Week 39

Dear everyone...

And just like that I blink and the transfer is over. I hit my halfway mark this wednesday. Next monday I turn 20. I'm basically on my death bed. What is happening? I literally feel like I just got to Taebaek last week.

Oh man we had a busy week! Zone traning, companion exchanges, lots of good meetings with people. We hardly had any time to street contact! But we talked to people every chance that we could get! Gotta find that prepared person.. They're waiting for us!

We met with Leann this week a couple times. She is such a wonderful person. She expressed some concerns about meeting with us upfront, but she is willing to do everything that we ask of her. This last week we had a really good lesson about prayer and how it can help us. She recognized that in hard times she has, in a sense, prayed in her heart before. We told her that praying to Heavenly Father can help her to receive the help she needs, whenever or whatever it may be. She said "So.. God already knows me?? But I don't really know him!" We told her, well that is our purpose as missionaries! To help you to come to know Him. We challenged her to pray that night and thank God for all of the things in her life, and to ask Him for whatever it may be that she needs help with. She said that she would! She then prayed at the end of the lesson and gave such a sweet prayer! She may be a little skeptical but she is acting on her faith. I am so grateful for the opportunity to teach her, she is such a wonderful person. Also, she referred her friend to us, Selina. We met her yesterday for the first time. Kind of the same situation as Leann, she and her family are buddhist. She pretty much told us in the beginning that she doesn't want to change or go to our church, but she understands our purpose and respects it. To be honest, after our meeting with her yesterday I hit a wall of discouragement. I was feeling so down because I feel like I lack faith with our investigators. They are all buddhist, and have told us in numerous ways that they don't want to change. I want so badly to find someone who wants to hear this message. I want to be able to share with them and affect them with this gospel. I want to see people's lives change. Then we went to Dorthy's house (we will be teaching her with her kids now) and had a great short little lesson with them.. and I realized that even though I feel like I'm not making a difference right now, we are. These people need our love. And with time and patience, they may come to accept our message, even if we don't get to see it. It was a miracle and a tender mercy for me. Sometimes I just face these moments where I feel hopeless.. but then God helps me see that I am just doing what I can, and I am needed where I am. 

Zone training this week was awesome. I learned so much! We have such great zone leaders, who really helped me see what I am already doing right and what I need to improve. We also had an awesome training from our sister training leaders about obedience and faith! Both things I needed to hear! It was just an enforcer and a good reminder of why we do the things we do as missionaries.. exact obedience is the only way that we can see miracles! I know that from experience. Also in order to see miracles we need to have faith. When we pray in faith, ask in faith and through our actions of obedience show our faith, we are 'entitled', in a sense, to see miracles. Even if they're not the miracles we expect!

This past week we went to visit one of our members, Kim Gye Sook. She is like the mom of all of us missionaries out here, I love her so much. We talked for her for a long time about some less actives, and she also told us the story of how she joined the church.. It was a faith building experience for me for a few reasons. firstly, because her story is inspiring and gives me hope and secondly because I understood every single thing that came out of her mouth. It was the first time I have understood something that completely and perfectly. Usually I get the story because I understand most of what's being said.. but this was like 100%. It was so cool... God helps us when we ask for things, that's all I'm gonna say!

A couple of fun things this week.. we 'hiked' a mountain for our missionary coordination meeting. It was the prettiest sight I've seen in a long time.. I felt like I was in Canada! I am so blessed to be hear in Taebaek (seriously as far as weather goes.. I am the most blessed missionary in our misison). Also I ate chong-yang-go-chu pepper at Kim Ji Hae's house(our member). A spicy green pepper. I might as well have swallowed a torch that was lit. It was the most painful experience I've ever had. I cried for 10 minutes straight and drank about a gallon of milk. But you know what, no regrets! Never again. But no regrets. 

This week should be great! Tonight for our FHE we're having MUSIC NIGHT!! It should be a blast! A lot of people are coming! I'm playing Maple Leaf Rag on the piano and singing "Mountains to Climb" with Elder Garff and Elder Mumford haha! Can't wait. Then transfer calls is on saturday night.. we'll see what happens! Sister Lykins has been here for the past 4 transfers.. so I could get a new companion, but she could also stay with me for one more.. or heck I could be leaving! Doesn't seem likely and I would be SO mad.. but President has done crazier things.. 

Well, I love you all! I love this work! I just love everything! Except that dang pepper that almost killed me. No regrets, but I still hate it. 

Until next week!!

Sister Holmes

홈스 자매

English class buddies!! :)

Exchanges with Sister Ness! Good times

This is Kim SooJung! She is in our ward and she leaves to her mission in Hong Kong this week!!! Sunday was her farewell. And we're matching. How perfect. :)

We love Kim SooJung!

Week 38

Dearest loved ones

This week flew by in a flash. I honestly feel like I just blinked and the week is gone. I can't even remember what happened! 

Well, hope everyone had a happy 4th of July! In between jundo, weekly planning and English class, I almost would've forgotten that is was a holiday haha! But all I had to do was look down at my clothes to remember.. Yes of course I wore red white and blue mom! Don't you worry! Call me Sister Flag! Okay. That wasn't that funny but I'm too lazy to delete what I just wrote. We ate fried chicken, watermelon and icecream as a district to celebrate.. So even though I wasn't with my family, swimming and watching fireworks, I can't complain. I had a pretty good 4th of July holiday here in Korea. :) 

We saw some good things this week! We met with a new(ish) investigator named Leann! We met with her several weeks ago and hadn't been able to meet with us again until this last week. She is so awesome! We are doing the family english program with her and her 2 sons, who are the cutest things on this earth. Mark my words, I am not leaving this country without an korean child. So mom and dad, you might have to come pick me up so we can do some legal work.. either that or I might just have to smuggle one in my suitcase.. you decide, its happening either way. Anyways, we had such a fun time with them. We ate lunch them, played some English games and had a great lesson! We read "You are Special" with them (in Korean) and we talked about how we cant talk to Heavenly Father every day through prayer. They loved it! The only problem is that her husband is very buddhist.. It was the perfect opportunity to invite us over because her husband was in Seoul for a business trip. But she says that she talked to her husband about us, and he said it was alright as long as he didn't have to get involved with it. So that's good right? She's been reading the book of mormon already! She says she doesn't understand it.. but she's exercising her faith so that's what matters! We are meeting her again today so we'll help explain some things for her. I see some good things happening with her. She is such a happy person. The hard part will be getting her to see why she needs this gospel, because she is already such a happy happy person.. We just need to find a depressed person or something... Me and Sister Lykins joke about it.. but we're kinda serious haha.

This week is our last week in the family english program with Jiny and Dorthy (our buddhist ladies) and they are going to be so sad.. they love us so much. Literally last week Jiny told us that we are basically her only friends. We told them that if they want to keep meeting with us we can, but we won't be doing english anymore, just the gospel lesson. They said they would be okay with that.. but at the same time, they aren't accepting or progressing at all. They honestly do love learning about our church and they love what we believe.. but they don't want to accept it for themselves. This last week in our lesson with them, I invited them to pray, to experiment for themselves to find out if what we have been teaching them is true or not.. but they declined the invitation respectfully and told us that they will only pray to their buddhist gods, and not 'mormon style'. Well, we tried! And we will keep trying. These ladies are really so special to me.. I feel like even though they're no where near accepting our message now, that by learning about the doctrine of our church, we are helping to lay a foundation for something in the future.. that is what I hope and pray!!

Like I said before, church is such a different experience for me here.. I'm not used to having my hair done for me (aka ripped out of my head) during sacrament meeting! I'm not sure if I've mentioned Soong-oo yet.. He is our branch president's youngest son.. There are no words to describe this little boy. He is the cutest thing you've ever seen for sure, but also the most lethal. He is one naughty kid haha. and He loves us a little bit too much. He is probably one of my biggest trials out here in Taebaek, not going to lie haha! But through him I am learning patience.. and how to be a good parent someday? I don't know haha. But he is so entertaining.. Even though he likes to poke the sister missionaries in places they shouldn't be poked... oh man

This past week Sister Lykins and I had a day where we spoke only Korean to eachother all day! Haha it started out good but by the end it was like 70/30.. but still! It was such an awesome experience and a confidence booster to me that I can actually kinda speak Korean. Getting there. Slowly but surely. :)

Lately I've been reading in the book of Jacob.. and I'm learning more about what it means to cleave unto God. How can we better cleave unto God? By loving Him, serving Him, and trusting Him always. If we trust in Him, during testing times we will never be shaken, just like Jacob was when Sherem tried to shake him (ch. 7). I am learning more about how to trust God every day out here.. Its kind of hard sometimes just to let go of your will and say God, its all you now. I am doing my best but whatever happens happens. And I trust you. Its hard! I'm not very good at it yet. But I'm trying more and more. And as I do.. my faith and conviction of this gospel grows stronger and stronger. I can't express in words how grateful I am to be where I am right now, experiencing everything that I'm experiencing.

Love you all, have a kimchi slammin' week. (am I cool or what?)

Sister Holmes

홈스 자매

4th of July feast!

Flag attire.

Taebaek

Week 37

Dear friends and fam :) 

I feel like I've been our here in Taebaek forever! But its only been a few weeks haha. This past week we had a mission conference in Seoul that we found out about the night before! We traveled to Seoul on Wednesday, went to the conference on Thursday and traveled back Thursday night. A man named PJ Rogers came and spoke to us. He is pretty much famous here in Korea. I'm not exactly sure what his line of work is but he was a missionary here in korea many years ago and since then has come back and been a very successful business man here.. and because he's a member of the church, he is quite famous in mormon culture here haha. He is probably the best Korean speaker that I've ever heard (foreign korean speaker, of course) and he is super knowledgeable when it comes to Koreans, and their culture. I learned SO much. Sometimes I find myself asking why koreans do things the way they do and why they act the way they do. Brother Rogers really helped me understand more about why Koreans are the way they are. I have a greater love and appreciation for these people. They truly are wonderful. I love Korea :)

So yup the mission conference was so great.. but it was super weird to be back in Sinchon. I know I'm adjusting to Taebaek because I seriously had culture shock again when I got to Sinchon haha! Not going to lie, I got a little bit emotional when I walked out of the subway station and was in my 'hometown' again. It was so weird being there without Sister Lee.. I was like man.. "I feel so... meloncholy"! But even though it was a little bit sad, there really is know where else that I would rather be right now. I am learning so much about myself and others serving here with Sister Lykins. When we got to the temple a couple of my beloved Sinchon buddies, Kim Yoo Jong and Ka Jin Young (recent convert who I love so so much) surprised me at the temple (where we stayed the night) with baskin robbins ice cream. It was so happy. I love them.. and I love icecream. Life in Taebaek just got a little happier too because baskin robbins just opened here!! WOOHOO! (ps baskin robbins here in korea is probably the best icecream you can get, I am blessed)

We didn't meet with like any of our investigators this week.. they all canceled and we were gone for a couple days.. but we had some cool miracles knocking doors this week! I never did much of it in Sinchon, but we do a lot here. I have never had an experience where someone actually let us in! But it happened for us TWICE this week! The first time was a nice older man who works close to our church and apparently has really good feelings towards the missionaries and the church. We taught him about the Book of Mormon and how reading it with the Bible can strengthen our faith and knowledge of the Savior Jesus Christ. He told us to go visit him at his work. We will be referring him to the Elders. It was a great experience. The second time was with a young family, a mom and her two daughters. They excitedly let us in and wanted to hear our message. We also taught them about the book of mormon. They seemed to have a lot of interest, and we are planning to visit and teach them again next sunday!! Hooray for miracles! :) 

Also.. Saturday night we had spent quite some hours knocking doors and apparently my companion had lost it, because we knocked a door and they said "Who is it?" and my companion says in here perky jundo voice, "Its Jesus!" I feel so bad because I started laughing so hard so it was hard for her to correct what she said.. so someone here in Taebaek thinks that Jesus knocked on their door last weekend.. and they still didn't open the door..

Taebaek district had a baptism last friday! Elder Garff and Elder Jarrett's investigator, Choi Song Kyoo was baptized. It was such a great service! It is such an amazing thing to see the countenance of someone change after having been baptized, and to see the happiness that it brings them.. it just brings me SO much happiness!! I had the opportunity to give a talk on baptism. I am always grateful for the opportunity to speak, even when it is scary.. It is such good practice to teach and testify in Korean. These past few weeks, I've really been able to see my progression in the Korean language. Being out here with someone who is american, and only one transfer ahead of me has forced me to listen a lot more carefully and speak a lot more. I am SO grateful for it!!

At the mission conference, Brother Rogers commited us to write down a list of a few significant things that we want to accomplish by the end of our missions. Along with some language goals, something I put down was to better understand the atonement of Jesus Christ. I don't know if I will ever really be able to fully understand it.. But I want to be able to know how to apply it in my own life, every single day for the rest of my life. I want to be able to recognize my sins and weaknesses, and recognize when I am forgiven. Being a missionary has helped me on this path of better understanding already, and I hope that by the end of my mission, as I continue to repent and try to be better each day, I hope that I can have a better understanding of my Savior and his atoning sacrifice for me.

I love my Savior! I love Taebaek and Koreans and Korean food and the people and everything. I just love it. Love you all and talk to you next week!!

사랑으로,

Sister Holmes

홈스 자매

Elder Garff and Elder Jarrett haha

John and Claire, you might have gone to Disneyland but I flew to Hogwarts this week so beat that

Train ride to Seoul and everyone's a snoozin

Week 36

Another week has passed here in Taebaek and I'm doing just fine! I love Taebaek already.. I love our branch here. I got to know our members a bit better this week, and man we've got some great people here. :) They are all so kind, caring and loving. I feel like a part of the family already!

This week we met with our buddhist investigators, Jiny and Dorthy. They are the sweetest women. They love learning about the book of mormon and about our church, but they are very firm in their own beliefs. At this point we're just trying to help them see how we have a lot of the same fundamental beliefs as them, and go from their. We've been really focusing on families with them, which they love. Family is very important to them.

We also got a new investigator, Lee You Jin. She was a referral from the Elders! When they referred her they told us that she has no gospel interest, only English. Well we've met with her a few times and she actually seems to have quite a bit of gospel interest! She is christian and has strong faith in Christ already. We explained to her that our purpose as missionaries is to help people gain a stronger relationship with Christ, and that through reading the Book of Mormon she could do that. She seemed so excited and graciously accepted the Book of Mormon from us. I think we'll see some good things happening with her.

This week I went on exchanges with Sister Young, my sister training leader, in her area, Dong Hey. It is about an hour and a half bus ride from Taebaek (the closest area to us..) It was definitely the highlight of my week! Sister Young is so amazing! She has about 2 transfers left, so she's got some widsom haha. Serving with her was so much fun, I laughed hard and learned so much. Some of the awesome things we did together include taking a run by the beach (yes there is a beach in Dong Hey area ahhhh), trying to find less actives but instead finding an old house that has been abandoned for 20 years, teaching some great lessons and testifying in unity, and meeting some really great people through jundo. It was awesome.

She also shared a talk with me that really helped me out. "That we might not shrink" by Elder Bednar. Before the exchange Sis. Young asked me to text her some questions I had. One of them was how can I feel content with the results of faithful labors even if they are few. She gave me this talk and it answered my question.. differently than I thought it would. In this talk Elder Bendar talks about how important it is for us to stay strong even when times are rough.. It is more important to not shrink than to just survive. He says "strong faith in the savior is submissively accepting of His will and timing in our lives, even if the outcome is not what we hoped for or wanted." I realized that if I have strong faith in the Savior I will trust him and be able to feel happy knowing that He has power to do all things, and He will always help me. It may not always be in the time or way that I expect or want, but He has the power. If I trust his power, I can feel content. No matter what my situation may be. :)

Yesterday we had a cool experience. We decided to go visit our member's houses and leave message cards. Well it started raining cats and dogs and we ended up going the wrong way to get to our branch president's house.. I was soaked and feeling a bit irritated with my comp for taking us the wrong way. but on the way back we saw a young girl walking a little bit ahead of us. She seemed to be going through some kind of shock.. She was shaking out of control and stuttering and twitching. I ran up to her and asked if she was alright. She tried to answer that she was fine. I put my arm around her to try and help her stop shaking. We tried to ask her if she needed anything, if she needed to call someone, and she just kept saying that she was fine. But we kept walking with her. She started asking questions about us and so we introduced ourselves. Then she said something about mormons in korean.. and then in perfect english said, "What's the difference between your church and other christian churches?" Turns out she lived in America for a while, and her dad is a priest for another church. But she really wanted to know about our church, despite her shaking and what not.. so we had the opportunity to teach her the first lesson. We explained about priesthood authority, Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon.. At the end I felt prompted to say to her, "We don't know what just happened to you, or what you are going through in your life right now, but I promise you that our message will change your life for the better. It will give you the strength, comfort and help that you need." She told us that she wanted to meet again with us and she got our phone number. I don't know if she'll call us, or what will happen with her, but I felt very strongly that because we were where we were at the time we were, we helped her out of a bad situation. We were where the Lord needed us to be.

I wanna share a happy quote I read during personal study this morning from President Gordon B. Hinckley. He says, "Don't you want to be happy? Forget yourself and get lost in this great cause. Lend your efforts to helping people.. stand higher, lift those with feeble knees, hold up the arms of those that hang down. Live the gospel of Jesus Christ."

I love this gospel. I love the people of Taebaek. I love being a disciple of Jesus Christ. 

Until next week! Love you all!

Sister Holmes

홈스 자매

Exchanges with Sister Young in Dong Hey!

Me and Sister Lykins emailing :)

Week 35

Dearest fam and friends!!

Helllllo from Taebek!! Can you hear me?? I am a million miles away in the wilderness! Haha okay. So that's what I thought it would be like out here, but I was wrong. I thought I'd be going to a tiny ancient village with no running water. But it turns out Taebek is a normal town, with normal stores, houses, and people. Maybe the ancient village would've been more exciting. ;) well that being said, it is SO different than Seoul. It really is like a tiny village in comparison to the big booming Sinchon. 

The first few days I was super cold here! It was rainy so I had to unpack my sweaters again! But it warmed up and now the weather is perfect! Its in the 70's and there's not any humidity or mosquitoes! So weather wise, I scored big time! As far as people goes... Just like the mosquitoes, there aren't any of those out here. Haha just kidding, but there really aren't many people. Jundoing is a completely different experience. We have to talk to EVERY single person we see, or we can't meet our goals. If you don't talk to every person, you may not see another one for a long time. So that's been a bit of an adjustment for me. Being here has made me realize how picky I was in Sinchon. If I didn't feel like talking to someone there was another person that came along in 2 seconds. There were 20 people at each cross walk. Well now I'm in a place where there aren't stop lights or cross walks! Serves me right ha! Oh man. Its been a bit awkward stopping people when they walk past me... trying to casually start up a conversation without them noticing that I'm now following them! Its been great. People in Taebek are a lot nicer than people in Seoul though! There aren't many who have interest in our message.. but that's the same as everywhere. Our job is to invite everyone so we can find the one that is prepared!!

Missionary work is a little different here in Taebek. We still talk to everyone, Jundo, knock doors (A TON), but there is a bigger focus on strengthening the members out here. We have a branch! Made up of about 20 people. This has probably been the biggest change for me. Sunday was so different. I am used to being in a chapel crammed full of people. Well our church building here could fit inside the chapel in Sinchon haha! And actually Sinchon's chapel wasn't even that big. That give you an idea of how small it is. Half the ward is missionaries. There are 6 of us missionaries, Elder Moon (zone leader) and Elder Mumford, Elder Jarrett and Elder Garff (district leader, who served with me my whole 4 transfers in Sinchon), and me and Sister Lykins. Church is only 2 hours long, because there aren't enough people to have a relief society and elders quorum! So it is SO different. But I can't explain how much I love it. The members here are truly amazing. All of them are people that have truly inspiring stories, and have been recently reactivated in the church within the past 10 years or so. It feels like a family. They were all so warm and loving to me my first Sunday. I truly feel so blessed to be serving here. It will be such a different experience, but such an amazing one. I can't wait. 

We actually have a good amount of investigators! The problem is is that they are all super buddhist. I've only met 2 of them,Jiny and Dorthy. We're doing the family english program with them. They're these 2 middle aged women who are the most loving, fun people I've ever met. They LOVE me already haha. This week we had a lesson with them and read the Family Proclamation the the World with them, and they loved it. They have really good feelings towards our church, and our beliefs, but they have no intentions of changing their religion or anything.. so teaching them is a bit of a hard situation. They are both such amazing women who are trying to live their lives in the best way that they know how. How do we help them to see that what we have to offer them will only add to their happiness, and their truths and principles that they value with their faith? Ahh so hard. Yokshi, this is missionary work!

So guess what?? I ran a 5k on Saturday!!! And I got a free t-shirt! and I won some tupperware!! Haha it was so fun. Our whole district got permission from president to run this 5k the town had on Saturday. Man I'm out of shape haha but it was a good time! It was actually more like a 10k because we had to walk back too. So I was dead after that. But it was way fun!

Oh Sister Lykins, where can I even start with this one. She is such a hoot. I am having a great time serving with her so far! She is in every way different than Sister Lee, that is for sure. She's from Salt Lake, she's 26 years old (I have had such grandmas for companions). The adjustment has been kind of hard. But she is so amazing. She wants to make me as happy as possible here in Taebek. This will be her 4th transfer in this area, and she truly loves it so much. I am grateful for the opportunity to serve with her!

Miracle!! Today on the way to email we met the cutest student!! She seems to have english AND gospel interest!! She was so nice. We met her on the way to grab lunch and we parted our ways and went into a bakery. 2 minutes later she comes into the bakery with juice she had just bought for us.. What a sweetheart right? We're meeting her on Thursday, I'm so excited! I love little tender mercies like this. 

This week I was reading my favorite talk about gratitude by Pres. Uchtdorf (sorry I literally talk about this talk in every email but I love it so much). He talks about how learning to truly have a grateful heart no matter what our circumstances are can help us overcome any kind of trial, sadness or heartbreak. He says that it can bloom just as beautiful in the icy landscape of winter, just as it does in the warmth of summer. I can be just as happy in the mountains of Taebek as I was in the crazy city of Sinchon.

Things are different. But things are so good. :) Until next week!!!

Sister Holmes

홈스 자매

Last P-Day in Sinchon!! Trick art/ice museum!!! Golden, right?

Me and the Lykins Sista haha

Taebek!

Week 34

Dearest friends and fam...

The dreaded day has come.. its time for me to leave my beloved Sinchon. I am moving out to Taebek! Its a small mining town in the middle of the mountains. I don't know what to expect.. just something that is completely opposite of everything I know as Korea. can't describe in words how hard is has been for me. I didn't know it would be this hard. I don't think I have anymore tears left to cry haha. So I won't. I will accept the change. It is hard but it is where I need to go. It will be a hard adjustment, but there is an experience that I need to have waiting out in Taebek for me that I need to have. 

I had some really special experiences this week! We had a wonderful lesson with Yoo-oo-ee (haha it is so weird written in english), our investigator from Taiwan. She has been having such a hard time understanding things, and this week we met with her and just talked about faith. It was exactly what she needed. We shared Alma 32:21 with her and she loved it so much. She came to the biggest realization and her face was beaming. She was excited to pray at the end of the lesson. The spirit was so strong. It was one of the most awesome lessons I've had so far. I'm so sad to believing right when she is developing faith ahhh.. but Sister Lee and her new companion will take good care of her. Saying goodbye to my recent converts and investigators has been so hard.. we are meeting with Yoo-oo-ee tonight, Shin Song Hee and Ha tomorrow.. I'm just tired of being sad haha. 

The other night when I was having a really hard time, I opened my scriptures to feel comfort and of course I did. I found this scripture. 2 Ne. 4:34-35 "O Lord, I have trusted in thee, and I will trust in thee forever. I will not put my trust in the arm of flesh..... Yea, I know that God will give liberally to him that asketh. Yea, my God will give me, if I ask not amiss; therefore I will lift up my voice unto thee; yea I will cry unto thee, my God, the rock of my righteousness. Behold, my voice shall forever ascend up unto thee, my rock and mine everlasting God. Amen." When I read this scripture, I finally felt peace. I realized that I need to stop worrying so much and just trust God. He wouldn't send me somewhere I couldn't handle. He loves me and wants me to grow as much as I can. This change is an opportunity for growth, and as long as I rely on him. He will always give me what I need if I ask. I am so grateful for this knowledge.

EVERYTHING WILL BE SO GREAT! Stay tuned for the news of Taebek next week haha.. BYE!!

Sister Holmes

홈스 자매

To make up for the short and depressing email, I will send some pictures of people who are so dear to my heart.

Ha and Mashaw <3 our Vietnamese family

My recent converts, the Kim Sisters :) Dong Hee and Tae Hee

This is the Filmore family :) I LOVE THEM SO MUCH

Na Soon Ja, she is one of the ward missionaries. Such a wonderful woman who has helped us with our missionary work so much!

An Kyon Chan. The most wonderful man. He loves missionaries more than anybody I've ever met. He has made my life in Sinchon so happy. I can't express my gratitude to him. Our guardian angel!

Jo So Young, a less active member that we've had a hard time meeting with...but she came to church to say bye to me :)

Kim Yoo Jung. A young single adult in our ward. Love her so much

Week 33

My dearest family and friends...

Well.. Its already the last week of the transfer. I literally have no idea who stole my time. Transfer calls are on Saturday. I think its my time to go. But then again I have no idea. I thought for sure I'd be leaving last time and I stayed in Sinchon.. So I won't be presumptuous. I'll just be anxious. AHHHHH

Good news! We got a wonderful new investigator this week, her name is Ha. Literally just Ha. haha! Ha. Anyways, she was a referal from the Elders! She is the wife of one of their investigators, Tuyet. They are a family from Vietnam. They have the sweetest little girl names Mashaw. (like a mix of michelle and marshal haha) They speak no Korean and very very little English. But I can't describe the way I feel when I meet them! I can feel the spirit so strongly. They honestly have such a pure desire to learn the about God and about our church. They come to english class, they've come to church once, and they even came with us to Elder Cook's fireside on Saturday night. They say they don't know why but they feel very happy when they are with us. Communicating with them is hard, but this week we got vietnamese pamplets and book of mormons so that will help so much! We're meeting with Ha 2 times a week. She is home by herself all day every day, so that is why they referred her to us! We've already taught her about God and prayer, and she commited to praying every day.

Kim Teh Hyoung! Our "eggy investigator" (eggy is baby in Korean). He was supposed to get baptized this last saturday, but that fell through the Sunday before when he didn't come to church. But that's okay! We kind of rushed into it, and recognized that he really needs more time. We met with him this week, and we've set a date for June 15th! That's the date we've set for know anyways.. Its complicated with him. Because he's so young he always flakes out on us.. Acutally to be honest everyone does that, it's not because he's young haha. Also we haven't met his parents yet, or even talked to them about it.. so I'm not quite sure what's going on yet. All I know is that I'm best buds with him. He's so cool. He is the Korean version of Toby (yeah shout out to you Tobes! You're probably not even reading this but someone tell him this for me hehe). 

Yesterday we had a miracle with Shin Song Hee. This week, one of the things I fasted for was to help us to figure out what has been holding her back from progression towards baptism, what is keeping her from having the desire to exercise faith? yesterday during our lesson with her, we did.. This week her dog died and she has been so heart broken about it, so we just wanted to have a lesson of comfort with her, we planned on reading Elder Bednar's talk with her about bearing our burdens through Christ's atonement. Right after we finished following up on her reading assignment in the Book of Mormon from the last time, she brought up baptism by herself. Usually we are the ones trying to bring it up in a non-pushy way. She told us she'd been thinking about baptism a lot lately, and asked about the qualifications, so we started discussing the baptismal interview questions with her. She then admitted to us that she had an abortion. About 10 years ago she was married and had a child with her husband, and her baby died after only a few days. Right after her baby died she got pregnant right away. I don't know her reasoning behind deciding to get an abortion but she and her husband got divorced, so we can guess the situation wasn't good. I am so grateful that she finally had the courage to tell us.

The mission conference with Elder Quinton L. Cook this week so great.. It was just what I needed. His message was one of comfort and reassurance. He talked about the process in which the apostles and missionary department assign calls. He testified to us about how truly inspired each missionary's call is for them personally."So be comfortable!" he said. I loved it. He talked about 4 areas of love. Love the people, your companion, your mission president, and the Lord. If I do those simple things, I will feel peace and happiness. I will be able to see my success and the good I am doing as a missionary. So simple, but so perfect. I am so grateful for living prophets and apostles on the earth today. I know they are men of God. I really really do!

Well that's all for today I think! I'm doing great. It's barely june and I'm already exploding because of the humidity... but supposedly this week is gonna cool down a whole lot.. then its rainy season. :) Bring it Korea.

Love you all and have a wonderful week!!

Sister Holmes

홈스 자매

Delicious Indian food

Mission Conf. with the Sinchon Chamaes!