Good morning or whatever time it is when you read this!
Thanks for your letters! I received a birthday package from Laura and Robert this week. Thank you! I neglected to mention the name of the one CD I already had...it happens to be the same one you bought, but it was a burned copy, so now I own it legally. Thank you for helping me keep the laws of the land. I'm sure those we're teaching and I will be blessed for it. Ha! But really, it was great to hear from you and so nice of you to send something. Grandma and Grandpa, I also received your Christmas and Birthday cards and something will be coming your way soon! Thank you.
This week was a little bit rough around the edges. Nothing ever goes as planned, but we still have to plan. Ha. I know that Heavenly Father blesses us for carrying out our plans in faith and changing them according to the sometimes very subtle and small promptings of the spirit.
This very well may be my last week with Sister Yeon. This is my third transfer in this area and President is setting people up to train the next transfer after this one, in which there will be 5 new sisters coming to the Busan mission. I wouldn't be surprised if Sister Yeon ends up training here in Jinhae, but we'll see. We find out next transfer's fate on Thursday night. I have mixed emotions about the whole thing. I want to stay, but I want to go. Ha, in case you didn't understand the meaning of mixed emotions I have now defined it for you. There are a lot of good members and people here in this area, but I have been here since before Halloween, so a change of scenery wouldn't be bad either.
I would be most sad about leaving those we're teaching. On Saturday we were able to teach Brother B. again. He came to the church for the lesson, so it was a much more toned down experience than the drunken men flipping over tables episode. We had a member come teach with us, which was nice. She is a less active woman who is about 27 and went on a mission. I think she felt a little inadequate, but we were really grateful for her. Brother B. listened well and seemed to be relatively receptive. The Joseph Smith story is understandably hard to believe, but when we told him there was a way he could know for himself whether or not what we were saying is true, he seemed relieved. We challenged him to start reading The Book of Mormon and to pray about it. He said he sometimes has hopes that he expresses in his head, but that act is the closest he's ever been to praying before. We taught him how to pray and recognize answers to his prayer and then invited him to say the prayer at the end of the lesson. He did so willingly and offered a really sincere prayer. As soon as he finished he laughed and mentioned how hard it was. We were impressed. He is a deep thinker, but stays open to his feelings and seems quite intuitive. He came to sacrament meeting yesterday, and, contrary to anything we've seen of him so far, he seemed a little overwhelmed. He left immediately afterward and sent us a text message while he was walking by the ocean...I can only imagine how overwhelming it might be to be thrown into this unfamiliar culture, but we will contact him today and see how he's doing.
Once again, as I let Him, Heavenly Father proved my incorrect judgments wrong. Talking to people is still hard, but we have to give them a choice, and they don't have one if we don't say something. The immediacy of mercy and peace that fills my heart when we do what we're supposed to still shocks me. It shouldn't, because I've been watching it happen again and again my whole life, but I know God hears and answers every prayer and rewards every faithful effort. It's really true.
I love all of you!
Thank you for your prayers, letters and support.
Love,
Julia
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