Do You Wanna Build a Snowman?

Okay so yesterday it SNOWED. The Koreans kept telling us that spring was coming. The weather was warming up slowly but surely. Our shower water was finally truly hot. The sun was coming out more and more and spring... spring was on its way! But winter decided to kick spring out one last time. It snowed a ton yesterday! Well okay, not really that much when you are used to Utah winters, but a lot for Korea. So we took the opportunity to do some service and shovel the front of our less active's store. And then we made a snowman out of the shoveled snow. Obviously there wasn't a lot of snow. But it was enough to make a small snowman! :)

not the best picture.. but its all we were able to get :)

When we showed this picture to the elders they said, "Please tell me that is not in your house." They worry about our freezing house sometimes haha. Its okay though because it is getting warmer! We have hot water and we have heater. Plus the weather has been much nicer, outside of yesterday. :)

Anyway, this week we have seen more miracles! On Saturday we met a potential investigator. She has attended a Baptist Church for 30 years and knows the Bible back to front. Before I transferred here, my companion met her on a bus and they talked about their favorite scriptures in the Bible. Then the lady asked if we could teach her the Bible in English. So Saturday we met her, and told her about the Family English Program, where we teach English for 30 minutes and the gospel for 30 minutes. She told us that she wasn't sure if she should meet with us, but she had prayed a lot about it. And the last time that she had prayed and asked if she should meet with us, as soon as she said "Amen," her phone rang. And it was us calling. :) Such a miracle. Anyway, so we tried to teach her a lesson on Saturday, but she ended up just preaching to us about the Bible. That was a bit of a struggle. Eventually we were able to cut in and bear our testimonies about the Bible and living prophets today. We tried to bring up the Book of Mormon but she didn't want to hear anything about it. She isn't going to be an easy investigator by any means, but we know we are supposed to be meeting with her. And having new people to teach in our investigator pool is always a miracle. As we were teaching her, I was literally relying on the spirit to know what to say every moment of the lesson. With my strength, we cannot teach her. With my companion''s strength, we cannot teach her. We are not sent on missions to Bible bash or be preached to. But with the Lord's strength we can see miracles. And that is what we are hoping for. I just kept thinking "Sister Maughan, just pray for a miracle. You gotta pray for a miracle. She knows she is supposed to meet with you. But you gotta pray and pray and pray." So that is what we are doing, and that is what we will continue doing. Not every investigator is golden, but every one deserves a chance at salvation. :)

This week we were also able to go to the temple. And it is always so nice when we get to go to the temple! :) We stayed in the Celestial Room extra long this time, because we didn't have  reason to get out of the temple fast. It was super nice being away from the world and in the beauty of the temple. I love being all dressed in white and seeing everyone else all dressed in white. Korean, American, whatever race you may be... in the temple we are all the same, beautified in the Lord. There is not a person in this world who doesn't glow with extra beauty in the temple.

When the Korean is the tallest in the district... #shortestdistrictever 

But we all love our shortness! ;) 

Anyway I love and miss you all! Have a great week! :) 

Oh, and transfer calls came. Nothing is changing here! Same comp, same area. We are pumped to see more miracles together! :) Starting transfer 11 of 12. :) 

Love, Sister Maughan 

Valentines Kisses

So the title of this email, coming from a missionary, is pretty frightening. And the story that comes with it is pretty frightening. But not as frightening as it could be. So we all get to laugh at it. And now you are wondering what I am talking about.

The "Valentines" part of the title came last week. But the "kisses" part of the title came this week. This week we were walking home from our service activity (which is washing dishes at a community center) when this random guy came up to us and tried speaking English to us. We kindly said hello back and he went to shake our hands. He shook my companion's hand, and then shook mine. But after he shook Sister Zippro's hand, she was ready to continue going. So she kept walking. She didn't get to see what happened next. The Korean man then looked at me, said I was beautiful (in English), and kissed my hand. Yes, he kissed my hand. That doesn't sound like much but when you have been a missionary for 15 months that can be quite the surprise. You can imagine that I was pretty shocked. Anyway, after that I said "thank you" in English, and said "bye bye," and walked away. "He just kissed my hand," I said to Sister Zippro. She burst out laughing. "You can wash it when we get to the church," she said. Adventures every day!

And then this happened. On Tuesday, I plugged in my curling iron to the electricity converter just like I have almost every day since I got to Korea. But when I went to pick it up. It fell apart. It melted. Literally melted. So here is a picture.
​And this is what happens when Korean electricity fights against American appliance. #koreawon

So this week we had a lot of miracles. We taught 7 lessons! Every week since I got here, we were fighting to teach 2 a week. But because we met with so many potential investigators, we got 7 lessons! And 1 new investigator! :) And this week we will be meeting more potentials. The work is picking up out here in the countryside. I love feeling busy as a missionary, and I sure hope that it continues to pick up. I know that it will if we keep acting in faith and following the spirit. :)

The spirit is something that I have learned a lot about lately. I have realized that when I am doing everything the way I should, as the Lord would have me do it, I can feel the spirit so much more. And when I feel the spirit every moment of the day, there is a joy that comes that I just can't explain. It is one that can only be felt when you are trying to focus on the spirit literally every moment of the day. I have watched miracles happen from us following the spirit. It is so simple. The spirit leads us the way that the Lord would have us go. If we listen to the spirit, we literally cannot fail. Because the Lord will not let us fail. If the Lord commands us to build a ship, we will be given the ability to build that ship through the power of the spirit. If the Lord commands us to talk to every one in our path, though it is terrifying, we can do it if we follow the spirit. (This is one thing that I am still working on, and will probably continue to be working on until the day I step on the plane home. Talking to people is not easy, that is for sure.) If the Lord commands us to baptize people, we will be able to baptize people if we follow the spirit. The spirit is our connection the God. Without it, we literally cannot know what He expects of us, or where He wants to lead us.

It snowed this last week! But after that day it started getting warmer. :)

The spirit is something that I have learned a lot about lately. I have realized that when I am doing everything the way I should, as the Lord would have me do it, I can feel the spirit so much more. And when I feel the spirit every moment of the day, there is a joy that comes that I just can't explain. It is one that can only be felt when you are trying to focus on the spirit literally every moment of the day. I have watched miracles happen from us following the spirit. It is so simple. The spirit leads us the way that the Lord would have us go. If we listen to the spirit, we literally cannot fail. Because the Lord will not let us fail. If the Lord commands us to build a ship, we will be given the ability to build that ship through the power of the spirit. If the Lord commands us to talk to every one in our path, though it is terrifying, we can do it if we follow the spirit. (This is one thing that I am still working on, and will probably continue to be working on until the day I step on the plane home. Talking to people is not easy, that is for sure.) If the Lord commands us to baptize people, we will be able to baptize people if we follow the spirit. The spirit is our connection the God. Without it, we literally cannot know what He expects of us, or where He wants to lead us.

So I got my flight plans this week. I am sure that my parents are freaking out. Yes, the day has come. The flight plans were in my inbox today. I am going from Incheon to Detroit to Salt Lake, just in case you were wondering. But stay patient, I still have 13 weeks left. 13 pdays. 13 emails. Anyway love and miss you all always! :)

Love, Sister Maughan


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Fish are Friends, Not Food

Happy Valentines Day everyone! Here in Korea, Valentines Day is pretty big. But kind of different. I was told that on Valentines Day, the girl gets the boy a gift. But a month after Valentines Day is a Korean holiday called "White Day." This is pretty much follow-up Valentines. On White Day, the boy gets the girl something  that costs twice as much as what the girl got the boy for Valentines Day. I am not sure if that is exactly how it works, but that is what I heard! Every holiday is a couple holiday in Korea. Couples are every where, all the time.

Okay so yesterday, we went to stake conference. Since we live out in the boonies, it would take around 2 hours to get to stake conference at the stake center by normal bus or train. But our little branch decided to just rent out a tour bus. Because, well, why not? Haha I will post a picture.

Anyway, so sometimes you just gotta go to stake conference in a tour bus. I called it the party bus. As you can see, every one seems to be having quite the party.... in their dreams. Haha. Just laugh when I make ridiculous jokes, okay? Anyway, after stake conference, we went to a member's restaurant. I don't really know how okay that is on a Sunday, but our branch did it so we just followed. At first, I was told we would be eating 순대국 (pig intestines stuffed with coagulated blood and cooked in soup). My stomach was bracing itself, as was my mind. Last time I tasted it, it was a real struggle. But this time I was with members, which meant that I would have to keep a straight face and pretend that it was delicious, and eat all of it. Anyway, it was a relief when the food brought to us was not 순대국. I looked in the orange red liquid. A fish head bobbed to the surface. I've gotten over the scare of eating fish and fish heads. It's whatevs. But then something was brought out to us to add to the soup. I wasn't sure what it was, but it looked an awful lot like the substance we found growing on our rotten kimchi last week. Well, it wasn't that either. They plopped it in the soup and we waited for it to cook. The next thing we knew, the mystery substance was cooked and plopped into our dishes. I picked it up with chopsticks and made eye contact with the Korean elder in our district. I mouth "What is this?" in Korean. He looked at me with a "good luck" kind of a face, and then mouthed that he didn't like it either. They started saying the name out loud in Korean. 알. I had no clue what it was. So we grabbed our phone and looked it up. Well, I found out what it was, and I couldn't help but think of the beginning of Finding Nemo. I thought of all the little red eggs full of baby fish that got stolen from their parents. Only Nemo was left. Well, Nemo was lucky. No baby fish escaped this one. I was staring straight at a fish egg sac, and I was expected to eat it. "Fish are Friends, Not Food." That is the phrase that kept going through my mind. All the Koreans watched as I slowly stuck the egg sac into my mouth and chewed and swallowed. I put on my best "Ooh it's delicious!!!" face. But no, it wasn't delicious. The texture... oh the texture.... The taste... it probably tasted something like the ocean. But for me, yeah not exactly my cup of tea. But I survived.

​Yes, I ate that.

Anyway, this upcoming week there is lot of good things coming up! We have an potential investigator pool, of 6 people that we will be meeting with this week. Most of which we met on the streets at some point or another. We are so excited to see what happens! :) I think things are finally picking up in this area! :)

Love and miss you all so much!

Have a great week!

Love, Sister Maughan

#foreignmissionaryproblems

So sometimes we don't entirely understand what people are telling us in Korean. We think we do, but we then find out that we didn't understand, or that we did understand but then second guessed ourselves and actually changed what they had said to what we had thought they had said. Anyway... One of the elders in our district of 4 missionaries is Korean. He had called us the other night to tell us when Branch Mission Council Meeting was. I was in the shower, so my companion answered the phone. When I got out, she told me that we had Branch Mission Council Meeting on Saturday at 8:30am. I thought, "Why Saturday? That's kind of weird." But I just brushed off the thought and added it into my planner. Anyway, Saturday rolls around and we walk to the church in the freezing cold morning air. We get there, and no one is there. We wait, and no one comes. Eventually the thought reoccured to me that it might not be on Saturday, but on Sunday. I looked at my companion and asked, "Are you sure that it is today on not tomorrow?" Her eyes widened for a moment. I asked, "Was it Elder Lee or Elder Shulz on the phone?" She replied that it was Elder Lee. I asked her if he told her when it was in Korean or English. She said that it was in Korean. We both looked at each other and burst out laughing. We texted the elders and asked what time the meeting was. They replied that it was Sunday. When we sticker boarded with the elders that night, we eventually told them that we had walked all the way to the church on Saturday morning. They both face palmed and started laughing with us. Sometimes you just gotta laugh at the fact we clearly  do not speak Korean. #foreignmissionaryproblems

On Tuesday night we met with the young womens president of our ward. I had been thinking about working more with the young women since I got here, and we finally were able to make an appointment with her. When we met with her, I asked her how we could help the young women of the branch. I told her that we wanted to help in any way that we could, and that we would be willing to attend young women acitivities. She thought for a second and then looked at us and told us that we were an answer to her prayers. She told us that her councilors were both going through trials of their own, and were struggling with their own testimonies. They hadn't been able to faithfully help the young women because they were struggling themselves. She had felt like she had to do it all by herself. She was doing the lesson every week and it was wearing on her. Anyway, she ended up asking us to help teach young womens. We will be switching off teaching the lesson every Sunday. We will be teaching in Korean of course which is always a challenge, but nothing worth learning from is ever easy. And I have learned that as long as you make sure that you understand those you are teaching, and that they feel your love, every thing works out. :) I have a true testimony of following the spirit. I kept thinking of the young women, and I didn't realize that we would become an answer to someone's prayers.

Also, I am so thankful that I spent all those years learning to play the piano. This branch has already used me multiple times because of that ablility. I am now the primay pianist, and I played for sacrament meeting yesterday when the original pianist didn't show up. I wish I could play the piano more. I miss it, and I feel a bit rusty. But I am so thankful for the opportunities that I have. :)

I have learned that being postive is so important as a missionary. And I have also learned that sometimes, you just gotta laugh. You gotta be goofy sometimes. Not in public of course, but on days where you have 6 hours of nothing but proselyting time scheduled, before you leave and after you come back to the house, you gotta turn on that EFY music and sing! Or crack jokes or do whatever it takes to make you and your companion laugh. Missions aren't meant to be depressing or sad. They are meant to be fun and full of the spirit. That is my goal. I want to be fun, have fun, and do fun things while being full of the spirit. You can be an effective missionary and have fun while doing it. Sometimes we forget that.

Well, somehow it happened again. It is the Chinese New Year! HAPPY NEW YEAR! Last year at this time I was a greenie.... so weird. Time literally flies.

새해복 많이 받으세요!

Love you all and miss you! :) Have a great week!

Love, Sister Maughan

Our kitchen/the rest of the house. Literally this is it.

Panorama of our room, with the beds folded up.

our bathroom.

with the beds down (and the heater that a member gave us).

My Life is a Movie

Okay, so funny story. Sister Zippro and I were given this huge thing of duck meat from out members. I have eaten duck countless times on my mission and have actually grown to like it. :) But we didn't know how to cook it. With oil? Without oil? Was it cooked already and we just had to heat it up? We literally had no idea. I mean no one has ever taught me how to cook duck before. So we took a whacky guess and went for it. We figured we should use oil because... what could it really hurt, right? (Don't do that). We figured the duck wasn't cooked yet, so we had to thoroughly cook it through. (We were wrong.)  We decided to finally suck up our pride and call the elders who had also gotten the duck meat. Let me just say, it takes a lot of humility for a sister missionary to call an elder for cooking tips. Haha. Anyway, so we called them. As we called them we had already tried cooking a few pieces with oil, and thoroughly. We were actually in the middle of the cooking process when we called them. This was the elders reply: "The duck has already been cooked. Just plop it in the pan and warm it up. You don't need oil. Duck has lots of grease so it will be swimming in oil by the time it is done." We thanked them and hung up. I looked at Sister Zippro, and she looked at me, and we both busted out laughing. We ate a delicious dinner though! :)

Okay, so let me just tell you about this new area. IT IS SO FUN. The members are a blast, and living in the country feels so much like home. After a huge family night at our branch president's house (yes, house! not apartment!), we had to be driven home by some members. We live an hour away from our branch president, and it was kind of late. Anyway, they got permission for two of the college aged members  to drive us home. We walk out of the house and the two boys pointed to the vehicle we would be taking home. It was this big white old beat up truck... I was shocked. You never see that in Korea. I LOVE THE COUNTRY!!! Anyway us and the elders piled into the truck, and we went on our way. We had to drive through miles of nothingness... just rice patty fields for miles... down roads with no one else on it. It literally felt like we were in a movie. I could not contain the smile on my face. I mean we were piled in a white beat up truck, driving down a road with nothing but fields on either side of us... in the middle of KOREA of all places. It made me so happy.

Anyway, we are working hard out here to find new investigators. We have done endless street contacting, knocking on doors (which is so terrifying in a place with nothing but apartment buildings), and brainstorming new ideas. We have lots of neighborhood friends. We have even found ourselves talking to the same people twice (which is always awkward haha). But I know that if we keep having faith, be willing to try new things, and work to the end of the day with a heart full of faith and hope, we will find new investigators. They will come! I have seen it happen before, and I know that it can happen again.

Today we are fasting for a new investigator, and to know how exactly to help this area. I know that we can change the atmosphere out here. This area isn't going to be a one investigator area anymore. We got this! :)

Literally, I cannot tell you enough the miracles that I have seen because of faith. When we read that faith can move mountains in the scriptures, we are not reading lies. It is literally the truth! Faith can make miracles! It is only by faith and through faith that the Lord blesses us. :)

I love you all so much and miss you always! You are all awesome!

Ps, I have gotten so many trunky emails today. I know I am going home soon, but 4 months isn't that soon! Haha. Okay maybe it feels like literally no time but still... be patient. ;) I can't get trunky yet.

Love you all!!

Love, Sister Maughan

Our church is in a building so this is the entrance. :)

sorry not many pics.....but here is the country! :)