I am sooo happy, but I am always looking to be better! I love it here.

So I received my new companion!! Sister Holdaway is great and we are laughing all the time!! Ha-ha she is from Maryland! But she also lived all over like Santa Monica California and Germany and Oklahoma! She is fantastic and we feed off each other real well. The ward loves her and the crazy English class members love her as well! I felt bad because right when she came to 부평 (bupyeong) all our seekers of truth dropped us... so sad and so unexpected. So we had to just go out and take it and focus on the fact the God has other people prepared for us to teach! Well a miracle happened; we got a referral form a member for 2 teenage girls. I don’t think I’ve felt more comfortable teaching with sister Holdaway than with any other companion. She knows what she needs to say and she can say it in Korean and we worked in perfect unity! It was such a blessing and it made the lesson so beautiful and filled with the spirit. The girls opened up with a challenge that their father is always busy and never get to see him. I felt the love they have for their family and they have such great hearts. I just want to help them so much!!!! 

Last week for p-day I went back to my old area and talked with 2 of my greatest friend investigators! I shared a message with one of them that is moving to California. She says she wants to be baptized but she doesn’t have that confirmation that God exists because she never grew up believing in Him. It was such a sweet experience as we shared thoughts and our love to want each others happiness. Ahh I love her!!!

I read PMG today, I read in the second part “effective study" where it talks about "as you gain experience you will want to deepen your knowledge and enhance your teaching ability". These past couple of transfers I have felt like that and I really have seen a change in my knowledge and wanting to know more.  I’m so curious and I find answers in the scriptures, and as I gain experience and knowledge in the field, I want to enhance my teaching ability. There is always something I can improve on. Just like our mission president said, “happy but not satisfied" I kind of feel like that. I am sooo happy, but I am always looking to be better! I love it here.

There’s a thanksgiving type holiday for Korea in 2 weeks called chusok (초석) and we are doing a talent show! The bupyeong district will be performing a musical! Hahaha it’s going to be super short but super great!! We are practicing for it today. Dance moves are allowed so we gotta help the elders with their dancing!! Ha-ha

Sister Holdaway has been in several musicals and she’s super good! We plan to go to Broadway together...hahaha ^^

Love you!!

Sister Wright 

Look what I found on the street!!!

Investigator friend

A wooden Egg

Look at this Cat

I will be greenie breaking again!

Big news!!! Sister Holmes is leaving me!!! We were only together for one transfer, and this transfer was only 5 weeks, barely a month! I will miss her; she is the best and so fun to be around. We loved serving together, but we see that this has to happen. I will be getting my new companion sister Holdaway.  I will be greenie breaking again!  Fun stuff! Apparently her parents both served in Korea! I am excited! 

This week was sad because all our appointments cancelled except one, but the miracle was that we had member appointments almost every day of the week! It is so fun being able to get to know the ward and know their needs and help them come closer to the Lord as well, not only our investigators, whether it be help them have family  scripture study, or prayer, or even happily doing scripture study. I know I wasn’t the best at it when I was home, but now I know how much it has blessed me in the knowledge of the scriptures, but also in helping the family grow together. I bought a new book of Mormon and started diving into it and marking it with different tabs, colors, and sticky notes. Reading the Book of Mormon is so fun! I look forward to reading every personal study and any other chance that I get. It even cuts into my journal time writing at night sometimes! Not good, but even though I read maybe 2 chapters at a time, I learn soooo much more if I just "read it". You can make it Fun! I cherish my Book of Mormon, I catch myself just wanting to read it on the street, but I can't because I have to be talking to people about it!  Struggles of a missionary! ha-ha. 

We had a fun experience hiking with our investigator that I met on the subway, sister Lee, and we talked in the gazebo and we had a lesson, sang hymns such as high on a mountain top and where can I turn for peace. It was so peaceful and the spirit was there, but she seemed to not want to listen to us and get distracted. It is hard to help people, the people who yell at us and the people we peacefully teach because no matter what, they use their agency and in the end we can’t force them to do anything they don’t want to do. And we can’t help if they don’t want our help. We try and bring the spirit to their hearts, and it is their decision to take it in let it change them.

A fun experience happened with a lady yesterday, she came from a hospital, the hospitals let the people kind of wander on the streets and it’s kind of scary, zombie like looking things... anyways, a lady took us aside by a grate of onions and prayed for us and our missionary work after we talked to her for a little while. (We are in public FYI) ha-ha and it was a very sweet prayer and blessed us but was a bit bizarre... ha-ha we left her with a pamphlet, talked to her about Christ. She seemed a bit off but she was okay:) She really liked us, if only everyone would like us and pray for us on the street! The world would definitely be a different place! I know the Book of Mormon is true!!!!!! We are still looking for Matthew.

Love you!!!

Sister Wright

Scary gas truck that prowls the streets at night.. blowing scary gas

Dawn is going to BYU

I want to share an experience I had last Monday. After our lesson with an investigator, we decided to knock on doors. It was something I haven’t done in a while and we were starting to get into the groove of it, but on one door, right as we introduced who we were, she was filled with anger and hate for who we were. It was so sad, I had to just stand there while she yelled in my face and I couldn’t bring myself to words. After we were told to leave, I was filled with such sadness. I just stood there as my most cherished sacred beliefs were being torn apart and I couldn’t do anything about it, and then I was being commanded to leave in the harshest tone I think anyone has ever spoken to me. I just wanted to say, "You don’t talk to me like that or anyone else!" I try to treat people how I would want to be treated and this was just so rude in my sight and I would hope that others do the same, but that wasn’t the case. I know that people have their agency and can do what they want with it, I just wish I could help them see what I see. I had an experience where I could feel only a little of what our Savior felt, and it was one of the saddest moments. I understand Christ’s sufferings a little more, and makes me want to try even harder for Him because He went through much worse things and stayed silent and didn’t go against the people who betrayed Him. As we were walking away, the thoughts of Satan popped up into my head thinking, ,"I hope she gets what she deserves for treating us so poorly," but then I IMMEDIATELY pushed those thoughts out of my head and thought, "she just doesn’t understand what she is doing" Satan has so much power and we cannot let him confuse us! I learned that after I let his thoughts come into my head. It was one of the most humbling experiences I’ve had, and I pray for her in my heart and in my prayers at night. I just wish people could understand. I see the world getting worse and there is more confusion than understanding in the world today. That is why we are here as missionaries and I am trying to bring others unto understanding. I know as we understand more and more we will be able to feel God's love and that is what the world needs. I am grateful for my challenges because I learn so much from them and I know that they come from God helping me learn and grow and progress as His daughter.

This started with a difficult moment, but ended in a sweet miracle. We were walking down a street and I saw a man smoking and drinking with his friend. I didn’t want to disclude this man in the Good News and introduced myself. Lo and behold, his friend is from Australia and speaks perfect English and we struck up a conversation about who we were and what we are doing. He told us that he’s met the missionaries before in Australia many times and he wonders why they come to him of all people, “is it something about my face or how I look??" he says. Ha-ha well maybe!! Perhaps it’s the light of Christ!! We talked deeply about the gospel and he had deep questions.  (I was glad to have deep discussions with my last companion or else I wouldn’t have been able to answer his questions!)  He was gracious and super nice because he was honestly curiously trying to find truth.  He even read the Book of Mormon before.  I can’t even express the experience in full detail, it was just so spectacular! His name was Matthew. He said God works in mysterious ways and if it’s meant to be and we meet again, we will sit down and have a long discussion. He has our number. But for now it’s a lot of prayers on our end and God's will if it is meant to be to meet him again. I have hope! It is not a lost cause! I know you are probably thinking, “this is a Best Two Years moment and she has no chance!" BUT I BELEIVE!!!! Faith is knowing Matthew will meet the missionaries again!!!

On other news, for p-day we went tandem bike riding in a really big park!

It was so fun and so hard. We got fed famous neng miong! It is delicious cold noodles; moor eng miong is the one with the ice!! Its sooo good! We have 2 new investigators that are great. We are becoming great English teachers... man it is hard sometimes, but we are beginning to understand how to teach better... it’s hard! My companion is a champ and I bow down to her because she cleans the bathrooms like a pro, (pic) she is washing nasty drains in the toilet!! Hahaha she’s insane and I am having such good laughs with her. I did insanity this morning... so hard. I had an exchange and got bitten by mosquitoes 18 times on each leg... I couldn’t sleep one night because it itched so badly. So I prayed that the pain would go away, and as I went back to sleep, they didn’t itch!! Miracle!!! We talked to Dawn last week about patriarchal blessings and she is getting it next week! She is super excited and she is so much happier! She’s the best! If any of you going to BYU see her there say a HUGE HELLO!!!!!!

Have a good week, talk to you next time!!

Sister Wright

The biggest mondu/dumpling thing

Japanese drink! Super fun

Ramen and mondu

we experienced a lot of miracles in the midst of it all!

Super stormy.  I got soaked!!

This week seemed to go by pretty slow, its vacation season and everyone is gone! A majority of our appointments got cancelled which was a bit of a bummer, but we experienced a lot of miracles in the midst of it all! The Lord works in mysterious ways! We decided to contact and visit a member from Mongolia who is visiting her sister. We decided it would be a good idea to meet with her and set up an appt with her, which turned into meeting with her and her sister and met them that night!  Her sister isn’t a member of the church.

 On our way to meet them we ran into a member of our church that said Jessica, the member, had gone to the temple that week by herself to receive her endowments! After that we definitely knew what message we wanted to share.  The catch is, Jessica, the member, speaks Mongolian and English, and her sister speaks Mongolian and Korean. We met and ate bingsu (snow ice desert) and had a good time with each other. We asked if we could share a message and talk about eternal families and the importance of temples. We spoke in Korean and English, a lot of translating for each other, but Biumba, her sister, didn’t understand religious words, so Jessica was able to teach a lot to Biumba and add personal testimony. She felt that we cared about her and that we have a special spirit about us and she has felt lonely and some hard times. What was a small and simple thought from the spirit turned into a miracle and being able to help someone who has been seeking help but not knowing where to find it! We met with her the next day at her small apartment and taught her the Plan of Happiness and she so lovingly accepted the message. We are grateful for Jessica who has made those important choices to partake in the wonderful blessings of the temple and help in bringing her family members closer to eternal happiness!

I feel Jessica shared her experience with her family because she told us on Sunday that a member of the church in Mongolia contacted her and asked if Jessica would help his daughter(who is also in Korea) and receive the lessons the missionaries are teaching. Another Miracle!

Jessica is a wonderful amazing person. She is the only member in her family and she comes to church even though she doesn’t know any of the Korean language. I am serving in Korea but that doesn’t limit me form helping others from other areas! It is a blessing.

Love you!

Sister Wright

Biumba(bee um ba) left and Jessica on right

Our bingsu insane amount, we couildn't finish, they're meant to be shared but they didn't know that.  Super Good!!!  They do a lot of fusion foods where they add stuff to American foods like crazy style pizzas (kimchi pizza, seafood in spaghetti, etc.  Cool!!

Honeycomb ice cream

Horse fountain 

I don't even know where to start! The weather has been a bit muggy and humid...but then again its typhoon season too so it has been raining a bit now as well. Everyone says there’s going to be a typhoon but.. we haven’t experienced any heavy or stormy rain so we will see.

It kind of was a slow week because a lot of people are on vacation and we had long meetings with the missionaries and service projects with our district. He mom and dad, guess what?? Our service project consisted of picking up trash on the streets so we had to find trash tongs! I felt like the official "runner" for tongs in Korea! And we found them!! I didn’t know the vocab word for trash tongs... but hand gestures and body language work real well and they were the next best thing and we got them! The find of the week! I liked the service project a lot. Even though it was real hot we had fun and talked to people and a lady we met sent her children to church because she liked us! Anyways, this past Tuesday we had a lesson with a sweet 27 year old and we thought it would be a good idea to bring a young woman member with us. She is getting ready to go to BYU and thought it would be a good experience for her. We thought she was about 17 or 18.. but once we met up with our church member named Dawn, she told us she was 16!! She told us she was nervous to teach with us because she’s younger than our investigator and that she doesn’t have the strongest testimony. We encouraged her and told her it’s not scary at all! We told her we pretty much are having a conversation about what we believe and there’s no pressure! She came with us to the lesson and really was able to help us explain and share what she knows. She was great and we had a blast full of laughs and getting to know each other at the beginning and sharing about the restoration and testifying that our sister Kim can find truth just like Joseph Smith did through prayer. There was a sweet spirit and Dawn had a really good experience teaching with us. Sister Kim wants her to come back again with us!

So fast forward to Sunday, Dawn came to church with her dad, her mom is less active, and it was fast and testimony meeting. No one was going up to bear their testimony, Dawn is sitting with us because her dad is in the bishopric, and we turn to dawn and ask if she’d bear her testimony of her experience teaching with us. She said she would! She goes up a little bit later and gave the sweetest testimony ever. It was short but full of the spirit. She said she doesn’t have the strongest testimony and she was scared to teach with us because she’s young, but she told of how much fun she had and that she felt the spirit. It made my heart just fill with joy and she was a bit emotional and that killed me even more!! She is soo special. We talked to her a bit afterwards and she said she was nervous to bare her testimony but SHE DOESN’T REGRET IT!! ahh I absolutely love being with the ward and seeing members of the church grow in testimony. Such spiritual experiences are so precious and I can see the light of Christ growing within her.

We may not have very many progressing investigators right now, but we have progressing members and I am so grateful I get to work with them. I love the scriptures and I know they are true. I know that we all are on a mission; we all have a divine role on this earth to bring salvation and eternal life to everyone. Mission Possible!!!!

Love Sister Wright

Dawn and her dad

on pday las week, we ran into a korean quartet!! it was awesome and we were pumpin up the crowd!!

plastic skating, it is a rink with plastic ground