October 13, 2013 - The Lives and Times.

This week has been AWESOME! and about three lifetimes long. 

 

Sister Sieverts and I have only been together for a week...we keep forgetting and remembering, and then I freak out a little. I've said it before, but time is so weird here. 

 

So...I may have been a little depressed at the beginning of the week. And last week. And about 6 or so weeks before that. I'm not very good at recognizing how miserable I am until I come out of it. But that was two lifetimes ago. During that lifetime, we had a lesson with an English interest investigator, who loves her previous relationships with missionaries, just that they were super nice, fun, and upstanding people. Anyway, we taught her and her daughter about families and the Book of Mormon, and her daughter cried a little while we were testifying about the blessings that come through the Book of Mormon, that I have found peace when things are rough (and that has never been more true than the past couple weeks - its still hard, but there is peace about it)  and that through the message of the gospel, our family has become strong. And we taught another investigator we've been meeting for a while about the blessings that come through fasting. She really likes meeting with us, and is progressing as she understands more about the gospel, but she is hesitant about making large changes in her life, like going to church every week and receiving baptism (I'll probably say it that way for the rest of my life, because that's how it translates :)) etc...so we're working on that :) And we had a lesson with our investigator in the picture - we're teaching her a little English, but she has religious interest too, and came to conference this week! :D miracle :)

On Wednesday, I had an interview with President Christensen - he is an inspired man. I don't think interviews are supposed to be therapy sessions, but this one was. Therapy with the Spirit works miracles though :) And now I am happy! That was one lifetime ago. During this one, we met some 전도사s - that's one thing I like about being a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we talk with people rather than at people. They were trying to convert us by giving us a long ol' presentation. Anyway.

bahahha  too many things! I only have 2 hours to type!

 

So I'm not going to talk in schedule terms or anything anymore, because I still have parts of two lifetimes to talk about and stuff. SO! This may be confusing and have no timeline, but it's the more exciting stuff ;)
SO! CONFERENCE! It was AWESOME! I want to watch it again and again and again and again. BUT, we have work to do! Anyway, there's a lot I want to talk about and a lot I learned, but, for the sake of time, I'm going to ask you, as a missionary, to do like Elder Ballard said and have the courage and faith to pray for those missionary opportunities! Consistently and forever and ever :) I promise promise promise that as you pray for those and look and have the courage and faith to take advantage of them when they come up, you will see SO many miracles. Because guess what. That's the way it works out here in the field! In a lot more concentrated manner, that's all we do, but the principles are the same. Have faith for those opportunities, and Heavenly Father will give them to you :D Miracles are an amazing thing, huh? And I've got a few more that happened this week :)

 

You know how we fasted, and I said those miracles would come? Well, they are :) in a bunch of ways that I don't have time to write them all, but I'll just start talking ;)

 

After we got home from conference, we were talking to people on a street corner, and walking back and forth, and then a man walks up to me and says (in English, too!), "you're Mormon, right? I have some questions." Sweet! Go for it! So we talked to him on the street for a while (he's an English teacher here from Canada) and he had some deep questions that philosophy couldn't answer, but that the gospel could. I LOVE being a missionary for the true and restored gospel! :D Anyway, questions about how God could simultaneously be all knowing, but we have the ability to choose. And what really happens after we die - and we could answer him, not just "this is what we think", but "this is how it works, and this is why, and not just because we say so, but you can learn for yourself through your own study of the Book of Mormon that it's true." We're just 20 year-old girls running around trying to speak a different language, but we can, with this book, answer questions that philosophers have not been able to answer for centuries. And it's just a book - no magic or anything, you can read it like any other book, but it has TRUTH in it, something you don't just find laying on the street these days. He used to be a missionary for another church, but is no longer Christian because he couldn't figure out the answers, but this, my dear friends, is where you find them :) But anyway, he said he'd come to conference the next day! He asked if there was a spiritual leader he could meet, and there is, but they all speak Korean...and he doesn't. So we told him that, but then guess what? President Christensen came to our stake's general conference that day! So they talked for a long time, and so now he will read the Book of Mormon, and look on LDS.org and everything. It's always nice when people ask Mormons what they believe. Like President Christensen said, you wouldn't ask a Ford dealer about the new Honda model, but for some reason, people ask everyone who isn't Mormon about what Mormons believe. Anyway! So that's big :) (except he doesn't live in our area at all...up near North Korea. but he comes here on the weekends, so we may have to let someone else teach him :()

 

Another quick miracle, not ours....but the elders in our ward met a kid on the street who wasn't really interested and gave him a Book of Mormon...and you know how hard it is for people to want to read sometimes? Well, the kid called back a few days later and said ,"Well, I haven't finished it yet; it's a pretty big book, but I'll like to learn a bit more about it..."  He read through Alma 23! Exclamation point! (I'm going to use that forever and ever. And when I use that, I will remember that talk about taking just a few easy steps (with faith :D) to member missionary work. I hope you do TOO! :D)