Wednesday, August 20, 2014

August 17, 2014 Favorite Moments of the week


August 17, 2014
Favorite Moments of the week
 

Hey Family!!

Transfer week has come and gone and I think the whole mission moved besides us, haha!! This was a big transfer because we had a huge group of missionaries go home.  I had a lot of missionaries go home that I knew really well.  There is this thing in the mission called dying calls where people going home make their last calls to all their friends in the mission.  This was one of the first transfers where I had people I was really close with go home so as I started receiving dying calls the reality hit me and that I only have four months left!!  Bittersweet seeing friends go but it will be fun to hang out with everyone back in the states.

So we have this awesome investigator named, Inson, she owns and runs a cafe where we go visit her all the time.  She just thinks it is so fun that I am a foreigner and speak Korean and she is just the most hysterical person ever.  Whenever we go visit her she always calls up her boyfriend and makes me talk to him on the phone.  This week I was talking to him on the phone and he asks the name of our church and proceeds to tell me he met with the missionaries ten years ago!! what?!! I was shocked!!  On his off day we were able to meet up with them and me the boyfriend face to face!!  It was a blast they just laugh and think it is crazy I can understand what they are saying and then respond, it is like I am some new toy they just received.^^  It was really good though cause we made him remember and tell us the things the missionaries taught him.  Our investigator Inson has more foreigner interest than gospel interest but having the boyfriend around might help.  Just to let you know mom and dad, I have to come back next year to attend their wedding:)

We had an elder in the ward finish his mission this week so instead of our missionary coordination meeting we had a big dinner at the church, the members here are so sweet.  Delicious korean chicken, lots of kimchi, and other sides!! I think it is a great way to end a mission.

We have a member in our ward who is Phillipino  she lives a ways out in the countryside but we were able to go out and visit her this week.  It was so weird to speak, share a message, and pray in English.  I was able to express and say everything just like I wanted to, I forgot what that feels like!!  She is an amazing woman.  Her husband has passed away but because of her children she is continuing to live in Korea. She speaks a bit of Korean but her children only speak Korean so she expressed some of the difficulties.  Her life  is definitely not easy but she kept talking about just pushing forward with faith and trusting in the lord, I really learned so  much from her.

We had a few new people come to English class this week and one is this darling 24 year old girl from China.  She has been in Korea for a little over two years now.  We arranged to meet with her this coming week but then as I was getting ready for church a text randomly came from her asking if we were going to church and that she wanted to come with us.  She came to church but it was really hard for her to understand anything since the Korean was really fast and complicated words and since she is from China she doesn't have much of a religious background.  We went to her house after church and spent some time with her; right now I think she is more interested in becoming friends than gospel, but it will come with time.  She is really lonely right now cause she moved from a city up north to Mokpo one month ago and doesn't know many people here.  We didn't do anything very fun but she kept saying she was so happy.  It was kind of funny though because it was a Chinese person, American person, and Korean person all hanging out together.  Hopefully we can help her be happy here in Mokpo and through the gospel she can find more happiness.

I have now begun my second transfer in Mokpo so I am excited to see what is to come and I think it will be a really great transfer with lots of miracles!!
 

Happy Birthday Esther!!  Love you so much and hope you have a fun birthday!!
 

Love,

Sister Jacklin
 

August 10, 2014 Miracles in Mokpo


Miracles in Mokpo
August 10, 2014
 

Hey Family!!

Last week was a great week and I wasn't able to write about it last week so I'll share a little bit of it this week.

I was able to take the long trip up to Cheonan (my last area) to attend the Baptism of my investigator Song Mikyoung.  One of the Elders met her on the bus and she came to meet us even though she had no idea who we really were.  She ended up having no English interest and we became friends and started teaching her.  She progressed all on her own and even stopped one of her jobs in order to attend church.  She had no idea I was going to be able to come to the Baptism so the other missionaries had me hide behind a door and they brought her in with her eyes closed and she was so surprised when she saw me.  She started crying and it was a happy moment.  It made the long trip all worth it.  Her baptism was the most spiritual Baptism of my whole mission; she shared her testimony about how much it has helped her as she has learned about God and accepted the Gospel.  I feel like God has given me such a blessing to meet her and know she is someone I will continue to stay in touch with.

I think we are setting a record number for how many appointments can cancel on us.  I think that has been one of my tests in coming to Mokpo,"what to do when all your appointments cancel, including the backup plans."  I was thinking about it on the bus the other day and it really is what I am learning.  Sometimes when things fall apart I just shut down and get frustrated but I am learning to just keep going and get out no matter what.

Miracle story this week.  We were walking between appointments on Friday and as we were crossing the street a man and his wife look at us and say, "Mormon?"  We start talking to him for a minute and it turns out he attended BYU and his son graduated from BYU and still lives in Salt Lake.  We were shocked, this kind of thing does not happen in Korea especially Mokpo.  They wanted to take us out to dinner but we had an appointment but hopefully we will be able to contact them and meet again.  It really is a small world no matter where you go.

Yesterday we had the Baptism of an 86 year old Grandma and a 89 year old Grandpa. They are the parents of a member and began coming to church with their family a few weeks ago.  We began teaching them with the Elders during Sunday school time.  They don't really remember or understand the things we teach them but they decided to be Baptized and believe with their family.   I think they really felt that peace and comfort after they were Baptized.  Two of our investigators were able to attend the Baptism and they said they had a good feeling when they saw the Baptism:)

The pictures are with our investigators  Go Chandi and Yang Hansor.  We went to a couple small museums with them the other day and were able to try on some awesome traditional Korean clothes, were thinking of starting that fashion again!!  We had a super fun time with them and it was very interesting but sad to see more of what happened when Japan was ruling over Korea.

All in all it was a good week.  The suspected typhoon for this week didn't come so the weather hit the real summer heat.  I am really beginning to like Mokpo and think I can make the most of my last few transfers here.

Have a great week:)
 
Love,

Sister Jacklin