I don’t know how they expect me to teach English to these brilliant people over here.

Wow well this week went by super fast! We have been keeping busy with different finding activities and meeting with potential investigators and keeping on top of training and studies! First off, I don’t know how they expect me to teach English to these brilliant people over here. Our 14 year old investigator is sooo smart. Her English sentences she has us proofread is filled with me asking her what the vocabulary she used means! Ha-ha it’s pretty funny. She’s so cute. Her name is Iryn. 

We had an interesting/amazing Saturday. We taught a member (20yrs) a lesson to help her strengthen her testimony and she wants to do the English program with us. So we helped her with English and then share a message. She is growing in testimony, but we showed her the Because of Him message which brings the spirit so strong, but afterwards, she sort of shut off. It was sad because every time I watch that video I’m left with chills and am in pure awe. She didn’t have much reaction to it and we were left a bit confused. I could tell she wasn’t in tune with the spirit as she watched it. Later that night we taught the word of wisdom to the Kim sisters. Sister Moyer led the discussion (props to her! she’s in her first week!) and shared about keeping our bodies healthy.  It was a little bit challenging for the older sister to commit because she likes coffee, but she willingly accepted and said she would. At the end of the message, we asked if they had any questions. She asked about a sentence in the word of wisdom pamphlet saying “as we live the word of wisdom we will learn how to recognize promptings of the spirit" we have talked to them a lot about being able to feel the spirit, and from their question, it shows how much of a desire they have to feel this. We talked and explained it and then, we got the thought to show the because of him video. After we showed them the video, we asked how they felt, and they responded with “that was amazing". We asked, do you feel a special feeling in your heart, and they said yes! and we explained that that is the spirit speaking to us. Their faces were changed; we could see that their spiritual knowledge was growing!!! It was an amazing experience. We taught them again the next day, and taught fasting in order to feel the spirit and receive stronger answers to our prayers. We taught and committed them to fast with us next week. I could see in the older sister’s face that this was an even more challenging commitment than the day before. She was struggling within herself to see if she would do it. It was a special and personal moment to see her pause in silence for a little bit and say... "Ok, I will ". These little moments are so spiritual. Seeing her fight with Satan and trust in God! This is why I’m here! to find those who are ready to say "YES, I WILL, OK, I CAN, I WILL TRY, I WILL DO." I love these girls they make me so happy. I am grateful for my companion who asks everyone she comes in contact with if they are happy. Are we happy?? If not, maybe there needs to be some reevaluating to do! I know I can reevaluate some things that I need to work on to be happier everyday! I can serve people more!!! Everyone! Help the grandmas and grandpas pick up trash on the street, not ignore people who might look a bit on the scary side, be nice to the people who hurt our feelings! I love this work and I know it is the work of the Lord. I love being able to take part in Christ's sufferings, to come a little closer with Him. It is because if Him I can do this! We are all called to serve :)

Sister Wright 

This week we went busking!!! Crazy right? Sang in the subways, and shared a message with people who stopped to hear. And handed out flyers of what we are doing here in Korea that we made! We might sign up to do a concert on a stage in the subway we live by.

Went to the temple!

The district

Look what I found! BYU!!!

practiced face painting on the lovely sis. Holdaway

The taste never left our mouths that day

This new transfer has felt like the MTC all over again. Long days but short weeks! Time is going by fast! Sister Holdaway and I parted and I received Sister Moyer! She is from Mesa Arizona and loves to sing and can play guitar! So we have already planned some great finding activities (singing in subway stations and in parks) singing proselyting. It will be fun! The first night Sister Moyer came we had a lesson. I bet it was a bit shocking to her but she did a great job and has some expectations of what it’s going to be like in the field. She almost gave out a Book of Mormon on the subway! She has a great desire to do the Work of the Lord and I am very grateful for her contributions to this work.

 We went through the area's traditional food market and talked to all my favorite people! And we ate 3 oysters at a ladies seafood shop! She just said we could take and eat them, actually she was very adamant about it. So we did... the taste never left our mouths that day.

We met a lady on my companion’s first night and Sister Moyer, even though she had no idea how to talk to her, shared so much love and smiles with this lady, I truly believe that was the reason why she called  2 days later! She wanted to call the 2 smiling happy missionaries! We met with her and ate crab soup with her friends and were able to share a message with them. It was great and established our relationship with them. They invited us over every Friday! 

We were studying the How to Begin Teaching in PMG and it talks about how the first meeting is one of the most important. It builds trust. It’s the meeting that makes or breaks the relationship. And in this case, it made it! I’m grateful for all that I’m learning and all that I can teach my new companion. Training is probably the most crucial part of missionary work. It puts a lot of pressure on me, but I know that I’m not doing it alone. I am happy. I am happy I am a missionary and I’m happy that I can share the love of God to those who are seeking it. Even those who don’t accept our message, I hope they remember those 2 smiling missionaries and how happy they were.

Love you!

Sister Wright

Sister Holdaway on her last day before she moved.  "At her finest"

Member gave us snickers!

This week went by slow and fast. Our lessons all fell through, but it was perfect because the district planned on visiting all the members this week and putting focus on them. We planned on getting them ready for conference by sharing a past talk by Elder David A. Bednar and how they can receive personal revelation for themselves. And then we committed them to prepare personal questions for their lives, or of the soul, write them down, and when they watch conference, they can find answers to their questions through listening to the prophet and the apostle’s words. We hope they did the activity. It was fun visiting with members.  General conference was great and so inspiring. I feel that every time I watch it, I get more out of it each year! We watched part of it with the ward and ate Chinese food with everyone afterward on sat. And then watched some sessions on Sunday with them, we didn’t see all of them so we were able to watch the rest in the office room in the church. I really felt the spirit during Henry B Eyrings talk. I notice in my notes that I was really intently listening because I didn’t take many notes. I remember the feeling though and that’s the best notes I can take!

This week was also transfer calls. Sister Holdaway is moving to 계산 where they live across the living room of our apartment...I am grateful and embracing the privilege of becoming a trainer this transfer! I am happy for the privilege, but know I will be stretched and put into uncomfortable situations at times, but I am ready to "Cherish the Challenge"! I seem to have scared all my companions away! I’m going to have a third companion in my third transfer I’ve been here! Crazy, but it will be fun! I’m sad to leave sister Holdaway, we had a great time together, including picking up furniture on the street and taking it home with us! We had some of the happiest experiences and saddest experiences together. I’m so grateful to have served with her and learned so much from her. 

Love you!

Sister Wright 

Sisters in the zone

New and improved space style message card!

Sweaty and gross bringing the table into the elevator! It barely fit!!!

The miracle Ice Cream

This week there was some amazing miracles! We were able to do many member visits which can be hard when families are very busy here, but we went right before dinner time so it worked out! We see how much the ward members need strengthening and we plan to visit everyone before they show general conference which is sat. and sun. We want to prepare them and follow up with their daily scripture and gospel study. That is something that is hindering their ability to feel the spirit.

We went on a walk with the lady I met on the subway and went on a hike with Sister Holmes. We talked and she has been stressed so much her body hurts and she’s sick. We just were her friends, because in the past when we tried to share a message, she would tune us out. But this week she said she wanted to come to church sometime! She is amazing and I know that if we really care about people we will be there friend first. (Pablo in PMG finding)

On the way home from walking with her in a park, we decided to buy some ice cream and it was buy two get one free. We didn’t know what we were going to do with the third one but we got it anyway. Well sure enough this was the miracle ice cream because right when we got to the elevators my knee hits sister Holdayways water bottle in her left hand, and the extra ice cream flies out of her right hand. I remember thinking how weird that was, and that sister Holdaway was so clumsy!;) but right when that happened, a man that is walking out of the elevator as we are stopped to get the ice cream on the ground sees us and asks if we are the missionaries! We introduced ourselves and he is a not active in the church and he really loves the missionaries and really wants to go to Utah to see his missionary but he has lost contact. We got his information and plan to meet again. The ice cream was a miracle and meeting Mr. Han was not an accident or coincidence!

Guess what!? Our two investigators came to church! One is 18 and the other is 15. We picked them up for church (took a taxi to their house and bus back with them) and the ward was very welcoming! For a second I thought they would be swallowed up but they met a lot of people and became good friends with the recent convert we work with that plays the piano for us! And the member’s testimonies were soooo sweet and exactly what the girls needed to hear. Everything worked out perfectly for them and they had a wonderful experience. That was a miracle!!

This week was amazing!

The weather is getting real cold now :) not ready for the winter!!!

Love sister Wright

My companion cut me an apple for breakfast

Cool Monument in Chinatown

Cool Turkish man playing with ice cream!

Noah' Ark building

How they pounded rice in the olden days

we had to make a chart for cleaning duties... i hope it works!

I start blubbering like a fool in made up Korean

So this week was a roller coaster ride! Lots of hi's and low's. All of them were wonderful experiences though. First off, we taught our wonderful Kim sisters, who are accepting the message so wonderfully. Baptism may be a big step for them right now, but we love them and we want the best for them and hopefully they will see how much of a blessing baptism is in the future! They are reading the book of Mormon and we are enjoying the blessings of teaching in their home and teaching with the spirit. For example, sharing an analogy with them about applying what we learn. We mentioned how just like when we learn math from our teacher and apply what we learn we read the Book of Mormon and apply its teachings. It is simple but that thought popped up into my head and I shared it with them. I firmly believe that was the spirit because I had never thought of that before! I have a testimony of the Spirit and when we open our mouths, they WILL be filled. It has happened in my time here too many times to deny it.

One of our downhill falls on this week’s roller coaster is a certain experience we had at church. We had prepped a special musical number. My companion and I were singing with a recent new member playing the piano who is about 18. She was late to the meeting, which got us worried, so we asked a member to help us just in case she didn’t show up. We get into sacrament meeting, our friend came to church right on time, she was stressed too, and then our bishop announces that we will be singing right at the beginning! So we go up there and we are all a bit frazzled and she starts playing the music. FYI, our mission president and his wife are sitting behind us. We sing the first page, (it's a medley of English and Korean) and right as I turn the page, I notice that the page is wrong and I don’t have the words to sing and I start blubbering like a fool in made up Korean....I start looking over at Sister Holdaway's music and start singing the wrong line and I’m trying to sort out my papers but there is noooo luck and I sing random English lines and Korean lines. It was a complete nightmare. I’m dying on the inside and I’m shaking like crazy. We can’t hit our notes, trying to smile at the congregation, and not laughing/crying at our complete failure. It was a 9 page song... I managed to find the last page of the music, so 2 pages of the song were correct. The beginning and the end... 7 pages of pureness. I wish I could erase that memory out of my memory. Whenever I think about it I go into shutdown mode and start laughing but looking like I’m about to cry. I want to cry on the inside, but it’s just too funny to cry about! But as I said in my letter to my mission president, it helped us bond with the members and they were able to feel for us. The elders didn’t even notice there was a problem, so I guess that is good? Ha-ha I’m glad our Heavenly Father can use me as his tool in any way! (p.s. fun fact, this adds to Sister Holdaway's experiences, she threw up in a children’s choir in Carnegie hall and it’s on video, and the little boy sitting next to her started to cry because she was throwing up in her sock right next to him!!) Hey but our investigator came to church right on time to hear us sing! Ha-ha that was great!

This is a week to remember!! Have a good week!

Sister Wright

Trash Clean up

cheesecake bingsu!!!!

Hellloo,

We had some fun experiences this week. Temple was Thursday and that was very nice to relax, and feel peace. We held a fun youth activity to get the youth out to seminary which started before the activity and afterwards, we played ping pong and white board golf and ate snacks that we found in the huge food market in our area. We went into the backstreets and found all the vendors that sell everything for cheap. I felt like I was back in LA with you mom! We got big bags of buttered popcorn and candy and everything you could imagine for cheap! I’m growing up! Ha-ha well at the activity, we got some of the youth there and it was fun. The seminary teacher stayed and made things fun for them as well. It was a hit! Then we taught the same girl that came to seminary (a recent convert form a part member family) a lesson about the commandments. We taught with her comfortably on the floor, (which seems perfectly normal because in Korea we always sit on the ground) and shared with her the PMG and taught some lessons out of it directly from the PMG. She got to see what we use and learn what we learn when we study from it. It made things feel normal, comfortable and real. She wants to serve a mission just like her mom and we are preparing her. It’s not a weird missionary-member relationship. We are friends and we help each other. I love this work. Last night a sister called me for some advice on an experience that I went through myself. She was saying that in lessons she would just draw blanks and wouldn’t know what to say, and just let the other companion teach because we'd have nothing to say. That was a hard moment, but now that I look back on it, I realize, it is the same thing that many people go through. It’s like writers block, or when an artist has no idea of what to create next and they’re in a funk, drawing a blank. I related to the sister all that I had done to get out of the funk, but really it takes time patience, and effort. I didn’t give up because I knew I couldn’t and kept pushing and over time I overcame the challenge. And after that challenge, we become better than before!

Those are a few of my experiences this week!

Love

Sister Wright