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