The Worth of Seoul: Week 30

아녕하세요 사랑하는 가족 :)

I don't even know what to write in this email because I just talked to you all today! But actually I didn't even say that much did I? I just cried because of how happy I was to hear all of your voices! :) This week was such a good one! I started out the week with a mindset to keep a positive and happy attitude, no matter what the circumstances, and it made all the difference. I feel like I say that in my emails every week haha. What can I say, I have to remind myself every week. I always fall short. But this week there was definitely improvement. Even though we lost a few more investigators this week, we gained some wonderful new ones! There was so much happy goodness.

Our first new investigator is named Beh Shi Yon, but we call her by her english name, Julia! I met her for the first time a few weeks ago on the street. She was the nicest person I have ever jundoed to! So sweet and so sincere! She is in her early 20s and she's a student at a univesrity here in Seoul. She lives kind of far away which is a bummer, but she comes here every day for school! She is fluent in English because growing up she went to international schools in Japan and New Zealand, so in fact she's more comfortable with english. Our first meeting was super great. She says right now she's not a 'beleiver' in God, but she is so open minded. She seems like she has potential to be GOLDEN. We will see. I'm so excited, we are meeting with her again this week! We'll see what happens! :) Our other new investigator is a 13 year old boy named Kim Teh Hyong. I told you about him on the phone, we're besties. He is the nicest Korean kid I've met. He was a referral from an old lady in our ward, who met him on her way to church. This lady, Choi Soon Jey, is famous for giving missionaries the craziest referrals haha. Once she took us to this old Chinese medicine hospital where she gets acupuncture done, and told us that one of the nurses there was interested. Well we showed up and the nurse was like umm no, she never said anything about you to me. Well this is awkward. Once she took the other sisters to her Arabian dance class and the same thing happened haha. So lets just say when she told us on Sunday that she met a little kid and told him to come to church and meet with us, we had little faith that it would actually happen.. but it DID! We met with him this week a few times! He is golden! I will never doubt this woman again haha! She is truly a missionary. She shares the gospel with everyone in her path. She reminds me of Gramma :)

One of the biggest miracles this week is that 3 of our investigators came to church!! 3 whole investigators. Shin Song Hee, Choi Un Kyo, and Kim Teh Hyong (who also brought a few of his little friends, and they were so reverent!) And so did all of our recent converts! Such a blessed day. Sister Lee gave a talk in church, so that might have helped with the numbers.. hopefully we'll see those same results next week!! Maybe I should ask to speak in church or something.... I'm completely joking. I think I would have stomach ulcers.

This past week I've been studying in the book of Ether. Can I just say wow the brother of Jared is amazing? Being a missionary and studying the scriptures is so great, because you can literally apply everything to your situation. From the brother of Jared, we can learn how to better improve our personal prayers. Because of his diligence in inquiring of the Lord in all things, he developed the most powerful faith ever. He truly trusted the Lord with all of his heart, and new that through Him, all things were possible. He went to the Lord specifically with each problem he faced, and presented a solution, asking in faith for the Lord to help him. He never ceased to pray. And because he didn't, the Lord not only answered his prayers, but showed himself unto him. "..thus I will do unto thee because of the long time ye have cried unto me." The Lord will always answer our prayers if we are diligent and specific, asking in faith. I am so grateful for the opportunity to do this every day. I have truly grown closer to my Heavenly Father through the wonderful gift of prayer!

Well I think this about wraps it up for today. I love you all, and again HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY MOM! :) Have a wonderful week everyone! Okay bye now.

Sister Holmes

홈스 자매

"icecream" with Kim Teh Hee :) this is the bean stuff I was talking about. It looks yummy before right? But then you mix it all together and you get that lovely sight haha...Don't you go putting beans in my icecream. Not good. haha but it was a good time. We didn't know that we ordered the biggest bowl ever. It was huge!