New Investigator :) April 6th

Dear Family,

 

This week I have some pretty exciting news! haha. Sister Sexton and I have our first investigator! We're so excited! It's that cute little grandma we met on our way to the temple! She's the sweetest lady and I still don't understand most of what she says to me, but she says it all with a warm smile, so hopefully she's as wonderful as I think she is! haha. But yeah. We met her by this store and she was SO excited to see us. And we went to her house and there were a bunch of Jesus pictures and crosses everywhere, so it's good to know she really has a testimony about Jesus already. And then, she sat us down and said, "can we pray?" haha. It was perfect! So we prayed and she got us some strawberries and she prayed over them and then we had a little mini lesson, and told her about JS, and the book of Mormon and showed her our family pictures (my picture book is so great btw! and I love the pictures of the 12 apostles and the prophet, because it always segways nicely into the church. haha) But yeah. There are also tons of pictures in my book with temples in it, and so we talked about temples a lot. I feel like since we met her on the way to the temple and she has been to the grounds and now we are talking so much about them that the temple will be really important to her. We found out that her husband has passed away, so hopefully we can help her with that:) Anyway, so we talked for a little bit and she was so cute, and then we heard some babies in another room, and she goes and pulls out the two most adorable little Korean boys I have ever seen! Both almost 2 years old. Oh my goodness. It was so fun to play with them for a few minutes. I forgot how much I love kids. It made me so happy! haha. But yeah. Apparently she does this thing kind of like foster care, and those two boys are being adopted by families in America. So cute. Also, they know four English words- hi, mom, dad and doctor. haha. Random. But super cute! Anyway, it was a great meeting and she wants to meet again this Wednesday, so we'll see how that goes! She told us she thinks God has brought us together, so that's always a good sign. She's really great though. Cutest lady.

 

Also this week, we visited this man in the hospital from our ward. he's having a surgery next week I guess. Hospitals here are really weird though. I'm not sure exactly how they work, but people can just walk around and leave (in their hospital clothes) whenever they want. It's really weird to be walking down the street and see people in hospital clothes wandering around. But yeah. Not at all like they are in America. And people go the the hospital for EVERYTHING. There isn't a doctor's office I don't think. They just go to the hospital. So yeah. really weird, but it was nice to visit with him and his wife for a little bit there.

 

This week I've been really studying about the restoration and the priesthood. I realized that I know almost nothing about the restoration of the priesthood, which is bad, because that's like one of 3 things in our church that is different from other religions. So I've been trying to find out a lot about that. It's also made me realize how little I know about the priesthood itself besides the basic. But I also am learning how grateful I am to have the priesthood, and all of the many wonderful blessings we have because of it. We couldn't have this church without it. It's crucial! We wouldn't have callings or prophets or modern day revelation or anything. We couldn't have temples or baptisms or the gift of the holy ghost.  Everything depends upon the priesthood. It's really incredible, and the more I learn, the more I'm shocked at how I've never learned these things before. So I would encourage everyone to learn more about the restoration of the priesthood, and build your testimonies of it. It's been a wonderful experience:)  I truly know that this church is true and that the Lord has blessed us with so much. I know that Joseph Smith was a prophet and he truly saw God the Father and Jesus Christ. I know that they responded to his humble prayer, and it was because of his faith and God's love for us that this church was restored. It's also interesting to note that the Priesthood was restored only after Joseph Smith followed this same pattern, and read and pondered on scripture, acted in faith, went to a secluded place and prayed to God. Sounds like a pretty powerful and effective pattern to me. I've been trying to be better about applying that in my own life, and I'm learning so much because of it!

 

The trees are blooming here, and everything is beautiful! I love spring here! There are cherry blossoms literally everywhere! It's so beautiful! We went to visit a less active this week, and she has the most amazing view! The mountain outside her window is simply covered with cherry blossom trees, so rather than being a green mountain, it's mostly white! SO PRETTY! I took a bunch of pictures, but this computer isn't really working for attaching pics. I'll try, but I might just send pics next week!

 

I'm super excited to watch conference next week too. We watch it a week late here, but hearing from you all how wonderful it is makes me happy! I love conference and it's crazy to think I'm almost a third of the way through my mission! So weird! But life here is SO good, and I'm really happy every single day. I tell everyone how much I love the Book of Mormon, and even though my Korean is still not good, I think the power of my testimony of the book of Mormon still comes across. We had dinner with the bishop's family and I was able to bear testimony of the Book of Mormon, and it was just a really really good experience. His wife thanked us a lot later and said it's what she and her boys needed to hear. She's such a cute mom, and really wants her sons to gain a strong conversion. But yeah. My testimony of the Book of Mormon has really been the thing to grow the most the last 6 months. I know it's true with all my heart, and it makes me so so so very happy!

 

I love you all! Send me your favorite conference quotes too! That'd be my favorite! Have a great week:)

 

Love,

Sister Hunter

God Opens Doors Mar. 30th

Dear Amazing Family,

I love you all SO much. This week was great! It was filled with SOOO many blessings! Every night, Sister Sexton and I take some time to write down the blessings we have had, and I'm sure they were always there, but just listing them has made me so so grateful. There are so many I almost don't have enough space in our planners to write them all. But seriously. Miracles happen so frequently.

One of my favorite miracles happened this past Thursday on our way to the Temple. We were on the bus to go to the subway to go to the temple, and we started to talking to this SUPER adorable grandma. She was so sweet! Anyway, so we gave her our card and got off the bus, and realized that it was her stop too! And she was taking the same train as us to the same stop. I don't know how much you guys know about this, but holy cow. That doesn't happen ever. It's seriously not something that just happens. I am certain that God placed us exactly there at that time, and inspired her to go where she was going. Also, she didn't have a set appointment, so she was able to go with us the whole way to the temple, and wanted to walk around the grounds with us. She gave us her number and told us she wanted to meet with us! It was incredible! This just doesn't happen. But she's the sweetest lady, and I can't understand a word she says, but I can feel her love when she talks. It's great. Koreans are really big about holding hands, and so she kept holding our hands and telling us how glad she was to talk with us. Anyway, so she lives near us too, so we are going to meet on Wednesday! I'm so excited! haha our first real lesson here in Geumcheon! haha It'll be great! And then hopefully by next week we'll have 1 investigator:) That will be awesome!

Another miracle happened on Saturday when we were visiting 4 less active sisters in our ward. They live in the nicer apartments in our area, which means we need a code to get in, or they have to let us in from downstairs (haha basically the worst invention ever) but before each of the visits we prayed and asked for the doors to be opened one way or another, and they all were! It was incredible, because they all happened in different ways. We also took the time after to pray and thank Heavenly Father for the miracle that just happened and I just felt how much He loves the people we were visiting. One door especially was cool, because we were standing there and we had tried to ring the people up in the apartment, but nothing happened. But there is this side door thing that all of a sudden just made a noise, and so i went and tried to open it. It totally opened. It was the coolest thing, because that door is NEVER unlocked! It was soooooo cool. I know that this is Heavenly Father's work, and He truly loves each of His children! It;'s wonderful to see and feel that everyday:)

Also, a huge miracle is that I feel like I'm learning way more Korean in this area. I don't know why, but recently memorizing vocab has been almost effortless. I keep expecting to forget what I learned because it was so easy, but it just sticks. I am forced to speak more too, and that is really really wonderful. Sister Sexton makes me make all the calls, which is really hard, but is cool, because every time it works out. Not because I'm good at Korean, but because God is working through me. But yeah. Things are SO good here.

Missionary work really is so much fun. Sister Sexton is so awesome. I seriously feel like I knew her in the Pre-earth life. We are so happy here and we are always laughing and smiling and working hard. It's great. I think that if I had any other companion right now, things would be a lot harder, especially since we don't have any investigators and that's hard, but because we are focused on our purpose as missionaries we are just so happy regardless. She's the sweetest girl, and I"m so grateful for the opportunity I have to learn and grow and serve with here in this area. I am so happy all the time:) haha. I also think our happiness is rubbing off on the people here, because they were really grumpy the first few days, but now they know when they see us they are going to have a nice friendly conversation with some nice, cheerful missionaries, and they are a lot nicer. It's great. We see many of the same people multiple times a week, which never happened in my last area,  but it's pretty nice here.

Also, I feel like I"m learning so much about the gospel and God. Every morning when I study, I just feel like I"m on cloud 9 and I"m so hungry to learn everything, but heavenly Father always gives me exactly what I need. I am so so so so grateful I'm here on a mission! I am glad I never let my fear of going and the unknown stop me from doing what I knew God wanted me to do, because I"m learning and growing so much.

One last thing is that Ho Sunhee (the lady we were teaching back in Songpa that is golden) just emailed me a picture of her boys. She also told me that she doesn't drink coffee anymore because she always thinks about me. It was the cutest thing ever. I love her, and I'm so glad that Heavenly Father let me meet her, and I feel so blessed that my example and teaching is helping her grow closer to God, even when I can't physically be there with her.

Anyway, life is SO incredibly good right now, and I couldn't be happier. Thanks everyone for your love and support and testimonies and good examples:) I have the best family and friends in the whole world! Thanks everyone! Love you all tons!!!

Love,

Sister Hunter:):)

So many baby eels...Mar. 24th

Dear Wonderful Amazing Family:)

This week I ate SO MANY BABY EELS. hahahaha. It was quite the adventure. Last Monday, after P-day, the Bishop took us out to eat. He was SO nice and took us to eat some food that would ensure my good health in my new area. haha. So, he took us to eat baby eels. We all sit down on the floor of this really nice restaurant, and then they brought out these huge plates of deep fried baby eels about three inches long. And of course you can't debone a baby eel, so you just eat them whole bones and all. Which was really disturbing. But you do it anyway, with a smile on your face. haha. So after we had eaten enough of those to be dinner, they brought out the real dinner. Which was a huge bowl of soup with kimchee in it. The bishop told us how they made it, and you guessed it- the soup was ground up baby eels. My favorite. haha. I about died. It was so spicy and just really really hard to eat, especially after I was already so full. So we kept eating. and the bishop kept telling us to eat slowly, which I was super grateful for, because I was really focusing on not throwing up. haha. But yeah. All kinds of fun. I finished by some miracle, and then the bishop gave me this little charm thing that means good luck. He's so nice. Holy cow. I love him. And Kristine was there too, and we took some pictures at the church after and she was so sad. Anyway, I feel pretty accomplished for eating so many baby eels, after my first experience with that little fish in my soup.

Tuesday, was probably the saddest day ever, so I won't go into too much detail, but we met with Ho Sunhee and I cried a lot, especially when she gave me this super cute card and picture of her two boys. I will treasure that for eternity. Definitely the most precious thing I've ever been gifted. And then we went to lunch with Miran and had chavu chavu (a Japanese thing i may be spelling wrong) and it was delicious. Miran is the happiest person I think I have ever met, so she brightened up that day a lot. And after she surprised us by taking us to meet her parents at their bakery and they told us we could eat whatever we wanted..... hahaha. I don't know if I've ever had such a wonderful opportunity! haha. Free reign of a bakery. I think yes:) haha but it was a good thing for them we had just eaten a really big lunch. haha. And then after that, we had dinner with the relief society president and Sue (the incredible ward missionary) and that was sad, but fun. And afterwards we walked to the bus stop with sue, and I told her how much I love her, and then the bus came and so I had to get on, and it was like a movie. haha. a little dramatic. She shouted to me that she would miss me a lot and we both were crying as the bus drove away. Haha. I wish I would have cried less, but I sincerely love her sooo much. Goodbyes are the worst, but I learned so much from her, and I'll never forget her.  Anyway, so yeah. That was a hard day. But then, I came to my new area:):) And things are so good here!

My companion is incredible! She's the cutest thing! We mostly laugh all day long because we get lost a lot, and we don't know anything since we are opening the area. She legitimately has a goal to make me laugh as much as possible, because she loves it so much. I'm super grateful to be serving with her. I think she really needed a happy companion, so I'm glad I try to be happy so much. We've had a lot of fun, and we were more comfortable with each other the first day than Sister Knox and I were in the first transfer, so it's been awesome. Also, it was her birthday 2 days ago, so I made her a cute birthday banner, and we got cake and ice cream and I made her pancakes for breakfast that looked like a 2 and a 1 cuz she's 21 now:) It was a fun day. Also, we live in the smallest apartment ever with 2 other sisters. haha it's so crowded, but so so fun. And I sleep in the Kitchen haha. But it's all good. This area is very different from Songpa, but it's been fun to go out and get adjusted and talk to people. Mostly people here are a little grumpy when we talk to them, but we're working on being friendly with them. Also, the stake president is in our ward, and he's awesome. He took the day off of work to go to lunch with us and him and his wife are so awesome. His wife is sister's with the relief society president and we went to lunch with them today. haha. They really like to feed us in this ward, which is nice, but...I hope I don't eat more baby eels. haha. The ward mission leader is awesome and so funny. He has lots of good suggestions and he basically has assigned his daughter to be our third companion, since she has a lot of time on her hands and he wants her to be productive and not watch so much TV. So that's great. Also, we have 1 ward missionary. haha. She's incredible. She has 3 callings in our ward and a stake calling. And she is helping us tons with our Korean and she is really self motivated to help us. It's awesome. Haha. All we need now is an investigator..... Which we are working really hard to get. Hopefully we can get some. We have some potential investigators and we are going to call everyone in the area book this next week haha. That will be fun Korean practice. But seriously, it's hard work, but I am just so glad I"m doing it with Sister Sexton. She is so cute. Also. She has a twin and she's maybe the only person I've met who is skinnier than me haha. Before her mission she weighed 97 pounds, and we don't have a scale, but I doubt she's more than that now. She's my same height too, so yeah. But she's so sweet.  Also, the Relief Society is so awesome and she is already working with us to identify less actives and how we can best help each of them. She's incredible.

Sister Sexton

Lately, I've just been realizing more and more how much the Book of Mormon can help in missionary work, and I love LOVE reading it every morning. It's so true. I can't express how much my testimony of it has grown the past 5 months, but I never want to stop reading it. It's incredible and I learn so much from it every day. I see miracles as I study and then see similar things in my missionary work each day. They are all such small miracles, but they mean so much when you are working hard to do your best. The Lord is with us, and that's incredible to know and see.

Anyway, I hope this week goes well! I'll attach some pics of everything. Glad to hear about everyone's fun accomplishments this week! Keep us the good work everyone and hope Allan has fun on his free Yellowstone trip:) Love you all! Thanks for everything!!:)

Love,

Sister Hunter

Transfers-Live to Love Mar. 16th

Dear Family,

This week was kind of the worst. haha. Actually mostly just since Saturday night when we got transfer calls. I'm leaving my area. I'll be opening 금천(guhmcheon) with Sister Sexton (who is the sweetest girl ever), starting on Wednesday. I know that it'll be good, but I just have to say how sad I am too leave. SOOOOOOOO SAADDDDD!  I cried so much. haha. I really tried not to, but I just couldn't help it. I have worked so hard in Songpa. So hard to do my best. And especially when things were hard with my companion, my ward really really helped me SO much. They are my Korean family. It's crazy, because I still can't speak Korean well, but we are so close! Language barriers don't stop us from loving people. So yeah. On Saturday night we got the call, and I cried for like two hours straight. haha. And then when I woke up the next morning my eyes were all swollen. haha. And I was pretty sure I was done crying, but then in the Missionary meeting with the bishopric before church I started again. The other Elders told the Bishop that I was leaving, and his face was so sad. And so I started crying. Haha. So embarrassing. But then I tried really hard not to cry the first two hours of church, but then the last hour was sacrament meeting, and they always have you speak when you leave. So I was sitting on the stand. Just looking at all of these people I love SO MUCH, and I just cried a lot. And then I was ok for the first part of my talk, but then I looked over and the Relief Society President was bawling, and I just lost it. Haha. I have never cried so much in public ever. So embarrassing. I really cannot describe my feelings for these people. In many ways leaving them is worse than leaving home, because I know I'll see everyone at home again. But these people. Who knows when or if I'll get to see them again. I was just so so so sad. And I really shouldn't have been, but it's just really hard not to be. They have taught me so much by their examples.

Actions speak SO much louder than words when you can't speak their language. It's incredible who these people are and what the do every day. I love them. Anyway, so yeah. I just cried a lot. Which now I feel bad for doing, but I just couldn't help it. After church I was a lot better. One of the Elder's investigators who is so so awesome was telling me, "I am so sad you are leaving, but you shouldn't be sad. This is part of God's plan for you." He is incredible. He's my favorite. haha. He always shows me magic tricks and I pretend not to know how they work and he loves it. And he's getting baptized next week! He is SO solid. But yeah. I'm super sad to not see him get baptized. (Also, he's like 50) But yeah. So many people were just so nice and kept telling me THE nicest things. I just couldn't believe it. My companion keeps telling me how much I have blessed this ward and how much they love me, but mostly I think they have blessed me more than anything I ever could have done. And oh man. The ward mission leader and the ward missionaries. Ah. I'm really going to miss them. I just don't know what I'll do without them, but oh well. I know that is God's plan for me and so he'll help me be happy again and stop missing them so much. I'm just nervous for the rest of my mission because I feel like it's going to be a continual heartbreak. And I haven't even said goodbye to my investigators yet! Ah. haha. But I really am doing a lot better than I was yesterday. I'm coming to terms with everything and reading the Book of Mormon always helps me feel better.

I really hope that whole paragraph didn't sound depressing or whiny. Mostly what I want to communicate is how grateful I am to be on a mission. I never knew I could love people so fully so quickly, and I never would have met them and been blessed by their examples if I hadn't of come on a mission. I really just have to marvel sometimes at the wisdom and grace of God. I don't know why He lets me participate in this work, but He does, and I'm just in constant awe of His hand and the miracles here. The people of this ward have changed my life SO much. Our Relief society president was the first sister missionary from Korea. She's so incredible, and she is sooo patient with me in speaking Korean. She always helps us, and practices what she teaches. I'm so impressed. And our ward missionaries. Wow. There is a woman here- Sue- I hope I've talked about her before, but she spends like 10 hours a week with the missionaries. I have never seen someone so dedicated. And her husband is not a member and her son is less active, and she comes to church alone. I can see how painful that is for her, but she never stops serving. Its incredible. Anyway. I just want everyone to know that I"m SO grateful to be here in Korea. It's definitely changed my life for the better. And I know that my new area will be good too:) I don't want to love the people any less in my new area. I really want to give that my whole heart too. My companion said something the other day randomly that really hit me- we ought to live to love. I love that, and hope I can be better at that with my new ward and investigators and everyone I meet in Guhmcheon!! So excited:)

 

Also, this week, Sister Morrise came with us for the day. It was so fun to do missionary work with her! All 3 of our appointments canceled so mostly we walked around to visit some less actives all day and talk to people (haha she thinks we walked a marathon.... I'm pretty sure she's right.)  We got dinner at this cute restaurant, and then.... there were octopus tentacles in it. Sister Morrise ate her's like a champ- suction cups and all. I ate one piece and called that good. haha. But yeah. She's awesome, and that was one of the happiest days here. We got to talk to SO many amazing people, and I got to walk around my entire area and see things I haven't seen before. It was great.

I have a lot more things to tell you, but I'm out of time. Just know I'm happy now and will try not to cry too much when I say goodbye to Kristine and Miran and Ho Sunhee tomorrow. haha. And I'll send you pictures:) Missionary work is the best! I'm so grateful for it, and hope you are doing well! Thanks everyone! I love you all!

Love,

Sister Hunter

Pics of the Songpa ward members:)

No Longer a Greeny? Mar. 9th

Dear Family,

I'm super happy right now:) I have the best family and friends! Thanks everyone for all you do for me:)

One thing I've learned this week is that Satan is the worst and I'm super glad I'm not working on his team. That probably sounds really weird to say, but I can just see him working SO hard on some of my investigators and it breaks my heart, but I KNOW that Heavenly Father always wins:):) That's the best news of all! Anyway. I'll explain more of that in a minute.

First of all that NY Times article was.... interesting. I didn't think it was very positive or put the church in very good light, and for that i'm really glad they didn't quote me and twist anything I said. Idk. Maybe for people who aren't on full time missions it wasn't quite as negative, but really i think they made us sound really weird, and like we go on missions as precursors to our careers. Let's be clear. That is NOT why I'm on a mission. That's a dumb reason to come on a mission. I'm here because the Lord told me where He wanted me, and I love Him enough and have enough faith in Him and His plan of salvation to do it. And I think for the most part that's why people come on missions. If it wasn't for that, I know I wouldn't still be here. Being home would be a lot easier, but I'm grateful every single day to be here. :)

Also. This is pretty big, but officially today, I'm no longer a greeny! WEIRD huh?! Yup. I definitely still feel like a new missionary, so it's kind of sad to loose the title haha. But it's good. I'm stressing a little bit about what heavenly father has in store for me this next transfer, because change has been super hard for me so far on the mission, but I guess that's the point of everything here. We do hard things to learn that we can, through the Lord:)

Yesterday, I saw the first baptism on my mission. The office elders baptized a lady who is SO sweet. I love her. But it was incredible to see how much she's been blessed by the gospel already. The whole time all I could think of was how happy Ho Sunhee and her family will be when they can make that step. Speaking of Ho Sunhee though, that's where I'm really seeing Satan attack. She's SO busy all the time. Her kids just started school and they have crazy schedules so she's running around all day with her kids and then moving on top of that. But she still makes sacrifices to meet with us:) I love her. She is so open with us about her schedule and how she is feeling. I really appreciate that, because even when she thinks things are hard or she can't do something, she tells us, and then lets us help her work through those problems. Last week we met with her, and she didn't have a lot of time, but she came and talked about the book of mormon with us and word of wisdom. She says the word of wisdom is easy for her, but not for her husband. Korea has a BIG problem with drinking. It's not a social thing like it is in America (well I'm sure it is also that). Here people drink in their businesses to show that they trust each other. If you won't drink with someone, that means you won't do business with them/ you aren't friends. So nearly everyone I have met hates drinking, but they have to do it because that's office culture, and respecting your superiors is HUGE here. Like. Huge. If your boss tells you to drink, you drink. So that's super frustrating. But Ho Sunhee is willing to try it and really support her husband in finding a way to live the word of wisdom. Also, a few weeks ago their whole family came to church and the ward was SUPER welcoming. Apparently a little too welcoming because he felt really weird about it, and he stopped meeting with the APs apparently for a couple weeks. It's weird because her husband never told the AP's that, but she told us. She's so open! It's seriously a blessing, because without that, we would never know how to help people. I'm so glad she feels comfortable with us, and will voice her questions and concerns. We have ended up dropping her baptismal date, but she says she really really still wants to get baptized. She's going to pray about a date and hopefully when she figures out her schedule a little better and the whole moving thing she'll feel more comfortable about the situation. But yeah. I love her so so so much. Whenever I think about her I get the BEST feeling in the whole world. She's my best friend. Haha. She's an incredible mom, and I have learned more from her the past several weeks than is even reasonable. Ha. Why does Heavenly Father bless me so much? I just don't know. But I'm glad:) I just wish I could bottle this feeling for you all. It's so wonderful!

Also. Miran is doing great! She is really really getting a testimony of the book of mormon in her life. Last week she taught us about 1 Ne 3:7 (I will and go and do) for like 10 minutes. It was incredible, because we could have taught her about that, but instead she told us why she loved that verse and what it means in her life. I was so happy. When investigators teach you why the book of mormon is important, that's when the spirit really starts talking. She also feels like we are the angels in her life, and she doesn't want to reject what we say, like Laman and Lemuel. She wants to be like Nephi! It's so wonderful!

ALSO. WE GET TO MEET WITH MONICA THIS NEXT WEEK:) So happy! She finally has time again now that her kids have gotten back to school. So thursday should be a great day:)

Also, I like kimchee. It's official. So I'm getting closer to being Korean:) haha I almost would say I love it, but if I eat tons of it, then the spiciness gets to me. haha. I'm sure I'll get there soon though. oh yeah. And I forgot to tell you but i had octopus the other week. It wasn't bad, but I like squid much better. haha. I'm getting so weird.

Anyway, i hope you have a wonderful week! I will attatch some pics too. A lady in our ward told us her conversion story this week and it was so awesome. I wrote it in my journal and then took pics so you all could read that:) haha enjoy your peek in my journal! Hopefully it makes sense... my english has gotten weird I think....

LOVE YOU ALL:):)

Sister Hunter

NY Times

Sister Hunter is in the News!! 

Read about sister missionaries in South Korea and women's role in the LDS church from the view of NY Times Reporters Jodi Kantor and Laurie Goodstein.

 http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/02/us/a-growing-role-for-mormon-women.html?hpw&rref=us&_r=2

The weirdest week of my whole life...Feb. 23rd

Dear family,

This week has been the strangest of my whole life. I don't have time to tell you everything, but maybe when I get home ask me about week 19... haha. A quick review of the weirdness though-- If you remember from 3 weeks ago, there was a Chinese man I met that started talking to me that we wanted to refer to the Elders.. Well. It turns out he's not interested in the gospel. Ha. He called us 10 times that first week, even though my companion only picked up the first time. He REALLY wants to help me learn Korean. Anyway, so he stopped calling for a while, but then last Monday he called and asked if he could call everyday and help me with Korean (because he lives pretty far away). She said no. haha. And then he declared his love for me to my companion. And then she hung up on him. We were pretty sure she broke his heart, but he just keeps calling, so I guess not. He's really nice, and his Korean is awesome even though it's his second language, so if he didn't 'love' me and I weren't a missionary, it'd be a pretty great way to learn Korean, but oh well. I think we'll have to block his number, because he doesn't even pick up for the Elder's anymore.  But yeah. I'm just glad he lives an hour away! haha.

Some Korean Elders. They are hilarious!

Weird thing number two is the Ester came to church! I was so excited when she called and said she was finally going to come to church. She brought a friend though, and well...this is the part I really can't explain well over email, so I'll just have to tell you when I get home next April haha. But yeah. It was kind of a nightmare. But it's super funny now that I look back on it. But Ester was great. I'm glad she came. She's getting a lot better at exercising her faith and she's really progressing more.

This last week, we got to go to the temple again, which made me SO happy. The temple is incredible, and I gain so much strength from it. I'm definitely grateful we get to go each transfer, but I miss going more often. I will send some photos of our temple trip though:) I was super glad because after we went to lunch with some of my favorite missionaries, so that was super fun.

Yesterday was a pretty great day too (minus the part with Ester's weird friend haha)! The young women had their New Beginnings, and they invited us. It was wonderful. It's super cool, because I still don't understand much of what is happening around me, but the spirit was SO strong in that meeting. It made me really look back and remember my time in young women's. YW was probably my favorite time. It was the time I truly gained a testimony of the church and really decided who I wanted to be in this life. Young women are some of my very favorite people in the church for that reason. They really have to start deciding who they want to be, and if they can recognize that they are beautiful daughters of God, then wow. Amazing things will happen and continue to happen the rest of their lives. Thank you every one who influenced me at that time of my life, particularly my family, Mom and Dad, and my YW Leaders. You were vital in my conversion to the gospel:) Thanks everyone! I"m also SUPER excited for Emily to start Young Women's soon:) SO exciting!!

This week I've been studying about Alma and Ammon, and their INCREDIBLE missionary service. I've been particularly touched by Ammon's example of service. But I also love how excited they both get about the gospel and sharing it and the miracles they see. I've always loved those stories, but they ring particularly true as a missionary myself. The other day, we were talking and studying about how to help some less actives in our ward. As I read about Alma in chapter 31 of Alma, and how he sees these people that have really gone astray and lost what they once had, he really, and I mean REALLY, prays for them. He tenderly pleads for them because their souls are PRECIOUS. It's incredible. Alma truly understands who these people are- children of a loving Heavenly Father. He wants SO badly for them to understand that and come back to him. The sincerity of his prayer and the actions he takes are in stark contrast to the memorized prayer of the Zoramites. Such a good example. So yeah. I hope we can remember that with the people we work with each day. Everyone is a child of God, and He loves them perfectly. Just be patient with them and pray in faith for them to remember Him again.

Chae Urie and I

One less active we are really working with is Chae Urie, which I have talked about before. She's SO cute! I love her. She was baptized 10 years ago, but fell away very soon after that, and spent her teens out of the church. Her family aren't members, which makes it hard for her. But she's amazing. She's at church every week, and we are reteaching her, because she doesn't know much of anything as far as the gospel goes. She has really been wondering about the Gift of the Holy Ghost lately, and I've just realized what a HUGE blessing it is to have that. But yeah. Although she's already baptized I kind of consider her my first convert on my mission. I am just so happy to see her become converted to the Lord. She's not there quite yet, but she definitely has the desire. I love her soooooo  much!

some cupcakes we made for her (funfetti)

Ho Sunhee is great. I think we may end up postponing her baptism though, just because with her moving we can only meet once a week instead of twice, and we want her testimony of the Book of Mormon to be really solid before she gets baptized. But I'll tell you more details about that next week when we make a decision. Miran is still progressing and she tells us how excited she gets when she meets with us. I can really see the light of Christ entering her life:) I love her!

This week we had a member come to one of our lessons and then afterward she bought us dinner (the most amazing food ever!!) but she was telling me that she lived in McLean Virginia about 4 years ago, and she was in the McLean 2nd ward. Is that Jennifer's ward?? I'm not sure. But it was pretty crazy to think that of all the places in the world she's lived it's by Jennifer and now in the ward I'm serving in in Korea. Her name is Chway Young Sheme... I"m not sure if Jenny would remember her or even if that's her ward, but she said Jennifer's name sounded familiar. Anyway. She's amazing.

So yeah. That's life here is Korea. ALWAYS and adventure:) I'm SO grateful to be here serving the Lord, even though I certainly don't feel like I'm good enough to be here, but oh well. I guess Heavenly Father is used to me being imperfect. But I love you all and am so grateful for all of you!! Have a wonderful week! Make it great and don't forget to smile!!:) Also, send more pictures. I want so see everyone again:)

Love,

Sister Hunter

Recipe Book Feb. 23rd

Okay, well I haven't tried the Bisquick, but the syrup is amazing. We don't have maple syrup in Korea, so this is a wonderful sub. Best on German pancakes, or french toast in my opinion.:) Enjoy! And forward to Jennifer. I don't have her email address....

4 Months as a Missionary, Feb.16th

Dear Family,

Well. It's official. I've been a missionary for 4 months now. Crazy. Time moves pretty quick, right? I'm having a lot of fun here in Korea. I've eaten some weird things recently, which I think I keep forgetting to tell you about. There is this dish that I've eaten a few times that always brings me back to 9th grade biology and dissecting frogs. Gross. there are these frog leg looking things that taste just like I would expect a frog leg to taste like. My companion says it's not though. But I"m not sure I can trust her when it comes to food... haha. Also. We went out to this restaurant and ordered pork fried rice. When they brought the plate out, the food was moving........ that was pretty weird! They had this squid skin stuff on top that moves. I think that the next time we go there I'm going to be tacky and take a video of it. It was just too weird. But surprisingly delicious! Speaking of squid. They really like the combination of squid and peanut butter here. This last week I had some Peanut Butter Squid Balls. They are kind of like whoppers, but with peanut butter and squid. It was weird. But anyway, on to the spiritual things!

Ok. So, this week we had another really wonderful lesson with Miran! She is doing so well. We were talking a lot about prayer and faith and she said everything we tell her, her mom taught her when she was little, she just forgot it. But she said that when she is really stressed out and lost, she prays and just pours her heart to God, and she tells him that because she doesn't know what He wants her to be she will just give her life to God, and let Him lead her. It was the most humble thing I've heard someone say. She's so teachable and ready for the gospel, she just doesn't know it. When she said that though I almost started crying, it was so beautiful. What if we all had that same attitude? What if we could just let go of all of our desires and selfish wants, and just turn our lives over to the Lord. He truly knows us better and knows what He wants us to be. It reminded me a lot of Hugh B Brown's talk about God being the gardener. I'm SO grateful God loves us enough to cut us down sometimes. I feel like he does that nearly every day here in Korea. Things will never be easy, but as we rely on the Lord, things will work out for the better.

I've been experiencing that a lot this week. I've been pretty down on myself for not being better about talking to everyone I come into contact with. It's difficult, but I also just feel like I'm not good at inviting people to come to Christ when I talk to them on the street, and therefore not really fulfilling my purpose. Yesterday though, after taking the sacrament I just made a commitment with God that I would do my best. Because of that, yesterday was awesome, because I felt a real connection with God as I talked with people on the street and I had much more meaningful conversations with people. I think they could tell that I was truly interested in them and wanted them to be happy (even though I can't understand most of what they say to me). It was an incredible experience. I can't really describe it. But I loved it. It's incredible the people God puts in my path each day, and the experiences God gives us when we trust in Him and promise to do our best. Thinking about how hard things are won't help us. Just learning to have faith is what matters. I think God frequently gives us trials that we know we can't do by ourselves, so we know that with Him we can. That's just such a powerful thought.

The update on Ho Sunhee is that her husband's baptismal date was pushed back to March 8th as well, so that's the same as hers. She is moving to a super busy part of town, because her family is pressuring her to do it. She is VERY stressed about it, and I hope Satan doesn't use that as an excuse to stop meeting with us for a while/postpone her baptism. Satan is the worst. But hopefully she can feel peace when we teach her tomorrow and know that this is the right thing to keep doing.

Love,

Sister Hunter

PS. Michelle asked if I live in the city. Yes. Very much so. It's  VERY city like here. Tons of people and cars and taxis and the subway and all the fun things. I"ll send a few pics maybe.

Also, Tell Paul I legitimately ate stinky ginko fruit on Sunday. It was our linger longer meal! haha. pretty tasty:)

More pics. and a cute origami strawberry with chocolate inside