May 12, 2014

Happy Mother's Day Mom!!!! I love you so much!! It was so good talking to all of you today!!! <3

This week was so great. So many little miracles and great things. Time is starting to go by quick. I'm already down to 1 year left and it's kind of freaking me out! Each transfer is going by faster and faster.

 

Investigators:

츼자매님 (Sister Chay) is good. We met with her on Saturday. We actually set up 3 different appointments with her this week, but she cancelled all of them. And then she randomly called the Ward misison leader and asked to meet. So he called us and we all met. I don't know why she doesn't want to meet with us. The ward mission leader is good and he is VERY informative. He knows the gospel SO well. He can teach her everything very detailed and answer all of her questions. But i think the problem with her is that she needs to hear our simple message and feel the Spirit. She understands the restoration perfectly. It all makes sense to her. She understands why we have the Book of Mormon now. But something is missing. She needs to FEEL it and know the truth through the Spirit. So we are going to try to work on that. But, GOOD NEWS. Every time we have met with her (now 3 times) I have tried to give her a Book of Mormon and asked her to read. Every time she said NO. She wouldn't even take it. She only believed in the Bible. But, on saturday I tried again and she said YES! she said she would start reading it. She even thanked me for it! ahhh i love her. I think she really will read it.

 

박인영 (Park Een Young) is great! We are still doing the 30/30 program with her. She is so sweet. Her mom is really sweet too. When we were over at her house, we were doing free talk english and we were talking about our favorite foods and i told her i like chicken. So the mom heard and asked us to come over for dinner the next day and she made me chicken! She is so nice. It was actually really good. They are so sweet. They kept telling me that I "eat very well" so maybe i'm getting better at eating korean food! We gave her a Book of Mormon and taught her a little bit about it. She said she would read it, but last we checked, she hadn't... we'll keep working on her. We are teaching her the restoration. I love her!

 

Isabella is the girl that I met in the community center english class. She's great. She came to English class with her son and she really liked it. When we were in English class on friday, we were doing free talk and she brought up God. She said "Sometimes when things are hard, I feel like there has to be a God out there and I need His help" but other times, I feel like there can't be a God and i just don't know." So i said a little prayer in my heart. I asked Heavenly Father to help her know that He is her Father and that God is real. I testified that God is our father, we are his children and that he knows her. I told her that he always hears our prayers and wants to talk to us. I told her that He sent us to this earth and we have a purpose. I said "I Promise if you pray to know if there is a God, You will get an answer and know that he is our Father." As i was testifying to her, I felt the Spirit SO strong. I thought she HAD to have felt it because I was feeling it so strong. Later in the conversation, I was able to teach her about the plan of salvation. I asked her if she felt anything as I was teaching her about God and that He is our father. I asked if anything felt different as I told her that. She said No. :( I was pretty bummed. Wondering why I felt the spirit SO strong, yet she didn't feel anything. :( She told us that she wants to meet with us and learn more though. She also said she would try and come to church with her husband and son, but she didn't come :( She's really great though. I love her. I really hope we can teach her.

 

So this week we saw so many little miracles.

Yesterday after church, we were walking to the place we usually go street contacting at. We usually walk a certain way, but for some reason as I was walking, I had a strong impression that we shouldn't go the way we usually go, but go this different way. So i just thought, alright lets go that way. I had a strong thought that someone along our way needed to hear our message. So we walked for a little bit and then got to a cross walk. While we were waiting for the light to change, we started talking to this lady. (the first person we talked to) She said oh you're missionaries?! Can I get your number? Can I meet with you? And we said Yes! of course!! We told her a little about our message and she wants to meet thursday at 2:00. What a mircale! I am really excited to meet with her.

We set a goal to talk to a certain number of people before we went home for dinner. We reached our goal and then I talked to a few more people after. The very last person I talked to was so nice. She told me she is Christian and loved that I was sharing a message about Christ. She wanted to take me to dinner right then, but it was sunday and sister Ahn was talking to someone else and i told her i could another day, so we are meeting with her tomorrow. I am finding more and more that it's always the LAST person we talk to in the day that is interested in our message and wants to meet, or the extra person we talk to even though we are late for dinner or something.

 

This week as I was studying, I learned a lot. One thing that I kept learning is that the Lord expects a lot from those He has given a lot to. While I was reading Jesus the Christ, I learned that the Lord will judge us based off of our circumstances. Then as I was reading D&C 82, I saw verse 3 which says "For of him unto whom much is given much is required" I think a lot about how blessed I am to have the gospel in my life. To be born into a family that is solid in the gospel and to have an understanding of the most important thing in the world. Why me? Why weren't all of these people I meet on the street each day born with the gospel? I am realizing more and more that we are SO blessed and the Lord expects us to do something about it. We need to give what we have and the Lord expects us to help others. That was probably the biggest thing I learned this week. I also studied Ammon and how he converted kind Lamoni. He was the perfect missionary. He totally taught through the spirit. He was awesome. I love the Book of Mormon. I ALWAYS learn how to be a better missionary when I read it.

 

I love you all so much!!! I am so thankful to serve in Korea. I love being a missionary!

Rach- good luck at state this week!!!!! And seminary graduation?! crazy. i love you!!!

D-man- good job in hurdles!!! " I asked you to homecoming......"hahahha classic

Ellie- i loved talking to you today! Keep up the good work in the 400! love that you are doing it. Love you!

Jane- good job at south end for track!! I loved talking to you today. keep working hard in school!! i love you!

Addie- i'm glad i could say HEY BEAUT! today to you on the phone. hahah! good job in soccer! keep doing awesome!

Isaac- I love that rid. hahah i loved it when i talked to you today! i heard you are going to fathers and sons. that will be SO fun. no girls!! i love you!

Mom and Dad- happy mothers day! I LOVED TALKING TO YOU! thanks for everything! You are the best. Thanks for everything you do to help me. xoxoxox

 

Love, Sister Tara Anderson

 

May 5, 2014

Happy May 5th!!! I hope you are celebrating my favorite day even though I'm not there! haha I don't think Korea even knows what Cinco De Mayo is so nobody cares. haha but i'm celebrating!! :)

This week was another great week! We had transfers and I got a new companion. Her name is Mia Ahn. She is from Highland Utah, but she is full Korean. She is super sweet! I already love her. The first few days were a little stressful, since I am the one who knows the area, investigators, members...etc, but it's all good now. It was a miracle that we made it back to our area from Seoul. I thought i was on the wrong subway for a minute and freaked out... but it was fine. haha miracle. Anyways, she has been serving for 8 months. She is learning Korean as well. She helps me a ton with Korean and we work really well together! I am excited to see what we can do together!

Investigators:

최 Sister C. is doing good. We were supposed to meet with her on wednesday, but she cancelled :( Our ward mission leader (who came to the lesson last week) called her up and met with her to kind of finish up with where he left off. We are meeting with her tonight. We will finish teaching her about the Restoration and about Joseph Smith. We are going to read part of Joseph Smith HIstory with her. Our goal is to get her to read and pray about the Book of Mormon. Right now she's still thinks that the BIble is the only word of God. She's really nice though and I love her! Pray that she will read the Book of Mormon! That's the only way she will get a testimony of the Restoration, Joseph Smith...etc.

We found 2 new investigators this week! One of them was kind of a miracle. So this random lady text us and asked to call her. We didn't have her number so we called her to find out who she is. She told us that she lives 3 floors below us and she said that I always said hi to her and gave her one of our cards. She asked us if we could come to her house and meet with her daughter. She wants us to do 30/30 english program with her daughter. We went to her house and she is super nice. She already has a religion, but we are going to teach her about the restored gospel. We are meeting with her again this week. They are both super nice. I don't ever remember talking to her (we talk to so many people) but she said we were always so nice to her. It goes to show that even if people don't accept our message at first, we may be planting seeds. She kept the card we gave her and called us later on. miracle!

The elders met this lady named Anna  (her english name) she came up to them one day and asked them if she could meet. So the elders referred her to us and we met her with the elders. She lived in New Zeland for 8 years and then came back to Korea. She speaks very good English, but she seems intrigued in our church. She said she met with missionaries in New Zeland and they were always so nice to her. We gave her an introduction to the gospel and the restoration and she was very accpeting. She also came to our english class afterwards. We are going to try and meet with her again this week. She is so sweet! I love her. 

So the elders found this english class at the community center in our town and told us to come because there are a lot of women who come and they were asking about our church. So we went on thursday and met two really nice ladies. Their names are Isabella and Beth. (they go by their english names around us. haha) We were able to talk to them for a while. We told them about our church and specifically talked about our prophet and apostles. They were asking a lot of questions about them. They want to meet with us this week and do the 30/30 program (30 minutes of english and 30 of gospel) Isabella told us she was so grateful that she met us and had a really good time sharing our feelings. She gave us hugs at the end and she was so sweet. I love her! I'll keep you posted on them.

Food of the week:

Tide pool soup again! This time there were noodles in the soup, and octopus and squid in the mix as well. It was actually pretty good. A little weird, but not too bad. Maybe tide pool soup is growing on me. hahah also, we had fish with a member and they take the fish and put it on the frying pan and then serve it to you. so the head and tail and everythign is there. you just rip it open and start eating it. haha it's actually pretty good though.

TACOS!!! We went to a member's house on saturday and she fed us tacos!!! I was so happy. I haven't seen a taco since i was in America. And there are no mexican resturants here. Cinco De Mayo miracle! hahah

This week I was studying in Mosiah 28 and learning about the Sons of Mosiah. They were the best missionaries and I love reading about them. Why were they so awesome?! They went from being the vilest of sinners to being desirous that salvation should be declared to every creature. They couldn't bear that any human soul should perish. I want to be like them! They are so solid. One thing that i learn from them is patience. They were so patient They were patient through afflictions and hard things. They completely rely on the Lord so they can be instruments in His hands. Love them!! I also was thinking about the word "valiant" We need to be valiant in our testimonies of Christ. What things can we do to be more valiant?

I love being a missionary! I learn so much everyday. Thanks for all of the prayers, letters, and support you give me! I love you!

Rach- good job in the BYU invite! You did awesome. I love hearing about track and everything. yay for the 59!!! That's awesome!! convince mom and dad to take the boat out. haha love you!

D-man- movie quote: "pleeeeeeaseee like me" what's that from? hahah i loved hearing about the basketball raffel game thing. How are the NBA playoffs?  keep it up with track and basketball! love you!

Ellie- korea is good! station park sounds fun with your friends! Did you have fun at the BYU invite with rach? It's so weird not to be there! keep it up in track! You are amazing! Love you!

Jane- the barnes park b-day party sounds so fun! Great job in your medley! Your 200 sounds awesome! And good job in hurdles!! Keep working hard! Love you!

Addie- tell me how your ballet recital goes. is it soon? What does your costume look like? Send me a picture ok? How is soccer? good job in the 5k! love you!

Issac- I can't believe you ran a whole 5k! You are so strong. I heard you only stopped once for 3 seconds. That's soooo good! I would rather jump into the ocean. Would you rather swim with sharks or see a wolf? i love you!

Mom and Dad- Can't wait to talk to you next week! I love you so much! You are the best parents. I am so thankful I am your daughter! Love you!!!

Sister Tara Anderson

Rainy day in Korea