"Who's Ho Sting?"

인녕하세요!!

This week has been great! Some days I wake up and forget that I'm a missionary so it's fun to remember that everyday!

This Wednesday will be 3 weeks in the MTC and all of the English missionaries that arrived on the same day as us will be gone! We're getting old.

Our district was asked to host the new missionaries  this Wednesday so I'm super excited! Our teacher was writing our teaching schedule on the board so we knew which investigators to prepare for, except on Wednesday we wouldn't be teaching so she just wrote "hosting." Elder Miller looked at it and was very confused why we had a new investigator. "Who's Ho Sting?" But actually, it's nobody.

The senior district left today which has been sad. We love them! I can't imagine being a branch president and having to say goodbye to the missionaries every 3 weeks. In the senior district, there were two Japanese elders and they're they first Japanese elders to go to Korea ever! That's how much the two countries hate each other. But also it's super cool that they get to be the first.

Something I've learned from my time here is that people can change. In the past two weeks, I've gone running everyday. Mostly that's because there are very few vegetables so I feel like I need to do something to be healthy since I can't really change the food. But the days that there are broccoli are the best days. Like yesterday. I've only had cooked broccoli twice while I've been here which just shows how infrequently they serve fresh vegetables. 

Yesterday, I ran into someone that I'm related to! I was about to walk into a row at the devotional last night, and a Sister behind me said, "Sister Tobler! Do you know a Darwin Tobler?" Turns out she was raised by Rodney, Darwin's son. So then I told her my grandpa was Richard and we were talking about funny stories we'd heard about Merlin, amongst other things. Fortunately she had her camera so she has a picture, but I don't know when she'll be able to send it to me. 

I love reading all your emails! 

사랑함니다!!

Tobler 자매

When the investigator becomes the teacher...

Anneyeonghaseo!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO CATHERINE!!! DOUBLE DIGITS!

I don't have a lot to update on... pretty much everyday is Korean.

One of our teachers, Sister Yuen, went to California this past weekend. So we had a sub teacher but she also told us we were getting a new teacher. Turns out our new teacher is our investigator that we've taught 4 lessons to! He's also married to Sister Cho, who is another one of our teachers.

Elder Sayen (from the Philippines) has never seen snow before.

He was so excited for the snow!

One of the districts here leaves next Monday. We will miss them a lot. However, Sister Warner (my companion) was asked to be the new STL! She's super excited and I'm sure she'll do great.

My MTC Zone

Apparently I (#4) was the only that realized that the sign that said we had a weekly cleaning check was real. The best part of this is that Sister Perlawan (#1) folds up her sheets everyday, so her stuff was so clean that they didn't even grade her because they assumed no one lived there.

The Sisters in my district

Sometimes when I know I should be talking in Korean but I don't know how to say things in Korean, it comes out in another language. Usually Spanish. Like the other day I said something would be "Muy (very in Spanish) ChinCha (cheen-cha) bad."

The purpose (mokchok) in Korean. We memorized it!

The other sisters just looked at me. But they do the same thing. Sister Earnshaw used a Russian word the other day. She only knows one Russian word. So that was fun.  

Love, 

Sister Tobler

"The Catherine Pose"

P.S. And to make her mother happy, she took more pictures:

Sis. Warner and Sis. Tobler

We ran into Elder Godfrey!

Some people have all the luck.

Sarah saw Sister Kathi Porter, who serves at the MTC with her husband.
Sis. Porter texted the picture to Mom, who's a little jealous.

What do I do if the Investigator responds?

Annyeong!

Sister Warner and I

I don't know how to type in Korean on this keyboard so all the emails you get will be in English! Which is a bummer cause I was gonna tell you how much Korean I have learned.

They really do jump right into the language here in the MTC. On Wednesday, I went through the whole MTC and then straight to class where Sister Yuen talked only in Korean. Thursday was more Korean and Friday we learned sentence structure and praying. About half of every prayer I say is in Korean now. Which is because I know how to say Heavenly Father, Thank you for (one of the nouns I know), help us to feel the spirit, and In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen. So that's fun. Korean is also the Celestial language because we're on the third floor of the building. (Sorry, Chinese and Japanese speakers, we all know the best language.)

On Friday night, we taught our first investigator.

After our first discussion

Sister Yuen asked us before if we had any questions and Sister Earnshaw asked, "What do I do if the investigator responds?" Elder Miller also asked what he should do if he was "talking in Korean and the investigator didn't understand, well, he might not think it's Korean, but..." We taught our investigator again on Saturday and we have one more lesson tonight.

My district consists of 6 sisters and 4 elders.

My MTC District

Everyone in here speaks another language so that's fun when we don't know how to say things in Korean but we can speak Tagalog, Maori, Spanish, French, Arabic, and German. All 6 of us sisters sleep in the same room!

My MTC Roommates

We're pretty much the best of friends and I'm so excited to be living with them for 2 months. Our room is on the 4th floor, last door so watch for the picture when we get shirts that say that.

Sundays are pretty much the best in the MTC. Except we get cereal for breakfast. But other than that. The sacrament prayer in Korean is SO LONG! Even when native Koreans say it! We got to watch The Character of Christ. I've heard from everybody that it's the best thing ever. It's true.

First Temple Trip while at the MTC

Also, singing with Brother Eggett. I knew he was the best before, but singing Praise to the Man with hundreds of missionaries as Brother Eggett talks about the fog rolling over Nauvoo and Joseph and Hyrum on their horses. SO POWERFUL.

The MTC is the best! I love you all!

Sister Warner and I at the Provo Temple

Love,

Sister Tobler

Goodbye and Tears

 Goodbyes before the crying started.

 Packing the suitcases into the car.

 And she's off!!!

Into the distance.