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!

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- 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)

Next Transfer I Will Be In

Jeon-Ju!

 

Yup im staying her for another transfer. 5 trandfers in your greenie area is EXTREMELY rare. People usually only stay for 2. But that just means theres more work for me to do here. I just have to find out what it is.

We were able to set a baptismal date with Sister Oh this week and we think this one is the one that she will actually get baptized! Its for July 20th. We had FHE with their family on Monday and we taught about the plan of savlation with the elders and Elder Jeong asked if we could set a date and both her son and her agreed to July 20th! And since I'm not transferring I will be able to be here for it! Her husband, brother Park, wasn't able to sit in at FHE with us but the elders set a date with him for September. However yesterday during church our ward mission leader found out that Brother Park didn't have the same date as the family so he talked to him for 20 mins during the third hour of church and got him to see why he should get baptised on the 20th so now we have a whole family! IM SO EXCITED! MY FIRST BAPTISM IS A FAMILY! And I love them so much. We visited them twice this week. We are so close to them that they expect us to come over almost everyday which is hard because they live a 45 min bus ride away and its more expensive but its totally worth it. When we show up at their house Sister Oh just makes us food and we play with her kids. Their youngest daughter, Na-Yeon who is 6 korean age, played play kitchen with me for a good 15 mins. I had no idea what she was saying to me but I just pretended to drink everything she gave me. Shes adorable. I think they are part of the reason I need to stay in Jeon ju. I love that family. They are definetly one of the people I want you to meet when you come pick me up.

 

The Twins

The bishops twins also got baptised this week! And they looked BEAUTIFUL! Earlier in the week we made invitations with them for their friends and two of their nonmember friends came. The baptism was great. even though there were a TON of kids there and it was kinda loud. The spririt was still SO strong when they were actually baptised and when their parents bore their testimonies. It was precious.

 

I love Jeon Ju and im excited to be staying here for another tranfer.

 

Our gift to the twins for their baptism.

Us with the twins and their friends

Me with the twins and our gift and a few other kids in the ward and their friends

I love you all and hope you have a great week!

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

Hard week her in Jeon Ju

The first sad news is we might have gotten dropped by Eun Sook (Jani) we arent sure. We went to go give her banana bread this week and she mom and aswered the door and told her that her daughter feels uncomfortable about our visits. She feels to much pressure from us to be baptised and go to church. Shes scared of water (like everyother korean in Korea) and she says that church takes up to much time on Sunday that she should be studying (like every other korean in Korea thinks.) so her mom told us that her daughter is just interested un English. We wanted to talk to Jani about it so we still tried to go to her house on Saturday but they didn't answer the door even though we knew they were home and they aren't answering out text messages. So we arent quite sure what to do about that....

 

but on a lighter note: Sister Oh came to church yesterday! And she said that she feels like the missionaries are like angels sent to her family! We are having FHE with them and the elders tonight and we are hoping to give her a baptismal date so sent many prayers her way!

 

I also ate this soup called pe-soon-dae...it is literally pig intestine soup with pigs blood....I have never had so much trouble downing food before. about half way thought I literally didn't think I could finisih it. Our ward mission leader took us out to get it and there were so many points where i had to hold back gagging and do everything I could not to throw up. I have NEVER had so much trouble eating something as I did that. There were pig intestine and hearts and liver and grossness. Just thinking about it makes me sick. But afterwards we got ice cream because sister son was so proud of me for finishing it because it was even hard for her. But I ate it! And I never want to again...

 

Also i went on a splits this week and I meet the other sisters' investigator who is an older asain lady who when she speaks english sounds like a balck person. It's hilarious. She lived in Geroriga for 30 years. I guess she saw them walking down the street and said, "Are you them Mormons?" It's the weirdest thing ever because she Asian but sounds black. Anyways fun story.

 

We also had a really cool experience on Saturday. So Saturday was really rough. No one wanted to meet with us so we pretty much just walked aimlessly around all day. Then at night we went and visited our member Sister Ha without calling her first. She let us in and we talked and such then right before we left she told us that the misisonaries always come by when their family needs them the most because they are having a hard time and that day was one of those time. Missionaries really are angels! Anyways I thought that was cool

 

Hopefully this week goes better. I hope all is well at home! I love and miss you all!

--

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