I’m being completely serious!!!

Soooooo, this Saturday Gloria got baptized!!! I unfortunately wasn’t able to go; our ward here last minute asked us to help in their road show!!  I was kinda bummed, because it was my first investigator and we taught her everything, but I realized that I had a calling in this new ward and I need to help them. And I also thought about how Christ isn’t physically present at everyone else’s baptisms, and he’s the one everyone is getting baptized in the name of! So I can’t complain :) I was there in spirit while I was playing hand bells for the performance. We played “I feel my saviors love” and “called to serve” from the Children’s songbook. Its wasn’t bad, but we only practiced with them once because we were called the night before to play.  I think I messed up once, but I’ve gotten used to making tons of mistakes so it wasn’t too big of a deal ;)

We got a new investigator this week! It was a street contact from before I got here and we met with her and she told my companion her life story. A lot of people tell my companion their life story... on the street, in lessons, in fast food restaurants, we get it all! It’s so great that people are willing to open up and share their thoughts, it really builds our relationship.

This week I was reading in the teachings of Wilford Woodruff and I’m learning a lot. He was an all-star missionary and had unwavering faith. He had such a strong relationship with the lord and was always listening to the whisperings of the spirit. I want to gain that same relationship with our Heavenly Father. It talks about how the gift of the spirit is the greatest gift we can receive here and we need to constantly try to magnify that gift so that we can receive guidance and do exactly what  he wants us to do. I am praying every night to receive that guidance from the spirit. I want so badly to know what I should do, ask for guidance on what I should say, know how I can be better. It is one of the most special blessings and I want to receive the blessings of this gift. As a missionary we need physical strength and spiritual strength and this I know will help me with my spiritual strength.  I am doing some pull ups in the morning so that’s helping me with my physical strength too:)  Now that it’s getting warmer, we go out in the mornings to a park that has a track and we exercise there.  I love being able to run in the crisp morning air!!!

Remember the pioneer day run?? when I threw up my banana?  Yes, a similar occurrence happened this morning.  It was great!!!  haha I love working out my body and spirit!  It is soo exciting!  I'm being completely serious!!!  Have a good week, have fun with road show, send me pics!

Love Sister Wright

pics, I’m on the very end in the black and yellow, capo pride?? , some kids doing a cool scene, the youth sang with some missionaries

Oh man its one of those times you got to plug your nose with faith!

Family!!!

Korean Restaurant in Irvine..YUMMY!

I’m glad you got the package and you liked the goodies! It was fun putting it all together. Dad is looking snazzy in the ties! haha and how many Korean restaurants do you go to???? that’s crazy you look like you’re having fun. The noodle dish is my faveeee!!! haha the Korean food is so good and the members keep feeding us to the point we’re going to explode. Whoever said that missionaries lose weight over here toottallyyy lied. Thank you for your snail mails papa! I really enjoyed them and I like reading about your experiences.

I got your little package! Thank you sooooo much! it’s so fun and cute and I use the little paper die cuts all the time! So cute, and the pictures!!! Ha-ha some of those are a little freaky.. but still super funny. Thanks for getting the pics of gong gong! They’re awesome and thanks for the Christmas letter! ha-ha glad I look crazy, I guess I have to embrace that I am a bit strange... anyways, on with the email...

So my companion is actually really sarcastic! ha-ha her English is good enough to where we are joking around all the time and she is really helpful with learning the language.  Sometimes she’ll speak in English and then I’ll try and respond in Korean and it kinda just works out that way! It’s helping me a lot.

We picked up an investigator from the elders because they couldn’t teach her and I’m excited to teach! She’s a really nice lady and her son is adorable. I’ll let you know how it goes next week!

This week we went to the temple and our mission president was talking about how in some areas we are just planting seeds, preparing those who soon will accept our message, but in some areas, we are just plowing the ground, getting it ready to plant those seeds. Especially in Korea, where in around 1950-1960's there were about 60 members of the church. Some areas are more prepared than others. It’s hard because I feel like we are getting the ground ready for the seeds to be planted.  It feels like our efforts sometimes are not doing anything. But I have to remember that just by talking to some people and maybe making their day better by making them smile or smiling at them is something that will help with the work progressing. Gardening is hard, or just challenging sometimes, but once the garden is flourishing and is filled with wonderful fruit and vegetables, oh how joyous!!!

A fun experience I went through yesterday is when we met with a less active and how she made her money was by collecting trash. We met with her and talked and she was super nice, but her surroundings weren’t the prettiest. People were throwing trash in her path and she was a bit dirty. She was peeling rotten tangerines that she got and she started feeding them to us.. uhh haha and we can’t say no because they’re our elders and they’ll get offended. So we started eating these fruit and she’d just keep giving them to us.. Oh man its one of those times you got to plug your nose with faith! But after that we gave her a short lesson and at that time I was reminded of the savior. How he would care for all people. In the city everyone is passing her by and throwing trash and people not talking to her, but Christ would do the opposite.  I believe that we made her day just a little bit better and were true examples of Christ. Today me and my companion made a goal to find a Christ-like attribute to work on this transfer. I’m excited to come closer to my savior!!

Love

Sister Wright

Subway is always packed

the shopping carts stick to the upward escalator! you don't need hands!!! its crazy stuff over here!

I got slippers!!;)

Cutting the Kimchi

kimchi bokembab

My new apartment

So... Gloria got permission to get baptized!!!

Familyyy!!

Thank you for the emails.  Sounds crazy over there right now in the ward!

 So many activitiessss!! Wow great opportunities to bring friends and share the gospel too! What a golden area for the missionaries to serve!!!! haha I got transferred!!! woooooaahhhh, I’m in San Bon  and its filled with huge apartment buildings everywhere! It’s more of a suburb. I was in the city before so it’s a little quieter. And the air quality is much better!! There’s lots of trees and good hiking areas I hear! My companion is great and so funny.  She’s Korean and went to BYU Hawaii for a little bit before coming here! She’s great at making me feel comfortable when we teach

so there’s not too much pressure!! It’s scary sometimes!! But the people here are so kind and ok with some of my language mistakes.  But I have seen that I’m getting a little bit m\better with the language. I think the stress in my last area caused me to flub up a lot... anyways, I like this new area and the ward is super nice and really faithful. It’s about the same size as my last area but they meet in the stake center which is huge!

They used to have a lot of members but people became inactive because a lot of people disagreed with the leadership of the ward. So that’s been really tough, but getting to know the less actives has been really amazing. They are so faithful and wonderful people; they just have a personal problem that is difficult for them to overcome. It is a trial, but our job is to help strengthen them and remind them that the Lord is on their side, trying to help them through their personal challenges.

So... Gloria got permission to get baptized!!! Soo happy for her, and she referred her 11 year old friend, so now they are teaching her too!! hahaha she’s adorable. And the last day I was in 강동 we got a call from a random lady and said she wanted to be baptized.. !!! So we met with her and taught her a lesson and she is set to be baptized on her birthday! April 5! Wow. What miracles. That area is flourishing and I’m glad to have left with much success. I went through a lot of personal challenges myself in that area. They seemed like they were soo impossible to escape and it was so hard to overcome, but I realize that the Lord was with me every step of the way, making sure that if I was about to fall, he would be right beside me to help pick me back up. Now after those experiences, I can help these less actives in my new area and share my experiences with them to help strengthen them and lift them up. I’m grateful for this work. Our lives are filled with little and big challenges, we just have to always remember the Lord.  I know that our challenges are to help us grow, and make us stronger, and I am grateful the Lord has put his trust in me. He trusts that I won’t give up!! This work is so good!

I want to see a picture of the missionaries in our ward! How fun!!!!! and pictures of the road show crew! Good luck!!

Sister Wright

My Friends

My companions Desk  Soo Bad

Sooo this Wednesday I’m getting transferred!

안양하섀요! 

Hiii so I received the lost package!!  Someone said a lady gave it to them and I was able to get it at our solar conference. The lunar New Year is really big over here. It’s like their Christmas. Everyone wears these traditional outfits and they go to their ancestor’s graves and pray. So the whole weekend was super empty and no one was outside. We had a training conference so it wasn’t fun filled with activities but it was nice seeing friends from the mission. Sooo this Wednesday I’m getting transferred! I’m going to 산본 (san bone) and Sister Kim is my companion. I will have another Korean companion and the area is mainly all appt, buildings, so a lot of door to door contacting maybe?? haha it will be a good experience for sure. I’ll let you know how it goes next week! I’m sending my stuff by mail because it’s cheap and easier than lugging everything around on the subway and up and down the streets. I’m going to miss my investigators so much! Gloria is my absolute fave and she was about to bear her testimony for me on Sunday!!! But there was no time left :( I will come back and visit when she gets baptized!! Feb. 22 is the date.

soooo, guess who came back unexpectedly?? Yon Giur!!! The boy with the hamster! He is so adorable and he’s doing well. I’m glad I could see him before I leave. I’ve had a lot of growing experiences while here and through my challenges have come closer to our Heavenly Father. He’s helped me understand my weaknesses and what I need to work on. It’s extremely humbling when I realize that some of the strengths that I thought I have are my weaknesses. It can be discouraging, but it makes me want to perfect my talents and become better. That’s what life is all about right? Becoming better and progressing. We are all progressing investigators in a way.. does that make sense?? We can’t plateau or else we aren’t progressing and aren’t coming closer to Heavenly Father. I’m trying to be better than the day before. It is soo hard sometimes, but if we try, then we are doing what we can and someday we will be perfect. I can’t wait! Especially when I’m a perfectionist. Except at cleaning my room... hahaha maybe that’s my next talent I need to develop...I love you and thank you to the ward for all the cute and amazing notes!!! I love you all. I love the Alicia Park Ward!!!!!  Thank you for your support and kindness <3

Sister Wright