Time is starting to fly by faster and faster

Hey Everyone~! It's been another amazing week as a missionary! Time is starting to fly by faster and faster--I can't believe it's almost November! Wahh! 

This week we saw so many miracles! 

We visited one of our members houses this week in the evening--she's preparing to go on a mission to Temple Square next month, her mother is less-active, and her father is not a member of our church. We had never met her dad before, but when we went they were all at home and we were super excited! They showed us all of their old family pictures, gave us fruit (persimmon) and sweet potatoes (that's what members usually give us when we visit), and then we got to share a message. We shared the Plan of Salvation and the spirit was strong. After we taught, the mother told us about a friend of hers she wanted us to pray for who is very sick. She also requested a priesthood blessing for her friend. When we left I got to say the closing prayer and prayed for her sick friend and the spirit was so strong--it felt almost tangible. I was so grateful to share that experience with them and to see that mother's little act of faith. I know God loves that family so much and is mindful of them and the mother's sick friend. 

신동현 shin deong hyun, our recent convert, is sooooo amazing! She teaches with us almost everyday and her testimony has become so strong. I love her so much! After church yesterday my companion and I had to go on a member split because we had to teach two investigators. I taught with 신동현 a lady who has been an investigator on and off for 3 years who has fear of being baptized. 신동현 bore a pure, strong testimony that God is always with us. Although she knows being a member of this church and living the gospel will not be easy and that she will continue to receive a lot of opposition from her family, that God will help her. She's so amazing!

On the weekly conference call that our mission has I found out that a recent convert in Daejeon who I used to visit tons--her husband--got baptized!! I'm so excited! Such a miracle!

One of our investigators who is Kendall's age is getting baptized next week!! She's super cute and just really pure. we're excited for her!

I taught Ursula again this week and it was hard again--English! Haha...but it was good! She has a lot of questions. I really like her and the members are really excited about her.  :)

I feel so blessed to be a part of this work. I feel the Lord's influence everyday and know that it is true with all of my heart! I know that God loves His children so much and that He is aware of each of us. I am grateful to be able to be His instrument in sharing this gospel with others. I am so weak and inadequate, but through Christ I am enough. He makes up for my weaknesses. I love this gospel!

Have an amazing week! I love you all!

Sister Naatjes :)

This is really God's work!

Wow! What a week! so much happened and I learned so much!

This week we had lots of miracles~I'll tell you about a few of them!

So about a month ago on a P-day we went shopping in a store called Art Box and I saw a foreigner, so I talked to her--she said she was from Slovenia and came to Korea to live for a little while. Her name is Ursula. She knew about our church and we talked a lot about religion. She had just gotten to Korea that week, so she didn't have a phone yet, so I didn't get her phone number. She gave me her email address, so I emailed her and she replied once, but then didn't reply to any more after that, so I thought she probably just didn't have interest.

Last Monday we got on the Subway and Ursula was there! She gave us her number and we set up an appointment for Sunday. We met Yesterday and it was a challenge to teach in English again, especially because my companion can't speak English, but it went pretty well. She has a return appointment for next week--I'm really excited!

It was super cool that we ran into her randomly again! Things like that happen all the time as a missionary. I know that it's not just a coincidence. This is really God's work!

This week we met with a young woman in our ward and her friend and taught them. The friend, 김민선 (kim min sun) wants to get baptized! We set a date for the 2nd of November. She has been to church 6+ times with her friend, so she has been pretty well prepared! She's really cute. 

신동현 (shin deong hyun), our recent convert who just got baptized a month ago is doing amazing! This week we met with her and she told us that her job that she was going to start next week (which initially told her she wouldn't have to work on Sundays) changed and said she would have to work 2 Sundays a month in the morning (during church). We were really worried about her because if she accepted the job it would be really hard for her to come out to church and to stay active. So we told her to pray about her decision...Later in the week we scheduled to meet with her again and prepared a lesson about decisions and trusting in God and His commandments and were really concerned. We met and as soon as we started teaching she said, "I decided not to take the job." Wow! She then bore her testimony about the lesson we were about to teach--that God is preparing better things for her and that He would bless her for keeping the Sabbath day holy. She's so amazing and has such strong faith! I'm so blessed to know her and learn from her example!

I know that this work is true with all of my heart. I know that this church is true. I am so grateful everyday to have a knowledge of this gospel and to be able to share it with others everyday! I feel so blessed. 

I love you all! Have an amazing week!! 

Sister Naatjes :)

General Conference was AMAZING! Better than Christmas!

Sorry!! I forgot to hit the send button last week!! This is last week's email! Love you all!

Hi everyone!!

What a crazy week! So many ups and downs and so much learned.

This weekend we got to watch General Conference and it was AMAZING! Better than Christmas! In Korea they have general conference one week delayed so that it can all be translated into Korean. Luckily, all the foreign missionaries get to watch it in English so that we can completely understand it. So much inspiration and needed words! 

3 of our investigators and a former investigator came to watch and it and they all had a good experience--they especially liked Elder Bednar's talk. One of them told my companion that she wants to get baptized--조은정. (jo-un-jeoung)

Lots of little miracles, as always! One day we were walking to our apartment and saying hi 안녕하세요 to people as we walked. One lady said, in English, "hi." We stopped and talked to her and it turned out that she lived in america for 20+ years, was a member of our church, got married in the temple, but had a lot of hard things happen in her life and doesn't go to church anymore. We talked for a while on the street and then got her phone number. It was a miracle that we were able to meet her. Unfortunately, she hasn't been taking our calls, but we'll keep trying. We have experiences all that time that remind me that this is truly the Lord's work and that He puts people in our paths. 

We met with our recent convert, 신동현 a few times this week and she is doing so great! She has such a pure testimony and a desire to do and be good. Conference was a little hard for her because it's long--haha, but after conference I had a talk with her where she asked really good questions and bore testimony to me. It was special. She said that this week a friend asked her about the church this week and she started telling her about it...when suddenly a strange feeling came, she said. She wanted to share everything with her. She wanted to share this joy with her friend and realized how much she really does love this church. She's doing so great!

We had a ward picnic this week and the day before we didn't think we would have any investigators there, so we were a little sad, but the night before and the morning of 3 investigators and our recent convert told us that they were coming! It was great! Lots of fun they got to meet a lot of members.

I feel so blessed to be a part of this work. It's truly the most important and rewarding work on the Earth and therefore, maybe the hardest. I'm so blessed to be able to learn and grow and become better each and everyday. I know that God is real. I know that Jesus Christ lives. I know that they want us to be happy and through the Savior's Atonement I know that we can be so. I know that the power of the Atonement is real. 

I love you all!

Have an incredible week!

Sister Naatjes

"If you sing too much, you look stupid."

It was another crazy, amazing week being a missionary!

We had some funnies and lots of miracles, as always!

This week as we were walking to our apartment to do language study and eat dinner we saw a grandma standing in the parking lot, so talked to her. She greeted me in pretty good English and said she was 94-years-old! I couldn't believe it! She was in great health. She invited us to come to her apartment with her, so we did :) She lives alone and had a stack of japanese books on her table. She also speaks fluent japanese! She was hilarious and showed us all her old pictures. She talked about feeling lonely sometimes and we talked to her about how God is always with her and loves her so much. Then we asked her if we could sing a hymn for her before we left and she said we shouldn't sing. We were surprised! She said, "only sing when you really need to. If you sing too much, you look stupid." My companion and I laughed really hard. I could feel how much God loves that little grandma.

On our way to the church for an appointment one day I was greeting everyone along the way and one guy suddenly stopped which happens really rarely. We talked to him for a while and he said he wanted to come to our church, so we told him he could come with us right then. As we started walking with him I turned and saw a little lady with a BYU shirt--woah! Something you never see in Korea! She approached me and said that she was on a trip here and was praying to find someone to show her where the church was! And then she saw the sister missionaries! How cool! God answers prayers! We all walked to the church together and were able to introduce the man we met to the Elders :)

On Sunday 신동현 got the gift of the holy ghost at church--she was so cute. She sat by me in the front and was super excited. After she was confirmed, she sat by me, smiling, and said, "I'm officially a member!" The spirit was strong and she was blessed with amazing things!

We had 4 investigators come to church this week which was exciting! It was a great meeting.

On Sunday after church we met with a girl from the middle-east because she was interested in learning about Korean culture and wanted help adjusting to living here. So we met and talked and then taught a lesson. My companion doesn't like to speak English, so I taught most of it (luckily there's a foreigner in our ward named Chloe that could help me a little bit!). It was cool to hear about her culture and beliefs. She believes in both Jesus and Mohammad. I was amazed how hard it was for me to speak English! After the lesson Chloe said she could tell English was hard for me--haha...I can't speak English or Korean fluently anymore!

I felt blessed again this week to be a missionary and to be doing this work. There are miracles everyday and I'm so grateful to be a part of it. I love these Korean people and the culture and am just grateful. God is so good to me. I love the gospel. I love my Heavenly Father. I love my Savior. I know that through Him I can do all things. I love you all and hope you have an amazing week!

Sister Naatjes :)