Baby It's Cold Outside

Girls in my District in Christmas Stuff

Merry Christmas week family!

Okay so lets start at the beginning of the week. on Sunday we went on a temple walk and it was snowing pretty bad so it was way slippery and scary but then we build a snow man! It was great.

Then Christmas happened! the day started off with a missionary talent show. It was really fun. There was a Elder that did magic tricks that were so good! definitely had the whole audience involved. And this other elder played pirates of the Caribbean on the piano. I didn't realize how much I missed not church music until he started playing it and when my district broke into Be a Man from Mulan while we were back in our classroom in between events. We have fun together. But anyways, we had that show then we ate lunch then we had the general authority come. It was (drum roll......) Elder Bednar! He gave such a good and unique talk. He handed out 200 phones to the congregation and we could all anonymously text his iPad and he would answer our question. so yes now I have Elder Bednars phone number! At least for his iPad. but anyways, people asked some really good questions. One was asking if it was bad that they felt so inadequate. Bednar answered this by saying " Feeling inadequate means that you know what the Lord has asked you to do. If you felt totally confident in what you were about to do that's when I would start to worry." Then he talked about how we are inadequate but with the Lords help we can be an instrument in his hands. SO TRUE! Can't do anything without the Lord on your side. He also talked about the traits of some of the best missionaries he has known. He said the two biggest ones were "selflessness and to not get in the way." He emphasized making sure nothing you do is for yourself and never get in the way of an investigators progress. His talk was amazing. Really cool to see general authorities here so much recently :) After Bednar's talk we had a renowned jazz player come play for us. His Christmas music was beautiful and it was such a good concert. Then we watched a movie of Mo Tab preforming and they handed out popcorn to everyone. then they gave us the best Christmas present ever! they let us go back to the residence hall at 8:20 instead of 9:30! IT WAS THE BEST DAY OF MY LIFE! Sister Jenson and I had big plans to get to bed early but then we started taking pictures with everyone and the whole early thing was a lost cause. I'll send some of the wonderful pictures from that night.

There was a lot less homesickness from the girls than I expected. We all did really well. I will admit it was the hardest day in the MTC by far but the presidency did a good job at trying to keep us occupied and making sure we had fun :)

Yesterday our teacher challenged us to find three people every day and give them a short message about a different message everyday in Korean with our companion translating. He says it will help us perfect our street contacting. Our topic today is Pray. Sister Jenson and I haven't done it yet and were slightly intimidated but it will be good.

Well that was pretty much my week in a nutshell. I hope you all had a very merry Christmas and it was a good day for everyone. have a happy New year has well! then I'm off to Korea! THAT'S CRAZY! I love you all!

사랑해요!

Sister Collyer

My District on Christmas

Christmas PJs!

Me in my PJs

This is what we did instead of sleeping.  We climbed up walls.
This is me and Sister Glauser

Girls from My Zone
Left to Right: Lynn, Janson, Driscoll, Anderson, Glauser, Bagley, Me

Our Stake President! President Yost

My District with the suckers you and Grandma and Grandpa Collyer sent.
Left to Right:  Maccarthy, Lamburt, Jansen, Payne, Peterson.

MERRY CHRISTMAS FAMILY!!!

 I love you all so much and I hope you are having a fantastic Christmas :)

I have a funny story that will make you guys laugh. And this pretty much explains my companion in a nutshell. So I was looking at the Great White Shark pin Amy and Kevin got me (I love it by the way. Its going on my bag) and my companion asks me what animal it was. She wasn't really looking at it at the time. So I say its a Great White Shark. Her response is "So like Shamoo??" I paused then said "...No. Shammo is a killer whale. It's like Jaws." Then she says "Dang it. I always get those two confused...." Totally made me day.

Anyways, Christmas here is great! We had David Evans, from the 70, talk to us last night. He told us that we should bear our testimony often so I decided what better day to share it with you then on Christmas! I am so grateful for this gospel. I don't know what I would do without it. I will forever be grateful for everything Christ did for me. I know that God lives and I know he loves me. 

I know the only way we can return to God is through Christ and I am so eternally grateful for Christ's sacrifice on my behalf. I am grateful for this experience he is giving me on Earth and he couldn't have blessed me with a better family. I love you all so much and I am so excited to spend eternity with you. I am grateful I have had the opportunity to go on a mission. I have felt the sprit more in the short time I have been here than I ever have before in my life. I also feel closer to God than I ever have before. I love it out here and I'm so excited to actually go to Korea and help bring others unto Christ.

David Evans also talked about learning the language of your mission. He said "You will be able to do this but only with the Lord's help." I know the Lord is helping me learn Korean and even though sometimes I get frustrated with how little I know I have to sit back and look at how much I know compared to before I came. I know the gift of tongues is real. I have already felt it in my life. I am so excited to see that blessing more in my life in the next year and a half to help me bring others unto the truth that has made me so happy in my life.

One of the 12 apostles is going to talk to us today! Ill tell you on Friday who ended up coming. They have a lot of great things planned for us today so don't worry about me having a good Christmas. It will be fantastic :) I have received all your tapes and packages and stuff and I love the tape of everyone telling me Merry Christmas. I listened to it last night. I am so excited to listen to the one of Rebecca's family tonight. And the pictures are everything I could have asked for.

I hope you all enjoy Christmas together and know that I am there in spirit. I miss you all terribly but there is no place I would rather be than serving the Lord will all my might mind and strength.  God couldn't have blessed me with a better one :) I love you all. MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Sister Collyer

December 20, 2013 - It's almost Christmas!

Beautiful Christmas lights at the MTC!

Things are a bit crazy here in the MTC with the holiday season but its great :) Except for the fact I have been suffering from a nasty cold all week...I am just now being able to breath through my nose again! Which is a miracle. I just hope I didn't give it to anyone in my district since we are together for 14 hours a day.

Sister Jenson and I at the temple

As of last Sunday, my district is officially the oldest group! Which means we are next to leave! CRAZY! I don't know enough Korean to go there yet! Our native come in 11 days then a week and a half later its off to Korea for me. I cant think about it to much because it makes me nervous.

Anyways, this week was great. I met with President Snow on Sunday for the half way through interview and it was the most uplifting interview EVER! He told me that I was doing great and he was so proud of me. He said the MTC has made me blossom and that I am the most humble leader he has ever seen. He wanted to make sure my parents knew how much I've grown so I guess I've grown? I don't feel that much different, besides the fact I have Korean words floating around in my head now.

Sister Bagley and I. Yay for sister training leaders!

Sunday night the BYU mens chorus came and sang for us and let me tell you, mission life should not be mixed with real life. Its weird. I saw Kathryn's cousin and talked to him momentarily and it was just weird that he was going back into the real world and I was stuck here still. Just a weird experience.

Showing our BYU pride!
Left to right: Bagley, Glauser, me, Anderson is in front.

Brother Rasband came and talked to us on Tuesday from the 70! He talked to us about spiritual gifts. That night in our district devotional we all talked about spiritual gifts that we thought we had and others in the room had. Elder Tira said that I made everyone feel welcome and Elder Payne and Sister Jensen said that I have the gift of compassion. That was by far the best district devotional we have ever had. It was great and the spirit was ridiculously strong. Yay for the MTC!

Showing how much we hate Utah
(Are you proud of Sister Hoffmans photobomb mom?)

We got a new group on Wednesday! Our branch is still tiny compared to what it used to be though. We had 40-something missionaries leave and we only gained 7. and only one of the is a girl! Sister Bagley and I are still trying to figure out the exact rules for solo sisters. Shes a sweetheart though. shes 21 and from Carlsbad. And shes going to Busan!

My district with Brother Stanley, our first teacher who had to stop working :(

Sister Bagley and I still have our hands full with companionship and homesickness problems but I am starting to see the blessings coming in because Korean is sticking just a little bit more every day. Oh and that girl who was convinced she was going home the first day she got here just got her reassignment. Shes going to California Santa Rosa and she couldn't be happier. She got it today and might be leaving as early as tomorrow! Crazy! But its good to see her happy finally :) She's going to be a great missionary.

STL in the laundry room

Anyways that's all for today. Merry Christmas my loving family! I have gotten all the packages you have been sending and its been great! I hope you all enjoy Christmas together and don't forget about me! Have a great holiday season :) Oh and I'll be able to email you on Christmas so be on the look out for that. I love you all!

Sister Collyer

Sister Jensen and I in the Christmas hats!

I just had to send you a picture of the contents for the package Rebecca sent me.
It is pretty amazing. That is all.

December 13, 2013 - I've been here a month??? When did that happen?

Happy one month in the MTC! I swear its like a time warp here. The days are long but the weeks go by so fast. I always lose track of the date and I never know what day of the week it is anymore. It's the strangest feeling.

Oh and Sister Jenson and I decided that its not the MTC food that makes you fat here its all the junk food that everyone sends the missionaries! I think I have eaten more sugary food here than I ever did when I was home for the holidays. Thats so wrong :P

Last Friday we went tp TRC for the first time! It was a cool experience. It's pretty much just volunters coming in so we can practice teaching on them. We had a girl that only spoke korean so that was fun. But Sister Jenson and I are really excited to go back tonight. Were hoping it will go a little better than last time because we didnt plan anything last time and there was alot of awkward silences as we tried to speak our broken korean.

Then on sunday I got a new sister training leader companion! Sister Jacobson is leaving with the group thats leaving on Sunday morning so they called one of the new sisters, Sister Bagley. Shes a sweet  heart but man we havee our hands full with these sisters. The one who was struggling last week is actually being reassigned to a instate mission english speaking and shes thrilled about that but another sister has now come up with anxiety problems that are getting worse and shes seeing a councelor for them so well see how that goes. And some of the girls arent getting along with their companions to well so I have to deal with that too. It's slightly overwhelming at time but I'm hoping God will bless me for it. I had to say no to someone for the first time this week :( that was really sad, the second sister who has been having anxiety problems asked if she could go on a split with the girl who is going to be reassigned stateside because she didnt like her companion and Sister Bagley and I thoguht about it and decided that wasnt appropriate and I feel like we broke her heart but hopefully everything works out in the end. IU dont think I'm a big fan of this whole leadership thing. It's kinda taxing on me. But I'm just waiting for the blessings to come in from it.

This week has been really hard with respects to learning Korean. I kinda feel like I'm at a stand still and no more korean is going to fit in my head. I've been asking teachers and the older group what they did to make vocab stick and they said they practiced putting it into scentences. So I've been doing that and it has definetly helped so hopefully it gets better.

Oh! I have developed a strong testimony of going to bed right at 10:30. I did it for the first time since I've been here (I had always been getting into bed around 10:35 or 10:40) and I was in such a better mood the next day! Even though I was dealing with a ton of stuff that day! I've been trying to get to bed on time sinc that day. Alot easier said than done.

On Tuesday, Quienten (sp?) L Cook from the quarm of the 12 came to talk to us! Yay for apostles pretty much every tuesday until the holidays are over! His talk was on how much the work is being hastened. He said that there are a ton more people than they were when Joseph Smith organized the church but that the church membership will double in 25 years! Thats crazy! Yay for missionary work!

Thats so exciting to see Elder Kim is in your ward! I didnt know him that well but he seemed like a solid missionary :) I'm sure he'll work wonders in our little city :)

I'm flattered that I had such a huge impact on uncle with my farewell talk. He's such a sweet man :) I'm excited to share stories with him when I get home.

I'm glad to see you had fun at the wheres waldo activity :) the pictures are all fantastic and I love how you took a creeper shot of Elder Kim. Sister Jenson and I had a pretty good laugh about that.

Now to my very short christmas wish list: I really really really want a mini preach my gospel in Korean. That would be fantastic. I also kind of want more hard copies or more pictures. Just in like a cheap little 4x6 plastic picture flip book thing. Like some of the pictures rebecca took of me right before she took me in or some pictures from the holidays of you guys or pictures before that that you like pr even pictures of when I was little. Pictures are like Gold here and hard copies or pictures are even better. Thats really all I want. I've gotten all the packages that you have send me and everything is well recieved. I'm definely goign to get fat if you keep sending me good though :P Do you want me to wait to open the presents from cold water creek until christmas? Becuase if they need to be altered in anyway I can get them altered here but I should take them in pretty soon but I think after christmas should be fine.

Anyways thanks for everything you all do for me! I love you so much and hope you have a great holiday season!

사랑해요!

Collyer 자매

Friday, December 6, 2013 - Week 3

Another temple shot of the girls in my district.
Left to right: Jenson, me, Jensen, Lamburt

Well This was one of the most hectic weeks I've been here. The oldest group left on Monday. It's weird because if I would have gone in when I was supposed to I would have been leaving with them. But they left and we got 38 new missionaries. I'll tell you about the adventure that was.

 

So Tuesday is when the international missionaries came in so I went with Elder Peterson and Juliseth (the zone leaders) and Sister Jacobson (the sister training leader) to go pick them up. When we were there, there was a district that their leadership didn't come to get them so we took them under our wing. They were all going to Fiji. It was super complicated when they were all bearing their testimonies about why they are going on missions because there were so many language barriers. Only one of the Koreans was fluent in English so he translated for all the sisters that bore their testimony then one guy only spoke Samoan but there was a girl there who translated it into English then another girl who only spoke a language that I have never heard of but there was another girl there who could translate as well. We are lucky that there were people who could translate because otherwise we would have been so lost. But the Fiji missionaries were with us all night and they all had such strong testimonies and it was such a blessing to have them with us. We took them to the devotional on Tuesday and it's not the BYU devotional, mom. We have a devotional every Tuesday night at the MTC. It was supposed to be Elder Ballard from the Quorum of the 12 but he got snowed in so we had another guy come in and talk to us. His talk was really good but I felt bad for him because everyone was expecting one of the 12.

Which brings me to the weather. It snowed this week for the first time and now its freezing. Literally. Yesterday it was 1 degree....so bad. All the natives say that it's nothing compared to Korea so I'm pretty much going to die when I go to Korea.



The first snow! You already know who the people are in this picture.

Then on Wednesday the MTC welcomed 750 new missionaries. It is significantly more crowded than before. I hosted this week because Sister Jenson wanted to and it was actually a super fun experience.

My sister training leaders!
Left to right: Sister Mathason (she just left. I replaced her), me, Sister Jacobson

It was slightly heart wrenching being the one to pull the missionary from their family though. I didn't like that but most of them took it really well. Besides the girl whose mom started breaking down. I just felt like I was evil when I was taking her away. But later that night I went with the other leadership in the ward and we welcomed the new missionaries. We all bore our testimonies in Korean and me and Elder Peterson were scared out of our minds but the natives thought it was great so I guess we did well. It's weird not being the youngest anymore I don't feel like I know enough Korean yet. But they are so cute and all the sisters are so excited to be here. Except one. She wants to go home. She is dead set on that this isn't for her and she wanted to email her parents today telling them to come pick her up. Sister Jacobson and I are trying to convince her to give it more than just one day but its not working very well. Sister Jacobson was working with her today so I'm not sure how that's going but I hope she stayed at least a week and if she still doesn't want to be here then she can think about going home but everyone is homesick after one day. So we'll see how that goes. I'm praying that she gives it a little more time. But all the other girls are fantastic :) all of them are going to Seoul or Seoul South Mission.  But we get more going to Daejeon and Pusan the week before Christmas so that's exciting.

I said my first full sentence to our investigator this week without looking at anything! It came fully out of my head. that was a pretty momentous moment.

My district still has a really hard time focusing. And some of us seem to like to pick fights with each other. It's kind of embarrassing when the younger districts behave better than us. One of the Elders, as mom likes to say, "from down under" is extremely hard to get along with and not willing to change to become a missionary. He has been a handful for our poor zone and district leaders. Were hoping that gets better soon.

I did get my medication so that's all taken care of. Also before my doctors appointment could you tell me what exactly I'm supposed to tell him or ask him because I have no idea.  Just send me a dear elder with all the information on it.

I GOT THE CHRISTMAS STORIES! BEST PACKAGE EVER! We have Christmas story time at 10 every night. Some girls from my branch come in and listen to dad cry over the stories. We love it. I seriously couldn't have asked for a better package. It's the best present that anyone could have ever given me. :) And the sisters in my branch love it too. :) Thank you so much dad for doing that for me! It's almost like I'm home for Christmas:)



 These are the girls who come and listen to Christmas stories with me! 
Left to right: Haynie, me, Schillimate, Holmes, Butterfield

So I hear dad's not bishop anymore! What's he doing with all that free time? Just working more? Brother Facer will be a great bishop :) And Bradshaw will get over the shock of being in the bishopric soon haha.

That's so sad to hear about Paul Walker. :( His family is definitely in my prayers.

Well I hope life in California is still going well. I know its warmer than here. Oh on Monday some boys were shipped off to Arcadia California Korean speaking so if you come across new Korean speaking missionaries they were totally in my branch. One's name was Elder Kim and I cant remember the other one but he was from New Jersey.

Anyways, I hope you have a great week! I included some pictures as well.

I love you all so much and Happy Holidays!

Collyer 자매

Friday, November 29, 2013 - Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving Family!

The day after is close enough right?

It was a good day yesterday but I'll get to that at the end.

So last Sunday the Branch President called me into talk to me. Totally thought it was a getting to know you type interview. Totally wrong. Guess whose the new Sister Training leader?? Yours truly. Hasn't been that weird yet but we have 38 new missionaries coming in on Wednesday and I am going to have to bear my testimony to them in Korean. I should probably start memorizing that soon. My Sundays will be super packed but I've heard they're way fun so everything will be good. Now just the little free time I have will be gone but it will be fun :) Elder Peterson (the guy that was supposed to go in on October 2nd as well) is the new zone leader so we call ourselves the celestial district because we have so many people in leadership in our district. Were just that spiritual.

Oh and last Friday we found out who our second teacher was going to be. He was our investigator the first week. He told us that he was moving back to Korea the last investigator meeting we had with him then he showed up in our classroom and critiqued our teaching style. Why did I never hear that this is normal?? Apparently I was the only one not in the loop because I was surprised when he came into our classroom. Anyways, its fun he's a good teacher. The last picture that I attached is a picture of how he writes on the board. He doesn't know how to write English really well and he gets lazy so he just stops writing and does dots and lines. We all make fun of him. But he's a good teacher.

My Teachers Writing

Okay now for thanksgiving: it was so good! They really do do a good job at trying to make everyone not home sick while they're here for the holidays. Russell M. Nelson came to talk to us. He talked about magnifying your calling and how important it is to become friends with the ward mission leader. And from now until the end of the year I guess general authorities are coming all the time. There's speculation that Monson is coming on Tuesday so I'll keep you updated.

 

It's the cards mom gave me! We made them so pretty! And the boys loved them!



Thanksgiving Cards

Anyways so after the talk we had two hours to eat lunch. That much time to eat is like unheard of. You never realized how much free time you had before until all your free time is gone. Thanksgiving lunch was actually surprisingly good. The yams were disappointing but that's just because they weren't moms. But the turkey, stuffing, and potatoes were way good. The green beans were nasty though...you can't win on everything!

Me on service day cleaning with a vacuum

Then we did a service project where we packaged dinners for little kids who are from less fortunate families. My job was to seal the bags we all had a competition on what table could get the most bags done. We won. We packaged 5 boxes and each box had about 100 packages of food in it. Then we went to a little thanksgiving program about the first thanksgiving and at night we watched Ephram's Rescue. It was kinda a cheesy movie but really good. It had the same story as 17 miracles though so if you want to watch it that's my warning. The cards you gave me, mom went to good use! We made one for each of the Elders and all of our teachers. They loved them.

That's really all that happened this week. Aside from hours of studying the scriptures and Korean but that's just normal now.

Me posing with sister Jensons notebook! Yay Korean!

 

I hope everyone had a fantastic Thanksgiving and you are enjoying the temple today! The Provo Temple is closed until the end of the year because of cleaning which is depressing but at least we got to go twice before it closed!



Left to right: Me Sister Jenson, Sister Lamburt, Sister Jensen

I hope this week is good for everyone! I miss you all but I couldn't be happier about serving the Lord :)



This is how we eat lunch on P-Day. its a party.

사랑해요!

Collyer 자매