hi family. i decided to write you my main email before i try to talk to any of you because it is just way to difficult the other way around. This week I had some funny and some awesome experiences. My new area is sooooo great and I love it.

First story: we met these high school students (ps I LOVE talking to high school students because they are super funny. they either are like the most excited thing in the world to talk to you or they are scared out of their mind) So these were two excited girls that were hilarious they kept yelling 신기하다! which means wonderful! and they said oh my gosh like a million times and they were laughing the whole time we were talking to them. So we invited them to english class and it was just a fun party.

Second story: we had a combined mission conference these weekend and I got to see Sister Chao for the first time!! She's doing great and she's so beautiful and has the best trainer in the world. She was in the MTC with me and she's awesome. She's Korean but lived in Canada for a while so her English is perfect and she's so cute and practically American. Also saw Elder Pace. haha he was asking people if they knew who Sister Blickenstaff was and he found me and was like hi do you know me and I was like of course! Elder Pace! And he was like how do you know me...? And I wanted to be like little did you know I thought you were super cute when we went to school together and you have no idea who i am yeah i'm not a creeper or anything! But i was like oh Vance and Devin were friends with you and we went to school together....But yeah that was fun. Made me laugh because it reminded me of my stalkerish ways.

Third Story: Sunday I was having a particularly hard time so I was fasting and the merciful Lord showed me a couple miracles. So the first one we had an investigator come to church with us and she told us that she's been trying to keep the WoW but when she gets stressed out she smokes. She says that she really wants help and wants to get rid of that habit and that she wants to try this "church thing" out because she's never really done it before and she thinks it will be good for her life. So we'll hopefully start meeting with her more regularly and be able to help her come closer to her Savior and rely on Him to get rid of her addiction. The second miracle we were on the subway home and my dedicated companion started talking to someone and so I jumped in the conversation and we started talking about how we were missionaries and she ended up giving us tangerines randomly yeah people in Korea do that a lot. and the conversation had kind of died out but the Spirit put a thought into my head to say hey since you gave me a gift can I give you a gift? So I tried to rationalize a million reasons of why not to say it but before I could convince myself I blurted it out and she laughed and said what gift? So I introduced the Book of Mormon to her and told her why it was important and she said okay thanks I'll read it! She didn't live in our area and she said she didn't have a phone but we gave her our number and I don't know if she'll read it or if she'll even look into the church, but the Lord showed me that tender mercy of me being able to share something that's so important to me with the Korean people.

Missionary work is really hard, but the blessings that we get in return far outweigh the cost. It's hard to remember that sometimes, but the Lord helps us in everything we do.

I studied this morning about sacrifice and how it shows our acknowledgement of our duty to God and our thankfulness for the blessings He has given us. Sacrifice is really hard, but I read about Abraham and Isaac and after the Lord tells Abraham not to sacrifice his son, he names the place Jehovah-jileh (I think I can't remember exactly) which means The Lord sees and provides. The Lord sees the sacrifices we make and He will provide.

Think about how you can show your dedication to the Lord this week.

Love you all, need your prayers right now.

Sister Blickenstaff