Apr 1: It's april 1st!

hello family! tomorrow is transfers again! i'm staying in huntington, and my new companion will be sister bojorquez. i'm realllly excited because i've met sister bojorquez a few times and she's really great. she will be my first companion who has been out longer than me (besides my trainer), so that will be nice, because i still feel like i don't know what i'm doing half the time, haha.

 

sister burner and i made easter eggs to pass out to kids. in the eggs we put in a piece of candy and a scripture reference. well apparently we got one of our scripture references wrong. we meant to write matthew 28:5-6, but we wrote matthew 27:5-6 instead, and that's not good because that's when judas commits suicide. oh well, children will learn about that story sooner or later anyways.

 

had some beautiful baptisms! we called it our flower baptisms because it was for 2 girls named ---- and -----. they are not related and didn't know each other, but i guess now they do because they were baptized at the same time. one of them almost didn't get baptized because some people were telling her we don't believe in God but we believe in jose smith instead. she didn't meet with us for a few days, and it worried us alot. but she said she prayed about it and felt so good, and she was telling us this while she was crying. so since we missed so many days meeting her, we had to cram most of the lessons in 1 hour the day before her baptism interview. but it all went so good. so so so so good.

 

i've always been a sensitive person, but i think my mission has made me even more sensitive. i cried so many times this week. one time was at a funeral for a man that i had only met for 2 minutes. but i started crying when his mom was speaking. i couldn't imagine having to speak at my own child's funeral. you could hear how she was grieving. but she also had so much hope in her voice because she knew she would see her son again and that he was in a better place. another time when i cried was yesterday during one a sacrament meeting easter program. there were little primary kids singing, "gethsemaneeeee! jesus loves meeeeee!" and i couldn't help it! it was so precious! ahh i'm a nutcase now, hahahahaha.

 

this week is the mission's semianual temple trip! i'll be going to the manti temple, and i'm so excited!!!!!!! i've ony seen pictures and it looks gorgeous! it's the second temple built in utah. st. george is the first. i'm in love with st. george.

 

love you all!!!

sister kim

Mar 25: huntington is crazy

Hello family and friends!

 

Everyday is so busy and crazy. Eeeee!

 

Last Monday, this great family named the -------'s took us to the desert and showed us around! It was pretty awesome. I want to take all of you there someday! We saw a dinosaur footprint and Indian pictures that are 1000-2000 years old. We also did some hiking and climbing. So much fun! Also made me super exhausted. The -------'s are pretty great. The mom is a member and the dad is a Catholic. He is very respectful of missionaries and is very kind.

 

Something not so exciting happened, but I keep on thinking about it. Sister Burner and I went to go visit a less active family. Outside the house were 5 or 6 tough guys  just staring at the sky. I went to that group and looked at the sky with them and asked, "what are we looking at?" and one of the guys just said in a soft voice, "pigeons. They're doing backward somersaults in the air." and then i saw a big group of pigeons just flying back and forth, but i didn't see any do backward somersaults. this town is so strange sometimes!!!!!!!!!!

 

a tragedy did happen earlier this week. huntington is a coal mining town, so just about everyone works with oil or in the coal mines. on friday there was a terrible coal mining accident, and one person was killed. He just lives a few blocks from us (well i guess everyone just lives a few block from us). he is a young father. the whole town knows him and his family, and it's just all so sad. there have been a few coal mining accidents and explosions here. it's a dangerous job.

 

another thing pertaining to death happened this week. Sister Burner and I are teaching a couple named --- and -----. they have a less active friend, -------- who has been coming to the lessons too. one night we went over, and when we came in --------'s brother was there. we had never met him before. he had a cigarette in his hands and said out of respect  he didn't want to shake our hands, and then he just quietly left the room. that day, our lesson was on the second part of the plan of salvation, which is what happens after death. -------- had a lot of questions.. the next morning, ----- gave us  a call and informed us that -------'s brother had passed away the previous night because he overdosed. it was so surreal. so that day we brought -------- a picture of the savior and shared with her john 16:33. it was neat because the baptist pastor was there too, and he was very respectful as well. it was just so strange, it's hard to describe the feeling. we had just seen him the night before. who knew that a few hours later, he would be gone from this world.

 

we are teaching a less active woman named ------. i was actually mission companions with her daughter in the visitors center for a week! (it was with sister halton back in september). We adore her so much! she owns a hair salon, and she cut our hair this morning. she also gave us free shampoo and told us to stop using drugstore stuff haha.

 

it's been a roller coaster week. spent a lot of time on my knees because this part of my mission is so new from what i experienced at the visitors center, and i need the lord more than ever. but it's been through these experieneces that i've come to feel heavenly father and jesus christ more and more.

 

i love you all, and i hope you have a wonderful easter. what a marvelous holiday. please continue to pray for me. i will continue to pray for you. :)

 

love, sister kim

Mar 18

Hi family!

 

The snow has finally melted in Huntington, but I hear there are a few more storms coming up. :( And apparently, without fail, it always rains on Easter.

 

I took some pictures of the empty country land that is Huntington. i also took pictures of my new spanish name tag. it's very cool.

 

Love is really hard to do. When people can freely love, that truly is a gift. I'm  starting to finally see that missionary work is all about love. I thought I knew that before, but I guess I didn't really know. Our lessons for our investigators need to be guided by the spirit and by our love for them  to grow and progress to be closer with heavenly father and jesus. it's not about making sure they get everything on the teach record so we can baptize them.. missionaries have a special responsibility to teach people about the gospel. they have the authority to do that that no one else in the church has, except for the 12 apostles. but, if missionaries don't take time to also reach out to less actives or help the leadership when they can or build up the members' morale, then there is something wrong in their heart. missioanry work is about loving everyone. it's about loving investigators even if they don't want to be baptized. it's about being their friends forever. christ always took the time to help the one. that is so hard to do.

 

missioanry work is also about humility. i've met quite a few missionaries who think their special call as a missionary makes them better than other members of the church, even the leaders of the church. they think there is something wrong with a ward if there isn't a lot of member support. if that's what they think, then there is something wrong with them.. then they don't truly understand what their calling is.

 

i don't know if that makes sense. i've just been thinking a lot about what it means to be a missionary and a member of christ's church, and what it means to be just a decent human being. we are all sinners. we truly are. membership in the church does not make you any better than anyone else. membership does bring blessings though. nevertheless, we are all just sinners trying to be happy in this life.

 

well i have to go. i love you all! and thanks for your emails! easter is in less than 2 weeks yay! and then general conference!

 

love, sister kim

Mar 11: Hi

Lots of great things happened this week! We started teaching an 11 year old girl, and she loves going to church. We only had our second lesson with her yesterday, but she said she wanted to get baptized. Her mom said she is so proud of her, which is interesting because her mom is not a member. Tender mercy!!! It feels like we've met a few investigators like her this week. Heavenly Father has just been dropping investigators in our laps from the sky. So so so so so so so so grateful. For a while the work was going slow here.

 

It snowed a lot here over the weekend, but a lot of it has melted thank goodness. As we drive from house to house and we see all the sheep and the horses and goats and the donkies and the cows that are outside, it makes me wonder how they can stand the snow and the cold! But today is very nice. I'm not even wearing my coat outside, just my cardigan.

 

Hmm, I don't really know what to write about. Everyday we do the same thing. It's a much more repetitive schedule than when I was the at VC. We wake up at 6:30 and have studies between 8-11 AM. And then we have lunch and go out and proselyte between 12 and 9. usually we have a lot of appointments. Sometimes they fall through, sometimes only 1 or 2 cancel. We always try to talk to as many people as we can. We are always busy. We come home exhausted. We have daily planning from 9-9:30 and then we go to bed by 10:30. Even though our schedule is the same everyday, they are not boring. They are always filled with people telling us to get off their property or crazy dogs barking at us or appointments in which people really do want to learn. A lot of times we come home smelling like cigarettes because we go into so many smokers' homes it's crazy! but i love it. everyone is great no matter what their lifestyle is like.

 

be strong! be happy! just keep on going, it will all work out! that's a quote pres hinckley said, but i don't know the exact wording.

 

i love you!

sister kim

 

ps

i forgot my camera cord again :( so lots of pictures next week!

Mar 4: already march wow

hello everyone!

 

boo, I wanted to send some pictures, but I left my USB cord at home. next week I will send some!

 

Last week we had DTM, so i got to meet my district for the first time. Other than our companionship, everyone else is training. I'm still trying to get to know the other elders because i've never served with any of them before, except for Elder Dallon, our district leader.

 

We had some neat miracles this week. There is one girl, -------, who is 9, and the sisters have been trying to contact her for months. We finally got a hold of them, and their family is absolutely in love with me...because I am Asian...she thinks my eyes are pretty....ahhahahahahahahaha. There is no diversity in this town so everyone thinks I am fascinating.

 

We were tracting one trailer court and we met this tiny woman named -----. She must be 4 and a half feet tall and is so so so so skinny because she's been smoking nonstop for years. Her voice is very scratchy. BUT she has the strongest hugs and a gigantic spirit. She and her husband attend the Baptist church here. Her husband, ---, used to be a preacher but he describes himself as "fallen" and is too ashamed to go to church because he has some addictions. He is racked with guilt, it is very sad. Well we read the title page of the book of mormon with them, and they were just talking a lot about the godhead, but the spirit was in the room and it touched their hearts, and they basically taught themselves that the book of mormon is scripture. so right then and there we invited them to come to church, and they were so excited. i've never seen someone so happy to come to church before. in fact i don't think i've ever been that excited to come to church. it made sister burner and me very happy.

 

we are also teaching this wonderfulllll woman named ------. her daughter served a mini mission in st. george this past summer, and we were companions for a week. i love this family!!! ------ is starting to come back to church, and it's really humbling to see her life change. meeting her was a great comfort for me because i really don't know why i'm serving here in huntington.

 

did i tell you already that huntington is president leonard's (mission pres) hometown? so everyone knows him, and i got to see the house he grew up in. it was cool.

 

sometimes, i come home and i smell like cigarettes because we are teaching a lot of people who smoke.

 

sorry family, i gained weight. i just thought i'd prepare you for that before you see me next in a picture or something. hehehehe.

 

it's so exciting to hear about the new missions in washington!!!! the work there is boooming!

 

love you all! thank you for your prayers. it helps me so so s os so sososso much.

 

letters also help me too! feel free to write me anytime!

 

sister kim

Feb 25: (no subject)

Hi family and friends,

 

Wow, my mission has changed so much. I arrived in Huntington last Tuesday, and it's soooo different from St. George. This is a tiny town. It's 9 blocks by 9 blocks, and just about all of the people grew up here and don't have a desire to leave. They think it's the best place in the world, haha. It's a very peaceful place, and the members are so welcoming. We get fed a LOT of food. Especially meat and potatoes. We get that everyday. I'm definitely going to gain weight, but maybe that's a good thing because it's so cold here! I need more fat to keep warm!

 

We also cover two other towns, Cleveland and Elmo. They are bigger than Huntington but have a smaller population. Those places are mainly just farm land and green pastures. There are so many cows and horses here. I'll have to send some pictures sometime soon. This place is so small!!!!!!!!!

 

My companion is Sister Burner. She's from Chico, CA (northern ca) and is called spanish speaking, so does most of the talking in spanish. but i'm learning how to pray in spanish, and i get language study everyday. We're teaching 1 solid spanish investigator and have a ton more spanish potential investigators.

 

Love you all! Please write me when you can!!!

 

Sister Kim

Feb 18: Bye Bye St George!

Hello family,

I'm getting transferred! I've been in Buena Vista for so long! Tomorrow I'm leaving the VC at 9 AM and will be going to Huntington, Utah. It's in the eastern part of the state and will take 4 hours to get there. I'm going to get so car sick, ugh. Sister Eyre started her mission in Huntington, and she's in love with the area. It's a tiny town that is 8 blocks by 8 blocks. It's a coal mining area. Very country. I might die. It's a bilingual area too, so I'll get to do language study for spanish. I'm going to try and see if I can get a spanish name tag, oh that would be so cool!!!! My new companion will be Sister Burner. I'll be her follow-up trainer. I don't know much about her except that she's from California and is around 5 feet tall. Huntington is also our mission president's hometown, so that's cool. But it's so TINY and so COLD!

It was a busy weekend because of the holiday and there are lots of baseball and soccer tournaments going on here. We were assigned to serve at Brigham Young's home from 9am-3pm on Sunday but didn't get out until 4:15 and were late to a meeting. I was so mad! And there were some visitors from northern utah who were cranky because they had to wait so long for a tour. I wanted to be like "come on this is a FREE tour by some missionaries, you don't have much to complain about" but i didn't say anything and i'm still in the process of repenting for being mad.

Anyway, my p day for the next 6 weeks will be on Monday. 

Overall it was a good week. Got mad at a few missionaries and a few visitors, and I felt really chastized by the Spirit. But that's normal, haha. It's been really sad to tell the people in Buena Vista that I'm leaving...it's made me realize just how many friends I've made here. I feel very blessed.

Have a happy day! :)

Love,

Sister Kim

Feb 13: not so great quality pictures sorry

Hiiiii!

This is the last week of transfers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am definitely being transferred out of buena vista and the visitors center next transfer. it will be exciting and weird and scary!!!!!!!!!!! Next transfer we are getting 3 new sisters (2 are from america and are called french speaking while the 3rd is from france but is called english speaking) and THIRTY new elders! ahhh!!!! and some of them are 18. they were born in 1995 whoa!!!!!!!!!!!

not a day goes by in which i don't feel inadequate yet so good about myself. it's hard learning to rely 100% on the Lord. i think the only thing that stops missionary work from going forth is pride.

I love you all! And does anyone know what today is??? It's Catherine Howard's 471st death day! catherine howard was henry viii's 5th wife and the 2nd one to be beheaded. she broke the seventh commandment, which is thou shalt not commit adultery. but then henry committed the 6th commandment which is thou shalt not kill. i wonder what they are doing now in the spirit world.

ok i love you all! and the Lord loves us! 

 4 O ye people of these ^agreat cities which have fallen, who are descendants of Jacob, yea, who are of the house of Israel, how oft have I ^bgathered you as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and have ^cnourished you.

 5 And again, ^ahow oft would I have gathered you as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, yea, O ye people of the house of Israel, who have fallen; yea, O ye people of the house of Israel, ye that dwell at Jerusalem, as ye that have fallen; yea, how oft would I have gathered you as a hen gathereth her chickens, and ye would not.

 6 O ye house of Israel whom I have ^aspared, how oft will I gather you as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, if ye will repent and ^breturn unto me with full purpose of ^cheart.

love, sister kim

Feb 5 - Hello

There is a lot of talk of changes coming to the mission. I think most of them will happen right before I leave (it's weird that the end is coming in sight...).  The 19 year old sisters will probably start coming in late spring. We're getting 60 extra new missionaries and no new cars, so many areas are turning into biking areas. We will also start doing more less active work. Change makes me antsy.

Had a Korean tour the other day. It was with 3 girls who are staying here for 2 months to be teacher's aids. They're all teaching majors. We had a really good time. I got their email addresses so we can stay in touch, and one of them said if I'm ever in Korea I need to call her so she can show me around. I gave each of them an english and korean book of mormon, the living christ, and the family proc. one of the girls said she went to a mormon church in korea before, and she liked how friendly it was. i hope i get to see them again.

I've become a lot more sensitive in my mission. We had a lesson with Bro. ----- the other day (the guy who looks like a jewish santa claus) and he just isn't progressing...he is so stubborn and so hard headed and so frustrating. during our last lesson i didn't feel the spirit, so i looked at sister eyre and i whispered to her, "do you feel the spirit?" and she said "no." then i felt this prompting that it was time to drop him. and then i just started crying and crying and snot was coming out of my nose and it was so gross. ----- ----- was like, "ahh! did i say something to offend you?" and our fellowshippers were probably really confused because it was so random. i don't know why i love ----- ----- so much. he always gets off topic and is kind of smelly. but all he wants is to be happy and he has a good heart. ughhh.

hey i don't know if i told you guys yet. my trainer, sister jensen, is engaged. she has been for a while. she went home in late october and by december she was engaged. she's getting married in april. crazy!!!!!

Lately I've been eating lots of rice and marie calendars chicken pies. so yummy! i also made kimchi fried rice a few days ago. mmm!

love you all! until next week! (oh yeah this week my p day is on tuesday. next week it will be back to wednesday)

sister kim

Jan 30: Best day of my mission so far wowowowowowow

On Saturday, J------, E---, and E---- were baptized, and it was a very very happy day. Ahh it's hard to describe it. I think we first met this family in November. I talked to their grandparents then, and they said all they want is for their grandchildren to be baptized and happy. J------ was always the stubborn one, and he was the biggest miracle of all, that he had a change of heart. At the baptism, I met the grandparents again, and it was like a family reunion. I feel like we're all going to be forever friends which is so corny but it makes me so happy too. We are all family! The grandparents said something very sweet to me. They commented that I had been in the area a long time and that it must be so great that I got see the kids from start to finish, and I said yes, it was a huge blessing. They started to cry and said they think that this family is the reason why I've been in Buena Vista for so long, that I was meant to help them. I honestly don't think that's true, but it was very nice of them to say that, and it touched me. Also, the mom hugged me a long time and said thank you a lot and said I impacted their family forever. wowowow it made me so happy, yet dumb at the same time because I really didn't do anything. I just taught the missionary lessons and loved them. I don't know how to describe it. I know I helped them, but I wasn't the only one who could have done that. Nevertheless, I am grateful I know them and I hope I'll be in contact with them forever. I want to be friends with them and invite them to my wedding and visit their future families and be at J------'s missionary farewell and all that good stuff. I didn't think I could feel this kind of love before. Wow, I should write a song or something.

The rest of the week has been up and down. I made a few dumb mistakes in lessons but that's the beauty of the Atonement, it helps me not to beat myself up. I'm grateful it's P day. I'm pooped out. Whee.

Love,
Sister Kim

Jan 23: Weekly email

Hi,

On Monday, the community people shook all the pecan trees on the street outside the temple, so pecans were everywhere on the ground. That's what the pictures are of. 

001.jpg This is Elder Hewstone. He's from Sidney, Australia. He was a temple president there. He is very funny and humble and has a very thick accent and is a cute old man. He has no hair and likes to wear a bright red beanie. He was very excited to fill his backpack up with pecans.

002.jpg Sister Tapusoa is one of my favorite sisters at the VC. She's from new zealand and is tall.

003.jpg Me and my long hair and pecans.

004.jpg My companion and me. She's 6 feet tall. Like xena.

I'm kind of in a cranky mood because the elders here are making me mad but this week has really been great. 3 kids are getting baptized this weekend. it's going to be so powerful. the oldest kid used to not believe in God, but now he's like...I don't know what happened to him. we would always ask him to pray but he never would, but somewhere along the line he did and it was a good experience for him. This is the family where the dad died in a car accident a few months ago.

The transfer has been good. I love Sister Eyre. I've never had a companion I didn't like. We always have our problems, but they never escalate to anything huge. Anyway, Sister Eyre is great. I've already learned a lot on how to be a harder worker from her. Also, a lot of sisters that I love who were serving away from the VC are now back! ahhh so so so so happy! It's also a weird transition period. We have new VC director, Elder Watkins. He and his wife are from San Diego. He was a mission president somewhere and he used to be an FBI agent. but he's so nice like a flower. also, all the leadership positions have changed except for me. This is my last transfer as a lead trainer. We have a new lead trainer that I serve with and 3 brand new lead shift sisters. I'm kind of burned out, and these sisters are excited to serve, so it's a good thing that I'm leaving soon.

I think next transfer I am definitely being moved away from the VC and will do full proselyting work. I don't know how I feel about that. Every other area in this mission is small farm country. I think I will go crazy but that is okay I'm probably already crazy.

We're teaching a sweet sweet man named ------. He has overcome a drinking problem and just wants his family to be happy. Seeing him makes me happy. 

There's a new asian sister here, Sister Lim. She is from singapore. she speaks great english and chinese (duh) and also korean. whoa! so maybe she can teach me hahahaha.

my mission is going by fast. it makes me sad. i love helping people and learning about myself but most of all i love just being close to heavenly father and jesus christ. i think the rest of my life will be spent just trying to be as close to them again as i am now. wow i am a sensitive soul. and i think i'll also spend the rest of my life sleeping. i am very tired! haha.

(0)(0)
 (^_^)
(  0  )3 <--bunny

i love you all. thank you for your prayers and thoughts. it really does make a difference in my day. =) and i hope you all know that i pray for you all too.
love, sister kim