The One With a Visit from Elder Bednar

This week was crazy and amazing!

This week Elder and Sister Bednar came and visited our mission and we had a discussion and a question and answer with him from 2-6 on Friday! It was amazing! I can't even describe it to y'all. It was just such a great experience! I am so grateful for the priesthood, modern revelation, and the fact that we still have prophets and apostles here on the earth today!

Because of the devotional, we were stranded in Pusan from Tuesday until Saturday night...BUT on Saturday night we were able to meet with a new investigator who is 19 (American age) and who has a lot of interest in the gospel, the plan of salvation, and attending church! Pray for her! Her name is Seong Ji-oo. She's too cute and she was so excited to learn how to pray! 

Sister Kramer and I are having so much fun together. We were both formally vegetarian/vegan and we both love music, exercise, cats, and shopping. She is from Portland and she has such a cute family! We are seriously having a blast and serving together is an answer to both of our prayers! We are both so ready to work hard and have fun! And we are on a serious diet and exercise plan! 

Well, that's all I've got for this week! Sorry, I don't really feel like emailing anymore so my emails from here on out may be short because I have 5 weeks left and I just want to enjoy Korea! 

사랑해요! 

"I you love"

Sister Johns

Lookin nice and classy in our lab coats at the dish-washing service activity in Pusan!

Korea Busan Mission with Elder & Sister Bednar

The One At the Start of Her Last Transfer

I cannot believe how time has flown!!! How is it my last transfer?! How do I only have 6 weeks left???? 

We weren't expecting it at all (in fact, I was sitting at my desk giving Sister Gomez a massage while we watched the District) when we got a transfer call. We were sure she was going to be my last companion! But we got a call and Sister Gomez is going back to Changwon zone and my new companion will be Sister Kramer! I am really sad to see Sister Gomez leave, but also excited because Sister Kramer is the best! This will be a great last transfer!

We had a miracle at church yesterday! The American family in the branch (the Bruco family) went to a fun run and they met another American girl who was looking for a church to go to that offers English translation. Battabingbattaboon! That's us! She's so cool and part of a religion called Christian Scientist. She is really nice and her best friends growing up were LDS. It's really cool having her at church! But lots of pressure on me for translation because I'm the oldest missionary in the area, and therefore the resident translator! Ahh!

But I am so excited for what's ahead! 

사랑해요!

Sister Johns

The One With Interviews, MLCM, and General Conference

Hello from Jeju! I know that the American news freaked all of you out, but worry or anything because everything is fine here! Apparently, last week there was a huge typhoon here, but let me just tell y'all I slept like a baby through that thing! I slept really good for the first time in probably 14 months only to wake up to a call from President Barrow at 6:29 sharp letting us know that we were not allowed to go outside until the storm passed. We just got ready and studied like usual. The only thing that I noticed different was that there was no wind. Sister Gomez was pretty happy though because I had planned to drag us out of bed at 6:00 to go for a run, but typhoon "Shabba" destroyed that plan. But as far as we know there wasn't much major damage or anything. The only thing we saw was that a member's window got shattered from the wind, so we just went over to her house and cleaned it up instead of doing language study. Oh, our exchanges also got canceled because of the typhoon, which was kind of a bummer, but also nice because we got to stay in our area longer.

Other than that this week was pretty spiritually filling! We had MLCM (Missionary Leadership Coordination Meeting) in Busan on Friday and that was amazing! We talked alot about how to prepare ourselves and the other missionaries for Elder Bednar to come visit our mission next transfer! Everyone is so excited. We also had interviews with President this week and he gave me some really excellent council! I am so grateful for my mission president! We also did planks with Sister Barrow while we were waiting for our interview time, as per usual! But it made me so sad to think that it was my last interview/workout with President and Sister Barrow before my exit interview!! Also, President dropped a subtle "m"-bomb ("m" as in marriage) on me. I am so not ready for that. NOOOO. I am NOT coming home! Understand?

We also watched General Conference this week and we followed President Barrow's counsel to come up with a list of questions to bring to the conference. It was so amazing because we got so many answers to our questions. I feel like through conference this year I was able to learn and make a plan for how to keep up everything I've been doing and learning on my mission after my mission. I am not quite as scared to go home now! Yay! But...I'm still never getting married and I am living with Mom and Dad until I am 100!!!

But...that wasn't the only thing I learned from GC. I also learned how important members are to missionary work...oh wait, I already knew that! Duh! I'm a missionary! But I really hope all of y'all were listening real hard to that! I was reading a talk this morning by Elder Bednar that said, "Ultimately, it is my responsibility and your responsibility to find people for the missionaries to teach." You hear that? It is y'all's responsibility as members to be witnesses of Christ at all times and places! If you do that, you will make missionaries around the world very happy people!! I can't wait to come home from my mission and get to work in McKinney, Texas and Provo, Utah. I can't wait to find people to serve! Because if I have learned anything on my mission it is that "when you are in the service of your fellow beings you are only in the service of your God" and "Charity is the pure love of Christ" and those who possess charity will have a place with Jesus Christ when all is said and done. You want to be happy? Then get to work!! There is so much to be done within our own families and within our friend groups and even within the line at the grocery store! Y'all have no excuses! You don't even have to try to talk to people in Korean!!! Just open your heart, hands, and mouth and God will send you people to help! I can testify to you that, as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, I have been the happiest I have ever been since I was a little kid because I know who I am (a child of God), why I am here (to follow Christ and learn to love as He does) and where I am going (back to my Heavenly Father if I do my best). I have found my life's purpose and so much happiness doing this work, and you can too. That is why I am telling y'all to do missionary work! It just seems completely unacceptable to me that within my very own family we have people who have not received the blessing of baptism. How selfish are we?? Share the chocolate bar, guys!! Delicious food isn't meant to be eaten alone! Neither is the gospel! It also makes me so sad that there are also less active members in our family and friend circles who are struggling with their faith that we are doing absolutely nothing about! I can promise you that y'all can do 100 times more for them than the full-time missionaries serving in their area can! Believe me! I am experiencing this exact same work here in Korea right now! Put your own pride, embarrassment, fear, whatever-it-is aside and take up the faith to help the people you love! I believe that we don't truly love anyone unless we are willing to share with them and tell them the things that no one else will tell them that they need to hear! A true friend doesn't let another friend go outside wearing jeans that make their butt look huge! Sharing the gospel is just the same! True friends who love each other don't let each other pass up the best opportunity and blessing of anyone's life: the gospel!

Get to it y'all! That's all I have to say!

Well, I hope everything at home is great! I love y'all to death and pray for y'all to be happy! 

사랑해요!

"I you love!"

Sister Johns

Jemm made us the most delicious grapefruit poundcake (with no butter and low sugar) to eat during conference

Jemm's darling little boy, Kyudon loves Conference!

General Conference Korean style. #cantlivewithoutramen

The One With a First Prayer

Hello from Jeju! I want to share two really fun experiences that we had this week!

The first one happened last Monday night. Our Chinese investigator came to Family Home Evening and she brought her friend. They had a great time and afterward they had tons of questions because they are from China and they literally know nothing about religion or God because religion is kind of outlawed there. After class we taught who God, Jesus, and the Holy Ghost are. Then we taught them to pray. It was the coolest experience to hear two people's very first prayer. What a special experience! Next week when we meet we are going to give them some Chinese pamphlets so they can understand a little better! But they are so curious and willing to learn and figure our what church is all about and how it makes so many people happy.

The second cool experience is that we got to go watch the Women's Session of Conference at our recent convert, Jemm's house. It was so cool to listen to those talks about people's lives being changed because of the gospel and them obtaining eternal happiness and salvation as we were sitting in the sweet, humble home of one of those people. I love Jemm so much and it is so cool to see her little baby boy being raised in the gospel because of his mom's angel example!!

Well, I don't have much to say this week other than that! 

사랑해요!!

"I you love!"

Sister Johns 

Grilling Korean style (yes, that is a seat on our ward mission leader's butt...he is so funny!!)

Today for P-Day we went to party at a member's house!! 

The One Where They Hiked a Mountain in the Rain

Ahhh!!! I am so pooped, but today was so much fun!!! Today for PDay we hiked the tallest mountain in Korea, 한라산 (Hallasan), or Halla Mountain. We got up at 5:20 this morning so we could head out to the trail head. It is a 15 mile hike round trip (according to the elders) and the weather was so perfect today when we started! And the hike is soo beautiful! But halfway up the mountain is started pouring rain!! It was way fun! I love hiking so much so I accidentally got going and couldn't stop and then I realized that I had gone way ahead of the group!! From then on out, the elders went in front of me to keep the pace so that I wouldn't go too fast. Once I get going, I'm going!! We got to the top of the mountain in good time, but it was so foggy that you couldn't see anything and Hallasan is famous for it's beautiful view of Jeju island. I was a little disappointed, but I am just glad we got to hike! I love hiking doing things outside so much!

On the more important missionary work side of things, Jeju is doing great! This week we found a new investigator!! She is Chinese and her name is Coo Moon-jung. She is attending Jeju University and learning Korean. She is the same age as me, 22 (Korean age) which is a big deal here in Korea! She is so sweet and cute! In China religion is illegal and she said that before she came to Korea she didn't know anyone really who believed in God. But as she has been here in Korea she has become really curious about religion because so many people say that it makes them happy. So she decided to meet with us. We told her that we would teach her about God and who He is and how He can make her happy. She and her friend are coming to branch family home evening tonight! Pray for them! Pray that she will have time to meet and that she will have interest and be baptized!! 

I also have another favor! In our branch we have two part member families that we are working on! Both of them are beautiful girls from the Philippines and they are marred to Koreans who are not members of the church. One of them is Jemm, our angel recent convert. The other is Madelyn, who has been a member her whole life and she actually introduced Jemm to the missionaries. Both of them want nothing more than to go to the temple and be sealed to their families! Because of Madelyn, Jemm and Madelyn's two step-daughters have been baptized. The only link missing in Madelyn's family is her husband. But he works hard every single day of the week to provide for their family. He has interest in the gospel, but there are two problems: one, he works on Sundays and also has no time to do the missionary lessons and two, he is Buddhist (but he encouraged his daughters to get baptized and gets upset when they don't go to church because he says that our church seems like a really great thing). We want Madelyn and Jemm's husbands to get baptized so they can have eternal families! Please pray for them! Pray that their husbands' hearts will be softened that they will have time to meet the missionaries and come to church on Sunday! 

Well, that's all we've got for now! Pray for us and pray for Jeju!! The work is starting to move forward here!

사랑해요!

"I you love"

Sister Johns

Hallasan 

At the peak (and soaking wet!)

The One With Exchanges, a Not-so-Korean Korean Thanksgiving and a 10k

Hello from rainy 제주! This week was way fun! 

Thursday was Korean Thanksgiving (추석) and the mission's annual 5k/10k. We caught a plane in the morning but we couldn't go to the mission home because it wasn't our day to do the 5k/10k yet, so we went to McDonalds because it was the only place open on 추석 (#typicalmerica). After that we went on exchanges with the 해우대/광안 sisters. It was way fun because Sister Brady and I got to go jundo around 해운대(Haeundae Beach) and I have always wanted to see that area! It was sooo sick!!! But there were so many white people...I felt so weird!!! Also, the weirdest/funniest thing ever happened!! Sister Brady and I were on the subway and we didn't know where to go because she's a new missionary and I don't really know how to do the subway very well because I have been refined to the countryside for my whole mission...so we decided to ask for directions. Being the old, cautious missionary I am I just waited for a grandma to come, but Sister Brady is new and also a friendly Texan, so she just goes up to this guy our age and asks him for directions. Okay. I am soooo awkward when it comes to men. All of my companions have to tell me to chill because apparently I am super rude to men and act like they are all evil or something, Anyway, he said he would walk us to the right place so we could take the right line. And he would only speak to us in English. Ew. Anyway, we figured it was all just him being nice until he pulled out his business card which was a terribly photo shopped picture of him in a speedo....EW!!!!!!!!! I wanted to die and my poor innocent missionary eyes were burning. After that I just took the situation into my own hands and explained that we are missionaries and then he all of the sudden tried to jundo to us from some other church. It was sooo weird!!!! I just grabbed Sister Brady and got on the train as quickly as I could!!! It was sooo creepy. And once all of this went down, there was a lot of sass dropped by Sister Johns. #oops. But we were dying laughing later. That night McDonalds was also the only place open, so we went there again...sooo much greasy American food in one day!!! (And the day before that our ward mission leader invited us over and we ate 2 huge pizzas and 2 fried chickens because he didn't feel like cooking Korean food)

The next day was the 5k/10k and I was so excited!! Nothing could stop me from doing that 10k! Not even McDonalds for dinner or the fact that I slept on the tile floor at 해우대  house!! We started out in a pack of 4 sisters (Sister Amende, Kramer, me, and a new trainee). It was soo easy and then at the half way mark Sister Johnson, the trainee got super tired and wanted to start walking. We were all on a roll and I felt so bad making the other sisters stop, but I couldn't leave the poor trainee behind, so I just stayed back and ran circles around her for the whole rest of the race. I'm not going to lie, I was a little sad because I didn't finish in the amount of time I knew I could have. BUT I learned a lesson about doing the right thing even if it kind of sucks. And I got to run more than 10k because I got to run circles back and forth to pick up Sister Johnson. And the best part of the whole thing was that I made a new friend! And if I would have gotten ditched by a bunch of other sisters when I was a trainee, I probably would have cried. So in the end it all worked out! And I got to run extra because I got to run circles and after finishing Sister Allred and I got to run together and be the rescue crew for the sisters who were taking a while to finish and they needed someone to finish the race with them. It was so fun because I got to run extra! I can't wait to get back into running when I get home!! 

After the race we had to change into our dresses (still all sweaty and gross) and go on exchanges with 대신/괴장 sisters...Sister Workman!! My trainee! She is doing so great and it was so good to see her and see how much she's improved! I love her so much!! She is so special to me!! I told her that she is adopted as my second little sister! We went for a run in the rain the next morning! It was so fun! 

After that we had to run to catch our plane!! We made it by minutes!!! What a crazy day!!

Now we are just back on the island hoping to get some rest! I am so dead tired! I was so glad that I didn't have to translate sacrament meeting this week because my brain was way too fried!!!

Missionary work is just coming along. We are jundoing a lot, but having a hard time finding people to teach. Please pray for us to find new investigators!!! 

사라해요!
"I you love!"

Sister Johns

Jeju, Daegu, Ulsan zones 5K/10K fun run

The First One With Sister Gomez

Hello from Jeju! I am writing late this week because we had transfers yesterday and Sister Allred transfered to Daegu zone. I was so sad to see her go! But she is going to be serving with Sister Fiso in Sangin, so I am really happy for her! And we're both STL's again next transfer, so I am really excited because we will still see each other at leadership meetings!! My new companion is Sister Gomez. She is 20, she's from Hawaii, and she is the best and the funniest! We stayed up all night last night talking! She also served with Sister Morrison so we love talking about when we served together. We are going to still be the Nam Busan Zone STL's and Sister Workman is in my zone so I get to go on exchanges with my trainee!!! 

Honestly, I don't have much to say this week! Yesterday was crazy getting everthing sorted out with transfers, but it's all good now. 

I do have a funny story for this week though!!! The other day Sister Allred and I were walking home when we saw this lady we met on the street who attended our church about 10 years ago. She is from the Philippines and she came to Korea about 10 years ago. We started talking to her and she invited us to get dinner. She took us to an all you can eat meat buffet...my least favorite thing!! She made us eat sooo much meat!!! And just so much food in general!!! I was dying! I used to be able to down like 5 bowls of rice and like 3 grills full of meat as a young missionary (and that is not a joke. I can eat a lot. Once I had to eat an entire fried chicken and 2 medium pizzas on my own. not even kidding one bit), but I have been eating so much lately that my body can't do it anymore! I did my best to eat as much as I could, but my poor angel companion Sister Allred had to eat most of it! She made us like 4 grills full of meat!!!! We were dying and we got on the bus home and were sooo sick!!! Then we got a call from the Elders because they had locked their keys in the church and we had to go help them. But it was already past 9 and we were late home, so we had to run all the way to the church from the city hall!!! I was dying!!! When we got to the church I had to throw up because I ate soooooo much! It was so gross! Dang. Missions are fun!!

I seriously cannot believe that next transfer is my last!!! I don't want to come home!!! EVER!! I love Korea with all of my heart! I love eating and sleeping on the floor. I love walking down the streets and seeing big buildings and green mountains. I love speaking Korean and thinking in Korean. I love Koreans. I love Korean food. I love Kimchi. I love this place with ALL of my heart and I really don't want to go home ever. I just want to hide here and eat rice and kimchi! What the heck am I going to do in America?? There is no kimchi!! I thought of a day without kimchi and I am not even kidding I started to cry a little. And I don't cry!! And some missionaires who are returning home bore their testimonies at a mission leadership meeting in Busan last week and then President started talking about going home and in my head I was like NOOOOOOOO! NEVER!!!!! I seriously started to cry a little. I just want to stay a missionary in the Korea Pusan Mission forever!!!!!! Ahhhhh!! It's so scary!!!

Anway, all of that being said, I am just excited to be here on the island!!

사라해요!!

"I you love"

Sister Johns