a novel!

Hello hello!

As Megan would say, "double talker, double talker!" Ha. I had
forgotten about that until I wrote hello two times. It was really nice
to hear from many of you this week! I also received packages from both
Laura & Robert and Megan & Nick. Thank you! You will hear more from me
about these lovely surprises soon.

This week was a good one. Even though almost every single one of our
scheduled appointments fell through, our faith grew. Faith has the
unique ability to mask disappointment, and even more than that, to
help us realize the significance of agency and overcome
disappointment.

To be honest, during this companionship we have been kind of lazy
about talking to everyone. We tried to identify what sometimes holds
us back, but no inventory works quite as well as just pushing through
those walls of fear and really trying to do what we've been called to
do.

Earlier this week we had an hour before an appointment and had planned
to Cacahoho (knock doors) at an apartment building about three blocks
from our house. It was about 1 in the afternoon. On the way there we
probably passed 10 people and only said "Anyeonghasayo!" and let the
conversation die there. We started from the top of the apartment
building and knocked. After about 20 minutes and only two people who
even admitted to being home, we decided our time was probably better
spent outside where people are on the street. So, we went down there
and we started talking. It felt great. Even when people don't listen,
there is a great reassurance we are doing what we're supposed to be
doing.

Judging others is always wrong, but I have been relieved when Heavenly
Father shows me just how quickly they are wrong. I sometimes group
people into categories in my mind (i.e. a grandma who is probably too
set in her ways, a grandpa who looks mean, a student who looks like
they probably don't care about the meaning of life etc.). These are
lies! Sometimes they're true, but the way I have overcome it is by
thinking of each of my friends. Yes, we are the same age and social
status and have similar interests, but our personalities are so
different and our response to the gospel is so different. When I
realized this it became obvious we just have to talk.

Two days ago we had finished eating pizza at Mr. Pizza. Innovative, I
know. Anyway, there was a lady at the crosswalk. We said hello.
Sometimes our conversation ends there, but Sister Yeon forged ahead.
Besides telling us that we smelled like pizza, the lady was initially
cold, but she warmed up a little after we talked about why we were in
Korea and asked about her family. It was quiet for a second and then
she asked if we really believed in God. We were able to testify that
he exists, loves us, and that he wants to help each one of us. She
even stopped to continue the conversation as we prepared to go
separate ways. Even though she didn't want to meet later, she had
light in her eyes, got our number and accepted some pamphlets. Who
knows what will happen later.

I sometimes wonder if the story of Nephi and Laman and Lemuel, besides
being chronologically first, is the first story we really encounter in
The Book of Mormon because Heavenly Father knew so many of us would,
resolving to once again consistently read The Book of Mormon, read
that story again and again and again. We need it, right? As the
primary song goes, "Laman and Lemuel were both afraid to try, Nephi
was courageous and this was his reply...." We just have to try.

I don't have a grand miracle of the week, but I heard about one.
Sister Gilbert told us about the senior couple who is serving in
Busan--The Allreds. Neither of them speak Korean, but they do their
best to share the gospel everywhere they go. Elder Allred says a
prayer before he gets on the bus that he will recognize and talk with
whoever it is he needs to talk with. He got on a bus a few months ago
and in the back of the bus there was an African man reading a book
about Jesus Christ in English. He took that to be his answer and
walked back there and talked with him. The man was studying in Korea
to be a preacher for a Presbyterian church. He spoke English well. As
they talked Elder Allred told him he had a gift for him. They arranged
to meet again at the religious school the man attended. Elder and
Sister Allred went outside the school and waited. Three or four times
school officials came and told them essentially, "you Mormons can't be
here." They told them they were just waiting for a friend. When the
man came out they gave him a copy of The Book of Mormon and he said he
would read it. He did and enjoyed it quite a bit. The school became
aware that he had met missionaries so they booked him up completely on
Sundays so he couldn't attend our church services. He recently
finished at the school and went to dinner with The Allreds and The
Gilberts. He said to them, "I have a problem. I know my church isn't
true. Yours is. But I have an obligation to continue being a minister
because of this school." He didn't know what to do, but he has now
returned to his hometown in Africa. He lives in a remote town where
transportation services are limited. It takes him 5 hours by bus to
meet with the missionaries and then he has to stay over night and ride
back, 5 hours by bus. He does this though, and he goes home and
teaches his family about the gospel. He will eventually be baptized,
but until then will continue this pattern of life.

This story touched me. If a senior couple from Spanish Fork, Utah who
speak no Korean are doing all they can to open their mouths in the
situations given them, then of course I can do it, and of course
miracles, immediate or not, will follow.

I read Isaiah 55:8-13 a few days ago:

 8 ¶For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my
ways, saith the Lord.

 9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways
higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.

 10 For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and
returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring
forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the
eater:

 11 So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall
not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please,
and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.

 12 For ye shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace: the
mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and
all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.

 13 Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir tree, and instead of
the brier shall come up the myrtle tree: and it shall be to the Lord
for a name, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.

I realized that sometimes we're the rain and we don't get to see the
fruits of our labor, but we labor anyway. But sometimes we get to see
the fruits of our labor. It just depends. True faith is laboring
because we love God and we want to help him without the need to see
the miracle that follows our faith. I am trying to get there and happy
as I try! I love you all!

Julia