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)

Me with the young women in my ward.

Not a super eventful week out in Jeon Ju, but there are some noteworthy things.

First, on Tuesday after district meeting we had a less active, Sister Kim, call us and ask us to come to the church. So we did and when we got there Sister Son found her collapsed on the floor of the chapel crying. He husband had a brain hemorrhage a few months ago and he has just been getting worse since and he needs another surgery and she doesn’t want him to have to go through it again. So we sat with her for a few hours and read the Book of Mormon and Sister Son played hymns and I sang them to her with my arm around her. At one point I had my arm around her and I said I loved her in Korean and she put her head on my shoulder. It was really touching. But that experience made me realize that the church really is a safe haven for the downtrodden. There is a certain spirit in the chapel that you can’t find anywhere else.

I got a hair cut! So we got smoothies.

We also had a lesson with Jani! Her Korean name is 문은숙  in case you were curious. And it went really well! She read five more chapters in the Book of Mormon! And she asked if Nephi was writing more on the brass plates or if he started a new record and so we explained that he was writing the Book of Mormon and she asked who the Lamb of God was. Then when she prayed she said that she was diligently studying the Book of Mormon and she prayed to better understand the hard vocabulary. It was adorable. She said she couldn’t come to church because she had to study (story of Korean high school students lives) but we are hoping when we teach keep the Sabbath day holy she will have a change of heart.

This is our members little boy who loves me. He's adorable.

We were able to just say hello of Sister Oh this week. She is starting a new funeral home business so she is really busy but it was supposed to open today so hopefully she will have a little more time. But her husband has come to church the past two weeks in a row so we have high hopes for them as well :)

I don’t remember if I told you but we tried to pick Amanda back up again but she is really just using us for our English so we had to drop her again. :( I hate dropping people...but it’s okay as Elder Christofferson told us "she’s just not ready yet."

We also had dinner at the relief society president’s house last night for her husband’s birthday with four other families in our ward. It was great. His birthday cake was a watermelon, proof that Koreans are healthier than Americans. But it was great. And when we taught, we taught about faith and it was a really cool experience to just have four or five families worth of people just listening to us. I loved it

 

Watermelon Birthday Cake

Anyways i hope everything is good at home! Happy late birthday mom! And happy birthday Amy and Eric! I love you all!

BAPTISIMAL DATE!



This is our Chapel! We have the best chapel in Korea :)
Literally. Its the nicest church in the country for our church. We are blessed :)

We got a baptismal date this week! But that happened on Saturday so I will get to that towards the end of the email :)

On Monday night, we visited the hospital with one of our members to visit two of our members that are there. And it was great! Sister Stradling and I both bore our testimonies on Alma 7:11-12 and so did our member. And he gave us a referral! The referral doesn't look super promising though. She is kinda more interested in learning English and not religion because she is Buddhist but that could change.

This week we really focused on building relationships with the members which is super difficult when you don't speak the language but we are making it work. They think it is so cute when we try to speak Korean and they correct us which is super helpful in trying to speak. One of the sisters in our ward even gave us a lesson on things in the kitchen! She pointed to the microwave and a kettle and stuff like that and said the Korean word for it. I don't remember any of it but it was cute.

This week I realized just how powerful missionary prayers really are. So our investigators weren't really the best ever and we were getting super discouraged because we just wanted to proselyte less and teach more so we started praying for more investigators. Prays answered! The Elders gave us THREE referrals this week which is apparently unheard of. And on a less spiritual note: we prayed for more rice and fruit because food here is ridiculously expensive and when we visited our members they gave us fruit and rice! The gospel's true.



This is our bishop's door. All of the members who live in apartments have hearts on this door.
It makes it really easy to find them

Before I talk about our new investigator I have to tell a funny story. So we have someone called a house leader in our house. Their job is to make sure the light is off at 10:30 and on at 6:30. Sister Marsden got that calling. She was so stressed that she wouldn't get up right at 6:30 the first morning she was doing it that she woke up at 12:30 and thought it was 6:30 so she turned on the light and told us to wake up then started to pray. Sister Stradling slowly got into the pray position as well, I threw the blanket over my head and Sister Hilton was the only one who thought to look at the clock. Then in her own word she said "For some reason I felt compelled to stand up and announce that it was midnight then go over and turn the light off for everyone." Sister Hilton is farthest from the door and had to climb over Sister Marsden to turn off the light. It was a bonding moment for all of us once we got over that she woke up us at midnight.

Anyways, our cute little new investigator. Her name is Choi Jeen Sun (최 진선). The Elders found her on the street and she contacted us because she had a huge English test she needed help preparing for that she took yesterday. The first day we taught her about Joseph Smith and it was kind of rough but the thing that she was most confused about was why she hadn't heard about him before because she believes in God and reads the bible and everything. she's actually really interested in what we have to say. And she contributed to why Saturday was such a good day!

Saturday! We met with all three of our investigators ( we dropped the crazy one when we picked up Jeen Sun her English name is Amanda) First we met with Kim Ae Ran (김 애란) and she didn't totally reject us when we asked her to be baptized! She didn't say yes but she was just kinda trying to wrap her mind around that we were telling her her baptism wasn't valid. So that was a huge improvement! Then we met with Stella at a members house with a member and it was so good! We finished off the commandments and we told her the next step was to get baptized when she was ready then she picked a date! March 30th! Still really far away and we are going to try and push it up if we can but she picked a date! WE HAVE A BAPTISUMAL DATE! Easily the highlight of our week. Then on top of that we met with Amanda that night and we showed her the restoration video and the spirit was so strong. After the video we asked her what she thought and she paused then said "I think this really happened." YES! IT TOTALLY DID! So exciting!  Saturday was the best day ever.

We met with Amanda again last night and taught her about the Plan of Salvation and we are meeting with her again tonight. Life is good and God is great :)

Anyways that was my week :) I hope life in the states is going well for every one! I love you all!

LAST FEW DAYS IN THE MTC!

I cant believe my time at the MTC ends on Monday! Crazy. It has been such a hectic week but its been great.

On Friday sister Jenson and I skyped TRC with a Korean girl and it went so well! We talked about prayer and we could understand about 60% of what she was saying. So exciting.

Then on Saturday I had CMS which is like tutoring with Sister Baek who actually grew up in Pasadena and know David Corless and Mariah Moffat and such which is cool. but anyways I just wanted to practice listening and speaking with her. So she shared her conversion story then had me tell her what I understood and I understood about 50% of what she said! Big self esteem boost there. Then she had me share why I decided to go on a mission in Korean and it was very broken Korean but I got the point across. the spirit was so strong it was fantastic and the gift of tongues is so real because I didn't think I knew that much Korean.

On Sunday I got released from being sister training leader and let me tell you. I was being blessed a lot by that calling because these past few days have been rough. Monday was definitely the most trying day at the MTC. I scheduled my MRI for tomorrow because infield orientation that is mandatory was supposed to be today. Well we found out that they actually switched in field to Friday so we would be missing it because of my MRI and the health center wouldn't let me change it. Sister Jenson was not happy with me and I was stressed because she wasn't happy then I started getting even more stressed because people were telling me that I would be taking too much medication on the plane and it was just bad. So I talked to sister Bagley about it and she actually comforted me a lot. She talked to me about how many lives I've touched already and that I just had to really trust in the Lord. And I realized she was right. I mean I always knew that but it was good that she reminded me. And Now I'm totally calm about the whole situation and I know it is in the Lords hands and that everything is going to work out because he needs me in Korea :) Sister Jenson and I also got a blessings from Elder Payne in our district which was so good. That was another thing that calmed me down because he said the Lord wouldn't let anything go wrong and to stop worrying about how I'm going to get to Korea, just be excited to go. I felt like that day brought Sister Jenson and I closer than we already are because we were both in tears by the end of our blessings and we just hugged forever and it was great :)

Tuesday was a really good day :) We had an amazing devotional by Bishop Stevenson, the presiding bishop of the church, and his wife. one thing his  wife said really struck me. She said, "Be thankful everyday you get to put on that badge because the day you have to take it off will be the worst day of your life." I realized that I really haven't been magnifying my calling as much as I should and I sent goals to really make the most of this short time where I am dedicating myself to the Lord. I want to be able to say I did everything I could to serve the Lord during the short time I have to dedicate my life to him.

We had the best district devotion ever after that! It was the last one we were going to have which is sad. But the spirit was so strong and I realized how much I truly do love all the people in my district and I'm going to miss them so much. we all decided that we are the spirit doctors because we heal peoples spirits. It was a great meetings.

Well the next time I email you I am going to be all the way across the Pacific Ocean! I love you all so much and I hope your week is going amazingly!

북음은 참됩니다! (The gospel is true!)

LESS THAN TWO WEEKS!

I CANT BELIEVE THERE IS LESS THAN TWO WEEKS UNTIL I FLY TO KOREA! It's crazy how fast time has gone by here.

I didnt make a plan on what I was going to say this week so sorry if this is short.

Our natives came this week! The ones who are going to go with us to Korea. Sister Park is a solo sister and she is with me and Sister Jenson when shes not in her classroom. She speaks perfect English because she grew up in the states which is way nice because we are not playing charades all the time to get across what we are trying to say. She's super helpful in helping with our pronunciation and everything too.

On and New Years happened this week! We all just celebrated with New York at 10. We had lots of food and little maraca things. It was great. And we were all in bed by 10:30 which is a miracle and now the branch presidency cant get mad at us for staying up late which happens almost every week with the Elders. I was so proud of the sisters.

Today was the most hectic P-Day that I have ever experienced so far. Sister Jenson and I were pretty much running around all day. I went to the Doctor today and saw Amy and Rebecca! I did have a slight heart attack when I read the dear elder saying they would be there and there was part of me that was worried I'd get homesick from seeing them but it was fantastic!  I loved seeing them even for a short time :) and my companion enjoyed getting a hug from Rebecca because her sister wasn't there. It was good to see familiar faces :) definitely weird going off campus though. I feel like BYU should be farther away from me because I've been stuck here for so long. Then after the Doctors appointment we did laundry and while our laundry was in we ran errands like drying cleaning, telling the health clinic I needed an MRI and all the stuff we needed to do.  Then we got our laundry and lunch then we got to clean the temple! So fun :) We got a tour of it afterwords and we saw the bride's room which was GORGEOUS! So stunning I loved it.

When we got back to campus we got our TRAVEL PLANS! Were leaving at 8:31 AM on January 13th to fly to Detroit.  Then we have an hour and a half lay over in Detroit which, I'm assuming, is where I'll call you and that is from 2:10 to 3:45 pm then off to SEOUL! One question on the calling: What number do you want me to call? I'm assuming the house phone but I didn't know if you wanted me to call dads work number so he could conference call a few people in so just let me know and if it is dads work then I need that number. We land in Korea at 7:45 pm on Jan 14. I"M SO EXCITED! The jet leg will be killer but I"M SO EXCITED! WERE FINALLY LEAVING! We got our Korean name tags two days ago and  that was exciting as well. Rebecca has a picture of that that I'm sure she has shared with you already. I love it

My Korean Name Tag

Next week will be hectic too. I really hope that they can schedule the MRI earlier because right now its on my P-DAY and that's when were supposed to do the majority of our packing which is super unfortunate but I know the Lord will make it work.

Sorry this is so short but that was pretty much my week. I love you all and have a great week!

Sister Collyer

P.S. I am also the travel leader which means if there are any problems with the airplane and getting there its all one me. My name comes first in the alphabet so that's why. Hopefully nothing goes wrong.

P.P.S. we also all celebrated new years in Korea at 8 in the morning over breakfast in the cafeteria. All the other people eating were super confused why we were saying happy new year at 8 in the morning on Dec 31 but we all knew why and that's all that matters :)

Sister Jenson (Left) & Me (Right) in front of the Doctor's Office

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.