December 8 Goodbye to Transfer 3

December 8, 2013

Goodbye to Transfer 3

Hey Family!!

Well, I ended up staying in my same area with my same companion:)  I am still in my first area and now on my fourth transfer here.  By the time I leave it will have been six months.  I love this area but am getting a bit anxious to experience some other areas.  But we have lots of work to do here in Cheongju so I am glad I can stay.

Last Monday we had an awesome last p-day with the Elders in our ward before two of them transferred to new areas.  I am attaching a couple pictures.  We went to a delicious buffet and then headed bowling. We did Koreans vs. Americans and unfortunately we got shown up by the Koreans mostly thanks to me.  I still need the bumpers and apparently those don't exist in Korea.

This week I realized the difference the spirit can make in teaching.  We had a couple messages and lessons that I was REALLY nervous to teach so as we went in I prayed very strongly to have help in teaching.  And my prayers were answered.  As soon as I started talking my fears went away and I was able to communicate what I was saying and not stumble around with my Korean.  The spirit made all the difference and it made me realize how much power the spirit has to help me teach well and also to touch the hearts of those we are teaching.

I also had a cool experience on Friday night.  We were out in one of our small towns and I was having a hard time trying to get myself over the fear of talking to people on the streets and was really down about it.  And then just a few minutes later as we were waiting a man came up to my companion and started asking if "the person beside her was a college student." (and yes, I was able to understand him, yay.  haha)  We were then able to talk to him about us being missionaries and tell him about our English class and he was so excited and it put a big smile on my face.  I felt it was a blessing from the Lord but also him saying, "I gave you one now, you need to go to work."  That gave me the re-motivation to go out and do my best.

We are officially starting our fourth transfer here and excited to see what the next six weeks holds for us and our investigators.  I would really appreciate prayers, especially with learning the language cause I am really trying to step up my language ability right now.

I love you all and hope you are having a wonderful Christmas season:)

Love,

Sister Jacklin

December 1, 2013 Merry Christmas

December 1, 2013

Merry Christmas :)

 

Hello Family!!

Well, I have officially diagnosed myself with the symptoms of rice face...it happens when you move to an Asian country and eat rice 24/7.  I'm still trying to come to terms with it, and resigning the fact that I can't do much about it until I return to the US...

Last week for P-day our investigator, Judy, took us six missionaries to this Korean artists house that has now been turned into a museum. They had a special exhibit of a Korean Christian artist who did paintings of Christ but depicted in a Korean style.  It was really cool and we all enjoyed having the cultural experience.  We also visited a natural spring with naturally carbonated water it was so hysterical to watch everyone's faces as they tried it.  All we needed was a little sugar and we could have made sprite.

 

Snow, boy has it been coming down.  We are still trying to adjust to the winter weather and strategize ways to do missionary work without completely freezing.

Happy Late Thanskgiving to everyone:)  I don't think anyone else in Korea knew it was Thanksgiving though.  I couldn't have a turkey dinner but I did make myself some cabbage and onions to celebrate the holiday and it tasted like home.

So, Saturday after English class all the missionaries were working on a project and a guy from English class stayed and was just hanging out.  We were all laughing and having fun, and then he said, "This is fun, and I didn't know you could have fun without drinking."  haha, it was so funny!!  We just said that is what the gospel can do:)

Sunday, our recent convert couple invited us and the bishop's family (6 kids) over for dinner and it was just the greatest night ever.  They have been so sweet to me and I love them so much.  She made a delicious dinner, salad, and  a rice dish, and we all had great conversation and I was able to pick out about half of what was happening:)  Their daughter hasn't gotten baptized yet (hopefully this month) so we taught about the first principles of the gospel, it was one of those moments where I really felt the spirit helping me speak and know what to say because usually I am really stressed but this time I was able to say everything I wanted to.

Just another great week and it is just been so great to really see things start happening, miracles everyday.  I love this area so much and the people are what make it so great.  Sitting here awaiting transfer calls and the nerves are crazy!!  This transfer is really unkwown.

Love you all and hope you are enjoying the Christmas season.  I miss the all-out festivities in America!!

Love,

Sister Jacklin

P.S. Chloe received word from the Mission office and she and Sister Son will stay together for one more transfer.  Wahoo!!!  She is super excited.

Pictures:

Sister Son and I preparing to go out in the freezing cold.
And dinner last night with our recent converts and the bishops family:)

 

November 24, 2013 The Constant Miracles

Hello Family!!

Hope everyone had a wonderful week and is gearing up for all that yummy thanksgiving food I am dreaming of. We are going to an American style buffet next week to celebrate thanksgiving.  

This week was really great, always full of random adventures.  Friday, after weekly planning we decided to head out to one of our little towns an hour away.  As we were putting up our first English class sign we had a young mom approach us and wants us to teach her young daughter English.   She was totally okay with us doing the 30/30 program with them and we are going to visit twice a week.  We were so excited and it was such a miracle.  We knew we were meant to go there that day.  These are the moments that make missionary work so amazing!!

We are really working, praying, and fasting for our investigators that they can get their questions answered through pray and accept this gospel.  They are all such wonderful women and I want them to have the blessings of the gospel.  we have discovered that the hardest thing is to actually get investigators to church.  Our mission is doing a program to all give a gift to Christ for Christmas of one baptism.  We have some amazing investigators and I really think that we will at least have one baptism before Christmas:)

this week our ward had the primary program, and it was so cute and full of laughs.  The primary is about half the size of our Utah ward but I think they sang twice as loud (Koreans LOVE to sing).  Not sure how I ended up in a country where they love to sing since I have the worst voice ever!!

One other random story of the week;  Last week was mushrooms this week it was tomato juice...but my companion is a genius, she poured a little in my glass swished it around and poured the rest in her glass so it looked like I drank it, haha!!  We are getting pretty creative at avoiding these things.

We are approaching the last couple weeks of our transfer and I am getting anxious to find out next Monday if I will change areas.  I am still in my first area and would be happy to stay but would also love to see another area.  I just don't want to leave my companion.  We are the perfect pair and I think the other sisters think we are insane sometimes!!  We'll see what happens.

Love you all!!  Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Love, 

Sister Jacklin

 Picture:  I found a random lake out in one of our small towns, I was quite excited.  And the apartments right next to it are the epitome of Korea.

 

November 17, 2013 Let it Snow!! Let it Snow!!

November 17, 2013

Let it Snow!!  Let it Snow!!  Let it Snow!!

 

Hey family!!

We received our first snow of the season this morning!!  I am ecstatic because it is so pretty and magical!!  I know a missionary Christmas will be different but amazing in a totally different way.  This week....hmmm.  I had to eat mushrooms, and yes I survived!!  My companion scooped some of them out of my bowl while the member wasn't looking, it was hysterical.  But they weren't half as bad as I thought they would be.  This week we also took a different approach with finding investigators.  We called some former investigators and asked if we could just practice teaching to them cause we really need teaching practice.  Well a few said yes and we now have two new investigators.  One of them is a 40 year old woman who is really nice and good at English.  We got into a huge discussion about how God would let the world be unfair and have only some people suffer.  It was really deep and got us thinking.  We are really hoping we are going to help her understand more and she is open to our message.  This week was such a miracle.  The past few weeks we have had hardly any appointments so we have just spent so much time out talking to people on the streets which can be exhausting.  But this week we had about two appointments every day.    And some incredible investigators.  We read the Book of Mormon in English with a couple of them and I loved explaining the Bof M to them, it strengthened my testimony as I realized how true it is.  We also had Stake Conference this Sunday which was broadcast all over Korea.  It was Elder Cook, Elder Hales, and Sister Linda K. Burton.  They talked a lot about strengthening families especially through family prayer, family home evening, and family council.  It was an inspiring meeting.  We also had two other Sisters come stay over night because of the meeting and of course it is always a big party with six sisters in one little house.

This church is true and I am so happy to be sharing it with the people of Korea.  The Lord is watching over us and I see the little blessings and miracles every day.  I encourage all of you to try and find those small blessings every day and I know you will see that God loves you and is watching over you!!

With Love,

Sister Jacklin

Picture #1: this is how missionaries enjoy a cold night.  Joseph Smith Movie, and some yummy Korean snacks..on our desk!!

Picture #2: I was just a little excited to wake up to snow!!

 

Happy bae-bae-ro day from the Heungdeok Sisters!!

Happy bae-bae-ro day from the Heungdeok sisters!!  It is 11/11 here in Korea, and yes we have a holiday for it where we just eat pocky sticks (bae-bae-ro)!!!  Celebrating with some yummy treats and a game day:)  Just wanted to celebrate the holiday with all of you!!

 

With Love,

Sister Jacklin

Spaghetti with Chopsticks?! November 11, 2013

Hey Family!!

Another week has literally flown by, I can't believe it.  This week feels like a whirlwind and I can hardly remember anything.  We did not have many appointments this week so we spent a lot of time contacting less actives and doing street contacting.  It was exhausting especially with the temperatures dropping but me and Sister Son always make a good time out of it.  Also there are yummy and cheap Korean treat stands all over the streets so we will take a break and get a warm treat:)

Last Monday we headed out to the Sangdang fortress with the Elders.  It was beautiful with the changing leaves and beautiful views.  We were all in heaven and had such a good time!!  Some random camera guy came up to us and asked to film me for some tourist video they were making. Ahh, it was so embarrassing and all the other missionaries just took pictures of it and laughed.

Missionary work this week:  we met a crazy lady on the street this week that basically taught us for 30 minutes about her insane religion, it was an odd experience to say the least, good thing I only understood half of it.  My favorite investigator came to church, yay!  We are meeting her this week and I am really hoping to get her to be more gospel interested.  I'll keep you all posted on her and our potential investigators we are meeting this week.  There are so many little miracles everyday that I could go on forever.

I wanted to share something I learned in personal study this week.  I was reading an article in the Liahona from David A. Bednar. It talked about Nephi, Alma and Amulek, and a Pioneer praying to God for help.  Elder Bednar said, "He did not pray that his circumstances would be changed.  He prayed that he would be strengthened to deal with his circumstances."  This quote really gave me perspective and is something I have truly learned the past few months.  When things are tough we just need to pray to Heavenly Father and we WILL feel his love surround us.

I love you all and hope you are having a wonderful Fall!!

With Love,

Sister Jacklin

p.s.  The title is because we had to attempt to eat spaghetti with chopsticks at the Bishops last night.. it was an experience!!

November 3, 2013 A Grandma Can Always Brighten Your Day!!

Hey Family!!!

 

Hope everyone is doing wonderful and had a great Halloween this week!!  This week had many adventures and it has been amazing as me and my companion notice the little miracles every day.  I want to share one of my favorite ones.  On Wednesday we were out street contacting and trying to visit people but no one would answer or let us in.  We were very discouraged and decided to stop and pray on the side of the road.  Right after our prayer we ran into the cutest little grandma.  She was very old and half her body was paralyzed, but she was determined to do everything on her own.  She invited us into her tiny house and I was kind of shocked.  I kind of felt bad for her and it made me sad but she seemed so happy and had lots of humor.  I think she loved having visitors since she lives alone.  I can't understand a word she says but I could just feel her love.  We are hoping to go and visit her again, and she really was a gift from god to brighten our day.  Thursday was Halloween, and we were able to celebrate by helping my favorite investigator (Choi So-He) with a Halloween party at her English party.  Alyson would be so proud, I made a don't eat Pete game and played it with them.  It reminded me of all the Halloween parties at Alyson's growing up.  She also took us out for a wonderful pasta dinner that actually tasted like normal Carbonara (no Korean twist), haha!!  We also celebrated Elder Graf's birthday this week, so at English class we brought him a little cake and sang since of course the elders did nothing for him.  I attached a picture cause I think it is so funny how short we look compared to him.

I am so happy right now, and me and my companion are perfect for each other. Everyday we say how lucky we are to be companions.  Being co-senior adds a little bit of stress but it is exciting to plan our own days and is helping with my Korean so much.

Sister Son is also introducing me to all kinds of delicious Korean foods.  My favorite of the week are these yummy bean sprouts we make and something called.  ho-ddok, it is basically a scone filled with a yummy brown sugar and nut filling.  I have been talking about them all week.

I am so happy right now and love missionary work so much, when someone accepts our message it really is the best feeling.

Love and miss you all!!

Sister Jacklin

 

October 27, 2013 I'm a Real Missionary Now!!!

Hey Family!!

 

I officially am with my new companion and it has already been the best four days of my mission.  My trainer left our area in really bad condition and left me completely unprepared to introduce it so we are having to work really hard to figure things out.  And we are co-senior now so we both have a lot more responsibility.  It is the most tired and happy I have been.  We are working very hard and have goals to make this area much better.

Saturday of this week we had a stake sports day that was such a blast!! The missionaries from our Zone and half of another Zone were there.  It was so fun to see everyone and meet the new missionaries.  It was also a great time to bond with the ward and I really made an effort to attempt to talk to people.  All the women played a game of kickball and unfortunately my ward lost.  Somehow I signed up to kick first, thanks to the language barrier.  Our recent convert, of one week, was the coach and it was so good to see them bond with the ward.  Some of the moms in the ward were hysterical and had no idea what they were doing.  There was hula-hooping contests, dodge ball, and delicious ward picnics.  I have to say food at Korean ward parties is better than in America!!

I have already begun to see the miracles of hard work.  Yesterday we wanted to visit a less-active but could not find their house on the map, so we decided not to.  After visiting a recent convert and some other failed visits we somehow stumbled upon the less-actives home.  It was such a miracle that we magically found it.  They let us in so we were able to talk and introduce ourselves.  Her son is active and her daughter actually attended church that day.  So we are very excited to work with her and hopefully help her become active again.

It is starting to get cold here in Korea though the mosquitoes are still eating me alive.  My companion is teaching me to make yummy Korean food and I am just so happy.  Missionary work is so incredible and I feel so blessed to be out here right now.  Love and miss you all!!

 

Love,

 

Sister Jacklin

October 20, 2013

English Village

 Hello Family!!

I have finally made it through what have been some of the hardest three months for me, but I know I am a stronger person now.  I found out who my new companion will be!! Her name is Sister Son and she came to the mission the same time as me so we will be co-senior!!  She attended BYU so she is fluent in English and honestly the sweetest person ever!!  I cannot even express my excitement!!

This week was a busy adventure!!  I ate a tomato this week, and let’s just say I did not enjoy it!!  Friday and Saturday our whole zone was in town for our big English Village event.  It was good zone bonding and there were plenty of laughs and good memories.  I was in charge of the waiting room and Doctor's office which turned out great with the help of everyone.  Thank goodness we have a few missionaries who are artists.  We made an aquarium for my waiting room.  The event was so much fun.  We had members, English class students, and others attend.  We didn't have the turnout we wanted but that was cause we just didn't have enough missionaries and will do things even better next time.  We were all so exhausted after two days of nonstop work.  Sunday we sang in sacrament meeting and our golden investigators (a couple) were baptized!!  Not to mention that President and Sister Shin attended.  Me and Sister Cho were pretty much running around the church all day.  But it was a spiritual service and the support of the ward was wonderful.  We had a ward meal afterwards and Sister Shin kept me laughing.  She ate so much duk (rice cake) and kept giving me and sister Cho more and more.  

 I have just a few more days with Sister Cho and we are going to make it the best we can.  I am so excited for my new companion and know that we will have many adventures to tell you!!  I love you all!!

 Love,

 Sister Jacklin

These pictures are me and sister arvanitas (she has been the only way I survived this transfer), and a picture from the baptism.

 

October 13, 2013

Friends and Family,

 

It has been a VERY busy week for us here in 청 주!!  We have been doing lots of advertising for our English village event this weekend so we spent lots of time as a district telling people about it in the shopping area of our city.  Wednesday we had a ward party which was such a fun event.  We had 11 investigators/potential investigators come, so all of us missionaries were very excited.  We did some line dancing and plenty of ridiculous games, my mouth hurt from smiling.  Then we had a delicious Korean barbeque with enough meat to make you sick!  (I attached a picture of some of our investigators and missionaries from the barbeque)  It was such a fun event and good for our investigators to get some fun interaction with the ward members.  Saturday and Sunday: our whole zone came to my city to watch conference together so it was a big missionary party!  I have never listened to conference so well or enjoyed it so much.  I loved all the talks but one of my favorites was President Monson's talk about getting through trials.  He said that God's will is more important than ours and we never have to walk alone.  This is something I have really been working on lately so it was an extra boost to hear the Prophet's words.  Sunday between sessions we had to teach our investigators and give them baptismal interviews and eat food in the one hour between sessions, it was stressful but we are missionaries so the busier the better.  Sunday night our investigator 정 혜 연  was baptized!!  It was such a miracle and I was so grateful for the strong spirit we felt at her baptism.  It was one of those moments I felt so blessed to be a missionary and just a small part of people's journey.  She is moving to incheon so we won't be teaching her anymore, but I just pray for her that she will continue to strengthen her testimony and grow in the church.  We will have two more baptisms next week of a wonderful family.  I have been blessed to see so many baptisms early on, that is one of my companions strengths and is has been good for her to have these baptisms right before she goes home.

I'll finish up with my cultural experience of the week.  I had to eat intestine and nobody told me until it was in my mouth!! It honestly did not taste bad, just the thought of what it was ruined it.  We also got some...not so delicious food from a member though the Koreans loved it.  They were dried little fish, squid, dried squid, and leaves in sauce.  I tried it all even if I was a little dramatic.  Let’s just say I didn't go back to eat more the next day.

I miss everyone but am really enjoying my mission right now.  Next week I will be getting a new companion and am excited for the adventures to come!!  I love you!!

 

Love,

 

Sister Jacklin

 

October 6, 2013

Hey Family!!

 

I can't believe it has already been another week!! Two more weeks and I will no longer be a greenie, ahh!!  I am so nervous because I feel like my Korean is the same as the day I arrived.  This is definitely the second hardest language, but it is coming along.  This week we did greenie splits again in my area and it was so much fun to be with an American again.  We talked plenty and had too many adventures.  I had our phone so I had to call a couple members and set up appointments, and I was terrified.  But I survived.   She had to repeat what she said a few times but I was able to figure it out.  I can definitely say more than I think.  We visited and went to lunch with a member and attempted to make conversation with our Korean and her English, plus she is studying Chinese so we talked about that a bit.  We were also able to meet our investigator who speaks English, so we talked and taught in English which was really nice.  We were actually able to say what we wanted to. We also had a random grandpa show up at the church and could not understand his Korean at all, but communicated enough to give him the Elders number, haha!! Anyways, I won't go into all the stories.  This week we got to visit some of the towns on the outskirts of the city.  I love going out there because it feels more like home, though Koreans consider it countryside.  Last Sunday we had a family just show up at church that weren't members.  It turns out they have met the missionaries a little bit before and have relatives who are members in Canada.  We met them on Saturday and taught the first lesson and set a baptismal date for the 20th!!  So yesterday we taught them the next two lessons, and are so excited for them.  They are so prepared for this and I can't wait to send pictures from the baptism in a couple weeks.  We have baptisms the next two weekends and I just love it so much.  It is amazing to see people feel the spirit and recognize how great this gospel is.

 

Hope everyone has a great week and enjoyed conference.  We will get to watch it here this coming weekend.  Miss you and love you!!

 

Sister Jacklin

 

September 30, 2013

September 30, 2013

Hello Family!!

 

Another week has come and gone here in Korea and I can feel time already speeding up, everyone says every transfer goes faster and faster and I think I agree.  Every week is full of great moments and others that are really hard.  This week our golden investigator dropped us because of negative things she saw on the internet. It is so sad the awful things people can put on the internet.  We will give her some time and hopefully we will be able to meet with her again.  Tuesday President Shin came to do interviews and took us all to dinner "since he wasn't able to be with us for the holiday."  He really is so sweet, and so excited about missionary work.  He has been working really closely with the Stake Presidencies to increase member missionary work which we really need in our area.  Wednesday I went on "greenie splits" in another area with an American sister who arrived two weeks ago.  We had so much fun being with a fellow American and didn't get ourselves lost once!!  It was such a confidence builder for me that I can manage okay on my own and can really do this work.  We visited a super awesome member with two twin babies and she was really patient with us.  We will be doing splits again this week in my area, so hopefully we won't get lost in a bigger city.  I have to learn though, cause next transfer I will be introducing someone new to my area!  Thursday we met a less active who hasn't been attending church because of work and some things that have happened with ward members in the past, I couldn't understand the whole story.  But even with all of that she has so much faith and it was just amazing to me.  She is going to try and start attending again.  We have a great ward, I just want them to get involved in the work.  Our Bishop is always willing to help us and has been a great support.  On Saturday we had 25 people attend our English class, yay!! It was so great and we are starting some of our new ideas for the class.  I still teach the little kids and sometimes it is really hard to make it fun because they don't have much energy.  So if anyone has games or other suggestions let me know!!  Also saw our investigator, 최 서 희 , at English and I love her so much.  I can talk with her a lot since she speaks English and she helps me with Korean.  She is just the nicest person ever and I really hope she will accept this Gospel.  Yesterday we got three new investigators!!  A mother, father, and daughter who came to church!!  We will meet with them this Saturday, but it sounds like they are really prepared to hear this message.

I am officially starting to turn Korean because I crave Kimchi and rice.  Haha!!  I'll just eat that for a meal.  It is actually delicious once you get used to it and get over the spiciness.  Korean spicy is so crazy.  But I haven't brought myself to eat the spam we have been given.  

Miss everyone at home, but love hearing that everyone is doing so well.  I love you and hope you have a great week!!

 

Love,

Sister Jacklin

September 22nd

September 22nd

 

Hey Family!!

 

This week was the 추 석 (chu-seok) Holiday so it wasn't a normal missionary work week.  This holiday is basically the Korean Thanksgiving.  We can't really do missionary work during the holiday because everyone is gone and would be bothered if we visited them or talked to them.  We spent a lot of time with our Zone and District doing training, planning english village, and doing role play which is always super stressful but really helpful for us to practice teaching.  I have been blessed that we have investigators so I have had lots of time to practice teaching in Korean.  Not all missionaries get that.  

On Tuesday we met our investigator, sister 권 민 경 and set a baptism date for October 19th, yay!!  She is so prepared for this gospel, she accepted everything so easily and it just made me so happy.  We also have a new investigator who came with us to the Bishop's for dinner this week and we taught her the first lesson.  She accepted baptism but not a date.  She is so sweet and speaks great english so she has been helping me with my Korean which is really nice and I can speak in some english during the lessons.  We just have the greatest investigators right now.  We did not do much for the holiday because we couldn't go to the member's house cause the Elders were going, and Elders and Sisters can't go to dinner at the same house.  So we just relaxed for the day.  Saturday we had english and two little girls brought a hamster...I hate hamsters!! It just reminded me of Luke's evil hamster, haha!!  There is always something random at English.  Then we worked with the Elders on preparing stuff for English class and had some good laughs.  The Elders are my American friends right now so I love working with them.  

It is really entertaining living with Koreans because they are so dramatic!!  We had quite a few freak outs this week over bugs, and I just sat back and laughed especially cause I only understand a fourth of the Korean they are saying.  

President Shin has instituted a new program in the mission called BRT.  Baptisms, one per transfer per companionship. Referrals, two per week, and Teaching, two hours per day.  And then we report theses stats.  I think it will be really good motivation and he slowly wants to raise the numbers.  He is making some great changes in our mission.  

This week I have been studying obedience and have really been inspired by it.  My favorite things are that we need to willingly obey rules and commandments and that obedience shows faith.  Even though we may not understand a rule or commandment, God has a reason for it and we must trust him. Personal study is such a great time on a mission to really learn the scriptures and strengthen my testimony.  This is such a special opportunity I have and I am so grateful everyday to be here, especially because a year ago I had no idea this would happen.

I am staying strong and I love and miss you all so much!!

 

Love,

Sister Jacklin

 

I am attaching the picture of my first district that I couldn't send last week!!  The pictures of the sisters is me, my companion, Sister choi ha-rim, and Sister Spencer.  Sister spencer left so now it is the three of us and another korean sister.

 

 

 

 

 

September 16th

2^nd Transfer  September 16

Family and Friends,

 

I made it to my second transfer, wow!! I already feel like time is flying by and this next transfer will be so so busy!!  There is so much that happened this week that I want to share.  Sister Spencer left for another area this week so me and her had a sleepover in her room Tuesday night and us four sisters made one last big meal together on Wednesday before she left.  Koreans know how to do meat!!  Thursday we went to a woman named Judy's (she is from English class and completely fluent in English) house for dinner which I loved because I miss family dinners.  Afterwards we discussed a little about the Gospel and gave her a Proclamation to the World (our big message this week).  She agreed for us to come meet again and to also teach her two kids, they all have so much potential and I am excited for them to learn more about the church.  Friday my companion had a meeting in Daejeon so I was able to go on splits with my MTC companion Sister Livingston.  We had so much fun even though it was pouring rain.  It feels like Washington here!!  We had rain for three straight days.  Saturday we met with a referral from the Bishop who is in her thirties and just got married.  She is a golden investigator!!  Then we had an investigator come to English class who is another woman in her thirties that seems really impressed with the church and ready to learn about it.  My friend from high school, Christian Graf, just got transferred into my ward which has been such a blast.  He helped me with the beginners English class this week and it was so much better.  We brought a little more energy into the class and were able to make it more engaging.  We have been coming up with some great ideas to improve English class.  Sunday, President and Sister Shin gave a fireside here in Cheongju.  We had two investigators attend (the woman from English class and our other investigator who just set a baptismal date) and they really felt the spirit.  One of them wrote me the cutest note in broken english that said she loves this church and knows it is true and that the people are so kind.  It was an amazing moment for me to hear that confirmation that she was feeling the spirit.  

We found five new investigators this week and I know it is because the spirit has been present.  My companion and I have really worked on being happy and having unity and I have been amazed by the difference it has made in our work.  We will have a busy transfer with our investigators, but I am so excited to see all of them progress and hopefully be baptized.  I have had a great week and have just felt the energy and potential in our area pick up, I am so excited to share the continuing miracles with everyone.  I am looking for the little miracles everyday and as I do this I see so many.

This week is the Korean thanksgiving so we are focusing more on zone activities to improve our teaching and language since there won't be many people to talk to.  And we will also be going to some member's homes to celebrate.  I now live with three Koreans so I am going to have them teach me all about the Holiday!!

 

I love you all so much and hope everyone is doing well!!  I miss you all!!  Glad to hear the family is doing so well.  Good luck to Dad with his new calling, I know you will do great!!

 

Love,

 

Sister Jacklin

 

 

 

September 8th

September 8th

Family and Friends,

Well, I have almost made it through my first transfer!!  This time flew by and I am just excited for the rest of my Mission!! I don't have much time so I will try and make this quick.  Last Monday we headed to a fortress for a picnic!!  It was so beautiful looking out over the beautiful green Korean hills and eating kim-bop!!  It was such a great day, I love the outdoors!!  Tuesday we had a meeting in Daejeon with Elder Whiting from the seventy.  It was an awesome meeting where we talked about the differences between Nephi and Laman and Lemuel.  The three big ones we talked about were desire, obedience, and attitude.  I also was selected to have an interview with Elder Whiting and received some much needed advice.  Thursday we had a meeting three hours away in Gwangju for all of the trainers and greenies.  We woke up at 4:30 am to make it on time!!  It was such a good day reuniting with all of my MTC friends!!  We all were full of stories and excitement.  The meeting was super casual but then they had the greenies teach a bunch of 15 minute lessons in Korean to the trainers. We had no idea and were stressed out of our mind but it showed us that we all can teach lessons in Korean and was a good confidence builder.  I enjoyed Thursday so so much!!  Sunday our investigator Jung Hai Yeon finally attended church, so we were ecstatic!!  It was such a positive experience for her, and we just have a few things for her to work on and then hopefully she will be ready for baptism.  We are going to give her a date this week.  We also have a potential investigator named Lee So Rin that just came to Cheongju for school and we were given her referral from the Busan Mission.  I am so excited to see where things go with her!!

I miss everyone so much, but am so happy to be in Korea right now.  We just got transfer calls and I will be staying with my companion in our ward.  I will now be living with three Korean sisters so I better start learning fast, haha!! give me a few weeks and I probably won't even speak English!!

Hope all is well at home!!

 Love,

Sister Jacklin

 

September 1, 2013

September 1, 2013

 

Hello Everyone!!

 

Hope everyone is doing well.  Tell the kids good luck with starting school!!  I think of the family everyday and it is all of the little things I miss.  Don't worry, I will have a huge list of food I want when I get home, haha!!  This week we had Zone Conference which was great to see President and Sister Shin and get some training from them.  We always do a scripture study with President Shin which is amazing because he understands them so well.  I also loved hearing the testimonies and thoughts of the other missionaries I work with, and just see their strong testimonies.  This week we were also able to go to Daejeon and hear Brother Richardson (Sunday School Presidency) and Elder Ringwood of the Seventy speak to us.  It was such a great meeting and the spiritual boost I think we all needed.  He talked About "what-e'er thou art, act well thy part"  I loved this message because it is something that can apply to our whole lives.  That no matter what our role is in family, a job, with a friend, etc.  we need to do the best we can.

 

Some of the adventures from this week were eating fish soup, the member was a bit worried about me liking in.  Thank heavens I didn't know it had fish in it while I ate it and it was actually pretty good.  Not my most favorite thing I have eaten. We also had a 밧 burger this week which is a korean hamburger.  The bun is rice and the inside is filled with meat kimchi and just a variety of things in the center.

 

I don't have much time left but thought I would just share one of the things that I have been learning this transfer.  I have seen that we have to look at our trials as learning experiences, and even though they are difficult and hard there are things the Lord has for us to learn.  As I have done this I have seen myself learning unexpected things, but I know they will help me throughout my mission and life.

 

I miss you all so much and will have lots of pictures next week because we have two meetings in other cities.  We are working on getting new investigators and have quite a few potential ones so I hope I have lots of stories next week.  I love you all so much!!

 

Love,

Sister Jacklin

Week 4 in Korea

Week 4 in Korea

Well, I have lost track of what week it is to title my email!! haha!!  It has been a really good week for me here.  I was able to go on splits for two days this week with Sister Spencer, we were so excited!!  She has been my lifesaver out here and I don't know what I would have done without her.  We spent those days in her area and headed out to some of the 시 걸 (countryside) areas.  It was so fun to see the more rural areas and I was in heaven being surrounded by hills and green everywhere.  We kept saying we were having "ensign moments" because we ended up on some random dirt road that led back to some house in the middle of nowhere.  One house back there had cages full of a ton of dogs...you know what that means.  We talked to the man that lived there so then we set out on a mission to find all the other "dog killing children of God" haha, we thought we were pretty funny!!  That day we also went to the open market and got a few Korean treats along with the best peaches ever, they were like candy to us.  Needless to say, Sister Spencer showed me how to work hard those two days.  I have the blisters, sunburn, and sore feet to prove it but it felt so good to work my hardest.  Also during those days we taught an eight year old that is preparing for baptism and you will have to tell Phoebe that I told him about her and that she had just gotten baptized!!  Our two investigators (the mother and son) were baptized this week!!  It was such an exciting day especially because they were so excited to be Baptized.  Our district sang a song at the Baptism, always an adventure.  The Korean elder loves to sing (and sing loud) but doesn't have the best voice...we all laughed the whole time we practiced.  The son also ended up having to get Baptized on Sunday morning because the font was freezing cold and when he went under the first time his feet came flying up and we could not get him to do it again.  It was an adventure filled Baptism but also the spirit was very strong.  I love Korea more and more all the time and feel really comfortable and at home here.  I have made cabbage and onions a few times as comfort food, it hit the spot.  Mom and Dad, so glad you were able to try Korean food and kimchi.  Kim chi is good but I definitely would not choose to eat it alot.  We just threw out all the kim chi in our food.  But all the other Korean food I have tried is amazing, they definitely know how to do meat here.

I hope everyone has a great week and that everyone is getting excited for school!!  We have a busy week here in Korea with zone conference on Wednesday!!

I love you!!!

 

Love,

 

Sister Jacklin