Merry Christmas!!! 크리스마스 잘보내세요~~

What a week! Time is flying especially with end of transfer craziness. We've had a good week and got to go on exchanges twice this week which was full of appointments and a 전도 activity with another zone as well where we got to sing and stickerboard.

All the missionaries we came to Korea with+the ones we will be finishing with.

I don't have a lot to report on other than I love Christmas! I love how easy it is to talk to people and how happy everyone is-- myself included. We've seen a lot of "Christmas miracles"--more than I've said that phrase! We've met some really nice people, including some people from another church that were about to knock on doors and talk to people but helped us out with maps and some prepared people in a little hot dog shop. I've mostly just loved how we can focus so much on the Savior and what He did because He really did suffer just for us and we can be completely happy through Him!

Zone Activity while on splits

사랑해요!

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황현선 HwangHyeonSeon. She took us out for fish and crabs but also gave us peanut butter and Krispy Kreme.

Time is flying!

Time is flying! We seem to have so many appointments with investigators, less actives, and members that it never seems to stop! It started snowing today and it looks like this time it's going to stick until Christmas.

It's Snowing!

We were able to meet a new investigator- 정배견. We're doing the family English program with  her and she seems to be mostly interested in English. However, she just moved to Bucheon about a month ago so when we set up the appointment, she said to meet at JungDong Subway Station. We got there and have no idea what she looks like so we're just waiting for some Korean to come tell us she wants to learn English and she texts that she's gonna be late. After about half an hour she calls us and says she's there and where are we. Turns out she meant ShinJungDong but she doesn't know the area super well. And all the buses between there weren't working. So we ended up walking and it was a little comical.

Nativity at the church

Our other investigators are progressing! We're doing the English program with them too, but when we met last time, they wanted to start with Joseph Smith because they'd read the pamphlet and wanted to talk about it! We were excited to teach them and invited them to church, especially because it will be Christmas Eve.

Visiting the less active members with stars.

A lot of people here don't celebrate Christmas but Sister Turner shared an idea of sharing stars so we've started to do that this week. And everyone has loved it! People on the street, less actives, and members--we've been able to see so many people be so joyful when we share a Christmas star, but it really is a sign of something else--Jesus Christ, who's the light of the world! Through him, we can find ultimate happiness.

사랑해요!

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Nativity Lighting and 예비 구도자!~

The weeks just keep flying! This week's been full of a lot of travelling, including going to Siheung to meet a former investigator who reads the Book of Mormon--and our Relief Society president even sends her the Liahona every month! She has a lot of questions and really wants to learn for herself but her problem is that she wants to do everything perfectly-- she wants to be perfectly prepared for baptism and to perfectly know all the answers. So we were able to bear testimony that she doesn't have to be perfect, she just has to be trying her best and Heavenly  Father and Christ will help to make up the difference.

We had the lighting ceremony for the nativity this week and we're so excited to keep doing it until Christmas. The members invited a lot of friends and even people off the street have just been coming to see what we're about. It's a great missionary opportunity and the members are getting involved. In fact, we had 3 potential investigators come to church yesterday! One was a member's daughter and granddaughter and another was someone that looked up our church and came! We were also trying to help a less active member that day and I was so grateful for members that help out with missionary work who were able to talk to them, invite them to sit by them, and introduce them to the missionaries after Sacrament meeting. We hope to be able to meet them this week and begin to teach them!

This week we've seen a lot of small miracles--particularly in the buses. Several times this week we've been running a little late and when we get to the bus stop, the screen tells us we're going to be really late. Even though it seems really small, I've started to say a little prayer that we'll be on time and able to do what we need to and it really works! It's just been a neat little experience, particularly because I've never been senior before, I've never had to be in charge of travel time. Small miracles. :)

The church is true! The Savior loves you! I invite you to go check out the video a day thing the church is doing!

사랑해요!

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Sister Parry's first 돈까스 DonKkaSu. It actually wasn't super great here but she liked it.

Choose to Act!

We've had a crazy week, but it's been good! Our ward continues to work on the nativity, which we are supposed to be lighting this weekend. Because of that, we're working hard to prepare some songs, which the missionaries will sing. People walking down the street have shown a lot of interest in it so we're excited to see how it goes once we've actually finished it and are using it to introduce people to the church.

Our Nativity

We were also able to meet some new investigators this week! They're about 95% "English interest," but we've been able to meet their family together with them so I think it will be really good anyway. It's two daughters that are learning English and because we meet at their home, the mom is also there. We invited them to the Nativity lighting and they seemed really excited to go!

Our nontraditional Thanksgiving Feast

This week I've been thinking a lot about our investigators that have so much potential. One of our investigators hasn't responded for almost a week now and we haven't met in several weeks so it's looking like we may have to drop her. But when we met her, she had such good questions! We also have two other people that know the church is true! They've read the Book of Mormon and believe all that they've been taught but they don't come to church and they can't bring themselves to act. Act is a big word that Sister Turner's been focusing on lately, which is critical for investigators, but also for us. If we don't continue to do what we know and believe, then we will lose our testimonies and acting will only become harder. So remember that and choose to act!

Sis. Parry's first taste of the little fish bread.

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Meet My New Companion!

What a crazy week! I sent one companion to America and got another one straight from America! My companion is Sister Parry from Salt Lake City, Utah and she's also 5' 8". So we're having a grand time here in Bucheon.

Sister Beyer and I ended our time together with her tripping and hurting her foot again. So making the 2 hour trip across our mission was an adventure. Then we got to bring Sister Parry's bags the whole two hours back. Definitely my exercise for the day. Sister Parry isn't super great at Korean yet but she's working really hard and doing so great. We were able to meet a LA member named Amber who let her practice the first vision in Korean and she did great!

In just the 3 days since Sister Parry's been here, we've already seen miracles! We got a referral from the Incheon Sisters of someone that wanted to meet and talk about our church. So we called them up that night and got an appointment for the next day(Saturday) because she wanted to know how to get to our church so she could come on Sunday!! We met her near her house so we could show her how to come, and gave her a tour of the church. She started asking about baptism and what kinds of clothes you wear. And then wanted to study the Book of Mormon which she'd brought her own personal copy. She met with missionaries years ago and had read up until Jacob 1:2 and wanted to just start in Jacob and keep reading. I wasn't sure the background for what was going on so we took a step back and retaught the Restoration so she could understand why the Book of Mormon was important and introduced Lehi, Nephi, and his family. She wasn't able to come to church yesterday but we're excited to keep meeting her and talking about the Book of Mormon, my favorite book! The Book of Mormon really is God's word and the keystone of our religion!

사랑해요!

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Transfers!!!

This has been a good week and I love missionary work! We weren't able to meet with a lot of investigators this week, but we were able to see some miracles.

Stickerboarding

My companion and I tried out a new type of 전도 (proselyting) this week which I'd like to call "Lost 전도" What you do is you hop on the first bus that comes, ride for 10 minutes, and then try to talk to everyone you meet as you try to find your way home on foot. What we learned though, is that 10 minutes of bus riding is not equal to 40 minutes of walking and we were still pretty far from home. We found a bus though and the bus drivers even recognized us so we were able to make it fine. It was an adventure though.

Some of the MTC gang.

We met our investigator 홍혜정 and she's so great! The last time we met her, we taught the Restoration and when we showed up to our lesson, she said she'd tried reading the Book of Mormon and started asking so many good questions about the Priesthood and how if our church is the only church with it, how do other people that don't know about it or don't have it use it? Don't they all have to come to our church? We were able to start the Plan of Salvation and how because God loves all of His children, we all have a way to return! She really liked it and said she'd read the pamphlet and is super excited to meet again!

The biggest news is that we have transfers this week and I will be staying in Bucheon! I have no idea who my companion will be though because she doesn't get to Korea until Tuesday! It's gonna be a crazy adventure!

사랑해요!

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We went on a hike for a service project.

관심 없어요... (I'm not interested...)

This week we saw so many miracles which includes new investigators! My companion's a little sad because she's leaving next week and won't be able to teach them for very long but I'm super excited!

Last Sunday an unknown number called the YeongDeungPo Sisters and said she wanted to attend Bucheon ward! So we called her up, got an appointment, and then met with her entire family! We gave them a tour of the church and when we first walked in, she saw a picture of Moroni and asked who it was. We were a little bit worried but then she started talking about Joseph Smith and Bishops and the Word of Wisdom. We're not sure when/how long she met with missionaries before but we're starting to think she could be a super less active member...

전도 activity at Bucheon Subway Station

We've done a lot of 전도 this week and one funny experience where we were trying to talk to people and one older Grandma turned around, put her hand on Sister Beyer's shoulder, and said very sweetly "관심 없어요" Which just means "I have no interest" It was super abrupt and startled us a little but now when other people reject us a little nicer we turn to each other and say "관심 없어요"

Baskin Robbins has a corn chestnut sweet potato ice cream. Only in Korea.

But we also met some potential investigators as well! I was talking to one girl on the subway who was super nice and fluent at English and learning German and she had to jump on the subway so I quickly gave her a pamphlet  and said to text if she wanted to meet again which is always a scary moment as a missionary because it's entirely in their hands and if they forget or lose your number, you can't do anything about it. Probably 99% of the time, they don't call. But less than 20 minutes later, we had a text from her saying it was so nice to meet!! So we're really excited to try and meet with her, we're just going to have to work around her busy school schedule.

The church is true and it really it there for every application!

사랑해요!

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Smart Phones!

Last week we got smartphones and I'm not sure how I feel about it! The biggest perk right now is probably our capability to send emojis or that we can see our chats in a thread. It's the little things that count. :)

Happy Halloween! We celebrated Halloween with a party thrown by the youth at the church. We were asked to do a booth there so we had a "Monster Restaurant" with your everyday guts, eyeballs, and fingers (bananas, grapes, and carrots). The participants had to eat it all blindfolded as we told them what they were eating. But, we decided to make it a little trickier so in order to go to the restaurant, they had to go find a ticket. The ticket was inside a box on a hill next to the church. And my companion and I were waiting at the box. The secret though, was that my hand was actually in the box and there were no tickets in there so I'd grab their hands as they stuck them in. Some people were a little spooked and some not at all but we had a good time.

We've also done a lot of 전도 (proselyting) this week and I've met a few people that have just given me food as soon as I say I'm from America. I don't really know why but I've gotten some boiled eggs, tea, and potato soup this week on the subway. But we've seen some mixed signs about Trump coming here so I don't really know. :)

We also got a new investigator this week named 홍혜정(Hong Hye Jung) and she's great! The Elders originally met her on the street and we met all together and taught the restoration. She's Christian but unlike a lot of people on the street, she actually attended church and knows a decent amount about the bible. We taught the Restoration and she said it made a lot of sense! We invited her to pray about our message and we'll follow up next week!

사랑해요! (I love you!)

토블러 자매

More Cool Miracles!

After Temple Session

This has been a crazy week but we had some cool miracles! We started to go through all the phone numbers on our phone again to see if anyone had interest. One person actually called and said he wanted to meet with us and his whole family! Unfortunately, he lives in a different area so we had to 소개 him.

We were able to visit a LA that recently had surgery with the Elders and she got a priesthood blessing. She hasn't been active for a little while so before we decided to share a scripture about the priesthood. Her older daughter was there but she attends another church and thought what we were doing was kind of strange, but her mom kept telling her "This isn't a normal church" And it definitely is not a normal church. We have so many things to help us from the priesthood to the Book of Mormon. And all of it's true. We may be a peculiar people, but that's exactly the kind of people God wants us to be.

We met with our investigator 허미화 and she's feeling a lot of pressure. Her family thinks we're a cult and it's hard for her to keep meeting with us. So right now she can't get baptized but we were able to bear testimony that the Book of Mormon is true and she really can know for herself. But we're going to see if she'll still be able to meet.

Yesterday we were able to go to a fireside with the area presidency and they focused on trusting in God's way. Sometimes we may do things that don't seem to make sense. But God's way is always higher than our way and as we trust in Him, we will be able to see huge blessings.

사랑해요

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Subway Advertisement

It's even spelled the same!

What a Week!

What a week! We fit so much into last week it feels like it's been 3 weeks. We had some cool miracles this week! One of which was on the street we tried to talk to someone and give her a pamphlet but she turned down the pamphlet. However, immediately after someone walked up on the other side, and asked for the pamphlet! We were a little stunned but we gave it to her and she hurried off so we didn't have the opportunity to talk to her at all but still really cool.

On Thursday we had a super cool experience where we were 전도ing and no one was really talking to us. And the people we'd planned to visit weren't home. So it was a little disappointing but we keep going and we find this park with a statue on a bench that you can take a picture with. And there was a grandma sitting next to it so she kept telling us how to pose and take turns and she was really funny. But then, we got up and immediately met this person, 이미경 who is so nice! We said hello and we're missionaries and she turned right around and asked us where we're from and if we had time right then. Which we definitely did. So she took us out to lunch and tried to buy us coffee so we got to talk to her about what we do as missionaries and the Word of Wisdom. And she said she wants to meet again! Miracle!

I don't know if I mentioned last week, but I got a phone number from someone from Vietnam and we met with her yesterday. She's only been in Korea for 1 month so she doesn't really speak Korean. Or English. Communication is hard. I think she's really lonely because she's like 35 and her husband is Korean and 65. But we met her and she tried to buy us coffee. And then we just ended up with iced tea instead. We mostly just showed her our family pictures and she loved them and we gave her a Book of Mormon in Vietnamese. If anyone has ideas for teaching someone in a way other than speaking,  that would be great. But we'd met her about an hour away from our house and we headed home together because she said she lives pretty close to our house. She lives ONE BUS STOP away! Super crazy. But she's so sweet so we're going to try and keep meeting her and somehow teach her.

사랑해요!

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침례!!! (Baptism!!!)

What a crazy week! This week was transfers so we got to say goodbye to Sister Ambrose who went home to England. But I'm staying with Sister Beyer for another transfer until she goes home so it's gonna be great! I reached my 9 month mark last week and to celebrate, we went and ate Kimchi soup with the other Sisters because it was also Sister Pari's 9 month mark. Kinda crazy.

이유진 LeeYooJin

This week we tried to visit a less active member but they weren't home. But on the way, we were walking down the street and some man stopped us and asked if we were missionaries. We told him we were and he wanted to know why we were in Korea-- Not why we were doing missionary work but why we had come to a country where there are so many churches and people teaching about their churches and some places don't even know about God. But I was able to tell him that we believe in living prophets so I didn't pick where I went. But I know that we have a prophet and he acts for God today. And invited him to read about the Restoration. Because I know it's true!

We also were able to meet with 허미화(HeoMiHwa) yesterday because she's finally back from Thailand! And we were able to give her a baptismal date! She's got a lot to learn still but when we met her, we asked her what she thought about something and she responds that she doesn't want to get baptized this month because she's really busy but she said she wants to get baptized in November!!!!! So we're going to help her get ready and be baptized just before Sister Beyer leaves!!  She's so great and we love her so much!! Also the other Sister's investigator has a baptismal date! And we were able to go to an 8 year old's baptism right after church yesterday!!!

사랑해요!!!

토블러 자매

Harvesting Sweet Potatoes

The Harvest

They had to be moved (Trip #78570)

Taking rides . . .

"and here's where you get out"

추석 (ChuSeok-- Korean Thanksgiving!)

Well this week was pretty crazy because it's been Korean Thanksgiving, which is the biggest holiday here. It's a 10 day celebration and is pretty much the only break Koreans have. So we went from one meal appointment to another and also to zone conference. It's been really busy.

Chuseok, the Fall Harvest Festival in Asia

We had a miracle this week where the Elders called and asked if we could be at the church in 15 minutes because they'd met someone who wanted to learn about our church and get a tour. So of course we rearranged our schedule a bit and ended up teaching the Restoration to her and her friend, as well as giving them a tour of the church. They said they'd come to church next week so we're excited to see if that works out because we only got one of their numbers.

Chuseok, the Fall Harvest Festival in Asia

We also were able to meet 이유진 (LeeYuJin) who is kind of our investigator but she can't meet very frequently. Maybe once every 5 weeks or so. But we were able to talk about the importance of our families and how we can be with them forever through the temple! When she learned the Plan of Salvation before she thought it was kind of weird but when she understood that she could be with her family forever, she liked it a lot more.

I also got to watch Conference yesterday and it was so great! Between last conference and this conference, I've made an effort to review the talks and it made me a lot more excited for this time. The thing that stood out to me was the amount of talks based on President Monson's talk from last conference. The Book of Mormon really is the keystone of our religion and I especially liked that President Nelson took his "challenge," because when I first heard President Monson speak, I hadn't thought of it as a challenge. But as a missionary, one of our biggest responsibilities is to invite/give commitments. And the prophets and apostles follow that same pattern. So as I review this conference, I'm going to look for commitments and strive to keep them.

Our WML 최정훈 (ChoiJungHun) and his wife 김지은 (KimJiEun)

사랑해요!

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Chuseok, the Fall Harvest Festival in Asia