He screams when we pray

Hellooooo!  We are teaching a new 8 year old boy and his mom. They are both practically fluent in English and the boy doesn’t believe in God and screams when we pray... ha-ha we love him though! We ask him to pray and he goes off on how he doesn’t believe in God. We gave him a page to color and colored all the people orange because he wanted them to die...its pretty interesting. We teach him English/ have conversations while playing English jenga or fishing for paper fish with English questions on them. Our creative teaching senses are almost burnt out! Every time we come with a new game, he loves it and goes crazy and controlling him is the funniest part. He makes us laugh and brings back great memories of babysitting. The time we played basketball Pictionary was great... ha-ha. The mom asks us questions about the church that she had since she lived in America and knew a little about the church. The only hindering thing with teaching the lessons is that the boy (Jackson) runs away and locks himself in his room. At least he doesn’t bite us( another missionary had an 8 year old boy bite him several times while teaching them... oh poor missionary!) 

Anyways, besides that, we are helping a new member (Lilia) of the church stay strong and not get too stressed out with all the things that a new member encounters. I think one thing that I’ve noticed while being here is how quickly people fall away from the church if they don’t have the guidance they need in order to overcome the new world they entered. Callings, giving talks in church, learning, teaching. It can bring a lot of stress and it’s hitting Lilia. She is a young member and the members expect her to already know everything. One skill that every member needs is the knowledge of helping a new member get acquainted into the church. The first few months can be some of the most challenging.

Paraphrasing the PMGpg214 of a woman who felt the pressures of being a new member: "at first the trip was exciting, our mistakes amusing, then it becomes frustrating and eventually the frustration turns to anger. And it’s at these stages of frustration and anger that we leave. We go back to the world form which we came, where we knew who we were, where we contributed, and where we could speak the language."

I feel it’s the little things that make a difference. Teachers who teach simply, leaders who train them in their callings, set things at a basic level to have a good secure foundation to build off of. It not, it’s so easy to fall. I imagine a rock that is big and top heavy but has a small thin base. 

Those are some of the things that happened this week. I wish I could share all but there’s not enough time!

We had a conference this Tuesday with the doctor of the Asia area missions and he was so great! He said no double dipping! But that is so hard when everyone shares food and side dishes... what are we going to do!??

My letter to the mission president:

At the conference this past week, I really enjoyed the importance of our calling by talking about being entrusted in the work. We are His stewards and we have so much to do! I like the word entrusted because it has the word trust in it. If we trust in God, he is able to trust us and entrust us in the work. I believe that this work revolves around our trust and His trust. It is a cycle. The opposite of trust is fear and if we fear, we can’t do the work he needs us to do. If we fear, he cannot trust us. This is something I’ve pondered about during my mission and am grateful we could be trained on this topic.

Sister Wright

Fun Fact, we ate blood soup. Not my favorite

my new comp! see my soccer shoes??;)

Transfers!! Well to be honest, leaving this area was one of the hardest moves!! You can ask Sister Moyer, everything made me cry ha-ha. We cried on the street, at home, everywhere. I love all the members and the people we teach and have fellowshipped so much. And the night before I left, we met with a new investigator that was exposed to the gospel in America. She felt the spirit in the home she stayed in, she was set a good example by the parents, and was introduced to the gospel. She said that those moments were very special because she really felt to Love of God in that home and by the family members she lived with. She said she did scripture study and prayer with the family, went to seminary on Wednesdays, went to church and met with the missionaries. She came back to Korea, found us and we contacted her and met! She has so graciously and happily accepted the date of January 25 to be baptized! She is amazing. She asked the question, "What do I have to do to be baptized?" I am so grateful for that family in America that introduced the gospel to a foreign girl, who didn’t know perfect English, but shared the gospel in their own home. The Kim sisters plan to be baptized on that date as well, along with 2 of the elder’s investigators. Miracles are happening. 

So these events made it very difficult for me to leave, but I can only be soooo happy for them and their step towards their Heavenly Father. I love them so much. My new area is different and there is a different feel. It’s a huge area and lots of members to work with which is great! It’s still a bit fresh right now so I’ll let you know of this area next week!

Fun fact, we ate blood soup with a recently baptized new member! She looks like she is 12 and so adorable; she is going to be a Mary Kay consultant.  She’s 20 and super cute and going to BYU Hawaii next fall! The blood tasted like fluffy liver and is in a broth. Fluffy cloud clumps of blood. Interesting, not my favorite. 

We had 2 investigators come to church and they are so cute, we ate some lunch at their house with their mom who is a devout catholic. They all know the book of Mormon is true but the mom doesn’t want to change her ways... so that’s a struggle. We ate flower roots and soup with them. :) 

Starting my New Year in a different area is definitely a time to think about what I can improve on and excel more than I did last year!!! I’m excited to serve!! 

Sorry this week has been a roller coaster, but I just wanted to bare my testimony that I know that if we want to recognize the spirit more, Heavenly Father will help us. As I’ve started off my new year, I’ve prayed more fervently, sought more spiritual opportunities, and listened with my heart. Heavenly Father knows our desires and if we are sincere and calmly listening and seeking those opportunities, not trying too hard, we will be blessed. I don’t like being in those situations where people say they felt the spirit so strongly and I didn’t feel anything. That is a disappointment to myself because that means I wasn’t listening, trying to seek those opportunities or doing my part. I have felt the spirit more and more as I’ve changed myself and it has been so worth it. I know these things are true!

Sister Wright

the 4 man house sisters!!

sister jung who is getting baptized!

Our house

Our house

Lunch with Elders

screen golfing with the elders!

It’s very bittersweet

Happy New Year!! It’s wild to think that I spent my whole 2014 in Korea! I love it, and I got to spend Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year with Sister Moyer! It’s been a blast and we were busy the whole two transfers singing, teaching, planning ward activities and spiritual music nights and serving our investigators. Well, we got transfer calls Sunday morning and... I got the news that I will be leaving this area and go to my 4th area right next to 산본 (Sanbon)!  It’s very bittersweet because I’ve been here for half a year and connected with the people so well over here, but I have to go and serve the Lord in another area where he needs me. I cried a bit, especially over all the people we have been teaching and how I won’t be able to see them. One of them in English said over the phone "I love you" in the most heart breaking way!! I can’t handle this "leaving" business!!! But now I will be able to be close to those that I love as well in my last area that are about ready to be baptized. I have three more months and I made a New Year’s Resolution to be the best that I can be. I will be serving in 안양(Anyang) in Kyonkido area with sister Nebeker. She is from America as well. I’m excited and ready to shine in my new area!

We sang for Alzheimer’s patients and made snowflakes together! They’re so cute!

We got cancelled on a lot this week so we had a great English advertizing activity where we did a survey of which part of English is most difficult: vocab, pronunciation, grammar, conversation. Its super fun and we got a lot of people to put stickers on and we gave them candy and a flyer and got a lot of people to teach. We did it in the subway but got kicked out... so we did it right outside of the subway entrance. Good times in Incheon and I’m glad to have spent it well! There are some pictures of my favorite family in the ward. The ward mission leader and his crazy family! I think I will miss him the most out of the ward. He helped us so much and in return, we made him American brownies!! (His favorite and what he made for people when he was on the mission). He is a great example to me of enjoying the work and be happy while serving and make it fun!

Love sister Wright

We are going to go pancake proselyting

This Christmas was so great, the day was a proselyting day and we served served served! First, the elders planned a ping pong event so we played at the church with our super athletic 50 year old friend who is pretty much good at everything! Ha-ha then we had a delicious lunch with a family of the church and got to sit down for a bit and relax and talk with them. They told us of how they met and the fun and the hard times. She fed us stuffed squid, spaghetti, marinated meat, fruit salad and pie! That was our Christmas feast! Then we went to the church to aid our English class member who needed help on a singing and dance audition. She wants to either be a rapper or be a doctor when she grows up! (About 15 years old). She is so cute and we plan to teach her in the near future. We wanted to visit one of our investigators who said that all she wanted for Christmas was to eat pancakes! But we didn’t have time to visit her that night, but the problem was, we had already made pancakes... so we were like, "ok, we are going to go pancake proselyting!" so we wrapped them up in bags with a flyer of a Christmas Mormon message on it and ran out to our closest friends! It was the best ever! We got to

make all our close friends who were working that night a little bit happier and share the light of Christ with them the night he first showed His light!! I loved Christmas this year; I wouldn’t have wanted to spend it any other way! 

This Sunday, the new elders that came into the area baptized the referral we gave them! It was a Christmas miracle. We sang at the baptism and he is the new member of the ward!! 

I want to share that I know that if we are listening to the Holy Ghost, It will guide us to what we need to say and do. Last night we had planned to teach a principle of the gospel to a less active member, but after we said the prayer to open the meeting, my companion and I both felt that it wasn’t the lesson for her. Instead, we just said, we want to just simply talk about what you need and what you would like to talk about. That led the whole discussion. From an outside perspective that may have seemed like we didn’t come prepared, but how many times is it that we prepare and we teach something completely different than what we prepped? Like when you go up to bear your testimony in sacrament meeting and say nothing compared to what you were thinking before you got up there. Same thing! And being able to meet her needs and understand her was exactly what was needed because we were able to share about family history. I know the Spirit was bearing witness to those members that their temple work needed to be done! (Korean families have huge volumes of books listing their history and thousands of family names). We love that family so much and I know that the spirit was guiding that lesson. 

Love you family! Thank you for sending the family history stories!!! (In fact I read some of those stories at dinner right before we had that lesson with the less active family, it was inspired!!)

Sister Wright

I got cow socks and a cow headband and cow pjs!!! I am a cow :)

Mango Waffle

Investigator that got baptized

I got the opposite of what I expected

As I said in my last email, I made a goal to "walk with Christ" this week. It took a lot of effort on my part, trying to do as the Savior did, be more like Him. It seemed that this week, my efforts were being frustrated and I faced more trials and difficulties over the other weeks that I hadn’t been trying so hard to perfectly try and do everything the Lord would do. It was confusing, heart breaking and even more difficult to feel the spirit. My personal study was ineffective, I didn’t feel like sharing my feelings, my patience was being tested and I was not myself, I felt self inadequacy, blank mind and frustration. It was a struggle for me because instead of feeling closer to Christ, I felt farther away. It brought me to my knees more in sincere and diligent prayer, it made me want to work harder, be better. I realized through this time, some of what Christ may have actually felt during His earthly ministry. I literally walked with Christ and felt the pulling effects of Satan. While Christ was serving others, blessing them, and establishing the Church, Satan was right there beside Him, frustrating all His efforts. Satan is trying to mute out any of our knowledge of Christ. He blurs our vision and Christ is out of focus. It takes work and effort to clear our vision, to see Him clearly right in front of us, but when we do, how miraculous and wonderful that experience is, to see his face right in front of us in the clearest way! Satan is trying to blur the believer’s vision. I can see how frustrated Christ must have felt. I was able to feel some of those same feelings. My walk with Christ was an unusual one, I got the opposite of what I expected, maybe something more realistic. All I know is that God knows my desires and He is providing me with opportunities for me to learn in His will. At the end of my journey, we had interviews with our mission president and I shared my experience with him and what I learned. After I had my interview with him, I didn’t feel those feelings anymore. It seems that that was my pivot point. This was a very special Christmas present to me and it was a great way to share my Christmas time with the Lord. I feel that I know Christ more personally. I know that He lives!

Sister Wright

p.s. we are now doing a Christmas party! The missionaries are in charge of a skit... so we are acting to the Michael Buble version of jingle bells with a twist. The sisters are lip syncing to the man part and the 4 elders are in a quartet acting as the girls with very girly moves ha-ha when rehearsing it, I couldn’t stop laughing! It was the greatest; we will take a video on Wednesday!

Merry Christmas!

nativity set

delivering flowers to the kim sisters and to other people we teach!

korean recyclying!! food trash, paper, plastic, other and styrofoam and tin! and glass

She has me sing, I make her play soccer

Sister I just met

We had another music night this Saturday! It was a lot more stress than last one, especially because we invited the whole ward because there’s no more Christmas party, so this was the closest thing to it. One of our musical numbers cancelled, and the program was mostly just us

(The missionaries) singing...  It was not ideal. But it seemed to work out in the end and members and English class members and investigators came. We watched the Christmas Mormon message to start, and then member who is paralyzed played the clarinet and bore testimony which was precious and wonderful. the elders sang o come all ye faithful (watching them practice for it was very humorous... they aren’t the best singers.. and they wanted to add in an akaraena? number on the third verse that they just learned how to play 1 day before... ha-ha they’re out of control!) We watched the bible nativity video to end it. The whole day I was a bit anxious, with the planning, people cancelling, refreshments, decorations, technology for videos, juggling our appointments, and most of all, singing well! (we ate a loaf of bread for dinner that we bought at a local store... I’ve learned that as a singer, you can’t drink milk or anything with dairy beforehand... no chocolate!!)

Not to mention I had to conduct the meeting... I prayed all throughout the day in order to feel peace and comfort.  The time of the event, my prayers were answered and I wasn’t as stressed or anxious. Sister Moyer is great and performs well and because I’ve had no experiences like this, it freaks me out! But I testify that Heavenly Father answers prayers, especially when we do all that we can. I felt assured and calm in the end.  It was a good time, and the bishop asked us to perform again in church the next morning... stress! Ha-ha day before notice I’ve realized is not good! We practiced all morning on Sunday and sang a cappella. Right now with Sister Moyer, my singing weaknesses are becoming strengthened and I’m not a nervous wreck as I’ve been in the past... like singing “Dear to the Heart of the Sheppard” in front of the mission president!! We also got asked to sing to people with dementia next week! It’s the singing season for me and sister Moyer! No worries though, Sister Moyer has me sing and I make her play soccer with me with the pastors (missionaries vs. pastors this morning... we lost againㅠㅠ). We played in the snow!!

On a more spiritual note, I’ve thought deeply about how I can come closer to Christ this season, and understand Him a little more. I’ve decided, so to speak, to "walk with Christ" this week and act and direct all my actions in a way that Christ is with me 24/7. I know that as I do this, I will be more reverent, be more in tune with the spirit, and do things the Lord Himself would do. Have a happy Christmas!!! Love you!!

Sister Wright

Temple this week!! A sister I just met!

The curse with being a singer's companion

First off, the new Elders are great! It’s always hard to change but we are all learning how to work together. I think the new elders are exactly what we needed and it was what the Lord needed because right when they came, we were able to refer 5 new people to teach just from finding them this last week. The Lord knows how to do His work and I’m grateful the Lord trusts us to do it! 

We had zone conference this week and the zone leaders asked us the night before to sing at the conference in order to bring the spirit and before a testimony meeting of the leaving missionaries! The curse with being a singer’s companion!!!  I have to get dragged into these things!! That was a bit of a stressor. We thought of an arrangement the morning of....

 So I’m not a singer, but ever since I came on the mission and especially in Bupyeong, I’ve sang more than ever before, including solos! I’m able to put my full faith and trust in the Lord in those moments!!  

I’m making temples again! I want to give a Christmas present to all the members and share a special message with them and use my talents that the Lord has provided me with! I love it and I love the members. They have several challenges and it reminds me of how grateful I am for my life and drives me to want to help them more and more. 

I was reading pg 100 of pmg and thought about how important it is for the missionary to have an open heart as well as the person they are teaching. If our hearts are closed, we can’t receive the spirit and if we don’t have the spirit, we can’t share it because it’s not there! That’s what our purpose is, to share the spirit with others. Invite others to receive this spirit. I know that as I teach without frustration, stress, and unhappiness for whatever reason, that the spirit is 100% going to be there. If our hearts are closed, then we are not missionaries, full time or member missionaries. We can’t do our job because we don’t have what we need to share it. 

I will end with the last verse of our rendition of our song!

"Teach me all that I must do, to walk in the Light!" 

Teach me to walk in the light/I am a child of God

Sister Wright