week 52: News from Sister Cho

[Note: This Friday is her YEAR MARK! Crazy how time flies :) --Jeehee ]


So a few things first:

Jeehee! your pictures are so so cute! so i show my companion all the pics you send me and she thinks you two are cute! (I have your wedding invite on my bookshelf and we have companionship study everyday where we sit facing each other and sister kim always sees your invite so she was like "oh i'll probably recognize them just walking around on the streets sometime!" lol) 

and daddy- bahahaha 이강호 형제님과의 관계가 좀 복잡하네요 ㅎㅎㅎ i laughed when i read the explanation :D

oh and a few weeks ago, i got papers from the office asking about my DEPARTURE INFORMATION! gahhhh! time is going by so fastttt! anyway, so 엄마 아빠가 나 대릴러 올건지 12월달 까지 알아야되. 비행기 표 때문인가봐요. 못 오셔도 괜찮아요; 그냥 그때까지는 알아야되서 알려드려요 ^^ 생각 해보시고 알려 주세요 :) i guess they like to take care of that stuff early on! sad to think that it's almost over! but i feel like i just startedddd! 

anyway, so the awesome miracle for the week goes something like this: there is this less active lady who we've been meaning to visit but she doesn't like us to come over without calling but when we call she doesn't really want us to come. so then we can't go whether or not we call! so we decided to stick a mini candy bag with a message in it on her door. we had planned to do this on monday but we had an unexpected service opportunity so we didn't get to go. and so we went through the week and hit thursday. we had planned to really go stick that on her door that day during the day time but our schedule got pushed back and changed a bit (this seems to happen a lot! so yay for backup plans :P) and so we didn't have time! but that night at 8pm, her name (not face cuz i have never seen her since i've been here in hongje) just popped into my head. and i was hesitant to bring it up with sister kim cuz i thought maybe it was just me thinking of things and not the spirit (that was a lame thought huh? cuz all good thoughts come through the spirit! like elder bednar said before). but i just kept seeing her name in my head so i just told sister kim that maybe we could go and post that on her door. she was so cool, she was like "oh if you felt like that, then let's go now!" haha she's great. so we went and i was just thinking it wasn't a big deal because we were just sticking something on her door. so anyway, there are 2 flights of stairs to get to her house so we usually use the elevator but we decided to take the stairs because it was only 2 flights. and we went up the first flight and we saw a shadow of someone at the top of the 2nd flight. and i thought "hm, we probably look scary in the dark going up the stairs when people usually use the elevator!" but lo and behold, the lady there was the less active lady! and she said "oh, it's the missionaries! come on in!" and she was real happy to see us! WHAT CRAZY TIMING!!!! really God is really good at this timing things; He's got it down! turns out she was just out for a minute to take out the trash!!!! so we were able to talk and personally deliver a message! IT WAS THE COOLEST THING EVERRR. we were both just in aweee. and she said she'd like us to come back in two weeks!!! WE WERE SO HAPPY. yay for the Spirit!!!!

we also watched conference this past weekend and it was just SO AWESOME. i felt like we were at a movie premier on saturday because all the missionaries in our zone got together to watch it at 신당와드 in english and all the missionaries were so so excited to watch conference! hahaha and on sunday, we watched it with our ward (in korean, so that was a neat experience for me cuz the voices are all very different lol) in honje. anyway, i just want to close with a thought from conference: President Uchtdorf said that we should enjoy the ride and not expect to find happiness at the END! find it during the journey! this reminded me of this member in 금천 who has a few children and she said that when she was raising her first child, she used to get impatient when the baby would do things like take all the tissues out of the tissue box or roll out all the toilet paper! but now, with her 4th child, she's realized that those moments don't last forever and she said she's enjoying them now and she says "oh look at how cute you are in pulling out all those tissues!" lol but it's true! i only have 4 transfers left but i'm going to continue to make everyday meaningful and happy so i hope you all do that as well! :)

love you all!

sister cho

pics: honje subway station :)missionaries in seoul and buk zone practicing a song for a musical number in a fireside this saturday! and the sisters we watched general conference with :) we were lucky to have watched it with president and his wife too! yay seoul zone! :)

week 51: Hello from a Happy Missionary!

dear people i love-

first of all: JEEHEE HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY!!! :D love you so so much sister! you are such a big blessing in my life (as well as a host of other people's lives!) so keep being great; maybe i'll catch up someday! oh and your pictures from last week and your wedding are SO CUTE!!! gahhh! (i don't look so bad as a cardboard cut out ;)

and we watch conference this coming week because we get the DVDs! but i can't believe they changed the age for missionaries! awesomeee!!

So I don't know why the last email didn't get through last week! but yay! you get two this week :P 

So this past week was just miracle-filled, as usual! The high light was that our little miracle investigator, the 12 year old we met on the street came to church yesterday! YAY!!! and guess what the best part is? SHE CAME AND STAYED TIL 12:50PM EVEN THOUGH SHE WAS HAVING HER BIRTHDAY PARTY AT 1PM! She was so cute! she was like "um, would it be okay if i left 10 minutes early today?" and we said if she had to go then that's fine. we asked her if she had something she had to do and she told us it's her birthday party! um, WHO DOES THAT?! that just gave her enough time to run back home! wow! we were so happy :D and during sunday school, SHE GAVE THE CLOSING PRAYER! and it gets better: and when i asked her what she learned in sunday school, she pulled out her Book of Mormon and said, " we learned about prayer in 3 Nephi 13:6-7." SHE REMEMBERED THE REFERENCE! GAHHHH! she's so great :D we are worried because she is worried about what her mom will say about her being baptized, but we're going to prayerfully figure out how we can meet her mom and we're going to really study out what we should say ("obtain the word" first!) anyway, we are SO SO happy that we get to see her progress!

Another miracle happened on Saturday. Sister Kim and I wanted to attend this musical fireside put on by a church scholarship foundation but the person we wanted to take couldn't make it :( so we were bummed that we couldn't go ㅠ ㅠ But we decided to go with our back up plan which was going to English class in 불광 now that 서대문 is combined with 신촌 and too far away from us. On our way there, we felt like we should call our investigator who was interested in learning english but she's always really busy with her two kids. but we called her anyway because we felt like we should. and she said, "oh, i'm glad you called. i was debating on whether or not i should go, but i guess i will now! where can i come pick you up?" YAY SPIRIT!!! so she just dropped what she was doing, and she came to pick us up to give us a ride there! BUT IT GETS BETTER. So while we were waiting for her to come get us, we got a call from one of our members who said she had a referral; one of her friends she just met like a few minutes ago was interested in english class so she gave us her number and asked us to call her! we did, but we weren't really expecting her to come today because English class started in 20 minutes. but she said, "oh okay, can i go today? and can i bring my 5th grade son?" WHAT?! we were so surprised! OF COURSE YOU CAN! :P So we added 3 new people to english class!!!!!!! and they really thought it was fun, and the referral lady asked us about the Book of Mormon and was really good with accepting what we explained to her! sister kim and I were like about to cry because we saw so many blessingssssss! it's so interesting that sometimes, what we plan for ourselves is not what God has planned for us. And when we try our best to do all that we can, God just shows us His plan for us (which is way better than what we plan for ourselves!) and blesses us with miracles! We heard that the musical fireside was good from the other missionaries, but we know, without a shadow of a doubt, that we were supposed to go to English class today! Heavenly Father is so so amazing :D

Thought for the week: I read something in a past Liahona by Elder O. Vincent Haleck of the 70 and his father's motto was this: "if it's worth doing, it's worth doing right." whatever good we are going to do, we might as well do it 100%, do it fully, and give it our all! because it is in thoroughness we find satisfaction. And that's when we show Heavenly Father our faith. and that's when we see blessings pour into our lives! 

Love you all!
sister cho

pictures
sister kim and i were at a harvest festival that they held in front of gwanghwamun and we got to make bouquets with rice plants and try on "king's clothes" lol it was so so fun! :D

week 50: happy Chuseok!

Dear People I Love,

Happy happy 추석!! We're emailing today (Tuesday) because everything on Monday was closed because of the holiday season! It's such a big holiday here! Traffic was really really bad starting Friday evening because EVERYONE goes to visit their parents/grandparents for the weekend! It was really interesting because on Saturday and Sunday, there were really not very many people on the streets because everyone was gone! it was an interesting feeling being in "empty" seoul lol It's back to normal now though :)

 

Sunday, we were invited to two 식사s: for lunch, we went to a ward member's house and for dinner, we were invited over to 남복출 감독님's house of 서대문 ward. Both were so much fun! So i actually found out the 2nd Sunday i was in 홍제 ward that the family who invited us for lunch is actually related to me! lol 이강호b is somehow related to 할아버지 :D so that was a fun lunch appointment :) and when we went to dinner, the bishop had invited the temple president and his wife and also all the people working at the temple too! So it was so fun being able to talk to those familiar people that we see when we go to the temple but never had a chance to get to know! And turns out they all know you daddy! (one lady said she grew up with you and she sang opera with you at a fireside once! and one couple said that they stayed at our house in Pleasant Grove! small small world!) Anyway, it was such a fun night! and the food was SO SO good!! :)

 

anyway, something cool happened on monday that i want to share. So the missionaries in our mission are advised to talk to 20 people every day about our message and on monday, our evening schedule was a little tight so we had talked to exactly 20 people and we were on our way to visit a member. Usually, sister kim and i try to talk to more than that but on monday, that's all we had time for. But we saw a lady at a bus stop with her son after we had talked to the 20th person for the day. And we felt like we should talk to her so we did. She was a little cold and clearly said she wasn't interested in our message or in receiving our card. BUT THEN, her son, who looked like 11 or 12, said "hey mom, but I want that card!." and the mom was a little surprised and was taken off guard by her son but still said she wasn't interested. but the son said 2 more times that he wanted to take our card! So HE TOOK OUR CARD. and kept looking at it even after we left! sister kim and i were just so amazed at the miracle we saw in talking to the 21st person! we really see miracles when we push ourselves just a little more than what we think we can do, because that's the point in which we rely fully on Heavenly Father! that's the thought i'd like to leave for this week: we really see miracles when we just push ourselves a little more than what we think we can do! and never delay a promtping, as elder Evans taught last conference! He said miracles happen and lives are changed when we act on those promptings we receive!

 

anyway, love you all! have a great week :D

 

sister cho

 

pics

bishop's kids in hanboks on sunday for chuseok!

the family i'm related to who invited us for lunch!

week 49: another fabulous week in seoul

Dear People I Love:

life here is fabulous as always :) so here's what happened in a nutshell:

1. We had temple day on Tuesday, and of course, since 할머니 할아버지 are so 열심히 and diligent in attending the temple, I was unexpectedly able to see them there! and the weather was so so nice! seriously, fall in korea is the BEST!!! and to be at the temple in the nice weather with family i love, there was nothing more i could ask for :)

2. This past Thursday, we had a Mission Tour and President Ringwood visited our mission! His wife spoke about how hard things are worth it when you look back after it's over! So she encouraged us to keep going and gave us a "mom's pep talk!" And then President Ringwood talked to us about how we can prepare for the upcoming General Conference because our Heavenly Father can really answer our prayers through the talks given at this time. He told us this story of how last conference, there was a man who had a child who was very sick. And he was in the hospital and he was just emotionally a wreck because he cared so much for his child and it was just so hard for him to see his child sick. On Sunday, he was sitting at the hospital and the thought popped up into his head that maybe he could get General Conference on his phone. So he turned it on. Elder Nelson and Elder Rasband both spoke back to back about people with disabilities. And this man just happened to tune into conference right at the time when one of these two speakers (can't remember which one it was) stated beautifully and peacefully that some of the sweetest of God's spirits are sent to earth in frail bodies. And then the doctor came into the room so he had to turn off his phone. But through those 30 seconds, this man received the message that he needed to hear from God. President Ringwood then stated that our Heavenly Father is aware of us and our lives, down to each second. Are we prepared to allow his hands work miracles in our lives? It was just a great spiritual meeting!!!

3. Our investigator that we miraculously met on the street, remember the 12 year old girl? She came to church! And the primary kids were really noisy and loud for some reason this past Sunday and so I was so afraid that she wouldn't like being here. But all I could do is pray so i just kept praying in my heart and begged Heavenly Father to have her feel the Spirit somehow. And you know what? when people are prepared, it doesn't matter if there is a huge typhoon trying to swallow them up; they are solid and steadfast. and she told us that she liked it and we're meeting her next week too! God really works in mysterious ways!!! And we taught her the 1st lesson and she hugged the Book of Mormon we gave her so so tight when we asked her to read the introduction--like literally hugged it with a huge smile on her face! She said she wants to get baptized!!! MIRACLE! We're planning on October 20th but we have to make sure we get permission from her mom so we're going to prayerfully meet and talk to her mom this week! Gahh! there are so many other small details that i wrote in my journal but I don't have much time so i'll write more later :P

Jee: thanks for your email! you and max look like you're having so much fun!!!! and nope, i don't think i have anything else I need for now :) but i'm not in a rush so don't worry! Also, i need your new address!! and if you could, could you get me Stephanie Averett's address through my facebook? She got baptized while i was in Salt Lake and i want to write her but I don't have her address! Send her a message through FB and see if you can get a hold of her if you have time :) love you sis!!

Daddy: your letter was so touching :) 늘 감사해요 아빠 엄마. 행복한 가정이 있다는 것이 얼마나 큰 축복인지 매일 매일 깨닫고 있어요. 사랑해용~ ^^

Thought: President Ringwood said that what kept nephi going and what allowed him to say "I will go and do" is found in 1nephi 2:16-the end. Simply said, he found out for himself that these things are true. And never strayed from it :) may we all do so if we haven't yet :)

love you all!

sister cho:) 

pics: from the templ with our president's wife and 할머지 :)! i'll send more later!

week 48: once upon a time in korea

dear family and friends,

I don't have much time today so i will quickly update you on the miracles that happened this past week:

1. So there was this 12 year old girl we met on our way to a less active member's house last week; she was walking and sister kim said "hi" in english and then looked at me and i didn't even see who she was talking to but i turned around and took the que and continued in english with "how are you" and that's really all it took to see a huge smile on this cute girl's face! and we talked and set up an appointment to meet! and guess what? SHE REALLY CAME! and she said that her parents don't have a preference of what church she and her sisters attend! and she was really excited to come to our church and asked about the kids her age, and guess what? turns out that she already knows a family in our ward because they used to live next door to them and so the kids played together all the time! and the families have a good relationship with each other already! MIRACLE :D yay for awesome solid membersss! and she said that she wants to come to church next week and she gave the closing prayer too! sister kim and i were like, whoa, what just happened! where did you come from?! so we're going to meet her every saturday and teach the lessons and we're going to get the member family to continue being awesome and being friends with her family! we are so so excited!

2. we were able to attend stake conference on sunday and we found out that the seoul stake and the north stake are now combined! and 서대문 신촌 wards are combined too! everyone was really surprised to hear that! it's a lot of change but it was so awesome to see how all the members were optimistic about this and taking it as a chance to progress and grow together. because sometimes, change is necessary for progression :) and we were able to hear from Elder Kikuchi too! he talked about his favorite childrens' story: Lambert the Sheepish Lion and he was a real fun story teller ;) it's a story about a lion who grew up with sheep and then when a pack of wolves attack, he realized that he's not the son of a sheep; he's the son of a lion. and he said that likewise, many of us don't fully know that we are sons and daughters of our Heavenly Father. It was such a spiritual meeting! before we knew it, it was time to go! wow the 2 hours just flew by! and i also saw all these people that i knew before from 서대문 ward including 할머니 할아버지 and it was neat; i love them :)

ahh no time! i'll share more later! thought of the day: someone said that the trials that lie before us are never bigger than the power of God behind us. So true; even though sometimes, our planners look white and clean because we don't have many appointments, things just keep happening and we just keep seeing miracles as we do out best because it's not our work, it's His. 

love you all!

Sister cho

pictures:

teaching a new member lesson to one of our primary converts!

a picture of me and all my companions! (sister hill went home this past transfer! time seriously flies!)

week 47: hello :D

family and friends-

in case you're wondering, korea is just amazinggg :D it's more amazing now because there's a nice fall breeze!!! it's perfect :) anyway, i can't believe another week flew by! Here are the miracles for this week:

1. we met this 20 year old girl who attends 고려대 (very smart girl!) and she is the daughter of a less active lady. And they happened to be at church a few weeks ago; she is going to Provo to do a short study abroad and so we had lunch at 고대 this past Tuesday and it was so fun! She said she wants to meet again :) so we are hoping to start lessons with her to see if she is interested in learning more about the church! yay for nice people who like being around missionaries :)

2. on Saturday, we were able to go and do baptisms for the dead with our fabulous recent convert!!! crazy huh? she was baptized just last week, and this week she's doing baptisms for the dead! SHE IS SO SOLID! and at church, we had a lunch prepared afterwards and she was helping out and doing dishes and just being amazing! :D sister kim and i were just so happy to see how truly converted she is! During relief society, she talked about how she is planning on introducing this beautiful gospel to her family! and she's already in Jacob in the Book of Mormon (she's already read the whole thing so she's reading it again already!) I think it was Elder Bednar who said that a testimony is what you know to be true and conversion is being true to what you know; this 자매님 has a testimony and is truly convertedddd!! :D 

3. our ward mission leader is awesome; he bought us sweet potatoes so guess what? to wrap up an awesome week, sister kim and i made SWEET POTATO FRIES! yum. 

thought for the day: President Eyring said in a priesthood session of conference, "Form a habit of pushing through the fatigue and fear that might make you think of quitting... spiritual staying power comes from working past the point where others would have taken a rest." i've realized on the mission that that's the point where miracles happen; when we've pushed to the edge :) love you all! have a fabulous Spirit-filled week!

sister cho

pictures

we 배달ed chicken for dinner once and it was soooo yummy! and so convenient too :D

our seoul zone picture!

(note: sonhee's ballet flats tan line. teehee. --jeehee)

week 46: life is good

hello family and friends!

I don't have much time today so i just want to tell you about the baptism we had this past Saturday! It was such a miracle to say the least! We mraculously finished all the lessons this past week and the coolest thing was that every time we met, she already had talked to her husband about the topic for the day the night before--even though we hadn't told her what we'd be talking about! So she understood everything and actually shared several experiences dealing with the topics that i was able to learn from and be strengthened through! SHE IS SOLID. Sister Kim and I were just so happy for the couple :D On the day of the baptism, we made chocolate cake (엄마 cake mix 잘 썼어용 ^^) and these yummy cracker things so that was fun :) and the couple was dressed in white and IT WAS THE MOST BEAUTIFUL THING I'VE EVER SEEN!!!!! We all felt like we were floating on clouds in heaven; and let me tell you, it's not a bad feeling ;) On Sunday, the husband bore his testimony saying "I'm happy because God loves me. I'm happy because I have a wonderful wife who is the love of my life. And I'm happy because that love of my life just got baptized yesterday." The spirit was soooo strong! gahhh what more can i say than that there has to be a God who loves us and who is working real hard and is doing everything He can for us to be happy!!

 

A thought I want to leave with you: I've been continuing my studies in the Book of Mormon in Helaman and I've realized how important it is to REMEMBER; remember what we've been taught, the cousel we have been given, and the miracles that we see. Helaman's sons Nephi and Lehi remember what their names mean, they remember the counsel their father gave them, and they remember the words of King Benjamin. From remembering these important things, they gain more strength and motivation to go out and do missionary work amongst the people who are getting more and more wicked. Helaman 5:14 says, " and they did remember his words; and therefore they went forth, keeping the commandments of God, to teach the word of God among all the peole of Nephi..." How neat is that? and it all stemmed from remembering! we all have been SO SO BLESSED with parents and church leaders who teach us the gospel, we receive counsel from our living prophet, and we too see miracles in our lives. and guess what? we too can go about doing good like Nephi and Lehi as we REMEMBER.

 

Love you all. Have a great week :)

 

Sister Cho

 

Pictures:

we had a sisters' conference so these are our amazing sisters of the Seoul Korea Mission :)
and of course the newest member of Hongje Ward :D