels like I just talked to you a few days ago. I suppose that is true because Monday was only a few days ago. I cannot believe that all of us will be BYU Alumni!! That is absolutely crazy, but I knew that Tiffany would get in because she is absolutely brilliant. She did so much better than I did in school and on the ACT. Congrats little sister! I am so proud of you and so is my companion. 

Things in 안양 are going very well. As you may know,  김윤하 자매님 and I were a bit down and out last week because our key indicators were so low. It really was starting to affect the way we were working and when we tried contacting people. So, 김윤하 자매님 and I decided that we needed some spiritual refreshment. So one night, we decided to read a couple chapters in the Book of Mormon and figure out how each one related to Christ. Essentially, almost every verse in the Book of Mormon points to Christ in some way shape or form. It is amazing! We also realized that people often talk about how sometimes missionaries plant the seed of faith, but they may not always see the benefits. However, after chatting with 김윤하 자매님, we realized that someone has to break the ground before the seed can be planted. All of these things are important when it comes to missionary work. Now, 김윤하 자매님 and I are not going to be satisfied with just finding but we realize that we can be happy with ourselves if that is what we are required to do now. 

Recently, we have been meeting with a 12 year old girl who is contemplating our church. She is incredibly sweet and is sincere in her desire. The only real barrier that we have is helping her feel more comfortable at church and not get bored to tears during sacrament. I don't really know how we can do that because...I was bored a lot at sacrament when I was younger. This past Sunday we played gospel Pictionary using words we heard during testimony meeting. I don't know what else we can do because I'm just not that creative. Haha.

In other great news, one of the 12 apostles will be coming to speak to our mission in May! Yay! My companion was so excited that she started spinning on the floor. She then showed me this picture of her crying so much because Elder Cook visited Korea a couple years ago. She cried so much that they published her picture in the Liahona. I almost died of laughter but it was also incredibly sweet. 김윤하 자매님 has such a love for this gospel, I am always learning from her, she has a lot of faith.

Also, I did receive your package and it was amazing! 김윤하 자매님 loves the undershirts, but the shirts eat her alive a little bit. She is incredibly grateful for it. Also, thank you for the candy because I have a huge sweet tooth. The bag of Peanut Butter M&Ms is already gone...Do not worry, I shared with 김윤하 자매님. Also, the bag of candy has made me incredibly popular with the YW...I may or may not have given them candy yesterday. I know! I forgot that it was fast Sunday and they promised they would eat it later, but they were smart and ate later...just 30 seconds later. 

Let us never talk about Badminton. 김윤하 자매님 could have been an Olympian, but she blew out her knees during practice one day. She is still super good and destroyed all of the elders and sisters in our zone. I am going to make her train me. Haha.

I love you!

-Sis. Chao

Oh 안양

안녕하세요!

I cannot believe that it is already P-Day! It seems like only yesterday that Sis. Kim and I were emailing our families and updating everyone on what is happening in 안양. 

Things have been going well, but this area is incredibly difficult. Street contacting is probably one of the scariest things I have to do as a missionary. Yesterday, my Korean just kind of clicked and I started understanding more of what people were saying to us. Yeah, I no longer have to wonder what people think of missionaries because I now know that the majority of them do not like us. Perhaps I will have to work on a less creepy approach or something. In all honesty though, who doesn't get creeped out when a stranger starts asking them where they are going and how was their day. I know I would. Sis. Kim has promised to help me work on conversations, but we have been too busy to role play lately. 

Sis. Kim and I are getting along very well. We essentially push each other to be better missionaries all the time, but also have a lot of fun together. Last night, we tried playing hide and seek together and just scared each other. 

I don't take pictures with Sis. Carter anymore because she is in a different zone. Sis. Wright transferred to the same area as me and her companion is best friends with my companion. It is safe to say that we will see each other a lot and I mean a lot. It is great because Sis. Wright and I just have child like fun when we are together. Last P-Day we decided to buy ice cream and eat in a closet because we wanted to share embarrassing mission stories without our companions hearing.

One of our investigators 강윤경s has a real sincere desire to believe in God, but has trouble believing that there is one because of things in the world. When she talked about what is preventing her from believing in God, I could not help but be reminded of my own conversion. I know that I had a really hard time believing in God because the world is just bad news. I don't think her conversion will happen the same way mine did, but I hope there are things we can do to help her know that God exists. 

남경연s is doing fine and has almost fully recovered from her minor heart attack. She is actually loving all the attention that ward members and the sister missionaries have been giving her. She really knows that the ward loves her, which is great. Sis. Kim Chun has the time of her life in 분당 and has picked up several new investigators. Unfortunately, she had to drop the other grandmother we were visiting because she was not progressing and has not been for a long time. It is incredibly sad, but perhaps she is not ready right now and needs time to figure out what she wants out of life. I don't know if she will actually think about it in that much detail, but hopefully she will get around to it. 

Um, I don't really wear the boots or rainboots anymore because I gave them to another sister in the ward. She really needed them and I didn't really need to wear them. The sister is so grateful to have them. She loves them, especially when she is working with the fisheries. I wear fleece tights all the time to keep my legs warm because they are super cheap in Korea. I don't really wear scarves because it isn't too cold where we are. I wear them when it is super chilly though. Don't worry, I have a great immune system and have yet to get sick! Yes! I mean...prideful. Knock on wood.

I wish I had something funny to tell you, but nothing funny has happened recently. At least nothing super noteworthy. Everything is just kind of "you had to be there" type of things. 

Today, Sis. Kim has challenged our zone to beat her badminton. If you didn't know already, Sis. Kim was almost an Olympian for Korea but had to stop because she had a super serious injury. She has been playing since she was little and has mastered her craft. So, like a completely sane person I told Sis. Kim that I would destroy her. Hahaha. We will see what happens.

Also, a general apostle is coming to Korea in May!! :D

I love you all!

-Sis. Chao

P.S. Oh my gosh, I do have a funny story for you. Every Friday, the elders and sisters volunteer at a social welfare center and serve lunch. The food that the people serve there is a bit sketch. The other day, Sis. Kim was super excited to eat a meat dish. I looked at the meat and it was super fatty and tough. I did not want to eat it at all, but Sis. Kim insisted that it was delicious. So, I tried to bite it but it wouldn't break. I asked Sis. Kim what it was, but she refused to tell me. Like any sane person, I asked the nice worker next to me and she essentially said that was meat from pig heads. I didn't even know that was edible.... ! May be I shouldn’t have asked! :D

Um...Week 3 in 안양?

Hello Family,

Sis. Kim always makes delicious Korean meals!

I cannot believe that it has only been a week and a half since I have transferred to 안양. I guess that is a good thing because that means Sis. Kim and I are working harder than ever and enjoying our time together. Lately, we have been trying to visit a lot of Less-Active members in our area. They are not making it easy, but it is a fun challenge. Sis. Kim and I are trying to make ourselves seem so incredibly nice that it would be impossible to turn us away. Haha. I will let you know once we have figured out the perfect way to meet with Less-Active members.

Right now, Sis. Kim and I are doing a lot of finding and trying to find more investigators to teach. It has been incredibly difficult because not a  lot of people want to hear our message. I don't really mind because that means I get to walk around the city all the time, but it would be nice to have conversations that are a bit more complex than creepily asking where they are going, etc. Haha. Apparently it is a normal thing to ask, but everyone gets so afraid when I ask them. Seriously, what am I going to do? I may try to eat their dumplings or kimbap, but that might be the extent of it. 

Yesterday, I was talking to Sis. Kim Chun in my old area. She called me while she was visiting Nam Kyong Young 자매님. This is literally how our conversation went:

Sis. Kim Chun: "Chao 자매님, 남경연 자매님 had a heart attack yesterday."

Me: "A heart attack? That is great!"

Sis. Kim Chun: "What?! She had a heart attack!"

Me: "Oh, you meant a literal heart attack...WHAT?!"

Sis. Kim Chun: "She's fine, but couldn't come to church because of it."

That is how you know you have been a sister missionary for too long, when you mistake pasting hearts on people's doors with literal heart attacks. Fail blog. 

As for the family that loves sister missionaries, we continue to love them but haven't been able to visit them recently. They know that we would love to serve them, but that our primary purpose is to help invite others to Christ. We will continue to visit every once in a while, but it won't be to the extent that we have done in the past few weeks. 

Sis. Kim Yoon Ha and I are having lots of fun as a companionship. We literally are like elementary school children on a sleepover at night. The first night I moved in, Sis. Kim had moved our beds right next to each other to promote chatting. Even though we spend all day with each other, we cannot help but chat until the whee hours of the morning. IT'S TERRIBLE! I have never been so tired in my entire life, but I love it. She is great and I am learning a lot! Do not worry, she is making me speak Korean as much as possible. I have already seen an improvement in my reading and listening abilities. 

I love you!

Sis. Chao

My new companion Sis. Kim

Another temple trip with our Mission President