Goodbye Doris...For the REAL last time

Hiiiii!! This week I saw Doris (성희) for the REAL last time - I promise… she's in America!!! I think our 5th or 6th "final goodbye" ...but she arrived, went to temple square and ate Cup Bop! I feel sooo lucky to have met her my first day in Seoul, Korea. She was baptized 4 days before I came and was the strongest convert on planet earth. In 3 months she became my best friend and I learned so so much from her testimony and desire to help the missionaries. My heart was just a little happy (Best ever!) when she sent me her pictures in front of Salt Lake temple this week!! 

This week I was thinking about in 3 Nephi where Christ talks about knowing His church by their fruits. 3 Ne. 14: 18 "A corrupt tree cannot bring forth good fruit." Being on a mission, I've really come to recognize how our lives, our happiness are evidence that this Church is true. I have never seen anything negative from following the Savior and striving to live His gospel... but I have personally experienced it improve lives, bring hope, change priorities, strengthen families, heal... bring so many blessings to enrich our lives and lead us to real happiness. It is ONLY "good fruit." Before my mission, I was so focused on all the wrong priorities... which I thought would make me happy. But then would always leave me thinking, "Ok. What's next?!" The joy was so temporary and I felt like I was always, almost searching for happiness. I can promise that the only way to find true and lasting happiness is from learning of Jesus Christ, applying His Atonement and following Him. As we focus on the Savior, our lives will work out as they are supposed to, our priorities will change, our families will be stronger and united, and we will be able to say we are truly happy. 

Love you all! Have a happy week!!!

Sister Davis

Also this week:

---I love Korea!!! In Seoul they have these places called Board Game Cafes. You sit down in comfy, couches/booths and receive a menu full of all the board games you can order! Seriously! The lighting is dim, can order food, everyone is so intense... so funny. We went for DORIS's last Pday in Korea and played Clue - I won. :)

---Also.... our rotten egg experience!!!!!! Traumatized. When I first came to Korea… I was SO surprised when my companions kept our eggs outside of the refrigerator (it was January)... but just accepted it and thought it was Korean culture. Soooo. Now it is a million degrees and we don't have air conditioning in our apartment. We went to make eggs this week and it was BLACK! I think I went blind and cried. Literally traumatizing experience. I will never eat eggs again.

Sister Lee!!  Reunited

The district!

For real last time!!  She left for America!!!!

Clue / Board Game Café

I won!!!!  But what’s new  ~^^

Rotten egg – real picture.

Johnsons in Korea...What?!!!

Hiii Amazing week!! First shout out to my best friend Brittface and my grandpa DD for birthdays this week!! I love you!! Also this Sunday I had a surprise visit from some of my favorite people, Paige, Katelyn and Drew Johnson!! I can't even explain how excited I was to see them and it definitely made my week!!!

This week we received our transfer calls and Sister Kim and I are staying in Seoul together woo!! We met a new Chinese investigator this week and had an amazing lesson together. So prepared. She grew up Buddhist but a year ago started to believe a God exists. Her grandma was really sick with cancer and at that time her Professor (who attends another Christian church) taught her how to pray for her grandma. After a few weeks her grandma was miraculously healed… from cancer!!  She says, "I know there is a God and He answers prayers." She came to Korea in June and went to a Catholic church for the first time. She said she felt an overwhelming spirit, like a hug, embracing her and she almost wanted to cry. We taught her about the restoration up until the first vision. I was so sooo terrified… I always teach the Joseph Smith first vision lesson in Korean and didn't want to mess it up.  But I prayed to be able to share it and that our investigator could recognize that spirit and power again... then I said it for the first time in English!! She just said "wow," was speechless, and Sister Kim and I felt the Spirit embracing us too. It was such an amazing moment with her. She came to church this Sunday, loved the different feeling of peace in our sacrament meeting and wants to be baptized. We love her so much and are so so happy to have met her!!

Alsoooo not important side note buttt: she is studying at Korea University and we met her for the first time in the Business school there. Unreal. The entire campus is built like a castle...looks like Hogwarts!!! I'm going to go there. Transferring!! 

Have an amazing week!! I love you!

Sister Davis

My Johnson Sisters!!!  <3

So SO hot here... but happy :)

Sunday, August 7, 2016

Hiii from Korea! It is so SO hot here. We are literally going blind and dying!!....but happy. :) One story this week: Every week we do Family Home Evening just with three elementary school aged, less actives in our ward. One was baptized 3 years ago, always comes but doesn't like to focus or listen when we share the spiritual message. This week, she listened and was so sincere. She told us that she believed in God when she was baptized, but she is the only member of her family and lately has been questioning if God exists. She wants to go to heaven, but says she needs to become a better person to go there. Now that she is starting Junior High next week...her mistakes seem real and more serious to her. She was so cute and asked, "Before I start middle school, can I please be baptized again?" We had a really amazing conversation about repentance and our loving Heavenly Father. 

Also amazing miracle! Our investigator I talked about last week...so amazing. Moved to Malaysia yesterday with her son :/ But! Read the Book of Mormon (in 5 days) up to Alma 24 and said she finally found the hope she was looking for her entire life. She wants to stay in contact and find a ward there. It was such a short, random week but I feel so so lucky to have been able to meet her in Korea just in the moment she needed the gospel. 

This week

---Found Jamba Juice and California Pizza Chicken....may or may not have cried

---We have an investigator we are teaching English and the gospel to. She wanted to practice her pronunciation at home and decided to take a video of me reading this Spongebob book. BUT she cut the video so all you can see is my mouth speaking the words. She sent it to our phone when we were on splits. So my companion opened it from a random number, just a mouth speaking "good morning Spongebob!!" *No idea who the video is from* You had to be there...but so funny!!

Have a good week!!!

Sister Davis

Park Dobby and Doris

Hiii - AUGUST

Hiii- AUGUST. Oh my time is so fast! I realized this morning that this time last year, my mission call came to Arizona and I opened it August 2nd in Utah. No idea a year later I would be in Korea!! Oh my. Life. This week was amazing amazing!! We had President Brown come and speak to us, who was the Mission President of my Mission President and one of the first missionaries in Korean in 1956. He told amazing stories about the faith, humility and growth of the Korean people, which he was able to influence and see firsthand. He was here actually in 1970s when the first Seoul Stake was organized...in the ward building I am serving in now!! This week I also saw MARINA for the first time in 3 months and saw 성희 (Seong Hee) for the last time before she goes to BYU this week! (literally our 4th "final goodbye" and we keep ending up seeing each other)!! 

Also this week I met one of the most incredible people of my entire mission. I can't share all the details...but she is only 2 years older than us and one of the strongest people despite all of the trials a 22 year old should not have experienced. She grew up Muslim, but her entire life didn't accept it, felt lost, and couldn't turn to anyone because they didn't understand. She's spent the majority of her life searching for answers, hope and purpose of life. A month ago, she lost literally everything except for her 2 year old son. She said she feels so lost and like a robot...doesn't cry anymore and is beyond feeling. She looked me in the eyes and said "I just want a hope. I don't want money or worldly things...I need something for my soul. I need a hope for my son." We were able to teach her about Heavenly Father and how much he knows and loves her individually, the Atonement of Jesus Christ personally for her, and the purpose of life. When we shared our testimony of the Atonement, she cried for the first time in a month and said she feels something in her heart she has been searching for. One of my favorite chapters...actually I think my favorite chapter in the Bible is Romans 8. I read it again this week and I really loved verse 17 and 18. "Our suffering at this present time are not worthy to be compared to the glory which shall be revealed to us." As we suffer with Christ (who is with us every step), we will be glorified together. The gospel is true!! I have personally seen it change so many lives. We have the "hope" so many people are looking for!

----our English class this week singing the alphabet song...(all the cutest grandmas and grandpas) "L, M, N....*stop at N in the tune - cont. "R, Q, P S" - So cute! I will take video next week!!!

Have a good week!!!

Park Dobby (Seong Hee gave me the name ㅠㅠ) 

Ps. Happy birthday Harry Potter

Marina!!!

Companion!! Kim Jin Young!

Koo-ni! Our Chinese investigator!

Hiii...From Sister Davis

Hiii~ I'm sorry my camera is STILL broken so no pictures this week again. I sent it in (I think) last week so it should be back next week ok ok! This week was so amazing!! So many miracles and amazing people. Also I forgot last week but my district is 3 Koreans and 3 Americans...all from Arizona! Mountain View, Desert Ridge and Highland. We are all from Arizona....yet dying because it is 100 times hotter here in Seoul because of the humidity. Buttt this area is so fun and I love it! We live right next to Seoul University, and this week I actually ended up meeting 2 different people who lived right near me in New York last year and are now studying back in Korea. So amazing! 

This week we had the cutest experience with one of our investigators (she's 77 years old). We called Saturday night to invite her to church, and she said no she can't come because she has to go to the hospital the next morning at that time (not serious - Koreans go to the hospital all the time)...but promised to come next week. As church is starting, our cute grandma comes running in and says I'm so sorry! I ran all the way here. I thought when you called last night that tomorrow was Monday....but then I realized it was Sunday!! The hospital is closed Sundays... She felt so bad and ran all the way to church (77 years old) so that the "foreign missionary wouldn't think she lied to us." Then she ended listening so intently during sacrament meeting and having a huge connection with our gospel doctrine teacher. So amazing!!

I have no time but this week I loved the scripture D&C 101:38. Remember the Savior's face in all things we do, be grateful - put Him first...and everything will work out. 

---taught my companion apples and peanut butter this week - "new world!" She says to me *in English* "you're my style"

LOVE YOU ALL!

Sister Davis

Hiii from Dongdaemun

Hii super short because I don't have much time this week (also ps I'm so sorry - my camera broke so I have no pictures this week!). My new area is so AMAZING! I love it. I live with 3 Koreans (only foreigner - they think my food is so weird) and it is so fun! Our area is a huge college town where everyone around the world comes to study - one day I carried an English, Vietnamese, Mandarin, Cantonese, and Korean Book of Mormon. We also live next to a really nice canal / river where people take free aerobics classes and go on long walks at night. So we can walk with and meet our exercising mom's/families at night. My companion is also AMAZING. She is a recent convert and only member of her family - she has the strongest faith, testimony and wants to work so hard! I love it here!!

I have no time but here is a quote I really loved this week: "Of all the impossible things that were ever done in the history of the world, of all the walk-on water-difficult, heart-tearing things to face (miracles: healing the blind, the lepers, raising the dead), surely the Savior's own sacrifice is unequaled. When faced with the reality of this sacrifice, Jesus himself pleaded with the Father that he would not have to go through it. Yet he did it. What power enabled him to accomplish it? It was His love." I heard a talk once that talked about how the Savior could have known by revelation how to succor His people, yet He chose to learn by personal experience - so He would not only be able to help us, lift us, give us strength...but so He would be able to understand perfectly and walk with us so we are never alone to endure. I met a member this week who shared with me one of the most powerful testimonies of the Savior. She is having a hard time and under a lot of stress, but when she thinks of the Savior's Atonement, she knows she can do it. She knows He loves her and she is never alone. 

Have a good week! 

Sister Davis

Elder Manwaring’s family picking him up in Seoul…

Transfers

Hiiii! Oh my...transfers were crazy unexpected but I am going back to SEOUL!! I am transferring to 동대문 and will be with another Korean companion!!! So so excited!! But sad to leave my investigators and members here in Taebaek. The people are so amazing here. I don't know how they do it but from the people we teach, members or just people on the street, somehow they make you feel loved, like you are important to them and make a difference in their life. Everyone! I learned so much from serving here about charity, service and humility. Excited to go back to the city but sad to leave them ㅜㅜ

I don't have a ton of time but wanted to share a miracle this week. It is the rainy season in Korea, so basically 60% of last week was pouring rain....like I've never seen before!! With or without an umbrella...completely soaked. After English class this week, Sister Gu and I needed to really quickly go to the store. On our way, a man stopped me on the street, said "hi" in English and then starting asking questions so quickly in Korean that I couldn't understand. In our mission, we aren't allowed to talk to men....it was pouring POURING rain, he had been drinking, we had a really short time before we had to be home... so I apologized and we kept walking. I asked my companion what he asked and she said he wanted to share my umbrella to the store far down the street. We were a little scared but I had a feeling we needed to turn around and help him. As we were walking he started asking about what we do as missionaries and then asked about a less active in the branch. (We have been kinda meeting this woman in secret because she is scared because her husband thinks our church is a cult). It turns out....the umbrella man is her husband!!! He asked what is good about our church and we ended up having a really good conversation about families. We gave him my umbrella so he could get home....annnnd he invited us back over (to get the umbrella) but was open to have us teach the family. It seemed like such a small thing to share my umbrella with someone in the middle of hurricane Katrina...but this small act of service may have a huge impact on this family forever. I am leaving Taebaek so probably will not see the outcome (nor get my umbrella back)...but it was such an amazing miracle and confirmation to me that God will use us through our small acts of service to open hearts and strengthen the lives of people we meet. Find ways to serve those around you!! God uses small and simple means to bring about miracles in the lives of His children. 

Love you all! I will send you information next week about the new area!

Sister Davis

Goodbyes…ㅜㅜ

Taebaek Branch!!!

Taebaek Sisters!!!