Letter - 2/1/15

Family and Friends, 

Here I am again sitting at a computer and I can hardly believe it. I now have been living in Korea for 1 year and it seems surreal. I just can't wrap my head around it but I am also only filled with gratitude. I love missionary work so much and I love serving the Korean people. There is nothing like this experience. I have grown into a completely new person, someone the Lord wanted me to be. I have also never been so happy. I know serving the Lord not only as a full time missionary but just as His Child truly brings us the most joy! It is has changed my life and I could never imagine my life without serving this mission in Korea. 

President Morrise shared an experience in his email to the missionaries this week and I wanted to share it with you. He was in a meeting a couple days ago with the Seoul Mission where a brother presented some thoughts about missionaries serving in Korea. He pointed out that the language is hard, the work is hard and it's hard to find investigators, etc. All true. Then he showed a photo of missionaries at the airport ready to go home, looking dejected. He said it was because their mission was hard and they didn't have many baptisms. President Morrise waited patiently until he finished and then raised his hand and said this, “Missionaries don’t leave our mission like that. They come to our home before they go. They don’t want to leave. Ask any returning missionary this question: ‘If you could change your mission and maybe go to Mexico or someplace where you would have 50 baptisms, would you?’ The universal answer: ‘No way! I love Korea. I’d never want to serve anywhere else.’ Yes, missionaries want to find and teach and baptize more people. But we want to do it IN KOREA! So, never think that missionaries are sorry they served here. No one is sorry to serve in Korea. It’s a privilege." As I read this experience I couldn't help but get the goose bumps and completely agree with President Morrise's comment. I cannot tell you what an honor it is to be serving here in Korea and developing this Christlike love for the Korean people. I am honored and wouldn't trade this work and experience for anything. I know the Lord sent me here because I needed the Korean people and I needed to have these experienced in Korea. Only here in Korea would I be able to learn the things I needed. Only here do I become who God needs me to be. I love Korea so much. I love the people even more. I am just so grateful to be a part of this great work IN KOREA! 

This past week was great though! Sister Johnson and I are still just as busy as ever that we really are having a hard time fitting in dinner haha but no worries everytime we go to anyone's home they feed us something so we aren't starving. It's so great being busy though especially because it has been COLD so we spend most of our time in homes and traveling. 

Our lesson last Monday with 장미정 (Jangmijeong) was amazing! She is so prepared and I just cannot explain in the appropriate words what a miracle this truly is. We began teaching her son english which is always fun and then we started with the first lesson "The Restoration". She loves the church and her sons do also. They have made lots of friends which was really needed because they have only been living in this area for a year and still don't have many friends. 장미정 is learning and wanting to learn so she is sincere in doing all this because she believes it will be the best for her kids. I just continue to feel the spirit everytime I think about this family. They came again to church on Sunday and stayed for all 3 hours! I love her and her sons so much and so humbled to finally be able to teach them. I am grateful that we have been able to take this slow to because we have been able to build this strong relationship on trust and she has become so much more open and willing. I know this was guided and is still being guided by the Lord. 

We had the great opportunity to attend the temple this week and wow what an honor that is to enter the House of the Lord and feel of the peace, love and comfort He offers us there. I love the temple and know that inside those wonderful places of worship our prayers are going directly to Him because nothing of the world is stopping them. On our travel back from the temple though we had quite a funny experience on the subway. So about halfway to where we needed to go a drunk man got on the subway and started talking to us. He talked to us until we had to get off. We of course kindly listened but during the conversation he was trying to hook Sister Johnson up with his friend. Weird, then when it was time for us to go he asked "is it American custom to kiss people on the cheeks when they leave?" Sister Johnson and I looked at each other and quickly said, "No have a nice day." Luckily it was our stop so we really could get off the subway. Haha It was quite funny and weird but we knew he couldn't do us any harm. 

Another fun experience happened on Sunday. So in our ward we have a member who is from South Africa and she is teaching English at the college here in our area. Well we have become really good friends with her and she doesn't speak Korean. While sitting in Sacrament meeting yesterday listening to the testimonies I received a text from her saying "If I stand up and bear my testimony will you translate for me?" My heart sank. I got super nervous because of course I couldn't say no but me?! I knew that the Lord would put the words into my mouth though so I kindly accepted but telling her to keep it simple. She stood up and then I stood up to follow. I quietly said a prayer in my heart pleading with the Lord to give me the words to say and the spirit so that the people in the congregation could feel the spirit of her testimony. It was really an amazing experience. I only had a few hesitations on sentences that I wasn't sure how to express quickly but other than that the Lord truly through His Spirit brought all things to my remembrance. When I first received the text I was super nervous but by the end I wasn’t and now I am so grateful that I was given that opportunity. It was a humbling and faith building experience that I will never forget. 

Anyways that's enough from me! Thank you for your love and prayers! I am so blessed to have so many supporters back home and I just want you all to know that I love and miss you! But I love this work and I love being a missionary. I know that Heavenly Father loves each of us. I know Christ lives. I know that because Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ love us they have provided their gospel to us through restoring it through the Prophet Joseph Smith. I know that we are still guided by a living prophet today who will never lead us astray. I know we can search the scriptures for personal revelation and guidance on our lives. As we do so we will be taught from on high. I know that Heavenly Father hears and answers our prayers if we let Him. He knows each of us and is our friend. We just have to let Him in. I love you all! Keep smiling and remember that the Lord loves you for you! 

Love, 

드리스콜자매

Sister Ciarra Jean Driscoll