Dec. 6, 2009
Hi everyone!It sounds like the Christmas season is off to a great start! That's great that Chris and Chelsea are going to see Brooke in the Nutcracker with Puujee. That will be so much fun! I got a letter from her a couple weeks ago, but haven't gotten a chance to write her back yet. Tell her I love her for me!!! She's awesome!! (Yes, I love you all too :) ) I love that you got the Christmas tree from Farmer Bennett again- it's great, you can just throw it over the fence! Isn't Christmas wonderful? I love this time of year! So Mom, you're directing the Mountainville school play? I bet with that, getting the ward choir ready for Christmas, and orchestra, you're way busy! Tell Brooke and Dad I'm proud of them for joining the choir- that's great! Anyway, you're probably wondering what my big news is. Well, it's the first day of my 7th transfer, and I am in....CHEJU DO!!!! It's craziness. I just flew here today! I thought for sure I would stay in my old area because my companion, Sister Beckstead is going home this week. But on Friday night, the APs told me that I was going to Cheju-do with Sister (Min-hee) Jung- we came into the mission at the same time! So what is Cheju-do, you ask? Good question! It's an island off the coast of Korea, and it's kind of known as "paradise" around here. It's really beautiful, and it's a popular vacation spot for people from mainland Korea and other countries. Cheju-do has a kind of mystical wonder for the missionaries in the Busan mission- the missionaries talk about "the do" like it's not in this world or something! I was really surprised to get the phone call because sister missionaries haven't served on Cheju-do for over a year. Sister Jennings, Pres. Jennings' wife, said that the members really wanted to get sisters back on the island, so President decided to send Sister Jung and me out here! We're out here on our own with two sets of elders on either side of the island. Thankfully, the elders are helping us a lot to get our footing and figure out how we get the sisters' work started up again. I heard the Relief Society sisters are really excited to meet us, and we're really excited to meet them! We're ready to get to know the branch and work hard to find people to teach. My other big news is that now I'm SENIOR! Sister Jung and I are what's called "co-senior"- which means we share responsibility and make decisions together about how we will do the work. I'm kind of nervous about being senior now, but now is as good time as ever for it to happen- there are so many new things going on! The sad part about both Sister Beckstead and I leaving the Goejeong/Daeshin/Youngdo area is that the sister missionaries won't be there for a while. The branches were sad to see us go- especially because now the Goejeong and Daeshin branches have to share a threesome of elders. They used to have us (the sisters), and a set of elders each. But unfortunately, the number of missionaries in the mission has to go down for a while. Sad day! Remember Su-hyun? She finally got permission to be baptized! It's happening this next Saturday (the week after Sis. Beckstead and I left). The whole branch was excited to hear that she can finally officially become a member. The AMAZING youth program embraced her as an unofficial member months ago, and she is doing great! I love her so much. I'm so excited for her! It was hard to say goodbye to all the amazing people that I've worked with for the past four months in Goejeong/Daeshin/Youngdo. The members there are so kind and caring. I am really going to miss them, but I know they're in good hands with the elders, and I'm excited to get to work in this new area! Oh yes, I just read the Christmas article Pres. Eyring wrote for the December Liahona on the plane ride over here. Wow. It's so inspirational! I definitely recommend it to everyone! I love the Christmas season and the opportunity we have to serve others and remember our Savior Jesus Christ. I hope you are all having a wonderful Christmas season! Love you!Alyssa