Monday, August 24, 2015

Where's Andong?

Ah. This was one of the craziest weeks of my mission yet! So much has happened I don't even know where to start... okay I do. I'm going to skip to lat Saturday when Sister GoYumin commited to get baptized on September 13! :) We had a really amazing lesson with her on Friday where she came to truly understand the Baptism is the GATE. It is the first step. After going through the interview questions with her she came to understand that she really is read and completely worthy. Sister Thornley and I have been working with Sister Goyumin for the past 12 weeks that we have been together. I feel so strongly that she is ready and that she will be such a strong member. She will have her baptismal interview this coming Saturday. As we were going over her baptismal questions with her and seeing if she had any concerns we asked her how keeping the word of wisdom is going. Her response made me laugh so hard! She said, "Well...honestly I think that I need to exercise a little bit more." ahh it was so cute. Then she went on to say," you know I have never been a strong coffee drinker so that was easy to stop, and I still don't really understand why you don't drink green tea, but I decided that I don't really need to know. There is so many other things I can choose, like fruit juice. I really like fruit juice" aww:) we are just really happy and excited for her. It has been so fun watching her progress so much. When we first met her, She didn't really know much about God or Christ. She felt so awkward praying. But because of her strong desire to come to know the truth, she now knows that there is so much more to life than she thought and now she has come to built a relationship with God. She also has been really interested in the Temple because during relief society a few weeks ago, a lot of the sisters in the ward shared experiences where they felt so much joy and peace in the temple. I truly know that she was lead to find our church by God's hand because she wanted to know truth. It was nothing that us missionaries did. We were simply a tool to help her come to know the truth for her self. I just feel so much gratitude for the opportunity I have had to watch her along her journey of conversion. It has been such a blessing and testimony builder for me. I hope more than anything that I can come back to shinjung for her baptism in a couple weeks!

now for the rest of the week...

On tuesday...I held a porcupine! apparently some people have them as pets in korea:) So much fun! We were able to meet a less-active that we haven't been able to for a while and do family english program with her. Her younger brother who is a strong active member was able to be there so it was really awesome. We had a really good lesson with them together about how they decided to get baptized.

Wednesday was really great! We had district meeting in bangeojin and then I got permission to meet Sister Kimhyunsuk(recent convert from first area). I learned that she is the relief society secretary. She just had so much light to her and seems so happy. It was good to catch up with her.

Thursday we were able to meet the russian family that we started teaching! Janniy and Darina. Sister Thornley and I just always feel something so special everytime we meet them. They were open to our message about prayer and we were able to pray with them. Afterward we were able to meet sister Kimyuneh. I have been working with her for the past 6 months as I have been serving here in shinjung. I felt that that same night I would receive a transfer call so I had to say bye to her. It was such a hard goodbye. I just felt strongly that I needed to express to her how much I love her, but especially how much God loves her because I feel His love for her when we meet. The spirit was so strong ans she started tearing up. Thursday night we received a transfer call as expected. I learned that I would be leaving shinjung and going to the biggest area in our whole mission called andong (it is in daegu) and my new companion is Sister Kimgyuri! I went on an exchange with her in my 4 transfer and this will be her last transfer before she goes home! I am SOOOO sad to be leaving shinjung. I have loved this area so much and especially the people I have been able to meet here. But I am also so excited for the new experience I will have in Andong. My new area covers 1/3 of our entire mission! we get 600$ a month instead of 350$ because we have to travel so much! haha There are about 20-25 members that come each week and there are 4 families that work on a FARM and need a lot of help from the missionaries. I'M SO EXCITED! I get to farm! (My grandpa Holt would be so proud:)) September and October are when most the fruit and vegetables need to be picked so we will be really busy. lets just say when you receive a mission call you need to expect the unexpected... haha. I never would have thought that farming would be a part of missionary work. I'm so excited though. Our area is really country side... which is exact opposite from shinjung where there were people EVERYWHERE. so i'm a little nervous about that. we only have 1 investigator that we are meeting weekly right now so we are in the finding mode! please pray for us!:)

Friday was spent sending my luggage and meeting more people that I have to say goodbye to. Goodbyes are the worst. Saying bye to Sister parkjihyun was so hard. She gave me a hug that I was certain she was never going to let go. I love her so much and feel so blessed to be able to meet her in this area.

On saturday 3 new students came that sister Thornley and I had met on the street a couple weeks earlier! yayy miracles!

And now... well I'm in my new area Andong and I already love it so much. I can tell that this is going to be a really fun transfer with Sister Kimgyuri! I realized this the moment we walked in the apartment and she threw a fake spider on the ground and screamed. then I screamed. haha. don't worry... I'm planning how I'm going to get her back. I already love her so much. She knows how to work hard but have fun at the same time. I'm so happy here in andong. It feels like home.

So many other things happened too that I can't express because I don't have time... But remember that Sister Hurley loves you so much! I know that this is God's work that I am doing right now and I couldn't be happier!

Love Sister Hurley<3

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