Some cute Korean high school students

Proselyting like a pro!

 The sweet skeleton we made for our ward Halloween party

 My cute zone leader, he is tiny!  Weighs like 100 lbs

 Our rockin ward missionaries

 My other cute zone leader. This kid is hilarious, reminds me exactly of Jake, probs why I love him so much

All the sisters in our mission

hi family. so jake's girlfriend loves me more than all of you because she was the only one who emailed me! youuuuuu people. excluding mom and dad of course they love me the most. good thing i'm a missionary and filled with love!

anyway this week was good! went on exchanges, had interviews with the president, had a halloween party, worked hard, shared the gospel. solid week.

oh everyone needs to get a copy of "The Power of Everyday Missionaries" by Clayton M. Christensen. it's all about member missionary work and i am determined to make you all member missionaries! the missionaries need your help people!!! seriously though.

okay first tuesday we taught our one progressing investigator...she's cute i love her! i told you about her last week i think...anyway so she read the pamphlet we gave her except we found out that she reads it to just read it (because she's learning english) and she doesn't really understand anything haha so that was a good tidbit of info. but it was okay. we talked more about God and she said that she's learned a lot of things about God and she knows it in her mind but that she doesn't feel it in her heart. So we talked about prayer and how that's how we show our faith and i shared with her Alma's analogy of the seed. and how if we only have a desire that's enough. and she has that desire but she needs to plant it and through prayer she can plant. and it will either be good and grow or it will be bad. So I invited her to pray to God to know if He really was there. I told her that I knew that He would answer if she asked. And she asked me a question that was interesting. She asked me if every single prayer I have given has been answered. And I said yes just automatically, but when I really thought about it the answer was really yes. Sometimes the answer isn't what I want or expect and sometimes the answer takes a long time for me to recognize it, but I know that heavenly Father answers all of our prayers. Because I know that He listens. And I know that He loves me and that He wants to answer my prayers and I know that He will. I was grateful for that experience that caused me to reflect on how I really felt about my answer to that question. Love her. We're teaching her again tonight. Last time she said I feel like if I believe in God that I'll have to do everything correctly. and i was like well next time we'll talk about the atonement thank you for leading into that! I hope it goes well. I got the impression this morning that we should talk about baptism so hopefully I can invite her to be baptized! Pray for me and for her!

wednesday night to thursday night i went on exchanges and that was super fun. it was nice to go somewhere different and be with someone different and learn from my sister training leader who is a great missionary. wednesday night we taught english and one of the ladies there was like wow you are so pretty. i think you'll hear that a lot while you are here. hahah i was like yeah....i'm trying not to get a big head people okay! at our halloween party there was a lady who came up to me and started asking me about where i was from and stuff and then randomly she's like can we take a picture together? i was like suuuuuuure!!!!!!!!!! and then yesterday when i walked on the bus i stood next to this lady sitting down and smiled at her and she's like you're pretty. hahah thanks lady. hey by the way i'm a missionary! it was a great lead in. hahha missionary work is fun!

I guess my focus this week has been on prayer. I was fasting last week and I read a poem and what popped out at me was that sometimes we ask for the wrong things. the poem is called "God Said No" if you want to read it it's really good. so especially this week i've tried to say more meaningful prayers and really think about what i'm asking and if it's what i should be asking for. it says in the bible dictionary that the object of prayer is not to change the will of God, but it is to secure blessings already prepared for us but us receiving them are contingent upon us asking. Just think Heavenly Father has so many blessings prepared for us and we just have to have the faith and courage to ask! i love prayer and I hope that you take advantage of the time you have to talk to your Heavenly Father. Prayer is such a special privilege!

 

those are my thoughts for the week!! love tons!! pray for me and i'll pray for you  :))))

 

Sister Blickkkk

hi lovely family!! sorry i didn't email at the regular time today. we had a mission conference with the sister missionaries so we got permission to email afterwards. it was super fun to get together with all the sisters and it's so inspiring to see all of us together laboring for the Lord. this week was good i'll just give you the low-down

 

we're really trying to work on helping less-actives come back to church as sadly in Korea there are a lot. monday night we had dinner with the mom and daughter of one of the less-active families in their ward. they're an awesome family and we're developing a good relationship with them. their daughter is 11 and she is so cute. a little shy but because me and sister oh are awesome and fun she opened up and we had fun. the mom is so nice and a return missionary and always asks about missionary work and jokes around with us about missionary work. we're trying to encourage her to come back to church. we shared a message about balance and how it's important to have balance in our families so that we can strengthen and serve each other in times of need. we invited her to read the book of the mormon with her family a little bit each night and she talked to us about how she knew she had to try to do better. Kaari i shared with her your experience that you emailed me about last week about praying and feeling the Lord's love immediately. I hope that she knows that we love her and that she has the courage to come back to church.

 

tuesday we had an appointment with a lady who wants help with english. her daughter is a member and is studying at the U. She's been to utah and absolutely loves it and really wants to learn english so we said we could teach her. anyway i started talking to her about her daughter and asked her if she had seen a difference in her daughter since she had become a member and she said yes that her daughter was happier and a better person. She said that she loves the kind of people that Mormons are and said that she wished more people in the world were like us. She says that she thinks we are very honest and sincere people and that we really love God. So I talked about how it has helped me realize what's important in life and it helps us have good morals. I invited her to learn more about what her daughter believes and she said yes! She started by saying that she's Catholic but that's open to hearing about what we believe. So I gave her a restoration pamphlet in English and asked her to read it a) to practice English and b) to introduce her to what we believe. As we kept talking she then revealed that she says she's Catholic but she doesn't really believe in God. She said that when she got married her husband's family was Catholic so she became Catholic. She says she thinks there is a God, but she doesn't think she can believe in Him because too many bad things happen. I talked to her about how there is opposition in all things and that according to God's plan for us if we want to experience joy, there must also be sorrow and so forth. She said that she doesn't know if she can believe, but I told her that if she keeps her mind and heart open that I know she can believe. And i said you don't have to believe a lot right now. At the beginning you just have to believe a little and as you start to learn you will believe more and more. She said if you teach me and I don't accept what you teach will you be disappointed? And I said well of course we'll be disappointed because we know that our message is true and we hope that you will find that too, but it's your choice and if you choose not to accept it we will respect it. She liked that because she thinks that Mormons are respectful of others beliefs. So we'll teach her tomorrow again. Pray for her!! And that we can teach well....

 

A lot of people here think Mormons are pagans (to be honest I'm not really sure what that means glll....) and so that's why they aren't interested and think we are weird. We met a lady on the street that started asking questions (one of them being "are you from Russia?" weird i know) about the church and if we were pagans and stuff and we were able to share with the book of mormon and talk about how we believed in God and Jesus Christ. I don't think she was really interested but it was a success that we were able to clarify what we believe so that she knew the truth about our church.

 

saturday we had dinner at the bishops house with a lady that is sort of a weird investigator situation i'll explain and her daughter in law. So this lady her english name is Grace is super old and we met her through English class. She's friends with the English class coordinator (a member) so she comes to church a lot like almost every week but won't let the missionaries teach her. so she hasn't received the lessons but she comes to church but she doesn't want to get baptized and i'm not really sure what she believes....it's just a weird situation. anyway her daughter in law is vietnamese but speaks pretty good Korean (i like her because her Korean is easy to understand and i feel like we have that foreigner bond). she has one boy that's almost two and is pregnant with a daughter and is due in like two weeks. anyways grace wants her daughter to have korean friends so she wanted to invite her to the church and was like oh and if she wants to learn about your gospel than that's cool too. So we had dinner with them and the bishop's family (their family is way tote) and we gave her a book of mormon in vietnamese and talked about how the book of mormon blesses families and the bishop and bishop's wife bore great testimony and it was cool. i don't really think she's interested, but we invited her and she's really nice and sweet so we'll see what happens.

 

sunday we had dinner at another members house and it was freaking booooomb. okay i am obsessed with sweet potato people. like koreans love it and i love it too. it's so delicious and the food they make is so delicious. mmmm korea. we talked about being steadfast and immovable (mosiah 5:15) and why it's important to build faith on Christ. Sunday I read Jesus the Christ too and that's an amazing book. I love learning about my Savior and I hope you all find times in your busy schedules to learn more about the Savior and study His words.

 

Love you so much. Til next week!! ^^

 

Sister Blick

 

ps. got a halloween package from our ward and it was the greatest thing ever!! they're so cute!! make sure they know i am so happy!!!

hello hello helloooooo!!!! (jim car ref) i love you all as usual. this week was a rollercoaster. every week is a rollercoaster. every day is a rollercoaster but it's good! and being a missionary is great because like a million and one people pray for you and I get to be doing the greatest work ever. Seriously missionary work is the best. And I hope you are all being good member missionaries!! Seriously when I get back I'm going to be the freaking best member missionary in the world. Because I know what it's like to be a missionary! It's hard! They need help, people!! So share the gospel!!

Anyway funny stories of the week:

So it rained this week. Seriously it randomly rains every week and there's like huge thunderstorms and I think there are bombs going off all the time and it's really confusing. Anyway it was raining so we had our umbrellas and we were waiting outside this apartment building because we had an appointment but we were early so we sat down on some benches and i noticed this dark spot on my umbrella and i was like what the...so i looked at the top of it and there was a massive bird poop on it!!! and sister oh died laughing and i was like what the ewwwww!! and she's like hey if you didn't have the umbrella it would be on your head. and it was disgusting and it wouldn't come off i had to get a stick and scrape it off. nasty.  also everyone thinks i'm like 25 -___- okay i'm not ancient! But really so many times there are girls that look 12 and they're like i'm 23 what the?!? i think Koreans have the fountain of youth pill and aren't telling anyone about it....

oh also we got these business cards to advertise our english class and they are legit. when i get the chance i will send one home and if jacky is interested she can come hahahha jkkkk ah that was funny.

oh the other day we were hardcore proselyting and i went up to this girl (i love talking to high school students because they freak out when i talk to them) and started talking to her and she was acting all nervous and shy and i was like are you scared? and she like shyly giggled and was like no this is wonderful! hahahah sometimes i love being a foreigner. then i started talking to this other lady who completely ignored me so i just kept talking to her about how i was learning korean and so i want to talk to everyone and she's like i don't want to talk to you. and i was like have a nice day! yeah love conversations like that too. my favorite are the old grandmas who grab my face and pat me on the arm and tell me my Korean is good and that I'm pretty. Good times. 

So this is kind of cool. The first day that I was here coming to anyang on the subway I was like all gungho I'm a missionary right? So i was like i have to talk to someone! So I looked at the lady next to me and noticed that she was sort of looking at me and she took out her headphone so i said hello and then we sort of talked and she was all excited because she had met the missionaries before i think. (i don't really remember) anyway sister oh got her number and i was like yeah investigator! well we finally met after 8 weeks of us calling her and her being busy and yada yada yada and her family is so awesome! They really just want to learn English I think but seriously there family is so awesome and the dad is amazing and they are just so perfect for the gospel and I want them to get baptized. While I was practicing English with them they asked about tithing (yeah it was random and Sister Oh was like explain tithing so I stuttered through that in Korean yeah it was scary I hadn't taught it since the MTC) and baptism and Joseph Smith. So I taught them about the restoration in Korean/English and recited the first vision and it was so cool! Not really sure if they have real interest but it was a cool experience and I hope that we can bring them closer to Christ. They don't believe in anything. Actually sister oh told me they believe in science hahahaha so that was awesome. But I just know that they are awesome and I want them to be baptized. So pray for me that I can teach through the Spirit!!

I'll just share something quick this week:

I read this morning about Virtue from the PMG attributes assessment and it talks about being dependable and doing the things that we say we will. It had a scripture reference in Alma 53:20 where it talks about the stripling warriors. So i started reading about the stripling warriors and it said something that i had never noticed before and was interesting. It said that before they made the decision to fight they had never been a disadvantage to the people, but now that they were taking up arms they were becoming a great support. What an interesting way to say that. They had never been a disadvantage, but now they were a great support. Last night during our lesson the mom asked us a question that i was kind of ashamed to answer. She was like before your mission did you talk to your friends about the gospel a lot? And the truth is I didn't. I mean everyone knew I was a member of the church and I tried to be a good example of living up to my standards, but I didn't really actively try and share the gospel. Aka I wasn't a disadvantage to the people. I was just there. and I know that this special experience of being a missionary will change me so that I can be a great support. We are all in the Lord's army. We take His name upon us when we are baptized. Are we simply "not a disadvantage" or are we a great support to the Lord? I hope that all of you strive to be of great support to the Lord in these days. It's becoming easier to share the gospel and especially now everyone needs it. So remember your covenants and stand up for the Lord. He needs us to bring His children back to Him!!

Love you tons. Peeeeace

Sister Blick

hiiii!!! i love you all tons and tons and this week was super great. just some quicky stories

this morning actually my companion was just casually like ah it's going to be cold today. there's going to be a typhoon tomorrow. and i was like WHAT. A TYPHOON?? and she's like yeah...like totally normal!! what the heck typhoons are not normal!! so hopefully I survive that.

HAHA okay so the less-actives here are awesome. okay well not in that they're less-active but in that they LOVE the missionaries. it's super weird because they're super nice to the missionaries and treat them like family but they won't come to church. Sister Oh said it has to do something with the way that the church is in Korea but said I wouldn't understand it so I don't really know. But we went to visit a less-active yesterday after church and she gave us two bags of food and she gave me two winter coats. my compy was like oh tomorrow is p-day and we might have to go shopping because sister blick needs a winter coat. and the member was like what size are you what color do you like? and brought out these coats and was like i've only worn them like twice so here you can have them. and i was like uhh....they were expensive!! one of them is SUPER cute and i was way stoked to get it. the other one wasn't that cute but i'm still grateful hahah.

so i went on exchanges this week with another korean sister missionary who came out the same time as me. not going to lie i was super scared because a) i don't know where anything is and b) i don't speak Korean. but turns out we didn't get lost and I can kind of speak Korean! yay!! But the day ended up being super fun and we talked to a lot of people. While we were proselyting we were walking past a bus station and I here this girl say 외 국 인! which means foreigner. first i laughed and then i turned around and i was like hi! yeah I'm a foreigner. to which she freaked out semi because she was embarrassed that i understood her and also because i was speaking Korean. It was awesome. Talked to her and turns out she's Korean but lives in China and she was just on a trip to Korea with her mom and aunt for a couple days. She speaks perfect English, Korean, and Chinese. Yeah she's a genius. She was super nice I wish I could've talked to her more about the gospel. I told her I was a missionary and then she was like oh my bus is here gotta go! It was sad. But maybe if she sees another missionary she'll remember me.

This morning my companion was like hey! you're wearing my ribbon. (which i was wearing a hair tie of hers that has a bow on it) but when she said it it sounded like nipple and i was like what??? love her konglish.

 

this week was super awesome. me and compy have grown closer and had a lot of fun and worked really hard. in that way i have been super blessed. we don't have any investigators still so the work is hard but we love it! i love personal study time because i love the scriptures and i'm obsessed with the gospel because it's the greatest thing in the whole world.

my message to you this week is about charity. A really really good talk that i'm making all of you look up and read is Let Us Raise Our Voice of Warning but Pres. Eyring from the 2009 Liahona. It talks all about member missionary work and how it's really important. He specifically talked about three things that we can do to be better missionaries every day. He said we can love others (charity), be a good example to others (let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify the Father) and to share testimony (invite people to act). this morning i specifically studied about charity. in the BD it sayds that charity is the highest, noblest, strongest kind of love. in Corinthians it says that charity edifieth, which means builds up, strengthens, establishes, and repairs. The word repairs struck me. Charity repairs. When we have charity towards other people we have the ability to repair their hearts, their testimonies, whatever they may need. Charity has healing power. Both for the person who has it and the person who receives it. Why? Because pure love has healing power. Christ had such strong love for us that He sacrificed Himself so that we might be healed-from sin, sorrow, pain, weakness, you name it. When we love others, everything becomes easier for us. We're not so focused on ourselves and what we want or don't want what we have or don't have. We focus on others and everything else falls into place. One of my favorite scriptures is Moroni 7:48. We must pray with ALL ENERGY OF HEART to be filled with the pure love of Christ that he bestows upon his TRUE FOLLOWERS. If we really are a true follower of Christ, we will desire charity. We will want to love others because that is what Christ would do (and does). And when we have that love, we become his true children. And as we become His true children, we appear to be like Him. That when we meet Him, He will see us as His child. He will recognize us as one of His sheep because we have kept the greatest commandment. To love one another. Here it's hard because I can't speak the language very well so I can't express my feelings very well. But I still love the people. And I pray that through my smiles and through the small conversations that I am able to have, that they can at least feel Heavenly Father's love for them through me. One of my favorite members of the ward I'm in always tells me that she has a special feeling about me because she says I'm so nice and she can tell that I care. Sometimes that's all people need! They don't need you to be perfect and say the perfect thing they just need you to be there and to show through actions that you care. Actions speak louder than words right? Because actions shows that we've thought about it enough to do it. So show people that you love them! Smile more and seek for opportunities to let people feel God's love for them through you.

Also studied in Luke 22:31-32 Christ is talking to Simon and He says Satan wants to sift you but I have prayed for you that your faith fail not. Christ prayed for His disciple. Don't you think He still does that? If we are disciples of Christ, He prays for us! That our faith fails not. I love that. Our Lord and Savior prays for us weak beings that we may have faith. So work extra hard to strengthen your faith! Each day ask yourself if how you have increase your faith in Christ. And if you don't know how. Read PMG. Seriously it's a great book to read from. And you're all member missionaries so it applies to you.

Also during companionship study this week we were focusing on introducing the Book of Mormon to other people and how we can use the Book of Mormon. The Book of Mormon is so essential to our gospel! I hope you all are reading from it at least a little bit everyday. I love the words of the prophets and I wish I could study it for hours on end. But PMG says to not forget that even though we are members, Moroni's promise still applies to us. When was the last time you asked Heavenly Father if they Book of Mormon was true? So challenge of the week/month is to ask for a reconfirmation that the Book of Mormon is true. Read Moroni's promise and ask, with a sincere heart and real intent if the Book of Mormon contains God's word. And I want to here about your experience!! But not over email. So write me a letter :)))) Love you all. I know that the Book of the Mormon is the word of God. I asked Heavenly Father and then I read Moroni 7 verse 16 (I think) where it talks about the the Spirit of Christ leading to do good and how everything that leads to Christ is good and of God. and I knew that was my answer. Because they Book of Mormon testifies of Christ. Look to Christ and you won't fall. Love you so much everyone. Can't wait for your letters!! Jake tell Jackie she has to write one too :))

 

love you!!

 

Sister BBBBBBlickenstaff