This last week Sister Park and I celebrated because
we finished going on all the exchanges that we needed to go on! Over the
past 5 weeks we went on 4 exchanges which have made this transfer
absolutely fly by! This coming thursday
is transfer call day and I don't want it to come because I am so happy
and so content with where I am! But I know that if I have to leave that it is
for a reason and that I have so many things I have yet to learn! This
transfer has been full of miracels for Sister Park and I. We are
teaching more people than we ever have and Sister Kwon was able to get
have her baptismal interview with the district leader this past week.
Right now the only problem is she needs to come to church 2 more times.
She has to take a bus at 7:20 in the morning which has been really challenging! But we hope and pray we can keep her baptismal date for March 22!
This
last week I was able to go on the exchange of a lifetime with Sister
Hoffman! She is from Utah and is in her first transfer here in Korea.
Together we were able to receive 5 contacts and find 2 new investigators
that sister park and I were able to meet yesterday! Exchanges are
always such great opportunities for learning! At the beginning of my
mission I didn't completely understand why they were necessary but I
completely understand now! It is just a great opportunity to be able to
learn from other sisters!
You may be wondering
why the title of this letter is "don't put the missioanries in charge of
the musical numbers..." and you may be a little concerned as to what
may have happened. Well long story short... apparently the songs in the
childrens song book are way to high for the missionaries in the sacheon
branch to sing...But we learned our lesson and won't pick songs from
there anymore. We tried singing "A childs prayer" in korean for the
special musical number at a young womens meeting that our branch had but
I can tell you that it wasn't all that special...I don't think we will
get called on to sing for a while.
Okay okay
okay. It's time to talk about Korean. When
people would ask I could really only say.. well it's coming. slowly but
surely it's coming. But for some reason this transfer a lot of things
in korean have just really clicked for me and I feel I can understand
and speak so much more! I don't get nervous anymore for being able to
express what I want in lessons. At times I still have
complete humbling experiences when I talk to old people and have
absolutely no idea what they are saying. But I know I am improving each
day and I get a little bit happier each day because I understand and can
speak a little more.
I want to end this
letter on a spiritual note. Recently I have been thinking a lot about
change. not like moving to a new area in the mission field or physical
change but the kind of change that we experience spiritually over time
in our lives, or in the mission field. A couple weeks ago I told you all
to read the talk "His Grace is sufficient" by Brad Wilcox. I'm not sure
how many actually read it but I studied it again this week and I'm
amazed at how many new things I keep learning. Some Christian churches
believe that if we are saved by grace that means our works in this world
don't really matter but this talk explains why are works DO matter and
helps us really understand what it means to rely solely on "the merits,
and mercy, and grace of the Holy Messiah" (2 nephi 2:8). One thing I
have always strived to overcome in my life is being a perfectionist. In
some ways it is good because it pushes me to work harder but in a lot of
ways, I feel my best is never good enough. I ran into this problem early
in the mission field when I never felt like what I was doing was good
enough despite my best efforts. But I have come to learn that there are
never just 2 options: being perfect or giving up. We are expected to
keep trying and be content with progress in the right direction. "If we
feel we are just not good enough, than we don't understand grace" "when
we understand grace we can continue in patience until we are perfected."
"scriptures make it clear that no unclean thing can dwell with God but
no unchanged thing will even want to" "If you don't want to dwell with
God than you aren't changed." "The miracle of the atonement is not just
that we can go home but that miraculously-we can feel at home there"
Just a quotes that really stood out to me in the talk that I wanted to
share with you all! I have definitely have seen how my mission has
changed me spiritually and how I know I feel more comfortable in the
presence of God because of the changes I have made. I'm so grateful for
this missionary opportunity I have to learn and change and grow
spiritually. I know I will never regret this decision.
I love you all so much! Have the best week of your life!
Sister Courtney Hurley
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| this week we spent 2 hours trying to call members, our investigators, the elders, and even the mission president but NO ONE ANSWERED! sometimes missionary work is hard... okay most the time. |
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| Cute sister Hoffman on exchanges!!<3 |
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