February 24, 2014 Another Transfer in 천안

 

 

February 24, 2014

Another Transfer in 천안

Hey Family!!

Another week come and gone and next week is a new transfer, this transfer has really flone by.  Just got transfer calls and my companion and I are staying along with most of our district which is a super great thing.  I think this next transfer has lots of things in store:)  This week was my "I can't speak korean" week which is never a good thing.  I had an embarrasing moment where our ward mission leader called but I only saw his wife's name which is almost identical to a member I had called to visit the day before.  Well I answered and he waited forever to talk so I went right ahead and asked to visit that night and they agreed and after almost ending the phone call he explained what he actually called for.  My companion told me who it really was afterwards and I felt so stupid cause we had visited only a couple days before!!  Well, that was my stupid language moment of the week:)

So in korean apartments, every month or so the gas lady comes around and comes in and measures the gas used on the stove.  Well we had a lady come this week and she said she was the gas lady, but when she came in she was a little too friendly.  She saw our stove vent and said it had to be replaced and said she could do it but we had to pay her $30 right then.  The korean sisters almost did but we decided to call sister shin first and the lady got really weird.  We didn't get in touch with sister shin so the lady said she would just go but refused to give us a number or anything.  Later on the apartment security guy came over the intercom and told everyone she was a fake.  Good thing we didn't give her any money or we would be really upset!!

One of the elder's investigators wanted  us to do a children's english class so he could bring his five year old to it.  They haven't been able to come the past few weeks but he keeps telling his daughter that the teacher looks like rapunzel.  They finally were able to come this week and I think I may have been a let down since I am far from rapunzel but the little girl was the cutest thing ever!!  We played uno and sang let it go together, way more fun than teaching english to adults:)  No one told me before my mission I was going to be teaching english, but that is actually how we are able to find most of our investigators.  My favorite people are the ones that are fluent so that we can just have a conversation.  But surprisingly my english is getting worse as I learn more and more Korean.

Nothing too epic from this week since we kept getting punked.  But this week we are meeting lots of potential investigators and I think things are starting to move for us:)  Love you all and hope you have a great week!!

Love,

Sister Jacklin

Picture:  This is for Esther and Phoebe:)  Got forced to eat this by the Elders this week. Never want to experience that again...too squishy and tasted like the sea!!  It wasn’t raw but, was dead and cooked on the little grill thing, but still just this explosion of nastiness in your mouth!! 

 

February 17, 2014 A visit to Cheongiu

February 17, 2014

A visit to Cheongju

 

Hey Family!!

 

Last Monday we had some epic plans to go sledding with cardboard and plastic bags but by the time we finished emailing the snow was all gone:(  So instead, we headed to this area of houses right by the church where the walls are all painted with these crazy pictures and you can take lots of funny pictures.  It was a party and I have attached a few pictures from Monday.

    Tuesday we had an awesome District Meeting, everyone really opened up and we had an honest conversation about feeling the spirit and how we can start feeling it more in our missionary work.  I am just a real straight up person so I loved that we all just gave our real opinions and learned from each other.  The things I learned the most is always remembering prayer and to ask for God's help even with the little things.  We are all trying to become more like Sister Hingano and pray all the time even if it is only for hot water in the shower:).  We also discussed that we always need to be looking for the spirit's promptings and answers.  This is really something I am trying to work on right now. 

   This week we were able to visit quite a few members and had some awesome visits.  I have already been able to build much better relationships here than in my last area,  partially  because I can actually understand and communicate now.  This week was wisdom week as the sisters in the ward kept giving us advice about missionary work, family, marriage, and kids.  We were taking our notes, haha, but really learned a lot from these awesome members.

Thursday we had a  proselyting activity in the huge shopping area of Cheonan.  Our District Leader always makes it a little bit of a competition and I was determined to beat the Elders, and of course I wanted to share the gospel with as many people as possible, haha!!  We won the competition which satisfied my competitive spirit but better than that we were able to meet quite a few potential investigators.  We only have one investigator right now and have struggled to find investigators so it was such a blessing.  One girl came up and looked at our sign and told us she had been thinking about starting to attend a church, so we received her number and are meeting her tomorrow:)  So excited to meet her and to see things start happening for us here in Cheonan.   I just always remember to keep pushing forward and not give up and God will make up for the things we can't do ourselves.

Guess where I got to go on Sunday?... Cheongju!!  President Shin was doing a fireside there and we had to pick something up from him so we were able to go.  I was so excited to be able to see Cheongju but most of all to see all the missionaries, especially sister Son!!  She is my big sister and we were both so excited even though we only got to talk for a few minutes.  They are doing great in my old area right now and our recent converts daughter there is getting baptized next week, yay!!

Excited for another week in Cheonan and can't believe this transfer is already winding down.  Hope you all have so much fun in Utah and can't wait to see skiing pictures.  Give all the family my love!!

Love,

Sister Jacklin

 

Picture #1:  I was taller than Sister Hingano for the first time ever!!

Picture #2:  Sister Son!!  We re-enacted the days of us teaching together, haha!!

February 9, 2014 My First Cheonan Baptism

February 9, 2014

My First Cheonan Baptism
 

Hello Family!!

Wow, it feels like forever since I last wrote and so much to say!!  Last week after emailing all of us Cheonan missionaries headed way out into the countryside to visit a SUPER old original Korean village.  it was so awesome, people still lived in most of them but you could walk around the village and they had a couple open set up in the old traditional style, definitely a cultural experience.  Though the Korean manequinns in the houses made me jump a few times^^  We also walked up towards the mountains (or the closest hill I've seen to a mountain in Korea...)  Well elder smith, Elder Allan, Sister Hingano, and I obviously started off the trail and up the mountain the minute we saw a way, but of course the Koreans just waited at the bottom, Koreans aren't necessarily the "adventurous" type.  They also eventually found a sign and told us we weren't allowed to hike up the mountain anymore, what??!!  I was a bit disappointed.  The part I left out in all of this is that it was absolutely bone chilling cold this day.  I felt bad cause we made Sister Hingano freeze on her birthday, but everyone kept up good spirits and we had quite the fun day!!

Wednesday night we planned a special dessert party with the youth for them to come and bring their friends and introduce them to the church.  Well tons of youth came but not many friends, we still had a great time.  After lots of fun games we brought out all the desserts and us Missionaries introduced them all to root beer floats, aka Fanta and cola floats since root beer doesn't exist here.  They loved it but we did something really stupid, brought coke.  Lots of members in Korea don't drink coke and think it is against the word of wisdom or something...well all the youth drank it but our Mission Leader made a comment and then we got a little chewed out by the Relief Society President yesterday cause we left some coke in the fridge and they don't want the youth thinking it is okay to drink it, well we just took it and sent the rest with the recent converts, hahaha!!  Lesson learned!!

 

This week we finally found a new investigator, which was such an answer to our prayers.  Elder Allan got sick on Wednesday so the elders went to the pharmacy by our church and the pharmacist was interested in studying English with us and was curious about our church, yay!! We met  her on Saturday and her English is awesome we just had a conversation together and read from the Liahona.  She had lots of questions about our church but does NOT believe in God.  As we taught she came up with some doubt or remark to every principle, I just kept repeating that we can only share the message with her and give our testimony and she can decide for herself.  We are going to continue to meet her and I praying hard to figure out how to help her believe in God.

Yesterday our investigator, a 16 year old friend of the bishop's daughter, was baptized along with the elder's investigator who is the 9 year old daughter of a recently activated brother.  Our investigator was so excited about her baptism and that she could be clean again.  When we first gave her a baptism date she wasn't sure  about baptism but as she continued to learn and pray she became so excited and ready for baptism.  I am glad I will be here for a while and can continue to see her learn and her testimony grow

My current area is not the easiest but it just means we have to work even harder and can see the blessings.  This week I really focused on feeling the spirit and answers to my prayers, as I did this I saw myself receiving answers for the big things but also the little things I asked for.  Like when I prayed to stay awake as  a recent convert talked to us for 2 hours straight, and somehow managed through:)  God is always there to help us if we are willing to ask and through my missionary experience I am learning to recognize and be even more grateful for the answers to my prayers.  I encourage everyone to take a moment every day to reflect and see the blessings we receive every day.

 

Love you all!!

 

Love,

 

Sister Jacklin

Picture:  Freezing on Monday but still plenty of smiles!!

 

February 2, 2014 Happy Sol-Nar Family!!

 

February 2, 2014

Happy Sol-Nar Family!!!  J

 

Happy Korean New Year Everyone!!

It Was a different week here for us because of the holiday but we ate lots of yummy food and had lots of fun times. Monday after our contacting activity we went to a cougi (meat) buffet with all the missionaries.  Somehow I have been in Korea six months and this was my first time to a cougi buffet.  It was heaven especially for boys (aka the Elders LOVE it), Drew and Seth would just love it.  All the meat you want and you cook it yourself at the table.  Don't worry I ate plenty of food, maybe more than some of the Elders...  Also this week the Relief Society President had us over for lunch on Solnar (the holiday this week) and we ate dokguk (rice cake pieces in a soup, I can't describe it but it is delicious) and lots of other delicious Korean foods.

 
Because of the holiday we spent Thursday and Saturday with our District at the church doing District meetings, pingpong, learning cooking and exercising from each other, pingpong, games, pingpong, made delicious food, and more pingpong.  It was just a big party especially cause the Elders have picked me as their new target to bother and make fun of all the time, it is almost like Drew and Seth are here in Korea with me, haha!! We had these little yogurt drinks and I was somehow gullible enough to let them convince me that it was made out of cat milk...

 I saw a guy at the grocery store this week that looked just like Drew, I almost went running to him until I realized it was a Korean guy, haha!!  Also ran into an American lady in a small town outside the city this week that was so excited to see missionaries in her area; she told us all about the neighborhood and said we can come take a break at her house anytime.  It was so nice to talk with an American and I think it made my companion realize how I feel all the time because she couldn't really understand the conversation, haha!!

We have a Baptism scheduled next week for our investigator who is sixteen years old.  She is super excited about it and she says such sincere prayers, I am so happy for her.  We have a huge amount of youth in our ward and she has just become part of them very quickly:)  We had a cool moment with a member this week; we were supposed to visit her but she was so busy, but we ended up at her house and went with some of her family to visit a less-active.  When we came back we almost didn't get to share a message (their house is also their restaurant) but we asked and she came out on the porch so we could share a quick message.  I shared my favorite scripture Moroni 7:45-47 and my companion shared her super sincere testimony and the member was crying because of my companion’s testimony.  She bore her testimony in church about it yesterday and it just showed me that even though she was busy we needed to visit her and there was a reason we had to be persistent about sharing a message.  God is there to help us but we always have to do our part.  That is one thing I have seen so much in my mission is that we need to pray and fast for the blessings we want but then in order to receive them we have to get moving and do our part to receive them and then God will bless us.  We need faith and works to accomplish the things we want.

I am really trying to take in every moment right now and enjoy the time I have to serve a Mission.  When I have a happy positive attitude I enjoy things so much more and see more miracles!!

Hope everyone enjoys the Super Bowl and I'll be cheering for the Seahawks:)

Love you!!

Sister Jacklin

Cheonana Elders and Sisters

 

My companion Sister Lee, Me, Sister Cho, and Sister Hingano

January 27, 2014 Bible Bash Time!!

January  27, 2014

Bible Bash Time!!!
 

Family,

Another week come and gone, sometimes it feels like the week went so fast but at the same time I can't even remember last Monday or Tuesday.  My new district and zone are so great, a complete change from my last one so I was a bit shocked at first but I think it is a really good change for me.   A lot more relaxed so that we can actually enjoy each other.  I think the balance of having fun and working hard is so important.  When I arrived here in Cheonan there wasn't much to start off with;  Wednesday we basically just walked around the city all day and I was getting so discouraged and frustrated about what to do.  But then the next day everything started falling into place and I could really see god helping us. The next day we received a phone call that we referred to the Elders, finally were able to meet our investigator, and meet a potential investigator.  It just reminded me to keep working hard and that the lord will help us do the rest.

Well, the potential investigator turned out to be one of those people that wanted to bible bash...good thing I could only understand half of it.  She kept telling us we needed to read the bible and not the Book of Mormon and made us buy her drink at the cafe, yeah she was a bit crazy.  But we are going to meet her one more time and see how things go.  All we can do is bear our testimony and she can choose to read the The Book of Mormon and really see if it is true.

English class, in my last area we had funny grandpas at English class but here in Cheonan we have funny grandmas.  One of them is running for mayor right now and is just a riot, the other one hysterically laughs at everything and the rest of us just start laughing too.  After English class bishop invited the English class and us to come eat downstairs, because there had been a meeting for members over 60.  And in true Korean style the microphone was turned on and the karaoke started.  The first grandma got up and I am not surprised she is a politician cause she loves being in front of people, the other grandma dragged an elder up with her to sing edelweiss.  The grandmas really like me right now and keep volunteering me to say the prayers and they tried to make me sing but some how I got myself out of that:)  The best part was when a super old grandma from the ward got up and sang us a song in Japanese, it was so precious.  I am going to see if I can send the video.  Sorry, that was a long boring story if you weren't actually there.  There is just always random activities going on at the Cheonan church.  Literally I feel like there is always a party going on at the church.  The youth are on school vacation right now so they are always there playing ping pong and hanging out.  The are a lot of youth in our ward and they love missionaries so we are with the youth a lot.  Our investigator is the Bishop's daughter's friend so she is always with them, which is awesome.

Yesterday we had a potential investigator in the Branch in the little city right next to us.  The Branch only has Elders right now (Sisters were taken out a few transfers ago) so they were so excited when we came but now they think we are their Sisters.  I had to give a surprise short talk, awesome.  I didn't know until he announced it in Sacrament Meeting and didn't even hear him announce it...but it all turned out okay.  Sometimes I love being in the small branches of the church and just seeing the faith of the members.  We ended up meeting with a recent convert in that Branch afterwards and she told us her entire story of being converted, it was amazing to see how she has embraced the Gospel and really see it change her life. 

We are still working hard to really pick things up here and I really hope we will start seeing some of the fruits of our labors.  I have been speaking so much Korean that I am starting to lose my English, ha ha.  This week is one of the biggest holidays here in Korea so we will be spending lots of time with our Districts since we can't visit many people.

I hope you all have a wonderful week and enjoy the nice Washington weather while I am freezing here in Korea, haha!!

Love you so much!!

Love,

Sister Jacklin

Pictures:

-me and our ward mission leader's daughter.  she is so cute and reminds me of Esther and phoebe. 

-Us four sisters on the bus last night:)