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

The first day of December and it welcomed us with a beautiful snow flurry! It was just like typhoon season but with snow! One thing I really love and am grateful to experience is Korea's 4 seasons! It is always keeping me on my feet! The thanksgiving party is over and we got back into our regular missionary activities. The party really got us excited and it feels good getting back into visiting people and teaching more lessons. The Kim sisters are progressing and trying their best to prepare for baptism. The oldest sister said she thinks she can go without coffee now. It’s more of a mental idea, not much of an addiction. Did I tell you last week how she said she drank coffee and we asked how she felt when she did?  She expressed that while she was drinking it she was thinking "I’m not supposed to be doing this!!" We got a good laugh out of it and we asked if she prayed and she said "yes, to repent for coffee...” They are so cute and I’m appreciative for them trying to be better, and even though she made a mistake, she knew she could repent! I love them so much, just like my sisters. 

We got new elders this week! So now we have 4 elders and us 2 sisters. 6 missionaries in a ward of 30 members!! It’s a bit crowded... haha but I think we will be able to help this area blossom and grow with everyone helping out. We have another greenie in the area and the recent Assistant to the President for his last 3 months! The ward is excited for the new faces and also the excitement from how many people came to the thanksgiving party. They really want to help out with missionary work. 

This week I focused my studies on diligence. I always thought of diligence and how we need to work hard, and do our best, but didn’t study it much. As I read the scriptures I realize it’s everywhere in the scriptures and it really opened my eyes that I can’t pass it by as a I read and how I have to apply it and always try to work hard at being diligent! It’s caused me not to be relaxed in my thinking but always thinking in a diligent way. "Who needs our help right now, what can I be doing that would benefit others." Diligence is not just my hands and body moving around and trying to do things, but internally my mind is working diligently as well. It has made a difference in this work as Sister Moyer and I serve together and work on being diligent. 

I was reading in Mosiah this week about King Benjamin. He says he is serving others so shouldn’t you be serving others too? We will always be in debt to Him. Missionaries that come home did amazing work but everyone is still in debt. It made me want to sacrifice some things for my Heavenly Father. Right now as a missionary, I’m sacrificing my time, but I know that is not enough. I want to sacrifice more of my love for myself and give it to others, I want to sacrifice some of my personal goals and help others accomplish theirs, etc. 

I know the gospel of Jesus Christ has been restored back on the Earth. Through no other church can I come closer to my Heavenly Father. Only through these covenants and ordinances in the restored church can we come this close to Him. 

Sister Wright

 I sleep with Mike Wazowski every night!!! 

spaceship playground

The Turkey Nightmare

This week was crazy! It consisted of pure party planning, decorating, and meetings, exchanges with other missionaries, meeting with members and 1 lesson. But that lesson was the lesson that made this whole transfer! Guess what; the Kim sisters have a Baptismal date!!!!! It’s insane! We’ve been working with them a lot on that. They were less apprehensive and decided to make a goal date for them to prepare. It will be in January. We couldn’t do it in December because they have tests all up until Christmas Eve! No fun at all! We were planning on teaching them tithing, and the lesson was taken off course and we were teaching what the Lord needed us to teach. The older sister asked if Moroni was a prophet and we said yes, and Sister Moyer (which seemed random) said that Moroni is on top of the temples, which led us to show them all the pictures in the back of the Book of Mormon and explain about Joseph smith, temples, liberty jail. It was interesting for them and while we were telling them these things, I was like (in my head) this is so random! We aren’t getting to the tithing lesson today I guess! But then after that, we shared a scripture in Moroni 7 that they read and talked about how "by their fruits, ye shall know them" and related to what was just shared earlier about Joseph Smith and how the Book of Mormon isn’t a bad book. We know that Joseph Smith is a true prophet because of his fruits and because we’ve read and prayed about it. We then shared about the spirit and asked how we receive the spirit, which got them to answer baptism, which led us into inviting them to be baptized on a specific date. It was the spirit that led that whole lesson. The Kim sisters are so prepared and ready to make the necessary changes in their lives. They are already keeping the commandments so well. Ahhh I’m so happy and I know this is what Heavenly Father wants for them. The spirit has led us in their lessons numerous of times and if I deny it, I would probably be condemned!

About the Thanksgiving party!

More people came than expected! 50 people! There was a conflicting meeting in another area (music fireside) so we were concerned that no members would show. But many did and they were pleasantly surprised at the outcome! Our ward mission leader set a goal for us to bring 30 of our contacts, and about 30 came! It was amazing. Lots of stress beforehand though. All of Saturday we cooked, went to Costco, cooked more, bought more food, and prepped the final touches for decorations. Menu: pasta salad, mashed potatoes (which the members thought it looked like soup... woops ha-ha they were like “what the potato soup??" yikes, corn, rolls, turkey, ham, pumpkin pie, hot apple juice and members brought fruit! It was a lot of food but the turkey was in demand, the elders said it didn’t cook all the way, (last minute we decided to cook a real turkey... bad idea!!!) They only brought a little bit. But it was ok in the end; people got to try a little bit of it. The Turkey Nightmare. The members got super stressed and wondering if they should buy pizza or chicken at a store to make up for it. We were all stressed! Ha-ha. The elders didn’t seem stressed at all.... it was insane. Anyway, the people enjoyed the food; members were involved with talking with everyone and doing some amazing missionary work! Sister Moyer sang and then we taught dance! We did some line dancing moves and doing the doe- see- doe and they loved it! There were kids running everywhere to the music and a lot of members and non members participated! The ward mission leader was laughing and going all out! It was so funny. It was a good experience in the end and the ward members had a fun time as well! It was fun seeing everyone in a different atmosphere other than just going to church. We are all friends now! Ha-ha you can’t forget to have fun!!!!! In the words of our mission leader "when you have fun, that’s when the baptisms come!"

Love you!!

thanksgiving tree, everyone wrote what they were thankful for on a leaf!

sister chao put me on the body of a chicken man...

Exchanges Cool camera holder

New Church building that will be ready next year.  It's the size of a temple

Subway

Piano Stairs

I got sick this week, because we spent time with a member that had a cold... that was our bad. (I’ve been drinking a lot of ginger lemon tea!) It kind of hindered our ability to go outside for a day, but we had planned an activity for Saturday that we had to prepare for. We were a bit stressed because we were scared no one would be able to come at all. We were texting and calling everyone and everyone said they weren’t able to make it! We wanted it to be a small gathering but if no one came it would be a big flop. We planned to not cancel it, go to our lesson and then go straight to the church and get it all ready for 7pm. WE had an interesting lesson with the Kim sisters, they were a bit tired and were acting differently than usual. We committed them to keep the Sabbath day holy. They are getting a little run down with these commandments we are giving them. They are keeping the word of wisdom, they fasted, they are reading the Book of Mormon. We reminded them of how these commandments make us more perfect, just like our father and as we can’t let the world’s standards affect our Fathers standards. Anyways, we got out of the lesson at 6:15 took a taxi to the church, told him about our thanksgiving party and invited him to it; I had sister Moyer sing him a song in the taxi! Ha-ha that was pretty fun, he dropped us off at the church, and we made sure he knew the thanksgiving party was on Saturday (he got a personal invitational jingle!). Then got to the church at 6:30 got the chairs set up and some people started coming. One family (an English class member who went to the Halloween party; her husband is a less active) and a less active member of the church with his friend that we play soccer with. Their names are Ben and JK. Our recent convert of the church came and played her violin after an elder played the piano. A member came a little later because he was teaching seminary in another room. Sister Moyer and I sang “Be Still My Soul” in Korean along with others. We bore testimony after our performances. During be still my soul, I felt the spirit so gently. As I sang the words, I didn’t worry about how I sang at the time but more of what I was singing. I felt that what we were singing was sincere and real. That brought the spirit and I bore a very simple testimony. That moment touched me and the music spoke to everyone, along with the spirit. Another elder brought the spirit as he played the piano "If you could Hie to Kolob” and “Come Thou Fount”. We asked after wards if anyone had anything to say. The wife of the family stood up and thanked us for this meeting. She talked about how she felt a special feeling that night. After the meeting others asked when we are doing the music night again! They loved it, when we thought they may have been bored! I believe they can find solace and peace as they meet with the missionaries and go to these sorts of activities. It was a very positive experience. The member that attended spoke in church the next day and talked about how he was thinking "there’s not very many people here, why aren’t there many people here?" and in his talk how that the meeting was amazing and that the missionaries are doing amazing work. I was really grateful for his talk. We are just the Lords tools, and He does the rest! I truly have a testimony of that. Ben, the less active came to church as well. Next time, we want to have an art gallery with someone playing the piano as they walk and look at all the pictures and read the descriptions of each one. We are keeping missionary work fun!!!

Great week! 

Sister Wright

Thanksgiving planning has begun!! We just finished the handouts and getting them printed! So... the missionaries are in charge of thanksgiving. We asked the ward mission leader how we are going to cook all the food... he said, it’s all up to you!!! Ha-ha it’s pretty funny. Hopefully we can get some members to help; maybe they’ll just buy the fruit... We are in charge of the decorations, food and activities. They are in charge of bringing themselves and hopefully friends! Sister Moyer is singing with her guitar and I am teaching line dancing! They seem very excited! We met with some less actives last night to invite them and they seemed like they wanted to come and dance (they used to have dances in Korea for the young single adults but now they don’t) We had a happy meeting with them and talked about what we are all grateful for and were able to teach a lesson with them. Once we got out of the house we ran home and had 15 minutes to get home. It was a miracle we got home in time. All the lights were green for us to cross the street and the elevator was waiting for us to get in as we came up to it! We hit all three lights and got home in 12 minutes! Usually by walking it takes 25 minutes! We were running so hard all the way, in skirts and jackets and scriptures. Can you picture in your mind, sister Moyer is behind me going at a slower pace because she couldn’t control herself and peed her pants and I'm striding across the street agonizingly slow in boots past all these buses and cars and pretty silent and I’m yelling for sister Moyer to hurry and make it because there’s 3 seconds left until the light turns red! Pretty crazy, and it was a miracle! 

One of the Kim sisters came to stake conference on Sunday!! It was a great meeting and two return missionaries spoke and it was super powerful and we could all feel the spirit. They seemed to have wonderful experiences. We are also planning to have a music night on Saturday and just have a music performance and testimony meeting. We hope it can bring the spirit and touch the lives of some of the people we meet with. 

I’ve encountered my crazy side because I’m really tired and sister Moyer got to see it all yesterday... i was a bit dilusional?? Yeah, she was entertained and my brain was about to explode, so we had a meditation session. It really helped, and I feel a lot better! I’ve seen that it is ok to take a step back and breathe!!! Relaxing is key to being successful! And we played soccer this morning with pastors! The other team consisted of all pastors, it was pretty cool, and we talked to some of them. We got some contact information of others that are super solid people. We’ve gained their trust that we are normal people!! I am really enjoying this area and things are progressing here. We are teaching more and teaching members and enjoying it along the way. Sorry this email is so crazy, I think the soccer got me all hyped up! That’s exactly what I needed!

Sister Moyer is doing great!! We are loving each other more and more. I feel like we have a sister like relationship.

I love this gospel!!!!

Sister Wright

we met with a memebr and wanted to make a picture together about a scripture! its the one in D and C about the chickens under the wing!!

elders cleaned the steeple of the church.. probs not the safest thing to do!

I got the package!  We had a zone training and I got it on Halloween!!! Super cool! Thank you for Mike Wazowski and everything!!!!! So cute.

So I'll start with last p-day... Sister Moyer needed to dye her hair, but they messed up so she had to dye her hair brown... so that’s the big change with her!! She looks great, it represents a new look, change and start new!

This week we did street boarding and talked to lots of different people. It got sister Moyer out of her comfort zone and she didn’t have to rely on me to talk to people. She’s doing really great; I’m giving her full responsibility to find homes and leading discussions. We are to train to where after their 12 weeks of training, they’d be able to train, so its pushing her, but she’s taking each challenge graciously and doing a great job:) I’m so proud of her!! She really wanted to go door to door proselyting, which I wasn’t too fond of, (and there’s more effective ways of contacting) but I accepted and it was good, I think I personally needed that push to not be afraid, even though I don’t like talking to people who get angry at me.  I guess I just have to face the fact that not everyone is going to be nice.  I just need to stand up for myself and be the disciple that Christ needs me to be!! (Bible dictionary: fear)

Besides that, we had Halloween parties! English class themed party with Halloween bingo, pin the bone on the skeleton, described English Halloween idioms! It was super fun. We used marshmallows as markers for bingo but they ate them all instead! Ha-ha we have the best 80 year old man in our English class!

Saturday the ward asked us to come to a picnic at this huge park. Fall is beautiful and the ward had a lot of fun together. The ward seems to be a lot better, happier and happy with our work with investigators. Bishop is happier than any one has ever seen him!

After the picnic, the other ward had a Halloween party and we invited our two Kim sisters!! They loved it. Our member who is the same age took them around and took care of them as we worked the booths! It was perfect. They had so much fun. The week before, they promised to fast and come to church. We were sad but they weren’t able to come to church again... but they texted us and said that even though they couldn’t come, they were fasting. These sisters are coming closer and closer to their savior and I can see the joy and happiness in their faces! Not to mention, the missionaries put on a great Halloween party! Decorations and everything were perfect. So that leads me into what is going to happen in November. Our ward mission leader heard how great the Halloween party was... so now we are planning a thanksgiving party! In two weeks! Ahhhhh crazy! The ward mission leader was like" who’s going to be in charge of food??.... and kept repeating it while looking at me the whole time... hahaha I was finally like "ok,

I will!! I will!" ha-ha he’s the funniest member.  So I guess I’m in charge of thanksgiving this year, for the ward. I’m walking in your footsteps mom! Maybe this year’s thanksgiving party will be better than last years.... Sister Moyer is providing the music (she is singing and playing the guitar) and I’m in charge of teaching some dance routines!! Maybe some hoedowns! Ha-ha we might be going to Costco to see what kind of food to buy! It’s super hilarious that this is happening, but it’s going to be fun and a great service opportunity for the ward. We are going to make invitations for the ward members to give to their friends to invite. We are in charge of inviting 30 non members and investigators as well. I think we can do it. A lot of our friends from English class came to the Halloween party.

This week, study time has been very precious to me; I’ve been trying to find a good way I can keep studying effectively because recently it hasn’t been as effective. I had companions that read super fast and I just felt so dumb because I read so slowly, and that made me just want to "get through" the Book of Mormon. But I can’t do that, I've not been effective, so now I’m to focus studies and it’s really helped me as I relate my experiences that past week with what I’m learning. Today I thought about how people with strong faith are like strong trees. I want to grow to be a Redwood tree! I wrote in my journal “GROW BIG!" ha-ha I guess I am spiritually and physically! Aha just kidding. It’s been a great week!

Sister Wright

Fall is Beutiful!!

English Class

Halloween Party... So many people!!