"자매님! There's two tribes over here!"

Korea is so good!

I feel like I can follow most gospel conversations now. Everyday conversations are a little harder. Mostly I just nod and laugh when everyone else does.

My language flash cards. The white ones are just since I got to Korea.

This week we went to lunch with a member and she is so awesome! Because we're whitewashing, we're still figuring out who's in the ward. She served a mission at Temple Square and her last transfer was companions with her sister. How cool is that?

Our investigator that was a referral from the Elders prayed! She texts us everyday to practice her English and texted us that she had prayed and felt good! I still think she's more interested in English but it's a good sign. The grandma that we also teach at English and she calls us everyday to practice her English said she would take a pamphlet in English about our church! But when I brought the pamphlet, she said it was too small for her to read. So we figured out how to make it bigger on the copier. We'll see how that goes next time.

We got to go sticker boarding with our zone this past week and all the people here are so busy. I just think if they knew how important our message was, they'd stop and listen.

Our stickerboard and some pamphlets

We met a nice grandma on the subway and my companion started talking about the Plan of Salvation. She was so excited that she could see her husband again! We almost got her phone number and then someone next to her pulled out tissues with her church's ad on them. Lame. So we left her with a pamphlet. She hasn't called though.

Some Korean Food: Rice burger, Korean pancake (not for breakfast),
Spam sushi and "yummy stuff" 

This week's title comes from my companion. Last night, while opening the cheese, the bag ripped all the way and cheese flew everywhere. She looked at me and said, "It's like the scattering of the ten tribes"  #youknowyoureamissionarywhen... Then later she found more cheese. Hence, "자매님! (Sister!) There's two tribes over here!"

This week I've been studying patience and one verse that really stuck out to me was Alma 31:31 which defines patience as "comforting your soul in Christ" Super awesome.

Patience is definitely key in missionary work.

Love you all!

Sister Tobler

P.S. I sent pictures for last week's blog so that's been updated. :) Just scroll on down for those.

Korea!

I don't even know where to start! I'm in Korea at this very moment! It's great!

Clockwise from top left: meal on plane, first view of Korea,
last view of my mountains, Elder Sayen sleeping

We're in the 안산 (Ansan) area which is part of the Seoul South Stake. My companion is 이수기 자매님 (LeeSooJee or Sister Lee Sugi)! I'm the first person she's ever trained. She says her English isn't very good but pretty much she's fluent.

My trainer and my Mission President and his wife, President and Sister Turner

Our area hasn't had Sisters in 6 months. And out of the Elders, only one has been here before. The other Elder was in the MTC with me. So pretty much we're whitewashing.

Our very first day here, before we went to our apartment, we went to English class. We get to teach that twice a week and there's a nice grandma there that is a potential investigator. She calls me everyday so she can practice English. Her children live in Florida and Germany so she really wants to learn English to use when she visits them.

Our apartment!

A huge problem here in Korea is that people are often converted to the missionaries instead of the gospel. So when the Sisters left 6 months ago, a lot of the RC's are now less active. Or, they're only interested in learning English.

The Elders just referred 안다혜 자매님 to us and we taught her yesterday. She's sweet but we don't think she has a ton of gospel interest, just English.

Another problem here is that everyone is busy. If you try to talk to someone on the street, you need to stop in their path and follow them while talking. So, that's fun. We went stickerboarding near a subway exit and it was the same sort of thing. You have to walk right up to them and follow them with the sticker.

A member gave us a cake. My birthday! I'm just a little baby missionary recently born into the field

The other day, we went to the church to make some copies and the Elders were teaching a lesson in the church. As we walked past, they stuck their heads out and asked us to come meet the people they were teaching. Afterward, they told us that they had been trying to refer them to us right when we showed up and the dad was kind of hesitant but then we were there! So we'll probably end up teaching them. Miracles!

I'm a true Korean now with my Korean slippers.

That's about all I got right now... I probably missed so much. I love all your emails!

Spiritual thought: Don't just rely on other people's testimonies or do things because you like the foreigner. Figure it out for yourself! We have so many records of people who did that.

사랑해요!!

Sister Tobler

Sorry that there are no new pictures this week. I'll send them next week.

(Stickerboarding: Hold a sitckerboard and ask people if they want to put a sticker on. Our board says "What do you want to learn about?" with answers like English, Jesus Christ, Life's purpose, and The Importance of Families. After they put a sticker on, we try to talk to them about it but they frequently just walk away.)

Arrived!

Good evening families!

Your missionaries have safely arrived, had their first proselyting experience on the public subway system, been fed, and put to bed.

They are somewhat groggy, but energetic and excited to be here.  Thank you for preparing them to accept mission calls and to take on this exciting, though challenging journey. 

We love them already and look forward to getting to know them better tomorrow and assign their new companions.

You can follow our weekly blog including pictures of your missionaries at this site: koreaseoulsouthmission.blogspot.com. We try to update weekly.

All our love,

President Roger and Sister Terri Turner

Last Email from America

인녕하세요 여러분! (Hi, Everyone!)

Sister Warner on the left, Sister Tobler on the right.
(Our "Swag Tags")

This time next week, I will be on a plane headed to Korea!

This has been a crazy week. I recited Joseph Smith's first vision in class by myself and then bore testimony on it. Scariest thing I've ever done.

We were asked to host early arrival missionaries on Wednesday which should have been from 10-12, when all the normal hosts show up. However, we were there until 2--the same time as the normal host missionaries! We got another letter to host next week which is insanity. What district gets asked to host normally 3 times, early arrival once, and the International missionaries on Tuesday? Our district!

Our lessons have also been awesome this week! KimSongHe 자매님 (Sister) went to church and we set a baptismal date with her! We're doing a lot better at promising blessings when we extend commitments. We also committed 최기홍 형제님 (Brother Choi) to live the law of tithing and the Word of Wisdom. We're so excited for him! We taught Skype TRC, but there was some funkiness going on with the technology so it seemed like we were teaching Randall from Monster's Inc. That was a little distracting. But we did it.

WE GOT OUR FLIGHT ITINERARY! We're scared out of our minds and so excited to finally be going to 한국!! This week's gonna be a little crazy but I'm so excited! 

사랑합니다!!!! (Love!!!)

토블러 자매

Final Goodbye from my Grandparents who teach the senior couples at the MTC