Pics from Sister Davis

Sorry – no email this week from Sister Davis.  Her time was really short so the group email didn’t work.   :(

Here are a few pics she sent.  She got a package from her momma that included some supplies for some fun activities they were planning.

Hula skirt and leis!!!

Making Smores!!!

District Meeting...

6 Months!!!

Sunday, May 22, 2016 (really)

This is posted one week late because of Caitlin's parents :/

Hello, hi! I can't believe I am writing this but I hit 6 months this week! Ah. Unbelievable. My companion also hit 14 months this week soooo of course we had to celebrate at an Italian restaurant (oh my. Miracle - found in Taebaek!!!) and with our investigator who surprised us with cake. She also gave me a traditional stamp of my Korean name with ink (So exciting! - Picture included).

This week I unintentionally studied about trials and God's purpose for us every single day. Really! Whether I planned to study God's love or faith, it all ended up running together...which I realized is because it is all part of God's work and glory to perfect us so we can return to Him. This led me to find my new FAVORITE scripture. Joseph Smith translation of Hebrews 11:40:

       "God having provided some better things for them through their sufferings, for without sufferings, they could not be made perfect." 

Then the Apostle Paul continues, "Let us run with patience the way before us - looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith: finisher meaning one who completes or perfects our faith (Hebrews 12:1-2).

 Sorry I have zero time and 7 days of "trials" notes I love = this email is everywhere...BUT to sum it up: we have SO much potential. We can become whoever we choose to become in this life - our goal is perfection. God loves us and knows we are capable of it. Actually He expects it of us. He will give us specific trials, challenges and weaknesses - opposition to provide an opportunity to become that person. He says, "Let me make of you all that you can be." It is our choice. We will experience hard times regardless (Bc God loves us), but how well we choose during those times to give up our will and rely on God determines the extent to which we will change and progress towards perfection. SO MUCH to think about. Mind = blown. BUT: Choose who you want to become, what attributes you want to acquire, how you will respond to the opportunities God gives you, and allow God to shape you into your best self, Christlike/perfect self. 

THIS WEEK:

1. Hiking: So BEAUTIFUL Taebaek. So versatile: rock climbing, rope climbing, greenest trees, flowers...1.4 km, but took almost 2 hours to reach the top = SO steep (or we are tired sister missionaries) 

2. 6 month package from Demi!! Teaching members s'mores tonight!

3. Funny messages received via text from our English class investigators: "You crack me up!", "Ah TGIF," "I make sense your mind" (totally makes sense in Korean, but does not translate!)

4. Our new investigator we met this week. No religion but then he remembered he went to church in the army. They gave out Choco Pie's (Korean snack) to anyone who comes to church, and he was quicklyyyy converted. No idea what they taught, but ate the food every week!!!

SO embarrassed I took this picture...basic sister missionary. But Hiii 6 months!

Hiking!!!!!!!!

Basically models…

Me and my Gu <3

Traditional stamp of my Korean name…

Teach The Foreigner How To 피구 (peegu - Korean dodgeball)

Hello!!!! I have no time this week, but just a few updates:

1. 성희 학생 (DORIS) Got into BYU!!!! She moves to America in July and will first go to Arizona to visit Sister Willcox - I told her she has to visit my house and promised Demi's cooking (also we MUST order BYU shirts - mom :)

2. Marina texted yesterday and she is going to the Korea temple this week!! I'm SO happy for her, but the best part is recognizing how happy she is about it. Ah I love her.

3. Three weeks ago, we were teaching our Buddhist investigator when her family visited and said she can't meet the missionaries anymore. She loves the Book of Mormon, so we gave her 3 Nephi 11 and 18 to read, but we had to stop teaching. Last Friday, she randomly called after 2 weeks and said, "I read the BofM about baptism and I know I need to be baptized." (What!! Literally. BofM power.) So we met, had a really amazing lesson and set a baptismal date. Then we met again this week and she said actually I don't want to be baptized and I want to become a Buddhist princess...but will continue to read the Book of Mormon ㅜㅜ

4. We started "teach the foreigner how to 피구 (peegu - Korean dodgeball). We found a group of 10 middle school girls and they all taught me how - not aggressive AT all. Haha basically throwing the ball back and forth...but fun! We now have our Saturday 피구 crew and most of them want to start learning English too. More updates on that next week.

5. We met our new amazing investigator, who wants to move to America next year to learn English...we introduced BYU. She came back next lesson, having diligently researched and said I have two concerns: 1) I saw snow. Will I freeze? 2) I read American boys don't like Asians. Seriously, "How is my appearance to you?" She's so cute!!!

6. Korean fried chicken delivery first timer. Ahhh I've lived in this country for almost 4 months!! Life changing.

Really short but this week I read a quote by Brad Willcox that I really loved and am totally going to butcher but it went something like this, "The Atonement wasn't just a huge favor Christ did for us - the golden ticket to heaven. It is actually a huge investment He made IN us - the opportunity to become golden ourselves." (I shouldn't put that in quotes...totally wrong!! BUT I really loved that. It is so true. The Atonement isn't just to use and get back to the same state each time...but to gain strength to be better the next time, overcome our weaknesses, progress and become more like the Savior. Every day we can become more and more golden as we rely on the Atonement. The best part is: the "golder" we are, the happier we will be.

LOVE YOU!!

Sister Davis

Ps. CHAN You looked BEAUTIFUL at your wedding. So so happy for you!!! 

We didnt take pictures this week so here is old one!!! Sorry!!!!

성희 학생 (Doris) – the next BYU coed!!!

Happy Mothers Dayyy!!!

Hello!! HAPPY MOTHERS DAY!! This week was a little harder...but no worries I got to talk to my family this morning!!!^^ So sooo grateful for my amazing family every day. This week was family week in Korea too! Here they celebrate children's day (Wednesday) and parents's day (Sunday), where everyone gives their parents flowers and takes off school to travel with their family. It was also SOOO windy. One night we literally could not sleep because the wind was so loud and scary - it sounded like our apartment was going to blow over and the next morning all these signs and billboards were dangling from the rooftops. Weather is SO crazy here!! This weekend we traveled for branch conference and the missionaries music night...such talented missionaries here in Korea (wish I could still play piano). I was able to see my MTC Companion, Sister Mulitalo!!!!!

Because we saw so many miracles last week, it was a little discouraging this week when it felt like everything was falling through. I kept focusing on everything I was doing wrong, all of my weaknesses that were limiting my ability to become God's tool. I felt like I had all these limitations with language, scripture knowledge, faith, humility...and I felt like all these faults were distancing me from God to do this work. BUT my companion is amazing and told me to turn to Ether 12:27. I kinda thought, Ok. I know this scripture...I have read it a million times."  But when I turned to it this time, I read it an entirely new way. "If men come unto me, I will show unto them their weaknesses. I give unto men weaknesses that they may be humble." I kept feeling like my faults were distancing me from God, but I realized that as we are recognizing our weaknesses we are in the process of coming closer to Christ, and as we strive to change and overcome them, we are gaining humility and those attributes necessary to be His tools here. Then the scripture promises, if we are humble and have faith, His grace IS SUFFICIENT to make weak things become strong. No weakness is stronger than God's grace. As we rely on our Savior, we can not only overcome our weaknesses, but they will become our strengths. And it is NOT easy. It sometimes seems like a huge mountain, but as we have faith, it is possible. We exercise faith every day as we pray, as we study the sciptures, as we act and as we pray for strength to overcome. We are always showing our faith!! 

I love you all!!!!!! Happy mother's day to all the amazing people in my life!!

Caitieday

Hiking in Taebaek on Pday…

SISTER MULITALO!!!!!

Music Night Gang Neung District

Not the live octopus… :/

I have noooo idea what this is!

This looks like dog. 안되요 (It doesn't become)

Hello!! OH MY. Literally craziest week on planet earth...from people we met, weather (freezinnng winter coats for two days and then tshirts..), experiences, and MIRACLES. I wish I could just list every story this week, but because time is so short, I will just share a few. First: I still feel like a greeny! This week I was able to do an exchange with Sister Alcober from the Philippines (my baby MTC district) and be her greeny trainer for a day....we saw so many miracles together~ One example: as we were walking back from an appointment, a random number calls and asks when our English class is...30 min. later, she showed up at class. She heard about it from a flier her friend had received a long time ago, decided to come and wants to do our 30/30 English/gospel program! This week we met someone who the missionaries have been teaching for a while. Every time they taught lessons, she has felt uncomfortable with praying in front of the missionaries...but this week as we were finishing the lesson, she asked FIRST if she could say the closing prayer!! She thanked Heavenly Father for allowing her to feel the spirit as we met and prayed to continue to feel it throughout the week. Also amazing! It is very rare to receive referrals in this area. Because it is so small, everyone here knows the missionaries, has referred their friends, knows about our English class...etc. But. This week we received 3 referrals!! When we contacted each person, they asked us first if we had time to meet the following day (one of them asked for the exact time someone else had just canceled 10 min. before). Another miracle: So in my greeny days...I had no idea we had meal time…but we do! An hour for lunch and dinner. Because that's soooo much time, I have been going through the phone and calling all the old numbers without records. It was a little discouraging when it had been almost a week and almost every number had moved to Seoul, rejected us, or didn't exist anymore...But this week we were able to set one appointment and visit her. SO crazy. She is a hair dresser, who went to America (UTAH) to buy Nuskin products to sell in Korea. She received a Book of Mormon from them and was referred but never taught the lessons. She attends another church but wants to start learning!! Also, funny story with her. As we were finishing the lesson, she says, "I want to make you more beautiful" and has my companion go sit in her chair (we met at her hair salon).  NO idea what is happening....she pulls out her scissors and starts cutting her bangs. Then she has me sit in the chair, pulls at my hair and says "this looks like dog. 안되요 (It doesn't become) Koreans like straight...." thennn proceeds to cut my hair and straighten it. So funny!

The last miracle is our new investigator. She is a 90 year old 할머니 who I loved the minute we met her on the street. The first time we visited 2 weeks ago, she stood us up. As we were leaving, I thought "no! We are going to teach her!!" and marked my favorite scriptures in a Book of Mormon and left it at her door. This week, we both felt like we should stop by her house to visit. She immediately welcomed us in and asked to look at pictures of our families. As we were talking, I looked over at her desk and saw the Book of Mormon - with SO many notes and marks on it. I asked her if she read it and she said yes where we marked and wants to learn more about our church. When we asked her what Jesus Christ means to her, she immediately starting crying because SO grateful. I grabbed her hand and have never felt Heavenly Father's love for someone so much as I did in that moment. She is a miracle. Ahhh I love missionary work!! The church is true!! 

Have a good week everyone!!!!

Sister Davis

---Also awkward story. We met a man on the street who asked about our church and agreed right then to go with us to the building and meet the elders. Golden right?! An hour later we see him again on the street and ask how it went. He asks me: "If I come to church on Sunday will I get a girlfriend?" I misunderstood the question and said, "Yes! I've been going since I was young." Ahhhh. 

Picnic with our favorite little buddy…

Ahhh…beautiful Taebaek <3 

Windmills with our district on Pday…

Sister Gu getting a makeover with our new friend…

Don’t be jealous of my Korean food…

Rainy in Taebaek

Hello!! Soooo this week it rained a lot..and was reallyy cold but we still are having faith in miracles. Funny story this week! So there are zero foreigners out in the country besides the missionaries. This week, my companion and I were standing in this park, where we see this huge group of volleyball players who were visiting from another area. They all start pointing and then come up to us asking for pictures with me and asking about America...I reply in Korean and their coach starts yelling from the side, "No! Only speak English"...as he discretely tries to film and take pictures. So funny! Also, as we were walking this week, a middle school student yells across the street, "Hello! I English very well. Want to go to Harvard!" Alsooo..dreamed in Korean last night. Woo!

One of my favorite scriptures is in Luke 22:31-32 and it played a huge roll in my decision to serve a mission. This week during my studies, I read verse 33 too for the first time and learned so much about Peter and faith. I have always loved the first two verses because we know that Satan always wants to test us, to push us until we see if we have any faith remaining. But Christ says He has prayed for us individually, for our faith, and once we come unto Him and are converted, He asks us to strengthen our brethren. Here he is speaking to Peter, and in vs. 33, Peter replies, "Lord I am ready to go with thee." This doesn't mean Peter was perfect, or that he wouldn't still make mistakes..but he had enough faith to leave his past life behind and follow Christ. He trusted that although he was inadequate, anytime he fell short, Christ would raise him back up...because He wants us to go with Him. He wants us to walk with Him and only asks for a willing and ready heart. I was thinking about that this week and how to go with the Savior. In order to know and understand Him, we have to walk with Him. I thought about how Christ came to earth, pruned and watched over his vineyard, prayed, pleaded and sacrificed for it, already knowing people would reject. He continued because He loves us. Last week was pretty difficult. It seemed like everyone was dropping us, rejecting our phone calls, pouring rain so no one on the street, or if we did talk to them they grandmas say "가" (Kah) and shoo us away with their hands (literally feel like a seagull). I realize that if we want to walk with the Savior, with His same love we have to pray, plead, serve and sacrifice for the people. We have to continue knowing they may reject us...and do it out of love for them. As Christ representatives, we all have the opportunity to walk with Him every day by how we choose to love and serve others. 

Have a good week everyone!!!

Sister Davis

Three months!!!!

This post is for April 17, 2016

안녕하세요!! 오늘 한국에 산지 3개월 되요!! Hello!! Today marks three months in KOREA!! Time goes sooo fast. I don't understand. This week was great...and freezinnnng! I am in my new area and it is sooo different from Seoul but so cute. It is very very country...but reminds me of Park City. Cute small town with little stores. It has one street that is the area's "city" and super green mountains surrounding the whole area. Our tiny branch has 11 members, SO faithful and strong, and I immediately fell in love with them. My first Sunday, the branch President's family couldn't come, so the missionaries made up half of the branch. It was so funny because I lead the music, gave a talk, and said the prayer. They are so cute and do a luncheon every week to end the meeting and talk with everyone!! OH! Also so crazy! They have exercise machines everywhere...next to playgrounds, on the side of the road...So as we are walking (walk everywhere!) we see the grandmas and grandpas on the elliptical and bike machines just off the side of the road in their bright, colorful exercise outfits. So cute!!

Throughout my mission, I have been thinking so much on how to become God's instrument here in Korea and fulfill my calling. In this new area we have no investigators, no one at church and they haven't had a baptism in a few years. I have been focusing on how to strengthen our faith to find, because I know that God sent us here to see miracles in this area. In D&C 42:8 it says, "ye shall build up my church in every region." I kept thinking, how do I strengthen my faith to find the prepared people in this new area!? Last week I was talking to someone on the street who knew the bible inside and out. She kept arguing with me and throwing out scriptures and I had to go get the elders to help because I couldn't understand her Korean. In the end I just bore my testimony and she said to me, "If you want to share, know better truth." Ah. It literally cut straight to my heart when she said that to me. I have been focusing on how to become God's tool and I felt like such a failure in that moment. I don't know the scriptures well enough, the language well enough...how can I be God's instrument. I was reading in Nephi 18:2-3 when Nephi was entrusted with the huge task of building a ship, the tool to take his people to the promised land. Wow...pressure. Seriously, scary! But Nephi didn't rely on his own skills/understanding to make the ship, he went to the mount, prayed and sanctified himself to receive God's guidance and then made the ship under God's direction. Similarly, God has entrusted me with the huge task to be his tool in Korea…to be an effective missionary. Sometimes I feel like I don't have time to study enough, or can't speak well enough...but I realized from Nephi's example that I can't become an effective missionary the way I think it should be done. If I just daily sanctify myself, pray for opportunities, am obedient to God's will and have faith, He will enable me to become His tool in Korea. It will be sufficient for the people He has prepared. Ps. We can all be God's instruments as we rely on Him for guidance and have faith. He will qualify who He calls!!!

Oh! Also my companion is the cutest...the tiniest, short Korean and I love her. I know we are going to see miracles this transfer in 태백!!! Have a good week everyone!! 

Sister Davis

Saying goodbye to my Seoul Family…

Marina, Sung Hee & Sister Lee <3 <3 <3

Taebaek is the highest city in South Korea & was a Coal mining town.

The Taebaek Mountain range stretches across North & South Korea,  

making a ridge along the entire eastern coast of the Korean Peninsula.