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~