안녕하세요!

안녕하세요! Hello everyone! This week was such a good week. There were so many "I am so glad I am a missionary"  moments, and it made me love being here even more. So on Saturday, we were invited to a celebration for a 1 year old baby in our ward. In Korea, a baby's 1st birthday is a huge deal. Almost like a wedding. So they had the party at this huge party house which was also a giant buffet. The mother and father of the baby wore their traditional Korean clothes. They showed us a video of the baby's first year of life, and gave us more food than we could possibly handle. It was quite the adventure. As part of the traditional celebration, the baby has to pick up 1 of 6 objects that will predict what they will be in life. Before the baby picks, everyone puts their guesses in a box. One of the elders, Elder Eads, guessed that the baby would pick the object that means he will become an entertainer. Well, Elder Eads was right. The baby picked up the object that said he will become an entertainer. So because Elder Eads guessed right, he got a prize. They gave him a gift wrapped box of ginger root tea. It was super cool to be part of the celebration though. I love seeing and being a part of Korean culture. :)

Yesterday, we had an experience that made me laugh harder than I have in a while. So I wanted to know how warm it would be outside, so I opened the window and stuck my head out. When I looked outside, a group of Korean boys probably about Brady's age were standing across the lot playing games. When they saw me stick my head out, they all turned and looked at me. "Foreigner!" they yelled and pointed at me. I always laugh when this happens, because it happens a lot. I pretended that I didn't see them, and that I had no idea what they said. I then shut the glass and walked inside. As I walked back and forth inside our house, I saw the boys still looking in the window, clearly shocked to see a foreigner. So I had an idea. I ran into our study room and wrote the Korean word for "hello" (안녕하세요) on a piece of paper in bold letters. I then taped it up inside the window, and went to another window so that I could see their reaction. They all began tapping each other on the shoulders and pointing at the window. They were obviously completely stunned. They proceeded to point in shock for a while, when one got his phone out to take a picture. He wanted a good picture, so he stuck his phone through the fence that is in front of our house, trying to be sneaky. The rest of the boys snuck behind a car and got their phones out too, trying to get pictures without being seen. I wish I could explain how funny it was to see this, but I seriously could not stop laughing. I am sure that they all went home and said, "Mom, you'll never guess what happened to us today."

So one lesson that I have learned this week is how important it is too remember to look back at the progress we have already made. Yesterday they asked me to say the closing prayer in Relief Society. This ward remembers me when I first got to country, able to only speak a tiny tiny bit of Korean. Most of the Relief Society sisters have not heard me pray in Korean since January or February. When they asked me to say the closing prayer I of course agreed. As soon as I finished my prayer and said "Amen" all of the sisters turned to me and started freaking out at my Korean. "You're Korean is so good!" "When did you learn all of that?" I have to admit, I was probably bright red from blushing, but oh so appreciative that they noticed my progress.

Sometimes we forget to see how far we have come. But when we remember, we can truly see the progress we have made. Korean isn't exactly easy, and I often find myself frustrated that I am not better at it than I am. I see younger missionaries who absorb things so quickly, and I wonder why it takes me so long to remember one word. But then I remember where I started. I remember being able to understand nothing. I can talk to people on the streets now. I can bear my testimony effectively and actually teach principles by myself in Korean. While my every day conversation vocabulary may be lacking, God has given me what I need to be a missionary. I know that God gives us the language in the amounts that we need to fulfill His plan. Sometimes I wish I could speak more effectively, but I just have to look at how far I have come, and remember that everything is in God's timing. I study every day, I work hard to do my part. He will do the rest. :)

Well that is about it for today. Happy Birthday Buddha. (It's the big Guy's birthday today so there are decorations all over Korea, and we are visiting some Buddhist temples later). :)

Love you all! :)

Love, Sister Maughan

SO BUSY!

This last week was so busy that I seriously cannot think of a name for it. But it was super good, too. :) Because we are so busy, time is legitimately flying! I feel like just yesterday I was skyping home and emailing again. But it has been a week and here I am! :)

So we met with a former investigator this week, and holy cow I adore her. She is mostly English interest, so we are teaching her English for 30 minutes, and the gospel for 30 minutes. That is our mission's English program. She has taught herself English almost entirely. Her English is pretty good, especially considering she only teaches herself. She has heard some bad things about our church, as seemingly every one in Korea has, and told us she doesn't really have much gospel interest, but is willing to listen to our message. So, we taught her for the first time on Tuesday. She told me that she wants to learn English because her daughters know English but her husband doesn't, so she thinks it would be funny to be able to talk about her husband with her daughters, in front of her husband without him understanding. So funny. ;) She is an artist and travels all around the world to display her art, which is another reason she wants to learn English. She makes a ton of money from her art. She is not afraid to be herself, either. She perms her hair and cuts it short because she loves African American hair, and she wants it. She is hilarious, too. Oh I seriously love her. When we taught her the gospel though, she seemed to have more interest than she told us. She had a lot of questions and seemed to want to understand. Though for right now, she is only an English investigator, I think she has the potential to become a gospel investigator as well. :) Miracles are just happening all over the place! :)

Also, we got to got to Seoul this week to see the BYU wind symphony orchestra. We had special permission to leave the mission and go to the Seoul mission to see it. We brought a potential investigator with us, this super cute girl that comes to our English class. It was so good! :) And I got to see my MTC district elders and sisters from the Seoul mission... we were such good friends at the MTC and it was so hard to say goodbye four months ago. Seeing them was a super pleasant surprise! :)

So today I was reading an article called "Palmyra" in the June 2015 Liahona. If you haven't read it yet... I super highly suggest it. Maybe it was just because I needed to read it today, but it was powerful. This article is about Joseph Smith's life leading up to the First Vision. And let me just say, it was all but easy. He was persecuted from the time he was young. The author of the article, Matthew S. Holland (president of Utah Valley University) said a very powerful thing at the end, and I want to share it with you. This talk was given to missionaries at the MTC, but I think it can apply to all of us. Sorry, it is kind of long. ;)

"So, if now or on some future day, you look around and see that other perhaps less devoted acquaintances are succeeding in their jobs when you just lost yours; if major illness puts you on your back just at the moment critical tasks of service seem to come calling; if a call to a prominent position goes to someone else; if a missionary companion seems to learn the language faster; if well-meaning efforts still somehow lead to disaster with a fellow ward member, a neighbor, or an investigator; if news from home brings word of financial setback or mortal tragedy you can do nothing about; or if, day after day, you simply feel like a bland and beaten back-ground player in a gospel drama that really seems made for the happiness of others, just know this: many such things were the lot of Joseph Smith himself at the very moment he was being led to the stage of the single most transcendent thing to happen on the earth since the events of Golgotha and the Garden Tomb nearly 2,000 years earlier."

...Trials are going to happen. They happen to all of us. They happened to Joseph Smith. They happened to Jesus Christ. They will happen to our friends and to our family. Sometimes there is seriously nothing we can do but endure. But that is exactly what Joseph Smith did. Despite the sicknesses he had as a kid, the constant moving as he was growing up and lack of financial stability, the hardships he endured, the devil himself trying to stop him in the Sacred Grove just before he saw Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ... he endured. It was not easy, and I am sure he would not want to go back and endure those trials again. But, I am also sure that he appreciates those trials. I am sure that if he had the chance to go back and take away those trials in his life, he probably would not take them away. He learned and grew from them, and they sculpted him into the incredible latter-day prophet he was.

And this is how God sculpts us as well.

저는 우리의 어려움을 통해 우리가 하나님에게서  힘을 받을 수 있다 는 것을 알고있습니다.  I know that through our challenges we can receive strength from God.

Love you all and I hope your week is incredible! :)

Love, Sister Maughan :)

My Solo Career!

So I sung a solo for a baptism this last week... but as fast as my solo career began it abruptly ended. I am not a singer. I sing for fun when I drive and I sing when I wash dishes but I am not meant to sing in front of people. I definitely learned that lesson this week. ;) A little girl in our ward was baptized this last Saturday, and the missionaries were in charge of the special musical number. The elders for whatever reason, thought that I could sing well. Ha ha. This is a lie. So Sister Jeong played the piano, and for one of the verses I had to sing a solo. We sung "I Feel My Savior's Love" in Korean. We practiced it quite a few times before, and while I am not the best singer ever, I felt like it would be okay. I might not have a beautiful voice, but I could hit the notes smoothly and reading Korean is pretty easy. So I agreed to do the solo. Right before we went up to sing, I could feel myself getting nervous. I just brushed off the nervousness and told myself that every time I did piano solos, I got nervous before too, but they turned out okay. Ha ha... singing doesn't quite work the same way. The thing is, when you are nervous to play the piano, as soon as you touch the keys, you focus on the music and tune everyone out. When you sing, it shows in your voice within the first note.  So, my first note was off and shaky, and as soon as I began I knew it would be rough. "Butchered it," I thought as I failed the first note. I could feel my face turn bright red, and my voice continued to shake as I sung. "Well, now they know I am nervous," I thought as my face became hot. As I sang my last note, I jumped for joy inside. I definitely sounded horrible. ...But I survived the solo and I can now look back and laugh at my failed solo. And I learned that I am not a singer, so that is a good thing to know. :)

Transfer calls were this week. I am staying in 안산 for 6 more weeks! I am pretty sure this will be my last transfer here though.

So we have seen so many miracles lately! Last Monday, we were at the church fixing our sticker board with the elders, when suddenly this man and lady just walked into the church. They had heard that we teach English one-on-one and were interested. So we sat them down and discussed the program with them (30 minutes English 30 minutes gospel) and they might become investigators here soon. Then a lady at English class expressed interest in why we don't have a cross on our church. The conversation turned into questions about the Plan of Salvation. We gave her a pamphlet about the Plan of Salvation and told her to call us if she wants to know more. She will continue to come to English class, so I think she has potential to turn into an investigator as well. :)
Also, we met with a 15 year old girl to talk about our English program too. Her English interest brought her to us, but when we told her we would be teaching her the gospel for 30 minutes too, she seemed interested in hearing more. English is truly blessing us!

I know that the Lord is preparing hearts all over the place. :)

My time is running out fast today, but I am so thankful for the opportunity I had to Skype home today! Seeing the family was so good! 40 minutes to Skype didn't seem long enough... but I know that the Lord gives us that time as a gift, and we must appreciate what we have. :)

I have been studying Christlike Attributes in Preach My Gospel this week. I was studying Charity and Love, when I had a thought that brought the spirit to testify in my heart. If we love Christ, we love God's children. If we love God's children, we want to serve them. If we love Christ, we want to obey Him. So basically, if we truly become followers and true lovers of Christ... how can we mess up? If we truly love Him, we will love God's children, and we will want to obey every commandment. What we do in our lives is an expression of our love (or lack of love) to Christ. We have agency, we can choose how much love we choose to show. But I know that when we choose to love others and show that love to others, we can also feel Christ's love for them, and Christ's love for us. Service and love brings a joy that can be felt in no other way. When we have genuine charity, our desire to do good grows. Also, "..charity suffereth long..." What does this mean? I learned that this means that no matter what others do to us, we must sacrifice and put any contention we may feel away. We must do as Christ would. We cannot retaliate or be angry back, we just have to move on and continue loving them. It is not always easy to love everyone. People are human, they make mistakes, they say things we don't want to hear... But we can suffer long, and we will be blessed when we show love and charity. When we try to follow Christ, we cannot fail.

I wish I could write more, as always. My thoughts are always kind of scattered when I write home every week. Filtering is hard ha-ha. ;)

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY MOM!!! I love you so much and miss you like crazy. I don't know what I would do without you, and it was so good to see your face today (and of course everyone else's too). :)

I love all of you and miss you as always! :)

Love, Sister Maughan

6 MONTHS!

I don't know how it happened... but I have been on my mission for 6 months as of tomorrow. I don't feel like it has been 6 months, but it has! 12 months left! :)

So this week, Ansan had this crazy street festival. People from all over the world came to do performances and acts... there was SO MANY PEOPLE at the festival. So we took advantage of the thousands of people, and we decided to English sticker board. Sticker boarding is when we have a large board that asks a question on it. We give people stickers as they walk by and ask them to put a sticker on the board, answering our question. So we had a board that said "Why do you want to learn English?" The answers were things like "because of school tests" "because my mom is making me" "because of work" "because English is fun". Two of the elders held the board, two of the elders gave out stickers with me and Sister Jeong. We ended up handing out around 1000 stickers, which means that we talked to 1000 people in 2 days. It was SO FUN! In the process of talking to people, we handed out a TON of English flyers for our free English class. We teach free English every Wednesday. People in Korea really want to learn English, so it is easy to find people who are willing to come to a free English class. And when you give them a sticker to stick on a board, and a chance to talk to white foreigners who speak Korean, they get really excited. :) We also got to laugh quite a bit at the elders because middle school Korean girls find American men really attractive. So they asked the elders if they would take pictures with them. The elders ended up taking probably 30 pictures with Korean middle school girls. So funny. :) The cool thing was, while we were at the festival, we got to catch glimpses of traditional Korean dances and performances. We are missionaries so we couldn't watch any of them, but we talked to people and got to see some of the Korean traditional dances as we talked to people. It was a once in a life time experience, and it was SO COOL.

We also had zone conference this week. As a zone, we hiked a mountain with President and Sister Morrise, and we received training's on the way up. There were a couple of places we stopped at in the mountains, and while we stopped there Sister Morrise and President Morrise, or the APs would train us. It was super fun. :) I also got a lot of prayers answered through zone conference. One sister in particular made a comment that will forever change me. I appreciated her comment so much that after zone conference I couldn't help but thank her for helping me open my eyes and see things the way she did. She is actually a greenie right now, so she hasn't been in Korea long. But her testimony... it was incredible. So what exactly did she say?

We were talking about trials on the mission. She said something along the lines of, "We are meant to walk as Jesus walked right? We are supposed to follow His example. Well, He suffered in Gethsemane. He was spit on, beat up, rejected.... Are we not supposed to have trials too? Are we not supposed to experience our own Gethsemane? If we truly want to follow Him, we must experience trials too."

How true is this comment? When she said it, the spirit filled the room so strongly. Are we not supposed to experience our own Gethsemane? If  we didn't experience trials, we wouldn't entirely be following Christ. Because we experience trials, it shows that we are following Christ. We are walking in His footsteps. We might not experience the pain and suffering He did. We won't experience anything close to it.  But, because we are following Him, we will experience some pain and we will suffer sometimes. Trials make us grow. They make us stronger. Without them, we wouldn't progress. If we want to follow Christ, we will experience trials. But that is part of God's plan, and through our trials we become even stronger followers of Christ.

사랑해요! I love you all! Can't wait to talk to the family next Sunday!

Love, Sister Maughan

Family Love!!!

To start out my email this week, I will tell you about my failure of the week. I know that I am thousands of miles away from you all, but this failure will definitely confirm that I am still the same person I was when I left. So.... I definitely dropped my retainer in the toilet this week. Luckily it was only my bottom one. As soon as it started falling I yelled "NO!" and tried to catch it... but it was too late. It plopped right into the toilet. I quickly fished it out (so gross... I mean the toilet water was clean but still...) and rinsed it off with water. I wanted to clean it really good before I wore it again, so I figured boiling it was a good idea. I boiled it in some water for about 3 minutes, but then I realized it was expanding. So I pulled it out of the boiling water and rinsed it in cold water, which resulted in it shrinking too small. I scrubbed it down with some dish soap and plopped it back into the boiling water to expand it again... and then after it started expanding I quickly put it in my mouth for it to retain its shape. It was a little tighter than before I dropped it in the toilet, but my teeth are not going to move at all now. 

So this last week was a good one, but it flew by so fast I don't remember much from it. I swear that being a missionary ruins your memory. Life just goes by so fast that you forget to absorb it. I don't know how it happened, but I have been out for almost 6 months! As of next week, I will have reached my 6 month mark. 1 year left! 

We had a ward family night this last Saturday, and we played minute to win it games with the members. They had never played minute to win it games before, and they totally loved it. We played one game where you put a dab of Vaseline on your nose and try to move cotton balls from one bowl to another using your nose, and the members were laughing so hard. It was super fun! Sister Jeong and I were in charge of the spiritual message. We decided to show a Mormon Message about families and talk about the importance of showing your family love.  I shared about how even though my family is in America and I cannot see them or talk to them often, I still know that they love me. And I still love them. I bore my testimony on eternal families. Being away from family for so long has definitely increased my love for my family, and my testimony of eternal families. I have to admit that I did have to choke back a few tears when talking about my family. I love you guys! :)

This last week we also met with our miracle less active member that I talked about last week. She is beginning to have a testimony again! She read some of the Book of Mormon and truly wants to believe. She has a lot of questions, but she is progressing. She truly is a miracle, and I am so thankful that we found her.

To end, I want to express my love to my family because that is what we talked about for family night. I love you all so much and I know that even though we are so far away, we are still getting closer through this process. I am thousands of miles away, but I still love you all more than you can imagine. I miss you so much and I love you all! I pray for you every night, and I hope you are all doing well. :)

Also, shout out to the Tayson and Brielle Allred, who sent me the CUTEST pictures in the mail this week. Love you two! :)

Love, Sister Maughan

Diamond In the Rough.

So this week, we visited a less active that turned out to be a diamond in the rough.  :) We have been visiting less actives all over the place lately, and many of them have either ignored us,  haven't been home, or have been to busy to talk to us. We were getting kind of discouraged because we weren't having any success. But last Wednesday, we knocked on a door that turned out to be a little miracle. The lady we were looking for answered, and immediately put her shoes on to come outside and talk to us.

As we began talking to her, we quickly found out that she joined the church in 1990, but fell away because, like most of the less actives here, she heard that we were a cult. She wanted to know the truth but didn't feel like it was going to be in a "cult" church. She actually went through a time in her life where she was sad and confused, and she tried to commit suicide, but something stopped her just as she was about to jump off the side of the apartment building. She wasn't sure why she had changed her mind. She hasn't been to church since 1990, but she was baptized in two other churches. She is still looking for the truth. We knocked on her door on Wednesday, but on Tuesday night she had prayed to God to know the truth. She wanted a way to find it. Well, Wednesday morning she had an appointment, but she accidentally slept in. About an hour after she woke up, we showed up at her door. God truly, truly prepares people to receive the truth. :) We ended up teaching the entire first lesson to her. She asked why a restoration was needed, so we explained about the Great Apostasy and taught about Joseph Smith. During the lesson, my companion turned to me and asked me to recite the First Vision in Korean. I of course said yes, and began the First Vision. Before, I had tried to explain things to this lady as best I could, but she refused to listen to me because she said I was a foreigner and couldn't speak Korean. But as soon as I started the First Vision, she tuned in and looked me straight in the eyes, listening intently. This was the first opportunity I have had to recite the First Vision in Korean, memorized, since I have been in Korea. I was pretty nervous, but I said a quick prayer in my heart before I begun, and the words flowed smoothly and accurately. The Spirit took its place, and my heart pounded so strongly. I have never felt the Spirit quite like that, except in the temple.  I didn't expect it to be so strong, and I actually had to fight tears a little bit as I spoke. But our Less Active listened intently, and I know without a doubt that she could feel the spirit. I had heard from other missionaries that when you recite the First Vision, the spirit is unbelievable. I can totally agree with them. There is no doubt in my heart that Joseph Smith truly did restore the gospel to the earth. After feeling the spirit so strongly, there is no way I could deny it. Unfortunately, she wouldn't set up another date for us to visit, but we will be knocking on her door here and there for a while. We gave her a Book of Mormon and a Restoration pamphlet and committed her to read them. This was the highlight of this last week.

Being a missionary is not easy, but sometimes we witness miracles like this that help us remember why we came here in the first place. God is preparing hearts to receive the gospel all over the world, we just have to trust in Him and find them. Some of them are preparing to hear the gospel for the second time on the earth (less active members and former investigators), while some are preparing to hear it for the first time. But they are being prepared.

God has helped me so much this last week. Since this transfer began three weeks ago, I have experienced daily ups and downs for various reasons. The language is a constant struggle, but I am progressing. My companion is pushing me so so hard, but I am learning to pick my head up after the hard moments and move on. I have had some times of true homesickness, but then I am reminded by the spirit that I have an important purpose here, and I have all of eternity to be with my family when I come home in a year. I am learning to truly be happy. While my companion showered on Tuesday, I even started singing to music out loud for the first time since I touched down in Korea. :) It was kind of silly, but I sung out loud as I washed the dishes and I realized that God is truly helping me stay positive every single day. I slip and fall each day but He takes my hand and lifts me up. I will never stop owing Heavenly Father or Jesus Christ. Yes, I am experiencing more stress right now than I have my entire mission, but God is helping me, and I cannot deny that. I am so thankful for a loving, caring Heavenly Father who cares so much about me that he helps me be happy. :)

Love, Sister Maughan

GENERAL CONFERENCE!

First off, let me just say HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my favorite 17 year old, BRAXTON! :) I love you and miss you so much and I just want to let you know that you are amazing. :)

General Conference is better than Christmas for missionaries. We get four hours to just watch and listen to the prophets and apostles of the church. It is seriously so nice. :)

So we watched General Conference with our ward... which was really interesting actually. We were watching it in three languages at once. The sound was in English for us missionaries, the subtitles were in Korean, and we also turned on the Korean sign language person. The elders have a deaf investigator who attended, so on the screen a man would do Korean sign language. It was so crazy! Three languages at once. But it was so cool that we could all get Conference in our native languages somehow.

During one of the songs, "I Know That My Redeemer Lives" we all stood up to sing it. Usually we sing hymns in Korean because we are in Korea. But we had no hymn books, and the lyrics on screen were in English. So the Koreans sang in Korean, and the missionaries sang in English. Then the sign language person on the screen sang in sign language. So between all of us, we sang that song in three languages. I haven't sung a hymn in English in so long... I forgot what it was like to understand what I was singing. But as we sung that song in three languages, the spirit hit me so strong. I knew what I was singing for the first time in almost 6 months. And immediately I truly knew that my Redeemer really does live. He suffered for each of us and because of it, we can repent. We can be forgiven. We can live with God again. My love for the Savior has increased so much since being on a mission. I have learned to rely on Him like never before. And the trials that come with being on a mission have led me to my favorite scripture over and over again. 2 Nephi 1:15. "...I am eternally encircled about in the arms of His love." (I may not have quoted that exactly but you get the point haha.) I have envisioned the Savior's arms around me so many times... it gives me more comfort than almost anything else. Sometimes I can almost feel Him hugging me telling me that it will be okay. I will never be able to express my appreciation for our Savior, Jesus Christ.

So my favorite talk from conference was definitely Elder Jeffrey R. Holland's talk from Sunday morning. I love Elder Holland and I was so excited to hear from him. As soon as his talk began, I knew it was one that would touch me. All the ward members around me were sobbing through the whole thing. Elder Holland really knows how to bring the spirit. Sometimes, we do jump onto the cliff, unable to grab a hold of anything. We just slide down the side of the sandy rock, anticipating a fall to our death. But our brother, Jesus Christ, is there for us, even if we can't always see him. Just when we think there is no hope left, He will grab our hands and pull us up to safety. The Atonement is a bigger gift than we can even comprehend. I do not have the words to express the love I have for my Savior.  My heart swells as I think about the pain he felt for each of us. And it makes me want to try harder to be better, because the less I sin, the less pain He has to feel. The more I sin, the more pain He feels. The more pain He felt.

If you haven't gotten to watch Conference yet, please try to watch it. Hearing the words from the prophets can bring more peace than you can imagine. :)

I know this gospel is true, and I know that the prophets are truly called of God, and they do receive revelation for us.

I love you all and miss you always!

Love, Sister Maughan :)