Letter #62

안녕하세요!

Well this week was a week of mixed emotions. The work on the island is
slower than ever which makes me feel like much of our time is wasted
and that I am failing this area. But at the same time, the feelings
that I have received while watching General Conference and attending
mission meetings has re-affirmed to me that this is just part of the
plan and part of being a missionary! Got to love every second, even
the hard ones right?! :) And I do!

My companion and I have been really trying to focus in on our branch
members lately and receiving referrals from them. Just this past week
while meeting with memebrs, we have learned of other members that we
can help and reach out to that are struggling and we even have been
told of friends that our members want to start teaching the gospel to!
So cool! I have realized that it is as easy as just giving love to the
members, teaching them the doctrine by the spirit, and simply asking
them who we can help that has been blessing us with people and member
referrals!

On Saturday night, after watching General Conference at the church all
day, my companion and I had planned to go visit a less-active member
that has been attending a bunch of different churches lately, trying
to find which one she believes in. When we got to her house, we were
excited that she was home, and then we were more excited when she
opened the door and let us in. I had had a slight impression the night
before to go drop by her house the next day after Conference. When we
got into her house, she started talking our ears off about her
life....which is normal of her. For an hour and 15 minutes we listened
to her life stories and trials, etc. Finally because time was pressing
at us, I told her that I wanted to share with her a little message. We
had planned to talk on baptism, but as I sat listening about her life,
I knew that this was not the appropriate message at this time. So
after her looking slightly disappointed that I wanted to share a
message and then her going off for another five minutes or so on
another story, I simply started to talk about Christ. She sat quietly
as I told about how Christ served all people that He saw while here on
the Earth. I told her that when I follow Christ's example and try to
serve others, I feel a special feeling. I then told her that later
when I pray or receive an answer, I have that same feeling. I told her
that I recognize that feeling as the Holy Ghost. She sat there
stunned. She told me that she has been praying for years to find an
answer of which church was true, but didn't know how to recognize what
feelings were from the Holy Ghost. I asked her to go through this week
as Christ did and serve one person everyday. I told her that as she
did the service to recognize the feeling that comes to her. Then I
told her that we would check up on her in a week and come to teach her
about Christ's gospel and what we believe in our church. She agreed. I
felt the spirit so prominant in that lesson as I taught and testified
of Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost. I felt very distinctly that I need
to focus on this less-active and that by doing we may be able to see
her life change and she may for the first time come to receive a
testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ. I feel strongly that we are
her answer that she has been looking for for all of these years!

I know that this gospel, the gospel of Jesus Christ is on the Earth
today. It is the same gospel that was on the Earth when Jesus himself
taught it. It was restored to the Earth by a young boy named Joseph
Smith who simply asked his father in heaven a question through prayer
and by doing so received the keys of the priesthood and became God's
prophet. I know that He did see God the Father and Jesus Christ, and I
know that because of him, we have the fulness of Christ's gospel on
the Earth today! I love this gospel and know that it is true. I know
Christ lives and loves each one of us! I know that through this
gospel, we can find and live in true, ever-lasting happiness! I love
each one of you and am so thankful for your love and support to me!
사랑합니다!
커시 자매

Sister Kersey

Letter #61

안녕하세요!

 

Wow it sounds like things are going really great over at home! I am so happy to hear that everyone is so happy and well! And especailly to hear that General Conference was so great! I can't wait to watch it! It is this Saturday and Sunday for us here in Korea! I have been looking forward for this for about a month now! :)

 

Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad! :) I will be thinking of you two this week! I love you both so much!

 

So this week was full of excitement! We visited a ton of the branch members this week, and also just brought buy bread and tea for members in our branch that are struggling or were sick! It was fun to just do a little service for them and let them know that someone was thinking about them! On Sunday when I got to church, the branch members had changed dramatically! There is suddenly a huge excitement for missionary work, and it is like we are the new great thing! What a blessing! I think that they are starting to feel of our love, so in turn of course give us 100 times more! It was just amazing to see the complete switch in attitude towards the missionaries and the work here and also just in the gospel as a whole. Even our branch president called us into his office and instead of looking at our progress record for abou 10 seconds and sending us away, talked to us for about 15 to 20 minutes on the work that we had been doing and gave us people in the branch to focus on, and then immediately after church, he and his wife came with us to the less-actives' houses that we had planned to visit that day! Wow! This is just the biginning of something very exciting! I can feel it!

 

My companion and I have been trying to really focus on how to help our branch members and by so doing receive friend referrals. Just last week, we were able to meet and have lunch with a college student in our branch and her two friends. Then we asked one of the young women if there was a friend that she would like to share the gospel with, as she is getting ready to serve a mission, and she said yes. We then asked her if we could meet her friend and to our surprise, she said yes again!

 

Our branch members have also found a HUGE interest in our English program. Most to all of our students in English class have not been coming, but the branch members now have a huge craze to learn English, and we are going to start asking them to bring their friends along! So cool!!!!

 

We also have been just procelyting and trying to find new investigators. We found one student at a bus stop and asked her to come with us to ice cream the next day to have a 30 minute introduction to our church. We were shocked when the next day she showed up as she had promised, listened to what we had to say, and then set up another appointment with us and became a new investigator! So cool!

 

Well anyway, I don't have much time to write because of a P-day on the beach and hiking, etc, but I just wanted to let you all know that I love you and that the work is going better than ever! I am so excited for what may come out of this branch and this area! I know this gospel is true and this work is the Lord's work! The Savior lives and loves each one of us. I know this because of the feeling in my heart as I learn of Him and as I teach others about Him.

 

I love each of you!

 

사랑합니다!

 

커시 자매

Sister Kersey

Letter #60

안녕하세요!

Happy Birthday Mom and Aunt Terri! :) Thinking about you both today
and hope that you have a great birthday! I love you both!

So this week I spent most of my time in Busan for training meetings. I
had no companion so was paired with two of the other trainers for a
few days as we waited for our trainees to come from the MTC. I got to
serve with Sister Kent and Sister 윤진아 in 김해, my old area before coming
to Jeju. It was a total blast! Because all three of us sisters had
served in that area before, we were able to go through all of the
people and help organize the area. There was a lot of changes that
needed to be made, especailly with new elders being in the area, so we
were able to meet with the Elders and explained what was going on with
the people in the branch and the investigators in that area! It was so
fun to be back serving with Sister Kent for a while, especially
because the last time that we had served together was back in my
second area when we both knew absolutely nothing. It was fun to see
how much we had changed.

Training days were an absolute blast!!!! We got to meet all of the
excited trainees, and had a procelyting activity with them where we
were all paired off and had to ride the subway together and procelyte
at Busan University. I was first paired off with an American sister
from Logan, Ut, and then two Korean sisters. It was so fun to see how
scared they were, but the courage they had to just give it their all!
I got along with all of the sisters so great and had no idea which one
I would be paired up with! After the activity, we had dinner together
with all of the trainers and trainees, and headed back to our homes.
The next day, we met and had another meeting where the trainees were
told their new trainer and area that they would be working in. I was
assigned a Korean sister from Soeul who is a recent convert to the
church. She, her younger sister and her aunt's family are the only
members of the church in her family. She is 19 years old in American
age, as were most of the Korean sisters that came to our mission. It
is absolutely crazy how young the sisters are now! I feel like there
is a really BIG gap between our ages and maturity level, but I guess
there is a reason for the new age requirement. The amazing thing is
that they are all so willing to learn and to grow and to change! I
really understand now why the age requirment has changed! I think that
this is going to bring so many miracles to the world!

On Thursday afternoon my companion and I fly back to Jeju and were met
at the airport by our Elders! We then went home and started going over
the area. The weekend consisted of a lot of planning and procelyting
and studying. My companion is so kind and sweet and literally watches
my every move....kind of intimidating. haha! I love being a trainer,
and I really love to watch the how much my companion changes. It is so
incredible to see. I literally feel like a mom....this must be how it
is when you are a parent and are watching your kids grow up. Kind of
cool!

At church yesterday, we were able to attend a Seminary testimony
meeting and I was asked to bare my testimony about Seminary and how it
prepared me for missionary work. I was really surprized that really it
was all the years of waking up early and attending seminary before
school that really taught me the principles of the gospel and
especially how to use these principles in my daily life. I never
realized the impact that it had on me as a high school student, but
being here on a mission, I am able to see the benefits of all the hard
early mornings and daily study. The kids were blown away when I told
them how early I had to get up and that it was daily before school. I
really do know that Seminary is an inspired program that really helps
youth learn about gospel principles, learn how to apply gospel
principles, and most importantly receive a testimony of these gospel
principles!

Work here this transfer has been pretty hard. I have called and called
again our investigators, and they all ignore our calls and don't call
back. Things have literally suddenly changed from me coming back from
Busan. And our investigator that was waiting for her parent's
permission has stopped attending church and will not answer my texts
or calls. It has been really discouraging, but I feel like it is all
part of God's plan. My new companion does not understand or know the
gospel principles, and I feel at this time my focus is on her, almost
as an investigator. I have been working daily to help her study and
learn the principles from PMG and then couching her on how to teach
these principles to someone that has never heard them before. It is a
very teadious process, and I feel that we are not meeting with people
right now because my companion is literally not able to teach at this
point. It has been an interesting experience and fun to see how the
gospel is literally changing the missionary that I am living with. My
mission has completely changed to focusing on my companion and
changing her life.

Yesterday, being Easter, I thought a lot about my Savior Jesus Christ
and the life that He lived. I thought about the perfect example of
love that He set for all of us, the atonement that He performed, the
death that He paid for all of us, and the beautiful miracle of the
Resurrection. I really do know that Christ lives. I really do know
that He lived here on the Earth, that through His atonement He was
able to pay the price for all of our sins and mistakes, and He died
for each of us to make it possible to live with Him and our Heavenly
Father again someday. I know that we each will die someday, but I know
that we, like our Savior, will live again with perfect bodies and
knowledge with our Heavenly Father! What a beautiful miracle! I am so
thankful to be here and to be doing the Lord's work! What a fantastic
priviledge and opportunity to share my testimony and knowledge of my
Savior with the world! I love you all!
사랑해요!

커시 자매
Sister Kersey