Hi Everyone!
I realize that I talked about shiksas last night- you might want to know that shiksa means meal- they're exciting! It's nice to get to know the members and...we always love food!
A while ago, my companion started talking to a girl next to her on the subway- the girl said she recognized us as missionaries and said she saw sister missionaries the day before. She pointed to our Book of Mormon copies and name tags and said they had that, and that one was Korean. We knew they were our housemates, Sister Matthews and Sister Lee, and told her that we lived with them. There are several elders in Daegu, but only 4 sisters! She was excited that we lived with them. I thought it was amazing that she saw them and we sat next to her the day after! She said her grandmother went to church regularly (she passed away) and she is looking for that in her life. We met with her and her boyfriend the other night and will refer her to the other sisters (she is in their area). I'm not sure how interested she is in the church yet, but that experience showed me how the Lord can guide us to those who need to hear our message. We don't often run into people who say they'd love to meet with us again, so that was a great experience! I'm so thankful for the Lord's help.
This weekend we had a lot going on. Saturday, our investigator Yay-jeen got baptized! Yay-jeen is in high school and was introduced to the church by her sister, who was baptized last year. I can see how her faith is growing as she learns about the gospel. She wants to do the right thing and has gained a strong testimony about prayer to our Heavenly Father. I know that prayer can help us in any part of our lives. Our Heavenly Father will always let us know that He loves us. One of the elders in the Dae-myong ward, Elder Nyholm, (one of our two wards) baptized her and her sister came down from Seoul! I was excited to meet her and found out that she knows an elder in Seoul that I knew at the MTC (Elder Verhagan- he was my ZL for the first 6 weeks). It is such a small world! We were also excited because Yay-jeen's friend Jong-meen, who we also teach, was able to come to the baptism. She wasn't sure if she could because she was studying for the TOEIC the next day (BIG English test), so it means a lot that she took time from her day to come.
I don't have to worry about not using the piano here! At the baptism, I was pianist and Sister Jensen and I sang A Child's Prayer together. I loved hearing Yay-jeen's testimony, even though I didn't understand everything. It was a great experience.
Right after that, we had a Ward Friendship Night for the Daemyong ward. The ward mission leader organized it, so it had a lot of missionary involvement! Daehyun, a recent convert of the elders, played the clarinet and I accompanied him on the piano. Sister Jensen and I teach his sister Hyun-a. We first met and became friends with her when we went to the Buddhist temple on my first P-day! After that, Sister Jensen taught everyone the Hula (she is from Hawaii). It was really funny to see everyone try to sway their hips and follow her- the bishop, ward mission leader, all the kids, everyone! It was a lot of fun. They made the elders (Nyholm & Asay) and me do the dance in front of everyone while Sister Jensen played the ukelele! You can imagine how that went! I definitely do not have that talent, but it was fun to just do it anyway. Everyone had a great time (the kids loved the hula!) and they printed pictures of it in the ward letter the next day-
Sunday was great- Hyun-a came to church for the second time in a row! She saw Yay-jeen get confirmed and I tried to explain to her what that meant. Sister Jensen and I then went over to the Sahng-een ward (our other ward) to practice with the ward choir. Stake conference is next week and we're performing! So it was definitely an exciting weekend.
I wish I could write about everything, but there is just too much! I am so thankful for blessings from the Lord. Yes, things don't always go perfectly, but if we try to do the best we can, He has promised He will bless us. Don't forget that! We can always turn to Him in prayer- He knows everything you're going through. Things don't always go according to plan, but you can always try to make the best out of the situation! I'm trying to have that outlook- it makes life so much brighter!
Love you all!
Sister Linford