Letter - 6/30/14

Family and Friends,
Well first of Happy 4th of July this week. I was thinking if I were home what would I be doing during the 4th of July weekend and then remembered its the biggest weekend of rodeo! How could I forget! Anyways good luck to my sisters who are going to be competing this week go stir up some dust.

This past week was full of adventures.

 Last Monday I mentioned that we would be meeting with a new investigator and we did. She is amazing! We met her at the church and she is just ready and willing to learn. We do the English program with her and she really struggles with English so it is interesting to teach because Sister Ward and I are still not that great at Korean but we got through it.  She doesn't have a religious background but she is so willing to do anything. We talked alot about God and who He is. We testified to her that He is our Heavenly Father who loves us. Sister Ward testified saying to the investigator "I know God loves you." When Sister Ward said that 유성은 asked How can I know that which then transitioned us into the wonderful power of prayer. We told her that it is through prayer in which we communicated with our Heavenly Father. She said she hadn't prayed since she was really really young do we taught her how to pray. I then felt prompted at the end of the lesson to ask her to give the closing prayer. At first she was a little hesitant but she prayed at the end of the lesson!!! She showed a huge step of faith and I am so grateful I was able to witness it. It was such a simple prayer thanking God just for the opportunity to meet with the missionaries but is was perfect. It was a prayer of complete gratitude which I am learning about most of my prayers are out of complete gratitude to Heavenly Father. After she prayed she asked if she could take the pamphlet that we were teaching out of about the first lesson and of course we let her and then she asked if she could see the church. We showed her the church and she really enjoyed it. We showed her the chapel and the Spirit was really special. I cannot express how much joy I was in my heart. 유성은 is a precious daughter of God and I am privileges to help her come to that knowledge.

Tuesday was kind of a rough day but the Lord was on the look out for me! I was just kind of on an emotional roller coaster and about everyday I tell Sister Ward how badly I just want to see a blue sky in the afternoon and stars at night. I know super silly and simple but it was a big deal for me that day when I looked up in the sky and saw blue. I was almost in tears I was so happy and then that night as we were walking home I was really down on myself because we had just done Ward Mission Council and I did not understand a thing but I looked up into the sky walking home and saw a star. In Korea especially the city of Seoul that is rare so I am so grateful I was able to recognize the small blessings that God gave me that day that truly turned my day around and allowed me to realize that He really does know my needs and the desires of my heart. It truly made up for the rough day as I reflected on the little blessings that manifest God's love for me.

Wednesday Sister Ward and I left District meeting seeking for guidance from the Spirit on where to go and where God needed us that night. We humbly kneeled in our study room and Sister Ward offered a prayer seeking for guidance. When we ended the prayer we just sat there staring at the map of our area for about 10  minutes and finally we shared our thoughts that we received and pondered. We ended up going to an area that we don't visit a lot but have a few times. We both felt good about the area so we were off for an adventure with the guidance from the Spirit. We went walking the streets and nothing was coming. People were rejecting us and then there would be no people at all and I began to question of if this is really where we were supposed to be and just then an old man drove up in his truck hopped out and asked if we were missionaries for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the ones who teach English. We said uh why yes we are! Well we got his information and he will be attending English class this week! It was really neat because never does a person stop their car hop out and talk to the Mormon Missionaries. Yeah it doesn't really ever happen here. Then not even 10 minutes later we ran into a lady and she absolutely loves and then next thing I know she is holding Sister Ward's hand and we are following her to I though maybe her house. Well it wasn't her house we ended up at her church!!! I was a little unsettle with the situation especially when the lady was calling for her minister. I thought oh no. Well it all turned out being okay and one lady was interested in our English program so we gave her a pamphlet but I feel the true reason God led us to that place was for a little girl who she she saw us completely lit up. The minute she saw us she was like a ray of sunshine. When I though about that little girl at the end of the night chills filled my body and I am confident that is one of the reasons so that little girl could see these two foriegner missionaries representing Jesus Christ. It was an eventful night one that I won't forget especially when the christian rock music started for the service at the church. Such and interesting experience.

Thursday...Where to start. Well we met with a lady that we met on the street a couple weeks ago and she brought a friend. It ended up being more like a bible bashing session. I didn't say a word because I had no idea what was going on but for a whole hour straight Sister Ward stood strong and testified that she knows this church is true and is God's true church. The two ladies never even gave us a chance to speak. The whole time I was just praying to Heavenly Father pleading for something to say that would soften their hearts but then I realized that whatever I said wouldn't have made a difference because they had already decided before we met they were going to tell us about all our wrong beliefs. I was hoping the appointment would have gone differently but it was our opportunity to stand super strong and defend our Faith.

So those are my adventures for the week lots of excitement and new events.Sorry it's so long but I wanted to share them all. I just want you all to know that I love you and pray for each of you daily. This week I read in the New Testament Matthew 14 when Christ walks on water. What I loved reading in this story was that Peter also walked on water for a few seconds or minutes I am not sure but he did. I know he did because his complete focus was the Savior but as soon as he turned away and saw the waves crashing he lost his focus and sunk. I know that as I keep my focus on the Savior I cannot fall but like Peter if I turn my focus away the Savior will be there immediately to pull me back up. What a great lesson taught and demonstrated in the this passage of scripture. Christ is by our sides everyday we just have to turn to Him and keep our focus on Him. I love this gospel. I am grateful to have this opportunity to serve my Heavenly Father and Savior. I love being a missionary for I know each day God is qualifying me to become is servant. Thank you for all your prayers, support and love. They give me strength each day. I hope you all have a wonderful week! Keep Smiling and recognize the little blessings of the day!

Love,
드리스콜자매
Sister Ciarra Jean Driscoll