Hi everyone!
This week we were excited to have lunch with the elders and Nelson Watson, a less active member in the ward from Hawaii, and his wife Stella (Korean) and daughter Alicia (6 yrs old). Stella isn't a member but she came to church once with Alicia. She said when she is available she'll come to church as long as Alicia wants to come. We bore testimony about Family Home Evening and how family prayer can strengthen our families. Mom and Dad, I'm so thankful we always had FHE and family prayer at home, because now I can testify about that experience to the people we teach! I took it for granted growing up, but now I see how much that can strengthen children and families!
After the Watson family, we visited Cher-Anne, a less active Filipino member in the ward. She was so excited to be able to renew her Liahona and Ensign with Elder Ryu's help and said she'll do her best to come to church! She loves the missionaries and has a strong testimony of the gospel. We felt the Spirit as we met with her and shared our testimonies- especially when Sister Jung shared her testimony- in ENGLISH! She was really nervous about it, but we practiced before and she was great! She said she felt like a greenie because we were talking in English and I had to cue her in for
the testimony. Haha- A little bit of role reversing!
On Monday and Tuesday this week, we were excited to meet with a couple of less active women and get to know them a little bit. Hopefully we'll be able to meet them again soon!
Things are going slowly right now...we don't have investigators, but we're searching, and doing a lot with less active members. But
tomorrow we're meeting with a referral from a girl in Young Women's in the ward. We're excited to meet her and hopefully be able to teach her.
I really appreciate the scripture Dad shared with me this week:
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed; for the Lord thy God is with thee withersoever thou goest"
I know the Lord guides His work and that when we put our faith and trust in Him, we will be able to accomplish what He desires of us. Thank you so much for your love and prayers! I love you and love the people here in Jeju-do. I am so grateful for the gospel and all the blessings we receive because of it. I pray that we as missionaries can share those blessings with the people of Jeju-do!

Love,
Alyssa

Hi everyone!

Sorry, I'm short on time, so this will be a quick email!

This week, we had a fun family home evening group at the church where several boys from young men's showed up. They had fun playing cops and robbers, running around the outside of the church. I stayed warm inside and chatted with Gook Hyung-mi, whose sons Kim Song-su and Kim Myung-joon were playing with the others. Kim Myung-joon, by the way, is the boy who was in the hospital. He's fine now! It must have been a 24 hour flu kind of a thing.
Last night Sister Jung and I met with a less-active high school student who got baptized in elementary school. We hope to keep meeting her every week- she is really nice!
We also had the opportunity to meet the friend of a junior high girl in the ward on Saturday and spend some time with them. She said she'd like to meet with us again! We ALMOST got her to come to the young men's/young women's activity with us, but then she had to go home. Oh well- at least we can still see her!

I am excited for this week- this past week Sister Jung and I had a day where everyone we wanted to meet with canceled, and we got dropped by an investigator. It was really hard, but we realized that as long as we do everything we can on our part, the Lord will help us find people who are ready to receive the gospel.

I love you all so much! I'm so thankful for this gospel. I love Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ and am so thankful for the wonderful examples of others. I hope I can become more like them! (companion, church leaders, FAMILY, mission president, prophet!)

Have a great week! I love you!

Love,
Alyssa

Hi everyone!
Well, it's been another great week! On New Year's Eve, we had a fun branch meeting/party that turned out great! I found out that it was the first time they have done it, but I'm sure it will happen again next year! There was karaoke, which also turned up at the Christmas party. I loved seeing the members in the ward get into the "classic" Korean music of 20-30 years ago. It was really funny! That night, Sister Jung and I went home- and you guessed it! We went to bed at 10:30 pm as usual. But the next morning, we got up early to see the sunrise from a beautiful spot with the branch and what seemed like HALF of the city of Jeju! Seeing the sunrise on January 1st is a Korean tradition. After we saw the sunrise (Kind of- it peeked through the clouds), the branch members found a quiet spot to say a prayer for the new year together. It was a wonderful experience! Later, we celebrated New Year's/ our ward mission leader's birthday with the same "family" group that was together for Christmas: us, the elders, our ward missionary Jung-ee Kim, and the mission leader Hyung-tae Moon. On Saturday, we stopped by the restaurant of Jo Soon-shim and Kim Gi-wan, a couple whose three school-aged daughters joined the church earlier this year. They are so kind! The problem is they are busy working at their restaurant everyday to make money for their family. But they love what the church has done for their daughters- I hope we can get to know them better! On Fast Sunday, we got up early again for a special Fast Sunday prayer in a quiet, wooded area with the branch president, the Jeju-do district president and wife, the mission leader, Kim Jung-ee (the branch missionary), us, and the elders. I found out they do that every Fast Sunday! I was excited about getting up early, but it was a special experience. I could feel how much the leadership of the branch cared for its members.
Today, we had an amazing P-day! We went to Sogwiepo, at the south end of the island with the elders, Lee Hyun-jung, our investigator, and her son Pak Joon-hyung(a member). We walked along the coast on a special trail with AMAZING VIEWS of the ocean. It was gorgeous! I'll definitely send you pictures. We got to explore on the rocks a little bit and had a lot of fun. We were excited to have our second Jeju-do adventure (the first being the teddy bear museum!) and enjoyed spending time with Lee Hyun-jung and Pak Joon-hyung.
It was a great week!Thank you Mom and Dad, the family, Cheryl, Grandmas and Grandpas, Brandon and Jenn, for all your Christmas greetings! I was so excited to see the Christmas cards. Everyone looks great!
I love you all so much!
Love,Alyssa

Hi Mom, Dad, and everyone!
You might be surprised to be getting an email from me in the middle of the week! Pres. Jennings just changed our P-day from Monday to Thursday, and what better day to start off than New Year's Eve! So from now on, if you could get your emails done before Wed. night that would be great! Anyway, not a ton has happened since I called you on Friday and emailed on Monday! Let's see...we had our Family Home Evening group on Monday night at the church. It was a lot of fun! We played the game where you you get a post-it on your forehead of a person's name from the scriptures, and everyone has to ask questions to figure out who they are! I had done it in the Yeongdo branch and thought we could try it out here. It turned out great! There were just 7 of us that night, the missionaries, Sister Jung-ee Kim, the branch missionary (she's about our age), and two boys from Young Men's, but we still had a lot of fun!
On Tuesday, we met with a former/potential investigator, Song-ja Kang, at the restaurant where she works. She is a really kind single mom who has known the missionaries for a long time, but has her hands full working all the time. I think she likes the church because she has two sons in high school and middle school who need good examples in their lives. I hope we can continue meeting with her! We gave her a booklet on how we can strengthen our families and are going to talk about that with her each week. I had my favorite food there- duejang jigae! Yesterday, we had district meeting down in Soguipo, on the other side of the island. We enjoy district meeting because of the mid-week spiritual boost and it's the only time we ever see the elders serving down in Soguipo! Elder Ryu talked about how we need to speak openly- but always with the Spirit. It was really good. I realized how important it is to recognize the way we are communicating with others and see how we can improve. He said that you should consider others' feelings when you talk and always try to speak through the Spirit. It was a really good lesson that prompted us to consider how we can improve our relations with others as missionaries. Communicating through the Spirit is something we especially need now, but we'll also need it throughout our whole lives too!
After the meeting, Sister Jung and I visited one of the Soguipo elders' investigator with them, Jung-soon Kim. She was busy, so we were only able to talk to her at the door, but she was really kind- my comp hadn't gotten the whole scoop on her and thought she was a member because she was so nice! We live far away so we can only visit her with the elders when we're down in Soguipo every other week, but we were glad we could meet her.
Last night, we had family home evening with Soon-hyung, a recent convert high school student, and his mom Hyun-jung Lee. Sister Jung and I taught about how Christ can help us overcome sin and also the principle of faith. Hyun-jung isn't a member but is really grateful for the church because of how it has changed her son's life. She LOVES the missionaries. She showed us a picture album of all the missionaries that have worked with them in the past year or so- and we were at the end! We really love Hyun-jung and her son and enjoy working with them. Today, we were surprised to wake up to a Winter Wonderland! Kind of. There was a lot of snow coming down, anyway! I guess it's an early start to the new year! Sister Jung and I are excited for the year 2010 and all that has in store. We're having lunch with a member in the ward and her children to celebrate New Year's Eve. Tonight, the branch is having a New Year's meeting/party and tomorrow morning the branch is going hiking at 6:30 to see the sunrise and welcome the new year! It'll be interested. I'm excited right now, but it's not yet the dark, cold, snow-filled morning that it will be when we get up tomorrow!Dad, I read the talk that you sent from Pres. Utchdorf. That's amazing! I loved what he shared about the experience people had when Joseph Smith dedicated the Kirtland temple. I especially liked this part of Pres. Utchdorf's testimony:"indvidual and collective trials may sometimes seem overwhelming.That is when we need, more than ever, to draw near unto the Lord. As we do, we will come to know what it means to have the Lord draw near unto us. As we seek Him ever more diligently, we will surely find Him. We will see clearly that the Lord does not abandon His Church or His faithful Saints. Our eyes will be opened, and we will see Him open the windows of heaven and shower us with more of His light. We will find the spiritual strength to survive even during the darkest night."I am so grateful for continued revelation from our latter-day prophets.I LOVE Pres. Utchdorf. I feel sometimes like we're on the same wavelength of some unseen radio channel.
I am so grateful that we can pray to the Lord and receive strength each day as we strive to do His will. It's hard, but I'm have a testimony that the Lord will help us to overcome the obstacles in our lives. He wants us to succeed and be happy!I love you all and am so excited for the new year. The new year is amazing- it's a new beginning!
Don't forget to make your New Year's resolutions!
Have a great New Year's Eve!
Love,Alyssa

Dear Mom,
Thank you so much for your Christmas message, Mom. Now I will look at "I heard the Bells on Christmas Day" in a whole new light! It sounds like you had a wonderful Christmas program.We were very excited to have the Christmas party for our branch on Saturday night. It went great! There were many different parts, but Elder Ryu organized the whole thing and did a fantastic job. Sister Jung and I sang "The First Noel" with the Relief Society and did the sign language along with it! One of the sisters is deaf, so she taught everyone the sign language. I thought it was beautiful! For the missionaries part, we made small video stories about Christmas through taking several pictures. It's hard to explain, but it came off very well! Elder Ryu put it all together. It was amazing!We were excited to see some of the less active members come to the activity and get involved. It was a success- especially since we saw many of them at church the next day!We visited the deaf relief society member at her apartment last night with the ward mission leader. It was a cool experience. It was a very quiet meeting! Lot's of writing and learning words in Korean sign language. She knows a little American sign language so she tauht that to me as well. She is very sweet and we are excited to meet with her more often!I am so thankful for the Christmas season and the love we can show to our families and friends. I'm so thankful for the Savior's example. I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and New Year's! I love you all so much! Thank you for all of your support.

December 14, 2009
Hi everyone! Wow, this week went by much too fast! I'm glad you had a great early Christmas dinner with everyone! It sounds like it was a lot of fun! Haha, it's crazy to think that it's already been a year since last Christmas and all the snow that came. Sounds like it will be another white Christmas! Anyway, I have to say Cheju-do is amazing! It's not as cold as Busan was when I left, but I've heard it can snow every once in a while. I just hope that once in a while doesn't come too fast! Dad, Sister Jung is actually Korean- she is from Taejeon. She is part of the second set of Korean missionaries to go to the Provo MTC since they shut down the MTC in Seoul, and we were roommates at the MTC. We came to the mission at the same time! I am really excited to be serving with her. My Korean has already started improving! (It helps that now I really DO have to speak Korean all the time!!) The elders we serve with here, Elder (Gi-Ook) Ryu (Korean) and Elder DeWaal, have been really helpful. (Side-note- Sister Jung and I were really excited to work with Elder DeWaal because he is came to the mission the same time as us too!) Anyway, Elder Ryu and Elder DeWaal are referring their female investigators to us, and are helping us to get to know members in the ward. We made it a goal to visit all the active members within the first two weeks, so by the time we went to church yesterday, we already knew half the people there! One day, we went to a sister's home to help her move from one side of the city to the other to live closer to the church. The elders and some members from the relief society were already there, and later much of the youth and brethren came to help out too! It was really cool to see everyone work together to help the single mom and her two kids. The branch has a warm family feeling which showed when we went to a ward party on Saturday night. It was so much fun! Elder Ryu had organized the whole thing and put together some really fun games and a great lesson about eternal families. The problem in the branch is that there are several families with single moms who recently divorced and their children. They need support from the missionaries, but it was a little bit awkward with just the elders here. That's where we come in! Part of the reason Sister Jung and I were sent here was to strengthen them and encourage their families to become/remain strong in the Church. Oh yes, plus I must tell you what I heard happened back on the yoochi (mainland)- Remember Hyun-a? This is going back to the sum mer. I taught her with Sister (Young-bin) Lee and had many lessons with her brother Dae-hyun, a member who was baptized in March. She got baptized in July, and I have since heard about her mom and sister (Hyun-ju) who have gotten baptized (at different times). Well, I heard that her DAD just got baptized too! That's amazing, because that means everyone in the family are now members of the Church! I was so happy to hear about it from Sister Lee, Elder Kemmerer (an elder I served with there who went back to serve in the same stake), AND President Jennings! (He called us to ask us about our new area, and told me about a special fireside they had for new members in Daegu). One time, someone asked me if I could just have one goal as a missionary, what it would be. I said that I would love to see an entire family embrace the gospel and all become members. Well, it came true! I am so grateful for the happiness the gospel can bring to our lives. I love families and am so happy that the Kim family can now all experience the blessings of the gospel. I know with all my heart that if we follow the prophet and obey Heavenly Father, we will be able to find the peace we so much desire in this life. I know that no matter what the alternative is, nothing else can bring us that deep and everlasting happiness. I know that when we follow the example of our Savior Jesus Christ, it is then that we will truly be able to fulfill our purpose here on Earth. I'm especially grateful that families can be together forever and live again with Heavenly Father and our Savior.I love you all so much and am grateful for your examples of love and kindness. I appreciate the time we have to reflect on the birth of our Savior and his life during the Christmas season. I think it's interesting to read 3 Nephi 1, which talks about the sign of the Savior's birth, along with Luke 2. Both the Book of Mormon and the Bible truly do testify of our Savior!Have a great week! Love you!Alyssa

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