English Flyers and Proselyting

That's pretty much what we did all week. We had three appointments cancel on Tuesday and that was really the only day that we had appointments so it was hard. And it rained a lot this week so that makes putting up free English flyers even harder but we endured it. This week we have no appointments whatsoever. Last week we at least had some dinner appointments so this week will be interesting.

We did have a new woman and her daughter come to English class though! So that was exciting. She called off one of the flyers we put up. She's only English interest right now but we'll see where that goes. Hopefully she comes back next week.

Other than that we had a combined district meeting this week! That was fun. Sister Lamburt and Sister Jensen from the MTC are in my zone so it was good to see them and so is sister Stradling! It's good to catch up with people every once and a while. :) We had a really good sisters meeting during combined district meeting. Our sister training leader reminded us all that we are daughters of our Father in Heaven and that He knows us and our struggles and wants to help. I know that but every once and a while its nice to be reminded. We were pretty much all crying by the end of it. It was great.

Well that's pretty much all that happened this week. Nothng to eventful. Sorry no pictures I didn't bring the right thing to connect my camera to the computer :( But i love you all and hope you are all doing well!

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

Greenie Fire is Real!

My New Companion! Sister Park.

New area new people! And we have two greenies in our district so I'm finally not the one who knows the least Korean! Yesterday one of the members actually asked me to tell the greenies that they had to give an introduction talk  during sacrament! I've never had anyone ask me to translate before! So it was exciting.

Na-Yeon giving me a "hair cut" at FHE

Anyways leaving Jeon Ju was really sad...on the last day sister son and i ate SOOO much. we literally ate nonstop from 1:30 to 8. we had an all you can eat buffet then popsicles and potato then another dinner then pretzels. I have never wanted to make myself throw up just to get the food out of my stomach before. Like I wasn't even hungry for breakfast the next morning. That's how full we got. But I felt so loved because so many people wanted to see me before I left.  It was bitter sweet. I didn't want to leave because i love all the people i had met but i was excited for change.

The Bishop's Family making funny faces

Then on Thursday Sister Son and i went to Daejeon to meet our new companions! I have realized in the past few days that I know more Korean than I think I do but at the same time I know none at all. but now I talk it all the time (or try to talk it) so hopefully I'll get better. Sister Park is nice but it's hard because we live in a two man house and there is a language barrier. But hopefully it will be a good transfer. We only have one investigator that we met at English class on Saturday. But the ward is super nice and they give us food! And we have lunch after church! So that's fun.

 Oh also I realized that greenie fire is real and I'm pretty sure I had none. We had a proselyting activity with the elders and their greenies and the greenies were so excited to talk to people it almost made me excited to proselyte. Almost, haha.

Yesterday during gospels principles class we were talking about fasting and I said that I fasted to learn Korean more and the teacher said that God answered my prayers by giving me a Korean. I realized he was right. And that this is going to be a hard transfer but I will come a long way in my language speaking and learning ability. Hopefully :)

I love you all and hope you are doing well! have a great week!

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

Who Needs a Backyard When you Have a Church Parking Lot?

Our BBQ

The pool

Okay so funny story of the week: on Wednesday the bishop called us and asked us if we wanted to eat this pig meat you wrap in lettuce meal with him (which is delicious) so he told us to come to the church. So we did and you will never guess what we found: in the church parking lot the bishop had set up a pool and they put out tarps and had an Electric grill and just had a pool party and BBQ right there in the church parking lot! Only in Korea, actually only in Jeon-Ju with our bishop. it was great. it made me feel like I was at home but not really because we were at the church.

 

Anyways the other big news from this week! TRANFERS! And guess whose finally being transferred????? THIS ONE! I am going up to the Daejeon zone. To a ward called You-Sung (유성)! sister Son says that the members are fantastic in the ward and my companion is actually Sister Sons MTC companion! Her name is Sister Park Ha-Hyun (박하현) sister son says that she doesn't speak very much english but she is super nice and sweet so it will be interpreting but I'm excited :) I feel like my language skills are going to go up significantly if my companion cant even speak English so it will be an adventure. So that's the big news for the week!

 

Other than that: it was a pretty slow week here in Jeon-Ju we met with Kim Woo- jung but we are giving him to the elders and we met with Choi Sung He but we only met with her once and it went okay but nothing special.

 

We had a really fun youth activity we got to go to on Saturday and let me tell you: Korean get way more into games than we ever did when I went to youth activities. And now I have a ton of games I am going to play at a party or something. It will be great.

 

Other than that nothing really exciting this week we stayed inside a lot because there was a TON of rain but its clear now.

FHE With the Bishop's Family and a member named Sister Oh

 

I love you all and hope you have a good week! I'll talk to you next week from Daejeon!

--

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

We didn't have food and we weren't very hungry so this was our Sunday dinner!

Finally Investigators!

Me mimicking the Bishop's Twin's sleeping position

We finally have investigators! We have three and they are all teenagers. So that's fun. Its a lot harder to teach teenagers than adults.

One we got off of an English flyer. His name is Kim Woo-Joog. His mom forced him to study English with us and it was slightly awkward and he's really shy but he's in middle school and I would be scared to if I was a middle school boy and two girls in dresses came to teach me English. His mom said that she would be okay with him joining our church, mainly she just wants him to talk more. Apparently he doesn't really talk to her at all. But she told us that when he commits to stuff that he throws himself into it so if he joins our church he will bring his friend too. We are meeting with him again this week and we will bring the elders to make him a little more comfortable.

Then our other two are a former investigator's kids. One's in high school her name is Choi sung-He. and the other one is in middle school his name is Choi Joog- Huk. Their mom wants us to teach them English as well. The boy seems a lot more promising than the girl right now. But they remember coming to church when their mom was investigating the church so we'll see where that goes.

Also one of our members, Sister Oh Kyung-Me gave us two referrals! One is a family that is just English interest right now because they will be moving to North Carolina in December for a year because the husband will be working at UNC so they want to be able to speak the language. They're great but mainly the elders have been teaching then so far. Then the other one is a girl named Da-Yeon she is in middle school too. She's one of Sister Oh Kyung-Me's students (Sister Oh Kyung-Me teaches English). 

At Horse Ear Mountain

When we were soaked

We actually went to horse ear mountain with her on thrusday (its a montain whose peaks look like horse ears) and it was so much fun. There is a Buddhist temple at the top of the maintain and when we were there it rained SOOOO hard. I literally have never seen rain so hard ever. We couldn't see anything and we had to scream to each other to be able to hear. We got SOAKED. But it was so great haha. It was great: at one point I said that I miss going swimming and I wanted to go swimming because it was so hot, then after it rained and we were soaked Rebekah (who was also with us) told me "be careful what you wish for. God grants missionaries whatever they want." It was great :)

Hitting a Buddhist Drum

Anyways that was pretty much my week! I love you all and hope you are doing well!

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

Me at the cow Farm that the Ward Mission Leader took us to.

Us with the Ward Mission Leader

The Elders in the Cow Farm

Me with a Cow Statue

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!