God's plan is so cool!

Wow! What a week! It was among the hardest weeks of my mission, but the best at the same time.

On Tuesday we had a few appointments lined up and thought we were going to have a pretty busy day, but in the morning during our district meeting all of the people cancelled...we were a little bummed, but went back home to finish our studies and eat lunch when our recent convert 신동현 shin deong hyun called us crying and told us she was at the church. We went to meet her and she was having a really hard time. She had just gotten back from her really close friend's funeral who had passed away the day before and didn't know where else to go, so she came to the church. We talked with her and cried with her. It was really hard, but I was so amazed by how great her faith was. She knew that her friend was not gone forever and that she could see her again. She knew the Plan of Salvation and bore testimony to us about it. One of the first things she said to us when we came to meet her was, "when can I go to the temple?" We had just talked about it the Sunday before and she wanted to go and be baptized for her friend. I was so amazed at her faith.

I was so grateful that our appointments cancelled--God had another plan for us--to help shin deong hyun. He was aware of His hurting daughter and made a way for us to be able to meet her. God's plan is so perfect.

This week our investigator 김민선 kim min sun got baptized! She's 18 and just about to start college--Kendall's age! She started coming to church with her friend about 3 months ago. At first she didn't want to meet with missionaries, but after we kept talking with her at church and she got to know us a little better--especially my companion--she decided to meet with us. She wanted to get baptized, so we set a date and it all went great!

She is really cute and pure and accepted and believed the gospel easily. After we set a baptismal date we found out that her mother is an inactive member and her aunt and uncle are really active members in another city--super cool! We think that through her conversion her family will be able to come back to church again! God's plan is so cool!

Her baptismal service was beautiful--shin deong hyun talked about baptism and bore her testimony of the gospel. She's a recent convert of just over a month, but her words were so strong and I felt so proud of her. She talked about the death of her friend and how she is constantly receiving strength through this gospel and how she's excited to learn and grow together with kim min sun. Then one of our new Elders sang "Consider the Lilies.."--in English because he just got to Korea this transfer and I'm not sure that they have that song in Korean, but it was so good--almost everyone in the room was in tears even though they couldn't understand the lyrics. the spirit was super strong. 

I feel so blessed to be a missionary. God is always with us and gives us needed strength, even when things are hard. 

A scripture that really stood out to me this week:

Isaiah 40:28-31:
28 ¶Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding.

29 He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength.

30 Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall:

31 But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.

I know that as we rely on the Lord we are always given strength to do what we need to do--especially during the hard times. I know that this gospel is true with all of my heart and I'm grateful to be able to share it everyday with these wonderful Korean people who I love so much!

Love you all! Have an amazing week!

Sister Naatjes