"How lucky I am to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard."

It's my last week and it doesn't feel real in the least. I'm nervous and sad to leave, but God is definitely helping me!

This week we saw lots of miracles, as usual. I am just so blessed. Every moment in this work is precious and special. 

This week we got 2 new investigators and they are really great! 

We met with one of our investigators that we hadn't met in a long time which was a miracle! 

Yesterday was my farewell talk in my ward here and although I told myself I wouldn't cry, I cried in the first couple sentences and cried throughout the whole thing! I've served in this ward for 8 months now and all the members feel like my family. I'm not ready to say goodbye. 

A quote Mom sent to me last week that I really liked is, 

"How lucky I am to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard."

-Winnie the Pooh  

Recently I've started to reflect more and more on my mission and realized again how blessed I am to have had this experience. Every moment--even and maybe especially the hard ones are precious memories where I learned and grew closer and closer to my Savior. Some things I have really learned though my missionary service are:

•  Jesus Christ is my Savior. I have so many weaknesses and inadequacies, but I am not alone and I can be made strong through Him.
• God truly loves His children, especially these people in Korea. Before my mission I knew so little about Korea, but now it's so special to me. I love these people and feel so much love for them. I am so grateful to have been called to serve in this blessed land. 
• This is the Lord's work. I have seen too many miracles to be able to deny it. When we open our mouths and preach of Him and His gospel, He is always with us. 
• This church is true. I love The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. I'm so grateful for the blessings that come through this restored gospel, including the Book of Mormon, the priesthood, temples, eternal families, ordinances, living prophets...I know it's all true and I can feel of its truthfulness each time I open my mouth and share.  
• The power of prayer is real. God hears and answers our prayers!
• And so much more. God is so good! He lives! I know it with all of my heart and will always be His faithful servant. 

I love you all! See you soon!!

낫제스 자매 선교사 

Sister Naatjes^^

I don't want this to end!

This week went by way too fast! I can't believe it's already Monday again. 

This week we saw so many miracles and so many blessings from the Lord. I feel so undeserving and just blessed. 

This week we started meeting with one of our member's older sister and her two daughters and they are so great! The two girls remind me lots of Bailey and Mikki which makes it fun to teach them! We had a lesson with them on Monday and also Wednesday. The mom has a lot of questions and it's fun to teach. On Wednesday we taught the first lesson and about baptism and we asked the investigator's younger sister (who was baptized about 5 years ago) to bear her testimony and she shared a simple testimony that was beautiful. After she shared it I glanced over to her and saw that she was quietly crying and I knew she was feeling the spirit. I was grateful to be a part of that tender experience. 

This week our recent convert 곽지원 who we have been praying like crazy for finally came to church again after over a month and I felt so happy! She still loves the church and is going to come every week from now on she said! She has such pure and simple faith and I really feel that she will lead the rest of her family to being baptized too! I felt so happy! Also at church all of our recent converts were able to come! One of them who has been having a hard time fasted and prayed and was in tears in church because she said she heard exactly what she needed! I feel so blessed to know them and learn from their examples. I don't know how I will leave them. 

We have started seeing a grandma outside of our apartment almost everyday limping down the street and pushing a big cart of garbage--many grandmas in Korea do this as their work. They collect garbage on the street and in trash cans in order to earn a little bit of money for each day. We started trying to help her a long time ago and she didn't let us, but this week she let us! We picked up trash with her a couple days this week and she started to trust us. Today on our way to get a few errands done we saw her sitting on the curb on the sidewalk and sat down next to us. She told us about how she works from 10 to 7 each day and how her body aches. I started massaging her knee and a couple minutes later she said, turning her back to me, "well, if you're going to massage me, massage my back!" haha! We sat there and massaged her back on the side of the road! I was grateful for the opportunity to massage her achy back and tell her how amazing she is and how much God loves her! It made our day today! She's amazing!! 

I don't want this to end! It doesn't feel real that it will end. I just feel so much gratitude and my heart is so full! I love this country and this people and my God! I know that this is His work. This church is true! The Bible and the Book of Mormon are the word of God! We have living prophets today! Families are forever! There are so many things to be grateful for! 

I love you all and hope you have an amazing week! 

낫제스 자매 선교사 ^^