Week 58

Goodbye July and hello August.... the hottest month of summer in Korea ㅠㅠ Thank goodness we have air conditioning.

This week was filled with super hot weather, rainy and super humid weather, and some really nice in between weather. Every morning is a guessing game of how hot it is going to be. Normally it is okay in the morning and then we get roasted in the afternoon. We always have to carry around a fan and sweat rag to at least try and stay dry. I don't know how the Korean people do this every summer!

This week we had a few really cool experiences. The first happened last Monday when we went to visit a less-active in our area. We originally decided to visit some addresses that are confirmed less-active members, but once we got to the area Sister Cuary realized there was one address that wasn't confirmed yet so we decided to drop by there first. We got up to the 8th floor and knocked on the door, but there was no answer. We waited a minute or two and tried again, this time a man answered the door. He only opened it about an inch to talk to us. We said the name of the person we were looking for, but he said that we had the wrong place. Then he asked who we were. When I said that we were sister missionaries he was shocked and told us to wait a second. He went back into his house and then came out a few minutes later. At first we were super confused because he said that we had the wrong name, but kept insisting that we were actually looking for him. 

We ended up talking with him for about an hour outside of his apartment. He was baptized when he was in his early 20s and really wanted to go on a mission, but his mom was against it because he had to do his military service and also make money. He ended up not going and marrying a woman who wasn't a member. Because she attended a different church they fought a lot in the beginning so he gave up and went with her to church. Since then he has had no contact with the church for 30 years! We went to his apartment with the wrong name, wrong number, and only an address. BUT WE FOUND HIM! The spirit was so strong as we talked to him. He said that he still has faith and knows the church is true, but he doesn't want to come back to church after all this time. At the end of the conversation he offered a very heartfelt prayer that made both Sister Cuary and I cry. I know that Heavenly Father loves him so much! I can't express how much love I felt for that man as we talked to him. We were able to give him the church address and a Book of Mormon since he didn't have one. It was probably one of the most spiritual experiences that I have had so far on my mission.

The second was that I got to visit one of my past areas 노랑진 (Norangjin). We went back on Tuesday for the missionary leadership council meeting. It was suppose to be in a different area, but got switched last minute. It was cool to go back and see how different things are. I was there 5 transfers ago so it was the middle of winter. It was weird to see so much green everywhere. 

Another amazing blessing was our investigators 노희준, 노윤셔 and 노윤성 went to our wards primary activity on Friday. Since they came to church all of our members were super good about fellowshipping them. They got their phone numbers and immediately invited them to the activity. They had a little "camping trip" from Friday to Saturday. They just had a barbecue at the church and then watched a movie together before having a giant sleep over. The 3 kids had a ton of fun and were able to make more friends with the primary! It was amazing!

We also had a zone proselyting activity this week, but that was a little rough. We did it at a train station in another area of our zone, but a security man came out and yelled at us right when we started. We tried our best to continue without making him mad again, but that resulted in little success. It was great to work together with everyone though!

I was also blessed to go on exchanges with 양희나 자매님. She is part of the group that came with me to Korea. I haven't ever had the opportunity to serve with her so it was great that I got to talk and get to know her more. Especially because the last time I was able to serve by her in the MTC we couldn't talk to each other because she didn't know English and I couldn't speak Korean. 

Our weeks are filled with endless sweating, lots of proselyting on the streets, and lots of laughing. I am trying my best to adjust and learn more about 청라 before Sister Cuary gets transferred. We are getting along swimmingly and are always laughing. She is great! I hope that you guys have a great week! Love ya!

-Sister Rindlisbacher

To combat the hot weather we are eating lots of ice cream. One wonderful blessing is that ice cream in Korea is SUPER cheap! ^^

Sister Cuary's new hair cut

Exchanges with 양희나 자매님 (Sister Yang HeeNa)

We got some presents on Sunday from the man that got baptized last week. It is a ballerina jewelry box that was filled with chocolate

Week 57

Although my heart aches for Suji I am loving my new area 청라 (Cheongra). This week has taken a lot of adjusting to a new area. Suji is a tiny area... We could walk from one end to the other in about 2ish hours, but my new area is THE OPPOSITE! We have been taking lots of buses and normally they take about 30-40 minutes to get to where we want to go. And from there we still have to walk about 10 minutes.

We have a few solid investigators that have tons of potential :) They are also almost all kids! YES! I absolutely love teaching kids the gospel because they are so open and innocent. The families that we are teaching one parent is a less-active member. One family the father was baptized when he was in high school and I think he also served a mission (not sure about that though). They were originally found by the 인천 (Incheon) first ward sisters, but they live in our area so we are teaching them. We are currently on the commandments so it's a party. 

The other family the mother, Sarah, is less-active. She is actually from Canada and only speaks a little Korean. She met her husband (who was raised in California and moved back to Korea later) when she was here teaching English. They have 3 kids, two boys and one girl. Sarah found the missionaries here in Korea as she was driving one day and saw them on the street. We are teaching Thomas, the oldest boy, but he is currently in Texas visiting family for the next month. Luckily we were able to meet them before he left on Saturday. We'll continue to teach them once he gets back.

In other news I had to sing a solo at my first missionary correlation meeting. Sister Cuary forgot to mention that it is an "initiation" that every missionary has to do. Just imagine me trying to sing in Korean while also trying to turn bright red. I picked the shortest hymn I knew and only sang one verse so it went okay.

We continue to melt here as we serve the Lord. It is getting so much hotter! I swear I walk outside and the next thing I know I am drenched in sweat. We are very blessed though and have an AC in our house. The missionaries in my area are actually the only ones in our entire zone that have AC. 

We have already started seeing the miracles here. This past Sunday one of the families that we are teaching came to church! In the past they kept saying that church was to far and to early in the morning to get their kids there, BUT THEY CAME! We were sitting in Sacrament meeting and I say the Bishop and his counselors looking at something in the back of the room so I turned around to see what was up and BOOM there they were. The sacrament room was packed so they had to sit in the kitchen with the speaker on. They stayed for all three hours of church and for the baptismal service for the Elder's investigator afterwards. The kids had a great time at church and the parents were also able to build some good relationships with ward members.

With the heat has also come rain. On Sunday it POURED! The 10 minute walk to church got us soaked. Even though we had umbrellas when we got to the church building the only thing that was dry was our heads. We had a great Sabbath day none the less. 

In preparation for the up coming MLC (missionary leadership council) President Turner asked us to study the talk 'The Greatest Among You' by President Utchdorf. One part of the talk that really stood out to me was "leadership in the church is not so much about directing others as it is about our willingness to be directed by God." It is a really great talk so you should read it!

https://www.lds.org/ensign/2017/05/general-priesthood-session/the-greatest-among-you?lang=eng

-Sister Rindlisbacher

The kids of the family that came to church on Sunday

Basically sums up our lesson

I helped Sister Cuary finish the cute Plan of Salvation board (we may or may not have forgotten the spirit world and had to put it on after)

A very nice grandpa on the street gave us this hat after we talked with him for a bit

The rain got us good

Week 56

The dreaded day has come when I have been transferred out of my promised land, Suji. Last Saturday we got transfer calls and I will be going across the mission to the opposite end to serve in 청라 (Chongra) with Sister Cuary. I will be joining her as Sister Training Leader :) I am excited to be an STL again, but also so torn because I don't want to leave Suji.

I have seen so many miracles and this ward will forever hold a special place in my heart. On Sunday at church a lot of members cried with me as I said goodbye. 서윤 자매님 (Sooyoon) our recent convert who is 13 cried almost all of sacrament meeting after I went up to speak. She is such a beautiful soul and I will miss her so much!  I can't believe that it has already been 3 transfers since I was called to open this area. My heart breaks a little when I think about leaving everyone here. I have felt so much of Heavenly Father's love as I have served here. From day one the members were by our side helping us with missionary work. They are all so amazing. I am so grateful that I got to meet all of them and feel Heavenly Father's love for them.

I have especially learned about how Heavenly Father has a plan for each of his children. 이남행 자매님 (Lee NamHaeng) has been the greatest example of that. I don't know if I shared her story with you guys, but she is our recent convert that was baptized a few months ago. She originally found the church through the example of her mother-in-law. She was a very faithful member that did missionary work through her example. When she first got married she didn't have any interest in the church, but went to the Korea Seoul Temple open house with her mother-in-law. Throughout the years she has just lived her life, but one day met the missionaries on the street. They got her contact information, but didn't meet with her or have any contact for a few months. Then she randomly met the missionaries again on the street and started meeting with them. A month or so later she was baptized and she had continued to progress so much over the past week. She is so amazing!

Suji has been a rough area for the past transfer, but we are starting to see success. This week our investigators couldn't meet due to being sick or going on family trips because it is vacation time here in Korea. BUT we were able to find a new investigator. Her name is 김성혜 자매님 (Kim SongHye). She is in her late fifties and met missionaries almost 5 years ago. I don't think they taught her much, but she really liked them. Over the course of her life she has felt the desire to build a relationship with God, but never found what she was looking for. She was in Canada for a bit and went to a bible study group and learned a little bit. She was very accepting of the Book of Mormon and seemed excited to read it. She was also very open to learning about the message that we share. I am excited to see where she will progress in the future. I am sad that I won't get to teach her though.

I have loved serving with Sister Hansen. We are both super bummed that we can't be together for another transfer, but I guess it's her turn to see the miracles of Suji. Other than transfer calls this week has been the same old same old. It is crazy hot here in Korea. We come home everyday drenched in sweat and immediately turn on the AC and fans. We are melting over here, but the work is still great.

I hope that you are all doing well! Love ya!

-Sister Rindlisbacher

Our District

It's been pretty gloomy and rainy lately

I'm melting

Just a few of the people I'll miss :(

Week 55

Sorry I don't have much time this week. Here are just a few highlights

1.Sister Canete (she is from the Philippines) had her birthday this week :) She is now 24 and probably the most patient and kind person that I have ever met. She always has a bright smile on her face and knows how to make us laugh. Her English is pretty funny at times, but she is always showing her love and appreciation through her actions.

Sister Canete

2. Sister Clarke went to the hospital because he leg was hurting super bad and ended up getting a boot. She was not pleased at first, but things are okay now. Most of the time when we come home we find her laying on the ground because he sitting gets painful and walking around is hard. 

Sister Clarke and her new boot

Me piggybacking Sister Clarke because she didn't have crutches yet and couldn't walk to the computer cafe to email last week.

3. Nothing really new happening in the area. The Lord is definitely trying to teach us about patience. We have been trying to spend more time outside each day talking to people on the street, but have found little success. BUT our members are amazing and working so hard to find people that they can introduce us to. This past Sunday a member brought 3 of their daughter's friends to church. They are still young and not use to missionaries so we will try and work on getting them comfortable with us before we try and teach them.

4. A talked that I've been studying that past week. It has been great!

https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2017/04/whatsoever-he-saith-unto-you-do-it?lang=eng 

I love you all. Hope you are doing well. 

-Sister Rindlisbacher

Sister Hansen learning Korean through osmosis 

Week 54

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!

Nothing new happening here in Suji. This past week was really hard as we still haven't been able to find much success. We spent more time out on the streets, but it just seemed like no one had interest in what we have to share. But on the bright side I did hear some awesome news! A referral that we gave to another team of missionaries in a different area is getting baptized. The investigator and his mom didn't seem to have much interest when we first met them, but the Elders in the other area were able to teach him and set a baptismal date! We had originally found him and his mom through a former investigator that we contacted my first week in Suji. It took some time to see the results, but the wait is always worth it.

I also realized last week that I never finished my story... so going back to the 95 year old man that collapsed while we were visiting his less-active wife. So after he collapsed onto the floor he stayed there for about 10 seconds just crouched on the ground. Then he started creepily crawling over to the table where Sister Hansen and I were sitting. Since the room was very dimly lit he basically looked like the grudge coming straight for us! My heart dropped and I had the thought that I was going to die. He stopped about a foot in front of us and then just crouched there for a few more seconds. He sat down and then reached out for us. He shook each of our hands and then made us hold each other's hands. All during this time his wife walked to the kitchen so I turned to start talking to her when I felt his hand on my leg, slowly moving up my thigh. I turned back and Sister Hansen's eyes were huge as she watched him touch my leg. I quickly pushed his hand away, but he didn't even notice that I had done that. He continued to sit there while trying to speak to us in Korean, but it was to jumbled to understand. After trying to communicate a bit he got frustrated and went back into the other room after grabbing some alcohol from the fridge. Sister Hansen and I were both super nervous the entire time, but things got better once he left.

Anyways we went back to visit that less-active again this past week, but made sure to go in the middle of the day. We did a bit of street contacting on the way and then got to her house around noon. She invited us in and we had a good chat with her. Her husband was also home, but luckily this time he wasn't drunk so he just said hi to us and then stayed in the other room. We hadn't eaten lunch yet (worst decision ever) so when she asked us if we had lunch we couldn't lie and say yes. She ended up feeding us this really gross fish stew and a few other Korean dishes that weren't to bad. Neither of us liked the food though so it was a little rough trying to eat it all. She didn't seem to upset that we didn't eat a lot though. She is a super sweet old grandma that we will continue to visit and love.

Another update from Korea could be that we have a Book of Mormon shortage. Our mission has really been focusing on giving out more Books of Mormon on the street and we have given almost all of them out. Our President had to talk with some people about getting more, but for now we are out. We have had to change our focus now to only give them out during our first appointments with people unless they have a lot of interest on the street.

This past Saturday we also did a proselyting activity with the YSA of our ward and a few of the young men and women. It poured rain the entire time! It is now 장마철 (Monsoon season) so it will be constantly raining for the next few weeks. Korea is in serious need of rain so hopefully it will rain a lot. The proselyting activity went really well. We were able to build really good relationships with our ward members and we found a few people that have really good interest. One women is from Spain and is teaching at a university here for 3 years with her husband. She said that she knew a lot about our church because some of her family members are Mormon. She didn't know that the church was here in Korea so she asked us to send her the address. 

Our ward also called a new ward mission leader. We are so excited to work with him! He is so amazing and has already showed us how dedicated he is to serving with us.  His kids are adorable and love the missionaries. 

The entire week was pretty boring, but the past weekend has been jam packed. Yesterday as we were on our way to the new ward mission leaders house we got a panicked call from the other sisters. We quickly ran over to the church and found Sister Clarke on the ground with blood all over her leg. Since it has been raining so much she slipped and got some nasty road rash on her left leg. We didn't have anything to clean it with so we called the elders who were already at our ward mission leaders house. He drove them to the church and then went out to get some supplied to clean her wound with. We waited and then helped clean her up before heading to our ward mission leader's house for dinner.

One success that we found this week was being able to pick up a new investigator. Her name is DamHee and she is 11 years old. She has been coming to church for the past month with a member, but we haven't been able to teach her until yesterday. I am so excited to teach her! I love teaching younger people because they are so open to learning and you can really tell that they can see the truth in the gospel. Sister Hansen are so excited to get to know her more and help her learn about Heavenly Father.

Things are normal, but also crazy at the same time. Time is passing by so quickly and I feel like I can't keep up. Sister Hansen is amazing and I am so lucky to be serving with her. Even though things are hard she is always there to laugh, cry, and have fun with me.

I hope that you all have a wonderful week! Love ya!

-Sister Rindlisbacher

Last p-day we had a reunion for everyone that I was in the MTC with :D

The rain got us good as we sprinted the 3 feet from our ward mission leader's car to our apartment

Sister Clarke and her injured leg

Week 53

This week was full of disappointments, funny experiences, and an awesome zone conference!

I'll start out with the funny experiences :) The first was when we went to visit a less-active sister in our ward. Our relief society president asked us to visit her last Sunday so we decided to drop by on Tuesday. We walked there so we could talk to people on the way and when we knocked she was home. She was really confused at first, but once she realized we were missionaries she let us in. By this time the sun had already started to set so it was very dimly lit inside her apartment. Although it was pretty dark she didn't turn on any lights. We talked for a few minutes and then heard some grunting/yelling in the next room. That freaked us out because we thought that she was alone. She went into the next room and talked a bit then we heard shuffling. The door opened and man stood at the door for a few seconds before he collapsed on the floor. At this point Sister Hansen and I both thought that we were going to have to call 119 (Korea's version of 911) because this man was like 95 and just collapsed. 

The second funny experience is me accidentally trying to kill my companion. I always forget that she is allergic to watermelon so the other day I got a watermelon and pineapple smoothie and offered it to her so she could try it. She thought it was a joke and almost took a sip, but hesitated when she realized I was completely serious. The next time I tried to kill her I made smoothies at home for dinner one night and almost put watermelon in it. She would have never known *muahahaha* but I decided against it (thank you Holy Ghost for saving my companion).

The disappointments for the week came because all of our investigators stood us up. All of them were super excited to start our English program, but have just fizzled out. They don't meet with us anymore so we had to drop them all :( Our one investigator that does meet with us got sick this week so she couldn't meet also. The work is pretty slow right now, but we are moving along trying to get things going.

We had some good  proselyting activities with our district and zone. We went sticker boarding a few times with them and found some good results. We were able to give out a good amount of Books of Mormon and get phone numbers. Hopefully there will be someone that is ready to learn about the gospel.

This week we were able to meet with Sister 고유정 (Goe YooJeong). She is a recent convert from another area that I have met a bunch of times on my mission. My trainer Sister Blom and past companion Sister Carnahan were the missionaries that were there for her baptism so we've met and had dinner a few times. She is the happiest person on the planet so it was fun to spend some more time with her.

There are so many mixed experiences lately. A lot of negative, but also a lot of good. I have been able to see more of the little miracles lately. I've really realized what a unique experience I have being a missionary here in Korea. It is absolutely amazing!

Now for the best part of the week, ZONE CONFERENCE. It was absolutely amazing! The views were great and the people are even better. It is always such a treat to learn from our mission leaders especially President and Sister Turner. One of my favorite trainings was from Sister Turner. We had to select a rock beforehand that was the size of two fists that we would carry up the mountain. We started out hike with her training where she told us to pick a weakness that we wanted to think about during our hike and then get rid of. Our rocks represented those weaknesses. Throughout the hike she observed how we would adjust our "weaknesses" so that they were more comfortable in our backpacks. Often times we shift around our weaknesses to make them "more comfortable", but we never get rid of them.

At the top of the hike we placed them in a pile and Sister Turner told us to think about the weakness that we selected and leave it on the mountain with our rock. She told us to forget about it and never come looking for it. It was a super powerful training. I really felt like my back was not only physically lighter as I put my rock down, but spiritually I felt lighter.  Sister Turner talked about how all of our weaknesses are different. Some are bigger than others, some are smooth, some are rough, but they are all still weaknesses that we need to get rid of. Even the little ones!

I am so grateful that we had such an amazing zone conference. I can't even express all the things that I learned. I am having a blast here in Suji. Korea is amazing and the people are too. Love you guys! Have a great week!

-Sister Rindlisbacher

김수진s 

Our view the entire hike

Reunited with my baby Earnshaw

Week 52

The time just keeps flying by. Another week has come and gone. This week was very similar to last week with our investigators all cancelling their appointments or just not showing up. We have been turning our focus to finding new investigators, but haven't had much success yet. We will keep working though!

A highlight of this week was visiting with a member a few days ago. We had received some watermelon in a Tupperware a few Sundays ago so we decided to drop by and return them. We knocked, but no one answered at first. Then the door opened and there was the sweetest looking grandma ever. She invited us in and we talked with her for a few minutes. Then she made us eat more watermelon.... SO MUCH WATERMELON! 

I was okay with it at first, but then I remember that my companion Sister Hansen is actually allergic to watermelon so I had to eat all of hers too. Luckily the cute grandma we were meeting with couldn't really see so she didn't notice me eating out of Sister Hansen's bowl once I finished my own. Unfortunately she refilled both of our bowls one we ate everything so we started another round of me eating all the watermelon. Good thing for me we hadn't eaten lunch yet so I was able to down it all. 

The member that we were meeting with was the sweetest thing. At one point she bit the watermelon on her fork and it fell off onto the table a few inches in front of her. We had to contain our laughter as we watched her search the table with her had looking for the piece of watermelon as she mumbled "where did it go?" over and over. We about peed our pants trying not to laugh. She was so cute!

This week was also filled with language struggle. Korean and English ㅠㅠ I have noticed my ability to speak any language has severely declined. I now speak in broken Korean and English. A lot of the time I will say something and Sister Hansen just looks at me like I am crazy. Everything is always out of order.... Also I can no longer spell. English class Saturday was particularly embarrassing. I tried to spell the word 'yield' but ended up spelling it 'y-e-i-l-d' without noticing. One of the Korean Elders had to point out my mistake. I now just give up and say I don't speak English or Korean :(

But things are going great here in Suji. We only have one solid investigator right now named Subin. She is so great! We asked her the other day if she wanted to get baptized and she said yes!!! She wasn't ready for a set date yet so we'll try and give her one this week. She is so open to the gospel and so innocent. I love teaching her! 

We were also able to set up the recent convert lessons for SoYoon. She is the 13 year-old that got baptized last month. She hasn't been able to come to church since she has been baptized due to camping trips with her family, but we saw her on Friday and got everything set up. I love her so much. Since we weren't teaching the Kid's English class that day she decided to call us and complain that we weren't there. We dropped by at the end to say hi and she was so excited. 

This coming week we will have zone conference on the top of a mountain. We will be hiking with Present and Sister Turner up 남한산성. So to prepare we went hiking last p-day. It was great to get outside and work up a sweat. 

Also I cut my hair last night. Sister Hansen was brave enough and cut off about 4 inches. The weather is getting pretty got lately so I decided it had to go. It is really nice and cool now, but still so insanely hot! Just walking to the church makes you sweat and it only takes 5 minutes. I will just melt away in the next few months.

Face masks

Us trying to make them dry before it turned 10:30 #missionarystuggles

Korea is amazing and I am loving every minute of being here. I have learned a lot about the importance of the depth of our conversion and trusting in the Lord. I know that He is watching over us and knows exactly what we need. Most of the time things don't turn out the way that I want them to, but they are always the way they need to be. I love this gospel so much! I am so grateful for the comfort and peace that it give me. This week try and share that with someone. Love ya! Have a good week :)

-Sister Rindlisbacher