Hey!
This was serving the members week. On Tuesday we went to our less-active's house with our Jinju Elders, and cleaned her new little house. It is TINY. Seriously like living in two closets that you can barely stand up in. It is a super old style, kind of like the Joseon era houses. It was fun to look around, and it was good to clean! (Note from Emily's mom...Emily LOVES to clean!) The next day we went with the Elders and Jinju Bishop to an American member's house to help her pack up for going back to the states. Then on Friday we got up super early in the morning and left to go help our other American family pack and get ready to go back to the states. They had a family emergency and needed to go as quickly as possible. They are hoping they can come back in a few months, though! It felt really good to serve and just work for these members.
KML is doing AWESOME. We just finished teaching her all the commandments, so the next teaching will all be making sure she is prepared spiritually for baptism. She is not very good at keeping commitments, (other than coming to church :) ) so we are working a lot on that right now. We made her a fun daily scripture study and praying program, and she has been doing it! We can see her getting better socially too. She has never really had many friends and is always alone, even at home, and doesn't really know how to talk to people. But as we have been meeting with her she has been opening up and blowing us away. We try to do things with her that friends would do (and then teach her a lesson), and try to show her how to talk to people. She is doing better! I am just so grateful for this chance to teach her. Looking back to when we first met her and to now, so much has been getting better for her. This gospel is helping her spiritually, emotionally, and socially too! Really in every aspect of her life. I am SO, SO grateful to be part of it.
One thing that it seems that the Savior has been pointing us to in this area is starting a Korean class. I guess that they did it a while ago, but stopped it during the school break. Just this last week, a bunch of foreigners started finding or calling both us and the Jinju Elders to learn Korean. We are not sure what will come of it, but we are excited to start! We are going to start tomorrow. It will be fun to teach people in English again! It really seems like these people were led to us.
Sister Lee Won Ji is doing so well! She is always willing to try to do better, and as we have been working this week, she is always ready for anything. I love serving with her!
Funny Story: We were proselyting as we were walking back home at the end of the day on Friday, and passed by a pile of trash on the side of the road. Something caught my eye. There was a big, super old traditional Korean screen just being thrown out! It is super pretty, and hand stitched. It was pretty big, but I just couldn't leave. So yup. I picked it up and carried it all the way back home. I am pretty sure Sister Lee Won Ji thought I was insane. The wood is in pretty bad shape, so I think I will just cut out the paper and the design, and roll them up and send them home!
Once again, we are really starting to see the miracles flow as we show our faith. This week we have had a little more time to go out and just proselyte and knock on doors. While we haven't been able to find anyone through that, the Lord has immediately blessed us in other ways. It is ALWAYS that way. We work hard and give everything, and just when we start to feel like we aren't getting anywhere, He sends a blessing. This week we had two referrals come through the online system, and got two new contacts from people just finding our number and calling us to learn about the gospel or even Korean. We know there is a lot of work ahead, but we are ready to do it. In President Barrow's email to me this last week, he said, "You are doing a great work. Remember that this is the Lord's work, and that He has been preparing, and continues to prepare, people in your area to discover and accept His gospel. He has been doing this for years and there are hundreds, even thousands of those people in your area whom the Holy Ghost has prepared to further embrace the gospel message. These people are prepared today, right now, to accept an invitation to come unto Christ, and to accept help to either exercise faith, to repent, and to be baptized. I am grateful for the eyes and ears that you are developing, "eyes to see and ears to hear", so you can see and feel these people the Lord has and is preparing." He always knows exactly what I need to hear! Now we just need to find them.
I love you!!! I am praying for you all!
Sister Stapley
This was serving the members week. On Tuesday we went to our less-active's house with our Jinju Elders, and cleaned her new little house. It is TINY. Seriously like living in two closets that you can barely stand up in. It is a super old style, kind of like the Joseon era houses. It was fun to look around, and it was good to clean! (Note from Emily's mom...Emily LOVES to clean!) The next day we went with the Elders and Jinju Bishop to an American member's house to help her pack up for going back to the states. Then on Friday we got up super early in the morning and left to go help our other American family pack and get ready to go back to the states. They had a family emergency and needed to go as quickly as possible. They are hoping they can come back in a few months, though! It felt really good to serve and just work for these members.
KML is doing AWESOME. We just finished teaching her all the commandments, so the next teaching will all be making sure she is prepared spiritually for baptism. She is not very good at keeping commitments, (other than coming to church :) ) so we are working a lot on that right now. We made her a fun daily scripture study and praying program, and she has been doing it! We can see her getting better socially too. She has never really had many friends and is always alone, even at home, and doesn't really know how to talk to people. But as we have been meeting with her she has been opening up and blowing us away. We try to do things with her that friends would do (and then teach her a lesson), and try to show her how to talk to people. She is doing better! I am just so grateful for this chance to teach her. Looking back to when we first met her and to now, so much has been getting better for her. This gospel is helping her spiritually, emotionally, and socially too! Really in every aspect of her life. I am SO, SO grateful to be part of it.
One thing that it seems that the Savior has been pointing us to in this area is starting a Korean class. I guess that they did it a while ago, but stopped it during the school break. Just this last week, a bunch of foreigners started finding or calling both us and the Jinju Elders to learn Korean. We are not sure what will come of it, but we are excited to start! We are going to start tomorrow. It will be fun to teach people in English again! It really seems like these people were led to us.
Sister Lee Won Ji is doing so well! She is always willing to try to do better, and as we have been working this week, she is always ready for anything. I love serving with her!
Funny Story: We were proselyting as we were walking back home at the end of the day on Friday, and passed by a pile of trash on the side of the road. Something caught my eye. There was a big, super old traditional Korean screen just being thrown out! It is super pretty, and hand stitched. It was pretty big, but I just couldn't leave. So yup. I picked it up and carried it all the way back home. I am pretty sure Sister Lee Won Ji thought I was insane. The wood is in pretty bad shape, so I think I will just cut out the paper and the design, and roll them up and send them home!
Once again, we are really starting to see the miracles flow as we show our faith. This week we have had a little more time to go out and just proselyte and knock on doors. While we haven't been able to find anyone through that, the Lord has immediately blessed us in other ways. It is ALWAYS that way. We work hard and give everything, and just when we start to feel like we aren't getting anywhere, He sends a blessing. This week we had two referrals come through the online system, and got two new contacts from people just finding our number and calling us to learn about the gospel or even Korean. We know there is a lot of work ahead, but we are ready to do it. In President Barrow's email to me this last week, he said, "You are doing a great work. Remember that this is the Lord's work, and that He has been preparing, and continues to prepare, people in your area to discover and accept His gospel. He has been doing this for years and there are hundreds, even thousands of those people in your area whom the Holy Ghost has prepared to further embrace the gospel message. These people are prepared today, right now, to accept an invitation to come unto Christ, and to accept help to either exercise faith, to repent, and to be baptized. I am grateful for the eyes and ears that you are developing, "eyes to see and ears to hear", so you can see and feel these people the Lord has and is preparing." He always knows exactly what I need to hear! Now we just need to find them.
I love you!!! I am praying for you all!
Sister Stapley