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~