This week has come to an end and now my cute little greenie is starting her 3rd week! :D Time really does fly by as a missionary. I probably say that a lot though huh? One thing I found really odd this week was that every single person we tried to contact and meet with all decided to ignore us all at the same time. I'm sad to say I've definitely developed impatience for when people to answer their phones. Koreans have phones constantly in their hands so I know they are just ignore us. -_- Life as a missionary, what can you do? However, we had a ton of meetings this week so that's a big factor as to why we felt so busy. Even if we had people to meet with we really didn't have much time. All week long stuff was happening. We had our service activity, district meeting, met with one investigator, exchanges with sister training leader, ward coordination meeting, zone training, English class, and- the best of all- GENERAL CONFERENCE! :D It was a great way to end the week for sure.
Even though we felt busy I did notice miracles and wonders throughout the week. On Wednesday we met with our investigator 조민지 at a cafe near her college. She is the one I've mentioned before who has no religious background so we had planned to read a pamphlet we have called Who Is God and then stop and focus more on the Savior and bear our own personal testimonies of Him. Our discussion went almost exactly as plan, except I learned that she is actually talking a christian class at school where she listens to the professor teach and then later goes to worship service. So, she ended up having questions about some of the things that he taught. I'm so grateful we had prepared our lesson because without that foundation I wouldn't have been able to follow the spirit as easily and adapt our lesson to her needs. As we read the pamphlet together she asked questions about why good and evil exist. At first I wasn't quite sure how to explain that to her but then I felt prompted to share Moroni 7 with her. We focused mainly on verses 12-13.
12 Wherefore, all things which are good cometh of God; and that which is evil cometh of the devil; for the devil is an enemy unto God, and fighteth against him continually, and inviteth and enticeth to sin, and to do that which is evil continually.
13 But behold, that which is of God inviteth and enticeth to do good continually; wherefore, every thing which inviteth and enticeth to do good, and to love God, and to serve him, is inspired of God.
After reading that I felt prompted to start teaching about the Plan of Salvation. Because I knew Sister Mustain had no clue what was being said I ended up just talking mostly, but I didn't know what I needed to say either. However, I didn't let myself think about that too much and I just spoke. And I found that my tongue was loosed and by the spirit the things that I should say were put into my mind and I just went with it. I explained to her about God's plan for her and how in order to be like God, we need to come to earth and gain a body like He has. He has given us this opportunity to live here to learn and grow in families, and gain knowledge (both good and evil) and experience like He has. Without those, we could not become like Him and His plan would be all for nothing. The more and more I said, the more she seemed interested in what I was saying. She always has been a good listener though :) I testified to her of how much God truly loves us, because He sent His son Jesus Christ to die for us. We needed Him to die for us because we aren't perfect...at least not yet. But we can through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. All we have to do is have faith in Him, repent, be baptized for the remission of our sins, receive the Gift of the Holy Ghost, and endure to the end. I asked her if we could watch a video on her phone and thankfully she was cool with that. (Sometimes it'd be nice if we had ipads) As we all sat in a cafe together with worldly music playing in the background, I felt the spirit strongly and the world just all seemed to silence as we watched the Because He Lives video together. I know my Redeemer Lives and without Him I am nothing. There's no way I could ever return to live with my Heavenly Father and my family because I'm no where near perfect. I couldn't even speak perfect Korean for goodness sakes, but I know that with the Savior's love, help, and grace, I can do all things.<3
By that time I felt as though I was saying too much so I invited my companion Sister Mustain to say a few things. It was the cutest thing with her slow Korean speaking skills, but when she got to bearing her testimony. I knew the spirit gave her power and what she was saying was all truth.
We closed with a prayer and invited her to pray to know if God is real. She eagerly asked how she can pray and so we opened the pamphlet and showed her where it says the steps. She said she'll pray and so I'm praying that she really will. We might not be able to meet this coming week but I know that discussion was much better than all the other discussions we've ever had with her.
Other miracles or wonders I witnessed happened on Friday. Weekly planning is so long and boring sometimes. I tried to make it fun for Sister Mustain, but sadly a great majority of it was me trying to set up appointments with people and reading about the Bupyeong area together. While we were planning Elder Dewey called and asked us to follow up with Ritchell and her husband if they will be able to watch conference that weekend. So, I did as he asked and called, but no answer. Everytime that happens I just text them, but that time I decided not to for some reason and just went back to our planning. About 5 or so minutes later, Ritchell called us and said she would really like to come, but she'll have to talk to her husband and see. We told her that we understood and would love her to come and that was that. We went back to planning, but then I had an idea... I hadn't even told her the times of conference. How stupid could I be? haha So, I texted it to her, and almost immediately after I texted it, she texted us back saying thank you for inviting her and then asked if she could call us. I was a little confused, only because we had just called, so I just replied yeah anytime. For some reason, we weren't by the phone anymore and she called us. Thankfully it was on ring and not vibrate because that phonecall was crucial. Ritchell ended up opening up to us about her worries, stresses, and basically how life for her is really hard right now. She recently learned some bad news about someone in her family and her heart is just broken and it was obvious to us that her faith is lacking. So, I aksed if she was still praying. She's been less active for about 3 years and her husband isn't a member so I assumed she might not be praying either. With sorrow and tearful voice, she expressed that she's been trying, but life is just hard. I testified to her that we are always her for her, we may not know exactly how she is feeling, but we know that the only person who truly knows is our Savior Jesus Christ. She agreed and thanked us a ton and just before hanging up I asked her if we could start visiting her every week. She sounded thrilled by the idea. So, we plan on visiting her at least once a week or maybe 2x. We'll see. I am so grateful that we answered that call though, and I'm even more grateful that Sister Chestnut and I met Ritchell at that small little thrift store.
I know God has a plan for us. He knows every single detail of our lives, and He uses us, when we are worthy and willing, to help and bless others around us. I've noticed that a lot as I've been a missionary. I may not be going around helping us come unto Christ by being baptized, but I do believe that the Lord is using me to help and comfort individuals around me who need to feel His love.
Lastly, I wanted to share about English class. Sister Mustain and I walked to Gyesan area from our house and ended up getting to the church an 45 minutes before class started so we watched mormon messages on a DVD we have at the church while we waited. To our surprise, Mayan came really early as well and he ended up wanting to watch mormon messages with us. I was super excited. I saw that teaching opportunity and took it! He wanted to choose which videos to watch just like all little kids do, so I let him. And once again I was surprised by him. Mayan ended up wanting to watch one about the Savior's resurrection. It was just one of the bible videos on lds.org but with Korean dub. I ended up asking Him different questions throughout the video and He liked learning about Jesus. Another kid named David showed up as well and we watched a few more videos together, but less intense. One about surfing and another about football.
Not much really happened but just the fact that Mayan was watching mormon messages with us was great. He needs as much guidance in his life as he can get. We didn't have much time to prepare for class because of weekly planning so I decided to read the You are Special book you mailed me mom. All the kids loved it. Probably because I didn't have them do a bunch of worksheets haha. They probably didn't understand most of the words. I didn't realize how many big english words that book has but I simplified it to the best that I could (including some korean translation haha) and taught them that they are all special and what other people think doesn't matter.
General Conference was so great! Sadly, no one we invited was able to come. But Ritchell did watch some of it on youtube. As for our investigator Crystal. She didn't make that her priority but I hope and pray that we'll be able to meet her again and watch it together. I invited her to watch it online though. President Morrise called Thursday night to tell me that he was going to pray for Crystal that she'd have the opportunity to watch it. I find him to be a very wise man so I decided to exercise my faith and do the same. I even texted the Gyesan ward and invited them to pray for her as well. I was so grateful to receive a bunch of replies saying they would gladly pray for her. I just was disappointed to have to inform them on Sunday that she wasn't coming. They knew we tried though. I'm really sad General Conference is over. I wish it could continue forever, but if it didn't end then we wouldn't be able to take what we learned and put it into action. So, remember what you all learned from General Conference and don't forget to do them. I love you all and thanks for your support!!!<3
Love,
켈리자매
No comments:
Post a Comment