It Takes Guts

Hey Y'all!!

Hope you've all been having a good week wherever you may be :)

It's super hot in Korea right now! And it's really only getting hotter. I love it. The top of my feet are super tan and it makes me laugh every time I get home and take off my shoes.

I know I've talked to you a little bit about the family that owns a restaurant in the market area where I serve. Well we stopped by again last night to say hello and they invited us in to eat but this time the grandma invited me to eat some intestines. And if there's anything I've learned about Korean grandma's since being here, it's that you don't say no to them. So I said yes, haha. And y'all! It wasn't so bad! My companion is super super funny and she loves all that kind of stuff so we had a good time :) I'm really going to miss her when we have to go our separate ways, haha we are alwyas eating crazy things together. Sister Kim

Eating cow guts literally does take guts. Even more than that, last night while we met with our friend Christine I realized that having guts can make all the difference in the direction our lives go. 

I never though of myself as being a very courageous person. And being a missionary makes me realize that I rely on the Lord's strength wayyy more than I rely on my own. In order to help me help the people we are meeting with, our mission president, President Shin, suggested I made something called "The Weston Lesson Plan" hahaha. A short story about the turning point in my conversion that I could translate into Korean and share with people. 

I worked on it this week, and then last night when we met with Christine we asked her to help us translate it (because she's super amazing and english). As she read it she started to cry. And by the end, all of us were in tears. Christine is a very strong person- atleast I've always viewed her that way. She reminds me a lot of my best friend, who always always sacrifices herself for the happiness of others, even if it means it breaks her heart a little bit, or a lot. When it comes to her learning about the gospel, she is doing the same thing- sacrificing herself and what she wants because of how other people may start to think about her. And that broke my heart because I've seen that in other people I love and I've been there, too. I don't think I have as pure of a heart as the two girls I'm talking about right now. They seriously amaze me. But I know that it's the Lord that makes us strong- not ourselves or even the people around us (although the Lord can definitely use them to strengthen us). The only reason I've ever had the guts to do anything is because Christ was with me. When we stop putting the pressure on ourselves to do things and leave it up to the Lord, He will help us and guide us to amazing paths. 

 

Sorry for getting super sappy today! But I thought this was a special story to share and it's something that meant a lot to me :)) I hope you know I love all of you so much and I am always praying for y'all. 

Talk to you again next week :) Take courage! Eat guts... or I mean have guts! The Lord is with you :)

All my love,

Sister Weston

 

English Lessons Are Fun

So Are New CDs

 

Hello Hello

Hey Everybody!

Holy cow, so much happens every week I never know what to write when Monday comes. This week, I just happened to meet a lot of really cool people and I want to tell you about just a couple of them.

So whenever we are on our way going anywhere, we stop and talk to people: the woman selling veggies, the college student at the bus stop, the grandma who wants to pet my hair... you get the picture. It's a really fun time. 

Well this week we were at the subway station waiting to meet one of the girls we teach to go to church together. I saw this obviously foreign man talking on the phone and I figured when he was done I'd go talk to him. I asked him where he was from and he said "The Ivory Coast." It just so happens that we had talked to  woman maybe two weeks ago who was from there as well so I asked if he was here with his wife and he said yes and it was the same woman we talked to! They have a daughter named Nadia who is just adorable so we talked about that for a while and then we started speaking french because that's the native language in cote d'ivoir- but y'all..... I can't speak 

 

French anymore!! It's super hard! This week I'm going to extra language study so that the next time I meet Latif (this man) I can really speak with him. He has been looking for someone to practice english with for a long time and I'm sure our metting his family is not a coincidence. They whole family should be coming out to church next week! It's a big miracle!

There are things like that that happen everyday and I wish I could tell you all fo them. But for the sake of time I'll move onto another amazing story,

Every week on friday afternoon we meet with a woman name Eunsoo. Mom, she's exactly like you. Super artsy and trendy, loves antiques and flowers and is just so so cool. Well this week when we met we were talking about prayer. A lot of times when people feel hopeless they don't know where to turn. Very few people in our lives, if any, can perfectly understand us. But through prayer, we know that our Heavenly Father will hear and understand all the things we say and even the things we don't. This woman, Eunsoo, is extremely wealthy and lives in an apartment that only executive members of Samsung and their families are permitted to live. Yet every week she invites us, super humble missionaries, to her home to talk and share a message. When we watched the Mormon Message about God's light and prayer on the floor of her home this week, the spirit in the room was so amazing I wish I didn't ever have to leave.

I'm so thankful for every person I've met here and I hope I can someday give back to them as much as they have given me. I know God loves every person no matter who they are, and when we feel that love for others too amazing things happen. 

I love y'all and I'm always praying for you! I'm safe from MERS please don't worry, but please do pray for all the missionaries everywhere! They are super cool! And if you ever see any on the street be sure to say hello! That's makes us happy :))) Again I love you and I'm praying for you!

All the best,

Sister Weston

Elayna's District

 

                                          Skybell the awesome apartment security guard

Eating Bugs:)

Hello hello everybody! 

Sometimes when you are eating with korean people, they ask you to try to eat new things... like bugs! And sometimes when you are in korea, you think about the advice your friends give you before you left like, "If you get the chance to eat something crazy, do it!" So then you eat the bug. And it's not the worst thing! Hahaha I won't lie to y'all, bugs are not super delicious. But people do eat them and I think that say's something.

Y'all I wish I could tell you all the crazy stuff that happens everyday. There's always something unexpected that comes, and those things are usually the biggest blessings. And the thing I was reminded of most this week was something another friend told before I came out here "When you do the right thing, the right thing will happen."

Of course, every day we are trying to help and serve other people- always trying to do the right thing. But that doesn't mean it's always easy, sometimes it's pretty hard. But the right thing always pays off somehow. Like this week, we were planning on meeting and teaching five new people. Super exciting stuff! But all of them except for one cancelled on us. We were a little bit sad but we kept on doing everything we could to continue to serve the people we were already with. And then, all in one day, two people who we absolutely love that we were meeting with last transfer called us to meet up with them again! amazinggggggg. It was such a miracle! 

While we were meeting with one of these girls at a cafe by our house on Wednesday, she opened up to us about how she found God about a year ago and how much her life has changed. We started talking about faith and family and the spirit about it was just really special. I know God has amazing things planned for her and I feel really lucky to be a part of it. 

I love you all so much! I get to stay in Onyang for another transfer and it's such a huge blessing!!!!! I love all of our members and the people we are teaching now! And I love y'all too! Have a super good week!

Love,

Sister Weston

 

Hi Y'all

Alright Y'all,

This week has been nuts!! Mostly because guess what, I met three people from Alabam this week! Let me tell you each story and why they are all so amazing.

First, one of our investigators wanted us to go on a walk with her in this area that serves as a memorial site for Korea's greatest general. I'm a horrible person and can;t remember his name right now but it was really a beautiful area and we even got to shoot korean archery! Anways, there was a U.S. Army group that was touring the area because of the general's amazing history. While we were walking I started to talk to them and the one person I happened to talk to was from Virginia and going to Alabama in the Fall!!! I thought that was crazy. We didn't have the chance to tlak to him long because we were with an investigator but it was really fun.

Then, on thursday. We were feeling kindof down because we haven't been able to find as many new people to teach as we've hoped. After finishing a lesson, we felt like we should put up some fliers for our english class and then we were waiting at the bus. A girl, about our age, came and sat down next to us. As missionaries, we talk to everyone we see if we are able to speak with them. But with this girl I actually really felt like I needed to talk to her. So I asked her which bus she was waiting for, in korean, and then in english she replied with "uhm.. actually---" You know if someone starts a sentence like that they speak english for real. I got super excited and asked where she learned english, she said she studied in America, I asked where, she said "The University of Alabama." WHAT?!?!?!?!?!?!? We both freaked. We are meeting her for lunch on wendesday and I'm so excited. She's super amazing.

Then just today, our sister Ward was having a picnic because today is Buddha's birthday and everyone has work and school off. So Sister Kim and I went to have some fun on p-day and help the members with some stuff. When we got to the church, there was another girl with white skin and blue eyes there. I figured she was a former missionary who had come back to visit. I was on my way to talk to her when someone said she was from Alabama, so I scurried on over to her and it turns out she's from Tuscaloosa and she knows all the people I know there! Her name is Skylar, and she wasn't a missionary but is teaching English currently in Cheonan, where I'm living. We had a really fun time at the picnic and it was just a crazy experience.

Yes, it's amazing that all of these people are from Alabama- a college I had no plans on attending until the Lord paved the way there for me. But what's even more amazing, is that each one of these people was truly an answer to my prayers. And  they were each almost immediate answers.

Y'all, if I can tell you one thing I know for sure- it's that God is there. Even when we don't see it, even when we don't want it, even when it seems impossible: He's there. When we pray He hears us, and He will give us anything we need.

I love being in Korea. I love everything I'm learning here and all the people I meet. Y'all are incredible and I'm so lucky to have amazing friends and family to support me. I couldn't do anything without y'all and I love you so much.

Keep doing amazing things and telling me about them!

All my love,

Sister Weston

All That Jazz!

Hey Y'all!

Wow this week was strangely amazing! I say strangely because everything amazing that happened was completely unexpected!

It was saturday, and we were riding the bus to our area. Our appointment feel through so we were just going to make some visits to invetigators that are usually home and see who we could talk to along the way. But while we were talking to this chinese woman on the bus, all the sudden we couldn't find our phone. We thought we brought it with us on the bus but neither of us had it. Anyway, We got the womans phone number and then got off the bus and decided we should go back home to see if we left it there somehow. When we got back, the phone was no where to be found. So the only thing we could do was take the hour bus ride back to our area again and continue on with our day as best as we could without confirming the rest of our appointments. Well, to be honest, I think I like doing missionary work without a phone a lot better!! We weren't in a hurry to get anywhere so we just talked to literally every single person. We found three new people to meet with in an hour!

While we were on the bus, there was one really special woman who we talked to. Actually, I smiled at her and then she started talking to us. Asking us who were were, what we were doing, how we liked missionary work. She said she thought missionary work is such a good thing and she invited us to her house for dinner!! Hopefully we'll be going there on Wednesday. It's just amazing how things like that happen. For real, we didn't know her for more than ten minutes and she invited us to her home. Huge miracle. 

Every sunday in our branch, a missionary is assigned to speak to keep the members excited about missionary work and to share our testimonies. Well this week it was my turn  I had invited our investigator Christine especially to come to church this week because she speaks perfect english and has never really heard me speak Korean before and that's a good excuse to encourage someone to come to church :) Well she's currently attending a different church with her family and I knew that but on sunday morning I just felt like I should call her. And I did, she said she was going to the other church, and I said "That's okay!! I'll tell you how it goes!" I was a little sad but I could understand. Then right about in the middle of my talk, Christine walked into the chapel. I was already tearing up a little bit because the topic was Charity and how much Christ loves us and that's just pulls on the heart strings on it's own. But when she walked in I really welled up and it was super hard not to cry. But I held it together pretty alright until I sat back down!!!

This week get's a big thumbs up from me. Unexpected miracles happen everyday. I hope y'all never get tired of hearing that because it's true! Christ loves each one of us and every person has an unfathomable amount of potential in the eyes of our Heavenly Father. 

I love you all so much! that's all for this week! Talk to you again soon!

Love,

Sister Weston