Hey Mother and Family!
Hey! Sounds like everyone is doing well. Happy Thanksgiving! Someone in our ward bought us a Turkey, so we will have our own little Thanksgiving in Korea! I'm glad that article helped with your talk, and I am sure that you and dad's talks were great! Haha, driving on ponds sounds like quite the fun. I guess there are some positives to having really really cold weather. Here it is not really cold by degree temperature (maybe 30s-40s) however it feels so cold. We can't decide if we are just wimps or if it was because of the really hot summer that we just had...well either way winter is on its way and we are excited to do the Lord's work!
This week was so wonderful!
On Saturday we had the baptismal service and it was so amazing! Their Seoul-serving missionary daughter came back and their entire family was there. Although their son is not a member, the entire family was so HAPPY. It was so amazing. The father was really worried about giving a testimony because he wasn't confident in himself and so he often made sure that there would be no testimony. We told him there wouldn't be. Well, the ward doesn't have the people give their testimonies, but they do have them give a little introduction of who they are. It was amazing, because when he did, he bore his testimony! It was so wonderful. They had the missionary daughter bear her testimony, and then one of their fellowshippers bear his testimony. It was so wonderful! At the baptsimal service we got the son's phone number and are excited to work with him as he realizes the change that has happened in his family. We also received a member referral right after the baptism for someone who wants to go to church! It was a wonderful day!
They were confirmed yesterday and received the Gift of the Holy Ghost and he was sustained to receive the Aaronic Priesthood. The family was so happy, and I was so excited to be able to be a part of it!
We had tons of meetings with new investigators this week. We have SO many that have a lot of potential, I am so excited to continue teaching them. One particular miracle that we saw this week:
Last transfer Elder Evans and I went out (when it was thunderstorming that one day) and we looked for a potential investigator's home. Well, we couldn't find it, but we were able to call the investigator. The investigator requested that we let him talk to a Korean so we went to a nearby restaurant and had the owner talk to him. Then the owner, during business hours, took time to drive us to where we needed to go. To say thank you, Elder Evans and I returned the next day and ate at their restaurant. They had a church they attended and didn't seem too interested so we left it at that. This past week Elder Tolman and I returned. We ate with them and talked about them for awhile. When we shared a message about God they loved it. We gave them a Book of Mormon and he seemed really sincere when he said that he would read it. He took out a highlighter and highlighted the passages that we told him to read. We also told him that the center of our church was the family. When he heard that (his wife had gotten up and gone to the register) he looked up and said along the lines of "Honey, their church is centered on families" almost as if there was a possibility to join. I am so excited for them! They have a family with three children (two sons and one daughter). We are excited to continue to keep contact and hopefully to help them come into the church as a family!
We also called and met with an investigator that we met on the street at the end fo October who decided that he wanted to start attending church again. He is amazing. We met with him three times before church (which he missed because of word of wisdom...) and he is so ready to join a church. As we teach him and help understand more of what he is really becoming a part of, he will find the strength to follow Christ and change to become who he really wants to be!
Jake is wonderful. We met him on Tuesday with a member and we again tried to help him realize the importance of the Book of Mormon and of prayer. I am so excited to help him understand the Plan of Salvation and how he can choose to return to his Heavenly Father if he chooses to. We are trying to meet him twice a week which has been difficult, but this week hopefully that hope will become a reality!
The intellectual investigator did not meet with us last week but will this week. We are excited to help him see the light of the Gospel and how he can apply it in his life.
Recently we have also met a lot of people for the first time and talked about what the Gospel can bring them. We received another member referral from one of the young men at church who brought his friend. The young mens leader told us that he seems to be really receptive to the truth. We are excited to meet with him and to teach him more. We also met with an older lady who is having a pretty rough life. She is pretty destitute as far as things of the world, but we will hopefully be able to show both her and her husband that there is something of far far greater value than any material thing that you can possess and help them to come unto Christ and enjoy the blessings of the Gospel! And then we had one more appointment with an investigator yesterday who is wonderful. He has attended lots of churches over the years and so he really just needs to realize that this is the one. He felt the spirit strongly as we met and left absolutely beaming at the end of the lesson. Yep, lots of wonderful potential to help the daughters and sons to come to Christ and receive the gospel and the blessings therein!
This week went very well! Korea is well our area is great, and time is not real. I can't believe that transfer calls are next week?! I feel like time has passed way too fast, but at the same time, I have not been happier!
I love you all so much!
This week's thought is about patience and persistence. One could really define persistence as the quality of our patience. At the base of our patience is the strength of our desires and our faith/hopes. The more desire and the more faith and hope we have, the greater capacity we have for patience and the greater capacity we have for patience the greater quality of patience we can exercise, or we can exercise greater persistence. I had a good recent experience with both. A few weeks ago, our investigators decided that they didn't want to meet with us. We had worked sooo hard and talked to everyone and tried to get appointments, but nothing was happening. It was a little frustrating at first, and then I remember distinctly praying not for success, but for patience, for assurance. Elder Bednar's recent talk came to mind that the blessings of the Lord are often subtle, but significant. Such is the gift of patience and persistence. I felt a definite difference after I prayed and relied on the Lord. I just kept the hope up that every time I talked to someone, that one person could be one that could return to Heavenly Father. Although I wasn't blessed with immediate results or miracles, I was blessed with the capacity to endure well until the results of our labor produced their fruits. Always remember Who is at the head of all things and His attributes and His power.
I love you all and am so thankful for the updates! You are so wonderful! I hope you have a Happy Thanksgiving!!!!
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