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