Week 26

my comp and I matched in all polka dots one day

fashion show runway

Park yoo jin and I (one of the yw in the ward)

Hello dear family!!!!

 

First of all, HAPPY THANKSGIVING this week!!!!!! Let me just say how thankful I am for each one of you in my life. That's one of the things that we always try to focus on when we teach is that because God loves us, one of the mist important things He gave us is our families. And how true that is!! I am so thankful for our family and the love that we have for one another. It's sweet to think of us all celebrating the same thing all over the world :) I am also super thankful for our Savior Jesus Christ and His atonement. I am thankful for the knowledge that I have of the Plan of Salvation and the guidance it gives me in my life. We have so much to be thankful for :)

 

This week was a good one :) We met with a lot of our investigators and we met a lot of new investigators that I'm really excited about. We met this girl named Choi Pa Da and she is 20 years old. She is a referral from the stake president. He knows her dad I guess. But she has come to church twice now and she is super nice!! We met last night and introduced ourselves and talked about why we personally chose to attend this church and how this church has blessed our lives. She was super receptive and she really liked our sacrament meeting. I think she is going to progress really well! And it is super refreshing to teach someone that just has gospel interest and not english interest that we are trying to convince to have gospel interest. Yesterday we also started teaching a woman named Beth. She is from the philippines and she is married to a korean man in our ward. That's a popular thing here in Korea i guess...lots of korean men marry philippino women. so I am teaching her in english...it's super weird to teach the lessons in english instead of korean. haha I don't really know what to do...but it will be good :) She grew up catholic and has pretty strong belief so she is going to need to have a some really good spiritual expereinces when we meet for the holy ghost to be able to testify to her, but I'm excited :)

 

Our other investigators are doing well. jeong so jeong (14 year old) came with us on Saturday to a young womens activity that the stake was having. It was kind of like a new beginnings activity, except it was project runway themed. Different wards all made an item of clothing or a hand bag and they had a fashion show/skit to display it. It was super fun! unfortunately jeon so jeong didn't love it as much as we did. She alwasy says that everything is too long...but she'll come around :) She came to church again on Sunday and we went to yw class with her and she was opening up more there. She said she will come to the yw activity that they are having on saturday too, so I'm happy about that.

 

Jo un jeong told us that she is starting to think about baptism now, whereas before she wasn't thinking about it at all, so that's a step in the right direction! I really want her to get baptized! But she is defintely someone that needs time.

 

Korean is still really hard, but I am trying my best and I just have to remind myself that it's okay to make mistakes and to take some time to gather my thoughts and things like that during lessons. This transfer is almost over!! next monday we will be getting our transfer calls again...crazy!! time is flying by! I have no idea what is going to happen this next transfer. I could definitely stay or maybe get transferred again...it will be interesting to see what happens. Love you all!! I'll send some pictures from the fashion show. I hope you all have a fantastic thanksgiving!! I love you all and am so thankful for you!

 

Love

Sister Livingston

Week 25

us at lunch today!

Hello family!!!

 

Glad to hear that you all are doing well. I am so thankful that the missionaries in the philippines are accounted for and safe. Such a miracle. The Lord really does bless His missionaries.

 

Nothing too big or exciting happended this week, but I will give you the run down on our investigators.

 

Jo un jeong (the artist) is doing well. She is slowly progressing. We talked this week about our purpose in this life as a time to prepare to meet God. She said that was the first time she has ever heard that. So we invited her to really think about and pray about when she will be ready to receive baptism. She came to stake conference this week and she was taking notes and seemed to really enjoy it so that's good!

 

Jeong so jeong (14 year old) we met with on Thursday and on Saturday. She had a ton of questions about baptism and about the plan of salvation, so that was exciting!! We are teaching her the second lesson right now and her mom was there to listen to some of it. They almost came to stake conference this week, but the mom said it was too hard, so we are hoping that this next week they will come to church at the normal ward building which is a little closer than the stake center. But we have been trying to help so jeong make friends with a recent convert in our ward so we all went out to dinner together on saturday and it was fun. We had to stay for stake conference meeting but they went home together so hopefully they can be a good support system for one another.

 

Ahn Tay young is a mom that called from and english add to teach her kids english. we go there every monday night. We taught the first lesson last week and it went well. she agreed that having a prophet today would be really good. She was wondering when there would be a korean prophet though...But we are going to teach the first half of the plan of salvation today. I just really want the spirit to be there and she will feel something and wan tto get baptized!!

 

Oh say young is a 39 year old woman that called to practice english. She is buddhist and doesn't know anything about the bible or god so we are starting from the beginning with her. The first time we met her she was really hung over, but the second time we met it was a lot better. the gospel would answer so many of her questions and help her life so much so I pray that she will be open to learning about our message and will follow through on our invitations.

 

This week we met with a new investigator and it was funny because the whole time she was asking us questions about our church because she had heard about it when she went to school and had heard negative things, but was open to learning about it from us. So we just answered her questions and set up an appointment to come back again. But then she called the elders and told them that we were trying to hold a church service in her house and that she doesn't want to meet with us because she is buddhist....we thought it was funny because we honestly were just answering her questions the whole time and we only invited her to read the bom introduction. It's just funny how we meet so many different people, but lots of them we never see again.

 

This week was stake conference and it was super good!! We also had a special missionary meeting with pres shin and our stake president. It was good. He talked a lot about the training he had from Elder Evans that was at your stake conference. It was a good meeting. and guess what?! One of the 12 apostles is coming to our mission in may!!! I'm pumped!!!! We don't know who is coming yet, but they are all awesome haha. We set the goal as a mission to accomplish our BRT122 goal by april as a gift to the Lord and the apostle. We also have a goal to have one person baptized by christmas as a gift to the Lord. So that's what we are working toward right now.

 

Love you all!!! It got really cold here in Korea this week. But life is good! Today we went out to lunch and at booday cheegay. It is a soup with a bunch of ham and random stuff in it. It was yummy :) Korean is definitely coming along, but I still feel like I can only talk about the gospel. If someone asks me something just out of the blue I usually have no idea what's going on, but if we are at church then I can understand haha. Helps me to stay focused on my purpose haha.

 

Love,

sister Livingston

Week 24

Hello family!!!!

 

Thanks for telling me about the storm in the Philippines...I honestly had no idea that that happened. I am so glad to hear that Sister Anderson is doing okay. I will definitely be praying for them! Sounds like you all had great weeks though! It's starting to get really cold here now so I am on the hunt for some warm tights and boots. I'll probably just buy them here sometime soon. Last night we didn't have any appointments so we were just walking around trying to talk to people on the street about the Book of Mormon and our English program and it was pretty chilly...can't wait until it starts snowing haha.

 

This past week was good. nothing too big or crazy happened but it was a good week nonethe less. We met two new investigators that are interested in learning English so we are doing our 30 30 program with them. I just pray that when we teach about our church they will feel the spirit and realize that they want to learn more and can have the desire to follow the example of our Savior. We are meeting with a woman tonight, her name is Han Tay Young. She wants her kids to practice english with us but she was open to hearing about our church so we are going to teach her the first lessson tonight. Pray that it goes well! This past week we had a ward activity on Saturday night and it was really fun! There are 6 missionaries (2 sisters and 4 elders) in our ward and we all did a skit...I never thought that I would be acting, especially in Korean on my mission haha. I was pretty scared, but it went well. We did a funny little skit about a missionary getting a call to korea and then a member introducing their friend to the church and they decide to get baptized and then the missionary wrote a letter to their mom telling about how the mission has changed so many people's lives including the investigator, member and missionary. It was cute. I was the investigator. The activity went really well though. The purpose was for people to bring their friends and to introduce them to the church in a fun, no pressure way. We got 3 referrals from that night so I would say it was a success :)

 

As far as our investigators go... Jo un jeong (the artist) is doing well. She met with the stake president this past week because she has been going through some hard times and wanted to talk to someone about it. Also she is interested in going to BYU hawaii to do more studies. From what I have heard the meeting went really well. We met with her before the meeting and taught her a lesson. I invited her to pray at the end of the lesson and throughout the whole prayer she was crying. it was really tender. I could feel the spirit really strong. I hope that she can recognize that. When we met with her on Saturday she seemed kind of rushed so we weren't able to set her baptism date unfortunately....that's really what she needs is just to commit to baptism, but I think she doesn't want to completely change yet. We are praying a lot about what to do with her since she has received all of the lessons already. We don't really know what is next for her...we will see.

 

Jeong so jeong (the 14 year old) came to the activity on saturday and to church on sunday so that is awesome!!!! She is so funny. She loves my companion sister Park. She always wants to be right by her and talk to her. I am hoping that she will have the desire to come to church and learn about our church and kind of lead her family into learning more about out church. When we taught her and her mom the first lesson on thursday it went pretty well. We need to help them see how this gospel will help their family to be more happy eternally and make it really relevant to them.

 

We met Lim hyeon sook on Friday. She is a referrall from a member and she agreed to hear the lessons so we taught about God and prayer. She came to the activity on saturday with her daughter and we got her daughters contact infor so hopefully we can meet with her too.

 

We have been visiting members a lot and they all are so nice here! I really like this ward. it seems very unified and they really want to do missionary work...we just need to help them see how to do it I think.

 

Sister Park and I are working a lot better together this past week. It has taken some time to find our groove, but I am feeling a lot better about everything now. We have been doing a 40-day relay fast as a mission in order to be more unified and purified as a mission. It has been cool. We are scheduled to fast next week. But as we have been working together and trying to really communicate with each other things have gotten a lot better and we are on the same page about how we want to do missionary work.

 

I love you all soooooo much!!! So grateful that families are forever and that I get to share that with people :)

 

Love,

Sister Livingston

 

p.s. today is peppero day in Korea because it is 11/11 (Peppero are like pocky sticks, just the korean version) So happy peppero day!!! you should go buy some and eat them  in my honor :)

 

Also Pres Shin told us today that we will have a Christmas party on December 20th and for our packages from home to get here by then you should send them by Thanksgiving time. :)

 

LOVE YOU ALL!!!!!!

So we only had 40 minutes to email before so we are emailing again before our pday ends. But I wanted to tell you all that I have heard a report that Sister heo hyeon jeong got baptized!!!!!!!! She is the 31 year old woman that I was teaching in Daejeon with Sister Bell and she got baptized last sunday. YAY!!!! So happy for her and I feel grateful to have met her. She moved back to where her parents live in a different part of korea after the baptism and received the holy ghost in her new ward and I heard that the ward has been great at welcoming her already. I was sad to miss the baptism, but thankful I could be there to teach her and introduce her to the church with sister bell :) the church is true! love you all!!!

 

love

Sis Liv

Week 23

Our English advertisement picture

heart attacking!

Sister Park and I with the cupcakes we made!

Hello family!!!

 

Sounds like you all had a great Halloween! I got the halloween package in the mail this week, so it was perfect timing! Thank you so much for sending it. Sorry the postage is so expensive. Halloween isn't really celebrated here in Korea. It is definitely an American holiday. My companion and I decided that we wanted to share some of the halloween love this week though so we went and heartattacked a lot of the members with candy and pumpkins and ghosts cut out of paper. It was fun :) And it was good to get a feel for the area more by seeing where all of the members live. We also made the cupcakes and gave those to some people and they were all excited when we told them that my family sent the mix from America. They all said that it was very delicious, so we have the approval of the Korean people...yay!

 

Let's see...so in my new area we have a few investigators that I got to meet this week. First of all is Sister Jo un jeong. She is in her 40s and she has been meeting with the missionaries for a long time now...like over a year. She has had the lessons at least twice now I think. She is a super nice woman. She is an artist, so she was really excited to hear that I am studying art. I got to see some pictures of her artwork and she is really good! She paints and her favorite thing to paint is poppies. She wants to see some of my artwork so that's fun. It was cool when we met because she said that it's really hard for her when the missionaries get transferred, but since I came and am an artist she can see that it is God's will for us to meet :) I worry that she hasn't really been progressing in the gospel, that she just likes meeting with the missionaries and talking to us so Sister Park and I really want to help her to progress and come closer to Christ. She really likes our church and how she feels when she meets with us, it's just up to her to actually do something about it now. We met with her twice. Once on Wednesday and on Saturday. On wednesday Sister Shin (mission president's wife) came to our lesson just all of the sudden, so that was kind of stressful, but it turned out just fine.

 

We met two new investigators this week. The 14 year old that we met last week we met again this week, but at her house, so we also met her mom. She wants to study english, but they said that it would be fine for us to teach them about our church. I just pray that as we teach them they will feel the spirit and realize that this is what they want!!!! The girls name is jeong so jeong and her mom is heo jeong dan, so keep them in your prayers. We are going to start meeting them twice a week at their home. The mom was so nice and sent us home with a huge bag of kimchi and fruit. It was funny walking home. I had one of those moments where I thought about what I was actually doing and just felt the confirmation that I know I am where I am supposed to be. Walking the streets of Korea with my Korean companion teaching people about the gospel in Korean and carrying a huge bag of kimchi...how cool is that?! I am seriously so grateful for this opportunity to be a missionary for the Lord in Korea. I would have never guessed that this is what I was supposed to do, but here I am and it has been such a blessing!

 

Saturday night we met a girl who called to learn english, but she was fine with us teaching about our church as well. She is a cutie!! her name is sor ji he. Her and Sister Park were talking up a storm and I would just sit and smile and laugh when they laughed because most of the time I had no idea what was going on. They were talking so fast! But it was good. She can only meet every 2 weeks though so that's too bad. She is working and her schedule is kind of weird, but I really think she can progress in the gospel quickly if we show her how applicable it is to her. So hopefully we will be able to meet with her again next week.

 

We are still looking for new investigators to teach so we have been doing a lot of just talking to people on the street and going door to door trying to teach people. Please pray that we will be able to find more people to teach that are intersted in the gospel. It has been fun to have Sister Park as a companion and to cook with her. We have been eating a lot of rice and kimchi and we made curry the other day. It has been a definite adjustment to have a Korean companion though because she can understand everything and respond to everything whereas I don't understand everything and I can only really talk about the gospel. so we need to learn how to teach together. This transfer I am learning a lot about patience and I am just trying to be really understanding and loving.

 

I really like this ward. They are super kind to us and to one another. There is a lot of unity in this ward. We have already been invited over for food 3 times, so the people are very generous and kind here. The weather has been getting chilly here. I've sported my coat a few times already. This week we had zone conference and it was super good! It was just what I needed to hear. President Shin's focus for us is called BRT122 Chain, which means that every companionship has the goal of 1 baptism per transfer and 2 referrals per day and 2 hours of teacher per day. And the chain means that as we baptize one person, they refer their friends and then they refer their friends and so forth to creat a long chain of converts. So that's what we are trying to do! Unfortunately I couldn't go back for Sister Heo's baptism but she should have been baptized yesterday!!! yay for her!

 

I love you all!! Thank you for your love and prayers! You all are the best!!!

 

 Love,

Sister Livingston