THIS WAS THE BEST WEEK OF MY MISSION SO FAR!! In some ways very challenging... but oh, so rewarding! So many cool things happened!! So many miracles and tender mercies.
To start off, my companion and I have been trying hard these last few weeks to find new investigators. The few that we do have are just not progressing, sadly enough. We decided this week to fast twice, both times with our "adopted" members families. As a result... as of this week we have three new investigators! All three are high school students. Two are best friends who originally were interested in our free English teaching. This week after helping with English we taught them about the Restoration--the spirit was so strong! They don't currently attend church, and asked all sorts of questions about Jesus Christ, Joseph Smith, the Book of Mormon. It was so awesome to teach those who are genuinely interested in learning about what our Heavenly Father has done for us. Such a rewarding week.
Also, on Wednesday my companion, two of our zone leaders, and I had the opportunity to speak as guests in a religion class at a nearby Korean university. We prepared a slide show to help us explain the message of the Restoration of the Gospel, as well as briefly cover some of our basic beliefs as members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Following was a question and answer session... so scary for someone who barely speaks the language! They asked some really great questions, which we were able to answer effectively. Such a cool opportunity to represent our church. We even passed out packets containing information on our religion. Afterwards, one of the students came up to request a Book of Mormon to read. Really cool. The opportunity came about because the professor had met missionaries (about 20 years ago), and I think recently ran into them again. We had smoothies with him after and had more good conversation about the church! Great day.
We also had combined district conference on Friday--I love conferences with my mission president! President Shin is the sweetest old Asian man. He and his wife are both extraordinary people! We talked a lot about overcoming fears and stepping up to meet high expectations. His phrase he used was "In spite of fear..." versus "Because of fear...". I'm trying so hard to overcome the fears I have as a missionary, which there are a lot! I think one of the worst things we can do in our lives is to make a decision because of a fear we have. Fear can be crippling! But I know through having faith and trusting in Jesus Christ and by acting on that faith and trust, we will be able to overcome our weaknesses. Those weaknesses are often manifest as fears. As we do so we can rise to our potentials as sons and daughters of God. That is one of the greatest lessons I've been learning this week!
Take care! Love ya'll so much!
Sister Hatch
P.s. Koreans love cute things! Pikachu kitty!
To start off, my companion and I have been trying hard these last few weeks to find new investigators. The few that we do have are just not progressing, sadly enough. We decided this week to fast twice, both times with our "adopted" members families. As a result... as of this week we have three new investigators! All three are high school students. Two are best friends who originally were interested in our free English teaching. This week after helping with English we taught them about the Restoration--the spirit was so strong! They don't currently attend church, and asked all sorts of questions about Jesus Christ, Joseph Smith, the Book of Mormon. It was so awesome to teach those who are genuinely interested in learning about what our Heavenly Father has done for us. Such a rewarding week.
Also, on Wednesday my companion, two of our zone leaders, and I had the opportunity to speak as guests in a religion class at a nearby Korean university. We prepared a slide show to help us explain the message of the Restoration of the Gospel, as well as briefly cover some of our basic beliefs as members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Following was a question and answer session... so scary for someone who barely speaks the language! They asked some really great questions, which we were able to answer effectively. Such a cool opportunity to represent our church. We even passed out packets containing information on our religion. Afterwards, one of the students came up to request a Book of Mormon to read. Really cool. The opportunity came about because the professor had met missionaries (about 20 years ago), and I think recently ran into them again. We had smoothies with him after and had more good conversation about the church! Great day.
We also had combined district conference on Friday--I love conferences with my mission president! President Shin is the sweetest old Asian man. He and his wife are both extraordinary people! We talked a lot about overcoming fears and stepping up to meet high expectations. His phrase he used was "In spite of fear..." versus "Because of fear...". I'm trying so hard to overcome the fears I have as a missionary, which there are a lot! I think one of the worst things we can do in our lives is to make a decision because of a fear we have. Fear can be crippling! But I know through having faith and trusting in Jesus Christ and by acting on that faith and trust, we will be able to overcome our weaknesses. Those weaknesses are often manifest as fears. As we do so we can rise to our potentials as sons and daughters of God. That is one of the greatest lessons I've been learning this week!
Take care! Love ya'll so much!
Sister Hatch
P.s. Koreans love cute things! Pikachu kitty!