One more report~

Thanks for questions, it really helps email :)

Sister T___ is great :) She's from New Zealand.

Next ten days....good question. We're trying to do a Family Home Evening with President and Sister P___ and their family and the H___ family and probably saying good bye to a lot of people - it's a really fantastic branch and I feel really blessed to have gotten to know so many great people and examples here.

About the general transition, I'm feeling excited and 억찌로 (if you think of taking Nellie for a walk, and she wants to sniff and you pull, she takes very "억찌로" steps. That kind of meaning.), and slightly nervous, and entirely non-chalant (it's just another week, with it's own challenges and excitements, maybe just a different flavor)....so all of the above. I'll cherish the people I've met, a deeper understanding of the gospel, especially the Restoration, and being involved with everything. I'll miss kimchi, and the grandmas, who all say the same thing when they see you, and being able to testify and learn so often.

I'm excited to be home, where I feel like I know what's going on and how to do a good job. I'm looking forward to school, and terrified of dating (you'd be surprised how often people bring that up when you're hitting your missionary tag expiration date).

The hike was fun! Not as many people came as we were hoping, but it was pretty good - though note to you all, if you would like a nice, relaxing hike, don't put a bunch of soldiers in charge of leading you through a mountain (also, the "switchback" method has not been applied in the Korean mountains. Just saying :)) but it was really quite fun, we hit a couple peaks, and it was beautiful :)

See you relatively soon! 

P.S.

Today was a thinking day during the first hour of stud;, there were a lot of great things to mull over from church and such yesterday. But just a couple of thoughts I felt like sharing -

A brother talked about overcoming an addiction, mentioning that the 12 step program helped him to know that  it is only through Christ that he could overcome it, that it benefits anyone as well, that we all have attachments to Babylon, and it also helps us to understand each other, to have compassion for when someone is going through the process of repentance, as opposed to a culture of perfection - I just was thinking today about how Christ, our Savior, was perfect, but also a man of sorrows, well aquainted with grief, so that He may know how to succor us according to our infirmities (Isaiah53; Alma7:11-12) And as we strive to become more like him, we must learn that compassion - it makes us people who are willing to follow His example. I'm not sure if that idea completely came across, but think on it :)

All that and just that I'm very grateful, grateful for these opportunities to testify alongside the Spirit, to know that Heavenly Father knows me, and you and our brothers and sisters, and he knows what we need and he sends that person to give you the words you need to hear, or whatever else it may be. I'm grateful for my Savior, for the Father's plan, for repentance, and that all will be made right through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. I'm grateful to be able to continue serving and being a missionary in a different capacity at home.

See you all soon, and love you lots~~~

Sister Thomas the elder

Snapshot!

It's been a good week full of craziness and lots of good work~ 

We'll be hiking with a lot of the single soldiers today! It'll be really fun and a good way to get to know each other too :)
 

I'm both very excited and kind of in denial about coming home. It's going to be the best to see you all again (minus Sister Thomas the younger, of course) but I can send you a package for a lot cheaper - :P ) but there will be a lot to miss here! A lot of wonderful people that I wish you could all meet, and the opportunity to testify of Christ, and the Restoration, and see the light of the gospel grow in the lives of others as they come to feel that God has a plan for them.
Sister Thomas

Letters and Such!

We had an absolutely beautiful trip to the temple on Saturday with the branch and especially J___. She shared her testimony on Sunday and said that it was easily the most spiritual experience of her life. The members there were wonderful, we didn't know a lot of them from the other branches, but they just picked her up and helped show her around - there were two other girls, B___ and A___, who were doing baptisms for the first time, too. It's a privilege to serve in the temple. 
We've seen the L___'s twice this week, and they came to the little Halloween gatherings, as well - they're doing well -- really love the Joseph Smith story, especially visions, and Brother L--- said that as he's been learning the last week and a half, it's everything he ever thought about God, and the way that he has always understood His workings, and is very happy to find someone teaching these things. There seems to be a hesitancy about baptism, however - maybe because it's still new, maybe something else, but when we ask, something seems to get lost in translation to French. We'll keep trying, but are very grateful for the influence and power of pure truths.
We've also seen K___ twice this week - she is willing to be baptized, and likes what she's finding, but she still hasn't come to church or met anyone from the ward at activities yet...
We didn't get to meet the J___ family formally, but saw them a few times on the street, and have an appointment for Wednesday, and we'll bring them to an activity at the Branch, a good-bye for the H___'s and a meet-the-J___ -girls all in one. The branch sounds quite excited to have a large family to work with :)


 

Greetings~

It's been another good week in D___ - two new families came to church yesterday! 

E___ (who only speaks French) and R___ (who we asked the U___to visit in the hospital, and he works with a member in the ward) came to the service at J___, and we met with them that night, and they were so impressed by the warm welcome from the members, and felt the Spirit in the simpleness of the service, as well as when they got our text inviting them to church - R___ said he felt that "it was time" - they still don't know a lot, but are so willing to learn and in tune with the Spirit~

J___ and J___ and their four children came to the service on post this week, as well as the chili dinner after, and got to meet a lot of members -- there were a surprising number of families there yesterday, which was quite a blessing for a service geared to the single soldiers. All kinds of miracles! They said they really liked sacrament meeting, and felt good. 

We met with the O___ on Monday, and A___ and A___ used their CPR journals we gave them, and A___ sure searched the scriptures! 

Other miracles - after the post service, I saw W___ , a recent convert from ___! Also, in the office, they found 60000 won that I wasn't paid in ___ ...which is great. And then, in addition to the blessing last week, Sister Pihl had a dream that also really helped me to know that Heavenly Father really does know where I am and has faith in my future. We met a sister again on the train that we had met months ago, and this time we could get her connected up with the sisters in ___; we had no way to get dinner on Sunday night, but E___ and R___ gave us some ramen to take with us without us even asking. I got to go back to Korea for a day with Sister B___ , and see just how much is different. We met some great people on the street as well~

Overall, things are going well! It's always beautiful to see the hand of the Lord in the details.
Thanks!
Sister Thomas

So this week was really strange, though, too - schedule-wise, anyway. In an awesome way :)

Monday wasn't P-day, but because of that we got to meet up with the O___ , which is always hard to do - they're so busy! We went with the Elders to give A___ a blessing - poor girl has walking pnuemonia. But even though she "hacked all through the night" she still read the scriptures we gave her. She's the best, I wish you all could meet her! 

Tuesday, we went down to Seoul to get my passport to take care of the ID I lost - though while we were there, we stopped by one of my former investigators from S___ - shes doing good, but the sisters haven't called her, so hopefully they can all get connected up again :) She's really great!

Wednesday, we went with M___, an 18 year old sister, to help teach a little English at the orphanage. She LOVES volunteering, and it's a great way to get her involved and such! Super fun!

Thursday I went on an exchange back to real Korea (our area is America/Africa/Philippines/Korea) - Guess what! I haven't lost all my Korean! Hooray! :P We met some great people on the street, though!

Friday was P-day.

We left our mission boundaries. We went to North Korea this week!

Yep, the long-awaited DMZ trip. We went in a tunnel that North Korea dug, saw "propaganda city" from a distance -- buildings without floors, houses with painted on windows, all so you could see how prosperous North Koroea was from our vantage point. We also got to go the the Joint Security area - the small area that is heavily guarded and occupied by both countries, where they meet to discuss issues and such - and when you walk in that building where they discuss, you can cross over the officiall line, and go about ten feet into North Korea. It's a very tense area~ But so interesting to see and learn about it all.

Short and sweet~

Hello! 

I've been asked to keep it "short and sweet" this week because our zone is switching our P-day this week - we're going to the DMZ! 

Mom, to answer your question, yep! I'm in the same area, strangely fantastic bubble of America in the middle of Korea, serving with Sister T___ for one more transfer~ 

I'm very grateful for the priesthood power and blessings. We had a chance a couple of hours ago to give A___, an 11-year-old investigator with pneumonia, poor thing, a blessing with the Elders (fun fact: Elder W___ just got transferred to our area; we served together for only one transfer when we all got to Korea~), and she said after, "I just feel really cool, really good. It's really cool to have someone pray over you." And I also got a blessing from Elder Pihl on Saturday, and it was quite a testament of blessings, that the words are really not the words of the person giving the blessing - there were elements of blessings that dad has given me, of my patriarchal blessing, and a blessing I've received in the MTC ~ Heavenly Father truly does know us quite deeply~ 

Anyway, love you all lots! Have a great week :)

Sister Thomas

Hello hello!

For the sake of time, I'll just share and experience from my email home this week - We had a lesson with the P___ family this week, where we planned to talk about the Plan of Salvation, but then K___told us all about her sister, who's getting into about every form of trouble...it's hard for K___ because she's always been the one to help, especially when no one else will, but they're all the way over here in Korea. She has great faith, but it was just at the "helpless" point. We invited her to fast, and just shared testimony of how fasting has helped us in the past, and how when I don't know what to do anymore, fasting reminds me that it's all in Heavenly Father's hands, but that I can ask for help. We told her we'd fast with her, and asked their member friends to join as well, and we all fasted this weekend. (and they came to conference! You can always count on conference :) We need to call and see how it went!) Anyway, it was just an experience that increased my testimony of fasting -- I don't even know the outcome yet, but am grateful for the opportunity to pray and fast and fast and pray. 

Also, miracle of the week - a sister, E___, who speaks only French, recognized we were missionaries and motioned us into her house, exchanged numbers, etc. -- though of course, it's hard to communicate. This week she told us that her husband was in the hospital, and she was quite stressed and depressed - we called ___ to come over to her house, and an person who spoke English answered the phone...it was J___ - a sister we've talked to outside that door at her workplace quite a lot.  We're really good friends, but she has no time to meet with us (her personality and strength reminds me of S___ a little bit) and she invited us over to her house to see E___. On the way walking over, we ran into Sister Pihl in the car, and A___- who speaks beautiful French! We all went over to J___'s house and talked to E___, and are currently getting in contact with her husband in Seoul through the U___, and arranging a blessing in French with a less-active soldier and President Huezo up here in D___. It's amazing how our paths are prepared to aid in the rescue effort together. 

We met M___ a while back in English class (she's Korean, and actually started coming before I got to this area), and over the course of English class spiritual messages, and nice missionaries (she's explained what I like to term the "happiness fairy" effect that people seems to notice in missionaries -- I'm not sure how elders would feel about that term), and a music night at the ward, where she saw a lot of happy families, she decided she "wanted to learn Mormon". 

And so we've been meeting with her for a while! You know the "teaching people without a Christian background" section of Preach my Gospel, Sister Thomas the Younger? That's M___. Her only background is mission school, where they taught her the Bible, but she never really got it. She wants to know, but (as is typical among Koreans - teaching is very head-knowledge based and emotion is a little shunned) has a hard time feeling/recognizing what we explain as the Spirit. But she's leaning and growing quite slowly but wonderfully~And she came to general conference this weekend! YAY! And not just came, but she was watching VERY intently. She comes to Family Home Evenings an hour away with us every Monday night, and is becoming really good friends with A___, a recent convert (whose personality/learning-wise, is very similar to M___), and L___, another investigator who is a guard at Camp Casey.

Always waaaaaaaaaay too much to say. But! Generally, conference was absolutely beautiful! Lots of direction for lots of people I know, including me. I especially felt like "six steps" was written especially to me. Love it. 

Got to go. Love you all lots!

Sister Thomas the Elderrrrrrrr

Alert!!

Hello, hello! I'll probably just tell you one story this week, because it was the big happening -

J___ was already to go, we'd taught her everything, she loves it all. We had the baptism planned at 4 o'clock, Sunday, though we heard that the army was planning an alert, so we moved it up to 2 o'clock, enough time to travel to the U___ church (it has a font) and prepare. All the ward was notified. Hooray!

But as we got to church, we kept hearing rumors that the alert was going to take place earlier and earlier (from very credible sources, mind you - it's amazing how many people in our branch are high ranking military officers) and so we had to change it really quickly to 1 o'clock.

The alert is a Korea-wide army exercise, where they put all the soldiers sort of "on-call", where they need to be ready to be on the base at any moment. We joked that J___ is so awesome, that Satan tried to get the whole army against her for her baptism :P 

Then we jumped in the car before church was done, sped there, had a quick baptismal service (most of the people we planned for talks/prayers/music/programs couldn't be there because of the time change, but it worked out well) -- just a wonderful, wonderful time for her. She said "Thank you, guys" before she went into the font, and after, just said that everything was behind her now, and she was ready to move on. It was simple and beautiful. Not all according to plan, but all that it needed to be -- her and the Lord <3 

And the sergent called right after the baptism as we were in the car, ordering the alert. She got back on time, and it all worked out. 

miracles, miracles :)

We've got to split, but love you lots and talk to you next week! 

Sister Thomas

Never thought I'd help at a traditional African wedding~

Maybe I'll just start at "Sunday" this week, because that's what I remember best! 

Well, J___, who will be baptized this week (the member's joke about her as "the third missionary" because she's our age and is always with us at church and activities :)), and M___, who is Korean but speaks English super well (we had a good lesson on Saturday with her and R___, a brother who has recently found Christ and the Spirit again, they're good friends from family home evening (magic happens there!).  She seems to understand the Spirit a little better, which is a step up; she doesn't have much of a concept of God and is a little skeptical, though wants to know at the same time, anyway), and ___, a sister who the Pihl's met at the army base (she's been watching the missionaries come in and out for about three years, and a couple weeks ago met them on the train and told them she wanted to come to church, brought her sister last week and husband this week (though unfortunately, neither of the speak English, so it's a little hard for them at the English branch...) -- all three of them came to church this week! (How's that for a run on sentence! I've discovered I'm a very circular talker.  I start in one place, get off subject explaining, add in a couple of opinions, and then bring it full circle to the original point. I've met a couple more circular talkers like me here :) though unfortunately, circle talkers like us require a lot of time...)

And then we went to the post service on Camp Casey, a short sacrament meeting for soldiers who can't get off to base to come to the full meeting (usually they keep them on the base for a while so they don't run off and get in trouble in the "ville" or other sketchy places that I've never been nor want to go...), where S___ didn't come (pout. She promise for like, the past three months :() and spaghetti dinner after! We do that every Sunday now, the B___ family heads it up, Sister B___, wearing her tiara and blue mascara and apron, cooks all the soldiers spaghetti and "rollsticks", and the kids decorate a surprise dessert for us and make everyone eat it before the spaghetti's done :) (a real blessing, because without spaghetti dinner, it's really hard for us to eat on Sunday, since we are about an hour away from our area~). We had a great lesson with J___ and Sister B___  about the gospel of Jesus Christ~ I'm so thankful for the "perfect brightness of hope" in the gospel.

Also, A___ was baptized either yesterday or today! Hehe, I'm not exactly sure :) She's a very special person that most people don't really understand. Originally a kind of smart, mean, funny shell about her personality, but a very hesitantly, drivenly, sincere and deep inside. She's one not to put in a box. We've all been working with her for months; she doesn't want formal lessons, but through her own personal study, and finally fasting, she went from no concept of God to, finally, baptism. But technically, it's a secret - she and the Pihls went all the way out to the coast to be baptized in the sea. It is a very special, private event for her. I'm so happy. She's one who will stick it out till the end~ It's amazing to see the change the Spirit has worked in her over the past few months~

And then we headed over to S___'s house to help her out with her wedding! It was really interesting being in the middle of it; it was a little hard because we were needed to help things run semi-smoothly and keep things under control, but we were never briefed on how things were going to play out~ but anyway! After a lot of stress with late photographers and dresses and bridesmaids that didn't show up and such (African timing is significantly later than normal; if they say they'll be there in # minutes, times it by 2 and add 5 more minutes :)), we got there! I don't have my cord for you today, but I wish you could see the costumes - Bright, colorful dresses, matching man's clothes, head wraps, etc - maybe google "Nigerian wedding clothes"? Friends kept throwing money at them, and there's a special ceremony with a kola nut, and a cup (a little drama in the back room, "no, we CAN'T use wine! We don't drink!!! Go S___! ) They came in dancing and we were prepped for costume changes. Lots of members from the ward came. We saw a lot of S___'s friend that we've either taught a little or asked to teach them, it was great.

It's Been a Good Week

It's been a good week!

I'm learning to delegate all over again - That is one lesson that, unfortunately, I feel like I have to learn again every situation .  Hopefully, one day it'll be natural :)  But companionship is less stressful, misunderstood, or polar. Hooray!

So we have quite a happy story for this week! C___, from China, married for a year to a soldier (one of the mushiest couples~ they're adorable :) ), her family has started joining the church over the course of a few years.  She joined with her aunt, uncle and cousin eight years ago, and has been praying for her parents ever since. Her mother joined a year ago before she was married, and her grandparents, staunch Buddhists, joined a few weeks ago, and her father, around the same time, decided to be baptized as well.  So he and his wife came to Korea for a couple weeks so that Brother S___ could baptize him. So we met him on Friday, taught for four hours, Sister S___ translating into Chinese, and then Saturday morning, too; interview (our zone leader speaks Chinese!), and then baptism on Sunday! Wow! But it was beautiful to see this family come together!

An even more beautiful element; our companion, Sister L___, has a similar situation - she and her sister joined the church over eight years ago; she's been praying for her parents.  Her mother was baptized a few weeks ago - her father is still against it, but so was Brother L___. There is hope :) The Lord is good, and it's beautiful to see these things fall into place :)

Unfortunately, Sister Lee will probably be going home for a bit,  She got her letter from the Birmingham mission, and things are turning out a lot more expensive than she expected -- a LOT. So she's going home to talk about it with her parents, but will probably still be spending lots of time with us. If you can keep her in her prayers, that would be great! 

Lots of other great things, but I'm running out of time.  J___ felt the Spirit at the baptism, and is so excited for hers in a month! We met a family with four kids last night (the girls love us, and know a recent convert, M___!).  We heard back from an investigator that's been out of contact for more than a month and a half,  and all kinds of other goodness and fun-ness. And my wallet was found! In Bosan! A miracle in and of itself :) 

Well, lots of love, I need to email Lauren a little!

Have a lovely week!

Sister Thomas the Elder!

Come unto Christ~

We've spent a lot of time this week saying good bye to people with Sister F____, trying to help Sister L____become oriented to missionary work among all the craziness of appointments and cancellations. My new companion, Sister T____, is from New Zealand, has been in this country about as long as I have, and I think it'll  be good and it'll be fun. It's a weird transition from Korea to America, and there have been some bumps in the threesome, but it should work out alright.

There really isn't a lot to report this week investigator-wise, between traveling hours to meal appointments with members, introducing to members, last-minute appointment cancellations, and a mission conference, and now a day of cleaning, there hasn't been a lot of other stuff going on~

But I do want to share a little expeirence with prayer yesterday - After church, we had a half appointment (made, but not confirmed) with an investigator, who has a history of standing us up over the past few weeks, so we really needed to confirm with her so that, if not, we could go to the bishops house for dinner about two hours away~ she wouldn't answer her phone, and wasn't home - So we prayed to find her, opened our eyes, and hear "hello!". It was another investigator, M____ , off to a wedding with her friend. Kind of fun :) We talked to her for a bit, then went to the investigator's house again - and saw her daughter running down an alley. And so we met H____! And guess what - she cancelled our appointment (we're worried about her!). So we went to the bishop's house. So just a little expeirence to express that Heavenly Father truly does answer the little prayers, especially to forward His work!

This email feels really empty this week, but hopefully this will share a little bit more Spirit~ 

It's a beautiful depiction of the reality of the Atonement in lives. it's Youth'y, but I love it :)

https://www.lds.org/youth/video/come-unto-christ-2014-theme-song?lang=eng

Love you all, and hope you have a beautiful week!
Sister Thomas the Elderrrr

Another week of adventures!!

Yep, it's another week of adventures! 

New companion! Sister C L, a resident of U___ (yes, the ward I'm serving in!) Super funny, cute, and about as Korean as you get :) She's doing a great job learning English for day five - but there are a lot of things to teach, and absolutely no time to do it! (technically, we're not training her, so we don't have an extra hour to go over the missionary basics...) We've had lots of fun adventures~ her mother received the gift of the Holy Ghost, we found a less active member on the street, and taught the P___'s (missionary couple) neighbor (a beautiful lesson full of the spirit, Sister P___ understands the gospel so well, and the potential it holds for people as they work to just make life better and humbly accept the Lord's guidance~ I've learned a lot from her), had all kinds of appointments cancel, horribly stressful three-hour weekly planning, transfer calls~ Sister F____ is leaving :(, a pizza lunch with a member back home from school in Hawaii with all the missionaries, a lesson with a Chinese sister who introduced her Korean friend to us where everyone was translating for each other the whole time, meeting with J____teaching about the restoration and law of chastity - she's getting married! It's amazing how miracles, "coincidences", are happening in her life! Don't you love the guidance of the Spirit?

Well, everyone's waiting for me. I'll probably split right now. Game time!

Love you all!

Sister Thomas the Elderrr

BLITZ! Lots of exciting things :) Though I could not write but a hundredth part...

Well! All sorts of adventures and miracles this week :) 

We'll start with:

이___(L___)- Guess what! We're getting a new companion. No, it's not transfers yet. Another fun fact -- we already know her :) She attends the Korean ward we serve in, and is going to serve as a missionary in England ,but she's going to be serving with us in our little bit of America/Africa/Philippines/Peru for a bit. (And Pakistan). We met a P___ family who we're going to teach again on Tuesday! I've never been so thankful that English is my mother tongue :)) I'm super excited! She's a lot of fun, and it going to be interesting to see if we can fit five people in our tiny house (we're already studying in the living room!) And another special thing - her mother was baptized yesterday!! Sister L___became a member when she was young with her sister, and the other sisters have been teaching her mother for a little while now; it was a very special service! 

J___ & J___ - We met with J___on Thursday, talked about prophets and such, and she said she had read the introduction to the Book of Mormon, and talked about it with her boyfriend, now fiance, a little. She gave us his number to contact the missionaries in his area. We had a missionary meeting, and gave the number to Sister P___ to also contact the military relations missionaries over there, and she says, "J___ (no last name for privacy purposes^^). I've been looking for you!" Apparently she had gotten word that the missionaries had taught him in a previous army base, and that he was coming to Camp Casey (he's at another base). And lo and behold, J___,who we met on the train, is engaged to J___, who already has had contact with the church. And not only that, but we found out on Sunday - he was already baptized! And they want to be married in the temple! How's that for 일사천리?! (il-sa-jol-li), the word that means everything just falls into place, aka MIRACLE! Has the day of miracles ceased? I submit that it has NOT! :D) And she's planning to be baptized in October!!

K___and J___ - We were walking down our normal street in B___, where everyone knows us and we wave to them through the windows. A man and his family stops us; we had seen his family before! (on one of those days that I had no idea why we were where we were, though I do remember distincly that I felt like I should try to remember the twins' names). As their twins played in one of the shops, he introduced us to his Korean friend (we know his wife, and taught her a little once~) and we shared a little about what we do as missionaries, and he started telling us a little bit about her army life, and you could tell it's really dragging him down...But we're going to try and meet on a weekend again :)

J___, J___, A___- Some students we met for the first time we never thought we'd see! They are awesome :) They're from the Philippines and we just had a good, simple talk about God as our Loving Heavenly Father, and how he gives us letters and maps through the Book of Mormon. We're excited to see them again! :D

박___ - A former preacher, interested in English and the gospel, who's met with missionaries quite a lot, wondering about how to get to the Celestial Kingdom. We read the "Book of Mormon Stories" version of the tree of life, and she understood the iron rod so well! (When we sent a text to follow up on her reading the Word of God, she said, "I will catch the rod of iron and be going to go straight and narrow path. Thanks a lot." and she's shared some of the things she's learned~ awesome!) We drew her a map (I might want to send you this, Sister Thomas, the younger, I love this map :)), including the straight and narrow path, commandments, repentance, and covenants, all in scripture chase form. 

신___-She had stopped us on the street one day a while ago, asking if we are the missionaries who teach English, and if we can meet even if she doesn have any religious interest. I was hesitant, because we don't have that much extra time to take away from those who do want to learn about the gospel, but we called her back (granted, this is quite a while later) - she was busy with some work) and she answered the phone, and wanted us over the next day. But we get there, and she says, "No English today," and starts firing off questions about what we believe and what the Book of Mormon is (and this is in a interestrf way, not a Bible-bash-y way, thank goodness). It was awesome; it was like she was teaching us the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ through questions :) "This make sense; it's the same pattern as in the Bible"...Anyway. we're excited :) 

Sister S___- Good news! And fun things: She brought some of her Korean friends to the baptismal service on Sunday! (I just get really excited about member missionary work :)) AND they happened to already know another famly who attends the Korean ward :) I think they had a good time; we're going to try and meet this week :) AND Sister S___'s dad wants to be baptized! He's coming with his wife from China to Korea so that Brother S___can baptize him! We're quite excited :) 

S___- Hard times. She's getting married to a Nigerian member of  our ward (YAY!! :D Awesome couple!) but some of the Nigerians and Liberians don't think they're such an awesome couple. E___, her fiance, got beat up this week, and there's a lot of oppostition from their community, toward both of them and the )hurch (there was a meeting I guess with a lot of Africans who have a Liberian group that's led by a preacher, and they're saying that we're demonic...Because you know me and Sister F___, we're about as scary as you get :P But anyway. It's a problem.) 

Thought/visual of the week: An object always has a shadow, because of the light. If the light source is brighter, the line of the shadow and the shadow itself becomes darker. All this to say, as Elder Corbridge said in the last general conference, the truth will always be opposed, and as Lehi says, there is opposition in all things. Surrounded in darkness, the light of the gospel and light of Christ shines brighter.

Love you ALL! STAY Strong, Stay HAPPY :D The gospel has a lot of happiness in it, and it all centers in Jesus Christ, the light and life of the world. We truly are seekers of light! 

Sister Thomas the Elder

Hey, Hey

This is just a shout out to you all.

Go forward, and not backward. On, on to Victory!

Have a lovely week, Love you ALL!!

Sister Thomas the Elder

Picture of red peppers drying on the road, they're all over the place this time of year. Let's make some spicy food! 

Everything and nothing this week:

I don't quite know where to start~

Um, Monday we went bowling with our district, I ate a 1 pound hamburger, then had an absolutely fantastic family home evening.  There elders shared a powerful message about Christ, and M___, a sister from English class came.  We're going to start meeting and teaching her (we met Sunday and had a good talk about the Book of Mormon and how you can know for yourself if it's true; she's a somewhat skeptical personality :))

Tuesday, all of our lessons fell through. And then we ate dinner with the P___ family!

Wednesday we met with a Korean Sister, B___, who apparently used to be a priest at another church, but now believes that all churches are in apostasy, but the most right one is the newest one, so she attends a church called "N___". She's met with missionaries before, but is really interested in studying about the celestial kingdom and how to get there.

Thursday most of our appointments fell thru. But we did meet with J___! She's wonderful :)

Sunday there were going to be a lot of people at church, so we prepared a lot for that, and it was a good experience for those who came~

A week of finding miracle people, temple, and a little bit of sickness :)

It was both and amazing week and a slow week - As above mentioned, I got a cold, which wasn't fun; and a lot of appointments either weren't made or fell through, but that left time for other miracles :)

We met all kinds of people this week - a 19 year old sister,J___ , working for the army, who said she decided to turn her life over to God about two weeks ago, and then all these great things are happening, including meeting us, getting a position, meeting a boyfriend...she's just a great, bright, happy person! 

And a Philipino sister, N___, who we ran into because someone we wanted to visit wasn't home.  She's been working crazy all-day hours but we sat down in her restaraunt with her, her nine-year-old son, J___, and a sister, J___, who's here visiting her fiance who was baptized last week and came to spend the day helping the missionaries, and shared a bit about the Restoration - she said she grew up Catholic, but it started to become more political than centered on Christ, and so she's been looking for "something" ever since but hasn't quite found it. It was beautiful to be able to promise her it was here if you honestly seek and ask God if this is it or not. And right at the end, her husband, Frank, a soldier who's a little skeptical of religion, but willing to listen, he came and we got to meet him as well! We're quite excited to see them again. 

And the P___! Sister F___ran into K___ all over the place, so she gave us her number, and we met once a week or two ago. And then on Sunday, Sister P___, on her way out the door, says something about us and their family and K___ and her family eating dinner together on Sunday...What? The K___ we're thinking of? It turns out that their kids play together a lot, so they know each other pretty well! So we all had dinner together yesterday while the kids played, and then shared a message about Christ. Hopefully we'll see them tonight at family home evening/dinner at the P___'s house!

As for other adventures, we met a 15-year-old sister, C___ , who was baptized in December, and then kind of fell off the face of the earth... She's so funny, and loves the missionaries :) We had dinner together to get to know each other, find out where she is, and such - She loves the church, but is a busy student (it's hard to understand how busy they are here - when people say "Asians are smart!", it's because they work hard and study hard. It's the summer break right now, but everyone is still going to school for summer study, and it only lasts three weeks. Lots of students don't get home until at least eight at night. Anyway. Give them some credit :)) and hasn't figured out how to make school and church a priority. It'll be good to start meeting with her again :)

And we went to the temple to do proxy baptisms for the first time with S___! She is a beautiful person, with a beautiful soul :) She had to go pretty quick to work afterward, but it was a nice experience that she understood well and deeply the sacredness of it. 

And speaking of sacredness (my thoughts don't usually transition as smoothly as this!), one of my thoughts this week is about sacredness. It's an attitude that we don't see much these days. Sister F___ and I disscussed this after attending the temple, and came to the conclusion that things become more sacred as you treat them sacredly. The house of the Lord, the temple, is sacred and holy when it is kept clean, and nothing defiles it. Our bodies are similar, as are our homes. As we view these things with more respect, they can fulfill the "measure of their creation", so to say. 

That, as well as Galatians 5:16, and Mosiah 3:19 - Putting off the natural man, and humbly walking in the spirit is one of the greatest things to strive to learn, which I still don't feel that I've fully mastered. It's an invitation from Christ to each one of us, to put myself aside, and let Him make more of me than I ever could myself. 

I'm grateful and happy to be here!

LOVE! Sister Thomas

...about all I have to say this week is

 LOVE YOU!<3<3<3

And for the sake of fonts, I'll leave it like this because it's kind of fun for a change. It'll probably be normal next week :) 

 

So this week - Oh! This week we focused on CPR - Church, prayer, reading (scripture study). We made little notebooks for some of our investigators with "how to receive revelation through CPR", and some specifics of how to make these things a habit and a more useful experience - it was kind of fun :)  These habits seem too simple and easy, but it's like the bricks and mortar that help you to build a strong foundation; it's easy to tell which families have their center on "the rock of our Redeemer". (Helaman 5:12) R___ was really excited to get the notebook :) And she's been doing great at reading on her own and thinking about it! 

 

And S___! We asked her to read 3 Nephi 11 in the Book of Mormon, and she came to us with questions about baptism, which is always exciting! (I find it interesting that the Savior's first topic when he appeared to the Nephites is baptism - how important!) There's still a lot to consider and explain, but she said she'd talk to her husband about it, which is always a good sign :) 

 

The elders had a baptism this week for a soldier, whose girlfriend came from out of town, and she played a simple piece on the piano and Sister Fuller and I...drumroll.. played a flute duet! Super simple, but it was a little miracle that we found two flutes :)

Love you all! LOTS!

Sister Thomas the Elder

“If you think you are too small to make a difference, you haven’t spent the night with a mosquito.” ~African proverb

Hehehe.
I've gotten lots of mosquito bites :)

And it was such a beautiful week with such wonderful people!!

We do a lot of checking up on people in this area, which doesn't always translate to a lesson, but usually does to strengthening them and the ward. It's great! 

 

Oh, oh! And I gave a talk on Sunday on Sister Rosemary Wixom's talk in General Conference            ( https://www.lds.org/general-conference/print/2013/04/the-words-we-speak?lang=eng ), with a focus on the empowering element of covenants, the Holy Ghost, and the temple. More preparation time would have been nice, but it went decently well :) 

 

Families keep leaving the branch! The overturn in military branches is high, and they're stopping sponsorship of families on this particular army base, so the ward will change a lot. We said goodbye to the Stewart family - just a home gushing with normal-ness and goodness :)

Oh, oh! A story about being led - we were roaming the streets last night talking to people, and saw S___, our recent convert sister! She just came from Book of Mormon class at the Pihl's home (senior couple) and was going home, said, "I'm just going to pick up some things at the mart!" and we said BYE! and then we said "Oh No! Its the Sabbath!" and then we ran back to save her! And ran into a man who stopped us, who's name is K___ - who is a less-active member! That we didn't know. But we ran in to save S___ first, and brought her out to talk...and they used to work together! And then he left (after some awkwardness...) and S___ said a little guiltily/laughingly she did know that she wasn't supposed to shop on the Sabbath, but Heavenly Father sent us to remind her :) 

 

Anyway. Fun little miracles. B___ is chock full of them~

 

Angels are with us! I've have lots of experiences of people saying right what they need to, being sent right to the right place, what we call in Korean 일사전리, (il.sa.jol.lee) or that time when everything just seems to be arranged right and fall into place. I promise it is Heavenly Father who does that, and is truly in every aspect of our lives. He will lead you and guide you and walk beside you (often when you can't see that guidance!), but it all turns out in the end!

LOVE YOU ALL!
Sister Thomas the Elder!

M___ and H___, H___ and M___ and E___!

Because they are the cutest miracle family :)

But I told you mostly about them in my letter to President. But still. LOVE THEM SO MUCH! 

Also, they're fantastic - their friend, who just had a baby, they said they're going to invite her to come to church. We've met them a grand total of 2, 3 times? The Liberians are such good, faith-filled people in tune with the Spirit. We were asked to teach the Gospel Principles Sunday School class about and hour before church and decided to teach about the sacrament - (by the way, discussion is highly more effective than talking the doctrine - that's when it becomes teaching and strengthening! Lots of experiences with that this week :)) and ended up having a really good discussion on feeling the Spirit, recognizing the Spirit, and how, when we keep commandments, we can always have it to be with us. They shared wonderful stories about the quiet whispering of the spirit, and it helped me to recognize again what a beautiful gift it is! 

 

Oh! It was the fourth of July! And we learned after the fact that we could have watched the fireworks... we were by the army base and everything.

 

Oh! Another "typical" missionary story that finally happened! We met some Peruvians on the street and said, "Hi! We're misisonaries! We're teaching a happy message!" (slightly more naturally :)) and they said, "Hey! We're going to lunch, but come back sometime!" Happy day! So maybe we'll get to teach Peruvians in KOREAN! because that's what the sisters speak :) It's a hope!

Also, we had a number of experiences being approached by men this week. Uncomfortable. One of them asked Sister F___ on a date to the city night life, and one of them asked me if I was married and was really insistent on meeting again. But we're protected as missionaries :) The elders happened to walk into the same store one time and took him off our hands. And we did the same thing for them last night with an overly flirty Korean sister. Teamwork! Hehe!

 

Out of time! There a lots of miracles out there! Keep your faith strong, and focus on Christ, like Peter trying to walk on water. When his focus was on Christ, all was well. Love this work; love you all tons! 

 

Sister Thomas the elder!

It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood!

And our neighborhood/city is beautiful - as we ride the train for usually an hour each way everyday.  The cities are surrounded by little hills covered with forests - we went on a mini hike today and found a pond and trees and a cool playground with tires and workout equipment that all of the Harmonies and Harabogees (grandmas and grandpas - they're a special kind of people that the names "grandmas and grandpas" don't quite fit <3) go and work out on in the mornings :)

I covered a lot of this in my letter to President (efficiency!) and that was the meat of this week - we spend a LOT of time traveling, and just talking to people on the subway. Fun fact - people tend to be meaner when you're about to see miracles, so keep your hopes up :) We met people who were interested in English, or knew missionaries before, have found a lot of leads for referrals, that man who had a Book of Mormon - cool things! Ask, and ye shall find!

Oh, oh and another story - we had an extra hour, so were walking through the little town looking for the house of a potential investigator, and saw a skinny little sister who was probably about 90 years old in a bright flowery top sitting on a brick by the wall. And so, of course, we said hello! We talked with her a bit, and introduced the Book of Mormon, and she invited us into her house! (which is a miracle in and of itself right there! We don't get invited into a lot of houses~) it was this run down little room, with some old ramen sitting in the the corner, over some old looking rice - and we sat down with her, and explained to her what the Book of Mormon is. It was magical, and a "full of the Spirit" experience - and just so "typical", but it's NOT for here, which is why I wanted to share it :)

Also, we had a spur-of-the-moment Zone conference, P. J. Rogers, who used to be a missionary, and is in broadcasting in Korea and a motivational speaker (or something like that) is entirely fluent in Korean (one Korean said "he's better at Korean than I am at Korean!") and told us things he learned about the culture and learning the language as it applied to missionary work. It was fun!

and also very insightful~ You'd think that if you've been in a foreign country for a year, speaking the language, you'd know what's going on - I promise you, you don't. You have a better idea, but there is a LOT to learn about people and language! Anyway, a thought- Everything starts with thoughts. Actions originate with thoughts, And actions lead to character and habits. And destiny! Hehe. Anyway. So when you refuse to consider failure, when faith is unshaken, when vision is large and without doubt, anything truly is possible! There's a quote on our door, which is something I've had in mind for a long time, but just put into words, so maybe I'll borrow it and show you next week - But if you need miracles, call down miracles! You've got to go to the edge, where you CAN'T do it alone. This is the Lord's work! He is the same God yesterday, today and forever, and that's a promise.

It's our privlege to have that Spirit with us, as brothers and sisters of God, endowed with the power and gift of the Holy Ghost!

Love you all :)

Sister Thomas the elder~  

Exerpts from my letter to the President
We met with R___ again, who is wonderful and seems to want to be baptized, but is waiting for her husband. She is still working on quitting smoking, but when she commits, she seems to commit strongly, and we've been working on praying for strength and we've sent her scriptures everyday to help her!

We haven't met with A___ for a while, she keeps dropping appointments. She's hard to get a hold of. I'm hoping that we're just out of communication and that there isn't a problem. We will try to meet her again with Sister H___ this week and reschedule her baptismal date.

We met with the O___ family, minus the father, and they are awesome and full of questions! We talked about prophets - it was a hard concept for A___, but they're doing well and ready to learn!
And we met with H___ for the first time this week! She is one of S___'s friends, and is wondering about the Book of Mormon. She said she'd be willing to be baptized, and we're excited to talk with her about the Restoration and the Book of Mormon next time. Hopefully we'll meet with her husband as well next time.

This week, we talked to a girl, who walked away really awkwardly, but then a Korean man approached us with a covered white book - a Book of Mormon! He covered it because people don't understand, and he's really frustrated about it, but he's read it, and says its just like the Bible, but wants to study it and understand it more. So! Miracle number one that was sent to us. And apparently a member brought a friend to church at the English branch who wants to be baptized. Hopefully we'll meet her tonight! And H___ and her family are just waiting for us! There are lots of miracles when you just ask for them!

Study- I've been thinking about family lately - the ward family, God's family, and we're just all one big family! And it's a deep bond, when we call each other 'brother' and 'sister'. We love each other and mess up with each other, but it has the potential to become perfect. We have a responsibility for each other! And when we remember we're family, it's easier to feel that unconditional love~

Hallo! From the great land of Korea/America/NorthKorea/Army/Africa!

Wow! It's been a whole week! It was one of those month-weeks, where I can hardly believe that I was serving in a different area a week ago.

It started out on a Monday. Sad story - Sister H___ has decided not to come to church; she only wants to be "foreigner friends," and anything we mention about church or trying to find out what happened is pressureful... So. We've made lots of mistakes, but we don't know how to show her love that she'll accept. She got pretty mad. So prayers are appreciated.

Tuesday was a day of good-byes; G___ doesn't want to meet with us anymore, and we met with Sister W___ and had a great lesson about the plan of salvation. We said goodbye to the Ulvestads, the senior couple we've worked with by the army base, and I packed up and transferred on Wednesday morning.

And now I'm in DongDuCheon! And Uijeongbu City! (fun fact - I guess if you watch the show MASH, it takes place on the army base I'm assigned to work with right now :) Not that I know my TV shows or anything...

AND IT'S AWESOME!

Things are finally normal again. They've been more and more normal, and now they're normal, and fun, and chill, and getting work done- we're still on the learning curve, but it's good :) My companion is Sister F___ from Cottonwood Heights, and we figured out that we both took flute lessons from Karen Perkins! Look at that :)

We will work with both the Korean ward in the city and the Army base which is about 45 minutes north (lots of travel time!), but it sounds like most of the people who are willing to meet are associated with the Northern Military Branch (NMB). There is also a short service on the base for soldiers who can't leave the base on Sundays, which is where those pictures came from.

 

Success is a sister from Liberia who was baptized about a month ago. She has the most solid faith! I wish you could hear her bear her testimony and teach in her amazing accent - she is so powerful and strong. She's been through a lot -- she told us a little about her family, a very large family in Liberia, and she hasn't seen her father since she left with a soldier for Nigeria, and then ended up here with her daughter, M___, who was also baptized recently (she's a fun one!) One of my favorite things to testify of is that Christ understands perfectly all that we've been through, and because he has descended below all things, He can lift us. (it was one of those days that personal study in the morning went about word for word what we needed to say).

AND! C___, a sister from America, is here doing her family history, and met her family that gave her up for adoption yeeeears ago. We taught her family a little bit and have helped her with some translation in finding her ancestry, and the ward is all excited about helping with their family!

 

Hope you have a beautiful time on trek and in Tuscon!  (Also, Lauren! Where are you serving? Do you know the Lenords? Because they're related to the Linders, and we had dinner with them. Anyway :))

Sister Thomas the Elder(Sister? hehe)

Guess where I'm going...

That's right! It's transfer time!!

I'm off to....North Korea!

Just kidding.

I'm off to....America!

Just kidding.

It's somewhere in the middle of those two! I'll be near the border of North Korea (don't worry! There's a member on the army base who's job it is to keep track of every American, so that they can pull us out within a day if anything is wrong :)) near Camp Casey, an army base, where it sounds like a LOT of foreigners live, and that I'll mostly be working with the English branch up there! So I'm moving from one army base to the other :)

And a little miracle within that - We've been working with a Chinese recent convert solider, Sister W___.  Her friend, who introduced her to the church in South Carolina, is at the other army base! The night before we got our calls, we had a discussion about answers to prayers, and praying and counseling with the Lord, and she told us the story of how she prayed to be sent to the same place as her friend - and they both came to Korea! Almost the same base, but not quite.

My new companion will be Sister Fuller - who I've met once, and don't know much other than that. But!  It will be awesome. When we met before, we both thought we knew each other from somewhere...BYU?

I'll be sad to leave this ward, and Korea, to a point...(I'm not sure what percent of my area will be American, what percent will be Korean...) because it's a fantastic ward. BUT I'm so excited to go.  It's time for a change and to start off right again :)

This week, on Monday, we prayed to find some cheap, missionary-appropriate clothes while shopping, so we wouldn't have to go again. You may laugh, but it's legitimate - everything is see-though, and neither Sister Seegmiller nor I really enjoy/have the patience for shopping. But miracle! We DID find things! Lots of things! Hooray!  We met with S___, and it was odd - we thought a member was coming, so we waited for her, but she never did...miscommunication. Anyway. it was still okay, though.  We got to answer a lot of questions she had about the church that we wouldn't have otherwise. We had a ward picnic on Friday, which we got special permission to go to.  It was nice to spend some time with our ward; it's an awesome place with lots of fantastic people. Adventures of a foreign missionary: We got a call on Tuesday, "I want to meet to learn English; do you have time right now?" So we went, and I guess she wanted us to help her to revise a script for a large group of volunteer tour guides. Hm. We'll meet next week, do some English and teach the gospel. A lady I met on the subway called us and wants help finding a relative who lives in America? I don't know. She was willing to take a Book of Mormon though, and said she'd look at it, and call if she had questions. It sounded like she wants to be best friends forever though~

Um, yes! It was an interesting sort of week. Good things, though!

Love you all!

Sister Thomas the Elder

P.S.  The ward wanted us to help with a ward picnic on their memorial day - we went to the war memorial museum,  ate and then we posed as American nurses (America helped turn the tide of the war) that the kids tried to find hints from to "find their family" (the North Koreans abducted a lot of South Koreans as the front lines advanced and retreated)  - The history of this country, especially through the war, is amazing.  This city is a miracle, to see what is was 60 years ago, turned into this fantastic place I am blessed to serve in!

Also lots of parallels in war and missionary work (which i won't go into all of them right now) - I feel like the front lines for the Lord right now! The enemy is so real, and has refined his tactics and attacks from every angle. But we keep going, and can't ease up - victory means everything~

LOVE!

ONE YEAR?!

Yep. It's been one year!

I've decided to embrace it, and not dread that there are only six months left! Minus four days! Hehe. Anyway. There are a whole 6 months left, and a million more miracles to see :)

A lot happened this week, so I think this will be more of a bullet point form -

• Interview with President Christensen. Wonderfully inspired. I told Dad a little about a metaphor that really helped me, so I'll copy and paste: I've been running in circles of idealism and inadequacy - both in me and in others...He is very wise and perceptive - he talked about sand, how the more you squeeze it, the faster it falls. And the best way to keep the sand in your hands is to just hold it calmly. I feel like I knew these principles, but I couldn't figure out how to loosen my grip (which was even more frustrating), but in that, he sort of gave me permission to calm down and just let it go and run normally. And it's been awesome!
• We had an awesome first lesson with a young mother - call through your Potential Investigator sheets, even when you think "That was way too awkward, there is no way they'd want to meet again" - because sometimes, they do! (hypothetically, of course :))
• And S___, an awesome investigator with a very honest, open heart; she told us about one of her spiritual experiences at church - she was too busy, wanted to rest, but knew she should come to church, she did but was a little distraught, but then she got a big feeling of "Calm down, S___, it's okay. God with take care of you because you're here." Wow! She really has Alma 19:10 kind of faith.  (. . . Blessed art thou because of thy exceeding faith; I say unto thee, woman, there has not been such great faith among all the people of the Nephites.)   And we could help another recent convert (Sister W___) by sharing that experience with her, expressing that it is worth her time to attend church, even when she's tired. (She didn't go last week, and was considering not going to Elder Cook's fireside for young adults (by the way, just a minor side note, Elder Quentin L. Cook came to speak to Korea :)), but we got to talk with her about it ;))
• We got air conditioning! I can't express to you what a tangible blessing that is. Actually, I'll try - it's the difference between walking out of the shower and being sweaty again before you dry, and actually drying off. Or the difference between being able to fold your arms when you pray and not feeling the suction cup-effect when you pull them apart :)
• Fun thing - near the army base, after we taught a Korean class, we walked, and saw a member, and another member, and another set of missionaries - and there just ended up being a little impromptu party of eight members who didn't exactly know all of the others, talking on the sidewalk. That's one thing I love about this church; it's like a huge, awesome family, and you have best friends instantly wherever you go :)
• I went on an exchange on May 29th, the day with a big "ONE YEAR" stamp on it. And it was awesome! We were on the street talking to people all day, and went "streetboarding" - we have a board with questions that the Book of Mormon answers (Is there a God? Why do bad things happen to good people? etc.) and give people stickers to post. And if they're interested, we talk more, if not, they had a little fun, and know missionaries now :) We talked to one lady for a very long time, in probably the most in-depth explanation of the Book of Mormon, prophets, etc. that I've given on the street. So we still got experience to teach together! Then there was this HUGE swarm of about 7th grade age boys that came out and swarmed the sister with the board, all reaching for a sticker - it was awesome ;) and we ate Indian curry for dinner! :D Happy birthday, self!
• On Saturday, Elder Cook spoke to us in the morning, and to members at night. Lots of amazing things: Among other things, he talked about Doctrine and Covenants 31:7 ("Yea, I will open the hearts of the people, and they will receive you. And I will establish a church by your hand;") and how that could be the motto of the church right now - hearts opening, "establishing" (strengthening, build up, love, graciousness, etc), "by your hand", and at night, he, and his wife spoke about the temple. How important the family is, and the central role of the temple in building strong families. He ended speaking of  "the atonement of Christ is the great healing agent." which is one of the truest things that I've learned as a missionary. All things that are unfair, that are burdensome, that are hard to overcome by yourself, can be made right through the atonement of Christ.
• On Sunday, we met and taught three people, all fluent in English - entirely unheard of here! One sister brought a lot of co-workers to church; her niece and her boyfriend came, too, so we talked with them a little about the church, and it was awesome.

Study: There have been some amazing studies this week, but I'll share one: (I learned this in terms of forgiveness, but it applies to any burden:) commandments are not hollow statues of coersion from a cold God, nor (though better) guidelines for our good that Christ, as our perfect example, will show us how to do and, like a good coach, follow them himself and do it with us. More than those, He makes it possible to keep those commandments, by taking the burden from us. He helps me to keep them in ways that I cannot myself. He truly is that advocate, and through that selfless act, I am made free.

Hello! Here's a bit more awesome-ness for you:

On Saturday, we went to the temple, with Sister B___, a less active sister who we've been working with, and Sister Christensen. She loves the church, but is having a hard time giving her full self to it, because her family is very Catholic, so much so that she didn't ever tell them that she was baptized about three years ago. It's hard to live two lives like that! And as such, it's harder to keep the Word of Wisdom, come to church, etc. Anyway. So we went to the temple with her, hoping that as she felt the spirit of the temple, she would receive help that we couldn't give her. It was fantastic! There is a large annex by the temple, so we were able to go in there and to feel the spirit of the temple. She said that she wants this for her family when she gets married, and found an answer to a question - she's been wondering for a long time -- why God gave her the church now instead of when she was younger, when it would be easier to live - and realized that "this is my time!" It's a real blessing to see the Spirit touch someone :)

Other picture! We met someone on the subway, she was super nice, not interested, and then we get a text saying that there's something at the church for us - and she left a little gift of cards and stickers, just because she "felt like we were good people" :) It's great to see some good people out and about :)

 

Aw, pretty!! I miss the Utah springs :)

But I love the Korean ones!