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! :)

Welcome to Russia

So this last week, Korea has been colder than Russia. Or so that is what the Koreans say. It has been dipping below zero for the past few days, and the whipping wind  has been bitter. If I wasn't sure that I was a summer person before, I definitely know that I am a summer person now. I have been wearing two pairs of fur lined leggings, 3 pairs of socks, one shirt and two sweaters plus my coat, a scarf, hat, and two pairs of gloves. Plus my boots, and I carry heat packs with me as well. Sometimes I put them in my gloves, sometimes I put them inside my coat. :) And we still mutter the Korean word for cold under our breath as our fingertips and toes freeze.  BUT... I wouldn't feel like a missionary if I didn't still try to talk to people in the freezing cold. Though they may be less inclined to talk to us when it is so cold, at least God is seeing our faith filled actions. :)

So I made it to Icheon! It is definitely the countryside, that is for sure. There are mountains and long roads of nothingness. It feels like a mixture of Utah and Idaho! There are a lot of mountains that you have to drive through. I feel like I am in a racing video game when we drive through them because they are literally lighted tunnels that go right through the mountains. It is pretty legit.

Anyway this area is an adventure. We are over three cities which are an hour apart by bus. And the bus you take to get to each city isn't just a normal bus that comes every ten minutes. It only comes every hour or every two hours. So basically, if we miss the bus that comes at 7:30... well considering we are supposed to be home by 9:00.... lets just say it is a pretty risky game. Quite an adventure. :) I am sure that this area will be beautiful when the cherry blossoms come out though, considering it is so country! :)

Sister Zippro, my new companion, is from Farmington, Utah. She is super cute and so ready to learn every thing she can. I don't know if I will be able to teach her much, but hopefully I can teach her some good things. I am still learning to be a missionary even in my 10th transfer. But I don't think any one really ever masters how to do missionary work. It is different every where you go, and it just means more learning every day. :)

So yesterday was my first day in my new branch. There's only about 30 adult active members, plus their families. Names will be fairly easy to get down, which is a blessing. :) When I gave my "Hello" talk yesterday, I told them where I had served. When I told them that my greenie area was Ansan, a few of them gasped. Apparently like half of this branch lived in Ansan at one point, and some of them were familiar faces. Coincidence? I think not. Actually, I had heard rumors when I lived in Ansan that when one of the bishops of Ansan moved away, he took a lot of the ward with him. Seems as though he moved to Icheon. I found the lost Ansan members! The connection is so interesting.

The members here are so nice, and I am excited to get to know them. I have been praying and praying to know what to do here, and I am not entirely sure yet why I have been sent here. But I have faith that we can see miracles here in Icheon. I haven't seen a baptism yet on my mission, and I really would love to find someone here and whip out that portable baptismal font. With lots of fasting and prayer, along with daily acts of faith, I know that we will see miracles.

Love and miss you all!

Love, Sister Maughan

Incheon ward member and me! Last day in Incheon.

Our Incheon ward mission leaders wife and daughter! :)

My fav investigator from Incheon and her cute dog.

Incheon church house....my last pic of it before I left.

I'll Go Where You Want Me To Go

I figured I would start with a picture because pictures are fun! :) Members in Incheon :)

Transfer calls came! I didn't think I would be going, but I will be spending the rest of my mission in another area! :) I will be going from Incheon to Icheon. I know that is super confusing. There is not anything out there, not even an "n" where I am going. Haha. (Just laugh, I know that wasn't that funny). Anyway, I am literally going from one end of the mission to the other. And Icheon is as country as you can get in our mission. Missionaries joke that when you get called to Icheon, you are being banished. And they say there is nothing out there. (I will be at least an hour away from any other missionary, whereas right now, I live within 15 minutes of 8 other missionaries). But I beg to differ. I haven't been to Icheon yet, but I think God has heard my heart's silent confusion from serving in the city for so long. I mean the city is great and all, but when I tell people that the town I live in only has one stop light and one gas station... well it is pretty clear that Wellsville is country. And I am excited to go back to something kind of like home. Something familiar. :)

Icheon is going to be a new adventure. :) Icheon is not a ward, it is a branch. Their church house is on top of a PC Bang (which is just a place full of computers where kids play games). They have a portable baptismal font because they don't have one built into the building. I hope to be breaking that thing out sometime within the next 18 weeks. :) Currently, the sisters there only have one investigator, but I am determined to change that. For whatever reason, I am supposed to be ending my mission in Icheon. I am excited for the new adventure. :)

I am sad to leave Incheon though. I have absolutely LOVED serving here. I had to speak in sacrament meeting yesterday to give a goodbye talk. I spoke about joy and finding joy in the gospel. I tried to put every ounce of energy into smiling and showing the Koreans that you really can find joy in the gospel. I did, and so can you. After sacrament meeting, a ton of the ladies in the ward came up to me and hugged me saying things in Korean like "Don't go!" and "Why do you have to leave?" It was so sweet and made me feel like I really had made at least some difference in some of their lives. As a missionary, that is one of the best feelings you can have. I served in Incheon for a long time... 5 transfers. I have been here since June of last year. I am so thankful for the opportunity that I had to serve here. I have never grown so much in 8 months before.

I am also sad to say goodbye to Sister Capener. We had the dream companionship! We talked to everyone we could and taught as many lessons as possible. When I came to Incheon, we were only teaching around 5 lessons each week. This week, we ended the week by teaching 11 lessons. This is the most I have had my entire mission. We have worked to reactivate 4 less actives, all of which are in the progress of coming back to church. Two have almost reached reactivity. :) We didn't want to seperate, but we know that God knows what is best for us, and we must follow His plan.

But... I am excited to start a new adventure in Icheon with Sister Zippro. I don't know Sister Zippro very well at all yet, but I have heard that she is a sweetheart. She will be my next companion. She is from Utah as well. :) It should be way fun!

I'll go where you want me to go, dear Lord. I'll be what you want me to be.

With love always,
Sister Maughan

I was one of their favorite missionaries....he is in the Bishopric in my ward. :)

It snowed! :)

크게 기뻐하십시오!

크게 기뻐하십시오! Rejoice greatly! For you have found the true gospel and thus, you have found eternal happiness. :)

This is the message we have been asked to share with our members.

Life isn't easy here in Korea. As if normal school wasn't enough to give you a headache each day, you are also expected to attend academy after academy each day until 10:00 at night. Then you do homework, go to bed, and get up the next day, bright and early, to start the process over again. If you are an adult, you work. You work what the American would call "overtime" every day. And that is just normal. If you are a member of The Church, your co workers will still expect you to stay out late drinking with them every night. If you don't, you could potentially lose your job.

If you are a Korean living in Korea, it is easy to forget the joy of the gospel. It can get lost in the business of daily life.

But that is what we are for! :) Missionaries are messengers of joy!

We have asked 5 members the last week when they felt the most joy in their life. 3 out of the 5 of them said, "There hasn't been joy in my life." You can imagine how we felt when we heard this. So we prepared a message about joy to share with all of our members. The message began with the question, "When have you felt joy in your life?" Then we share Alma 26:16.

16 Therefore, let us glory, yea, we will glory in the Lord; yea, we will rejoice, for our joy is full; yea, we will praise our God forever. Behold, who can glory too much in the Lord? Yea, who can say too much of his great power, and of his mercy, and of his long-suffering towards the children of men? Behold, I say unto you, I cannot say the smallest part which I feel.

This is Alma talking, rejoicing in the Savior. Because of the Savior, we can do all things!  We can be happy and feel of His love. He gave up everything for us. We must rejoice!  After we share this message, we challenge the members to remember all the blessings that they have received. We give them a commitment to write down a blessing every night on a pretty piece of paper we give them. (This idea came from my aunt Mandy... I don't know if she remembers but she gave a similar commitment to me my senior year of high school). It easy to forget the joy of the gospel in daily life. But we have literally found the TRUTH. What else do we need? We have the truth, and we can rejoice in the gospel.

To make our message even more memorable, we have been giving the members pictures of Sister Capener and I holding up a yellow sign that says "JOY!" in Korean.  We tape this photo on a yellow sun because what else screams joy more than a couple of sister missionaries in a picture taped to a yellow sun, holding up the word joy? In fact, I think I will send the picture as part of this email. :) Because pictures speak louder than words.

This is the Korean word for Joy!

Anyway, we have to remember that this gospel really is something to rejoice in! There are so many churches out there, and the world will always try and trick us to believe in other things. But we are so lucky, because we have found the truth, and we have found the keys to TRUE happiness. The world says happiness comes from other things; alcohol, parties, breaking the law of chastity, staying up late and rejecting your family. But that's not the TRUTH. We know the TRUTH. If there is one thing that other people see when they see Mormons, it should be HAPPINESS. We must rejoice in our Savior, rejoice in the truth, and show the world what it is to be truly happy. :) REJOICE! 크게 기뻐하십시오!

Also, no worries my friends, the bomb that North Korea threw over the border was just a wimpy little thing. The South Koreans didn't even seem to flinch. And we didn't even really know about it until an American member told us on Sunday. Oh North Korea.... ;)

Love and miss you all!

Love, Sister Maughan

Sister Maughan!

JOY!!!!!

This is Korea! city life.

We got a piano!!!!!! sometimes one man's trash is another man's treasure. :)