Letter - 9/22/14

September 22, 2014
Dear Family and Friends,

Well another week has come and gone! My companion and I are trying to figure out where September went because it's almost over and I can't believe it. Fun fact about September-- last year September 26th I left for Europe and had the time of my life and then two years ago I left for Africa with Mallory and now in September 2014 I am in Korea! What amazing memories and opportunities I have been given and I thank my family for all the support, love, and prayers they have given me through all my crazy adventures. I especially thank my parents because I could not have done any of this without their help, love, support and encouragement.

This week was so memorable Sister Hunter and I saw miracles like crazy! Three major ones that I want to share! Then we played a super fun prank on our roommates and then visited Seoul Grand Park with a lady we exercise with every morning! It was such an exciting week and I am so happy and excited to share it with you all so ENJOY!!

SEOUL GRAND PARK So every morning us sisters go out behind our apartment and exercise at a school field and every morning there is a sweet lady who exercises with us. About two weeks ago she invited us to go on a picnic with her so that's what happened this week. All 4 of us went to the Seoul Grand Park and had a picnic with 김보영 (Boyoung Kim). She is the cutest lady and she was so happy to be spending this time with us. She is currently fighting cancer and her husband is in a hospital far from here so she is living alone. We had such a  memorable time and we just love her so much! It was so fun to spend that time with her and build a friendship with her that could maybe lead to her wanting to learn more about us as missionaries. I am so grateful for the people I meet everyday and how after a while we just become a part of the neighborhood here in Korea and people look forward to seeing us and saying hello to us. It is such a blessing.

PRANK So our sweet roommates Sister Lyman and Sister Hammerl are the Sister Training Leaders in our Zone so they have to go on lots of splits. This particular split they both went to the other sister's area and so we were left in 금천 (Geumcheon) all alone so we had to do something to show our love. So Sister Hunter and I went to the store and bought maybe 300 paper cups for our wonderful plan. After planning that night we started laying the cups out on the floor and filling them with water. This made it so when the sisters came home they couldn't get into their study room.  We covered a good portion of their floor with cups and then spelled out love you in Korean out of cups with a little letter that said "We missed you so much that we cried all night and to prove it we caught all our tears in these cups." Yeah it was such a party! Sister Hunter and I had way too much fun doing this and the Sisters died when they saw it! It was so fun!

MIRACLE #1 Last week when I emailed I told you about the chinese lady who asked us if she could give us her number but we hadn't heard back from her. Well about 2 hours after emailing we got a random call from a weird number and sure enough it was her. She apologized and said she had been busy but we were able to set up an appointment because she really wants to learn about the Book of Mormon! It was a miracle and Sister Hunter and I were so happy.  Her name is 임정자. We ended up meeting with her on Saturday and she is now a new investigator and will be meeting with her today! She has so much interest in the Book of Mormon and has studied the Bible her whole life. When we taught her for the first time our focus was why we need the Book of Mormon. We shared certain scriptures with her that were similar to what she was telling us about the Bible. She was telling us about the parable of the grain of mustard seed and faith. We then turned to Alma 32 and read that with her. At first she read it to herself and said some of it is right but not all but we had her read it again out loud. When she did that she said "Oh that is right. Why do I need this book? It is exactly like the Bible. Having two books will make my head hurt." Sister Hunter and I just bore testimony and invited her to begin reading because we know that through reading it the Spirit will manifest to her the truth of the Book of Mormon and she said she would! She said as she looked at the Book of Mormon that it is a good book and she wants to come to know it better like the Bible. She then told us why she met with us. She said when we said hello to her on the street she thought we were beautiful but it wasn't our outside beauty that caught her attention. She said because the light in our eyes was beautiful, so she wanted to meet with us. I am so grateful to know that the Light of Christ is shining through me. Each day I go out just hoping someone will recognize that light and their spirit will jump just a little to catch their attention and desire to have that same light. It was so neat to teach her and I can just see her now reading the Book of Mormon. We will be meeting with her today so pray for Sister Hunter and I!!!

MIRACLE #2 Sister Hunter and I have continued the role play on the street and our testimony of that just continues to be strengthened everyday! Each day we set a meaningful activity for each hour of the day so this particular day we had lots of time on the street so one of our meaningful activities was to focus on the Book of Mormon and give one away. As we walked the streets we role played to each other back and forth different situations we could have. I initiated one where I asked Sister Hunter what the book was that was in her hand. It was fun haha Well once we finished that role play about 10 minutes later we were walking the street and I saw this old and I mean old man, about to bend over to pick up a piece of garbage but I was worried that he was going to break so I quickly went to pick it up but he beat me to it. Well later we found out he is old! He said he was 93!! But when he saw us after I bent down with him he looked into our eyes and was just so happy. Just picture a 93 year old Korean old man with no teeth. He was the cutest. He looked at us and the book that was in Sister Hunter's hand (Book of Mormon of course) caught his attention and he asked to see it. We gave it to him and tried to talk to him but we couldn't understand him and he couldn't understand us but he was so excited and kept saying "This is good! This is good! Another Testament of Jesus Christ! This is so good!" It was so cool. We couldn't stay long though because we had another appointment so we said our goodbyes and we told him the book was a gift. He looked into our eyes, no I think he was reading my soul but he sincerely thanked us with the biggest smile on his face. It was such an amazing experience. So we went to our appointment but it cancelled so we went back to the same road where we met this sweet old man and he was still standing there on the street looking through the Book of Mormon. It had been like 15 minutes too! It was so neat though to see someone appreciate the book just as much as I do. Because we couldn't understand him that well we couldn't get his number or his address but we are committed this week to walk that street every night putting our faith in God that He will allow us to meet again. I just love all these special experiences I am having. I know Heavenly Father is aware of my efforts and as Sister Hunter and I continue to exercise our faith each day working diligently He answers our prayers and allows us to fulfill our purpose!

MIRACLE #3 So this week we had President interviews at the mission office so Sister Hunter and I had to travel about 2 hours to get there and then 2 hours to get back. When we were traveling home we were leaving the last subway station and went out an exit that we usually don't go out of. Actually I have never been out of that exit and we had no idea where we were but we just continued to follow the crowd leaving the subway station. As we were going down the escalator there were some salesmen type people selling magazines which is normal so we continued walking.  Just as we are about to cross the street we here "MISSIONARIES" so we turn around and this man is running after us, so we go to him. He asks us if we are a part of the LDS church but he says that old translation of the church's name but we recognize it. Well come to find out he was baptized into a ward some years ago but then he left to China for 11 years and never could find the church due to the new translation of the name.  When he saw us he knew we were the missionaries for his church. He continued to tell us that he wasn't living in this area but a different area so he gave us his number so that we could send his number to the Elders where he was living! I could tell how badly he wanted to go to church and how diligently he had been searching for it. I am just so grateful that we went through that exit at that time.  When we said good bye I was just full of the spirit and knew that was the reason we went that way so we could find that member. It's so powerful to see how Heavenly Father guides our work and leads us to places that we normally don't go but later find out we were meant to be there. I just love this missionary opportunity I am having and the strength that I receive each day to continue to go forward in faith and trust in God.

I just want you all to know that all these amazing things are happening because of Heavenly Father. I am still Sister Driscoll who can't speak very good Korean but Heavenly Father is blessing me everyday to see miracles and tender mercies. It is amazing how my eyes have been opened to see His hand in my life in even the smallest ways. I am so grateful that I know that He is on my side and as long as I have the willing heart to go, do, and love like Nephi then Heavenly Father will not allow me to fail. I am so happy being a missionary and serving amongst the Korean people. Everyday I am filled with just that much more love for these people and their culture. I love serving the Lord. I know that He loves these people and is preparing each of them one by one to hear the message of this gospel. I want to thank each of you for your love, support, emails, letters, and encouragement. I am motivated everytime I think of all of you back home cheering me on and because I love each of you. Thank you. I hope you have a wonderful week full of smiles and miracles! Keep smiling and open your eye just a little wider to see the hand of the Lord in your life!

Love,
드리스콜자매
Sister Ciarra Jean Driscoll