Week 26 (Week 17 In-Field)

What a week! I have officially moved and unpacked into my new home in 노량진 :) It was an adventure getting here. I almost lost my luggage, but everything turned out great. This past week has been so crazy with appointments, preparing for our Christmas party, unpacking, and figuring out what I'll be doing as an STL.

A Rudolph piñata for our Christmas party this Saturday.

I am living in a 4 man house again, but this time with Sister Carnahan (my companion), Sister Eversole, and Sister Song. They are all such wonderful sisters and I am so excited to be working with them this next transfer. 

Left to Right: Sister Song, Sister Rindlisbacher, and Sister Eversole

This week I got to meet almost all of my new investigators within the first day that I got to my new area. It was such a blessing to be able to introduce myself before teaching them. We were also blessed to have two member present lessons this past week! They were such amazing lessons and the members were such a huge help! The members were amazing at explaining the things that we couldn't and sharing their personal testimonies. Having those lessons really strengthened my testimony of member missionary work! Go out and help the missionaries share the gospel! ;)

Korea has gotten a lot colder the past week. As you can tell in the picture above I am freezing. My attire usually consists of two pairs of tights, two pairs of socks, gloves, a beanie, and a nice warm jacket... Even then I still get cold >.<  It takes so much longer in the morning to get out of the door because we have to bundle up so much. Apparently January and February get way colder so I'm just trying to prepare for that haha.

Last night we had dinner with a member and one of their daughters knew some people that I grew up with. She studied at BYU Hawaii and was in the same ward with them. The world is such a small place when you're from Hawaii and are LDS >.< It was really cool to talk with her about Hawaii and people from home for a bit. Their family is so amazing and we spent the whole time talking about their missions/missionary life. We shared Mattew 5:14 with them and challenged them to invite someone to Christmas Sunday.

I officially hit my 6 month mark a few days ago. It is crazy how time flies when you're doing the Lord's work! I wish I could share everything that I have learned over the past months, but that would take forever and I have to go. But here is a quote that I found during my personal study this morning. 

"No matter how busy or inadequate we may feel, the Lord will always enable us to do the things that matter most, if we trust in Him and follow His promptings." 

I know that this gospel is true and that the work that is done by missionaries is truly the Lord's work. I know that the Lord is watching and taking care of each of us individually. He has a specific plan for each of us and He will guide us as we follow Him. I have such a strong testimony of that. I hope that everyone is having a wonderful Christmas season. Make sure that you are sharing the light of the gospel with everyone this year! Have a wonderful week! Also good luck to anyone with finals and Happy Birthday to the best dad in the world a.k.a my dad! I love you!

-Sister Rindlisbacher

P.S. One last picture :)

One of the last pictures of the 인천 sisters before transfers. I'm going to miss living with these Sisters :(

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Week 25 (Week 16 In-Field)

TRANSFERS have come! I cannot believe how fast time has gone! It seems like just last week I was coming to 인천 and now I will be leaving :( Since there are so many sister missionaries leaving this transfer our President had to close some areas. Unfortunately my area was one of those. Now the second ward sisters will be taking care of both 인천 wards. Their area will be HUGE! I thought my area alone was big, but now they probably have the biggest area in the mission. One of our Elders said it is about 1/5 of the mission... They are going to be so busy for the next transfer! I wish Sister Ambrose and Sister Sannar the best of luck! They are going to do awesome things in this area.

This past week has gone by so fast just like this transfer. I cannot believe that it is already over. I am so sad to be saying goodbye to Sister Shumway. She has been such a blessing in my life for the past six weeks. Our room is an absolute mess as we both pack and get everything ready for the other sisters to take over. Sister Shumway will be heading back to the States this Friday and I will be moving to 노랑진 on Wednesday to be with Sister Carnahan. I will also be learning how to be an STL... How crazy is that!!! I am still in shock that I have been called to be an STL so early. I will also be covering two zones, so I will be over 3 sets of sisters. I am so nervous, but also really excited for my new adventure.

Christmas came a little early this year and we were able to go to the temple again! It had been so long since we last got to go and it was amazing to be in the Lord's house again for a few hours. We also got to have the special experience of doing baptisms for the dead. That was done in Korean and then the endowment session that we went to was also in Korean. Originally we were suppose to go to the English session, but things got switched last minute. It was so neat to have a headphone for English translation in one ear and also being able to hear the Korean at the same time. Afterwards we had p-day. For p-day last week we went ice skating as a zone. The 안양 zone also joined us. It was so much fun to be around so many missionaries for our p-day. 

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My housemates :)​

Sister Shumway and Sister Rindlisbacher

The 인천 zone sisters

This past weekend was also spent battling a pretty nasty cold. Both Sister Shumway and I woke up Friday morning with a super bad cold. We were suppose to be going on exchanges that day, but had to cancel. After our zone training we went home and went straight to bed for the rest of the night. Saturday we didn't get to rest much so we are still both sick, but things seem to be turning up. We both just sound really funny when we talk. 

Super sick Sister Shumway and Sister Rindlisbacher

Yesterday Sister Shumway gave her last talk and sang in sacrament. It was absolutely beautiful and I may or may not have cried a little bit. She is such a talented singer. The song that she sang was 'My Kindness Shall Not Depart From Thee'. I know that that this gospel is true. It is perfect and I know that it is our Savior Jesus Christ's gospel. I am so grateful that I get to share it while I am here in Korea. I hope that you are all having a wonderful week. Good luck to all those that are taking finals soon. I love you all!

-Sister Rindlisbacher

Week 24 (Week 15 In-Field)

Where has time gone? I cannot believe that this transfer is almost over! We will be getting transfer callsthis Saturday. The only thing I know for sure is that I'll be getting a new companion :'( because Sister Shumway is heading home at the end of this transfer. It's been a pleasure to serve with her!

This week has been really great. We've been super busy with member and recent convert appointments. We have two Mongolian women in our ward who were baptized recently. They are the kindest people ever! Also their babies are adorable. Sister 진주 has a 6 month old baby girl and Sister 난디아 has a 8 month old baby boy. Sister 진주 was trying to teach us some Mongol last time we visited her and it was awesome. Mongol is very similar to Russian so the accent was pretty hard to get down. She also tested us yesterday when we saw her at church... we failed to remember the 2 phrases that she taught us >.< but she still likes us haha.

This is 난디아's baby :) He is so adorable!

 난디아's baby

We had a fun time playing with him while his mom did some work around the house. Afterwards we taught her one of the recent convert lessons. 

We also had a special sisters conference with our mission president. He had to get special permission from the area president to hold the meeting because it included every sister in the mission. IT WAS AMAZING! All the training and messages that we received were exactly what I needed to hear. I also got to see an old professor from BYU. She taught Korean 201 when I was there and was at the meeting for translation purposes. It was fun to chat with her for a bit before the meeting started. Here are some of the things that I learned/really liked...

- "Don't let your questions paralyze your faith. The adversary knows that faith in Christ - the kind of faith that produces a steady stream of tender mercies and even mighty miracles - goes hand in hand with a personal confidence that you are striving to choose the right... As long as you allow these voices to chisel away at your soul, you can't approach the throne of God with real confidence. Whatever you do, whatever you pray for, whatever hopes for a miracle you may have, there will always be just enough self-doubt chipping away at your faith - not only your faith in God, but also your confidence in yourself. The decision to change is yours - and yours alone."

- There are two types of confidence 1. Worldly confidence 2. Heavenly confidence... Which one do you rely on the most?

- Joshua 1: 5-9

- Christ was proud of His gospel and we should be the same way!

- "No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted"

Needless to say the conference was inspired. It was so uplifting and being around all the sisters in my mission was such a treat. They are all so amazing and the light in their faces shines so brightly.

Here are some fun random pictures from a few weeks ago :)

The 인천 Stake Missionaries after our fireside last week.

Sister Turner is a party to be with always! Left to right: Front - Sister Shumway, Sister Brooksby, Sister Turner and Sister Rindlisbacher. Back - Sister Ambrose, Sister An, and Sister Sannar

There is a super funny story behind this picture, but I'll have to tell you guys sometime later. Typed words will not do it justice.

If you guys are ever curious about the happening in the Korea Seoul South Mission you can check out our mission President's blog. (koreaseoulsouthmission.blogspot.com) I stole the lovely pictures above from there :)

Missionary work is amazing. The joy that you feel and the happiness that comes from the hard times is like nothing else. A lot of the time I get discouraged, but the Lord always knows how to lift me. Being a missionary is hard and learning a new language is even harder, but I know that the Lord called me to this mission for a reason. I know that He has a specific plan for me while I am here. I can testify that He knows each and everyone one of us individually and has made a specific plan for each of our lives. Rely on Him and He will show you the way. I know that our Savior Jesus Christ lives and that this is HIS restored gospel. 

Also here is another good quote from my mission president's email this week. "Look in the mirror and see if your countenance reflects His light to the world. There is no greater work, no greater message." -President Turner

I love you all and hope that you have a great week!

-Sister Rindlisbacher

Week 23 (Week 14 In-Field)

It's been a great week :) Very busy with choir practices, district meeting, exchanges, and a fireside... Along will all the usual missionary work. Oh also the first snow has come to Korea!

The red box I'm holding is full of Kimchi :)

This past week I went on exchanges with Sister 안지민. I was her companion for a few days before I came to my new area because both of our companions died and the transfer was a bit funky. She was a huge help as we went through the members in my new ward. She served here for 6 transfers and knows the area pretty well. She absolutely hilarious and is also a huge help with language since she is a native Korean.

Sister Shumway and I also celebrated Thanksgiving this week by serving for the entire day. We were pretty busy with 4 appointments and then came home to have dinner. We got the closest thing we could to turkey.... fried chicken! It was really yummy with the sauces that they gave us. We had a great time talking about the things that we are grateful for over our wonderful Thanksgiving dinner. 

Yesterday we had a stake wide missionary fireside. All of the missionaries in our stake got together and did two musical numbers. There were lots of wonderful musical numbers, slideshow pictures, missionary videos, and talks given by missionaries, recent converts, and our mission president. 

The 인천 Stake missionaries after choir practice

I wish I could send you a recording of the song that we sang because the spirit was definitely there as we sang. I love all the missionaries in my stake so much. They each bring such a wonderful spirit to the group.

Our investigators are doing great. We got to meet with two of them a couple times this week, but the third was in Hong Kong for buisness so we'll be meeting with her sometime this week.

Here are some random pictures that my companion took on the way to emailing today:)

Left to Right: Sister Shumway, Sister Rindlisbacher, Sister Sannar, and Sister Ambrose

Sister Shumway and Sister Rindlisbacher

It was hard to keep our eyes open because it's been so cold lately.

I KNOW that this gospel is true! I know that the Lord has a specific plan for each of His children that is perfect. I know that our Savior Jesus Christ lives and is always there for each of us. I love you all and hope that you have a great week! 

-Sister Rindlisbacher

P.S. I really liked what my President sent this week in his email so I wanted to share it will you all.

"Many years ago, I remember hearing a talk in conference where the church leader said that parents who are casual in their keeping of the commandments or following the counsel of church leaders should not be surprised when their children were even more casual in their obedience or keeping of church standards. That has always stuck with me. The counsel means that if I am casual in my church attendance or reading the scriptures or having family prayer, when my children become parents they will be even less likely to be diligent in church attendance, scripture study or personal and family prayer. In looking in the dictionary, “Casual infers seeming or tending to be indifferent”.

As I observe missionaries in some of their behaviors I wonder if they realize how they are “casual” in their obedience to missionary rules or guidelines. They may be 15 minutes late for personal study, or leave the house 30 minutes late to begin their working day, or they may stay at a member’s house  10 minutes later than they are supposed to. If this missionary is the trainer or a senior companion or district or zone leader, they may not realize the impact that will have on their companion’s future consideration of how they should perform as a missionary.

In the same dictionary, “Strict implies great exactness”. When we encourage ‘strict obedience’, it is the desire and hope that you will truly be exact in all you do with the Lord’s commandments. Many of you know how I like to talk about “life lessons” that can be learned while serving as a missionary. This is one more for you. If you cultivate a mindset of strictness when considering the Lord’s will for you while serving a mission, it will continue with you throughout your life. Be strict with your prayer and gospel study time. Be strict with your avoidance of movies and other media that create inappropriate thoughts or images in your mind. Be strict in your honesty and obedience to all commandments."

I can testify of the difference that being "strict" in our lives makes. Everyday as a missionary we are trying to practice and perfect it. I am so grateful for the things that I have been able to learn from it and how it has blessed my life. I hope that you guys will apply this principle if your life this week and that you will see the difference that it makes. Have a great week!