April 14, 2014 The Start of Trasfer Three in Cheonan

The Start of Transfer 3 in Cheonan

April 14, 2014

 

Hey Family!!

 

I hope you are all enjoying that wonderful Hawaiian sun and getting really tan!! Luke, listen to Mom and wear that sunscreen,  Dad still thinks he is going  to tan but I have just faced that I burn and wear sunscreen!! haha,  Moms always know best:)  I think I am as white as I have ever been, I need that Hawaiian sun instead of the rain we have been receiving.

It has been a very busy week here because of transfers.  We spent the beginning of the week literally running all over town so Sister Lee could say goodbye to members.  I was so exhausted and don't know if I have ever eaten as much food as I did this week.   But I won't complain because we were spoiled, we even got to eat crab at this delicious buffet!! It was really sad to say goodbye to members of my district who have really become like family but we all know we will see each other again and there are many more adventures to come throughout the mission and after.

Thursday I met up with my new companion, Sister Lee Ji-woo.  We served in the same Zone together for three transfers when I was in Cheongju so we were shocked and so excited to be companions.  She is an awesome missionary and teacher so I am super excited to serve together and I know we will see so many miracles!!  She is a go-getter personality and has confidence, so I know that with the two of us put together we can do missionary work better than I ever have. This week we were able to set a Baptismal date with our cute grandma investigator.  Her daughter moving back from New Zealand has made all the difference in her making this final commitment to become a member of the church.  It also turns out that her daughter is very close family friends with my companion and her family. 신기해요!!  So, we are working towards that Baptismal date and really making sure that she understands the reason for Baptism and the principles we believe in our church.

My companion is Sister Training Leader so we went to Daejeon on Friday and I was able to go on splits with some sisters I have not been able to see in forever, and we had such a fun day.  We did some studying together and then went out to do some proselyting.  One of the sisters we were with is killer at talking to people on the streets, so I learned a lot!  I have never talked to so many cute grandmas in my life, with a few grumpy ones mixed in.  One made a heart with her arms and said she loved us as we were leaving, so precious!!

We were able to watch General Conference this weekend, and it was so great!!   It has been amazing to me that as I have sat down and really listened to the talks that they have talked about some of the exact things I needed to hear.  I liked a lot of the talks but one I wanted to share is Russell M. Nelson's talk about letting your faith show.  We have faith in the things that are most important to us, whether that is Christ, movies, celebrities, sports, or whatever we spend our time thinking about.  So we need to realize what is most important, Christ, and then put our whole faith in him and act on that faith.  As we act on that faith we can grow our testimonies, become better people, and bless others lives.  Only through Christ can we overcome all things so even in our busy lives we always need to remember Him.  If you can't tell, faith is something I have been thinking and studying so much while on my mission!!

Sorry there wasn't much to report this week, I promise to have lots of fun exciting stories next week!  Love you all and hope you enjoy your time in Hawaii!!

 

Love,

Sister Jacklin

 

 

 

April 7, 2014 The End of Transfer 6

April 7, 2014

The End of Transfer 6

Hey Family!!

 

Wow, today is transfer calls and next week I will be starting my seventh transfer and I can hardly believe it.  I want to stay in Cheonan for a long time because we are seeing so many miracles and the Ward here is so great!!  They love us and my favorite is doing meals or activities with multiple families, it makes me feel right back at home:) 

This week we arrived at District meeting and Elder Allan, our District Leader, was doing announcements and said he would start with the big one.  He continued to say that President Shin called our Zone Leader last night and told him that since there are not as many missionaries going into the MTC, they are re-lengthening the time in the MTC to twelve weeks, so this transfer was being extended by two weeks and when I asked they said our return dates were going to be three weeks later.  I was freaking out at this point.  After a few minutes of discussion and processing it all Elder Allan says,  "April Fools!!" ahhhh, I can't believe we fell for that.  All the Elders knew so it was only the Sisters getting tricked!!    Obviously I had to do something to get them but the limited resources and time made it kind of difficult.  But I definitely filled Elder Allan's water bottle full of salt and have a good retaliation plan up my sleeve for tomorrow's District Meeting, it most definitely involves bugs:)

This week I had a really rough day on Wednesday where problem after problem with an investigator and other missionaries hit one right after another.  I went to bed really discouraged and frustrated, but prayed a lot.  The next day I decided to not dwell on the bad things and just try and move on and make the most of the situation.  Then we received some great miracles that same day.  Just a testament to me to keep going and not let Satan tear me down with the negative things.

Our big miracle that day was our grandma investigator.  Her husband and children are all members and she has been attending church with her husband for a few months.  We have been slowly working with her to teach her the lessons.  Her daughter just moved back from New Zealand and it is awesome because they are the ones giving her the push and helped us so much in teaching.  We are going to start teaching her twice a week and I think she will be able to receive Baptism really soon.  The best part was listening to her darling husband bear his testimony while we were teaching the Plan of Salvation.

This week was food overload!!  They sure feed us well here in Cheonan!! My favorite was the member who took us out to all you can eat of my favorite food, shabu shabu.  It is Vietnamese spring rolls!!  She knew it was my favorite and you should have seen how happy I was!!  But I haven't felt that full and almost sick in a long time!!  Not to mention the insane amount of sam-gyop-sar (amazing meat) we ate last night at a member’s house! I kept slowing down because I was getting full and they would say, "Are you full?  Eat more!!"  haha, I can't say no to meat!!  By the time we left about a fourth of the Ward was over at their house for dinner.  I love this Ward because it is just one big huge family!!

We just received our transfer calls and unlike the Elders lies we heard this morning, I will be staying in Cheonan and become Co-Senior again which is just what I wanted.  My companion’s name is Sister Lee ji-yoo.  We served in the same Zone so I already know her and she is an amazing person and missionary.  I am positive we are going to see so many miracles!!! 

Hope everyone has a great week, conference weekend sounded like a blast and I am dying for some abelskievers!!  Tell the Gardiners Hi!!  I love you all so much!!

-Sister Jacklin