This week was incredible and I hope everyone else had a wonderful Christmas holiday(:

Monday:  Went to Gangnam and explore the streets! Honestly, not as cool as I thought it would be. BUT still pretty cool since I've only served in the more country areas.

Tuesday:  Mission Christmas Conference! We received a lot of training and also had a ton of fun(: It was so good to see everyone and also learn a lot. "our sacrifice is incredibly small compared to what we get in return.." I LOVE CHRISTMAS!

Wednesday:  Ate with a member and tried this fish soup! It was pretty good until I found things that looked like brains and weird liver looking stuff... I asked the member what it was and she said they were eggs... I didn't believe her... haha it was disgusting!

Thursday:  CHRISTMAS! Opened presents and honestly I can say this Christmas was the best ever! I got so much love from the family and everything meant so much to me! It was the most meaningful AND I got to spend it in Korea proclaiming the gospel! Later we went to this traditional wall in Shin poong and caroled with our zone! GREAT CHRISTMAS.

Friday: SKYPING WITH THE FAMILY! I gotta say, I was pretty happy. I was really worrying that I wasn't going to be able to skype my family. We're not allowed to ask members if we can use their computers so we had to wait for someone to invite us and not most Koreans know that we can skype our family.. So we were freaking out, BUT my lovely family had connections and asked one of our members for us... Haha I love having connections! Anyway, skyping them felt so normal. It felt like it was a weekly thing. Still fun!

We had an appointment with our investigator who is 14 and we got there early so we were at the bus stop trying to figure out the bus system in that area. All of a sudden someone ran into me and grabbed my shoulder. I turned around and it was our 14 year old member! She's actually friends with our investigator! So she said, "what are you doing here?!?! Why aren't you at my friends house yet?!" so she dragged us to the appointment even though we were early! She stayed with us for the lesson even thought she didn't really participate much. That was crazy!

We had another appointment and one of our new investigator's dad wants his daughter to live with us for a few days so she can learn English... haha sorry that's not possible.. But she can come to our appointments with us!

Saturday:  Our investigators baptism interview with the mission president! The interview took an hour and a half and afterwards, the mission president, my comp and I did a lot of soul searching, praying and listening to the spirit. We weren't completely sure if they had enough faith and if it was too soon for them to get baptized. We did only meet them two and a half weeks ago. and only got to meet them a few times! But I felt the spirit so strongly and I knew they needed to be baptized. Sister Driscoll felt in the middle. 

She kept feeling knots in her heart about it and I asked her, "What if that's Satan?" and as soon as I said that, she said the knots were completely gone and she felt peace. She then immediately thought of the scripture D&C 6:23- which says, "did I not speak peace? What greater witness can you have than from God?" We had already received our answer that they needed to get baptized, we just needed to follow that prompting and not waver! So we did!

Sunday:  THE BOTH GOT BAPTIZED. We had to baptize the grandpa in a slightly different way. Since he is in a wheelchair and cannot bend backwards, they had to have three people in the font to help and lay him down completely in the water. It went so smoothly and it was a beautiful service! These people were just put in our hands by Heavenly Father and all we did was help Him. So amazing! Missionary work is the best!

This week was incredible and I hope everyone else had a wonderful Christmas holiday(:

Sister Johnson

Member referrals are the best!

Okay craziness of my life. This week has been so stressful and confusing. Trying to see if the baptism was going to happen or not. But the baptism is still on for the 28th! The husband in the wheelchair isn't getting baptized. Just the wife is! The husband still needs more time to accept and understand the gospel. Since he can only half listen, when we teach it's sometimes hard for him to understand. So when we continue to teach him, we'll have to do it with lots of pictures and speak slowly and simply. The wife had a few problems with keeping the commandments. 

She was worried about not being able to keep all of them and facing God's wrath. So I found the scripture Alma 26:35 with her and it says that He has all the power, all wisdom, and all understanding; He comprehendeth all things and is merciful. So we testified to her that as long as she tried her best, Heavenly Father would understand and that He would be merciful. He truly knows ALL things and He understands!

We also picked up a new investigator! It was a referral from the member that referred his parents to us and are now getting baptized. He called us one morning just thinking he was going to talk to us about his mother-in-law but instead he gave us ANOTHER referral! Member referrals are the best!

Got to go to my cousins? wedding this week! I got permission and got to see all of the aunts and uncles in Korea! That was pretty cool. I don't really know them very well but it was fun to see some familiar faces! Actually going to the wedding was a little insane. People I didn't even know came up to me and started grabbing my face.. Haha that was fun!

We also had our ward Christmas party which was a hit! So many people came we didn't have room for everyone! I wish that many people came to church on regular Sunday church meetings... haha but lots of less actives and nonmembers came so that was a success(:

We also had meal appointments back to back this week. One day we went to a buffet with members for lunch and then visited another member for a practice lesson and she gave us more food and then we had a dinner appointment with another member and I almost died. I felt so full I was literally going to throw up! On the walk to the bus stop I never had such a desire to throw up! I now know how American missionaries feel... I feel so bad for them! Mom, don't overfeed the missionaries cause they'll probably

explode! We also had another appointment with a member and we talked to her about having faith in Jesus Christ and she told us that she relies on Christ- for EVERYTHING. For learning the piano, to help make good food, etc.. But to realize that we truly can rely on Him for anything and everything was really cool. I need to really rely on Him like that as well. Even for the little things!

Well have a wonderful Christmas week! I'm so excited(:(: MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM KOREA!

Sister Johnson

Have I ever prayed to Heavenly Father & thanked Him for my belief in him?

This week we had interviews with the mission president and we were supposed to bear our testimonies of the Savior and His atonement so I shared 2 Nephi 26:25 with him. I love this scripture because it shows us how much Jesus loves us! Christ already paid the price for us so all we have to do is come unto Him. The gospel is free and so is our salvation! We just need to COME UNTO HIM!(:

Anyway.. This week may have been the craziest week of my life. We weren't quite able to reach our 10 lesson goal, but we did get 8! We got a huge curve ball thrown at us! A miracle, really. Last Sunday we had members in our ward refer their parents. The father had a stroke last year and cannot walk, speak or write. Because of that, they stopped drinking and smoking. Their kids(members) joked around with them saying that they were ready to become Mormons! And that's what got them really thinking about the church. They have a huge interest in temples and eternal families especially since the mom just had her sibling die. So having her grandchildren do baptisms for the dead for them really caught her interest. 

Anyway, we met them last Sunday and on Tuesday their kids called us and said that they want them to get baptized on Dec 28 because their kids are coming to Korea from Utah for the Christmas break so they want the boys to baptize their grandparents. That might have stressed us out a bit! Less than 3 weeks to teach them all the lessons and get their interview in?? I've only ever taught the first lesson and Sister Driscoll doesn't have much experience teaching further than that as well.. So we had the Elders come teach with us so we could really pound in all the lessons. 

This past week we've met them three times and they came to church! (First time I've actually had investigators come to church..) We taught them a lot, but not enough! So it's a bit stressful trying to do this in a very short amount of time. Their interview is coming up and I'm not really sure if they're completely ready. They have some things in the past that they need to figure out. This time limit is so stressful! But then again we've really been blessed! We are honestly doing nothing to make this happen. It truly is the Lord and we are His hands. So we may or may not have baptisms coming up but it's our goal and we are preparing them for this decision. 

This story is seriously so scrambled I'm sorry if no one understands. So much has happened this past week it's kind of hard to sum it all up!

ANYWAY. Our other investigator that is 14 kept her commitment to pray this week(: We invited her to pray at the end of our lesson too and it was the most sincere prayer I've ever heard from a 14 year old! In her prayer she thanked God for being able to meet with the missionaries, she asked Him to help her go to church every week, she said she was going to start praying more loyally and she thanked God for her belief in Him. The spirit was so strong and afterwards, Sister Driscoll and I were BEAMING! But it really made me think, have I ever prayed to Heavenly Father and thanked Him for my belief in Him?

Have a great week! Sorry for the strange and confusing email. LOVE YOU!!! 

 Sister Johnson

My companion & I can suddenly speak Korean! Well...

This week we picked up three investigators and hit our goal of 10 lessons this week! We actually got 11! We worked REALLY hard to hit that goal. Usually we have 3-4 lessons a week... Whether we meet with investigators or members, I've realized that even the members need us. We've had so many members act as investigators but really ask questions they personally have. Through that, they are able to receive our help without having to be embarrassed by asking. 

We did a practice lesson with the girl that just got off her mission and we felt inspired to share with her a talk by Elder David A. Bednar about receiving the Holy Ghost. 

She said she really wanted to keep the spirit with her all the time and sharing that with her was an answer to her prayers! Sister Driscoll had said that it was such a coincidence that we decided to share that, but the member then said that there are NO COINCIDENCES! And that is so true. We were guided by the Spirit to share that message.

We were going through the former investigators trying to see if anyone wanted to meet with the missionaries again. We called up this 14 year old girl and said we wanted to meet her. I was actually a little (a lot) worried about this. On her record, it said she stopped meeting the missionaries because her dad was really against it. So I was really worried and scared! I didn't want to meet her and upset her dad again! So before we walked into her apartment, I asked Sister Driscoll to say a prayer asking God that everything would work out. 

Afterwards, I immediately felt comforted, calm and I knew everything would be okay! We got up to her apartment and she said no one else was home. WHAT. It was an answer to our prayers. We picked her up as an investigator and she said that it was okay that we met with her! YAY!

We also went to the temple this week and as I was finishing my prayer at the temple, I picked up the nearest scriptures in Korean. I started flipping through them, mostly because I can't understand them and I found a piece of paper from 2011 that had some scriptures written down. Hebrews 10:22-24 and Psalms 27:4-7. I later went home and looked them up. I feel like because I had found those scriptures, I was obligated to look them up. 

It says, "he is faithful that promised," and that we draw near to God with a true heart in full assurance of faith. It also talks about dwelling in the house of the Lord and to sing unto Him and He will answer. After I read those verses, it confirmed to me that God really does know me and He WILL answer my prayers, especially in HIS house!

We did another practice lesson with a Japanese sister in our ward. She is in Korea because her husband is working for Samsung. We taught her in English because she used to live in the U.S. as well!  But that lesson was probably the most powerful lesson I had ever had. We weren't teaching her, she was teaching us. She said she often felt sad in Korea because she doesn't know the language and she can't express what she wants. But then she reminds herself that Christ didn't give up and so she can't either. CHRIST NEVER GAVE UP. 

The spirit was so strong and her testimony was powerful. Whenever I'm down, I need to remember her testimony and remember that I can keep going!

We have been poured with miracles. I am just so thankful and I love being a missionary! We have a new investigator who is 19 and she tried reading the Book of Mormon. Even though it was really hard for her, she looked up words she didn't know on her phone! We got a referral from ward members! They are strictly gospel interest (that's a first for me) we met and the spirit was so strong! We accidentally took a $20 taxi, but ended up having a great conversation with the driver. My companion and I can suddenly speak Korean! Well... We are at least trying to! ^^ 

We met with a member who is going back to the U.S. soon and figured out she really needed someone to talk to and that we could help her. When appointments cancelled on us, we'd magically have other people calling to make appointments with us! 

With all these miracles I have really realized how wonderful missionary work is. There really is nothing else like it!

Thank you for all your prayers!!! They truly do help!

 Have a wonderful week!(:   Sister April Johnson

The minute we became companions, I knew we would see a lot of miracles together!

This week I got my new companion, Sister Driscoll! She's from Idaho and she has a potato farm! Of course... ㅋㅋㅋ She is the sweetest, most hard working person ever. The minute we became companions, I knew we would see a lot of miracles together. And we did! 

In her last ward, she got a referral from a member that lives in our area. When she got the referral, the member said to not mention anything about church and to take things slowly. So we met the referral and the first thing she asked us was when our church was! She said that people told her it would be good if her oldest boy went to church since he's a little wild, so when we called she said it was the perfect opportunity! She also just moved to the area and so she wanted to meet more friends. On Sunday she ended up coming to church but sadly she left right after it had ended. She told us she felt confused and awkward, but hopefully we can pick her up as an investigator so we can explain more things to her.

We also went to find some less active's houses and we were able to get inside all the apartments we visited! It was all in an area that I had never been in either, but the apartments we were trying to find magically appeared. We were being led by the spirit without a doubt!

We also made our own little Thanksgiving dinner. Mashed potatoes, random meat that we had in the freezer, vegetables and fruit! We had a little feast! So on that note, here are some things to be thankful for as a missionary:

-a good companion (especially when they're Caucasian! We get so many great reactions when people realize my comp can speak Korean! It's priceless.)

-when people open their doors

-meal appointments!   

-the prayers we receive

-when we get referrals    

-progressing investigators!

-the constant companion of the Holy Ghost and the ability to always feel His love

There are so many things to be thankful for. I hope everyone's Thanksgiving was superb!

Have a wonderful week(:  

  Sister Johnson

She is going to be my first caucasian companion! People won't ignore us!

 We got transfer calls on Sunday morning instead of Saturday night because the mission president wasn't finished with them. So we anxiously waited while we took the fastest showers in history. 

Sister Carter is going to be with Sister Kelly and my new companion is going to be Sister Driscoll! She's from Idaho. That's about all I know about her. We're friends on the fb though! We found each other on the "many are called... but few are chosen" fb page. I'm excited to be her companion! She's going to be my first Caucasian companion! People won't ignore us on the streets now! Everyone wants to talk to the American.

 Anyway since Sister Carter is leaving, we have so many appointments to go to! Yesterday we were RUNNING everywhere and had to stuff our faces. We got lots of love from the members though(: I'm so happy to be staying in this ward! They really are the best ward ^^

Love y'all! Sister Johnson

PICS: Korean folk village! they were filming tv show.

It truly was a miracle that we were able to meet this family!

We went ice skating last Monday for pday and I got to play with Sister Gooch! 

After p-day we hurried back to our area for an appointment. 

A few weeks ago while sticker boarding, I gave an english flyer out to a stopped car at an intersection. And guess what? She is now our newest investigator! She's mostly english interest but her family is so ready to receive the gospel. They just don't know it yet.

 Her husband was a fighter pilot and passed away some time ago so now she's raising her kids by herself. They are such good children too! While we were talking with her, the kids were just sitting on the couch next to each other, quietly reading books. Sister Carter and I have never seen that in Korean children before.

 They're usually so wild and crazy! Haha plus they're way fluent in English and I don't know what we're going to teach them cause they're already so good! But anyway. It truly was a miracle that we were able to meet this family. I have a great feeling about them(:

Have a wonderful week!

Sister Johnson

They were doing all the work! PLUS one of them wanted a Book of Mormon.

This week was pretty eventful. 

I'll just cover some of the things we did. We went sticker boarding and made friends! These middle school girls decided they wanted to help us and so they got people to come over and put stickers on the board and even gave out flyers for us. They were the best!

 I didn't even have to do anything. They were doing all the work! PLUS one of them wanted a Book of Mormon. Where did these girls come from?? It was magical.

This week we also realized we might have to drop our one solid investigator :( She isn't progressing at all and she's been meeting with the missionaries for two years now. Her daughter is learning violin and her violin teacher at school told her that if she comes to her church then shell teach more lessons and that shell be able to perform in front of the congregation…

 So now our investigator is attending another church because she got roped into it! It's so devastating... We don't know what to do about this situation! It's so sad to think that we'll have to drop them because we are in LOVE with their family..

Hope all of you have a magical Pepero holiday! (stick cracker things with chocolate! It's on November 11)

Love,

Sister Johnson

Pics: Our sticker boarding friends and Su won Zone!

I'm in this 2 min video! click to watch. 

( she is in the beginning of the photo on the left side booth handing out treats then around 40 sec & at the end in the front left corner )

http://lds.or.kr/%EC%88%98%EC%9B%90-%ED%99%94%EC%84%B1-%EB%AC%B8%ED%99%94%EC%A0%9C-%EA%B0%80%EC%A1%B1-%EC%97%AD%EC%82%AC-%EC%A0%84%EC%8B%9C%ED%9A%8C

She's going to start her papers & turn them in when she gets back to America!!!

Okay how awesome is my ward? For the Halloween party (that took MONTHS of preparation) all the kids brought their nonmember friends! Our investigator came and she even brought a friend! The ward members were ALL over introducing themselves to them and making sure they were always being talked with. It might have been a little 부담 (pressure/burden).. But the members are awesome! 

At the party there were more nonmembers than members! What a great turn out(: We had a monster drawing contest, cardboard cutouts of a princess and pirate that kids could stick their faces in, a mummy race, trick-or-treating and a haunted house! The haunted house was a big hit. Some kids said it wasn't scary.. Only because they had their phones out to light the way!

 The rest of the kids said it was so scary and most of them cried.. Some kids couldn't even get through the haunted house.. ㅋㅋ Our investigator's kids wanted us to go through with them. They were definitely crying and we had to PULL them through. We even had to turn on the lights so they could see everything.. 

After they got through they said it wasn't scary and they wanted to go again! So the second time through one of the girls just said everything wasn't scary and that it was 못생기다 (ugly)... But she was still terrified! We had so many good scares and we even used our investigators doll for the haunted house.

In our mission our goal is to have 10 lessons a week. Whether it's an actual investigator lesson or member practice lessons. So we set up an appointment with one of the YSA and in return we helped her with English so she could test into BYU. We started right off the bat with the lessons and she played as an investigator.

 The lesson went really well and she actually started asking questions of her own about prayer and receiving answers. She started opening up and she told us about the hardships in her life and how she used to be suicidal. But she found the church and she told us how the church and the friends she made in the church had saved her life. She told us how she is so thankful for the gospel and how it gives her hope. 

It was a very powerful experience and through practicing missionary lessons with members she was able to open up and we could really get to know her and that we had helped her and that we need to continue helping her. Moral of the story, member practice lessons aren't just for practicing!

So remember that BYU student that's in my ward who decided she was going to go on a mission? Well this week she said she's going to start her papers and for sure turn them in when she gets back to America!!! I'm so excited for her. She'll probably come to Korea on her mission. She's got Korean blood in her!

Have a great week!  

Sister Johnson

Pics: TEMPLE! There are four questionably Asian sisters in the picture. A half Chinese/white, a half Korean/white, a full Korean from New Zealand, a full Korean from Utah and Sister Jacobson..

A pic of some of my dongi(:  (MTC Members)

We picked a spot & literally 10 seconds after another church plants themselves right next to us. with treats!

We went sticker boarding with the elders for our english class and we picked a spot and literally 10 seconds after we set up our stuff, another church plants themselves right next to us. With treats! Whaaaaaat.  

One of their 전도사(proselyting person..?) came up to me and read my name tag with disgust and I asked him if he heard of our church before and he said, "Well I just barely read your tag, didn't I?" 

 We definitely moved to another area far from them and we actually got a better spot! We had a ton of success. If you ever need to go proselyting, I highly suggest doing it in front of Baskin Robbins on a Saturday afternoon! The next day we actually had someone call us looking for more information. WOOHOO! Sticker boarding actually works!

ZONE CONFERENCE! 

We learned more about feeling the Holy Ghost, making goals and finding by the Spirit. This was probably the best zone conference I've ever been to. Here are the key things I learned:

-We need to remember the miracles the Lord has already given us.

-We are missionaries, so we are teachers. But during personal study, we are the learners.

-Remember that your confidence and faith should be in Christ, not yourself... Satan may take away our self-confidence, but he can't take away our belief of Christ. Whenever we feel like we cannot do something, we must always remember that this work is His work and because it's His work, there is nothing we cannot do.

Also, if you all have not seen the General Women's Broadcast, you should watch these adorable Korean children singing(: 

https://www.lds.org/general-conference/music/2014/10?lang=eng&cid=email-shared

Have a great week!

 Sister Johnson.

We had stake singing conference & won cutting boards & ramen, It's what i've always wanted!

Suwon stake did this huge stake singing conference where all the wards sing two songs and get prizes! We started practicing songs months ago.. and our ward chose songs sung by Mormon Tabernacle Choir... Gotta go big or go home, right? Since I'm in the same stake as my last area, Anseong, I got to see some of the members! 

When I saw them they asked me to sing with them, especially since I practiced with them a few times before I left. I was more than happy to! Our choir only had ten people in it and half of them were missionaries.. But it went really well and it was so special that I got to sing with them(: Then I sang with the YSA in our ward. After that, there was another ward that chose one of the same songs as Gokbanjeong.. That was awkward.. It was then our turn to go next and we killed it! All those months of practice paid off.. We were better than the other ward.. Shh.. I've really learned to be humble on my mission.. ㅋㅋㅋ Just kidding! 

Everyone seriously sounded so good and guess what? We were all winners! We won cutting boards and ramen, It's what I've always wanted! Oh and then the missionaries sang the EFY Medley. I went up 4 times.. Everyone kept asking me which ward I actually served in.. Haha I proudly sang with both my ward and branch.

We've been deciding if we should drop our investigator that said God was a baby. We didn't set our usual appointment with her this week but she texted us and asked if we were meeting. I suddenly got a strong feeling that we should meet with her but my companion wasn't really sure about it. So we ended up meeting her and there wasn't anything special about that appointment, but afterwards I was just happy because I had followed that prompting. Maybe she'll actually read the scriptures we gave her and maybe she'll want to get baptized..??(:

Also my family went on a cruise and I prayed for their safety. Apparently one of the other cruise boats near them got a disease.. The power of prayer works! They didn't get a disease! Okay I'm so ridiculous I know. Sorry for those who have to read my emails.

Have a great week!

Sister Johnson

PICS: Sister Carter chopping my split ends... My hair has gotten really bad but none of us trust Koreans to cut our hair because another sister did it and she ended up looking like Paul Revere..

 Next pic is me and some lovely Anseong members!!! I missed them.

We watched all of the conference on sunday. That was such a long but great conference marathon!

 Sometimes I think Korea is Las Vegas. I always feel like I'm walking down the strip. Just with a lot more tourists! Haha but all the fancy places here literally look like we're inside Caesars Palace.. It's so weird.

수원 (Suwon) had this huge festival. I wanted to go to it so badly but it didn't fall on a pday. Luckily the stake wanted all of us missionaries to work the booth in front of the church at 신풍 (Shinpoong) for family history work. 

The church is inside this huge historic wall. It was super fun giving away snacks and drinks while we could talk to people about family history work and about the church. It was a festival so other people didn't really seem too interested but we did find some great people! It was a good way to get our church name out there and our proselyting stats were so high that day. ^^ I didn't get to see the festival at all, but just seeing people coming through it made me happy.

I finally got to see conference! We watched all of it on Sunday. That was such a long but great conference marathon! My favorite talk was by President Henry B. Eyring. I could feel the spirit so strongly as he talked about his mother and wife.

 I also really loved President Thomas S. Monson's quote when he said, "It is far more important to have treasures in Heaven than on Earth." Before coming on the mission I didn't realize how important conference was and that I was so sucked up in the worldly things. But now I feel like my eyes have been opened and I've been living my life wrong. At least now I know I want to change my ways when I get back into the real world.

This week I also got to see a lunar eclipse! It was the coolest thing I had ever seen. Also does any of my other missionary friends have people yelling "Hallelujah" at you?? I get that a lot. Also a lot of people think we're nuns... Is it just me?

I hope everyone has a great week! Especially my family who's on a cruise in the Caribbean...

Sister Johnson

We covered so many gospel points and we cried together!

So we have this investigator who we;ve been trying to meet with for two months and we couldn't meet with her because it was "too hot outside" and so she didn't want to make us go outside... but we still had to go out and do missionary work anyway! Haha but we finally got to meet with her once it cooled down and it was by far the best lesson I've ever had. She's English interest but she loves learning and so she had so many questions about the gospel. It was so good! We covered so many gospel points and we cried together. I hope she'll continue to meet with us and progress!

We went sticker boarding with the district and we were an hour late when we finally started. It wasn't that great of a success and the people I got to put a sticker on the board would hurry and run away as fast as they could because they saw that we were missionaries. But then one lady was just standing there trying to read our boards and figure out what we were doing. We started talking to her and ended up giving her a Book of Mormon. 

We then continued talking and we found out that she lives in the building right next to ours! For reals this time! The area we were sticker boarding at was pretty far from our house and if we weren't late then we wouldn't have ever met with her. But the Lord truly will put those in our paths. She wouldn't give us her number, but we figured we'd just stalk her apartment until we run into her again(:

So I met with a member that used to serve with my Dad and Mom and she fed us soooo much! She gave us a meal then ice cream. We thought we were done but she also got us a box of donuts. We then still had some time left together so she took us to a cafe and got more drinks and a cake... I've never been so full in my life! Actually that's a lie.. Every time we have a meal appointment I'm always so stuffed because everyone thinks missionaries starve so they feed us their entire house. Anyway, she told us to never marry a Korean man because they're no good. My dad was okay for my mom to marry because he's technically "not really Korean.." haha

 Have a great week!   

Sister Johnson

5 Things I Love & would Like to Love ...

So we've been having troubles heart attacking members and investigators since all the apartments in this area have codes to get inside. Well Elder Nixon is new to our district because an Elder had to go home since he was sick. Anyway, Elder Nixon gave us the bright idea to look around the doorway to see if the code was hanging around. And guess what? He was right! We can now break into any apartment. So if you're ever in Korea and need to get into and apartment building, there's your way in! Apparently Koreans forget the password enough that they write it in obvious places. What's the point of having codes then??

At this last zone training, we were asked to list 5 things we loved about Korea and 5 things we would like to love. Here were the things I listed:

LOVE:

-the adorable Korean babies. I'm so close to stealing one and running off with it

-the fact that all Koreans are so hospitable and they ALWAYS give you free food(:

-buses and subways. The most convenient thing ever. Who needs a car?

-ICE CREAM. Enough said.

-PC rooms. Not really but I couldn't think of another thing..

LIKE TO LOVE:

-smokers and drinkers. They are EVERYWHERE.

-FOOD TRASH. It's the worst. Why can't we put all the trash in the same place??

-the humidity

-short skirts and boys who dress really feminine.

-Gang nam style.

-acid rain. I'm going to lose all of my hair!

Okay I realize there are more things that I dislike... But I promise I really love Korea!!!(:

Have a great week!  

  Sister Johnson

Totally worth it because we got her phone number!

We met our investigator that just has friend interest and she compared God to a baby. She literally said that God was a baby cause he needs attention all the time.. She definitely has some strong opinions that are slightly a little crazy. 

She also said she couldn't believe the Book of Mormon because she isn't interested in other peoples' lives, especially ones that died thousands of years ago... but we did ask her to read the Book of Mormon again with REAL INTENT to truly know if it was true and she said she would, because the other times she read it, she just read it for fun and out of curiosity of what our church believed. I really hope this time her heart will be open to it.

This week we went on exchanges and Sister Hales came to 곡반정 with me. We went proselyting that night and decided to talk to one more person, making it 10 for the day. We were pretty close to our apartment when we met this girl. She was so kind and was actually talking back to us so we walked with her. She asked us where we lived and I said the Samsung apts and she said she lived right next door! So we walked together and I started noticing that she wasn't going the right direction... And I remembered that there were a million apartments in Korea that were named Samsung apts. 

Sister Hales just came up for the day so she had no idea where we were going! The girl thought we didn't know where we lived because we're foreigners and I've only been in the area for 3 weeks. 

She guided us to our "apartments" and then we said her goodbyes. We then hid around a corner until the coast was clear and we sped-walked to our actual apartment 30 minutes away! I could have told the girl that we actually lived in a different place, but we had such a great conversation going and I didn't want to ruin it. So instead we took an hour detour. 

Totally worth it because we got her phone number! It's definitely worth it to talk to that one extra person.

Have a great week! 

 Sister Johnson

We are eating in a hut(:

By the end of the night she broke the news to me!

 Chu seok (Thanksgiving) was a blast! We had two member meal appointments and we were SO stuffed. It was a day full of food and games. It was nice to have a day to spend time with the district and families. For Chuseok everyone usually goes down south to their grandparents homes so the streets on Monday were Filled with so many foreigners. It was slightly a little sketchy. Anyway, the BYU students came with us to our dinner appointment and we actually convinced one of the girls to go on a mission! 

It's a miracle! We actually didn't have to do anything. She was with us for most of the day and she saw how awesome missionaries were and by the end of the night she broke the news to me! SWEET. We were good examples for her and we didn't even know it!

The whole mission got together for Chu seok and got training and tons of activities. We had a talent show and my last companion and my current companion signed us up for stuff. I had to sing in front of 200 people against my will! They all got to hear my squeaky 12 year old boy voice.  Luckily I wasn't singing alone so I could hide my voice with theirs.. haha

Anyway the other day we went to a member's house to grab some food she had for us. And someone brought up the fact that my parents had served in this same mission. I ended up showing pictures of my parents while they were on their missions and the member totally knew who my dad was! He served in her ward when she was younger apparently. SMALL WORLD. 

It's so cool how many connections there are in the church. I'm so happy to be serving where my parents served(:

Anyway have a great week!

Sister Johnson

"Don't dare give me your seat! Do you think i'm that old?

So ukulele proselyting isn't as successful as we thought it would be. People tend to walk around us.. They avoid us like we're the plague! They'd rather walk around us and take the longer way to their destination than make awkward eye contact with us! Oh well, their loss. They're just missing out on a great show about the gospel. ^^

Mission tour was this week and Elder and Sister Aoyagi came to speak to us. I've never seen a cuter Japanese couple before! They gave us wonderful insight for the mission and it was a great spiritually fed day. On the way to the conference we were on the subway and I tried to give this lady my seat but she used both of her hands and shoved me back into my seat. That really took me by surprise. She said, "Don't dare give me your seat! Do you think I'm that old?!" Haha I mean she was pretty old.. But I was just trying to be nice. But that started a great conversation that lasted the whole ride.

 I've had so many great experiences that have started by trying to give someone my seat. Another sister shared her experience with me as well. She was crossing an intersection when a man stopped her. He told her that he had seen her give an old woman her seat 3 months ago and that he never forgot. We can really make a difference by the small acts of service we do!

We met with a former investigator the other day who had met the missionaries on and off for 10 years. She was so kind and nice, but later towards the end of the visit, she told us that she would never join our church. She said she respected our church but she doesn't believe in God because she needs solid proof. She kept telling us that believing isn't good enough. She then told us she just wanted to start meeting us again to be friends. She's not gospel interest, not English interest, but she's FRIEND interest! Never thought that would happen in Korea.

Also lately there have been a million ridiculously loud fighter jets flying really low to the ground. Every time I hear them coming I hide behind the furniture thinking that it's North Korea about to attack.. Maybe I'm a little too paranoid?

Anyway, sorry there isn't much time! Today is Chuseok ( Thanksgiving ) a HUGE Korean holiday so we're off to another appointment. 

 I love the area!  My health is getting better.  Love you bye!  

Sister Johnson

No PIZZA. NO CAKE. NO CHOCOLATE. NO HAPPINESS.

This week has been crazy. 

We had to clean out the entire An seong sister's house because we're completely moving out and closing. That was fun. We also had some meals with members and less actives. It's so hard to leave them behind knowing that sister missionaries may never come to that area again! There just aren't enough sister missionaries coming out anymore. But a member did give me a coat and some shoes which was much needed because winter is coming and I don't have a coat! Apparently winters here are death...

Then on Wednesday it was transfer day! It was great seeing all the other missionaries transferring too. I met with Sister Carter who is from Washington D.C. and we went to Severance Hospital for 6 hours. 

I had to get this tubey camera thing up my nose. and I saw everything in my throat and lungs. GROSS. BUT I finally got a diagnosis! Something is wrong with my stomach acid since being here in Korea. It's some sort of disease? I'm not sure, but it's what the pills say. The stomach acid is making my breathing area swell up so that's why it's been so hard for me to breathe. So now I have to take these pills twice a day for two months. But here's the worst part.

 NO PIZZA. NO CAKE. NO SODA. NO CHOCOLATE. NO HAPPINESS. I don't know if I just can't eat these things while I'm on the medication, or if I can't eat those things forever... yay..

Anyway I went to my new area Gok ban jeong and my district and the ward is great! the ward is so much bigger than An seong was! We're even going to have BYU students attending our ward who are here studying! And guess what? I know one of the from the MTC. He was a Mong teacher there. Such a small world! Even on Monday we went to FHE on Camp Humphrey's base  and one of the soldiers there was my home teacher at Utah State that lived across the hall from me in Pine view! Small world.

I love this area already though. I love the investigators and the members!

Sister Carter and I started doing Ukelele proselyting. I'll let you know how that goes. We gave it a swing last night and no one ever came to talk to us... We either scared them with the giant mormon poster or we just scared them off with our singing. Luckily when we were about to wrap it up, one man came and talked to us! It just might work(:

Anyway have a great week! I'm not dying... yet!(:

Sister Johnson