신동현 and 이송이 got baptized!

Hello!

Another crazy week!

The biggest news of the week is that 신동현 and 이송이 got baptized! It was a beautiful baptismal service filled with the spirit and I was so blessed to be a part of it! A lot of people were able to come and both girls were so happy!

The opening song was "nearer my God to thee," one of the only ones 신동현 knew from our hymnbook :) It was very fitting. Then one of our members who is only 19 and preparing for a mission gave a little talk. She helped us with a lot of lessons and talked about seeing both of them progress and their desires to follow Christ. 이송이 cried. It was a special experience for both her and our member.

They both got baptized and were just so happy! They were glowing! After the baptism Sister Lee (a sister who would end her mission that week) bore her testimony. The most memorable part for me was at the end--before the baptism we had asked 시동현 if she wanted to share her testimony after she was baptized and she didn't think she wanted to, so we didn't schedule it in. But! as we were about to sing the closing song she interrupted and said she wanted to share her testimony!

It was one of the most beautiful, simple testimonies I've ever heard. She talked about her experience meeting with the missionaries and growing to know God more and then told of a little miracle: Before someone gets baptized they need to attend church at least 3 times. Initially her baptismal date was Sept 28th (yesterday). A few weeks ago she had plans to go to Seoul, but they fell through and she was a little disappointed, but because she couldn't go she came to church. The next week she decided she wanted to get baptized on the 22nd because it was the date that Joseph Smith received the gold plates from the angel Moroni. If she hadn't come to church that weekend, she wouldn't have been able to be baptized. Also yesterday was her grandma's birthday and she had to travel with her family out of town, so she couldn't have gotten baptized. She talked about how God always has a greater plan and how God loves her so much.  Her testimony was pure and perfect.

I know that God loves her so much and is so proud of her!

She's really excited about being a member and has been attending institute and activities! She's so great!

We got a couple new investigators this week and one came to church yesterday! Yay!

I had the chance to teach the spiritual message at the end of English class and it was a really spiritual experience for me. Our old investigator who hasn't been meeting with us in a long time came and I was so grateful she was able to hear. I love being a missionary and being able to testify frequently of the things I know to be true!

I love My Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ and I know they love me. I am so blessed in so many ways. I love being in this beautiful country, I love this gospel and love sharing it. I know that God knows each of us personally and perfectly and is waiting to bless us. He hears our prayers and answers them. I know that this church is true. I know that miracles still happen--I see them all the time!

I love you all! Have an amazing week!

Sister Naatjes :)

Pig intestines and loach soup

Hi everyone!!

Another week of learning, growing, and lots of miracles!!

Crazy things I ate this week:

Someone I met on the bus owns a restaurant and wanted us to come, so we did...it was a crazy restaurant--they ordered for us--pig intestines! Lots of them! The smell was really bad and it tasted how it smelled haha, but we had to eat it! My companion really likes intestines, but I was on a split with another American missionary, Sister Mikesell, so it was hard! Sister Mikesell swallowed the pieces whole so she didn't have to taste it haha! It was quite the experience!

I also ate loach soup and actually really liked it! You should try it sometime!haha

So this week we met with 신동현 a lot and she ended up wanting to change her baptismal date to Monday (today) because it's the day that Joseph Smith received the plates from Angel Moroni--cool! So she and the other sister missionarys' investigator, 이송이 are both getting baptized tonight at 7! Woo!

It's been cool to see them both and how excited they are about the gospel--they love it! They both say they have found truth here and their testimonies are growing more and more everyday!

This Sunday was ward conference and they both participated in the ward choir with us--it was super cool! Also our other investigator, 조은정, came to church! It was a busy, awesome Sunday!

조은정 자매님 has been meeting the missionaries on and off for 2+ years and finally, yesterday said that she wants to get baptized soon! She has a son and daughter who also come to church sometimes!

It's fun to see people find joy in the gospel. I've been thinking a lot about joy recently--there truly is a special joy that comes through the gospel.

Doctrine and Covenants 101:36

"Wherefore, fear not even unto death; for in this world your joy is not full, but it me you joy is full."

Through Christ and His gospel we recieve everlasting and a fulness of joy!

I know that this is true! I love my Savior and His church with all of my heart and I'm so grateful to be serving Him!

Have an incredible week!!

Sister Naatjes :)

She started reading and couldn't stop!

Miracles happened this week! I really learned and grew a lot and I feel so blessed.

First of all, our investigator 신동현 shin dong hyun is getting baptized! She wants to get baptized in 2 weeks! She's amazing! She is 21 years old. She's a former investigator who stopped meeting with missionaries because she went to Seoul for a while, but she came back and wanted to meet again. She really loves the gospel. She has believed in God ever since she was little and has tried attending many different churches, but was always disappointed because of mean things said to her or abuse she received from workers at other churches. She also worked at another church as a financial secretary and was disappointed and shocked about how the money was being used, so she left. She found pure doctrine and truth in our gospel. 

She reads the Book of Mormon everyday and loves it! On Sunday morning at 6:30 she texted us and said she hadn't slept at all that night because she started reading the Book of Mormon and "Our Search for Happiness" by Elder Ballard and couldn't stop! She still came to church, but was really tired haha! I feel blessed to be able to see her find joy in the gospel and to be able to share it with her.

The other sister missionarys' investigator (we have two pairs of sisters in our ward) is also getting baptized the same week and she's amazing too! 

This week I has an experience that really impacted me and strengthened my testimony. We were waiting at a bus stop and were on the way to visit Beth, one of our recent converts, and started talking to some grandmas and grandpas that were also waiting. They had heard of our church and showed a little interest, so I gave them our phone number and were telling them where the church is when a man suddenly approached me and reached out his hand, so I gave him a mormon.org card with our phone number on it. He saw "mormon" and immediately got angry. He loudly accused us of being "이단" "heretic" and saying various other anti-mormon things and asked how I could possibly be proselyting for such a church. He took the card I gave him and tore it up into pieces in front of my companion and I and walked away angrily. I thought it was over, but he came storming back and kept persecuting our church and my companion and I. Then he looked at the mormon.org cards in my hands and swiped them all away and told me not to proselyte to anyone. During the whole thing I felt totally calm. I know that this is true with all of my heart. I felt again how true this gospel is and how sacred and special it is to me. I will never be able to deny it because I feel it everyday as I teach and testify of it. I feel so blessed to have the chance to stand up for what I know is true! 

I'm so grateful for this church. I'm grateful for my loving Heavenly Father and for His son, Jesus Christ who strengthen me everyday. I am so indebted to them and become more and more so everyday. I love them and will never leave them. I am grateful to be able to teach people what I know to be true. 

I love you all so much! Have an amazing week!! 

Sister Naatjes :)

I'm a strong teletubby doll!

We had a great week this week and saw many miracles!

A few things I thought were funny:

My companion told me that my face looks like a teletubby--I guess teletubbies are in Korea too! Ha!

I get comments on my looks a lot--I hear fairly often that I look like a doll as I get on the bus, on the street...etc... Also a man in a convenience store told me I have a strong body--haha! I'm a strong teletubby doll!

Our investigator 조은정 (jo un jeoung) fed us some crazy things this week

One day she made us lunch--she plopped a whole fish in front of us--with scales, eyes, bones and all that good stuff! And we ate all of it! (besides the eyes and the big bones). I ate fish head right by the eyes--she said I had to eat it because it's the best part. It actually wasn't bad!

We ate dinner with her last night and she gave us shrimp, but didn't take off the legs or tail or anything, so we ate them! It was a little strange, but not horrible! haha!

This week we found 4 new investigators! Miracle! One of them is a former investigator who stopped meeting with the missionaries because she moved to seoul, but she's back and doing great! She asks a lot of great questions and has a lot of interest!

Our other new investigators are all english-interest, but also listen really well to the lessons! We're excited for what the Lord is preparing!

This week is 초석 (Korean Thanksgiving), so we haven't been able to meet a lot of our investigators lately, but we're excited to see them again next week!

Dad asked last week about more details about what we do everyday...

We wake up, exercise, study (personal, companionship, and then language study for 60 minutes each). Then we set up as many appointments as we can with our investigators. The remaining time we fill with recent convert visits or member visits. When nobody has time we sometimes put up English flyers (we have a free english program) and our missionaries tend to get a lot of calls off of them, or we go to the big bus terminal near our house and talk to people who are sitting and waiting for the bus. Our area is huge! So as we travel to appointments or other things we talk to everyone we can--I like the bus because people can't run away when I start talking to them (it happens more frequently than you would think--people literally run!) ha!

We have missionary meetings sometimes...every week we have English class on Saturday nights and it's been a pretty big success--lots of people come and many of them become investigators. We also have family home evening at the church every weekend and less people come, but it's improving! Misisonary work is fun! I feel blessed everyday to have the opportunity to be the Lord's missionary

I keep learning more and more about Korean culture through being with Korean companions. I love it! Sitting on the couch feels weird now--I prefer the floor! I also love kimchi.

Everyday I feel again and again that this gospel is so true! It's perfect, wonderful, and can help everyone. I'm learning everyday--I have so much to improve! I'm grateful for the chance to change and become better.

I know my Savior lives. Through Him we can overcome anything and live happily. We can overcome weaknesses and recieve strength everyday. I know that the Book of Mormon, along with the Bible is true and that we can receive revelation through it everyday--I love it! I'm so very blessed!

I love you all! Happy Korean Thanksgiving!!

Sister Naatjes :)

I can't speak English or Korean!

Hello everyone!

What a week!! I learned and grew so much.

Lots of miracles!

On Monday night last week we visited one of the recent converts in our ward from the Phillipines, Beth. It's kind of fun to be able to teach in English! My English is pretty rusty! I always forget words and phrase things really weird--I can't speak English or Korean! haha...My companion doesn't speak English, so I speak very little English usually. Anyway, we had a really spiritual talk with her. She feels lonely in a foreign country--she is married to a Korean and living with her parents-in-law, but doesn't speak Korean, so it can be hard for her, but we got to testify to her that God loves her so much and she has so much worth to Him. She can always rely on Him.

On the bus ride home I sat next to a student and talked to her about the Book of Mormon when in the middle of our conversation I felt a tap on my shoulder--a college-aged girl told me she wants to meet soon to practice English and hear our message--I was so pumped! That never happens! Her name is 기백송 (kim baek seong) She became our investigator and is so great! She is starting to read the Book of Mormon and listens so well! It was a miracle!

One of our investigators is having a really hard time because of her son lately, but we were been able to start meeting him and teach him little by little! That was also a miracle!

On Friday nights we have free english class. Sister Lee and I were running late, but as we were walking we saw a grandpa walking on the street and greeted him--he started talking to me in broken english. We asked if he would come with us to english and he said yes! That was another funny little miracle!

This weekend we had about 3 appointments scheduled each day and all but one cancelled!! haha...But we were still able to meet amazing people and God provided other things for us to do! He always does!

I'm so grateful for this gospel. I'm especially grateful for my Savior, Jesus Christ who knows exactly how I feel always and gives me strength everyday. I know that He lives. The power of His Atonement is real. We are inadequate and always will be, but through Him, we can overcome and be the servants God needs us to be. I'm so blessed to be His missionary and to share His gospel to His beloved children in this beautiful country.

Love you all! Have an amazing week!

Sister Naatjes :)

I can't believe it's already been 1 year!

Hi Everyone!

We had quite the week this week! It definitely wasn't easy, but we had some special experiences and I grew a lot!

I can't believe it's already been 1 year! This has been an amazing ride that I wouldn't give up for the world. I've had such sacred experiences, met incredible people, seen countless miracles, and come to know my Savior better.

One spiritual experience that I was so grateful to be a part of happened on Friday. We were at our investigator, 조은정 (jo-un-jeung)'s house and met with her and her son. They had a little argument, but before we left we asked if we could say a prayer together. We invited 조은정 to pray and she said she didn't feel like praying because she was flustered, but did it anyway. As she prayed she thanked God for all her blessings, especially her son and cried. The spirit was strong and I was again reminded of the power and importance of prayer. It strengthens families and hearts.

I'm coming to find that "harvesting" an area can be difficult! This week my old companion, Sister An, gave a training and gave us a talk called, "Those whom I love I Rebuke and Chasten" by Elder D. Todd Christofferson. It really hit me. I think I have already emailed home about this analogy, but I really love it, so I'll do it again!

God uses another form of chastening or correction to guide us to a future we do not or cannot now envision but which He knows is the better way for us. President Hugh B. Brown, formerly a member of the Twelve and a counselor in the First Presidency, provided a personal experience. He told of purchasing a rundown farm in Canada many years ago. As he went about cleaning up and repairing his property, he came across a currant bush that had grown over six feet (1.8 m) high and was yielding no berries, so he pruned it back drastically, leaving only small stumps. Then he saw a drop like a tear on the top of each of these little stumps, as if the currant bush were crying, and thought he heard it say:

“How could you do this to me? I was making such wonderful growth. … And now you have cut me down. Every plant in the garden will look down on me. … How could you do this to me? I thought you were the gardener here.”

President Brown replied, “Look, little currant bush, I am the gardener here, and I know what I want you to be. I didn’t intend you to be a fruit tree or a shade tree. I want you to be a currant bush, and someday, little currant bush, when you are laden with fruit, you are going to say, ‘Thank you, Mr. Gardener, for loving me enough to cut me down.’”

Years later, President Brown was a field officer in the Canadian Army serving in England. When a superior officer became a battle casualty, President Brown was in line to be promoted to general, and he was summoned to London. But even though he was fully qualified for the promotion, it was denied him because he was a Mormon. The commanding general said in essence, “You deserve the appointment, but I cannot give it to you.” What President Brown had spent 10 years hoping, praying, and preparing for slipped through his fingers in that moment because of blatant discrimination. Continuing his story, President Brown remembered:

“I got on the train and started back … with a broken heart, with bitterness in my soul. … When I got to my tent, … I threw my cap on the cot. I clenched my fists, and I shook them at heaven. I said, ‘How could you do this to me, God? I have done everything I could do to measure up. There is nothing that I could have done—that I should have done—that I haven’t done. How could you do this to me?’ I was as bitter as gall.

“And then I heard a voice, and I recognized the tone of this voice. It was my own voice, and the voice said, ‘I am the gardener here. I know what I want you to do.’ The bitterness went out of my soul, and I fell on my knees by the cot to ask forgiveness for my ungratefulness. …

“… And now, almost 50 years later, I look up to [God] and say, ‘Thank you, Mr. Gardener, for cutting me down, for loving me enough to hurt me.’”

God knew what Hugh B. Brown was to become and what was needed for that to happen, and He redirected his course to prepare him for the holy apostleship.

I know that God is helping me become the instrument He needs me to be. I love the Lord and want to serve Him with all of my heart! I'm so grateful to be able to be cut down to become refined into what God would have me be.

I feel God's strength everyday and know that He is real.

Have a wonderful week! Love you all!

Sister Naatjes :)

live a happy life

안녕하새요!

Hi everyone!

What a crazy week! Transer weeks always seem to be really crazy!

Today and this week I have just felt really blessed.

My new ward, 농성, is great! This Sunday I got to see my investigator from my first area and she had just received the Holy Ghost! She's officially a member of the church! she came to church with her twin sister! :) It's fun to be back in Gwangju! Our Elders also had a baptism this week!

My new companion's name is 이예지 (lee yea jee). She's Korean, obviously :) and really fun! I think we're going to see a lot of miracles together.

I'm glad to be here, but it was really hard to leave my old area. I had some really special experiences in Daejeon my last couple days. I didn't tell many people I was leaving, but I visited my favorite 할머니 (pronunciation--harmony) (means grandma). She lives right in front of the church building in a tiny little shed. It used to be a mart that she owned, but now it is just packed full of boxes and things she picks up on the street. When I first came to Daejeon and was companions with Sister Simonsen we started greeting her and singing her hymns...massaging her aching knee...etc. and when Sister Park she started opening her heart up to us a little bit. Her husband passed away a long time ago and her children don't visit her, so she's often sad and lonely.

Saying goodbye to her was really hard. I told her I was leaving, hugged her tight, and just cried. She told me to be healthy and safe, get married, have children, live a happy life...then gave me a kiss on the cheek.

I love her and will never forget her. I know that Heavenly Father loves her so much. He let me feel a taste of His love for her. In the world's eyes, she may have little worth, but in His eyes, she is a precious, beloved daughter.

The night before I left we had a miracle--a man in our ward referred one of the less-active member in our ward's daughter to us and she said she would meet! I'm excited for Sister Park and her new companion to teach her! :)

I saw Sister Shin while I was transferring and she asked where I was going--I told her and she said "oh, you're going to harvest there." Meaning there's a lot of work to do! I'm excited to get started and to work with my companion to find and teach new investigators!

I'm so grateful for this gospel. I know it's true with all of my heart. I love my Savior and feels His strength everyday. I know that Heavenly Father loves all of His children and want them to come unto Him. I'm grateful to be able to help Him, even though I'm weak. I love being a missionary!

Have an amazing week!

낫제스 자매 ^^