Hello Friends and family! Happy *almost* Christmas!
This week was so good!
First of all, I have a question: Do you remember that crazy grandma I taught that was in that scary cult that was all about destroying other people's religions? Well, I met another of her kind this week! It was sooo freaky! I swear I am a magnet for weirdos. I have taught more weird people than most missionaries around and it's only my 4th transfer! Anyway, the Elders got this call from this random lady who said she wanted to meet with them. They passed her onto us because they aren't allowed to teach girls and we met her in the Shinae (downtown). She took us to Lotteria and the lesson started off fine, but something was really off and the spirit just wasn't there. Then all of the sudden she got really creepy and asked if she could take our picture so she could "remember our names and what we looked like." We told her heck no and started to say that we had to leave. Then all of the sudden her "son" came and they just started being super weird and asking all of these weird, personal questions about us and our religion. We just lied to her about our age, where we are from (lol...I said I was from Russia and that I didn't speak English and she totally bought it), etc. Then we just straight up said we had to leave. Don't worry, we blocked her and she kept calling the Elders, but they blocked her too. Korea can be really creepy sometimes! And she was totally part of that religion just by all of the things she said. Don't worry Mom, I'll be more careful in the future!
Anyway, besides all of the weird stuff that happened this week, it was really great! We accomplished so much and had so much fun!
This week I got to go on exchanges with Sister Cooper in Bongojeen! We had so much fun and it was great to get all caught up on everything that has happened in the last 5 months. We also got up early and ran to the beach together, which was the best ever. Especially considering that both of our current companions aren't huge fans of morning exercise. It was soo good to see each other! I can't even describe it! And it was soo cool to see how we have grown up and matured so much! I love Sister Cooper to death! I forgot how great it was to be companions! We really did have a great companionship! I pray that we get to serve together again in the field!
Okay, now the cherry on top of this week! I don't know if I had time to write about it, but last week we met with this girl named Alice (she is Korean but she likes us to call her by her American name). She is 24 and the cutest thing ever. And her English is SOOO good! Better than anyone else I have taught. We started meeting with her last Saturday so she can practice her English with us. This week we prepared to teach her the Plan of Salvation and invite her to be baptized. She asked for us to teach her in English, which is such a blessing and she understands it all...so I can really express myself. Yay! Anyway, we taught her about the Celestial Kingdom and how we have to be baptized to get there and that baptism is something that she can do if she wants. She then asked us about authority because she was christened in the Catholic church when she was a baby. That led us to teach her the entire Restoration, give her a Book of Mormon and commit to be baptized (but we didn't set a date yet...next week!). She said that she still wants to keep meeting with us and learn more. When she was studying in the Philippines for University, she had a teacher that was LDS and always talked about how happy she was and how great this religion is/how it is so full of blessings. Alice said she always saw the Elders walking around in the heat and working so hard was so curious who they were and why they would do that. But she was nervous to talk to them because her mom hates non-Catholic religions. But they when she got our name card when we were advertising/jundoing for English Class in the Shinae, she felt that she should call us because she knew we had good character. We will keep meeting and I am exercising ever bit of faith in me that Alice will be baptized for real-zies and she won't just be a letdown like almost every other person I have ever taught on my mission.
So I just have one request for all of you out there who are reading this right now: Please pray for Alice. Sister Morrison and I cannot do this on our faith alone. We need your help to move this mountain and perform the miracle.
So please, please, PLEASE pray for Alice. Pray like heck!!! I want nothing more than for her to be baptized and have the happiness that I have. As I was teaching her I have never known more in all of my life that Christ lives, and that He loves us--but more importantly He loves Alice and wants her to come to Him. I want Alice to be baptized. Not so I can get a stat in my planner or receive praise or blessings, but because I love my Heavenly Father, my Savior, and all of God's children. I want to serve God by bringing all of His kids back to Him because He misses us just like I miss my Mom and Dad and sisters and all of you loved-ones reading this right now. So please, please, please let me get what I want and please, please, please pray for Alice. Fast for Alice if you want to. Pray morning, afternoon, and night for her to have a desire to be baptized and come into this indescribably happy gospel. Please don't pray for me. Actually, just plain don't pray for me. Pray for Alice instead. Pray that we will teach her by the spirit, that she will feel the spirit, accept our commitments and keep them, and that there will be nothing holding her back from all of this happiness we want to give to her.
We cannot do this alone. I need your help. All of your faith and prayers added to mine will make this happen. I know it! Right now we are changing our mission culture to be a baptizing mission. In case you haven't noticed, missionary work is hard in Korea. Most people go home without one baptism--some without even seeing one baptism in the 1 1/2 to 2 years that they are here. But I have faith that through boldness and faith, miracles will happen and we will see many, even hundreds be baptized! If Alice had been my investigator two transfers ago, I would have never been so bold with her. I would have never known that bold is what Alice needs. I would have never invited her to be baptized in the first lesson, but this mission is changing and so am I. I see what is on the line here. I see that I want all of the people I love--all of God's children--to make it back to Him safely. So I am a changed missionary. I am willing to do things that I thought were crazy a month ago--like inviting randos on the bus to be baptized and giving my investigators invitations that really push them. Because in order to help people grow, you must first invite them.
Okay. I'm going to get off of my soapbox now. I love you all. I pray for you all! Thank you to everyone who wrote letters for my Christmas letter advent chain thingie. I can't even describe how happy I am to hear from you all and know that you are all still alive and happy! I promise that once I get some time, I will send each of you a thank you note/response to each of your letters!
I love you all so much! Have a great week and Christmas season!
사랑해요!!!
I you love!
Sister Johns
p.s.- don't forget to pray for Alice ;)
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