The One With the Bats

Okay, so this week and P-Day have been the craziest ever! Since the last time I wrote I placed my first Book of Mormon, took a trip to the real world, welcomed in 26 sparkly new Korean-speaking missionaries, and moved residence buildings...again. 

Okay, so let's start with the good things. Remember the girl from TRC that I wrote about? Well, unfortunately Sister Cooper and I didn't get the chance to teach her again, but we were able to flag her down in the hall and give her a Book of Mormon that we wrote our testimonies in and that we tied a big, cute, pink bow on. That's just how Coop and I do. Haha. It was a really special experience that I'll never forget. Her face just lit up when we handed it to her. I think she really appreciated that we thought of her even if all we had to give was a cheap, paperback copy of the Book of Mormon (and if you ask me, that's the best thing you can give to someone! That book has changed my life!). And I didn't think I'd give out my first Book of Mormon until I got to Korea. That experience was something I really needed because I have felt so ineffective just sitting around at the MTC waiting to go to the field and be put to use!

After Friday, lots of things went downhill. Like I said earlier, I have felt pretty low lately because I don't feel like I'm meeting my missionary purpose here at the MTC. I have done everything I can to prepare to leave for Korea and I just feel that I have outgrown this place. But it's okay. The Lord keeps us here for 9 weeks for a reason. Anyway, on Sunday I was having a pretty awful day. I just woke up and couldn't get going and I honestly still can't even put my finger on exactly what has been wrong with me lately. I went to branch council and talked with President Perriton and at the end he asked if I wanted a priesthood blessing. I don't know how he knew how desperately I needed one...well, actually, I do: revelation. He gave both Sister Cooper and I blessings and it was a very special experience for both of us. After that, we went to sacrament meeting and Sister Gilbert, our 1st counselor's wife came and sat next to me (she and Bro. Gilbert just got back from serving as the mission presidents in Pusan last year!). She is probably one of the most inspired women I have ever met. Anyway, she just wrapped her arms around me and said "I just felt like you needed a mom hug." I kind of just collapsed in her arms and started bawling and I honestly still don't know why. I'd never peg myself as someone who would have an MTC meltdown because this place is literally a playground, but I was just having an off day. That hug turned my entire Sunday around. After that, Sister You and Sister Kim (from Korea) gave their departure talks. They had been working so hard all week to learn how to bear their testimony in English and that made me--the girl who never cries--bawl like a baby. The spirit was amazing. Then that night the Koreans and the oldest district were giving their departure testimonies and Sister Kang expressed how thankful she was that we were giving up time to serve the people of her country. Again, I bawled like a baby. I love Koreans so much. I have never met more genuine, kind, and Moroni 7:45-like people in my entire life. If I can just be a little bit like the Korean sisters before I die, I'll have accomplished something amazing! I can't wait to serve these people. Okay, now just let me go do it!! ;)

On Monday things looked up a little bit because Sister Markus needed comfortable tracking shoes and some longer skirts, so as Senior STL I got to take her to the real world (the MALL!!!) to help her find some things. It was a little stressful, but fun. Although, it made me a little homesick because we had to cut through BYU campus and it made me miss non-missionary life for a second. But Koreans are worth it!

Things got crazy again on Wednesday because 26 new missionaries joined our branch. We got 11 new sisters. Most of the newbie missionaries are going to Pusan and Daejeon, but a few are serving in California and Canada. We had to do orientation outside (which I was totally cool with) because the main building, 1M, is shut down for mission presidents' conference...and all of the general authorities are in there! I am constantly so tempted to sneak in and say hi.

Okay so this p-day was insane. First of all, the conference for all mission-presidents-in-training is currently being held, so our entire schedule was flipped around. We had temple time this morning instead of this afternoon, so we didn't have much time to get things done. It was kind of sad because the temple will be closed for the next 2 weeks, so it was our last time to go for 16 months! After the temple we rushed back and ate taco bell for lunch, which brought happy tears to my eyes. I actually feel pretty lucky to be here during the conference because all of our meals are catered from real food places until Sunday. No more cafeteria food for me! Yay! Right after lunch we had to go to class because we were being instructed by a new mission president. Our president was from Nigeria! He was so cool and sweet. Halfway through the lesson Sister Cooper was feeling super sick so we had to go back to the residence to sleep. That's when things got crazy. We had been back at the residence for about an hour and I was sitting in bed reading a conference talk when a voice came on the loudspeaker that said "All sisters need to come to building 19 M immediately, regardless of what they are doing." Luckily Sister Cooper had just woken up and her nausea had gone away after taking some medicine. We rushed to 19M to find President Bertasso announcing that there had been some incidents reported of bats attacking sisters while they were sleeping in our residence building, 17M. All sisters would have to move immediately. We just moved into 17M last week! So we rushed back to our room, threw everything in our suitcases, and trekked over to 5M. It was quite an ordeal, but with a little help from the elders, it wasn't so bad. Plus, I have now lived in 3M, 17M, and 5M, which means I have lived in all three of the sisters' buildings at the MTC. Who can say that?! Plus, even though it was like 95 degrees outside and we were all in skirts and suits, it was really cool to see everyone rally together to help each other out. Plus, I got a great arm workout from helping sisters carry their suitcases up the stairs because Elders aren't allowed in Sister' residence halls. 

Well, that's all for now folks. Thanks to everyone who has written me over the last 7 1/2 weeks. It means so much to me to hear from everyone. It's really nice to know that I haven't been forgotten.

사랑합니다!!

"I you love!!"

Johns 자매

p.s. Dad, your Google translate Korean is so awful. It makes everyone in my district laugh so hard when I show them. You should stick to Spanish ;)

Pigging out on P-Days #FK's

Last branch pic with the district above us and the native Korean missionaries

Weekly comp pic

My favorite Russian-speaking Sister-friend left this week! We became buds my first week here when we started talking at a devo. Her dream mission was Korean-speaking and mine was Russian-speaking so we always joke about how we got each other's calls when we see each other around. As going away presents she made me a cute Russian alphabet and I made her a Korean alphabet and we taught each other how to sound things out.

The Ogletrees are the best! They sent me my favorite type of cookies! It made me feel so special when I was having a really hard day!

Sister Cooper and I both have these dresses we never wear because I swear every other sister at the MTC has them, but we both wore them the other day because we were so sick of wearing the same clothes over and over. #conformity 

The One With "El Choobacheh"

Hello friends and family!!

I am so happy to be writing you today. I don't think I've even been more in need of a P-Day! Okay, so since last P-Day, a lot has happened. I have pretty much had it with the MTC and I am so ready to leave, but I'm trying to make the best of it. I honestly have no idea how anyone ever stayed here for twelve weeks! I've been here for six and I'm completely insane! But more about that later!

Last Friday was the best day I ever had at the MTC. Why? Well, a few weeks ago in TRC we taught a BYU student from Korea who is not a member of the church. She is a real deal investigator, so we were really nervous the first time we taught her. We asked her why she wanted to meet with us and she said that it is because her boyfriend is LDS. We asked her what she wanted to know and she said that she was really interested in 영셍. The only problem was that we had literally no idea what 영셍 meant! We tried desperately to understand and finally she told us that it meant eternal life. The other problem: We didn't know enough grammar forms to talk about eternal life. We left the lesson feeling so awful and defeated. Understanding native speakers is really hard...and talking to them is even harder. All week, I kept thinking about that lesson and about how we let our investigator down. When Friday came around, Sister Cooper and I were planning our lessons for TRC and I just kept thinking about the week before and secretly hoping that we would have a chance to teach our same investigator again. When we showed up for TRC, we had two spiritual thoughts planned: one about faith for a non-member and one about reading the Book of Mormon for a member. We walked into the room and our same investigator was sitting there! I was so nervous and excited. We prayed and Cooper 자매님 started talking about faith...according to plan. But we both knew it just wasn't right. One word kept going through my head "영셍, 영셍, 영셍." I had to do something, so somehow I hijacked the lesson and connected faith to eternal life and we were able to change the course of the lesson. We talked about how Heavenly Father loves us and we are His children. He loves us so much that He wants us to come home and live with Him forever. We shared our testimonies and emphasized the importance of prayer. Cooper 자매님 is so good with scriptures and she flipped to the perfect ones to share. The spirit was so strong in that room. When I was bearing my testimony, I felt God's love for this girl like I have never felt love before. I was trying so hard to tell her this in Korean, but I had to break into English (good thing she's secretly fluent). In half-Korean/half English, we told her how much she mattered to us and how we had been thinking about her since our last visit. We wanted her to feel our love for her and God's love for her. We shared our testimonies of prayer and shared James 1:5. Then she asked what she could ask God about. We excitedly answered that she could ask him about anything. We started listing off some things she could pray about that we knew how to say in Korean, but I felt like I needed to say that she could pray about her major. The only problem was that I had no idea how to say major in Korean, so I almost didn't say it. But the Holy Ghost was pounding on my heart like a sledgehammer. So I just said "major" in English. After our lesson we received our evaluation slip and she had written a very sweet note to us on the back expressing how she could feel the Holy Ghost, how our testimonies had almost brought her to tears, how she felt that we cared because we remembered and answered her question from the week before, and how she was so proud of how much our Korean had improved. But the most special part was at the end. She said that she was really stressed about changing her major and we had answered her question directly. What a special experience! If anyone is wondering why the heck I left everything behind to serve a mission, the reason why is because I want to share that love I felt last Friday night. There is nothing else in this world like it. I love this work so much and I can't wait to go do it for reals in Korea. God is real. He is aware of each of us personally. I know that. And there was another miracle connected to this miracle that testifies of this! We didn't have enough time to commit our investigator to pray, but Elder Hiatt and Elder Ulrich taught her right after us and they taught about prayer and committed her to pray! See, God really does care about us! He cared about this girl so much that He didn't let her leave TRC without receiving a full message about prayer. Just think of how eager He must have been for His daughter to talk to Him because He send her two sets of missionaries with the same message! I am so excited to do TRC again tomorrow. Cooper 자매님 and I wrote our testimonies in a Book of Mormon and we are going to give it to her tomorrow. We can't wait!

After TRC on Friday, Goodwin 자매님 and Gardener 자매님 let us go to weekly planning outside because the weather was beautiful. After we were done planning I was so happy about our lesson and so happy to be outside and to be so close to the real world that I climbed up on the fence and waved at cars for like ten minutes. Anyone who didn't know what the MTC was probably thought it was the Loony Bin. 

Nothing very big has happened since last Friday. That's probably why I'm going so crazy. And my experience last Friday just made me realize how stinking badly I want to get out into the field and escape from the MTC. I am getting so stir crazy in here. The last three nights I have had dreams about walking out of the MTC and hiking Mount Timp. I am dying. Really, how could anyone survive twelve weeks of this?!?!?! But it'll be over soon enough. And we got to move to a newer residence hall today because they need to do renovations on 3M. It was nice to have a little change. And the showers are HUGE! And super echoey and perfect for singing in. ;)

Oh! I guess I could tell you about Cooper 자매님 and I almost set a trashcan on fire the other night! Sorry Mom! So we were making some popcorn on floor three of our building when we got talking to some of the Russian-speaking sisters. We're pretty tight with them because of my Russian obsession. We were talking about our mission call opening stories when smoke started to appear out of nowhere. We were all confused as to where this mysterious black fog was coming from when all of the sudden it started to smell like the stench of a thousand charred campfires. "сестра!!! your popcorn!!" one of the sisters yelled. Cooper 자매님 and I ripped open the microwave door and a tiny fire had ignited in the middle of the popcorn bag. Then we realized that we were located directly underneath the smoke alarm. How convenient. We raced down the stairs with the flaming popcorn bag and I started to rush outside to get rid of the fire. "Wait!" Cooper screamed. "You can't go outside in your PJ's! They'll expel you!!" Crap. Well, I ran outside in my pink-and-white granny jams anyway. Luckily the MTC fashion police didn't see me. I tossed the flaming bag in the trashcan and sprinted back inside leaving a giant cloud of stinky smoke rising from the trashcan. I really hope it didn't catch on fire...

Anyway...

 I'm sure everyone is wondering what the heck "El Choobacheh" is...oh gosh. Where do I even begin with El Choobacheh ? Okay, so like I have pretty clearly emphasized, I am super over the MTC and kind of losing my marbles. Well, last night my marbles were officially lost. After spending the entire night trying to get my brain to absorb the concept of gerunds I was pretty brain dead (and by the way, I'm pretty sure Gerund was a bitter old man who woke up, drank a jar of pickle juice, and decided he was going to make everyone's life a whole lot harder by making up gerunds and naming them after himself). Cooper 자매님, Tanner 자매님 (my faves), and I just weren't having it. We were so out of it and mind-blown. Then Anderton 자매님 wouldn't stop talking about this form that literally no one except her knows and we were all just not having it. She just kept going on and on about "bache" (don't know how to spell in Korean), which means outside. 

Then this happened:

Orndorff 정로님 :"What the heck! When did we learn about 'El Choobacheh'???"

 Chandler 형제님:*makes Choobacah noise*

I have no idea why this was so dang funny, but Tanner 자매님 and I just lost it. I can't even remember the last time I laughed so hard. I almost peed my dress!! And Tanner 자매님 couldn't stop laughing, so I couldn't stop laughing then Chandler 형제님 started laughing, which made us laugh because we made our teacher laugh and it was just this endless circle of insanity when we were kneeling to pray. Tanner 자매님 and I still haven't stopped laughing about this. I'm currently laughing right now while I'm typing. I guess nobody outside of District 28 B and our teachers will understand the hilarity of "El Choobacheh." 

Anyway, I think that's enough MTC insanity for one email. I love you all and can't wait to hear from everyone! Have a wonderful week!

사랑합니다!

"I you love"

Johns 자매

The struggle is real when you're stuck here for 9 weeks

 We all pitched in to get Sister Markus English scriptures because she only has them in Dutch and Korean, which make things really hard for her.

Selfie or "Sel-ca" (as Koreans would say)

 Our favorite Koreans!

bb finger heartz

 Halfway there!

THE ONE WITH THE (MTC) HALF-WAY MARK

안녕하세요!!

TGI P-Day...again! Hooray!! I can't believe that today I have officially hit my MTC half-way mark! Five MTC weeks down (four-ish real weeks), four to go. Where is all of this time going? I feel like someone took the VHS tape of my life and put it on fast-forward! But in all honesty, I'm so ready to bust this joint. I'm pretty much over the MTC. I really do love this place, but I am ready to go to Korea...as soon as I get this language down a little better. But I've pretty much accepted the fact that I'll probably be doing 90% of my language learning in the field. So send me out there! It's white already to harvest!

In other news...

This last Sunday was probably one of my favorites here at the MTC. On Sunday morning we had MTC Conference. There were so many great talks and thoughts there--I couldn't even begin to tell you about them. After MTC Conference, we had fast and testimony meeting and it was probably one of the most powerful testimony meetings of my life. First of all, because the Elders from my district--who couldn't even read Korean a few weeks ago--recited the Sacrament prayers for their first time and they didn't need to repeat them. That is unheard of! It was very powerful. Then everyone in my district except for two people bore their testimony--all in Korean. I also had the opportunity to bear my testimony in Korean. I don't think I have felt that my testimony was more genuine and firm than when I shared it in Korean. Even though it was simple, I knew the things I was saying were true so I wasn't afraid to say them--even in a foreign language. See guys! Opening your mouth bring power and blessings! I was also able to share Phillipians 4:13 (in Korean) from memory. I have been working memorizing this scripture in Korean for weeks, and I said it without messing up! There was a power backing and supporting me that allowed me to do that. It was not me, it was the spirit allowing me to share the truths that I know.

Another really amazing thing happened during that meeting. One of the new sisters who had just arrived at the MTC last Wednesday got up and shared her testimony in Korean. For the point that she is at in learning, it was amazing!! At first, I was a little annoyed. I thought to myself "why in the world didn't Heavenly Father help me speak like that my first week?!? I fasted and prayed for it. I had faith...so why not?" Then this sister broke into English and told us about how nervous she was when she got called to Korea because learning a new language was the last thing in the world she wanted to do and she even put that on her papers. Yet, she was called to learn one of the hardest languages for English speakers to learn. It was then that I remembered that saying that is repeated over and over again in the scriptures that we are "blessed according to our faith." I think you could swap the word "faith" for "needs." Heavenly Father knows our needs and what will be best for us. This sister's faith was no better than mine, Sister Cooper's, or anyone else's. Heavenly Father just knew what she needed. She exercised her faith by accepting her mission call to Korea, even if learning this language isn't exactly something she wants to do. When I came to the MTC, I was eager to learn Korean, Russian, French, and a million other languages if possible. I would even say I was a little prideful when I got here! Heavenly Father has used this difficult language to humble me and to help me learn to rely on Him in all things. It has taken me over a month, and I'm just starting to get this language down but I am grateful for the challenge. I know that Heavenly Father has acknowledged my faith and that He is now blessing me according to that faith by meeting my individual needs. I know God knows us personally and that he provides us with challenges and trials, miracles and blessings according to what will help us reach the potential He sees in us. On Sunday night Sister Susan W. Tanner spoke to us about the Holy Ghost. What a wonderful experience!

The other night I had just washed off my makeup, changed out of my dress into my PJ's and gotten as nasty as a sister missionary can look when my name was announced on the loudspeaker saying they needed me at the front desk because...THE KOREAN SISTERS WERE THERE!! Yay!!! I have never been more excited to roll out of bed and put on church clothes in my life! Four new Korean natives joined our branch this week: You 자매님, Kang 자매님, Kim 자매님, and Nam 장로님. I really love this group! Especially the sisters! You 자매님 and Kim 자매님 needed translation for the Tuesday night devotional (Sister Linda K. Burton!) so I sat with them. It was so fun! Kang 자매님 speaks fluent English and she went to BYUI before her mission. I really like her. You 자매님 is soo sweet! Even though we can't really say anything to each other, I can tell that we are gonna be friends (*cue White Stripes song*). I seriously love Koreans so much! Last night Sister Sutton and I and Elder Hiatt and Elder Diamante had to give orientation in Korean. It was hard, but we managed. When it was my turn to share my testimony, I was really nervous at first, but I just could just feel the spirit and I could feel the Korean Elder and Sisters praying for me and encouraging me as I spoke. My testimony was more than simple, but I could feel the love of everyone in that room so strongly. It was probably one of my favorite experiences here at the MTC. I am so sad the Korean sisters are going to Seoul! I wish they could come to Pusan with me!! Pray that we'll get sisters in the group of natives that will be on the same MTC transfer as us!! Gosh I am so excited to serve in Korea. I couldn't be more thankful for my mission call!

Well, that's all I have to say about that. I can't wait to hear from everyone! I say it every week and I'll say it again! Don't hesitate to send me a letter (if you want/have time!). I love getting mail. It keeps me going! And I am really good at writing back! If you send me a letter, I will send you one! 약속 (promise)!!!!!

사랑합니다!

"I you love"

Johns 자매

Birthday masterminds

The Big 1-9 for Elder Ulrich

Thanks to Erika Brown for all of the Texas love! What a tender mercy!

The weekly comp pics

 Sometimes Elder Orondorff wears bows in his hair??

THE ONE WHEN THEY ALL LOST IT

Hello friends and family!!!

So there's this thing that happens in the MTC where for your first few weeks you try to pretend like you know what you're doing and you act like everything is okay because 'you've got this.' Slowly, however, insanity starts to creep in. You start singing weird songs about anything and everything, you start make weird food combinations and somehow enjoy eating them because the cafeteria food is so dang awful, you are so tired at the end of the day that you start to doze off in weird places, and one day you finally realize that you've lost it. And you're not sure if you ever had it in the first place. And if you ever did it's actually been lost for a long time. That is where the other 자매님들 (sisters) and I have been finding ourselves lately. Last night, we all finally admitted to ourselves that we don't have this, but we will make the best of it. So we sat in our beds after lights out and laughed about I don't even know what and tried to make each other feel better about our crumbling mental state. I really love these sisters and I am so glad I get to lose my sanity with them.

So that's pretty much where I'm at. 1/3 of my MTC journey is finally over, but there so much left to learn. The language is coming along really well. I can pray in 한국말 without even thinking about it and I can conjugate sentences in my head and I am working on memorizing the first vision and learning to share my testimony. I am really blessed and I really love watching my district grow. We are all improving so much. Why? Because we are opening our mouths. I can tell you that putting pride aside and opening your mouth will help you in whatever it is you're doing in life. God qualifies those He calls. 

We had a wonderful devotional with Janice Capp Perry last Sunday. She is the songwriter who wrote A Child's Prayer, I Love to See the Temple, As Sisters in Zion, etc. (basically all of my favorite church songs). It was a such a blessing to hear from her. She spoke about the power of hymns and the influence they can have on missionary work. Coincidentally, all of last week I had been studying Korean hymns (찬송가) because I really enjoy reading them and it really helps improve my Korean literacy. I felt so strongly that music would be very important to missionary work in Korea.

Another cool experience from this week...Elder and Sister Christofferson came to speak at the devotional on Tuesday! It was so cool to be able to hear from another apostle! Sister Christofferson spoke very powerfully about loving the people you serve. It was a message I really needed to hear because we got 15 new sisters and one new Elder this week (the poor guy). Being an STL over that many sisters is really stressful, but I can do all things through Christ (Philippians 4:13--go read it. It's my favorite. I just finished memorizing that scripture in 한국말. Just another testimony of the truthfulness of its message)!! Elder Christofferson answered some commonly asked questions asked by missionaries. There is so much that he said that I wish I had time to write, but I will just share my favorite point he made, which was that the scriptures are the textbook for learning the language of love. If you need help loving someone other than yourself, go to the scriptures. They will teach you everything you need to do. When you read the scriptures your capacity to love and your faith grow. Faith leads to action, action leads to miracles. So go read your scriptures and act on what you learn! Now! :)

There's this thing called hosting that missionaries who have been at the MTC for 3+ weeks get to do every Wednesday in order to keep us sane. Basically, we meet the incoming missionaries at the curb, help them with their bags, show them around etc. It was a pretty fun experience, but we had to miss four whole hours of class and study because of it! But it was worth it to serve the new missionaries. I got to host two sisters. The first sister was from Texas and she is serving in the Baltic mission speaking Russian. Obviously, we got along pretty well. I hope her mission is great! I also got to host one of the new sisters in our branch. That was a cool experience.

Overall, nothing really big (other than Elder Christofferson's talk) happened this week. I'm just keeping on keeping on. 1/3 down, 2/3 to go. I hope everything is great at home! Love y'all!

사랑합니다!

"I you love!"

Johns 자매

Had to say bye to my "Seoul sista." Yes, we always make Korea puns. *literally* praying we get to be companions at some point.

 We had to say byebye to some of my favorite sisters ever! It was so hard! I will see all of them in Pusan though! (except for Sister Orangan-in the middle-she is going to Daejeon)

All of the sisters together for one last time

 On Wednesdays, we wear polkadots

I love my cute companion! 

Silly tender mercy: There's this thing at the MTC called TRC where you teach real people (members, recent converts, less actives, investigators, etc) once a week in your mission language. It was our first week and I was SO nervous! My Korean is awful! Well, after Sister Cooper and I finished praying, Sister Markus ran over and told us that she found a cool annotated Russian hymn book in her TRC room and she wanted me to have it! It was like manna from heaven. Not only did it remind me that God is aware of us--even in small, insignificant ways and that he was kind of just saying "hey Sister Johns, I'm looking out for you"--but it was also such a cool find. I love learning hymns in other languages, so I can't wait to use this thing when I get home and learn Russian!

Sister Sutton, my fellow STL. She is so great at training me to be good at this new calling!  

Celebrating our 1/3 mark

The elders (they think they're such hot rods...lol)

The sisters