Letter #67

안녕하세요!

Where do I even begin? I feel so blessed with what happened this last
week here in Jeju! Just on Wednesday night, I had  one of the
best, probably the most memorable experience of my entire mission so
far. So about a month ago, when I was serving with just my Korean
trainee, I shared the experience about being out on the street
procelyting when I kept having a strong impression that I needed to go
home. I had no idea why I had this impression, but it kept coming back
over and over again. I tried to ignore it, telling myself that at
night we need to be out and that this was the perfect time to find new
people to teach and help. But the feeling still wouldn't go away.
Everywhere we seemed to walk on the streets, and every bus station
that we got too, people were just gone, or immediately would get on
the bus. Even huge groups of people. It was absolutely bizarre! So I
told my companion that I felt like we needed to be doing something
different, but I still refused to just go home. So we decided to go
start knocking doors at an apartment building. The entire time, I just
kept having weird feelings. We finally got to a door, rang the
doorbell, and immediately the doorbell broke! It just kept going off
for over a minute, then two, then three. It was so loud, and I knew
that the people that watched over the apartment would be mad at us for
breaking the doorbell and just being there in the first place. So I
took this as a sign that for some reason we needed to go home. So I
told my companion and we went home. We didn't have very much time when we returned home, but I had a strong impression that we needed to call old investigators. That is when we called the investigators from 2007 and I was able to set two appointments up for that following week to meet with them again. One of those appointments was with about a 35
year old woman who had taken all the discussions with the Elders back
in 2007. She has been meeting with Jehovah’s Witnesses every week to
study with them, and then attends a different church on Sunday. When I
had called her, she completely straight up told me that she was not
interested, and that she had a different religion now. I was impressed
that I needed to ask her if she had ever read the Book of Mormon, so I
did. She said that she had read it before, and I told her that because
of that book, my life had been completely changed and I know that I
had found the truth from that book. I then asked her if she would just
meet with us one time to read the book together. She agreed.

So later that week we met, and just answered a lot of questions that
she had about our church and things that she had heard. We then
explained a little about the Restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ
on the Earth, and asked her to start reading the Book of Mormon on her
own. She agreed. Later that week, we invited her to a branch party and
she came. One of the sisters in the branch, after the party, came up
to me and told me that she had a really good feeling about this
woman and to not give up on her.

So this last week we had the opportunity to meet with her again. Right
when she walked into the room, I could tell that she was different.
She pulled out her Book of Mormon and we asked her if she was able to
read any of it. She said that she had read the testimony of Joseph
Smith. We then asked her if she had any questions. She asked us if
there was a hell. I was surprised at her question, but was thrilled
because my trainees and I had just prepared to teach her that day the
Plan of Salvation. So I told her that we wanted to teach her about
God's plan for her and His children and that we would answer that
question as we taught. She agreed! We then asked her to start us with
an opening prayer. The last time we had met with her, she had only
prayed a few times in her whole life. We were shocked when she agreed
to pray, prayed a beautiful prayer, and then said that she has been
praying daily since meeting with us!

So then we started in with our lesson. Our lesson was completely
amazing! I felt like I had never taught so clearly and with the spirit
so strongly in my entire mission. And my Korean trainee who struggled
so much even understanding the plan of Salvation and had no testimony
of it, taught absolutely beautifully and clearly. Then my new American
trainee, just that morning during district meeting had found a
scripture that was almost completely off topic for the lesson but had
a great feeling about sharing it with her. I also had a great feeling,
but didn't really know how it was going to tie in. But as we discussed
everything about the plan, my American trainee shared the scripture,
and it just completely made everything make even more sense! And it
helped tie in the Doctrine of Christ and the Restoration perfectly
with the Plan of Salvation! It was incredible! And the spirit was so
strong that you could cut it with a knife! We were able to perfectly
describe a doctrine, using scriptures and testimony, that would then
lead her to thinking of a question that just happened to lead us
perfectly into the next topic! She was so excited about the things
that she was learning and I could tell that it was sinking deep within
her. And when she was confused about something she had learned
differently in her other churches, we were able to pull out the
scriptures in both the Bible and Book of Mormon that help testify of
the doctrine that we had been teaching simply and boldly!

So after teaching her about the plan, she was completely amazed and
dumbfounded. She started telling us that she believed what we had told
her to be true and that at this time she was really trying to find the
truth. We listened to her and then I bore my testimony of how I came
to know that this plan was true and of God. I have never in my life
born a testimony so bold, clear, and simple. The Spirit was
over-powering and my companions just looked at me in disbelief! I
never knew how much I truly, truly believed in this gospel until I was
able to bare such a simple but strong testimony with the Spirit to
someone looking so diligently for the truth. Wow! I know with every
fiber of my being that what I have taught her and what I believe to be
true! There is no doubt in my mind!

After baring this testimony, I told her that if she prayed with real
intent, she could come to know this to be completely true. She
explained to me that she believed that, but she didn't know how God
could speak to her. We explained that it would be through her own
personal, unique ways, for example feelings or thoughts. She then
suddenly opened up to us about a dream that she had had just one or
two months ago, right before we had called that first night and asked
her to meet. She said that in her dream she saw my face. It was so
distinct and clear, but she had not remembered the dream until I was
teaching her and baring my testimony to her. She said that in her
dream, she had seen my face (even though we had never met before) and I
reached out and took her hand. Then she said that we were trying to
walk somewhere together, but when she tried to walk, she noticed that
we were hovering in the air right above the ground. She said that when
she looked down on the floor, it was covered in snakes. She with her
hand in mine, I lead her in between the snakes. We kept jumping over
the snakes together.

I was completely floored with I heard about this, and I then told her
about my extremely strong feeling about coming home that night and
calling her. I told her that I knew that God was talking to her in
that dream and that it was important for her to meet me and my
companions to teach her of the truth that she had been searching for
for years. She agreed that she believes it was God telling her
something. And I explained to her that what she was feeling right now
was also God telling her that what we had taught her was truth. She
explained that she had such a special feeling at that moment that she
had never before felt in her life!

When she finally left, my companions and I were completely overwhelmed
with love for her and thankfulness for our Father in Heaven. We
immediately prayed together and thanked God for the truth that we have
and that we have the opportunity to share that with other of God's
children who are searching for that truth and direction! My companions
and I were all so humbled by the spirit that was with us that taught
through us exactly to this woman's needs. And it was amazing to also
see my companions change when they recognized their own testimonies
that they too can see that they possess! I really truly do know that
God knows us each individually, uniquely and perfectly! He loves us
and knew us and does really talk to us and speak through us!

After this experience it was so interesting to also see the huge
opposing force that flooded into our lives. The way that Satan tries
to work in the minds of Heavenly Father's servants to not feel good
enough or question their testimonies. My companions and I were able to
notice this and recognize this opposing force right away. But I am
grateful that we are able to recognize these things, help each other
recognize these things, and then come together in prayer, even on the
side of the road, to bring the spirit back into our lives and help us
get back to the Lord's work!

We also were able to meet with one of our younger investigators that
are in middle school. We met her at the bus stop at the begining of
last transfer with my Korean trainee and have been teaching her ever
since. Right before this new transfer started, she introduced her
younger brother to us and we referred him to the Elders. So now she
meets with us and him with the Elders. Yesterday they both came to
church, and after church we both had separate lessons with the two of
them. My companions and I had been talking with her about baptism the
last two times we had met, and she said that she wanted to receive it,
but right before she died. We were not planning on bringing it up
again, but the Spirit directed me otherwise. I asked her if she had
been thinking about what we had taught her about baptism. She said
yes. Then our member who was with us teaching her started to explain
how amazing baptism is because of the opportunity to receive the Holy
Ghost. Because of this member and her strong testimony, we were able
to again talk about baptism openly and before she left gave her a
baptismal date for June 16th. Little did we know that later when we
talked to our Elders that they had met with her younger brother just
after church at the same time we had met with her, and had given him
the same exact baptismal date! I don't think that was any sort of
coincidence!

I know that Heavenly Father loves us and I know that He truly directs
this work. I am so extremely humbled and thankful for this opportunity
to be His instrument in bringing this gospel to all of the people of
the world that are searching for the truth! I know that this gospel is
for everyone! It blesses and can bless every person's unique,
individual life!

I love you all!
사랑해요!
커시 자매
Sister Kersey

Letter #66

안녕하세요!

WOW!!! What an incredible week of miracles!!! I cannot even tell you
have extremely humbled and grateful I am for what a special week this
last week was! The feelings of complete love and almost a celestial
living were incredible! I absolutely love having this opportunity to
train two wonderful sister missionaries! What a blessing in my life!

This week we had two occurances where someone from the street saw our
church and came in looking around. We were able to give one a church
tour and the other came yesterday about ten minutes before church
started. She is Korean, but from Russia. She has been learning Korean
for about three years and was visiting Jeju for vacation. We were able
to teach her the Restoration with a member during church. She attends
a different church in Russia, but as we taught, the spirit was
absolutely overwhelming! She completely understood all that we had
explained and practically stole my Book of Mormon, that was in my hand,
away to look at it. After our lesson we told her thank you and asked for
her for her information to give the missionaries in Russia. She is moving back
to Russia so did not have inforation to give us, but was so excited to
find our church again and find the Book of Mormon, in Russian, when she
gets back! She told us thank you so many times and kept telling us
what a peaceful and special feeling she had while meeting with us! She
recognized the spirit and the truthfulness of our message!
I have no doubt that she will find our church again when she goes back
to Russia and will be able to learn the lessons in her first language.
What a special experience and a testimony to me and my two companions!

Throughout my mission, I never been moved upon by the spirit so
directly in how to do missionary work, as I have been this past week.
Even last night I had a distint feeling that we needed to go visit a
member, and that we needed to visit her before we visited a bunch of
other people we had planned to see for the rest of the evening. We brought
her family cookies, said hello, and left. We then started for our
appointments. We had planned to go see an old investigator at her home
and try setting an appointment up with her to meet with the
missionaries again. The missionaries have been trying to meet with her
again for about 4 or 5 years now with no success. As we got
to her apartment, we saw a woman walking out of the elevator. We said
hello and headed up to the apartment. Suddenly that same woman came
running after us and asked us if we were looking for her. We asked her
her name and it was her! We were both shocked and to our even
bigger surprize was that she set up an appointment to meet with us
again!

These are just a few stories of the amazing miracles that we
have been receiving this last week! It is so incredibly amazing and
humbling to be the Lord's tool here in this beautiful area! I feel so
extremely blessed! I know that this is the Lord's work and that He
truly walks with us and does the work with us when we are exactly
obedient and love others in the way that He loves them! I love you all
and how you have a great week!
사랑해요!

커시 자매
Sister Kersey

Letter #65

안녕하세요!

Oh it was so fun to talk to you all today!!!! That just simply made mywhole day! :) I feel like we just talked on Christmas though....timeflies by so, so fast! It is a bad combination when the time keepsgoing by so quickly, but your interest and love for the work justkeeps getting stronger and stronger! I guess I will just never beready to go home!

This week was crazy! Being in Busan for about half of the week was funto see all the other missionaries and work back in my old areas! Wegot to meet the new trainees and they were all so great....so full ofenergy and fire! Wow! I have never seen such an excited group come! Ithink it was really, truly revelation to have 19 year old sistersstart serving missions....they are so full of life, and energy, andjust have a HUGE desire to learn and make a difference! I was able towork with three of the new sisters in a proselyting activity on thesubway and at Busan University! The first girl that I worked with wasan American sister from Missouri who actually was born in Sacramentoand has relatives that used to live in Rancho Cordova! We got alongright away, and when we worked together, in just fifteen minutes, wereceived three contacts from people! I loved working with her and hada feeling that she would be my new trainee....and sure enough, thenext day it was announced that I would be training her! She and I wereboth so excited! I feel like I am serving with me....we are sosimilar! She is already doing so well and I can tell that she is goingto make a HUGE difference here! She is just so excited to do the work,so full of love for Korean people and the culture, and so dedicated todoing the work of the Lord!

In our three-some companionship, with my Korean trainee and nowAmerican trainee, it is a total blast and challenges to try to helpboth of them with their completely separate needs. They are both sosweet and both so patient with each other and the language barrior. Iwas so worried that my Korean trainee would feel left out all the timewith two American companions and her not being able to speak anyEnglish, but I just translate for her and so that she can always bepart of the fun! And even when I am not around, they always find a wayto communicate with one another and have become great friends! I lovejust sitting back and watching them both learn in their own personalfindings and struggles! They are both so kind and patient and full oflove. I don't think I have ever been so tired, but so happy my entiremission!!! :) The feeling with the three of us is something I havenever experienced! We are literally like a family!

So while I was in Busan for training, I suddenly saw a woman and herdaughters from an old ward that I had served in. Back when I servedthere, she and her daughters were less-active and my companions and Itried to visit with them once a week. Before I even saw her, they sawme and came running up to talk to me! They were so happy to see me andinvited me to have dinner with them. Because of the training activitywe were doing, I couldn't meet with them for dinner, but I wascompletely shocked that they even remembered me....and on top of thatthat they wanted to talk to me! I found out later that after I leftthat ward, the mom quit her job and the family started going back tochurch!

Another special experience that I had this week was with a wardmember. After my two companions and I got back to Jeju, we went out todinner with a member that is in her late twenties. We ate dinner andin the restaurant shared a message that I had been prompted to sharewith her. It was on studying the Book of Mormon. During our lesson,she started to cry and said that it always seemed to be that we alwaysshare with her the exact message that she needed to hear. On the carride home, she told me that when she first met me a few months ago,she felt something very different around me. She said that she hadtalked to her fiancé about that as well, and he had the sameimpression. She said that she feels that she would want to be myfriend for her whole life, even after I go back from my mission. Ihave a feeling that one of the biggest reasons that I came to Jeju wasto find her and be her friend throughout the rest of our lives....evenhalf a world away! Experiences like these help me to know that all thehard work that I have been doing throughout this last year and fewmonths is never over-looked and is all worth it.

This morning while on the bus, a woman sat next to my new trainee. Shefinally got up the courage to talk to her, even though she knew thatshe could not understand anything this woman was saying and that shecould barely speak back to the woman. As she talked to this woman, shestarted to introduce her to the Book of Mormon, something that we hadjust gone over how to do the day before in training study. She endedup giving this lady a Book of Mormon! The first time that she hadproselyte here in Jeju, and the absolute first time that she had doneit by herself! And after getting off the bus, this woman gave us herphone number and said that she would meet with us later! This is justa huge testimony builder to me that the Lord will use His servants todo this work. Those that are chosen will be able to do this worksimply through faith on the Savior Jesus Christ. It all comes down tohaving more faith in Him and doing what we have been called todo....preach His gospel!

This is the Lord's work and I know that it is moving forward! I knowthat this gospel is true...that is the only way that we can see themiracles that we see each and every day!

I love you all! Have a great week!

사랑해요!
커시 자매

Sister Kersey

Letter #64

안녕하세요!

Happy Mother's Day this week and Happy Birthday Daddy!!! :)

Well I am actually e-mailing right now from our mission office in Busan! I have been called and asked to continue training my new missionary companion, but also train a brand new missionary coming from the MTC!!! So I flew into Busan this morning and had training meetings today, and will be here until Thursday this week! This should be an absolute blast this next transfer training two new missionaries! I also will now be over nine sisters in my zone! This should be a great next transfer! I am so excited about it, but very humbled by this call! I hope that I can be the leader that this mission needs me to be to train the new missionaries coming in at this exciting time in history!!! 

This last week, my companion and I were able to see a miracle! There is this less-active member in our branch that I have been trying to meet for two transfers now. We had scheduled to go visit her this one evening, but our plans were running behind and it was getting late. We had a little bit of time, and I felt that we should just try to see if she would be home! To our complete surprise, she was home!!! And she let us in. We sat with her and ate food and talked to her about her family and her life. She told us that she really struggles with faith and feels inadequate at church, so refuses to go on Sunday! Her husband and some of her family are not members, so it is hard for her to live the gospel standards in her home. Her family members were there, and we had the opportunity to meet them. They were so kind and we had a great time meeting with them. We shared with her a scripture about giving thanks through prayer. After reading the scripture, she shared her thoughts, and I could see her faith and how strong it was! I told her that she really does have so much faith, and she lighted up like a light-bulb! She was so happy! Her whole demeanor changed! What a beautiful miracle! I have a feeling that we will be able to see this family again really soon and hopefully help the mom see her potential and help the rest of the family learn about the gospel!

We also met with our young investigator along with one of our members this week, to teach her about faith, repentence, and baptism! We invited her to be baptized and she said that she really wanted to be....but later in her life. We invited her to invite her brother to our church, on Saturday, for a special branch party that we were having! They both came and had a great time! We also had one other investigator come and another girl that we found at the Jeju University a few days before! It was a great turn-out and the branch members loved the party! There was food, and games, and the missionaries in our district did a skit of a missionaries' day in the field, had a tap dance from one of the elders, and lots of songs and short movie clips! It was great! The elders really planned the whole thing and did a great job! It was a blast!

The work on Jeju is going great and I feel so blessed with the miracles that we have been seeing here! I am especially blessed to see how completely changed my companion has become and that she is really turning into a fantastic missionary! What a huge blessing to see this!

I love missionary work! I know that this is the time for the work to move forward! There are so many missionaries coming and this is truly the time to harvest the field ...it really is white! And what a beautiful blessing to be here helping this work move forward! I love you all!

사랑해요!

커시 자매

Sister Kersey

Letter #63

안녕하세요!

So there have been a lot of changes going on here in our mission due
to the huge increase of missionaries coming in! President and SisterGilbert have started a new program to help all of the many sisterscoming into our mission field by calling new sister training leadersin each zone. I. along with three other sisters have been assigned tobe the first sister trainer leaders. I will be over the sisters in myzone to call and check on them periodically, look at their keyindicators each week, and go out on exchanges with them in order totrain and teach them how to improve the areas that they are servingin. This calling is just like a zone leader, but it is a sister zoneleader, so we work closely with the elder zone leader in our area. Itwas a really sudden and surprising call! My companion and I were onthe bus coming home from district meeting last week, when suddenlyPresident called and told my companion that we had a mandatory zoneleader meeting that we had to attend the next morning via Skype....hesaid no other details. So the next morning as we set up our Skypeprogram for the meeting, I saw all of the zone leaders through themonitor and realized what was going on. Then the meeting started andPresident announced that we sisters would be the new sisterrepresentatives in our zones. Everyone was shocked with thechange...and it really is great to change our mission, to get set upfor the HUGE wave of sisters coming in! I am so excited!

This week was definitely a successful and fun-filled week! Mycompanion and I met with two former investigators from 2007, one ofwhich has a lot of interest in learning about our church, and one whowould like to learn about our church, but because of circumstancesthat she is living in, cannot openly research our church. We were soexcited that they both met with us, and especially that one of them iswilling to meet some more, even though she studies with about two orthree other churches. She is really trying, and has been trying foryears to find the one church that is the true church, and is longingand craving for her searching to end. We called her last night, andshe said that she has been reading a little from the Book of Mormon,is willing to learn more, and will meet with us for a branch partythat we are having this upcoming week!!!

We also met with one of our young single adult sister's friend thisweek. I have met with her about three times now, but she always isjust quiet and seemed like she had very little interest in what we hadto share. The last time we met with her was a few weeks ago and we hadtaught her how to pray. This week. our member came running to us soexcited and told us that her friend was having a hard time this weekso she tried to pray on her own for the first time. After she prayed, shesaid that she had interest in learning about our church and wanted tomeet with the missionaries again! We met with her this week and taughther about Joseph Smith, the Book of Mormon, and the Restoration. Shewas so receptive to our message and as we left, she sat down andstarted looking at the pictures in the front of the Book of Mormonwith her friend!

This week, we also saw a HUGE miracle with one of our less-activemembers. We have been trying to meet with this sister at least once aweek this whole transfer, and have really developed a strongrelationship with her. She has been attending different churches forthe past few years, and still does not know how to receive answers toher prayers and find what church is really true. When we met with her,her daughter, who has autism, got suddenly very ill and she
was planning on taking her to the hospital the next day to get
checked. We taught her about baptism to have her remember her
baptismal experience and remember the special covenants that she had
made at baptism. She was so receptive to our message and started
telling us about how she is able to feel the spirit giving her peaceas she does the right thing and also, especially about her daughter
being sick. Our message completely changed the look on her face and
almost brought a light to her eyes. We knelt in prayer together and
later that night, prayed specifically for her daughter's health. The
next day, this sister called my companion and I so excited! Sheexplained that she had taken her daughter to the hospital and that she
had no blood and was completely clean! A total miracle!!! She was so
happy and relieved and immediately asked my companion and I to come to
her house to visit and teach her again this next week! Another
miracle....that she first called us, and then actually set up anappointment with us!!!

Yesterday at church, I was asked to give a talk on the Book of Mormon
and how to study the Book of Mormon. This week as I prepared for this
talk, I have realized the powerful affect that the Book of Mormon hashad in my life. From the time I was just a child, reading the Book ofMormon with my family, I came to know that it was true simply by the
feeling that it brought to my heart, and the change in my family's
relationships when we read from it. Now as I read daily from the Book
of Mormon, I receive the same feelings of happiness, peace, and love
that I felt as a child. As I read from the Book of Mormon, Iliterally feel like it is a book written for me specifically from God.
I feel that I can pray to God and ask a question....any question, and
through reading the Book of Mormon, whether by the words, or by mythoughts and feelings while reading it, I receive an answer every time.I know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God, and I know thatbecause we have the Book of Mormon on the earth today, we can and do
know the fullness of Christ's gospel! I know that the Book of Mormon is
true and nothing can change your life more or make you closer to God
and your family, than by reading daily from this magnificent book!!! I
am so grateful for it in my life!!

I love you all so much and am thankful for your love for me!
Have a great week!

사랑합니다!

커시 자매

Sister Kersey