Letter - 5/5/14

Dear Family and Friends,

Many of you are probably wondering about my new companion and my first week of the new transfer. Well my new companion is amazing! Sister Ward is from Cotton Heights Utah and has been in Korea for 10 months so a missionary for a year. She is so sweet and super patient with me as I try to fill her in on the information about the area. She loves to sing and is amazing at it. Our companionship study always starts off well because of her beautiful singing voice! I love her already! We are going to have a fun transfer and I am really looking forward to it. I have so much to learn from her and so much to learn as I try to show her the area and make missionary work happen here in 화곡.

I am not going to lie I was so nervous to stay in my area and have to inform my new companion on all the information about the area, the ward and investigators. I did not think I could do it but I just turned to the Lord for comfort and that is exactly what He gave me. We have had so much fun the last few days and are continually reassured that this is the Lord's work and He is going to fulfill His purpose no matter what. I am really learning how to use the Lord's time wisely and that's exactly what I want to learn because I know this time as a missionary really is so short! I was able to go throughout the past few days without getting lost. well yeah, let’s just say we are enjoying the moment and learning our area really well and fulfilling our purpose as missionaries.

This week in my personal study I decided to have a daily favorite scripture that I found while studying and would like to share some of them with you. First D&C 122, all things that we experience are for our good. Heavenly Father has work for each of us to do and we must experience hardships and trials in order to do His work and understand His will. Then these next scriptures all kind of go together for one day D&C 11:19-20, D&C 12, D&C 6:34-37. My work is to keep the commandment of God. Through this we can cleave unto Him with all our heart and we can assist bringing His light to others. It will take patience to accomplish but as long as we do the will of the Lord He will not allow us to fail.  None of us can assist in the marvelous work unless we develop and strive to become like Christ, humble, full of charity, having faith and love. The Lord speaks to all who desire to participate in the work. If we have a desire then let’s get to work!  Build upon the rock, our Savior, and look unto Him always. He will never fail us and that is why we can build our foundation upon His teachings. But the most important of all is taking action so for the last scriptures I want to share are Jame 1:22 and Helaman 10:4-5. We must take action. This gospel requires actions. We cannot just be hearers of the work we must be doers. We must make things happen and let the Lord see us DO!! The way to make things happen is through first obtaining His word, seeking His will, declaring His work and then ACTING on whatever He gives you.

I do want to share one story with you that was really hard for me but I learned so much from it and learned to act through testifying. On Saturday we were visiting less actives and ran into two older ladies who were so sweet at first and I thought were sincerely interested in the Book of Mormon so we continued to talk with them. They took us to the nearest park where we sat down and talked. They soon transitioned quickly to telling us that our religion is wrong and that we can't speak Korean so how can we teach people or even talk to people and asked why we were here. Both Sister Ward and I did not understand everything but we just testifed to them as they just continued to talk at us. I invited them to read the introduction of the Book of Mormon so they could receive a better explanation of the book through its pages rather than my broken Korean but they did not even accept that invitation and just said it was wrong without even reading it. As they talked to us I felt terrible because I wasn't able to defend my faith very well because I can't speak a lot of Korean but now as I reflect back I realize that my testimony is all that is needed. My testimony is the strongest thing that I have and both Sister Ward and I testified to them that we know the Book of Mormon is true and that's why we are here in Korea. I realized I don't have to defend I just have to state what I know to be true and that is all that is required. I know the Book of Mormon is true and if you read it sincerely you will know too. I am glad that I had this experience where I was able to testify. Although they quickly rejected the Book of Mormon and were not open to giving it a chance they at least know about it now and somewhere a seed was planted in their hearts. I love this missionary opportunity that I have been given and for the opportunity I have to share and testify of the gospel daily. I know this church is true and that it brings true happiness to all those who live by its teachings. I am so grateful to be in the Lord's service and am cherishing the moment. I love and miss each of you! I hope you each have a wonderful week! Thank you for your prayers, love and support! Always remember to smile and that everyday is a good day if you believe it to be!! LOVE YOU and MISS each of you!

Love,
드리스콜자매
Sister Ciarra Jean Driscoll