so i don't have much time this week because we're going to go to 경복궁 (sp?) after cuz it's such a beautiful day! but i just wanted to say hi in a few bullet points:
1. so last week, we had our second lesson with a new investigator we contacted a few weeks ago by phone and we have done 2 out of the 4 lessons with her already! she's really sweet and she's super cute and seems to understand things real well but we're kind of nervous because she doesn't have any questions on anything and she's progressing so fast! i guess that's a good thing though :P we're hoping to set a baptismal date for her so hopefully that'll go well this week :)
2. we had one of our investigators leave to her home country yesterday! she's the one from kirikistan (sp?) and she's going to be gone for 3 months for vacation so we might not be able to see her when she gets back if one or both of us get transferred then! we both want to stay and see her when she gets back because she's already been to church 2 times and she is receiving the gospel well! we're gonna pray that she doesn't forget anything! we made that funfettie cake that you got me jee for her as a good bye surprise and she was so happy. she said that she is so grateful to have met us :D she had a hard time believing that someone would take time to meet with her and develop a friendship with her because she and her husband don't have a great relationship and because she's from another country, sometimes korean people look down on her. but we promised her the gospel would help her be happier so hopefully she continues to seek after it after she gets back or while she's there! (we don't know if the church is even there! :P)
3. we had ward conference in the first ward this past weekend and we had a fun ward activity on saturday to get ward members to get to know each other more before ward conference. the missionaries were in charge of the activity and so we played volleyball but with different utensils found in our apartment! like a rice paddle, a ruler, a ladle and a chopstick! it was really fun! before the activity, the men in the ward all cooked things in the parking lot and everyone got to eat things like french toast (minus the syrup cuz apparently they don't do that here. so basically egg dipped bread. but it was interestingly really good!!) fried rice, dumplings and stuff! man i love this ward :)
4. ps it's getting so hot now. the weather of korea i guess decided that korea doesn't need spring. so it just skipped to summer. so now i get sweaty and gross. and i hear it'll get worse! lol it changed so fast! but yes, grandmas still think it's the end of winter so they still wear their coats and scarves around. welcome to korea? :P
5. i know this church is true. and no matter what happens, who says what to you, where you're stranded in whatever stage of life you're in, it doesn't matter as long as you know that God loves you. and you're a part of the one true church.
6. love you all :)
-sister cho
pictures
the national stretch the elementary kids do in korea! lol
me and sis hill at the ward activity
the volleyball game!
with our investigator who is leaving to kirikistan
hiiii! i hope everything is going well :) i had another great week!
so for last Pday, we went to 여의도 and a group of missionaries all rode bikes along 한강 and it was so funnn! and the trees and flowers were all so pretty.
on tuesday during companionship study, sister Hill and i wanted to try and figure out a place where we could go to 전도 and we weren't getting any specific ideas. we decided to ask someone who has all the answers. so we prayed. and we followed a process of prayer that sister Hill's old zone leaders followed and found lots of success in receiving revelation on where to go. first we picked out 10 places in our area that we could go to. Then we each individually prayed to repent of everything and anything that might be blocking us from receiving revelation and then asked for inspiration. we then each picked out 5 places out of the 10 and wrote them down on a piece of paper. then we saw which areas we both wrote down. we had 2 places that we both wrote down so we prayed again. and then we had this feeling that we should go to this one random park in the ghettos of this area. so we did.
when we got there, the park was dead. there were 3 grandmas on a bench and 5 grandpas smoking in a circles around another bench. so we both kind of were surprised as to why we were there cuz there was no one else there! and usually there are tons of people at parks especially with the really nice weather! so we talked to the people that were there but none of them were interested. then we looked at each other wondering what we should do next. we were about to leave when we saw another woman come by and so we talked to her for a few minutes but she wasn't interested. BUT THEN this lady came up to us and said hi. and we turned around and it was the ex Jehovah's Witness lady who we were teaching but then her schedule got busy so she stopped meeting with us! We had been trying to meet her for the past month but couldn't but lo and behold, here she was, in this random little park which was in the really poor and non-modern part of our area which was NO WHERE near where she was living. she told us that she GOT OFF AT THE WRONG BUS STOP so she had to cut through the park where coincidentally we were prompted to go. WEIRDDDDDDD HUH? ok not weird. more like AWESOMEEEE!
she told us that she's still busy so we won't be able to meet this month so we don't know exactly why we ran into her there that day. but maybe she needed to see us for some reason. yay for tender mercies :) anyway, so that was really cool!
on Friday, we were able to meet a new investigator through another investigator's referral and she is vietnamese! she's 20 and she's gorgeous and she's married to a korean man and she's been in korea for about 1 year and 3 months and her korean is really good for how long she's been here! she wants to do the 30 minutes of english and 30 minutes of gospel study so we did that on friday. it was really good but i relied so so so much more on the Spirit than i ever have before to teach her because she knows nothing about God. so it was really really difficult trying to teach her especially because she didn't know korean religious words. we tried to teach her about how God is the father of our spirits and she didn't know what spirits are! it was just very new for me to think that some people don't know God cuz most korean people believe in some sort of a God or higher power. but you know what? it was so cool because she said that she believes everything we told her. she was so humble and didn't doubt anything we
said and she even said she could see how the Book of Mormon could be true! wow. she is so so so teachable. it's going to be tricky trying to explain everything to her in terms that she'll understand but it'll be so fun and so worth it! oh and yes, she eventually got the idea of the spirit and body when i drew a picture of a snail on the board and
said that the shell is like our bodies and the snail is like our spirits. but it took lots of body language and universal sound effects cuz she didn't know the korean word for snail and my art skills didn't quite cut it bahaha but she got it lol :D
anyway, things are going soooo well here! i love being a missionary! miracles do happen. i think i might have shared this already but i loved elder evan's conference talk where he said something to the effect of "never delay a prompting. miracles will happen. lives will be changed." love you all :)
-sister cho
pictures
1. our costco trip!
2. one of my favorite members! recent convert :)
3. the cute little cake the elders got me
4. we made cookies with the young women
5. shoes at a ward dinner!
6. the pretty trees last pday
7. group of people who went to ride bikes!
it's super warm now! yeee! but i'm kinda worried about how hot the summer is going to be if spring is this warm! lol anyway, this week was awesome.
minhee, i heard you registered for classes!!! yeeee! congrats! love you lots and always ask jee언니 for advice because she knows a lot, kay? :)
so last monday (pday), we went to COSTCO!!!! it was so awesome cuz it was a little taste of america when you walked inside it! everything was really similar to all the other costcos in america and so you think you're in america UNTIL you go downstairs to the food court. the food was all the same too but i realized i was in korea when i saw everyone's plates. regardless of what they were eating, they ate everything (like the chicken bakes, hot dogs, pizza) with the hot dog toppings as 반찬!!!! (sidedishes bahaha!) so you know that chopped onion topping for the hot dogs? so everyone here gets a huge plate of that and mixes it with the ketchup and mustard and uses the forks to eat it as a 반찬! lol yep i was indeed still in korea :) it was soooo funny! but i tried it and i LOVED IT! bahahaha try it minhee, next time you go to costco! mommy would really like it :D anyway, that was really fun :)
so on friday, it was my birthday and it was so sweet, the elders in my district got me a paris bagguette cake and we ate it with the young women of the 금천 2nd ward! and a recent convert of the 1st ward planned a surprise for me with sister hill and we ate cheesecake too! so that was really nice of them but the best part of the day was when we were going to go visit a member who lives at these apartments who are at the top of this huge insurmountable hill, WE GOT A STREET LESSON WITH A 학생!!! (we talk and then set up another appointment with them) it was so awesomeeee cuz i don't get street lessons very often :D and then this lady who lives in those apartments on the top of the hill saw her neighbor's (our member) door which was heart attacked by missionaries.
and she told the lady she wants to decorate her door like that too! so we did it for her and she was surprised and LOVED IT!! so she invited us over sometime this week and we're hoping to introduce the english class to her 3 kids!!! YEEEEEEE! yes that was awesome.
anyway, everything is going so well! we even got another referral from some other elders so hopefully we will be able to have more investigators soon! i'll have to tell you next week about the one who is progressing super fast! sister hill and i are going to go to 여의도 to go to a flower festival because there are so many pretty flowers out
now! so we gotta go, but here's the scripture for the week: ether 3:11-12 the Lord asks the Brother of Jared if he believes the things that he is GOING TO say. like future tense. The brother of Jared doesn't even know what He's going to say but he responds right away and says yes! and then he just is blessed with all the things that the Lord shows him! faith is great :) let's exercise it lots!
sorry, i forgot to bring my camera cord so i'll send pictures next week! have a great week! love you all!
sister cho
okay. it's true. i am NOT wearing a coat today. IT'S SPRING!!! :D
so this past week was super awesome. as always :P first off, i went to the temple on tuesday and yep, lo and behold 할머니 할아버지 were there haha so it was so cool i got to do a session in korean with them :)
so the rest of this week was full of visiting less actives. we ventured out into new parts of our area that we'd never been to before to go see them. we walked a lot and when we finally got to each of the houses, we were rejected in several different ways.
1. one of them apparently moved so she wasn't there
2. one of them didn't open the door but just yelled at us saying they
didn't want to have anything to do with the church.
3. one of them was working and didn't really want to talk to us
so it was a bummer in that we couldn't meet any of them but you know what's so cool? there was a small miracle associated with each attempted visit.
1. we couldn't find the house that we were looking for because sometimes, korean addresses are really hard to see (sometimes, when it's really bad, they're written on the buildings in sharpy lol) and we decided to ask someone before going on further into the town. so we asked a 부동산 man. and the guy looked at the address and told us that it was 4 houses down from this 부동산 place! good thing we asked right when we felt like we should cuz we found it real quick and didn't get more lost! :D so yay for promptings that don't seem very spiritual in the moment but really turn out to be so after you act on them :) (also, i have a new appreciation for 부동산 people! they are so nice, especially when you're with an american! lol)
2. the elevator that we took to get to this apartment was SUPER SKETCHY! yeah jee, ultimate etch a sketch. it made all sorts of noises and it felt like the thing holding it in place would just snap any minute hahaha but we made it alive! yay for mini miracles...? well it sure was for me hahaha :)
3. so we couldn't get through the apartment building doorway because in korea, they all have it closed off with a door so you have to use the keypad to call the people to let them know you're here so they can open the doorway for you so no creepers get in. but the lady we wanted to visit was at work and so we wanted to heart attack her door but we couldn't get in. but sister hill called the 경비아저씨 (grandpa security guard which seems maybe like an oxymoron of some sort but that's the way they do it here :P) and she said in korea "uh, i need to get to this apartment. but i'm american and i can't speak korean well!" and the guy asked questions but she didn't really catch what he was saying so she just smiled into the camera and then he let us in! BAHAHAHAHA! so miraculously, we got to heart attack the house hahahaha
cool tender mercies yes?? :)
anyway, so that was awesome. over the weekend, we watched conference and it was just what i needed :D our whole stake gathered at the stake center and they played the dvd with the korean dubbing and the missionaries and the other who wanted to listen to it in enlist were in a small room together to listen in english. it was cool cuz i wrote down things that could help me improve and progress but for the first time, i could pick out things that would help other people, namely our investigators, to progress and improve! yay for revelation :)
all is well here! there are still 아줌마s saying they're too busy to listen to anything even though they are stopped at the crosswalk. and there are still old homeless men dancing on the side of the road next to their cardboarding collecting carts. and there are still grandmas with few teeth who try to tell us their whole life stories when we simply say hi. and there are still missionaries in korea trying their best to preach the message of true happiness :)
i love my life.
hope you're doing great! have a great week!
sister cho
pictures
1. sister hill swore she would never roll one of the 아줌마 carts around.
but she bought one haha and now she loves it!
2. yes you can probably tell that this picture is not of sister hill,
it's of the old lady in the back. there are Jehovah's Witness grandma
missionaries like that everywhere!
3. general conference!
4. old man sleeping at the bus stop :)
so this week has been crazy but awesome! and tomorrow we go to the temple so it just keeps getting better :)
we had transfers this past wednesday and sister park left for 인천 and i got a new companion and her name is sister hill. she's from virginia and she's been out for 9 months and she's so awesome! super fun and she works hard but doesn't get stressed which i absolutely love about her!
it's so funny when we go 전도 because everyone just stares at her because she's got blonde hair and she just says "hi!" and they all start giggling and stuff (especially the students here! hahaha it's so funny!) and the little children are so funny, they just flat out say "hey mom, look there is a foreigner there!! look look! her hair is blonde!" and they point and the moms get embarrassed hahaha but 전도ing has been more exciting because i'm with an american--well an american who looks american if that makes sense lol
and on saturday, we had 민지's baptism! it was so crazy cuz she's a little rough around the edges so she was a little roudy but it went well. the members could tell that it was hard teaching her because she has a really low attention span :P but it'll be great for her to continue growing and progressing in the church to become what Heavenly Father wants her to be :) but that was really rewarding to see her be baptized! lots of people brought her gifts and she said thank you to them-- which a few months ago, wouldn't have happened because she didn't know how to thank people. so it was great! but she didn't come to church on Sunday cuz she went to her aunt's house so she'll have to get confirmed next sunday :P
everything's great here and i love my new companion :D scripture for the week: mosiah 18:26 "...but for their labor they were to receive the GRACE of God" the foot note for grace says blessing, reward, wages. and i never thought about it (because this scripture is actually talking about the priests back then of the church that alma was able to helpe establish so i didn't think it had anything to do with me) but whatever we do in our lives, if we labor with all our heart might mind and strength, we can receive blessings temporally and spiritually :)
love you all :)
-sister cho
Pictures: transfers and at the baptism
