No Hot Water is NOT Fun. Even in the Heat of Summer

So we had no hot water all week. Which means that there was a lot of screams of pain in the morning and at night when anyone showered. I didn't realized water could be so cold. It was terrible. even when its 91 outside with 80% humidity no one wants to take a shower with absolutely no hot water.

 

On to other events of the week: it was really slow. We have no more investigators and it was HORRIBLY hot so we visited a lot of members. Which was good because walking outside was miserable. The past few days have been cooler though .God's tender mercies.

 

The family doing a puzzle of the Temple

Puzzle Finished

Anyways on Monday we had FHE With Sister Oh and her family and we talked briefly about the priesthood and Brother Park (her husband) just milked that only guys get it. His come back for everything through out the night was "well at least I get the priesthood" or "I'm right because I get the priesthood." It was hilarious. Then of course we had to explain that just because he gets the priesthood doesn't make him more important. We also visited them on Wednesday this past week and at the end of our lesson about callings in the church we asked brother Park to pray and sister Son and sister Oh talked for a little bit and I noticed that brother Park pulled out his phone and typed "Prayer" into Google. That's when I realized that maybe he doesn't remember how to pray so I pulled out our little page of how to pray and put it on the table. He looked so relieved then offered this really simple really sweet prayer. I love the first few prayers people give. They are so genuine and the spirit is so strong it's great. They also got confirmed yesterday in church. our ward mission leader confirmed them and their son and when we were all talking in gospel principles class they couldn't believe that our ward mission leader didn't prepare when he was going to say before hand. It was really cute :)

Playing a game with Na Yeon

 

Oh also I forgot to tell you. Last week when Sister Oh and her family finally showed up to church you could tell that it had been a rough morning. Na-Yeon and Na- Oon (their other daughter) both had red eyes and sister oh looked adjusted. The first thing that went though my mind when I saw them was "wow Satan is working hard of this family" I know that they are going to be strong amazing members and I know that Satan knew that to but even though he tried he couldn't stop them from joining this amazing Church. Take that Satan!

 

This week was really kinda hard actually. I was really frustrated that I still cant get the language and it was weighing me down all week. Finally on Thursday during companionship study I lost it and started crying and told sister son about how frustrated I was with Korean. Then she told me something that I will never forget. She told me that when I bear my testimony in Korean that Spirit is so strong. She has heard me bear my testimony in English but nothing compares to the spirit that is present when I bear my testimony in Korean. She said that she is constantly asking herself if her spirit is that strong as well. It touched my heart. And after that conversation, we met with three members and I actually knew what was being said and could be a part of the conversation. It was like God was telling me "Be patient. It's coming."

 

Bracelets with the YW

Anyways that was my week i hope everything is great at home! i love and miss yo u all!

--

- Sister Collyer 콜리여 자매 (kol-lee-yeo ja-mae)

The Perfect Baptism

The whole group with our ward mission leader.

Well not technically. The kids were a little loud. No one knew where the primary music was when they had to sing. When the missionaries were singing the pianist was missing some pages and Elder Jeong took a few times to get the baptismal prayer right but the spirit was so present that it made up for all of the imperfections. It was really humbling to get to stand by Sister Oh's side at the font when she walked into the water. And seeing how happy she was when she watched her son and husband get baptized is something I will never forget.

Me and Sister Son with Sister Oh

 

It was the most interesting baptismal service I have ever been to and I don't think that I will ever go to one like it again. So we had the regular baptism where people share testimony and they get baptized but then after we all went up to the fourth floor where the gym is and we had something we called Baptism night. We picked three families to present musical numbers and the missionaries did one. Then in between the musical numbers we had trivia questions about baptism like who baptized Christ and from who and when did Joseph Smith get the authority to baptize. Then we handed out pens to people who got the right answer. It was kinda a little loud and more like a party but it was great. Brother Park, Sister Ohs husband's, sister was there. Apparently she is the one who contacted our Relief society president to ask her to bring the missionaries to her brothers family. She and her whole family are members down in Gwang-Ju and they gave them gifts and bore testimony. It was precious. Anyways. it was the most interesting baptismal service I have ever been to but I loved it.

 

The family in white :)

That's pretty much all that happened this week. We did other little things like make bracelets with the YW. Oh and the other sisters we live with's ward did a mini MTC that we were a part of. It was pretty much just doing role plays like we did in the MTC so that was fun. It was interesting: there were two groups and Sister Son was a pretend investigator that they had to teach and with the first group the spirit was really strong and really present but then with the second group they just kept asking questions that weren't focused like what her major was and the absence of the spirit was really apparent. Moral of the story: teach with the spirit!

 

Missionaries in my Ward

We also went back to the Buddhist temple with the stake president. He is one of the sweetest men I have ever met. I love him. We had fun :)

We decided to do Kung Fu Panda poses because it looked like it was from Kung Fu panda haha

Us in the little stream by the temple.

 

This is how big bugs are in Korea. Our Stake President was brave enough to pick it up.

 

That's my week! first baptism! Yay!

 

I hope all is well at home! i love and miss you all! and i hope your birthday was great dad!

- Sister Collyer 콜리여 자매 (kol-lee-yeo ja-mae)

The worst part about Korea in the summer is No A/C

VERY few houses here have A/C and its KILLER! But it's okay.  The bishop's house does, so when we can't stand the heat anymore we just go there and help her with the kids. It's great :)

There's a shark Popsicle here! It literally says Jaws in Korean. Haha! And its pretty good to. it had a red inside and it's shaped like a shark so its like you're eating a shark haha ironic.

I forgot to tell you last week, but when we visited sister Oh in the hospital the first time one of the first things she told us was that she brought her Book of Mormon with her. its was cute :)

She's been in the hospital all week but honestly it has been a HUGE blessing. Shes in the hospital right across the street from the church so its super convenient. We go there pretty much everyday. And without the distraction of being at her house with her kids and such, we have really been able to teach to her needs. It's interesting to me how quickly people forget the lessons though. We had to teach them all to her again because she didn't remember anything even though Sister Stradling and I taught them to her in May. We started over but it feels so much better now and she really is ready to get baptized. Speaking of which, she passed her baptismal interview! Elder Barney, my district leader said she passed with flying colors. And afterwards we went back into the room and the firsts thing she said to us was that it was easy. Shes so great.

Me with Na-Yeon and the picture she drew. She's so cute.

Oh and we also had a scripture moment with her that was pretty cool. So we went over the baptismal interview questions with her and when we asked her if she believes that Thomas S. Monson is a prophet of God she said something along the lines of "you're teaching me and if you believe then I believe." It reminded me of when Aaron is teaching King Lamoni's father in Alma 22:7. Such a cool moment!

We are so excited for the whole family to get baptized on Sunday. They are all so well prepared. Her son and husband are getting their interview on Thursday and it was cute yesterday when Elder Barney was talking to her husband about Thursday he said "I can't do anything on Thursday I have an interview" I guess he didn't understand that it was with Elder Barney.

So that's the update with Sister Ohs family.

I gave a talk in Church yesterday! It was terrifying. I talked about missionary work. I wrote it all out in English then tried to translate it and Sister Son corrected it. But I had so many members come up to me and tell me it was good. One member said that he could tell I spent a really long time on it and he could feel the spirit so strong as I was talking. I love our members :)

Anyways so that was my week! I love you all and hope summer isn't to hot over there because its killer here. Love you!

My Fan

This is what happens when Elder Smith steals my fan haha.

Sister Collyer 콜리여 자매 (kol-lee-yeo ja-mae)





P. S.   Also I got a Korean name this week!   It was from Sister oh and Na-Yeon and sister Son.  It's 고은아 which is pronounced "Go Eun- Ah" I have the last name Go because that's the last name that Dad got on his mission. I thought he'd like that :) I finally have a Korean name after being here for over 4 transfers! Yay!

Happy 4th of July!

Happy 4th of July everyone! I accidently forgot that it was the 4th until Rebekah reminded me. Then we had a little God bless America moment. Where we said God bless America. It was great.

Pretty much the only thing we did this week was meet with Sister Oh and her family. Okay thats a lie but the rest of the time was jsut spend visiting some members and proselyting. we spend almost every day with Sister Ohs family.

Oh monday we had FHE with them again and they took us to this fancy restraunt and fed us duck. Her littlest daughter, Na-Yeon, is so cute I cant even handle it. I pretty much can't keep her off of my lap even though its kinda against the rules. But anyways FHE was a little short but it went great we talked to them about temptaions and how they need to watch out for Satan now that they have a baptismal date.

Na-yeon Sister Oh's daughter. Shes so cute!

We also went over on Wednesday night. We didn't warn her we were coming but when we showed up she said that she kinda felt like we would come. So she made us dinner and we shared the restoration again just because we wanted to review and we challenged Sister Oh and her husband Brother Park to read and pray together everyday. They said they would try. While we were there Brother Park read our palms. It was actually really fun and super interesting. He told me that i have had good ancestors and I will have good kids. And he also said that I will only have one boy in my life that I will meet in the place that I work. So that's my future according to my hand. We'll see how accurate it is haha.

My District

On Friday we spend litter ally all day with the bishops wife. Happy 4th of July! She took us to get food and we helped her clean up toys and bottles. Her house is SOOOO clean for having 7 kids all under 8 and two new born twins that are only 6 months. Shes like super mom. but  anyways it was good to just get to know her a little better.

One of the bishops twins

The other twin

Then on Saturday we found out that Sister Oh went to the Hospital because she wasn't feeling well, don't freak out. She's fine. Koreans go to the hospital for EVERYTHING! even if you have a tiny sore throat or stuffy nose you go to the hospital. I think it' s a bit excessive but that's just me. Anyways so we went there and shared Elder Bednar's talk from this last conference about burdens with her. It so cool to see her change,. I can see the light of Christ growing in her eyes and she says that her family is changing too. Like her boy helps his sisters with their homework. I never realized how blessed out family is to have the gospel because I grew up with those blessings. But seeing them start in someone else's family makes me see how blessed we really are.

Anyways that was my week! i hope all is well at home! i love you all!

So we had a tiny vacuum since I got her and we thought it was normal but then we told president and he said we should have a bigger one so we finally got it!  We were so happy!

Our Bigger Vacuum

- Sister Collyer 콜리여 자매 (kol-lee-yeo ja-mae)