When all the appointments fall through... what do you do?

This week was a little rough considering literally EVERY SINGLE planned appointment fell through...so we had to try and be a little more creative with how we chose to use our time. On Tuesday we had the opportunity of going to Busan with one of our investigators Sister Kang in order to see the BYU wind symphony concert! It was a little strange seeing other Mormons who weren't missionaries who attended the same univiersity as me. It turned out being really fun and our investigator seemed to really enjoy it. After the concert, however, Sister Broyles and I rode with our mission President and His wife to their house to spend the night because it was nearly 10:30pm and the next day we had Zone Conference in Busan so there was no point in driving back to our area. We had to leave our investigator to ride home on a bus with about 50 other church members from surrounding areas. I'm not quite sure how she made it home without a baptismal date.. haha. We made sure to have her text us when she got home so we knew she arrived safely. So on Wednesday... We had Zone Conference and because the subject of the meeting was the sacrament for the morning session of the conference, we hiked a mountain! makes sense right? we made several stops on the way up where we were able to listen to uplifting testimonies and talks about the sacrament. When we arrived at the top of the mountain, our Mission President asked us why he thought he would have us hike a mountain for a zone conference on the Sacrament and I really loved the answer my cute companion had. She said that life is like climbing a mountain and sometimes we need to take breaks to renew ourselves and that is like the sacrament. The sacrament each week is a time to recommit to change the things in our life that our holding us back from being like Christ. It is a cleansing and renewing time to focus on the Savior. Sister Nielson in her message shared this poem about the sacrament that I really liked that I wanted to share!

"There were envy in the glances that a lovely woman cast

at the hairdo of her neighbor while the sacrament was passed

and a teenage girl I noticed, though a time, lass and shy

watched a youthful priest intently through the corner of her eye

as he sat behind the table where the water trays were spread

she was not remembering Jesus nor the prayer the priest had said

there was nothing reveriental in the things the cub scout drew

on the pages of the hymnbook 'till the sacrament was through

not a thought of Jesus passion entered careless elders minds

As they whispered to eachother and the girls they sat behind

and the High priests brow was furrowed as he stole a secret glance

at his checkbook's dismal story of his failures in finance

there were hundred in the chapel but the worshipors were few

and I couldn't help but wonder what the Lord himself would say

had he walked into a meeting where His saints behave that way

would his loving eyes be saddened, would His countenance be grim?

While he there observed and listened to a meeting Meant for Him?"

I, too, have been guilty sometimes of just going through the motions when it has come to taking the sacrament but I am coming to learn on my mission how important this time is each week and how it can be a really special and spiritual time for us. If we prepare spiritually before the meeting and repent we can really allow Christ's atonement to change us. I'm so grateful for zone conference and for the opportunity I had to learn more about the sacrament and gain a greater testimony and appreciation for all that our Savior Jesus Christ has done for us.

On Thursday, Sister Broyles and I had two appointment that fell through so we decided to come up with a new way to approach people on the street for the night of proselyting. We found an idea in a missionary book that momma sent me that included making a religious survey for people to take. we translated the questions into Korean and then typed them up. They included questions like "Do you believe in God" "How do you overcome hard times" and "Have you ever thought about the questions of "Where did I come from", "Why am I here", and "where do I go after I die?" There was a total of about 10 questions all together. One of my favorite questions was "If there was another book about Christ that ancient prophets wrote, would you read it?" If people said yes..then we were able to easily introduce the Book of Mormon and invite them to read it. It was a really fun way to talk to people about religion on the street and we were able to pass out a lot of pamphlets, and some Books of Mormon! Sadly, more than half the people were either buddhist or didn't believe in God... so it made it a little more challenging to introduce the Book of Mormon... But overall I really liked the new survey approach! I think I will continue to use it throughout the rest of my mission.

Also I started reading "The Power of Everyday Missionaries" this past week and it is SOO GOOD. I invite everyone, member missionary or full-time missionary to read it! It is so good and it has some really good ideas about How to do missionary work! Read it!

Anyways...I hope you are all happy and healthy! Love you<3


Sister Courtney Hurley