Tuesday 30 October 2012

On the Mend.

Hello Everyone! ^^
It's been a while since my last update. =P
But GREAT news! I am on the mend, and currently almost done my recovery process.
Although, I will be done my recovery process soon, I unfortunately won't be going back on my mission for now.

In order to make sure that it my injury will not come back again, I will be going back to school for a year, to test out my limits, and decided after a year of school to see if I will be going back on a mission or not.

Meanwhile, I will still continue to work on/study my Korean so I won't loose it! ^^ Because I was blessed to have the opportunity to learn the language, and it would be ungrateful of me to not continue learning it, and try mastering it. And who knows, I may need it in the future! ^^

I am also given the "yes" to start running again. Only for a short time (15 min.). But I will slowly increase the time so I can get back to the long distance running I was able to do before my injury/injuries. ^^

The Lord really has blessed me, and helped me through this trial. Even though it was sad to leave the mission early, I also learnt how to rely on the Lord and really trust in Him. I won't say it was easy, especially during the first few months of my recovery. Also it was hard to put the faith into really trusting that the blessings that I received would come true. But I'm glad I still decided to trust in the Lord, and wait for my body to recover.

I look back now, and see that the Lord has blessed me, and the promises He gave to me in my blessings have been fulfilled! :) I KNOW that the Lord is mindful of ALL His children. And that He loves us, and wants to be and do the best. I know that He Loves each and everyone of us, and that He knows each and everyone of us Personally. I know that He listens and answers prayers. I am so grateful for the gospel in my life, and the Atonement! I am so thankful for the opportunities I was able to have on my mission! ^^ The experiences I had cannot compare to anything in the world!

Well, that's all that I have for my update! I hope everyone is doing well! Have an awesome week/day! ^^ until my next update, take care! ^^

Love,
Tiff

Thursday 26 July 2012

Update...

Hey Everyone!! :)
This is Tiff (Sister Kwok)here, sorry for not having any posts for so long, but I have been home for a while now because of some medical conditions.

I have been temporarily released from being a missionary. Once I am doing better I am hoping to get back out to the mission field, and if possible, back to Daejeon, South Korea.

But since being home, I have been keeping myself busy trying to keep up my Korean, and doing my best to help the missionaries out. I can't do much right now, but I am trying :). So I am trying to keep myself busy, and stay on the positive side of things :). I have given a talk in the Korean branch at home in Korean :) hehe~ :) That was fun. I will be speaking in my home ward as well :) which is exciting. :) So yup...I've been keeping myself quite busy. :)

I am hoping to know if I will be able to go back out on the mission soon. Most likely I'll find out after my doctor's visit in 2 weeks (hopefully). So I am anticipating the visit, and hope to know soon!! :)...Wish me luck!! :)

Well that's about it for my update. :)
Until next time, take care!! :)
-Tiff Kwok

Tuesday 1 May 2012

The work continues ...


April 29, 2012
HEY EVERYONE!! ^^ 
How has your week been? How has work/school been? How is life? ^^
Well this week...Has been a very tough week! Disappointing, yet also good in a way. ALL of our appointments have been cancelled this week, and we were doing a lot of street contacting and sending stake conference invitations to our in-actives and investigators. 
We actually had an inactive sister attending the church yesterday!!!! She's the one that we go to help her out at her tea shop every week! She came with her daughter!!! We were surprised to see her daughter there!! ^^ so yes!! I felt soo happy to see her at church. 
We also had another inactive attending church this passing 2 weeks! We have an appointment with her this week! ^^ Sooo excited! Since we don't have a lot of investigators meeting with us, we use the time to focus on our less-actives! ^^ It's a little disappointed because none of our investigators are going to church, so they can't see for themselves how important the church is. Because they keep canceling the appointments, it is very difficult for us to share the gospel with them. :( We are hoping that we can meet with our investigators this week. 
Even though we had a tough week...we were able to get some contacts and able to get phone number from the contacts off the street this week!! ^^ I was talking to two harmonies (grandmas) and got a phone number from one! ^^ So we plan on contacting her. I told her how this gospel has blessed me and my family.^^ I asked if she wanted to learn more about this message, and my companion also helped me. We were able to get her name, and phone number!! ^^ So we are hoping to see her again! ^^ 
This week has been super-oober hard,  I somehow hurt my hip... I've been limping around all week...and trying to street contact at the same time hahaha~ doesn't really help because when they walk faster...I can't keep up. So yup...and I have a cold on top of my gimped leg! :( Well I think it's a cold...I'm gonna get it checked out today...and hoping it's not strep. 
Even though everything seems to be in the dump, we got blessings and I think we are just being tested with our faith. It definitely is hard to keep being positive, but we have tried very hard. On top of these trials and tribulations, we reluctantly had to pass 2 of our investigators to the elders in our neighboring area :(. Actually it’s a blessing that the elders will be meeting with them. We are unable to meet with these two investigators unless a woman is at present. It will work out for the better. We still have 3 other people that we need to contact. It will make up for our lost investigators haha~ ^^ 
I am half way done the book of Alma! It has been really good from studying Alma. I learnt a lot from Alma especially for this week. There were many things that helped me keep going. Alma and Amuleck were continue preaching, even though they were in very bad situations. They were down, but they never gave up. They continued relying on the Lord. Just like us as missionary, we are working as hard as we can, but we may not see any results yet. However, we have seen many mini-blessings/miracles that the Lord have given to us. 
Oh funny story!! So on Wednesday, I was such a bad companion...I 'killed' her with food. >.< So we went to visit one of our less actives, and we didn't eat lunch before seeing her. She had us to meet her at the Galleria. We waited outside for her. While we were waiting, a man came up to us and asked, "Do you know so-and-so?" We replied, "yes we do". He said, "Follow me". So we followed him...and he was like booking it..., we were running after him. He took us through Galleria, and it's like full of Channel, Gucci, Prada stores...You can imagine that we kind of felt a little out of place. HAhaha~ He led us to a car. He got into the car...and asked us to hop in, we were like...we can't get into the car with just a guy...Our inactive came out from the car and asked us to get in the car. She took us to her work, and she talked with us and we invited her to Stake Conference, and then we left. After a long morning, we were very hungry, so we decided to go to a kimbap place (oh correction my favorite food isn't kimbap, it’s bi-bim-pap). I ordered this dish that I thought it wasn't going to be spicy, but I was very wrong. It turned out that it was SUPER SUPER spicy. And my companion was eating away at her noodles, I was only able to eat 3 bites from my plate before I couldn't eat anymore. My mouth was on FIRE!!!! My companion offered to help me finish eating it. So she ate her portion and mine. :( my poor companion. 
After finishing our food, we were heading to one of our investigators. We were doing  a bit of street contacting on our way to our investigator. I proceeded to say "hi" to a harmony (grandma), and she was soo excited and started talking to me. She said "thank you" and also a bunch of other stuff to me that I could not comprehend... She gave me hoe-duck (these pancake like things that have peanuts inside...kind of like the red-bean stuff that we eat at home). Funny thing was that, out of all the people that we say "hi" to, this grandma gave us food...lol~ my poor companion lol~ So the grandma gave one for me and one for my companion. I didn't know it was peanuts inside, we thought it was walnuts...so I had to give mine to my companion because I am allergic to all kind of nuts except peanut... This was like an hour after our lunch...>.< So my companion ate them all. She was sooo full after eating all these food. 
While we were at our investigator’s place, our investigator fed us orange and some rice cake stuff...Oh!! my poor companion. I ate most of the orange trying to rescue her. So yup...she was soo full that she didn't want to eat anything else. She didn't eat dinner that night... Yet I was downing my dinner, in contrast, I was SO hungry lol~ hahaha~ While I was eating my dinner, we watched "Finding Faith in Christ" which was very good for us to watch cause it totally applied for our week!
^^ So that's about how my week is like.^^
Be safe, continue reading your scriptures! Have Faith, and look for the blessings in your day. Don't focus on the bad things that happened! Learn what you can do better. I hope all of you are doing well!! Love you lots and can't wait to hear about how you all are doing!! ^^ Love ya!!
Love,
-Sister Kwok

Monday 23 April 2012

The Work is moving along ... and I started to do better with the Language


April 22, 2012
HEY EVERYONE!!!
How are you all doing? How was finals/work? Anything new or exciting? How is the ward doing? How is life? Anything fun happened this week? Any spiritual experiences? How has sharing the gospel been with your friends? How are the missionaries in the ward? Anything is exciting happening in the ward?
This week has been great and hard! My companion and I are SO EXHAUSTED! Plus it doesn't help that we haven't gotten good sleep this week because our neighbours around us have been very noisy! So we have tried to get as much sleep as we can. My poor companion has bags under her eyes :(. Nevertheless we still go to do the Lord’s work! We met 8 of our new investigators this week! So exciting! They are so awesome! I am excited to work with them!~ It'll be fun! ^^  We also met with some in-actives and we met some of our investigators this week! Unfortunately some of them had to cancel their appointments :( but we will see them this week! ^^ So happy! 
The Lord has really blessed us this week!! One day we met 2 of our new investigators. On our way to the appointment, we met a lady and she wanted us to meet with her, and stop by her place. She gave us her number and name! So crazy!!! ^^  The appointment was also great (there was 2 people--a mom and a son)! They were ready and excited to hear about the gospel, and they were also very opened to the 30/30 program.
On Saturday, we were supposed to meet with our 3 new investigators (mom, and 2 daughters). The two daughters brought their friends along as well!! So we got 5 new investigators!! Crazy right!? They were accepting of our message, and they were okay with the 30/30 program (30 min english/30 min gospel)!
The Lord has really blessed us this week! :) I don't know how my body could take this stress, but the Lord was truly blessing me and my companion to get through the day, and helping us find new people. I am still struggling with the language, but I am slowly learning it. I am starting to begin to understand what people are saying to me. It's a long process, but I am working at it. Everyday, I study the language. The mission has blessed us missionaries, and put a little pass off book together to help us learn the korean better! (Reading, grammar forms, and vocab). So the little book has really helped me! :) 
I am loving the food here, my favorite is Kimbap! It's a rice bowl with lots of veggies in it!! I really enjoy it, because we don't have lots of veggies as a missionary. We usually run off of cereal(expensive), rice, yogurt (if we have money), bread, EGGS (so cheap), and kim(seaweed), as well as kimchi! So anywhere I can get vegetables, I am SO happy! hahaha~ I do like other types of food too...although I haven't been able to experience a lot of their food yet, because I've only been here nearly a month. So yea~ Still excited to know more about their food! :D 
I have really learnt a lot about the Lord's work. In order for Him to bless us, and help us find people, we first must do our part and show the Lord that we are willing and wanting to share His gospel to others. We usually don't get blessed unless we do what we are suppose to do. Then the Lord can bless us! (we are continuously street contacting even though we are rejected by many. There are few of those that will stop and listen to our message which is always a positive to us. Sometimes we get those who are searching for the gospel, and we get contacts and eventually they become our new investigators :D). 
Right now, I am in Alma reading about Ammon visiting the Lamanites and how he served them. Through his service, the Lord blessed him with an opportunity to show the strength that he was blessed with from the Lord. He was able to share with King Lamoni about his beliefs in God, and was able to convert King Lamoni and many others. Just like missionary work, we serve, and people will see that we are different. If we serve with our hearts, not because we are obligated and because of that we are given opportunities to share the gospel about Heavenly Father, we can help bring others closer to Christ. 
I am enjoying reading the Book of Mormon, and definitely recommend it to everyone to read it all the way through with an opened mind and prayerfully read the book with the Spirit of discernment. To understand how it can apply to our lives. What the Lord wants us to learn from those words, etc. It really helps if you do that! ^^ You get soo much more out of the reading than just read the book without praying. Prayer and having the Spirit to be with you Is SOO important! It makes all the difference! It is essential to have the Spirit, because without the Spirit, we are lost. The spirit is the one who guides, teaches, and testifies to us. 
I am so glad to have chosen to come on a mission. Yes it is hard, and is discouraging at times, but the experiences, the closeness I feel with the spirit, the Love of God for everyone, and seeing people change their lives and turn their lives towards Christ is SO much more rewarding to me. They balance out the sadness and add even more joy in my life! ^^
 I haven't met all of our investigators yet because we have SO many and not enough time in our life, but I love them. I am So happy to know that they are trying to change their life, and follow Heavenly Father and turn their lives towards Christ. ^^ 
This Gospel is true, and everyone can find out for themselves through prayer and reading the scriptures (Book of Mormon and Bible). Together the scriptures testify of Christ, and one cannot be without the other. The Bible and Book of Mormon acts as witnesses of each other and testifies of the existence of Christ. This IS the restored gospel, and we Do have the Power of the Priesthood and the Authority on the earth today! Joseph
Smith WAS a prophet called by God! I know these things are true! I am SO happy to have known this Gospel! It has really blessed me and my
family, and still is blessing us! I have learned to really LOVE the Scriptures, and look forward to read them every morning! ^^ I know here is where I need to be, and that This REALLY is the Lord's work! He really does exist, and He REALLY does LOVE All of us and Knows All of us individually!~ I love this gospel, and I want to share this joy with everyone I can here! ^^ 
I hope all of you have an awesome week! and until next time, Stay safe! ^^ :) Can't wait to hear from you! Love you all Lots!
-Love
Sister Kwok

Saturday 21 April 2012

Learning to be a Missionary ...


April 15, 2012 (Sunday)
Hello everyone,
So I am totally all better now, healthy…as I can be. Still have a little pain in my abdomen…but not so painful that I can't do work. So I am not too worried about it. I am slowly starting to have an idea of what people are saying to me…sometimes. Not all the time, but sometimes. 
So I also found out that my birth area (YuSeoung) is one of the areas my MTC teacher served in!! It's soo awesome!~ ^^ This week, was an AMAZING week! Soo great and awesome!
So Monday was P-Day, and in the evening we went to go and visit one of our investigators. We have been talking about a baptismal date with her, but she has been SO busy lately, and will definitely not be able to get baptized until next month. But she attends church, her two younger children (are kind of inactive) but she was able to get them to church. We also were able to build more 'jung' with her and her family. So we visit them regularly, and we have seen a good outcome from visiting them frequently. Her children are starting to talk with us when we visit (the two younger ones…her oldest daughter practices her english with us, and we are helping her to apply to BYU). Also we have been able to build a relationship with our investigator. :)
Tuesday was District meeting. We had a combined district meeting, and we learned about how to become better missionaries by learning how to better use time wisely, learn how to work in monsoon season, working with your companion, and a few other things. We also shared our testimonies, and yupp~ it was fun!
And then after District Meeting, my companion and I went to our weekly appointment to another investigator of ours. We taught her about the Plan of Salvation, and focused on Eternal Families. She seemed more interested then. :) So it made me happy. She also attended church this week with her husband! :) Big progression step! :) 
Wednesday, was Voting day in Korea, so it's basically a vacation day for them…ALL of our appointments cancelled, but we went out and street contacted people. So yup~ that was a very hard working wonderful day! :)
Thursday…VERY interesting day!
We went and visited a member and her mom, who is less active. She owns a traditional Korean Tea shop/restaurant. We went there for lunch, but because she was super busy, and it was just the member and her mom who was serving the people. So my companion and I decided to help them out. We helped with the lunch rush, and they were so glad and happy. And then, just as we were eating, they got a reservation for Friday, and 25 people were coming to eat there for lunch, plus other people that would show up on Friday. So My companion and I decided to help out again. Plus we were studying about how to serve members in the ward and inactive members. We decided this was a good tool to show her that we love her, and do care about her. I think she really appreciated our help. We are hoping to do this often for her, so she will see that we love her and care for her. And hoping that will help her to come back to church. She has great faith, but there is something that is stopping her from coming to church. So we need to help her and find out what it is. 
We also visited our investigators and the “inactives”. We taught them lessons and yupp just all that goodness! :) hehehehe~
So Friday, we went back to the tea shop, and helped serve the people. It was fun, and they really appreciated our help. And I think we are starting to build some 'jung' with her! We definitely have built 'jung' with her daughter. Plus, her english (the daughter) is like perfect, so it's easy for us to talk with her! :) And she has helped us with some member lessons! :) I am So happy!
Saturday, was another busy day as well. We were out and about :) Don't really have much to say about it! haha~ OH we also celebrated 'black day'. That is for all the single people in Korea who didn't receive any chocolate on Feb 14. So we ordered 'ja-ja-mein'. It's noodles that are covered in black sauce. hahaha~ that's what people eat on Black day, and other days, but you eat it especially on Black Day! hahah~ ;P
Sunday…AMAZING!! So two weeks ago, one of our investigators got baptized, Sunday he got the Gift of the Holy Ghost! :) It made me SO happy! and we actually had 2 investigators at church! (the one I mentioned earlier above). And then we had 2 less actives at church too, and 2 recent converts at church! :) SOO happy! ^^. 
And then we had a ward sheek-sa (meal). That was fun! :) Good food, and lots of socializing haha~. OH and before the meal, we saw a member's child get baptized! That was fun to see! :) Then after that we went out and Jun-do ed the rest of the night. (Street contacting). WE did that for about 2 hours. And by the end, we were hot, dehydrated, and ready to go home, but we needed a few more contacts in order to go home. So we kept going...AND a Miracle happened. As I was crossing the street to catch up to my companion, cause she started talking to someone, a girl called out to me saying "Jesus Christ?". I realized she was talking to me and ran back to her and said "yes! Jesus Christ…I believe in Jesus Christ". And we started talking to her. She wanted to know why we were known as heritic, and had LOTS of questions. We stood there for probably a good 15-20 minutes talking to her about our church, and trying to answer her questions. Her boyfriend came, and we started to talk to him too. She had to go, and asked for a pamphlet, we gave her one. Unfortunately we didn't get her contact information :(. So we aren't able to contact her, but We were SO blessed by the Lord! He rewarded us for the hard work we were doing!! :) It made me so happy and grateful ^^. After that we went home and did our personal and companion and language study for the rest of the night! :) 
And I never really understood how hard missionary work was, but I am ALWAYS TIRED!! But the Lord blesses us and we are able to be out about doing His work, and still be alert! :) Also, if you can, HELP THE MISSIONARIES in our ward!!! Help them with Member lessons! Feed them! and Just TRY to make their work lighter!! It's really stressful to be a missionary, and when the ward members are not helping it makes it even more difficult for them! Our ward is VERY awesome and helpful, but I just want to stress that to you. Cause we have missionaries now in the ward! Just help them as best as you can PLEASE, when you have time! That will really help them out a lot! 
Well that's the update for this week~! :) We plan on going to a university park today to see the cherry blossoms, and then going to a buffet! :) Next week we plan on going to the Korean Bath house (Moe-gyo-tahn)…I will let you know how that goes…I'm a little scared but it will be a culture experience! ^^ So yupp. That's my week for you! ^^ 
I love you all VERY VERY much, and can't wait to hear from you!! ^^
-Love Sister Kwok! ^^ S2 <--that's suppose to look like a heart >.<
PS.
I have been reading in the BOM and am now in Alma 3~! I LOVE IT! it's gotten SOo interesting…that I feel like personal study isn't enough time…haaha~ I also am
trying to read out of the Korean BOM every day! to practice on my Korean, and it has helped me. I am slowly beginning to piece together what it is trying to say in the Korean BOM…So yeah~ :) I am very very happy!! :D

Thursday 12 April 2012

Starting the work in YuSeong, Daejeon Mission...

April 8, 2012

HEY EVERYONE!!! how are you all doing? How has your week been like? Anything new or exciting happening? How was
conference? How was Easter?

Well this week...can't really say much...I got really sick with the flu :( But it's okay I am okay. I am better, and on the mend :). So I slept a lot, and just tried to get better. My poor companion, just took really great care of me! I love her! ^.^ And I feel sooo sorry for her, but we ended up being indoors for about 4 full days :(. So on Thrusday, she went on a member split with me. We had our mission mom come and watch over me while she was out. She went and visited one of our new investigators, and ended up having two new investigators. ^.^ So we set up another appointment with them this week, I get to meet them this week! sooo excited!! ^.^ hehehe~

Oh and on Tuesday, of last week (the day I got sick), on our way home for me to go to sleep, cause we made it to District meeting before I fell ill, we took a taxi and the taxi driver recognized us as missionaries, and asked if we believed in the Book of Mormon! ^.^ We said we did, and shared a little bit about what we believed, and gave him our contact information, and gave him a Book of Mormon! ^.^ So great! heheheheh~ ^.^

On Friday, I wanted to get out of the house, I was doing much better, but still in a lot of pain. We went to an appointment that we had made, but when we got there, the appointment fell through :(, and my companion could see I was not doing so well, so we decided to go back home. On our way walking home, a woman stopped us on the street and said she wanted to learn english from us! ^.^ She gave us her address and phone number and name. Sister Miller and I was SOOO amazed and shocked! We were soo excited. We just need to explain to her now that we have a 30,30 program. 30 english and 30 gospel. We'll see how that turns out, we meet her this week.

At General Conference, Saturday was EMPTY-ish! It was mainly mostly missionaries and a few members. But the sessions were AWESOME AND EXCELLENT!!! ^.^ Sunday's sessions were ALSO very VERY awesome! I was SOOO sad it was already over :(.

So what I learnt from conference....ALOT but I'll share a few things.

From Henry B. Eyring's talk I learnt these things: Welcome the challenges! You learn and grow from them. The Lord will NOT forsake you. If our foundation of our faith is not ebbed in our hearts, when temptation and adversity hits, our faith will crumble. So in order for us to build a good foundation we need to learn personal integrity.

From Jeffrey R. Holland's talk I learnt these things: DON'T JUDGE PEOPLE!! Don't covet their blessings, instead look at the blessings that Heavenly Father gave to you! Don't dwell on past, move forward and learn to be kind, generous, and have compassion. NO matter what you may have done in the past, all can be made right through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. Come unto Christ. Apply the Atoning Sacrifice the Lord has given to us, and our lives will be soo much more at peace. It won't take away the trials, but it will make the burden lighter. ^.^

I learnt a lot more, but don't really have time to write it all down. Sorry >.<

Anyways, Funny Culture shock I had this week:

So on Sunday, between the Morning and Afternoon session, we had a potluck. So in America, you have tables set up with food on it, plates at the end of it, and you go along and pick your food and then leave the table and sit down and eat what your plate has. Well...NOT IN KOREA hahaha~ People stand around the table with chopsticks, and grab food with chopsticks. And you wedge your way into the table to get food. ^.^ I was TOTALLY shocked hahaha~ it's funny. I was fortunate to get some food though! :) I'm still trying to prolong my turn to go to the Korean Bathhouse...but eventually...I will be going with my companion! ^.^ hehehe~

I also visited with President this week, because I was in the mission home quite a bit this week, because I was sick. So we talked, and he said some REALLY good stuff I needed to hear! The best thing that he reminded me about was to STAY POSITIVE! think good thought and it will change your attitude. So that's what I have been doing, and my condition in my sickness has improved SO much more. Fact is, I still am sick and getting over it, but the mind can do wonders! ^.^ I am really grateful to President that He gave me such great counsel!!

Anyways, that's about my week! :)  REALLY loving it here in YuSeong! I can't wait to write next week, because I will have more to say! ^.^ hahahha~ We are going to rock it this week! I am so pumped hahaha~ ^.^ Well hope all of you are doing well, and I love you VERY very much! Take care, and Love you tons!
Love
Sister Kwok

Monday 2 April 2012

2nd week in Daejeon, South Korea

April 1, 2012
HEY FAMILY/EVERYONE!!!!
   So Korea gave me a VERY warm welcoming! My second night in Korea,  woke up with 13 mosquito bites! and then got poured on with rain…and we didn't have any umbrellas! hahaha~ and then it was SUPER windy too. Hahaha~ gotta love Korea! :P Their driving…a little scary. Some people run red lights ALL the time, and you really have to watch the roads when you walk. ANYWAYS, Korea is A Great place though! :) I love it here. The people are SO awesome and cute! :) 
  This week has been SO crazy!! I love the Lord's work!! It has been a little tough on me emotionally, but I am getting on with life, and just trying my best to devote all of my time to the Lord. My Birth place is in Yuseong, Daejeon. My "mommy" is Sister Miller! :) She is awesome! The Lord has really blessed me. My first day as a 'real' missionary, we had a lesson!!! :) I extended a commitment to our investigator to be baptized; the investigator declined but we are hoping the investigator will say yes as we teach them more. (it was only our second meeting with her). Also, we did a lot of jundoing! (street contacting) my first day jundoing, was mostly my Dungpanja (companion) doing it…second time we did it, I actually tried to do my best speaking to them. I got a few street lessons in!! :) also, now I just really need to work on learning how to listen…I cannot for the life of me understand what they are saying to me! We do a lot of walking, and bussing! I am still trying to figure out how the busses work here! haha~ and then, I try to do language study on the buses all the time…we are given a little black book full of sentences we can use to teach and dano to learn…and usually people finish it in 2 transfers…I am trying to reach that goal…but am horrible at doing it. Dano is easy to memorize…it's the sentences that are killing me :(. But I am trying my best. 
  Also, yesterday, Sunday was really an emotional day for me. I was really frustrated with myself, and upset at myself. So I was really questioning if this is where I am suppose to be. I said a little prayer to Heavenly Father to help me. At first I didn't feel anything, but through out the day, Heavenly Father dropped little tender mercies along the way! :) We went to church, and I got even more frustrated, because I could not understand anything that was being said to me :( But when we were teaching Gospel Principles, when my Dungpanja asked me to bear my testimony, I felt the love of the Saviour, and Heavenly Father. I knew this is where I needed to be. 
So during sacrament, I pulled out my little notebook, and wrote down the words I could not understand, as I did that, I was blessed and started to understand a little more. And then, after sacrament meeting, We had one of Sister Miller's investigators baptized! My first baptism in the Mission! even though this is not my investigator, I was sooo happy. As he was being baptized, I had a voice come into my head saying "This is what Missionary work is about! You are bringing souls unto Christ. You are giving them Salvation! How great is your joy?!". I started to cry and so did Sister Miller :). She then also said "This is what Missionary work is All about!". I was so happy!! :) hehehe! 
  During our baptism service, Sister Miller and I did a musical number. She sang "I'm trying to be like Jesus" in Korean, and I played the piano. I was messing up pretty bad, and I said a little prayer, and the next thing I knew was my playing became smooth! Goodness I love Heavenly Father! 
And then for our companionship study, Sister Miller went through PMG page 10 about successful missionaries. We read through it, and she suggested to me to NOT compare myself to anyone else! I am guilty of that already! hahah~ But I will work harder to NOT do that! So that was uplifting to me, and we were invited over to a member's house for dinner. We arrived, and their kids are sooo cute, and then our mission ward leader stopped by as well as another family in our ward, so we ended up having a mini party! :) the ward members were very patient with me. And I was starting to be able to understand them more and more when they spoke Korean to me! :) The Lord was really blessing me, and I am very thankful to him for that! I will continue work hard to learn Korean! I am very excited to be here. This week is JAMMED PACKED FULL! We are soo happy. WE are trying to set up another baptismal date for one of our investigators. Hopefully we will be able to do it early May. Because we had General Conference next week, and then two weeks after that we have Stake Conference as well, so it will be hard to get a baptism in between there (They do their baptisms on Sundays). 
  So about my companion: She is from Rexburg Idaho. She is the oldest of 4 kids. She has siblings that are triplets, two brothers and one sister. Her mom is from Colorado, and her Dad is from Idaho. Her dad is a Pharmacist! :) Her mom has an elementary school teacher degree, and she is working on a book to hopefully publish soon! :) My companion has one year left of university, and she goes to BYU-I! She wants to be a book publisher, and loves reading! She loves music, and she plays the Oboe, sings, and plays the english horn! :) She is 23, around 5ft 0'', and has brown hair, hazel eyes. She is also going to be leaving in 4 months!!! :( She is AWESOME! & a very Hard worker for sure! Loves watching movies…hahah~
 We were talking about movies yesterday, and I recommended some music and movies to her. Mostly K-pop music haahha~. We found that Kpop music is pretty clean, so yea~ and since we are in Korea, we ALWAYS hear music playing around in the streets hahaa~. And right now I am listening to music because we are in a cafe hahaha~. 
 Oh and don't worry, I haven't had any problems with the food yet. I haven't had any nuts or shell fish in my food. :) LOVE THE FOOD THOUGH! :) hehehe~ 
I don't really have much else to say! Except that I LOVE YOU ALL VERY VERY MUCH! and can't wait to call home to say HI :) (btw, when is Mother's day?). Can't wait to hear from you all!! :) LOVE YOU VERY MUCH!
-Sister Kwok.^^

Thursday 29 March 2012

Arriving in Daejeon, South Korea !!!!

March 27th, 2012

HEY EVERYONE!!!!
I am FINALLY in KOREA!!! :D MY goodness! IT IS AMAZING!!! and I am sooo excited to be here to do the Lord's work! My mission president is AMAZING!!! They are sooo joyful and just really warm to be around! We got into luncheon around 5:30 pm or something like that, and then didn't get into the mission home until 10 pm. So far, it is very very nice in Korea!!! :D
The trip here was an adventure! hahaha~ When we were in Salt Lake airport, one of the native Koreans lost her itinerary and her ticket to board onto the plane, but thank goodness the airline crews were able to print another plane ticket for her. Also when going through the check point, everyone was through, but I got sent back down to the ticket office because they didn't print out my first airplane ticket! 
Then, when we landed in San Francisco Airport. At San Francisco Airport, one of our Native Korean Sisters got stuck at the check point area, and all the sisters had already gone through the check point area. So two of our elders were with her for half an hour because the office messed up on her boarding ticket as well. Then after they got through, one of our elders found out that he lost his passport! It was really scary. We all said a little prayer for him to find his passport. After like an hour or so, we found out that they gave the elder's passport to the wrong person, so we got it back! That was really a relief! 
On the plane, one of our elders got REALLY sick and he started puking :( so he was given a blessing. All of us got through the airport just fine! BUT then one of the sisters who is going to Seoul mission, took one of my bags with her (accidentally), but thank goodness it wasn't my bag that had all of my personal stuff. It was mostly my clothes, but it has some of my Korean books and some documents :(. So I am Korean-less for the next few days :(. I really hope I can get it back asap. 
My first impression of Korea...LOVE IT!!!! At night it's like not dark...it's ALL light!!! it's like a never sleeping city-feel to it! :) I guess  kind of like how Hong Kong is like! Well I am sooo happy to be here to share the gospel to Heavenly Father's children!!! :D
Tonight, we will be proselyting in Korean!! FOR MY FIRST TIME!!! I AM SOOOOO NERVOUS!!! I DON"T KNOW WHAT TO SAY AND I FEEL LIKE I DON"T KNOW ANY KOREAN!!!!!AHHHHHHHH!!!!! but I know that the Lord will help me! I am sooo excited!! and Can't wait to start His work! ;)
I hope all of you are doing well!! IT was really really nice to talk to you all yesterday :) I love you very very much! (sorry today's a short email...I don't really have much to write about...my head is still spinning. Trying to soak it all in! haahha~ and I think I will be able to adjust to the time here better...I didn't wake up at all last night so it is good). (Korea is about 14 hrs ahead of you guys.) Well, I will keep you updated next week!! and tell you how my first week in Korea is like!! hahaha~ I am sooo excited to meet my trainer, I don't get to meet them until tomorrow. I am kind of hoping to get the native Korean sister trainer, but whatever happens, I will be happy to meet her! 
I love you all very much and can't wait to hear from you all! (it takes about 10days to get mail). Love you all! bye for now!!
-love
Sister Kwok

Tuesday 27 March 2012

Down to 6 days before I leave for Daejeon, South Korea !!

March 20, 2012
HEY GUYS!!!
HOW ARE YOU ALL DOING?!!
MY GOODNESS I HAVE ONE MORE WEEK LEFT IN THE MTC!!! I AM SOOOOO READY TO BE OUT OF HERE!!! BUT I am sooooo nervous. This week is going to be LOTS of review, “craming”, and planning and “preping” for the field!
I am doing well even though I am VERY STRESSED!! This past week has been a little tough but an AWESOME ONE!!! :D I, again :(, got an infection in my throat and nose! (Can I just say, I CAN'T WAIT until I am out in the field and have some space between people, and fresh air...because in the MTC it's circulated air, and you're with people all the time so it's SOO easy to get sick). Anyways, So I am just getting over the cold, but I am doing well! :) So don't worry about me! :) 
I did get a blessing! So last week, I told you about my problem, it's gotten a little better, but not the same as it was. But I asked for a blessing because it was really bothering me SO much that it was hard for me to focus on the work. And in the blessing it said this:
-"You are a light to those around you. Continue to be that light throughout your mission"
-"In times of trials, you ALWAYS have some one to turn to"
-"Use your time wisely in the MTC! there isn't much time left before you go out into the field"
-You were saved for these latter days
-Heavenly Father wants you to know that He Loves you
-You are surrounded by great and wonderful Elders and Sisters in your mission
-A blessing of Comfort that you will be comforted in the MTC and in the Mission field.
After the blessing, I read my Patriarchal blessing, and I didn't understand a certain word in my blessing so I searched the scriptures to find out what it meant. So, I read in D&C 121:41-44 and 1 Peter 5:3. From these scriptures I learned that in order to have Virtue of the Priesthood, we must do the following that was listed in D&C 121:41-44. And While we do those things, we must remember that when we Feed His Sheep, we do it out of Love, and because we WANT to not because we HAVE to. And that when we teach them, we remember that we are not any better than them. We are all equals, We all learn from one another. So just learn to LOVE your brothers and sisters and serve them with all your heart, might, mind and strength!!!
Also this Sunday in Relief Society Meeting, Sister Barbara Bradshaw talked to us. A few things I learnt from her amazing talk was:
-Bondage: ANYTHING that is holding you back and keeping you from progressing forward.
-In order to combat Bondage, we must 
1) Turn to the Lord with FULL PURPOSE OF HEART 
2) Trust in the Lord with ALL your heart 
3) Serve Him with ALL diligence! 
IF we do all these, we will be in-tuned with the Spirit, and will be aligned with the Spirit and its thoughts. It is then we can serve him with EVERYTHING we have and be able to seek out His lost sheep.
One important thing I learnt from Sacrament last Sunday from one of our branch presidents is that we as missionaries must LEARN and KNOW Christ if we want our investigators to Know and learn of Him. And once we know Him we ALSO need to learn to Love HIM like He loves us, because once we do that we take upon ourselves the attributes of Christ, and learn to be like Him, and we will then TRULY serve and feed His sheep. With an eye-single to the Glory of God, He can work through us and create Miracles in lives of others. 
And then, in the Sunday Fireside, I learned to "Keep my fishing line ALWAYS in the water". Meaning, Always seeking opportunities to do missionary work. And take the effort to actually talk to people, because it is when we talk that people will want to learn more about the gospel. If we don't share the gospel and talk, they will only see us walking by and think "we look different" but not think anything of it. So we must take the initiative to go and talk to people, and share the gospel. 
Three Key things for a missionary to have in order to be successful is: A.D.E
-A...Attitude
-D...Discipline
-E...Effort
And then Saturday, we got to see Mary again! And guess what?! EXCITING NEWS!!!! SHE WANTS TO GET BAPTIZED!!! BUT...she is afraid to ask her parents to get permission to get baptized. We really hope that everything will go well though. We are also going to give her to our new district, because we are all leaving next Monday March 26th. So we are hoping that she will be able to get permission and be baptized soon. This week has just been an awesome Spiritually uplifting week! 
I am So excited to go to Korea!!! I am very very happy with my progression here learning the language, and I know that I will feel like I don't know anything in Korea, but I am determined to still be able to try my hardest and move forward, and learn this language! Because in these past 12 weeks, I have learnt SO much already with the help of the Lord, and I know that the Lord WILL continue to help me especially while I am out in the field! 
Yesterday, my teacher went through the Language Study Plan with us, and it TOTALLY stressed me out, but was a good stress, because now I know how to plan my Language Study, and I know what I will be doing during my Language Study time out in the field. 
I also learnt that even though we don't have much time, there is always time to utilize it to the best of your ability. ie. learning dano while doing exercise, and during meals, and while you aren't talking to anyone around you. So it was REALLY good to know this, otherwise, I might have not known what I should do when I got out into the field! hahaha~ :P Well I am doing very well, and I am SO excited to go to Korea~ I LOVE YOU ALL VERY MUCH! and want to thank you for ALL the support you have shown to me and given to me! LOVE YOU ALL!!! And take care!!!
Love
Sister Kwok

13 more days in MTC before I leave for Daejeon, South Korea ...

March 13, 2012
HEY EVERYONE!!1 :D
    How are you all doing? How has your week been? How is work/school going? Anything new in life? Any missionary experiences happening to you? Do we have missionaries in the ward now? or are we still with out?
    Well, this week has been a great one, from what I can remember. Our three-some companionship is working out great! We say prayers together every night, in Korean! :) We try to speak to each other in as much Korean as possible. Sometimes, actually most of the time, we speak Kanglish (Korean mixed with English). But this past week, I've committed myself to speak as much Korean as possible. I set aside a few time slots to only speak in Korean (my language study time, companionship study, and everywhere we walk outside of class). I am now carrying a little notebook so I can write words down that I don't know how to say in Korean, or write words down that I hear but don't understand. So it has helped me a bit. :) I am also really cracking down on my Korean, and trying to learn and review as much Korean as possible, so I will feel comfortable when I go to Korea. I am so excited to go to Korea and to teach them, and try their food! :) mmmm yummy! hahahaha~ 3 months of MTC food is a little tooo much for me.
But yea~ I started to read the Book of Mormon in Korean! Yesterday I read one whole chapter...I caught a few words that I did not understand! so that is good! :) I plan to continue to read the Book of Mormon in Korean everyday! :)
   Also, I am starting to freak out, because all the Koreans that have come to the MTC have thought I was Korean...and that when I speak I sound like a Korean speaker...GAH! I am SO nervous because when I get to Korea the people will think I am Korean and will speak to me very fast!! So I am trying even harder to study the language so I won't freak out as much! hahahah~
    This week, Johnson 切古還 (Cha-mae-nim) and I have been teaching our 'investigators'. And it makes me very happy, because we have been able to teach by the Spirit and with unity. I am also VERY happy that we have companions to teach with because, sometimes I find myself not knowing what to say to the investigators, and my 切古還 (Cha-maenim) had things to say. We also got to see Mary Kim again on Saturday. She is progressing very well, and we are hoping to give an invitation to her to be baptized soon/sometime. So please continue to pray for her to strengthen her faith and knowledge of the gospel. 
    I unfortunately don't remember what spiritual messages were shared with us this past week, because I don't have my journal with me...sorry. But I did receive a tender mercy of the Lord yesterday evening from two of the elders in our Zone! They gave me these scriptures to read:

Psalm 27: 1-3
 1 The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?
 2 When the wicked, even mine enemies and my foes, came upon me to eat up my flesh, they stumbled and fell.
 3 Though an host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear: though war should rise against me, in this will I be confident.
 Doctrine and Covenants 122:7-9
 7 And if thou shouldst be cast into the pit, or into the hands of murderers, and the sentence of death passed upon thee; if thou be cast into the deep; if the billowing surge conspire against thee; if fierce winds become thine enemy; if the heavens gather blackness, and all the elements combine to hedge up the way; and above all, if the very jaws of hell shall gape open the mouth wide after thee, know thou, my son, that all these things shall give thee experience, and shall be for thy good.
 8 The Son of Man hath descended below them all. Art thou greater than he?
 9 Therefore, hold on thy way, and the priesthood shall remain with thee; for their bounds are set, they cannot pass. Thy days are known, and thy years shall not be numbered less; therefore, fear not what man can do, for God shall be with you forever and ever.
These scriptures brought comfort to me, and into my heart because yesterday I was really bothered with one of the elders in my district that was upset with me. And it really bothered me because I don't really know what I might have done to have upset him. 
And one of the two elders in my zone were walking back to their dorms, and saw me, and asked how I was doing, but I decided not to say anything but say I was fine. They handed me those scriptures and said they would follow up on me if I did read them. 
    Last night I read them, and felt comforted. It also gave me peace. It was a testament to me that the Lord DOES watch over ALL His children. He also does love ALL of us, and knows each and everyone of us personally. He works through the people around us to let us know that He cares and loves us. I was SO glad to have received that tender mercy of the Lord, because it was exactly what I needed. 
    Another thing I find/found very comforting to me was saying a prayer. When I said my prayer, I felt comfort and peace, and I felt that things would be okay, and that Heavenly Father would be there for me every step of the way. He would support me through everything, and will give me strength to get past anything that is thrown to me, like trials.
       I am once again, VERY happy that I have decided to serve the Lord. This gospel has brought SO much joy into my life, and I want to share it with anyone and everyone! I want them to find joy in life as well, and know that there is ALWAYS some one who is looking out for you and is ALWAYS there for you when you need someone to talk to. That is Heavenly Father. He will NEVER turn away from us. He is ALWAYS there for us. We just need to turn towards Him and take hold of His out-stretched hands. Well, I am very VERY grateful for this opportunity to learn and grow! I love you all very very much, and can't wait to hear from you! :) I love you and hope you take care!! Until next time, Have a GREAT week!! And 13 MORE DAYS UNTIL I LEAVE FOR KOREA!!!! (hopefully...if I got my visa). And I get to host tomorrow and welcome the new missionaries coming in this week!!! :D Wish me luck hahaha~ LOVE YOU ALL VERY VERY MUCH!!! :D
-Love
飲切古 (Kwok Cha-Mae)

Tuesday 6 March 2012

9th week in MTC - 3 more weeks to leave for South Korea !!!

March 6, 2012
안냥하세요!(Hey everyone!) 
How are you all doing? How's you're week been? What's new going on? 
Well this week has been great! :) I am so happy, and I am loving the language! I love my teachers too! we got our new teacher yesterday, and he's really great! He was the master at mastering dano, so I am very excited to learn from him. 
Also last week Tuesday, we got visited by Elder Jeffery R. Holland! :) I LOVED his talk! It made me want to change, and be a better missionary! He made it clear to us that we are missionaries who are grabbing hold of the torch of missionary work that has been passed down from generation to generation of 200 years. So we have the responsibility to uphold the reputation our fathers have built up and continue it and make it stronger for the next generation of missionaries to grab hold of the missionary torch and do as we are doing now. It was amazing! 
He also said that in order for our investigators to truly be converted to the gospel and not fall away, we must be converted first. He also mentioned that if we find ourselves wanting our investigator to be doing better in keeping their commitments, we must also do the same and work harder at it as well, because we are also God's investigators, and we are also leading our investigators by example. I thought that was neat :).
Another thing I learned from Jeffrey R. Holland's talk was that our mission is does not end after 2 years of 18 months. Our mission is the beginning to our life's mission. After our mission, we should NOT become the person that we were before our mission. We should continue to better ourselves, and move forward. 
Also in order for us to have the Spirit with us at ALL times we must strive to teach AFTER the manner of the Spirit. What does that mean to you? 
Jeffery R. Holland said there are two things that Spirit does if we are in tune with the Spirit, and if we are teaching after the manner of the Spirit.
  1. It is Provocative. Trust that feeling. (ie. In testimony meeting, you plan not to go up, but the Spirit prompts you and you Have to get up and bear your testimony...that is the Spirit being provocative...FOLLOW that feeling).
  2. ALWAYS and forevermore CLEAN
In order for us to be messengers we must be worthy of the Spirit so we can teach BY the Spirit. And when we teach BY the Spirit, the Spirt can work miracles in other people's lives. 
There are the majority of what I have learnt from his talk. I really LOVED his talk, and was very privileged to be able to be there to hear it! :)
Saturday was another AWESOME day for me and my district! I told you about our new and real investigator, and guess what?! WE got to meet her for the first time on Saturday!!! :) SOOO happy!! She truly is an amazing girl, and I am so happy that she is so dedicated in learning the gospel! :) We also found out that there are many other Korean students that are going to Church, but because of the language barrier, it's hard for them. So we are excited to meet them and teach with them in TRC! It makes me soo happy to see people so excited to hear about the gospel! :) 
And it's amazing that I'll be going to Korea in 3 WEEKS!!! CRAZY!! 
Our new district of Koreans came in yesterday, and we get to meet them soon!!! I am sooo excited. I am so scared and excited at the same time. I feel like I don't know anything in the language, and that I don't know enough dano to be able to teach people. But I know that if I put my full effort into preparing myself now, the Lord will bless me and help me to remember the things I have studied to prepare myself. Also seeing the new missionaries come in last or last last week, helped me to see how far we have all come together as a Zone. I can't wait for our new district to feel like they are progressing. 
I also had my meeting with my teacher yesterday, and she helped me to feel more calm, and a little more confident that I am learning this language. And the best thing to do, if I feel discouraged, rely and pray to Heavenly Father. I have seen this work in my life, especially while I was at the MTC. Through the lessons that my dung-pan-ja and I prepare and teach each day, I have found the hand of The Lord and the Spirit work with us. 
I am so excited to go to Korea!!! to find the people who are ready to hear the gospel, and to change their life and turn it towards Christ. These three weeks will go by quickly, and that is really scary and exciting at the same time! :) 
I have seen the progression from Week 1 to Week 9. It's amazing how much I have been able to learn about the language in such a short period of time. For sure, with out a doubt, I know that the Lord has helped and blessed me in learning this language. Because He has helped me, I am willingly taking the responsibility to continue to learn the language, and never forget it. Because when I am out in the field, I don't have a teacher helping me learn the language, and need to continuously learn more to be able to communicate with the Korean people! :)
I am SO glad I chose to serve a mission. This is one of THE best decisions I have made in my life. It has blessed me in my life, and it will bless the lives of the Korean people! :) I know this is where I need to be and where the Lord wants me. 
Today at the temple, a sweet little lady encouraged me and my dung-pan-ja-dur (companions) to always remember that the Lord is pleased with us, and she thanked us for going to serve. She also reminded us to always remember to pray for the angels to go with us, because they will indeed help and guide us when we go on our mission. Her encouragement to us was an answer to a prayer to me. It made me feel more calm, and it helped me know that I am not doing this work alone. Heavenly Father, the Spirit, and Angels are helping us. :)
Anyways, I am so so happy today, and I feel SO great! The Lord loves each and every one of us! He knows us all by name, and knows each and every one of us! I have a testimony of that! I know that this gospel IS true, and that it will FOREVER stand true. If you want to have a better understand of the gospel's truth, I encourage you to TRULY study the Book of Mormon! NOT just read it, but REALLY study it, and dissect it, and apply it into your life. Because through doing that, we will be able to understand the truthfulness of the gospel, and know for ourselves that this gospel is true, because the Spirit will testify it to you. :) I am currently doing this, and it has already blessed my life, and my testimony of this gospel is growing. 
I really love this gospel with all my heart, and I am so glad I can serve the Lord for these next 13months in Korea! :) 
I LOVE YOU ALL VERY MUCH! and hope you all have a wonderful day! :) Till next week,Take care! Hope to hear from you soon!! LOVE Love! :)
-Love,
곽자매