November 17, 2014

one year ago today was my farewell. so weird!!!!

anyways, this week was a little bit better. I think sometimes i get things worked up in my mind and everything stresses me out and it makes it hard for me to enjoy life.

Monday was fun! we hiked a part of Bukhansan to this way high peak and it was super fun! It was hard though! just like straight up and you just climb up rocks so it feels like your'e hiking stairs. so fun and exhausting! But the leaves were so beautiful and the top was so pretty. We flew paper airplanes off the top and it was so fun. haha at the top we met this lady who was from Singapore and she told us that her neice and nephew are serving missions right now. one in taiwan and the other in the US. kind of cool! Anyways, p-day was really fun.

tuesday we went and visited a former inverstiagtor whose record we found in the books. aparently the missionaries haven't visited her in like 5 years or something so we stopped by. She answered the door and was wearing a BYU alumni shirt which was interesting. She invited us in and immediately started cutting fruit for us to eat. We found out that her daughter and son had been foreign exchange students in Utah and her daughter graduated from BYU and is now working and living in utah. We didn't know this at the time, but her daughter is actually a member, but when i asked her if her son or daughter go to church she said no and so i don't know if that means she is less active or what. But anyways, we talked to her for a while and she was so so nice. She told us that usually when people come to her house she doesnt answer the door especially because the Jehovahs witnesses always come but for some reason she decided to open up and let us in before she even knew it was us. so that was kind of a mircacle. She loves that our church is centered on the family and she loves to spend time with her family. She spends time with her fam on sunday so she can't come to chruch, but she told us that she loves our church and that if she ever decides to go to church she will come to our church. so that was cool. she told us to come and visit her whenever we have time.

I also went on exchanges with sister harper on tuesday. She was super nice. She was acaually supposed to train sister lynn but then sis. lynn went home after 3 weeks. Anyways, she is going home next week and it was good to talk to her about her mission and the things she has learned. We talked about feeling successful even when you feel like you're not doing that much good. She has had 1 baptism in her mission so we talked about how we can be happy even when we don't have lots of big results that other missions or other missionaries have. She helped me a lot. It was fun.

Wednesday we had district meeting which was good. Our focus for the month is becoming converted through the holy ghost so we are focusing a lot on having the holy ghost and following the promptings of the holy ghost. i love learning about the holy ghost and being more in tune and all that stuff. We taught 정주윤 (jeong joo yoon) and she is doing pretty good. We taught her about tithing and fast offerings. she is super sweet and always keeps commitments. We were supposed to meet with her yesterday after church but she had to go home right after church because they had people at her house. We are teaching her on wednesday and we are going to talk about testimonies. She said she will share her testimony with us. :)

We visited another former investigator on wednesday as well and she was super nice. asked us to come to her choir concert the next day. (she's like 60 something) anyways she asked us to come becasue her kids and grandkids couldn't come. So president said we could go and it was a whole bunch of older ladies in prom ball gowns singing with like 6 grandpas in tuxes. hahaha so classic. i took videos of them. it was fun. haha she appreciated us coming. we are going to hopefully meet again with her this week.

I saw a lot of small miracles in street contacting this week. A random person asked us about our english program and stuff and we were able to talk to some other nice people. We got "fanged" on 2 appointments this week so that was kind of a bummer, but also met some people that could become new investigators. In English class we shared the spiritual message after. It was on the Atonement and we focused on 3 things. How it allows us to overcome death, sin, and to be able to endure hard things. We showed a little video mormon message thing and the Spirit was really strong there. After, the family that attends our class came up and asked if they can do the family english program with us. So I was really excited about that. They are going to contact us about that.

Saturday we went to the hospital and visited an older lady who is in our ward. She is having surgery because she has cancer. :( She was so sweet and thankful that we visited her. In typical korean style she started cutting up fruit for us as she's laying in her bed. (koreans always serve you food when you visit them) so sweet. we shared some scriptures with her and she appreciated it. It was fun :)

This week i studied a lot about having a "contrite spirit" I looked up a lot of scriptures about a broken heart and a "contrite spirit"  I have learned a lot about the necessity of having a broken heard and contrite spirit in order to repent and to have the spirit with us. I also learned that when we have a contrite spirit we are humble and willing to accept Heavenly Father's will and do anything that he asks of us. I love praying to Heavenly Father and asking him for help and finding ways that I can improve through the scriptures. I always get answers to questions when I ask him first and then read the scriptures. I love the Book of Mormon. Also I just finished Helaman today and loved reading about Samuel the Lamanite preachign about Christ's birth. I'm excited to get to 3 Nephi 11! my favorite. Anyways, hopefully you are still doing the Book of Mormon challenge before the end of the year. :)

R: i want to see that video of us the night before i went to the mtc! so weird that it's been a year. we had lots of great videos and pics that i can't wait to see.

D: good luck with basketball this week! be nice to FJH. that's my school! and say hi to coach downs for me (dad or mom) and tell him thanks for comign to my farewell a year ago. i never got to tell him thanks.

E: i love hearing about your fun week! yes korea got super cold last week! like sooooo freeeezing!!! i'm already wearing my big coat! but yeah it gets super cold like utah so its nothing different. haha thanks for praying for me! lvoe you

J: i can't believe it snowed this week! sounds like the weather is similar. I bet you played America the beautiful so good! i am excited to hear you pray when i am home!! lvoe you!!

A: i'm glad you feel better. your late night sounds so fun!!! livi told me that hyou and issy played and you were missionary companions sister anderson and sister oldroyd! that is sooo cute! i love you!

I: I am so happy BYU won. I can't believe you are so good at basketball. you are so cool! i love egg nog too. i would rather hike up 100 miles on a mountain but i would be too afraid to jump into the ocean. would you rather go sledding off a huge cliff into the snow or go tubing in a lake with crocodiles? i love you more than all of the pineapples in the world

love you! love tar 

November 10, 2014

This week we met with 정주윤 twice. (jeong joo yoon) We taught her the Word of Wisdom on wednesday and she said that sometimes she drinks coffee and alcohol on occasion with her friends. She said that she doesn't drink it very often and she was fine about giving it up. We moved her baptism date back a little bit in order for her to have time to show that she can keep the word of wisdom. We talked to her more about repentance so she is working on that. When we met with her on sunday she said that her mom wants to come to her baptismal service but she can't come until January. So she wants to be baptized in January. We told her that's fine, especially because her mom has been LA for her whole life and it is good that she wants to come. She might be helping her mom back. Also, I don't really know what to do now that it's delayed for 2 months. Her new baptismal date is Jan 3. 

I think we are going to finish the Family English program with sister Oh this week. We meet her every week with the Bishop's wife and she is doing pretty good. Last week we taught her the gospel of Jesus Christ and really emphasized baptism and the need for the proper Priesthood Authority. She really looked like things were sinking in a little more. She is Catholic and goes to her church each week so she never comes to ours. She does read the Book of Mormon each week which is good. This week we are going to talk to her about just meeting and teaching the gospel. If she is interested in that then we will teach her. if not, we will be finished with the family English program.

Yesterday we were supposed to meet with the chinese girl that the Elders referred to us, Sister Jeong,- the girl who is like an orphan but she texted us and told us that she couldnt' make it because she was going to her baptismal service in the Catholic church. :( :( But she still wants to meet with us another time so hopefully that will happen.

 We have also been trying to contact some less active members and help them. We visited the less active member that came to stake conference and she fed us dinner. She is super nice and we are working on getting her to come to church more.

I studied prayer a lot this week and I'm feeling a lot better about my prayers. I am continuing to pray vocally and pray with gratitude more. One thing i have learned from praying vocally is that sometimes as I am praying out loud, I learn things from what I am saying. It sounds weird, but little things come to mind, or I get answers to my own questions from hearing myself say them out loud. I think i notice this more because i can hear it with my own voice and i put more thought into what I say before I say it. Praying out loud is helping a lot. I also studied the way Christ taught us to pray and was reminded of what a privilege it is that we can pray to our Heavenly Father any time and anywhere and He will always listen. 

Love you all!

Love Sis Tara Anderson

November 3, 2014

hi!!! Can you believe it's november 3 already? where is time going? 

This week we met with 정주윤 (jong joo yoon) and she also came to stake conference. She is keeping commitments and wants to be baptized on the 15th. We actually had the opportunity to teach her with her brother-in-law who is a member. He was able to share his testimony of the temple and the blessings that we receive if we keep the commandments and are worthy. It was good. She also saw her cousin, Elder Lee at conference and it was good!

Each friday we meet with the bishop's wife and her friend and do the family english program together. She is keeping commitments and reading the Book of Mormon, but doesn't seem to be super interested in it. When we teach her it is a little bit hard because she has her son with her who is a big distraction but she tries to listen. We gave her a soft baptismal commitment and she said yes, but she kind of seems to just be going through the motions. I need to find out how she can become more converted.

We got a referral from the Bishop of Nokebeon ward last week! (did i tell you this already? can't remember?) We went with him and visited an older lady who he knows in our area. She is about 88 years old and has no belief. We talked a lot about the plan of Salvation and that we will see our families again after this life. She doesn't want to keep meeting, but we might try and help her here and there.

I went on exchanges with 홍선혜 this week and it was good! I was a little nervous because she speaks no English and the other 3 girls she lives with are Korean and one speaks english. But it worked out and I was able to speak Korean to her the whole time. We communicated totally fine. it was a miracle! We did lots of street contacting and I learned new things from her.!

I had interviews with President Christensen this week. I asked him some questions of how I can improve my prayers and he encouraged me to try to pray vocally and thank Him for 10 minutes. So yesterday and today I have been doing it. At first when I knelt down I wondered if I could fill up the time with just things I am thankful for, but I thought and then began praying. As I prayed I thought of so many things that I am thankful for. The more I thanked Him, the more I realized I have. I have been blessed with so much!! I felt so peaceful and happy. I found an appreciation for things I wouldn't normally appreciate or thank Him for. Praying out loud also helped me to understand and remember that He really is listening to me right when I say my prayers. It was a really cool opportunity to express my faith to Heavenly Father through my gratitude. After I finished my prayer I felt so light weight and happy. I realized I had prayed and thanked Him for 25 minutes and I was so shocked because i didn't realize that much time had gone by. It was a special experience. I think this is really good for me because I think the reason my prayers seemed to feel different was because I was 1. showing less gratitude and 2. not always aligning my will with  His will. Nothing changed on His part. It is my own fault for showing less faith through my prayers. I am going to continue to  improve my prayers. I have been studying prayer a lot this and I have already learned a lot.

love you all! thanks for all the emails!

your halloween costumes are so cute! you got so much candy!!! Korea doesn't really celebrate haloween so us 4 sisters made brownies and had ice cream on halloween night! it was fun! The jazz game looks like a blast! I love the pic of the jazz bear holding marv and trev! so cute! D-man i'm happy to hear ASU won! and that BYU actually ended their losing streak. haha :/ I love you all so much! have a good week!

Sis Tara Anderson

October 27, 2014

This week was good! It was super busy but a lot of good things happened!

Saturday was really busy with the baptisms, mission exhibition, and the ward halloween party. The baptism went really well. It was really neat to hear Hanna get up and share her testimony. Her parents who are Catholic came and supported her so that was really cool too. I think it was a really special day for both Hanna and 윤비 (yoon bee). In our last lesson with Hanna before her baptism, our commitment was to meet Sis Lee at the temple in one year so she can be sealed to her family. She really wants to be sealed to her family forever so she said she will.  She is moving next week to Seoul South mission so we will refer her to them for the RC lessons. We are going to start doing the RC lessons with 윤비 this week.

We met with 전주윤 (jeon joo yoon) yesterday and taught her the plan of salvation. She accepts everything well and never has any questions which is a little hard. We try to ask her questions to get her to respond to make sure she understands well. We asked her to explain the plan to us after and she explained really well. I asked her what she needs to do in order to live in the Celestial Kingdom with Heavenly Father and so we talked about the gospel and baptism... etc. She said she still wants to be baptized next month. She came to church yesterday and is keeping commitments. 

We got a referral from the elders this week. It was a girl they met and invited to the halloween party. She came and brought a friend. They are both high school students and are super cute. They had a ton of fun at the halloween party and made friends with some of the young women. One of them was going to come to church yesterday but slept in on accident but they are both planning on coming this sunday.

So on saturday we had to scrub the baptism font before the baptism and i was in there and suddenly this MASSIVE spider comes crawling out from the drain and Sister Haynie and I both freaked out and thankfully the elders caught it and killed it, but it was so scary and so funny at the same time. hahaha we just have so many random things happen.

I have to describe sunday mornings to you. Because it's just so different than the typical sunday morning in Utah. So all the missionaries greet the members at the door or on the road so we see them all roll in 9:55. (typical mormon style) but instead of the suburbans all flying into the parking lot, taxis all pull up and members hop out. I love it. Meanwhile, the other church across the street meets in like the 4th floor of a building and they have like a rock band and all the members sing to it and it's soooo funny. hahhaa i love korea so much.

the ward halloween party was a success. We had lots of different activities and it turned out to be really fun. the donught on a string game (except with choco pies), the cake walk, bobbing for apples- except we did cure- a fruit similar to cuties, fishing... etc. The 4 sister missionaries were crayons. it was fun!

This week I studied Alma 36 about repentance/forgiveness and thought about Alma when he testified to Helaman and told his conversion process and how he went from being racked with his sins in pain and horror, and then remembering his father's prophecy unto the people concerning the coming of Christ to atone for the sins of the world. When he remembered, he was harrowed up by the memory of his sons no more. Then had joy and light and exquisite and sweet joy and longed to be with God. I think it's really cool that he remembered the words of his father. It shows that people may not accept what we say now, but later on they may remember the words we speak.  I just love this chapter because it shows how the Atonement can relieve us of such terrible things and carry us to greater heights if we will allow it to.

welll

r- cute costume! glad the howl was fun! jazz game sounds fun too. how's track practice going? i found some old letters you sent me telling me about your races at simplot. crazy. when does indoor start?

d- good job with the mini bowl!!! you are awesome! and nice job in b-ball! i heard you did way good! hopefully ASU gives the utes a beat down this week. hahaha let me know how that goes :)

e- good luck with your math test. i like your costume! you look so cute! Thanks for the package and letters in it! i loved the muellar park leaves! they are on my desk :)

j- your mutual activity sounds fun! i'm so glad you got to see pics from sis lynn! how was your violin concert? thanks for the notes you sent too!! i hung them up on my wall!

a- your nerd costume is ADORABLE! you are the cutest nerd i've ever seen!! send me a pic of your room! how does it look now? how is ballet?? are you going to the nutcracker soon?

i- i would rather jump off a cliff into water because i love cliff jumping. what would you rather do? what are you being for hallloween? are you excited? you are very smart because you can do hard things in school. 

i love you all!!! have a good week! 

love sis tara anderson 

"The day we went biking on the river a few weeks ago."

"A way cute little boy from the last ward!" 

"Creepy pig thing next to the church in the last area hahaha"

"My last district. (I never sent these pics so I'm sending them now)"

"Sister Haynie and I at the halloween party. We went as crayons haha :)"

October 20, 2014

Hi!

Well tons has happened since last week. Transfers and I'm in a new area. My new area is in the main part of Seoul more. I really like it! Tons of hills and neighborhoods. It's different from my last area in some ways, but similar in some ways too. My last ward was huge and this ward is tiny! I'm excited to meet more ward members. I live with 2 other sisters. One of them is sister Haynie who is from Burley Idaho. She is training a korean girl who joined the church a year ago. Sister Haynie and I served together when I was a greenie and went on exchanges together once. She is super sweet. She goes home 6 weeks before me. We are already really good friends so it's fun living with her. My comp is super sweet too. She is super solid and has a strong testimony. I really like her.

So we have already seen some really cool things here. First I will tell you about an investigator we have. Her name is Hanna. Her husband is a member but was LA for a long time. After her married her he introduced her to the church and has being coming ever since. She has been meeting with the missionaires for like 6 months or something. She has had 2 other baptism dates but her husband always tells her no and that she's not ready. Nobody could figure out why she wanted to be baptized, but her biggest opposition was her husband who is a member. So she has a baptismal date of this saturday and when we met her last week, she said her husband said no. My comp called and talked to him and he said they are moving next month and that she will get baptized after they moved. :( So we (all four sisters in our area) decided to fast for her and for her husband's heart to be softened. We taught her the other night and told her that we were fasting for her. She was really shocked and touched by the fact that we were doing that. Yesterday at church, her husband was still pretty set in his way, but thanked the missionaries for helping his wife. Then last night we got a call from Hanna. She said that her husband told her the reason for putting off her baptism. He felt like he is unworthy to baptize her since he was less active for a while so he kept delaying it. But they called up the Bishop and talked to him and the bishop said that he is worthy and he can baptize her. So he gave the Ok and she is being baptized this saturday. Hanna said she thinks it is from the fasting that touched his heart and made him open up. Miracle!!!

We are also teaching a 10 year old girl who's mom is LA. Her aunt has been bringing her to church for a while and she has been taught by missionaries. Yesterday we taught her with 3 other primary kids and her aunt. The other primary kids are her friends and were so adorable in helping us teach the lesson and go over baptism interview questions. They are such good little missionaries! She is being baptized this saturday!

We met with one investigator this week and it was her second time meeting missionaries. She is actually the cousin of one of the elders serving in our zone. She is 19. Her name is Joo yoon. She really likes missionaries and usually comes to church. She is super sweet. We invited her to be baptized next month and she accepted it and accepted nov. 15 as her baptism date! yay!

So the elders gave us a referral the other night. They have an investigator who is really old- like in his 80's And they told us to come meet his "granddaughter". We went with elders to  the man's house. He lives in a tinny villa apartment thing and his house is pretty sketchy. haha. anyways, we met the girl. Turns out she is actually not his granddaughter. She is 18 years old and is Chinese. SHe was born in korea and when she was 3 days old her mom abandoned her and went back to China. She has no family. Complete orphan. An old lady helped raise her and this man (the elder's investigator) was involved in helping poor kids in China get an education. So he has like no money, but he has raised money to help kids in the past. So he has tried to help her. He is kind of like a grandfather or father figure to her. anyways, we met her and she is absolutely adorable. The old guy kept saying: "Anderson. you have to help her." Anderson you have to help her." You are her American 어니 (oh nee which means older sister) So we got to know her and taught her about the BOM and she really liked it. She was so touched and grateful that we gave it to her. I told her that sometimes I feel lonely here in Korea. My family is in America and I'm all by myself here. Sometimes I feel alone. But when I read this book, I feel comforted and I don't feel alone. I know that no matter where we are, Heavenly Father knows us and loves us and we can pray to him anytime. She said that growing up, she had no family or anything. just the lady who was raising her. So she would come home and hug her dolls and call them 어니 (sister) and talk to them. She was so grateful that she met us and started calling me 어니. She said she wants to meet with us again. The bummer is that she lives pretty far. But she said she will come back. We ended up going to eat some food at a tiny WAY cheap chinese resturant and after, we took her to the train station to go home. She texted us after and said thank you so much. This day has so much meaning to me... She is so sweet. I can't even tell you how much i love her even though I barely know her! She was actually pretty interested in our message. I hope we can meet her again soon.

ok i'm writing the rest of my stuff in a seperate letter to you guys

Sis Tara Anderson

October 13, 2014

hi!

This week it was so so good to listen to Conference! We watched part on friday, part on sunday, and the women's session this morning. We were crammed in the clerk's office this morning watching it off the internet. it was fun! Also it was so fun to finally see the girls singing I love to see the temple!! They are so cute!!!! loved it so much!

 The other days we were in the little visitor's center in our church that has a flat screen on the wall. I wrote down 4 or 5 specific questions I had regarding myself and my investigators that I was hoping I would receive answers to, and I got an answer to every one of them. It was so good! One of my favorite talks was Elder Bednar's talk in the last session about why we share the gospel- because we want to share what makes us feel good and let others experience the same. So good!! I also loved Pres. Uchtdorf's, Elder Scott's, Pres. Eyering, and Pres. Monson's talks. Conference is the best!!!!

A highlight of conference was that 박정미 (park jong me)  came to the Saturday morning session of Conference! We taught her earlier in the week with a member who is about her same age. They have become really good friends and it was really helpful having her there. Having the member there seemed to help her open up and ask more questions. It went a little different than we had originally planned, but it went well. We talked about the Priesthood and why we need to be baptized through Christ's restored Priesthood. She still doesn't fully understand that, but we were able to help explain, with the member, why our church is the only church that has the priesthood. She has been taught all of this before, but I think it's just taking a while for her to fully understand everything. Anyways, the member helped her decide to come to conference and then they sat together. She said it was really good and she felt so peaceful to hear God's word. I am going to see her on Tuesday before I leave, and then she will have a lesson on Wednesday again with the same member.

I'm being transferred to 길음. it's in the east part of seoul. i think? not really sure. excited and nervous! Korean companion again!

We are no longer able to get in contact with 진영선. She wont' respond to our texts or calls. We invited her to conference and she didn't respond or come. I told her I want to see her before I leave but she won't respond. :( :(

We met some really cool people through 전도 (street contacting) this week. We set some return appointments and are meeting with some new people this week. (well Sis. Fuller will meet them). 

I am sad to leave 녹번 but excited to meet new people in 길음. Leaving an area is always hard but I know that It is where Heavenly Father needs me and I will go and do my best. I am thankful that I could serve here with Sister Fuller. She is awesome and I learned tons from her.

ok sorry this letter is so random and jumping everywhere.

We had dinner with all 12 missionaries at these sweet member's house. They are an elderly couple in the ward that remind me of Baba and Grandma. They went all out and made so much good food. They were so sweet and loving having everyone over. Kept saying how happy they were and took lots of pics. I told her thank you so much and that she reminds me of my grandma. They were so adorable. Made me miss bobs and grandma :)

Biking along the Han river was SOOO fun!!! We went and played football on the grass with our district along the river. Reminded me of San Diego along the beaches where there is grass. Anyways, of course I got way into it and had a blast!!!

alright i have to run!!! 

rdejai- i love all of you!!! thanks for your letters! i miss you and love you and think about you! you are my best friends! (and mom and dad :)) have a good week!!!

xoxox

Sis Tara Anderson

October 6, 2014

Hi everyone!

This week was good. We didn't have very many lessons, but we got to be out talking to people a lot so that was good. We had a ward activity and we all went hiking through a pass in Bukhansan Mountain. It was a ton of fun and so fun to be up in the mountains. (i miss the mountains a lot!) It was a great opportunity to talk to members and get to know some better. One thing about Korea is that EVERYONE hikes. haha all people like 40 or older hike. They all have their special hiking clothes they wear all the time and are constantly going. so fun. haha. Anyways,  We invited a lot of investigators and potential investigators. Sadly none could come, but we still had a good time with the members and it was way pretty.

So for the month of october, Sister Fuller and I are cuttting out sweets, white flour, and rice. (yes rice the thing we eat at EVERY meal) haha except for member meals, because it's impolite to reject. So, we went to the market and bought tons of fresh veggies and have been eating extra healthy. so fun! The markets here are so great. a million little ladies sitting on the street selling fresh veggies for SO cheap. so much fun. I will have to send a pic next week.

A member took us to lunch this week and took us to eat PIG FEET. haha it actually wasn't too bad, but the thought of eating a pig's foot was a little alarming. the way they eat it is wrapped in a piece of lettuce with some sauce on it. (my favorite food- just with meat other than pig feet) haha.

This week all of the primary kids from the stake came for a thing at our church. They were all in the gym so i went in to say hi and they all came running up to me saying "Anderson Cha mae neem! Anderson cha mae neem!!"  (sister anderson) tugging on my arms and legs and hugging me. HOW MUCH DO I LOVE THE KOREAN CHILDREN!!!! In my area now, there aren't a ton of kids, so i miss all of the sweet kids in my last ward. so much fun to see them. They are like my little siblings. Thanks for sending the pics of the girls singing in the women's session!! I know a whole bunch of them and love them so much. i can't wait to watch it!!!! <3

Investigators:
진영선s (jin young son) cancelled both of our lessons with her this week. It's a bummer when you prepare so much for investigators and really feel like what you have planned will help them and then they cancel. We have been sending her quotes and scriptures throughout the week and usually she doesn't comment back on them. We are staying on top of the ward members- the ones that she knows well- and are making sure they invite her to church and text her. A few members have been really good about that. I continue to fast and pray for her to have a desire to come back. I really hope we can meet with her this week.

We met with 박정미 (park jong me) this week and she is doing really well. We taught her about the gospel of Jesus Christ and kind of linked it to the Plan of Salvation. She read one of the chapters we assigned her to this week but apologized because she didn't have it memorized, but when we reviewed it, she knew everything perfectly. When we teach her, I can see the spirit working on her. I really feel like she knows it's true, it's just a lot to take in so she's taking it slow. When I asked her if she believes it's true, she said well this is all new to me. She didn't say yes or no, but I testified and told her that before we came to earth we all knew this plan and wanted this plan. I promised her that if she prays about it, this plan will seem familiar to her and she will know that it is true. We are meeting with her again this wednesday with a member in the ward who is about her same age, who she has met with in the past. I love Sis. Park so so much. She is so great. This week we're going to try to giver her a baptismal date.

This month our focus is the doctrine of Christ, particularly Enduring to the end. I have been thinking a lot about it since training so I studied it a little bit this week. I read Elder Uchtdorf's talk from conference 2 years ago called "of Regrets and Resolutions" He talks about 3 things that many people wished they could change as they were nearing the end of their life. 1. spending time with those they love 2. living up to their potential 3. let themselves be happier. I thought about those things, and then I also thought about the things I am learning from my mission that will help me endure to the end. I wrote a letter to myself for the future, and talked about specific things that I have learned from my mission that I will do for the rest of my life, along with committing myself to the gospel and to be a disciple of Jesus Christ forever.

I am so thankful to be here in Korea. I love being a missionary and I love this gospel with all of my heart. I know that it is true and the only thing that will bring us TRUE happiness in this life. I love you!!! 

r: love you. i love the play by play of your week. :) thanks so much. how's track? can't believe the ags beat byu :'(

d: way to go in football! you are awesome! good luck with sunday night suprises. hahaha

e: i love hearing about your cute things you make in sewing! you are amazing!! send pics!

j: how was conference and girls night? sounds so fun!! i hope you are doing good!! love you!

a: tree house museum sounds so fun!! do you love being out of school?! your sign sounds adorable!

i: can't believe the story of the coyote. that's so cool. i love you more than all the rattlesnakes in the world.

better run. today we're going with our district to bike around the Han River. Super excited! will be a lot of fun. Ohhh we will probably watch conference this weekend. Not really sure. hopefully soon. love you lots!

Sister Tara Anderson

"Zone training with Sister Ahn and Sister Sung who I love!"

"Ward hike with the other sisters!"

"Walking to church"

"Us holding our Books of Mormon in the air"

September 29, 2014

helllooo

This week was good! Sister Fuller and I pick a topic to focus on each week and this week was our happiness week. We studied a little about happiness and made it a happy week. It was really fun. Nothing much happened to make it extra happy, but we just were focusing on being more happy and we were. kind of fun. 

Anyways, going to the temple this week was so good. It always feels so good to be there. I'm so thankful for the opportunity to go each transfer. I have noticed that I kind of rely on the temple in a way. I look forward to it so much each transfer and I begin to feel a need for it when I haven't' gone in a while. I am thankful for the chance to go regularly and to depend on the strength that we get from the temple. That will definitely be something that I rely on regularly for the rest of my life. After the temple, we went to a buffet with all of the missionaries (2 zones) and then went to President Christensen's house and made cookies and played games. It was a blast! Probably one of the funnest p-days yet. 

As far as investigators go, this week we were able to meet 진영선 and miraculously with a member! We have been trying so hard to meet with her and a member but members would cancel, or sis jean would cancel and we couldn't seem to make it work. But finally, on friday it worked out perfect. We met with the stake president's wife. She is awesome. Sis jean was kind of difficult to work with. She went over to the corner of the room and plugged in her phone and kept texting on it all throughout the meeting. We had a whole lesson planned for her that we really felt she needed. We planned a lot for it and practiced it and then she didn't really want to have a lesson. I still don't understand what she was doing, if she didn't want a lesson, but we were still able to talk a little bit. We followed up on last week's reading in JSH, but she didn't read it so we read some with her. The member shared her conversion story and sis. Jean was touched by it. I was really thankful that the member was willing to share her testimony. Sis. jean thinks that the reason her dad went into the hospital is because of her baptism. (a negative result). And so that's one thing she is still having a problem with. We haven't met with her friend lately because her friend has cancelled. We continue to invite her to church but she doesn't come. We will continue to meet with her and try to help her back.

We meet with 박정미 (park jong me) each week and she is awesome. She read the chapters we asked her to read and always understands. We taught her about our purpose on earth and why we need the gospel of Jesus Christ. She gets everything. I really think she knows it's true. The only problem is she goes to another church and so every week when we invite her to come to church she tells us that she is going to her church.  I think making the change is the hardest part for her. This week we are going to focus more on the plan of salvation. I love her so much and want her to have the faith to take action.

We met with the lady that followed us from the park last week. She is really nice but the lesson was a hard one. She was bouncing everywhere in the Bible showing us 1000 verses and none of them were connecting. We were trying to teach about the Book of Mormon, but had a hard time with her taking over the lesson. We want to try and meet with her and a member but I don't know if she will meet with us again. We shared our testimonies and asked her to read a chapter from the Book of Mormon. 

조현 (cho hyun) is doing awesome. We are going through the lessons again and teaching her. Her mom (former LA) is great too. They come every week and are making more friends. They are so sweet. She came with us to the baptismal service on Saturday and I don't think she has been to one since she was baptized so it was good.

 Recently I have been studying about the Apostasy and dispensations...etc. and going into depth on each part of the Restoration. It has been really good. Dad, I have also been going through and reading the conference talks from last conference and preparing for this conference. I am so so excited for conference!!

randomness:

This week our ward is having an activity and we're all going hiking somewhere up Bukhansan mountain. I'm sooo excited! So apparently back in the day, North Korea dug tons of tunnels under this mountain to send spies and tanks and stuff into South Korea.  So, When we go we have to bring our foreigner ID cards so they know that we're not spies. haha 

cockroaches: i saw one on the floor of the bathroom in the church last week and freaked out so of course the elders came and went in and caught it. They are always telling us their stories of catching cockroaches at their house and freezing them and stuff. So classic. hahaha but really the cockroaches are so sick. 

anyways..... there are lots of random great things happening but i'll tell you later. After my mission remind me to tell you about the cross man on the bike and phillip o'martin. ha ha.

i better go. i love you! glad Lake powell was fun! always is. sounds like you all had a blast. i'm glad the ticcaboo ward was fun! i love that cute branch!!! have a good week!! 

xoxoxo 

Sis Anderson

Here's a link to articles and photos from the Seoul Chuseok Conference

http://korealdspanewsletter.com/2014/09/24/chuseok-conference-2014/

"We all got matching pants. Everyone in Korea wears these. Oh and you can see our yo's (bed mat things) on the group. Yep that's my bed. hahaha"

 "Elder Fonnesbeck, he is one of the AP's and is going home in two weeks."

"My district at the temple."

September 22, 2014

HI everyone!

This week was good. It went by really fast. We were able to meet some new people and are finding some new investigators so that has been good. We had Stake conference and it was so good!! I got to see some members from my last area which made me so happy! Kim Hoee my RC from WonDang came and we got to sit together. She is still doing great and it was so good to see her! <3

This week we met with 진영선 (this time only her because her friend couldn't meet) so that worked out good. She brought her Bible and she showed us a whole bunch of random verses in Revelations. Nothing against what we were saying, just random things. We are learning that she really doesn't have a testimony of the Restoration and she feels like the Book of Mormon is like "going to another country and not knowing the language."  Before, she was really accepting about the Book of Mormon and really wanted to read it. she has a hard time reading so we got her the CDs to listen to when we were at the temple. Now she doesn't really care anymore. :( We were supposed to meet with her and her friend again on friday (she doesn't want to meet with just us anymore) but she cancelled. She didn't come to Stake Conference and wont answer our calls or texts. We are supposed to meet with them 2 times this week, but I'm not really sure what is going to happen. If we meet with them, we are going to teach the Restoration- specifically the part about dispensations, Christ establishing his Church and dispensations.

We met with 박정미 this week and told her that we wouldn't be able to do the 6 week english thing again, but that we could teach her once a month and teach her gospel stuff the other times. She is actually still intersted and wants to do that. So she has some gospel interest. She reads the Book or Mormon and understands pretty well. She reads the chapters we assign over and over so she can understand what is happening. She always comes filled with good questions. This week we are going to talk more about our purpose on the earth and why we need the gospel in our lives. We are also going to give her a baptismal date.

We met someone this week on the streets and she agreed to meet with us again. We went to the park and taught her on the benches. We taught her about the Book of Mormon and while we were teaching her, I saw another lady come down and sit on another bench near us. I didn't pay much attention to her but she could hear what we were saying. After the lesson was finished, we got up and started walking home. (us with the investigator) We walked through all these different streets of the neighborhood for about 5 minutes when we heard someone say something to us. We looked back and it was the lady who was on the bench by us at the park. She had followed us ever since we left and asked about our message. She is interested in learning. Her and our investigator both bonded really well and we all walked together and talked. Today  Sis. Fuller and Sis. Lee (because we are on exchanges) are meeting with the lady who was on the bench, and then our new investigator a few hours later. It was a cool little miracle! 

Yesterday that guy I met on the streets last month was baptized. He is really awesome and I think he will be a solid member. He is dying to have a calling so hopefully the Bishop will give him one soon. He knows the Bible inside and out and can recite like every scripture. ha ha so maybe he can help the elders in lessons or something. He loves the BOM and is so happy.

We had stake conference this weekend and it was SO good! Elder Whiting from the seventy came and spoke. It was great. He talked about hastening the work. He talked about President Christensen and President Lee (temple president) holding keys but that we the members have to help turn the keys. We watched that video they showed last year in the world wide missionary broadcast thing about families preparing themselves and watching for opportunities to have missionary experiences. Pres Christensen spoke a little and so did the temple pres. President had all the missionaries stand up and say our purpose. It was really cool. Elder Whiting said "if you want missionary opportunities, prepare and seek for opportunities, and you will find them" I know that if we look we will find chances to share the gospel with people!! Stake conference was great and i got to see lots of members I love and especially the cute kids from my last ward! I was so happy!

I have been studying Jesus the Christ a lot lately and always learn so much from learning about Christ's life. I read about Christ calling his apostles to go preach the gospel and telling them to be fearless. The worst thing that could happen is that they die and that's not as bad as someone not having the gospel. So my goal for this week is to be completely fearless. Another thing I have learned while reading is that faith is a means of power. Every miracle Christ performed came because someone had faith. 

classic side note: yesterday at the baptismal service i was playing the piano and i thought they said hymn 60 in korean but 

they said hymn 65 so i started playing 60 and they had to stop me and change to the other song. hahahahaha so funny. my life is so many embarrassing moments

well i better go. i love all of you!

rach: gald you are loving track!! sounds so fun. did they ever get a new sprint coach? 

dman: way to go in football! sorry about your ankle :( i'm so glad byu won!!! who are the key players this year?

ell: send a pic of the roasting stick bag! that's so awesome. your yw activity sounds so fun!

jane: the temple dedication sounds really good. how was hanging out with your friends?!

add:  glad you got my letter! i heard you are still dominating in soccer! way to go!

rid: i heard you are a goalie now! that's so cool. i would rather see a tiger too. thanks for teaching me about your library book! 

i love you all!!! have a good week!!! xoxoxoxo

Sister Anderson

September 15, 2014

This week has been a harder one. 진영선 (jean young son) was the lady who got baptized a few weeks ago, but hasn't been to church to get confirmed. The bishop called me a few nights ago and told me that he talked to her on the phone and basically her friend (the one she referred to us) is not the best influence for her. She is against our church and trying to prevent sis. jean from becoming a member. Now sis jean is going back on her testimony and can't the Bishop said she can't be confirmed for a while. She isn't keeping the word of wisdom and has some other problems. She didn't come to church yesterday just because she was tired. I talked to President Christensen about it last night and he said all these things happening is Satan trying to stop her. We are going to teach her the post-baptism lessons, so basically teach her everything all over again. Hopefully she can regain a testimony. Her faith is so shaky right now. Basically the Bishop told me to teach the friend well because if the friend gets a testimony, then sis. jean will be solid. if not, she'll probably leave. Please pray for her! :( 

 We have a few other investigators we are meeting with this week. Doing the 30/30 english/ gospel thing with them.

This week we will meet with 박정미 again. She is a former investigator we found that has english interest but seems to have a lot of potential. We are going to talk about doing english once a month and her coming to english class, but still try to get her to meet with us. 

Randomly a lady called us up this week and asked us about our Family English program and is interested in doing it. I'm not sure if she has met with missionaries or not before so we will find out with her. She seems really nice so hopefully that will go ok.

We found a less active family that we are going to try and work with. They are all members and the mother served a mission and used to be the RS president. The whole family is LA now. :( It makes me so sad.We want to get their family to come back. They are really nice people. 

We went to the temple this week with 초현 (Cho hyuen- Recent Convert) and did baptisms. It was really good. I think she really liked it. it felt really peaceful there and I think she could feel that. She was happy. 

Also, this was kind of crazy! Right as we were leaving the temple I ran into Amy Doxey (now Amy Hatch) a friend from High School outside on the grounds. It was so crazy. She has been living in China with her husband and came to korea for the weekend because of her travel visa. it was so bizarre to run into someone I know in korea! it was fun to talk for a few minutes and take a picture. I think Heavenly Father was watching out for me because i was feeling so sad on saturday about 진영선 and it cheered me up to see someone I know! So crazy! 

Random things that happened this week:

We had tons of member appointments this week which was fun. We got fed tons of fish, which i loved! (starting to love korean food more and more)

I was at the post office the other day and this Buddhist monk started talking to me.  He was dressed in his "monk" clothes and all. We see them around sometimes but i've never actually talked to one. He was super nice, and asked about missionaries and what we do. Also, right after that I saw a foreigner and so he started talking to us and asked if we were missionaries. He said he was from Arizona and is a member but not active. I told him I am a sun devil fan and he was way excited. ha ha. so random.

r: wow. you have so much happening in your life right now. haha. i love hearing all about it. i love you!

d: your letters are classic. i can't believe byu football is actually doing pretty good. and asu is ranked 15. that's sweet. keep me posted.

e: the Guatemalan kids carnival thing sounds so cool! i'm so proud of you and jane for going running! next summer we can run togetha!

 j: how was the movie you saw? hope it was good. how was tennis? remember when we would go all the time last summer!?

a: the blue bird will be sooo fun! i totally remember. of course i remember reading stories at night. and painting nails. we will for sure do that again! 

i: do you have a soccer game this week? i heard you don't have school in 2 weeks! that will be so fun. i love you!

have a good week! i love you so much!!! xxoxoxoxo

Sis Tara Anderson

"My town! :)"

"Roaming through some neighborhoods trying to find some less actives"

"Found some Ute stuff!"

"Dinner!"