Monday, June 16, 2014

May 26, 2014

Hey everyone!!!!! I loved all of your emails!!! Thank you for all of your hand written letters too! I got a few this week and I was really excited! I got a letter from Grandma Anderson on tuesday and then a few from you on sunday! I also got the package you sent me. THANK YOU!!! I love you!
 
This week was great. This transfer is flying by! Next week is transfers calls and the following week is transfers. Crazy. This week we got to go to Seoul to go to the temple. As always, it felt SO good to be in the temple. It's so cool to be in crazy busy Seoul and to step onto the temple grounds and go inside and feel so peaceful and away from the world. After the temple we went to 이대 (this place in Seoul) where there are tons of stores and way cheap shopping. I got a few new things. It was fun.
So this week 츼(sister Chay) told our ward mission leader that she wasn't really interested in our church and the only reason she wanted to meet with sister koo and i (when she first met us) was because she wanted to teach us about her church. I'm actually kind of confused now. We were making progress with her, but now she wants our ward mission leader to meet with her pastor or somethign weird. So he told us not worry about her anymore. We have set up like 5 appointments in the past 2 weeks and she has cancelled all of them. We were supposed to meet with her last monday with our RS president, but she no-showed. :( I'm bummed about her. She was really sweet. We might keep working on her though.
We met with Anna Kim on friday and it went really well. We were finally able to teach her the Restoration and she is very interested in it. She is having the hardest time believing Joseph Smith and the first vision though. We read part of Joseph Smith History with her and testified that JS is a true prophet and that Heavanly Father and Jesus Christ really did appear to Him and through him, restored the gospel. She said that the part about Christ appearing to Joseph Smith sounds cartoonish. We talked about times where HF and Christ appear to people in the Bible and she said well that's the Bible... So we are working on getting her to sincerely read the BOM and pray about it. She is super interested in the orginazation of our church. We have been explaining to her that we have prophets and apostles just like there were when Christ came and established His church. It's the SAME CHURCH. anyways, we were showing her a picture out of the Ensign of the prophet and apostles and she saw the picture of the SLC temple on the back and she was so excited that we have temples. We told her a little bit about all of the temples we have throughout the world. We told her we have to be worthy to go in and she understands that. But now she is dying to go see the temple in Seoul. So next week we are going to go see the temple next week. She really is super sweet and wants to believe the gospel so bad. We are praying to know how we can help her gain a testimony of the Restoration. She's awesome. I love her.
This week we met with a lady named Christina (her english name) who we ran into twice now. She was born in Korean, then grew up in Fullerton California and then married a Korean and moved back to Korea when she was 20. She is now divorced and has two kids who are in their 20's. She is so sweet. She has had a really hard life. Her family doesn't talk to her anymore. Just her son, and she wants to go back to America, but she doesn't know what she would do. She has searched some religions, but hasn't found anything that helps her. She said she has suffered so much throughout her life and has been hurt by a lot of different friends. She doesn't really have friends. She said she has prayed to God in the past, but she never got an answer so she gave up on Him. :( I testified to her that God knows and loves her and that he really did hear her prayers. He knows her perfectly. I asked her if she would try praying to God again. We talked about Jesus Christ and how His Atonement can heal us from hurt, or anything we have gone through. She believes that is true. We shared 3 Nephi 17 and asked her to read it. I really hope she will. I KNOW the gospel can change her life and bring her true happiness.
Last week we met with a lady named 김경애and taught her about the BOM. She is the one who was very skeptical about it and didn't think it was good. Well this week she randomly called us and asked if we could meet in an hour. Of course we said yeah! We met her and she said she read part of the BOM. That was a miracle. I didnt' think she would at all. She wants to teach us the Bible for 30 minutes and us teach her the BOM for 30 minutes. We'll see how that goes. We are meeting with her again tomorrow.
We had a ward "Bazaar" on Saturday night and it turned out to be a big succes! Our potential (almost) investigator, Isabella came and brought her son. Another guy, Bob (the elder's investigator),  who we met at hte same time as Isabella came too. He brought an electric piano to donate to the church. He loves the church. haha He really wanted me to have the piano becsue he knows I play the piano and was convinced that I was going to take it. haha super nice of him, but i can't really have a piano with me in korea. hahah It was really good that Isabella came though because her son who is 10 loved it! He had a blast. he was hanging out with the Elders and didn't want to leave. I am trying so hard to get her to come to church with her family. She is always so busy. She is so sweet though. I love her!
The less active member that came with sis koo and i to the sis burton fireside has been coming to church ever since we invited her! she came to the Bazaar and brought tons of stuff. She was so into it. We also invited her to go with us to the fireside when Elder Cook is speaking and she said yes! We asked her to invite her less active daughter to come too and she said she would ask her. crossing our fingers! She is doing great though!!!
Yesterday President and Sister Christensen came to our ward. They spoke in church. Sister Christensen talked about miracles and all of the big and small miracles the misisonaires are seeing each day. She said "when we do all that we can, and then a little bit more, we see miracles." I have really found that to be true. When we give just a little more, we see miracles. I have also realized that the more I look for little miracles, the more I see them. We see so many little miracles each day. it's amazing. president talked about member missionary work and shared some of the stories about members and missionaries working together and the success that comes from it. He talked about the book "The Power of Everyday missionaries" by Clayton Christensen. You should read it. It's awesome. He gave us permission to read it so i got a copy and i've been reading it. Makes me want to be a better misisonary when I get home and help the Elders and Sisters serving in our area more. Anyways, it was awesome. I always love hearing from them. President speaks perfect Korean so i had to try really hard to understand what he was saying. I'm understanding a ton more than i used to though!! :)
Well I better go. This week I was reading about Moroni and how awesome he was. I want to be like him. So firm and steadfast. His faith was so strong. He was incredible!! Anyways, I am so thankful to be a missionary and to defend the faith like Moroni did. I love sharing the gospel and teaching people about the only thing that matters in the world, the gospel. I am so thankful to be here in Korea. I love the people here. Have a great week! I love you all!
 
Rach- you're graduating this week! I can't believe it! have so much fun. LIVE IT UP. when are you and mom heading to New York? I will be thinking about you!!!! send me tons of pics! love you!!
D-man- "the mooooore we get together..." hahahah remember that? I randomly thought of that the other day. Lake Powell sounds like it was fun. Hopefully you don't have to get that teacher 3 years in a row. haha oh well don't worry about that til next fall. it's almost summer!!!!! have fun with Savior of the World!
Ellie- i loved hearing about all of the lizards you found at Lake Powell. haha it sounds like you had a lot of fun. I can picture doing the upstairs canvas on the house boat. It feels like just barely we were on the house boat and that was already 10 months ago! crazy!!! have a fun last week of school!
Jane- your week sounds fun! I hope you have a lot of fun with your friends this last week of school!! I can't believe it's the end of the year! Riding bikes to school sounds way fun. And Alice in Wonderland souinds like it was really fun! Are you going to run any races this summer? you and ellie should run the half marathon this summer! Or next summer with me!
Addie- i loved the letter that i got in the mail from you. I loved the picture of you and me picking flowers. and then i loved that you put, love bute at the end! The "someone special lunch" sounds so fun with dad! and your antelope island fieldtrip sounds so fun too. have a fun last day of school!
Isaac- i can't believe you lost a tooth at lake powell!!! that's so cool. I would rather see a poisonous lizard because i hate snakes. I can't believe you saw a snake. were you scared? i would probably scream. i love you more than all the stars in the sky!
Mom and Dad- I love you! Thanks for the letters and packages! mom have fun in New York! I love you so much. Thanks for your letters. I love hearing about everyting. The lake powell ticaboo ward sounds fun! i can picture it perfectly!! I love you! Have a great week!!!! <3
 
Love, Sister Tara Anderson :)
Sister Christensen (mission President's wife) and Tara



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