Picture Time!!!!

Oct 14th Letter

Hi Everyone I love!!

How are you all doing? Wasn't conference awesome! I feel like, especially for missionaries, it's Christmas time :)

We had another split where Sister Deus and her MTC dongie got to stay in Naju while I went with their senior in the other area. I love splits-I learn so much. And it's such a blessing to be able to rely 100% on Sister Deus -The language doesn't scare her, having the phone doesn't scare her, and she's just ready to be a senior :) She's also one of the funnest people to be with in the world and has TONS of faith! So her and her split companion always see miracles :D

The neatest thing about this one was that we got to be with our MTC companions again! She with hers, and I with mine, how neat/not common is that? 

Since I've been in the north of Daejeon for most of my mission and Sister Roueche's been in the south, there's been no opportunity to meet and really see how we've been doing until now. And it's so powerful to see how much we've changed since the MTC :)

We're still us! But we're different too. And we filled each other in on everything that's been going on and our hopes and dreams for after the mission. It was just a nice time.

We were also able to visit one of our members who's been taking medicine for cancer (he used to be a senior missionary with his wife) for the past while. He's felt so bad that he hasn't been able to help us. Since he's lived in Naju over 45 years, he knows where everyone lives and who they are! Just last week we got an invitation to come over and visit them-He's just finished his medicine last Sunday. 

We were a tiny bit concerned, because their home is 40 minutes by bus to get to, and then we never know when the next bus is coming when we're finished. But we went! And we ended up being a little early. Hahha funny side note, I tried to get off WAY to early *(this is a habit I have) and then got an urgent phone call from one of our sisters, and so it was all up to Sister Deus to get us off of the right stop....She was concerned too. But at that point I was of no use, on the phone. She even hit the button to stop the bus and then realized it wasn't the right stop. We kept going and going, and she told me later she didn't recognize where we were. It was getting intense, when all of the sudden she hit the button again, JUST before we passed the place for the bus to stop, and he jerked to a halt. We disembarked. I got off the phone. And we looked around.

RIGHT BUS STOP! Thank goodness! The Lord was listening to Sister Deus's silent prayer :) 

(there are miracles like this all the time. The Lord just needs us in the right place, so He helps us get there :) 

I felt so much love for this faithful couple. They have dedicated their lives to the Lord and Brother Jeong really wants to serve another mission. Because of his health he may serve another as a service or temporary missionary, but He just reminded me of Dad when he said "I've done farming, I've worked at an office, here and there; but there's no work better than missionary work. He also said, looking at our family pictures (the one with all of us in pile in the blocks outside) that my father was really rich. Rich in children. The best kind. :)

Sister Deus and I visited a couple that we got a all-of-the-sudden ride from a couple nights ago at their home. They weren't there when we went (we'd wanted to bring them banana bread, an american treat :) for helping us out that night, even through they didn't know us at all. They were so sweet! Showed them our family pictures and they asked my parents age (a lot of the times Koreans do because they marry older) and I had a funny moment. This is all in Korean. "How old is your mother?"

"She's 94!"

Shocked looks.

"94? 94! OH! I mean She's 49! Actually 47!" (mom are you really 47??)

Relief. And a lot of laughter :)

We talked about life and religeon and found out they were both Buddhist. they were some of the kindest people I've ever met in my life. They didn't let us leave without giving us a heavy bag of 10 huge Naju pears, Kimchee, and some hardened rice things I've never seen in my mission :) We walked home with arms full of love. We can't wait to visit again-and it's neat that they've met the Sister Missionaries now :) Maybe it's planting seeds! 

Finally, we got to visit the mother of  one of our members who came with her daughter to church for the first time in her life this Saturday afternoon. She's so adorable!  We talked a lot about families. She just lost her husband three months ago. She lives alone but she's still so happy and kind. We just got to know her and I can tell you she's an angel!! When she met us she said "Wow. I haven't worn a skirt my whole life! Expect for hanbok (traditional Korean clothing)." She chuckled to herself. "I guess if I'm going to start coming to church, I gotta start wearing a skirt huh?

Then she came with her daughter to the Sunday morning session of Conference with her daughter!!!! I really feel like she's ready to get baptized. We haven't done any lessons or anything, but she's so ready to go with her daughter-to feel the Spirit of this church-And I hope she can feel the love the Savior has for her and her daughter and family especially at this hard time. There's nothing she and they need more than to know He's there.

Also! Our investigator came to Conference! He stayed for two talks-Elders Russel M Nelson's and the general authority before him. Then we did English and I asked him again how he felt about God-just to clarify. Before when we asked, he said he didn't believe in God or have a religion. But this time, something must have touched him. 

He just sat thoughtfully and said "I'm not sure."

This Gospel pulls people to be better-to realize that there is something more than themselves. That there is a Loving Heavenly Father-and that His is their father.

I'm so so so grateful for the opportunity I have to bear witness of God's love to His children. I am not a perfect missionary by any means. In fact I wonder how God works sometimes :) How can He use me? But He knows. And He does :) He's amazing and I'm so glad He lives.

I love you all! I pray you can feel His love for you what ever situation you're in. Keep going! It's all worth it!

I feel it in my heart.

Sister Brooksby

Pictures are from our amazing hike last week-Grandma King's going to love it here!

Sept 30th Letter

안녕하세요 여러분!

 

I've decided that I need to be more like my dilligent companion and write in my journal more. That way things stick out to me that I can tell you!

 

It's Sister Dues' 20th birthday today! :D We're all wearing harmonie (grandma) pants (or mom bae pajis as they're known here), eating Pizza School (wich cheese crust!) and playing Korean board games and Pokemon at the church in honor of her birth :D

 

The attatched picutres are of Sister Deus and her very first pair of harmonie pants, of her again on her birthday. The first one is an awesome sign we found when we got lost in Nampyung! Had to take a picture and send it for you all. It's Konglish for "Happiness" :) Tell you the story behind it later.

 

This week has been good! And crazy!

 

We have two investigators right now. A cute 17 year old who's learning English with us and the son of some friends we made just walking on the street one day. Brother In Su. He's 33 and told us when we first met him, he's Catholic. :) We're also doing English with him. We found out that he understands Gospel vocabulary in English also. And because he asked us and we got permission to do our lesson in English this past week, we found out a lot that maybe we wouldn't have known specifically if we hadn't. It was really cool.

 

We'd taught him the entire Restoration last time and invited him to read and pray about the Book of Mormon and Sister Dues and I were thinking about how we can help him get an answer. We knew that he had been more religeous when he was younger, and felt like pray had been benificial to him at the time, but he wasn't actively worshiping currently. We weren't sure if he recognized how he'd been able to get answers to his prayers-how the Spirit felt to him personally, so we looked up a lot of scriptures about gaining a testimony and the voice of the Spirit and just went. It was hard for me to go to that lesson with nothing more than a few scriptures-I get so nervous before we meet, even when I feel prepared.  I think it's because he was older and already had a religeon.

 

So we walk up to the house and say hello to his mom, our friend, working in the garden. She looks down at us with a sad look on her face and says, "He says meeting with you is not interesting anymore. You've all run out of things to say." I looked at Sister Dues and then back to our sweet grandmother. "Really?" I questioned, my stomach dropping. "Well, he doesn't say that, but I can tell by his manner." She replied. "So, maybe he'd not like to meet anymore, huh?" After she saw the dissapointment on our faces, she tried to cheer us up. "Why don't you just go ask him yourself!" she said and shooed us into the house.

 

Slowly, and somewhat sadly, we entered. We sat down and I just asked him about it straight out in English (because he's pro). He looked at us. "I just feel like we've run out of things to talk about. So it's not as fun anymore. We've just run out of things." I sat back. Hum. What do I say to that? "We could just assign subjects for each visit to talk about for 30 minutes!" He didn't seem excited. Then he offered another idea. "Why don't you just teach me your gospel in English? That has the question/answer style that would help me." I looked at Sister Deus. We aren't allowed to teach in English if they can speak Korean. But still, we could call our district leader right there and ask for a try. So I brought it up to him and asked him if he'd like me to call. Which he did! Elder Barney (used to be a boxer but the sweetest elder!) said that was okay! But if he had questions, we'd teach him again in Korean. So we got permission and set to it! (It was so nice to be able to just teach the Gospel for the whole hour!)

 

We began to teach him about prayer and talking with God and receiving answers. We'd just turned to the book of Enos to share his experience when I all of the sudden asked him about something in the Bible and his excperience reading it. He responded that he couldn't believe the miracles of Jesus actually occured. He thinks of them as fairy tales. Hmmm... We thought. So we backed up a little bit, putting Enos aside. We started with the very basic of questions. Did he believe in God? Did he believe in Jesus Christ as the Son of God?

It was the begining of a long question-and-answer session where we taught him a condensed version of the Plan of Salvation and he looked so interested/surprised that we believe in God as a person. He told us he believed in God as nature, not as a person; we asked him about prayer and then eventually he told us that he didn't believe in God at all. We asked him if there was a God, if he would want to know.

He told us that after he left his childhood faith behind, other Christians always told him how with God in their lives, they are happier. They encouraged him to pray and find out for himself. "But I didn't believe them. I was happy. Until one day, when I was in college. I wanted to know if there really was a God. So I studied lots of books. And I thought a lot. And I thought about what everyone that I'd known told me .And I prayed. Privately."

We were listening expectingly. "But I never got an answer."

Then we understood that from then on, he gave up that there was a God.

He said once in his last lesson that, like Jospeh Smith, he has searched for truth. He's wanted to know. But it's hard for him because the way we testified that he could know, wasn't through physical evidence that he could touch or smell or taste. It's through feelings, we said. He just shook his head.

He asked us then, "I have one question. When did you know there was a God?"

 

I really thought for a moment. I'd shared my experience with how I knew the Book of Mormon was true many times, and I'd read scriptures for investigators of prophets that testified of God's existence, but I hadn't ever felt like I needed to search deeply until that moment when he really wanted to know. So I told him.

"I haven't always known. In fact, there are times throughout my life and even now that I wonder. But I have received testimony after testimony and witness after witness, whether listening to another's testimony or thinking back on my day and how God's hand was in it, that I knew. God has been there for me in my saddest and most discouraging moments. I recognized Him especially then.  And those moments have pulled me through the times I doubt. I'm still not perfect. I'm so selfish and choose not to see His hand which touches my life every moment. But He's been there for me and surrounded me in a warm feeling of love many times. I can't deny to you that He does live,"

 

Then Sister Deus bore the most powerful testimony I've ever heard her express. She said that her experience is a little different from mine. She's a micro-biology major. She's a scientist. And she's wondered and felt the very things that he was feeling. She shared her personal conversion story, which is one of the most powerful I've ever heard in my life. And I could feel the Spirit in the room. "I could feel His arms of love wrapping around me in that moment," she said. "I testify that He knows me and He knows you. He does live. And He loves you."

 

I was so thankful for Sister Dues and her firm testimony. At the end, we could do nothing but invite him to try, to try again. To really find out if God is there. And we promised that an answer would come. In God's time.

 

I just want you all to know that I do know God lives! He is our Father and He loves us! And if there is anyone you know that is feeling sad today or needs a friend, go on over and sit next to them. Laugh together! Tell them that you love them. And they He does too. :)

 

Really quick-the "Happiness" sign story!

 

So Sister Dues and I were ready. We were bound for adventure into the wild blue, unexplored area of Nampyung. It was another region in our area where some of our less actives live that we'd never been to, and by golly, we were going to find them! According to the elders, there were less active members that hadn't been visited for over a year there. Definately time for a visit.

We'd planned to find and prosylte and look for houses all day, so we packed two peanut butter sandwitches and a map we'd gotten from City Hall. Then we went to the church to copy some of our English program flyers and met the elders there, heading out to explore another area-Yo Sang Po- that'd we'd also not been to before. Somehow we convinced them to come with us so we'd be safer or something (I think Elder Hall had been there once before, and it ended up being a good thing we brought him) so after a quick haircut (it'd been closed for ChuSeok) we hopped on a bus and headed out to the countryside.

 

Make a long story short, after finding our way to the district office and playing with their electronic map/taking videos and pictures of where our less actives live, we got off on the right stop, but kept walking past it and got lost for a coulple of ours. Walking on the side of the road, with huge semi type trucks rushing by and nearly killing our trail of four poor lost forigners. We'd eaten our sandwitches hours ago, it was 5:30pm and the elders hadn't brought anything at all. Elder Hunter kept looking for a convenience store of anykind and kept making jokes about asking for snacks. I ended up giving him our last piece of bread. We were all dying.

We asked a man if we were in the right area. We weren't.

At that point, most everyone was ready to throw in the towel. We'd been able to find our one less active. We could come back and search another day. But I pushed them. I said let's give it one more shot. So we got on the bus again, and got off again at the right stop. It's where we found the "Happiness" sign.

 

We walked down the road and 15 minutes later, we found it! God love su!

 

I just want you to know I love you :)

Sister Brooksby