Merry Almost Christmas

Merry Almost Christmas! Thank you to all of you who wrote me this week, especially those who remembered my Christmas request of including your favorite scripture and why. It is always nice to hear about those things, and of course, the updates are nice as well.

As for the conference call, I hope it works and would love to have all of you on the line. I will try calling at 8 AM my time on Dec. 26th. Many of the calling cards are specifically land line to land line or cell phone to cell phone. We can't call from our cell phone, so I will use the number Laura provided and hope it all works. If not, know I love you and I'll talk to you next time around. Thank you for doing that, Laura!

It is still very cold fall weather here, so in many ways it feels absolutely nothing like Christmas. In any case, it is coming quickly. Tomorrow we will go to Busan for a mission wide Christmas party, which should be fun. I'm looking forward to playing guitar on a few musical numbers and being with other missionaries. We will also have a combined ward Christmas party on the 24th at one of the wards where we serve (Pung Ho). Both Jinhae and Pungho ward members will attend. We're hoping to get some of our investigators and less active members to come as well. It is always nice to have an activity where they can feel the spirit and get to know the members better.

This week was a little rough in a few ways. Our most recent converts, Eu Hae En and Lee Yeon Jeong, have had a hard time coming to church lately and have stood us up a few times as we've tried to teach them the new member lessons. They came to sacrament meeting yesterday, but left after that to go somewhere with their friends. This situation has me fairly stressed out. The last thing I want to have happen is for them to jump straight from the baptismal record to the less active list. We have been teaching a lot of teenagers the past few months, and admittedly it can be difficult. I wish I could remember what it was really like to be 15. I don't know that the other Young Women have helped them feel all the welcome, so we are starting there. Regardless, the ward is really good about wanting to help in any way they can, and like us, are worried. I'm grateful for their help. We are praying to know how to help their faith grow.

They were supposed to come with us to a Christmas open house in Busan at President Gilbert's house. We had confirmed several times that they would be able to come, but when we called them at noon on Saturday, they said they couldn't come. We were scheduled to leave at 2 and it would have taken the better portion of the day. We hadn't made much of a back-up plan, but since none of our investigators are progressing right now, we decided to really go through the area book and see what was there. As we looked through both area books we began calling all the people whose contact information we had received. Some of these dated back to over 7 or 8 months ago, so they were understandably confused. "Who is this?? No, I don't remember." Most of the calls were not fruitful, but we called one man who asked if we could meet later that very same day!! Our schedules didn't quite match up, but we were delighted at the prospect. It was a challenge to mask the excitement in our voices on the phone. We will call him today to set something up for this week. We are also going to visit a grandpa this Wednesday who has some interest. It's amazing to me that right when I feel like casting out my faith with unbelief Heavenly Father shows us a minor miracle.

As I've mentioned, most of our investigators are not currently progressing, so we're trying to find the balance between being patient with them and knowing when our time is better spent elsewhere. It's hard to know, but I'm grateful for the spirit and hope to have the faith to follow it. Last night we were knocking doors at an apartment complex near our house and one of the ladies said to come back at 10 AM this morning. So, we received permission to go out a little early today and check back with her. She either didn't answer or wasn't home. Even though she wasn't home I just had the overwhelming feeling that it's okay. Instead of being disappointed it's easier to remember to take a chance on people, to take a chance that they might have real faith. In Preach My Gospel it says something like if you try your best you may still experience disappointments but you will not be disappointed in yourself. I have to remember that. Dad, you might appreciate something that I heard President Eyring say after he was the third person to quote a particular scripture in a conference. He said "Repetition is not boredom. It's inspiration."

So I have been on my mission for 6 months now. Crazy. I still have a lot to learn, but as we refocus our finding efforts, I am hopeful we will be able to help people progress in this gospel. When I remember and focus on the "why" of this work instead of the "what" or "how" I find peace. I have to remember if my efforts are out of love for those around me they are not wasted, even though I have weaknesses and will not be a perfect servant. President Uchtdorf said, "The 'why' of obedience transforms the mundane into the majestic." This is my Christmas hope this year.

As for my favorite scripture right now it is Mosiah 3:5-6:

5 For behold, the time cometh, and is not far distant, that with power, the ^aLord ^bOmnipotent who ^creigneth, who was, and is from all ^deternity to all eternity, shall come down from heaven among the children of men, and shall dwell in a ^etabernacle of clay, and shall go forth amongst men, working mighty ^fmiracles, such as healing the sick, raising the dead, causing the lame to walk, the ^gblind to receive their sight, and the deaf to hear, and curing all manner of diseases.  6 And he shall cast out ^adevils, or the ^bevil spirits which dwell in the hearts of the children of men.

Before my mission I hadn't really thought much about Christ's miracles. But, although this scripture refers to His body in the use of the words "tabernacle of clay," I thought about how a tabernacle of clay could be compared to my heart. If it is maleable and a place where holy inspiration can be sent, then I will see miracles and power of the Atonement happen inside of it. Some mornings, to be honest, I feel a little sick because of my weakness and my fear of not being enough. Through Christ's atonement those feelings go away. Sometimes I don't recognize the spirit, but He reaises me from the spiritually dead when I ask in faith.  Sometimes I sit down on the bus and willingly bind my tongue, but through Christ's atonement I can get up and talk to people, the lame can walk. And, although I walk and often speak blindly, having no idea what to say or how to say it, I see miracles when I am open to recognizing them. All manner of dis-ease is overcome through Jesus Christ. I love Jesus Christ. He has become my friend. I hope I have become His friend too. One of my goals of my mission was to have a heart where Heavenly Father could send inspiration and  know it would be recognized, received, honored and cherished. I don't know that I'm there yet, but how grateful I am that every day I have the opportunity to try to serve others better. I truly stand all amazed at the love He offers me.
All of you are profound evidence of His love in my life. Thank you. Merry Christmas.
Love you and I'm looking forward to talking to you.
Julia