"And it came to pass that we lived after the manner of happiness." -2 Nephi 5:27

When I was praying this morning about what to write y'all, God told me I need to write you about happiness. But I was so confused and asked him to give me some sort of scripture I could share and an experience. During companionship study the first thing Sister Byun shared with me was this scripture- and I knew it was exactly the thing I needed to send y'all this week.

 

It's winter here and sometimes we get cold, but what I've learned more than anything the past few weeks is that if we just do everything happily, even if we are cold or whatever, everything is so much better. Anything can happen, and anything can be good if we decide to put ourselves in a position to be happy.

 

So this is the experience I wanted to share with y'all....

 

I'm pretty sure I'm half a korean missionary and half a phillipina missionary because almost half of the people we are teaching now are from the philippines and they have all been f\refered to us by the same family!

 

Saturday night we had a huge birthday part for the mom, Shelby, and yesterday after church we had a HUGE family home evening with everyone. Many of the are not well off, but we asked them about their life and how they feel God has guided them, blessesd them, and then how they felt at church. and they responded with the phrase "Ikaw na"- which in tagolog means "we have it all"

 

I was so impressed by them, and their faith, and their decision to laugh and be happy about how they are "queen of the vegetables" working at a small market here in GwangJu.

 

God's first purpose for our lives is to find joy. And to find it with those we love. Especially within our families. I pray that y'all see the joy in each day- even if it means we have to actively search for it. I promise you it's there.

 

I love you all sooo much! Stay warm this week! Next monday is the solar new year- and this week is the week of birthdays! celebrate tons and tons! I sure will!

 

All my love,

Sister Weston

 

My Friends Who Feed Me Chicken

Oh NO!!! Korean Haircut....

 

Korea is Colder than Russia....Did You Know??

Hey Everybody!

 

Y'ALL! This week was nuts!

Haha it was soooo cold! and snowed so much! Sister Byun and I were walking down the street yesterday after church, there was like a foot and a half of snow everywhere and it was the coldest day Korea has reported in 31 years or something like that, and we were just laughing about how it's pretty cool to be a missionary this winter. Because, yeah, it's cold- but we will always remember it, and how we faught like real missionaries to keep doing the work, and we will have a little bit of extra bragging rights when we share our stories with other missionaries in the future :)))

 

It really has been an amazing week though. The cold and snow bring people together and church felt like a family yesterday. A woman I accidently called a few weeks ago in Seoul came to visit our church which was way cool! And our investigators continue to tell us that although it's cold outside their hearts are warm :)

 

One thing I've learned this week more than anything else is that when we are humble, when we listen to others and the Lord, we can see their needs and the Lord's will and do what the Lord would have us to do.

 

Something really cool that happened, that I'll never be able to forget was with our new investigator named Goe ShinYoung. She's 30 years old and absolutly loves Christ. We got in the lesson and you could tell she was having kindof a hard day. Usually if thats what's up we will say the opening prayer for them, but we asked her to say the prayer. And after a few words she stopped talking, it was silent, and we were just there for thirty seconds or so. When she ended the prayer she just look at us and said, "I have never felt that way before. What is that?" We told her what the spirit is. What is does for us. And how it is Heavenly Father telling us what is good, what is true, and that He loves her. She was amazed. And that made me feel amazed to. We are so lucky to be able to feel this whenever and wherever when we have the gift of the Holy Ghost. I love it so much. We are so excited for her to continue to prepare for her baptism in February:)

 

Tomorrow we will we watching the worldwide missionary broadcast and we are so pumped! February 7th is Seol Nar - or the day of the sun? the solar new year? whatever you want it call it- so we are preparing and again are so pumped!

 

Hope y'all had a good warm week and have an even greater week coming up! I know Heavenly Father listens to our prayers and sends us to Holy Ghost to comfort us, tell us what is right, and guide us whenever we need it. Read Romans 8 when you get the chance :)

 

love you so so so much!

 

Sister Weston

It's Cold

 

And Snowy

So I have issues!

Dinner with Friends

Philippine Friends 

Friends from Seoul

 

Planning in the Bathroom :)

 

Be Still and Know

Hey everybody!

 

It sounds like you have all been having a wonderful week full of lot's of adventures despite the cold weather. I hope this finds you happy and warm!

 

The email will be short this week, there's just one experience to share.

 

I was asked to speak to the Sisters last night about loving our investigaotrs and members. Throughout the week I thought about this a lot, and I kept searching for what the Lord would have me share with them.

 

The answer came through the son of my adopted Korean mom- and that answer was listen to people. Listen to the children of our Heavenly Father, and then beyond that, listen to our Heavenly Father.

 

This reminded me of a verse my mom shared with me when I came home from college after freshman year, Isaiah 46:10, "Be still and know that I am God."

 

Sister Byun and I went to visit to member families last night, and instead of sharing a spiritual message fromt he scriptures we tried something new. We sang one verse of a hymn, and then invited them to sit and just think about it for a minute or so- about who we are in the eyes of our Heavenly Father and what they felt as they listened.

 

Each person felt the spirit of the Lord so strong, and it ws evident in their tears and in their smiles.

 

I know that when we just let ourselves be, and let the lord tell us what He wants to badly for us to know, we can feel how close He really is to each of us. And even moe than that, we can recognize the love He is trying so hard to show us.

 

I invite you to do the same, just be still and know that He is there. I promise as you do, you will feel and know His love for you is incredible.

 

All is well here in ChungJang- no picutres this week, we are out of time. Love you so much!

Sister Weston

 

Going to the Bathhouse!!

 

Joy and the Good Stuff

Hey Everybody!

 

So glad to hear you all had good new years and life is good :) We started a couple of new years here in the mission, one being the real new year and one being one year since entering the MTC on January 7th! Super amzingly, our Zone had zone conference on the 7th so we got to see some of the people we were with in the MTC which was pretty incredible. This year has been the best of my life. Time goes so fast- but it's the best if we make sure to enjoy every bit of it.

 

I forgot to tell y'all last week that another miracle happened... in 2015 the Deajeon mission saw two hundred people come unto Christ- theres a huge spirit of thanks in the mission right now and I've definitey been humbled by this experience a lot. Heavenly Father knows our hearts, and his children. This would not have been possible without everyone's prayers and fast, and it's just so amazing to see how every miracle fell in place. It's the best!

 

So, yes, anyways.. this week we went to MLC in Daejeon and got to hear about the plans for welcoming the new mission president in June. It makes me feel lucky to be serving with President Shin at this time- and when we were sitting there listening I just felt like I never wanted to leave.

 

At Zone conference I had the opprotunity to give a training, which always helps me learn so much more than I think I ever teach, but spoke about internalizing our missioary purpose, and it seemed to speak to a lot of hearts so I am grateful to have had the opprotunity to help encourage the work. I know that as we love people, and look at the people we work with as we would our own family or others we love, we open our eyes to see them how God see's them.

 

There was a moment this week where all of that came together that I wanted to share with you-

 

We were sitting in sacrament, I was next to brother Soe, the man who wore the pruple shirt, and the sacrament was being passed. I was thinking to myself about those moments when you feel all your works and prayers cumulate together and how joyful that is, and I began to wonder what that next moment would be, and then what the greatest moment might be on this mission.

 

Then the first counselor stood up when everyone wsa done, and he asked Gangnam Lee to stand. I turned around to look at her two rows behind me, and she was smiling- with tears in her eyes as she stood up, and everyone sustained her as a member of the ChungJang ward and the Church. And I realized that it was that moment. And I started smiling and crying too. So I moved seats and hugged her and was so thankful for that kind of joy and love the gospel brings.

 

I'll be honest, we meet a lot of people who struggle to find joy in their lives, and quite often look at us in amazement when we tell them that joy is one of our principle purpose in this life. Sister Byun and I return to our apartment at night so often just thankful, purely thankful, to know how amazing this gospel and this life is- and how joyful we are and can always be.

 

I love y'all so much. You're the best. Thank you for your prayers, the mean the world and make all the difference. Have an amazing week and remember the miracles :)

 

love,

Sister Weston

My Companion

Emailing from Zone Conference

Zone Conference

Family Home Evening

A Recent Convert  - She just submitted her mission papers!