Is a Body Slam allowed in Soccer?

6/23-29
Last week I was made aware if how unnecessary long my weekly letters are. Frankly, I didn't care too much but then as I reviewed my last email, I recognized that I am not a fan of long-winded individuals... This week I am going to try to be concise- I'm not making any promises but anyway here I go.

Monday, aka PDAY. The 만수 (Mansu) missionaries got together to watch the movie '17 Miracles.' It is a movie about a group of Mormon pioneers traveling from England all the way to Salt Lake City, Utah by boat, train, and foot. The illustrations of their hardship was heartbreaking... to say the least. It was the opposite of a happy movie, but it was well made. Most of us wrote letters as we tried to hold back our tears. It really is amazing how merciful The Lord is to His children. Most of the time we teach our investigators to be aware of the little things that The Lord gives and does for us but I think all to often we forget to mention the miracles that He is more than capable of providing save we have the faith to ask. The movie today was a good reminder of that.

To end our day we painted our nails before heading to 이순애S (Sister Lee)'s house for dinner and a practice lesson. We sat, ate a full meal, and taught. As we wrapped things up, the door bell rang. Chicken had just arrived. What the?! We were soooo full!

Tuesday started off well with a lunch appointment with our relief society President and her family at Mr. Pizza. She ordered us lobster, shrimp, and meat pizzas. It was... interesting. I mean it wasn't gross but it wasn't delicious. Next we met the 연수 (Younsu) sister missionaries for an exchange. I brought Sister Stastny to 만수 (Mansu) with me while Sisters Mineer, Sister Gapinski, and Sister Hammerl went to Younsu for the day. The day wasn't too eventful so we talked to people on the street, ate dinner, and went back out to talk some more. Because I hate walking without a final destination in mind, I decided it would be a good idea to walk allllll the way to 정예림S (Sister Jeong)'s house. You know how sometimes when you imagine the distance to a place in your head and it seems extremely short because your brain takes you down the streets in hyper-speed? Well, that happens to me a lot where I underestimate how long we would be walking. My 30 minute estimation turned out to be more like 2.5 hours... My bad. We talked to a good amount of people, delivered a small note to our ward member, and then caught a bus home. Long story short, missionaries need GPS systems.

Wednesday began with district meeting. Sister Gapinski and I had purposely set up this exchange to overlap district meeting so that Sister Mineer could finally experience a good, spiritual district meeting. From what I heard it was awesome for her and Sister Gapinski. On the other hand, Sister Stastny and I had to suffer through another unproductive meeting. Elder Berry really is capable of SO MUCH but he just chooses not to care. Each week I get my hopes up just to have them shattered all over again. If only we realized how badly everyone wanted him to succeed.. It wasn't a spiritual meeting but we all had a good laugh or two.

When it was all said and done, we hopped on a bus to unsplit. I am honestly so grateful that we only have to schedule one exchange per week as opposed to two... Sister Mineer was a trooper last transfer. Once we were back in Mansu we dropped by to see a semi-progressing investigator. She is a grandma that never stops talking but she is super sweet. She is close to being dropped but for now we will try to see what we can teach her. Her attention span was that of a rats tail, as they say, so we didn't stay too long. Before heading to our last legitimate appointment for the day, we joined a member from our ward as well as all the elders for a meal together. This member is a strange individual whom refers people like crazy! I appreciate his enthusiasm but I think it's time to put a filter on him because EVERY referral turns out to have zero gospel interest and most even don't have English interest... What do they want from us? Anyway, we exchanged a few pleasantries over a nice, boiled pheasant. It tastes like chicken of anyone was wondering.

심하정S (Sister Shim) and her husband, 이지웅B (Brother Lee) were anxiously awaiting our arrival. I honestly feel like we have become the best of friends. Today Sister Shim told us about a new neighbor who she happens to be afraid of. Long story short, this lady is a paid-proselyter from another church and has being pretty sneaky in her attempt to befriend Sister Shim but Sister Shim sees straight through the scheme haha. She went on to tell us that she appreciated that we are honest and straightforward with our purpose; we wear name tags and get right to the point to find, teach, and baptize. We were happy not to be compared to the 전도사 with ulterior motives. Once our lesson was in full swing, we totally altered our game plan because these two had a TON of questions. I appreciate people like them.  Similar to our purpose, they are clear and upfront about their concerns. We enjoy teaching them.

Thursday we met up with Sister Shim. Yesterday we got to talking about the word of wisdom and the importance of not drinking coffee, tea, alcohol, or using drugs or other harmful substances. We were not allotted the proper amount of time to teach it well, so today we head to a cafe to teach and drink delicious drinks. Sister Shim is most concerned that her friends will hate her; she had an experience in the past where her friends rejected her when she decided to be a 'believer [of God and Jesus Christ].' We talked about the story of Joseph Smith loosing the 116 pages while he was translating the Book of Mormon. In that story there is a verse that essentially states that Joseph feared man more than God. She understood well, sighed, and promised to take the word of wisdom for a test run. We love her.

Soon we were all heading back toward our homes and or appointments. We saw Sister Shim off at the bus stop and we walked to the church. We arrived a little early to prepare for 김하나S (HahNah)'s appointment. We focused in the first part if the plan of salvation. It went well. On our way out of the room she again told us of her fun plans to go drink with her friends that evening. I sighed, sat back down, and invited her to sit as well. We have danced around the fact that drinking isn't good but today it was time to get serious, because now she is at the point were she is preparing to receive baptism. She knew it was coming and wasn't too welcoming to the idea but we taught it anyway. After tonight she promised to try it out and to pray about it. We'll see what happens.

Our next appointment was with 이두례S (Momma Lee) so we slowly made our way as we found people to talk to on the way. She initially invited us over for dinner to eat and then leave together to teach 정현지S (HyonChee) together but she sent out an invite to all of the elders as well. She is so generous with all that she has and we are grateful. However! The elders literally arrived, ate, and prepared to leave. On their announced way out the door, Momma Lee stopped them and asked, "Wait who is sharing a spiritual message?" They all looked at each other with confusion as if they had never been invited to do such a thing and to Momma Lee's disappointment she let them off the hook and walked them to the door. How lame is that?! Sister Gapinski, Sister Mineer, and I stayed to wash the dishes and clean the kitchen before piling into her car to head to HyonChee's house. The recent convert lesson went well. We discussed missionary work and challenged her to pray about which of her many friends she can begin sharing the gospel with. HyonChee is super shy so this might be hard for her but she never let's us down. It was a good day.

Friday did not go as planned but after our weekly planning meeting we made a few attempts to visit former and current investigators. The only person home was Seblewongel, our former Ethiopian investigator. We wanted to stop in and see how her and her husband's interviews to obtain working visas went. Nothing is going well for them anymore. We all feel so sad for them but the only way we were able to help was to encourage her and her family to continue relying on The Lord, His merits, timing, and wisdom. We left her home with a prayer and spent the remainder of our day on the streets talking to people.

Saturday was by far my favorite all week. For morning exercise we met members of the ward for a couple games of soccer. It was SO MUCH FUN! I am probably the worst soccer player in the world but today my strategy was to merely charge, full speed at anyone with the ball. It didn't work every time but I was able to steal, block, or totally alter the course of the ball because some of the youth would get scared and mess up. Also, I accidentally body-slammed a few adults because neither one of us wimped out in our game of chicken toward the ball. Man, it was so fun! Immediately following our last game, everyone apparently was heading to the ward farm to harvest potatoes. It was tough work but we ended up with maybe 30 sacks full of potatoes! It was crazy. Once everything was loaded and then dropped off at the church, bishop was volunteered to take the missionaries out for lunch. We politely declined as we were instead driven home in our relief society president's Audi. Booyah~

By about 2PM we were all showered and ready for the day. We ate lunch before heading to English class. Today's class was good. A few people we met on the street showed up, that was cool! Besides that our class was pretty monotonous. Before leaving the building, we decided to set up the chairs for sacrament meeting because we have noticed that our poor bishop is left to do it every week. To end the evening we walked to 인천대공원 (Incheon big park) for some quality proselyting time. I was able to teach an awesome street lesson to a man who claims not to be a believer in God or Jesus. He had many preconceptions about our church so I was first able to set a few things straight by teach him about the restoration. I offered him the Book of Mormon that I had been teaching out of and he was very grateful. We received his number and promised to refer him to missionaries near his home (maybe three hours by bus). It was so awesome! For some reason this week there have been so many opportunities for me to teach and testify on the street. I am very aware of my inability to speak but today especially I feel like The Lord was able to open my ear to be able to understand all that this man was asking me. The gift of tongues comes in a variety of ways and I am grateful.

Sunday was slow. 정현지S (HyonChee) came to church and I spent the first hour with her in young woman's. She is possibly the cutest human being I have ever met. Her shyness and the utter horror that creeps into her eyes when someone asks her a question is more of less adorable. I love that she still looks to me before giving any response. I just smile and pretend like I know what's going on haha. As church went on HyonChee and I sat together in sacrament meeting. In a quiet moment while we waited for the sacrament to be passed, she turned to me, flipped open my hymn book to her favorite hymn, and said "Sing." Her very first Sunday, 15 weeks ago, we sang "Sweet Hour of Prayer" and she has loved it ever since. Per her request, we sang it at her baptism as well and on a number of other occasions. Throughout the course of my time spent as a missionary, I have learned more fully the importance of prayer. The importance lies in every aspect of the word. For me and for anyone else seeking guidance from God, our Heavenly Father, our communication needs to remain constant. Whether we express our thanks or "In seasons of distress and grief, [our will always] find relief." Through Him we are able to grow and learn. Just like the conversion process for me, prayer is an absolutely essential tool to help in aligning our will with God's. HyonChee is only 15 and has already come to understand this principle. I love her and the example she set for me as well as for many others, is unreal.

When our meeting concluded, 유경숙S (Sister You) invited all of the missionaries to stay and make 만두 (essentially dumplings). After making a bunch, she whipped up some 떡국 (rice cake soup) and served us lunch. It was delicious. We cleaned up and then left for a 같이 전도 (district proselyting activity). Once we all split up it proved to be successful. I was able to teach another street lesson! The Lord is really blessing us but unfortunately each lesson taught on the street with referred-return appointments were all with men... Our elders better get to work to return the favor haha.

By the time dinner rolled around Sister Mineer wasn't feeling very good. We were all dehydrated but Sister Mineer has had bloody noses at least five times this week. We aren't totally sure what's up but she laid down for a nap while Sister Gapinski and I ate dinner and called almost every potential investigator that we have on record. It proved to be a productive evening. We planned and called all of the sister missionaries in our zone while Sister Mineer slept on. The sisters were all pretty talkative so by the time we got off the phone and in bed it was passed 10:30PM. We were all happy to finally be able to sleep and end another good week here in Mansu.

I love you all! Have a good week!
We still are desperately searching for new investigators, pray for us!
LOVE YOU!
Sister Sloan

Sister Shim

Coffee Bean with our favorite~

Since when are their horses on the streets in Korea?

How cute are we?

How beautiful?! This is the nicest park in Incheon, we love it.

Making banana bread with our favorite  :-)

The Physics of Arm Wrestling

6/16-22
Monday was a fun day! We were planning to meet up with a number of missionaries to go shopping together but it ended up just being the three of us. I wasn't disappointed though, we had a good time together. I really need to stop looking for clothes, because I will ALWAYS find way too many things that I like haha. Before we called it a day we grabbed a bite to eat at a cute like restaurant called 밥버거 (Rice Burger). It was so delicious! But that was dinner #1.... Next we head to our Bishop's house (김우식B) to meet with his wife, 이현자S (Sister Lee), for a 20 minute practice lesson. Instead of teaching and leaving she decided she wanted to feed us too. Dinner #2.... I had to eat all of my food and even some of Sister Gapinski's because we were all dying!  It was a good appointment though. We are trying to find ways to serve our bishop so we made a plan to come back at the end of the week to make their family a delicious dinner.

To end the day, we taught our cute couple investigators, 심하정S (Sister Shim) and 이지웅B (Brother Lee). They are always so much fun!! Right off the bat, Sister Shim asked if we had eaten. Typically I would politely welcome food, but with them I felt comfortable saying that we were stuffed. Despite my answer she let a whinny squeal saying, "No~! You must enjoys my french fries." Haha so that is what we did. Koreans are so giving and tonight my stomach really felt the immense generosity that just a few had showed us tonight haha.

After eating, we somehow got to talking about arm wrestling. Sister Shim challenged me and I gladly accepted. She was shockingly strong!! She won with both arms! We were confused, because she had told us that she cannot do a single push up, but she happened to beat all three of us athletic sister missionaries in a simple arm wrestling match... I then challenged her to show us a push up. It was HILARIOUS! She really can't do it. Something about the physics of tonight made zero sense. It was so much fun though. I really feel like we have become super good friends. It feels like we are meeting up to eat, play games, and enjoy a nice gospel discussion. This is the most natural we have ever felt with any investigator and we love them. Tonight's gospel discussion was all about Joseph Smith and proper priesthood authority. They have so many awesome questions! They are so fun to teach. It was a good night. Before we left, we assigned them a few conference talks to read and challenged Sister Shim to come workout with us in the mornings. She was excited, we hope she comes!

Tuesday was a crazy day!! I have come to love the days were we leave the house early and don't come back until late. Today was one of those. First we a had a lunch appointment with 김정은S (Sister Kim). Her family doesn't have much money but she is always so giving! When we arrived there were a couple other woman from the ward there. 박미영S (Sister Park) left not long after we arrived but 이미영S (Sister Lee) stayed for the whole thing. I love Sister Lee! She served her mission here and was companions with a number if Americans, which means the foreigners introduced her to the language of sarcasm- to which she is now fluent. We laughed as we ate and when it came time for the practice lesson, I asked Sister Mineer to take it away. I love that she is so willing and eager to do whatever is asked of her. She is going to learn SO much, SO fast if she keeps going at the speed she is. She did great, we ended with a prayer, and were off.

Attempting to visit the same less-active members was a fail. One came home as we were writing a note and she, 금경화S (Sister Kum) was less than excited to see us. Sister Kum has cancer and I feel sad for her but I am at a loss of how we can help her. We delivered a bag of cookies and said goodbye. Before heading to our next appointment we went to drop a note off to 정차연S (ChahYoun), 김미란S (Sister Kim)'s daughter. We figured the mother would be at work and the daughter at school but to our surprise the mother came home from work to eat lunch with a couple other church members. We met so many members already and it was only 2PM by that time. We joined them for some fruit, a spiritual message, and we again were off. We had to quickly walk to our relief society president's house for another practice lesson. We decided to practice and role play a lesson before she joined us with an investigator. All went well and we hopped in her car to greet our investigator 조재순S (Sister Cho).

This was the beginning for a very awkward appointment. Even though we had confirmed the appointment earlier that morning, one of her friends were there and I think she was pretty embarrassed to know us. She went as far as to not even look at us, it was so weird. I asked her quietly if we could teach her and she said, "Not today." Her nephew, another investigator of ours, was there so she recommended that we just teach him. We did all we could but she left and was no where to be seen. It was really strange. Our member felt uncomfortable and she too was asked if she could leave- and like that we found ourselves alone with this 35ish year old man wanting to listen about our gospel and a 7 year old girl who was anxiously awaiting the opportunity to look miserable as I would attempt to teach her English. You could say we were in quite a pickle but it all worked out for the best. I played with the girl as Sister Mineer and Sister Gapinski taught 최준민B (Brother Choi).

To end the evening we decided to walk home. On the way, we passed by a huge shoe store where a few rain boots caught my companion's eyes. They both are in desperate need for rain boots seeing as monsoon season is fast approaching. As they browsed, I did too. I found some super cute knock-off Birkenstocks. Somehow I was able to convince the shop owner to sell them to me for half price. I think he was charmed by the fact that we all were speaking Korean haha. It works right? We were in and out in no time. As we continued on our walk home we decided to stop in at a Caffe Bene for some 팥빙수 (ice flakes with red beans). Today is Sister Gapinski's one year mark in country and that is a good enough reason to celebrate! Quality time was spent talking to people in the street too but anyway those are the fun things worth mentioning.

Wednesday was such a fun morning! On our way out the door to exercise, we received a call, it was our investigator 심하정S (Sister Shim). She lives two buildings away from us and this morning she was calling to say she was ready to exercise. We picked her up and showed her what we did- a few laps and a CrossFit exercise routine. She literally looked like she was about to die... It's good for her though. It really felt like I had a mini CrossFit class again. It was a fantastic way to start the day.

After getting ready for the day, we were able to welcome President and Sister Morrise into our humble abode. This transfer for interviews, President and his wife were interested in seeing all of the missionary's homes. It was our turn today and President's reaction to the size of our tiny apartment was hilarious. Of all the houses in Incheon, ours in by far the smallest yet we were the only companion that was asked to become a threesome. I don't mind the crowdedness but it's true, our house is a little crammed at the moment. As we proceeded with interviews, President Morrise and I wheeled a couple chairs to our changing room. He propped his briefcase on top of my suitcase and against a small folded pile of the exercise clothes I had worn that morning... I didn't say anything though haha. We had a good interview. Once President interviewed everyone, we took a picture, and walked them to the elder's house.

When we arrived back home we completed our studies, ate lunch, and left to meet our zone for a proselyting activity. We ran into President and Sister Morrise as we head out of our apartment and they offered us a ride. We took them up on the offer real quick! I really miss the convenience and comfort of a car! The ride was nice and the activity was average. As STL, sister missionaries do pass-off with me so today Sister Nebeker asked if she could. She did so well, but after she taught she broke down. She is struggling with a lot of things back home and all I could do was hold her as she cried. Something she said broken my heart- "I have been studying and preparing to teach about how this gospel can bless families but little do people know, my family needs it just as much at the next." Poor girl. Keep her in your prayers.

After we got Sister Nebeker on her feet, we wrapped up the activity and began an exchange. I brought Sister Mineer and Sister Bassett with me to 만수 (Mansu). After dinner we head to an investigator appointment. Sister Shim and her husband, Brother Lee, prepared a small dinner for us when we arrived. They are the sweetest. We had some fun then got straight to their gospel questions. Today there weren't as many as usual but still we stayed for over an hour. I seriously LOVE them. Today they continued to bribe me to stay and live with them instead of head back to America haha. We are up to free rent, a laptop, and a cell phone. Mom and dad, whatta you got? ^^

Thursday morning we met Sister Shim again for exercise. She tried to get out of running but we hardly gave her a choice haha. I promise nothing is cuter than to hear a Korean girl whine. Maybe it used to be annoying but it is cute now. We worked her hard before letting her go back to sleep.

Our day began with an appointment with 김하나S (HahNah). She was almost an hour late but it went well. We discussed a little about her baptismal date and she decided to push it back a little. We committed her to continue praying about it so we will see. Since things ran a little late we had to immediately catch a bus in order to meet our companions to exchange back. It was nice to see Sister Gapinski again. I love Sister Bassett and we had a blast talking about everything but there is just something about getting back with your companion.. Sounds stupid now that I wrote it but there it is.

We quickly walked to our next appointment. 조재숨S (Sister Cho) cancelled our appointment with her but we never heard back from her nephew, 최준민B (Brother Choi), so we showed up and I'm not entirely sure if it was the right thing.  When Sister Cho saw us walking in she immediately flipped out! She was yelling and telling us that she cancelled. I tried explaining that we weren't there for her but instead for her nephew. She then yelled at him saying, "I told you not to reply to them!" Rude. He hadn't but he stood up for us and said he wanted to meet us. When she finally stormed out we said a prayer to invite the spirit as we taught. We taught the second lesson all about the Plan of Salvation. He was super accepting and super on board about how to learn about how he can better fulfill his purpose here on Earth. He brought up the Ten Commandments so I showed him a fun way to remember it- he was excited and said that we wanted to study it later haha. This man is so golden. Before we left we even got to talking about the word of wisdom. He told us that sometimes his friends call and invite him to drink. Even though he never wants to be respects the culture and does what he is told- but get this he said the following to us, "I always feel bad because The Bible teaches us that our bodies are temples and I don't want to destroy the temple that God has given me." I was speechless. Before we left we received his permission to refer him to the elders near his home. It will be super sad to see him go but I know it's only right to let the elders teach and baptize him.

To end the evening we met up with 이두례S (Momma Lee) to teach our recent convert 정현지S (HyonChee) about the priesthood and auxiliary positions. It was a good lesson. HyonChee is the best and her little sister sat in too. We committed her to coming to church with us on Sunday- we'll see what happens!

Friday morning we held our weekly planning session which seemed to eat up a majority of the day. I know it is a productive meeting but sometimes I really get sick of sitting inside talking about missionary work when I know I could be outside doing it. We were able to accomplish a lot though so it wasn't all bad. When time was up we packed up and met our district at the church for a delayed district meeting. Between interviews with President Morrise on Wednesday and a Elder Berry loosing all form of motivation to do anything, we rescheduled our meeting from 3:30-5. It was okay. I honestly am so disappointed with the first impression that Sister Mineer has had with district meetings... I had awesome experiences early on in my mission which really set the bar pretty high and frankly, our district is pathetic. Sigh. We keep brainstorming ways of how to help it improve but we'll see what we can actually control.

To end the evening we went to the bishops house. we had previously asked if we could serve him by making him and his family dinner. We bought some meat and made them hamburgers and fries. It was a greasy American meal that I'm not totally sure they enjoyed but anyway, we loved it haha. The family was very appreciative so at least we won points there.

Saturday was an interesting day. Nothing seemed to work out the way that we had previously anticipated but anyway it was a fun day. The first noteworthy thing that happened was English class. It was alright... Hardly anyone showed up but me, Elder Berry, and Sister Gapinski were assigned to teach the intermediate table. It was just... 근냥, nothing special. Afterwards the elders were on their way to help a member move his office to a different floor in the same building- this member happens to be my favorite, 백용실B (Brother Beck), so we tagged along to help too. It was all finished after about 30 minutes and after everything was in its place, he announced that we would give us missionaries a special deal. He works as a custom foot-soling person so he sat us down and made custom soles for each missionary. Brother Beck is so kind! Before we left, he and his wife took us to dinner. The sisters went with his wife, 유경숙S (Sister You) and as we braced ourself to run to her car in the pouring rain, we ducked in a real-estate office and picked up a new investigator. Sister You really is an awesome missionary but every time she is with us, she always creates the most awkward missionary moments but hey, at least she helps. I love her.

Dinner went well and we ended the evening with a few hours on the streets trying to find some less-active members as well as people to talk to. It proved to be productive on the street but the less-actives were not happy to see us. Oh well.

Sunday was awesome! 정현지S (HyonChee) and her little sister, 정호경S (HoKyong) came to church together! They are just like any set of siblings, always bickering so it was my job to keep them from killing each other and to at least pay attention to some of the meetings. I didn't know how much I actually helped but anyway it was a good day at church. After the meetings, the relief society served the ward lunch and it was delicious! Just as the meal ended it began to pour rain outside. Most people walked to church today leaving everyone stranded at the church without any umbrellas until further notice haha. It wasn't all bad though. I talked with Momma Lee and taught her how to use DeadElder.com to talk to her daughter, as well as a few other members about attending our investigator appointment for the week. I seriously LOVE this ward. Even though I have only been here for just under 5 months, I really feel like this is the place I'll miss the most. In the last two areas where I served I was able to build strong relationships, but in 만수 (Mansu) ward I feel like I am totally myself and the members love it. I love it!!

After lunch we traveled with our ward mission leader to proselyte with him and his kids. It wasn't all that productive but it was super fun. Sister Gapinski and I split off and did our own thing, it was a blast. I really like her. When we all met back together we went to our separate homes for dinner. Before our missionary coordinating meeting at 8PM we talked to people on the street and dropped off a birthday present as our our investigator's house. Oh, it was also Elder Berry's birthday too. After the meeting 박동규E (Elder Park) brought out ice cream that we all ate together. It was yummy.

All in all it didn't feel like a very busy week. We had an investigator drop us and we referred one to the 연수 (Younsu) elders. Our number are getting smaller BUT I asked Sister Mineer to be senior this week. I know she'll keep us busy and we are setting out to find a bunch if new investigators. ^^ Pray for us! Have a great week.

Love you~
Sister Sloan
슬론 자매

Asian Games Winner!

Exchanges with Sister Mineer and Bassett

Most Wanted Poster. No matter the disguise, they will find you.  hehe

Met and Englishman on the street today with the biggest dog I've seen in Korea.  His name is Apollo~

Dinner with Mamma Lee

A Party of Three

6/9-6/15
Monday was a super fun PDAY! We met up with the elders, ate lunch together, and played games at the church all day. In no other world would that even sound fun but it was a blast. While they all played Settlers of Catan, I played my music and relaxed. Eventually when they finally we got to the fun games like ping pong, some quarter game, and a few others I joined in. Despite the lameness that oozes from our newfound definition of fun, both Sister Mineer want another PDAY just like it next week. When the time came to hit the streets, we went to work. Yesterday our ward mission leader, 오광철B (Brother Oh) gave us an assignment to pass out 200 flyers and pamphlets everyday. Let me say that again.. EVERYDAY!! All of the missionaries excepted that impossible task and tonight was the first attempt. On average we only are able to have 20-30 productive conversations with people throughout the day so 200 was quite a jump. We ended the evening satisfied and exhausted with 34 in just an hour. We are AWESOME~!

Tuesday was biz-aye! Sister Mineer had scheduled three back-to-back appointments. First we went with 김하나S (Chole). She is progressing slowly, but still progressing. Today our focus was on what she had read from the Book of Mormon- we used the followup as the lesson and it went so well. The spirit really guided our words. By the end, we also had discussed baptism again and committed her to a goal of being baptized next month on the twelfth! She was super hesitant, but she is now willing to work towards the goal she has set. It. Was. Awesome!

Once we saw Chloe off, Sister Mineer and I had less time than we needed in order to make it to our relief society presidents house for a practice lesson. After setting the baptismal goal with Chloe we were both on cloud nine- which may or may not have attributed to the tremendously fast pace of our walk. As we walked we didn't let teaching opportunities pass us by and by the grace of God we were 5 minutes early!! I still cannot make logical sense of how perfectly everything worked out but I do know it was a tender mercy and miracle from God. We were both so grateful. The practice went well and 배이슥S (Sister Bay) was so helpful and pleasant. I really appreciate her.

Lastly was our appointment with 조재순S (Sister Cho). She didn't complete her homework so we sat and read her assignment from the Book of Mormon together. It was time well spent! Initially Sister Cho had no patience for mine and Sister Mineer's slow Korean but something has clearly changed in her; she is happy, she is patient, and she is always happy to see us. It is a cool change to have seen. All in all it was a good lesson and another fantastically-busy day behind us. Sister Mineer is SUCH a hard worker. I am so grateful and I feel so blessed to have a greenie who is here for all the right reasons and does all she can and more. Today starts the 70 day-countdown that I have to find, teach. and baptize all of those whom God has prepared for me. I know that if I'm with Sister Mineer until the end, well see so many miracles and burn holes through our shoes doing it! I love her.

Wednesday was a strange day... In the morning was transfers so Sister Mineer and I went to 신도림 (Shindorim subway station) to pick up our newest addition, Sister Gapinski. It was so much fun seeing all the missionaries at transfers. A few people came up to me and said, "This is probably the last time I see you before you go home." That threw me for a loop! I still have three months left but I suppose they are right because we won't have a mission party or activity until a couple weeks after I leave. So sad!! Anyway, we soon left and were on our way back home. The rest of the day kind of turned into waiting around. Sister Gapinski had mailed all of her things so we had to await its arrival. We introduced the area to her but were mostly killing time. Once the things arrived we received a call from the office elders telling us they were on their way and for us to await their arrival with everything our new companion needed. It was so lame! I feel like we gave Sister Gapinski the wrong impression of the kind of speed and business that Sister Mineer and I are accustom to. Tomorrow will be better.

To end the evening we finally left the house and taught 심하정S (Sister Shim) and her husband, 이지웅B (Brother Lee). Today the plan was to talk about the restoration. We got a little sidetrack at first but eventually we got around to it. We ended up being at their house for two hours! Whoops! Next time we have to leave time for all of their awesome questions. One funny thing that happened was when I was popping in the Restoration DVD on their laptop. I made a joke that I should just take it home and then the husband said, "You can have it if you stay in Korea." I quickly remarked back, "Can I live here?" The wife's eyes lit up and she clapped her hands as she squealed, "Oohh!! Yes!! Please!" I love them. I love that I can totally be myself around them. It is now a thing were they ALWAYS make comments of me staying. Even though I have only known them for two weeks, we are definitely already lifelong friends. I love it when that happens. :) It was an awesome ending to the day.

Thursday was back to the normal speed. We studied in the morning then immediately had back-to-back appointments for the rest of the day. Four to be exact. First was 이경호S (Sister Lee). She is crazy and super talkative grandma who is so afraid of the world and all of the evil in it. Because of exchanges I haven't been able to meet her for a long while now but I can tell Sister Mineer has been doing a great job of teaching her while I've been gone. Today we tried to address her concerns about agency. She really struggles with understanding why there is so much evil in the world. We taught the second and third lessons of the plan of salvation and Jesus Christ's gospel. It was good.

Next we met our investigator 조재순S (Sister Cho). We had previously been contemplating whether all three missionaries and our member should attend the appointment or if we should split. At first it was a lot of people across the table from Sister Cho but in no time our member, 류시옥S (Sister Ru) had everyone laughing. It was great. Again we read the Book of Mormon together and when time was about up her nephew, 최준민B (Brother Choi) joined us. He is Korean and was born here but when he turned two his family moved to the Philippines. Because of this he can speak Korean (but cannot write or read it), English, and Tagalog. He speaks to us in English and he had so many questions about the Book of Mormon. Sister Mineer and Gapinski began teaching so I stepped aside to teach the granddaughter English. We each separately had successful lessons. My lesson being successful because she didn't start mocking and mimicking until the very end and theirs being successful by setting up a baptismal date with him! Wow! They are so awesome. This whole threesome-party thing seems to be proving itself successful.

To end the day we were at 이두례S (Momma Lee)'s house for dinner with her daughter 김소정S (Sister Kim). Sister Kim begins her mission on Monday so tonight was a little bitter sweet. I am really going to miss her but in the flip side, I KNOW that is she going to be an awesome missionary. I need to write her often. She will be in the California San Fernando Mission so hopefully I'll be able to make a trip out to see her before she concludes her missionary service. Oh! Or maybe her mom will pick her up and my family could meet her! That would be awesome!! Anyway, after the delicious meal we practiced a short lesson and then were on our way. It was such a fun visit. I really feel so at home in this ward. The love I have for missionary work has really grown since I began investing more time in our members. These are relationships I want to cherish and maintain forever! I love 만수 (Mansu) ward!!

Friday was weekly planning. Our morning appointments cancelled so we completed weekly planning on time. The only event worth mentioning is the dinner appointment we had. There is a member in our ward, 김현주S (Sister Kim) who was super solid, counselor in the Young Women's and everything but decided to be offended after a small thing that she had with a man in the ward. She told bishop that she wouldn't be back for a while and she was true to her word. The other day Sister Mineer and I dropped a birthday present at her house and the next day she called to invite us over! It was a blessing and this was the answer to our prayers. We ate and enjoyed our time together. I have really missed her. I told her that she promised to come to church. For the spiritual thought we sang her a song. It was awfully executed because Elders Godfrey and Park are 100% tone deaf but it all worked out because we decided to stop after a verse and a half haha. At least everyone got a good laugh.

Saturday there was a special missionary meeting for all district, zone, and sister training leaders. It was held because MLC had taken place just a week before transfers and the movement of leaders was exceptionally high this transfer. We learned all about being builders of wards and branches again. I learned about the importance of prayer to help all of those in our stewardship whether it be the sisters we are asked to watch over or the ward as a whole. I especially loved the training that Sister Morrise gave to us STLs. She is such a sincere woman, always speaking straight from her heart and teaching out of love. I really admire her.

When the training ended Sister Mineer, Gapinski, and I made a quick pitstop to Costco for some much needed food. We were quick and home in time to stop by Seble and Abraham's house before the evening ended. At first it was all going really well but then the lesson took a turn for the worst when Abraham informed us of what his family and friends thought of our church. We tried to testify and were loving but all they kept saying was that they were not willing to leave their family traditions and beliefs behind for our church. I tried so hard to explain that they wouldn't be leaving them or abandoning their beliefs or traditions. They are extremely strong Christians and we are simply adding to what they already treasure, as PMG says. I was heartbroken to say the least. It was hard to simply thank them for their time and then say goodbye. We have already come to love them! How could they just walk out of our lives? I grabbed a taxi for our ride home and I cried silently as we drove. It was a hard ending to our day.

Sunday was a happy day. It was Father's Day in America and it is needless to say I was missing my poppa, however our busy schedule was able to keep me focused. In sacrament meeting Sister Gapinski introduced herself and 김소정 (Sister Kim) gave her departing talk. It was so sad! She looked so scared. It reminded me a lot of my talk in church right before I entered the MTC. I not only was nervous to speak but I was also realizing the realness of what I was about to get myself into. I have full confidence in her though- I made sure to let her know. Once church ended we had a meal together and then walked 정현지S (HyonChee) home. We still needed her father to sign her baptismal record so we greeted him and he invited us all in for some pumpkin tea. It was delicious. The rest of the family drank iced tea and I saw HyonChee looking at it longingly. She saw that I saw and she freaked out haha. She told me that she missed it but that her pumpkin tea would suffice. HyonChee is adorable. We said our goodbyes and went to visit a few less-active members.

The first few people wouldn't let us in but last minute I remembered a member that wasn't at church today, 김미란S (Sister Kim). When we knocked on her door, her youngest daughter, 정차연S (Sister Jeong) answered. She has been less-active ever since one of her teachers gave her anti-Mormon material. She informed us that her parents went to her mother's hometown for the weekend. I asked if we could just share a short message with her but she was SUPER hesitant. I didn't want to make things awkward so I just asked to get her cell phone number. As she watched me type her name wrong she let out a sigh and said we could come if for just a moment. We ate yogurt together, shared a scripture, gave her a reading assignment, and were on our way. It was definitely a miracle that she was home and that in my ignorance I spelt her name wrong haha.

As we walked away we received a call from Elders Godfrey and Park. They invited us to dinner at 나선경S (Sister Nah)'s house for dinner. Her and her whole family are so lovely. I am super grateful for solid members like them. The food was delicious and it was a good time. We ended the evening with our ward mission leader and his kids passing out fliers. It was fun and the missionary coordinating meeting that followed was very productive.

This week has been a blast and I am loving being in a three-party (that may sounds super lame but it sounds more normal than three-some). ANYWAY, we are doing well and seeing SO MANY miracles everyday. Today we are going shopping, so dad watch out for the credit card bill ^^ hehe just kidding.

LOVE YOU ALL!
Sister Sloan

Costco in Korea

Elder Oh grabbing some yogurt.

Our three-party~!  Sister Mineer, Sister Gapinski, and me.

Full Speed No Matter the Task

6/2-8
Monday was a blast! I was so grateful to be back with Sister Bagley again. Even though we stayed up all night talking, there was still so much more to talk about! So that's what we did... all day... at least with the time we had together haha. It was a rainy day so we paired up under my umbrella and resumed where we left off last night but this time with the addition of our companions. We emailed, ate lunch, and they paid a visit to a 목욕탕 (public sauna and bath house). It was awkward last time and this time was no different. There was one worker in particular that thought we were all so cute so she just followed and stared. She was an adorable little grandma so it wasn't THAT creepy but anyway, not one of my top ten favorite moments. After about an hour, we were done.

To end out PDAY we met up with the 연수 (Younsu) missionaries for bowling. It was so fun! I am not good at bowling but anyway it was fun and I didn't get last place~! By 6PM me and Sister Mineer found ourselves at our relief society president's house for a practice lesson. She was pleasant even though it didn't seem like she was paying much attention. We wrapped things us quickly and head to a potential investigators home for an appointment. This potential investigator was a woman calling off of our English flyer. (심하정S) Sister Shim is 27 and three months before she was married. After speaking some small things in Korean, we switched to English to give her time to practice. She already knows grammar but she just lacks vocabulary so it was adorable to watch her speak. She would get so discouraged and just say, "No~ too hard~!" When her husband, Brother Lee (이지웅B) arrived home she prepared dinner for us as we talked to her husband. Apparently they both studied Russian in college and moved to Russia for a few years separately. Eventually they met in Russia, dated for two years, and came back here to be married. Now she is a house wife and he is working as an accountant two hours away in Seoul. In the ward we already have a cute couple whom we refer to as cute couple but no worries we were creative and decided to refer to them as, cute couple #2! ^^

The appointment went later than expected but I didn't mind too much, I felt like we were exactly where we needed to be. Our next appointment was to join 백용실B (Brother Beck), his family (유경숙S and 백하영S), 이두례S (Momma Lee), her daughter 김소정S (SohJeong), and 정현지S (HyonChee) and her family for a huge combined FHE (family home evening). We invited cute couple #2, they were interested but the husband said they couldn't because his wife was in no condition to leave the house... I thought she looked great but he said she needed makeup first haha. It was definitely rude but I had to remind myself that we were in Korea and that is a thing here. We are blunt and we speak very factually; people feelings are in no way tiptoed around in this culture haha. I'm surprisingly used to it. Anyway, we said our goodbyes and made an appointment for Saturday. When we arrived at FHE, everyone had finished eating dinner. HyonChee and her little sister, HoKyong, looked right at home. HaYoung was playing the traditional Korean harp, the women were cleaning up dinner, and everyone was talking and laughing. I have to say that it was the most beautiful thing I have seen in a long time. When we proselyte on the street I tell people a lot that we are sharing a message about how to strengthen families. But if everyone could see have seen what I saw tonight... Three families, four missionaries- gathered eating, laughing, and playing games. It was so beautiful. The women quickly sat me and Sister Mineer down to eat (dinner #2) at a table off to the side of it all. We had the best seats in the house to take it all in. Mansu ward members are fantastic. HyonChee's family is perfect, they fit in so well. I am grateful for this opportunity. The privileges I have been allotted on my mission are unreal. I don't know what I did to deserve this chance to witness such a beautiful family begin their journey into the church and family of our Almighty God. This church is true and the message that we continue to share really does bring families closer together.

Tuesday was Mission Leader Council (MLC). It was a good meeting but I think my favorite part was when President Morrise gave us leaders 20 minutes to come up with a mission slogan. These were our best ideas: 그냥해! (Just do it #NIKE), YOSO (You Only Serve Once), We are the message, and Always be desperate. Pretty good huh? When we were shouting out our ideas, President Morrise was cracking up. He promised not to talk so I think it was hard to keep his commentary to himself. I love the chance we have to attend these meetings because I always learn so much and I especially love when we are given these opportunities to leave our marks on the mission.

Another favorite part of the meeting was when Sister Morrise brought us STL's up to her home and gives us an opportunity to talk and collaborate together. We were discussing exchanges and so many sisters were expressing the hardship that comes along with them. I am in charge of the second largest zone with 10 sisters. Sister Mineer and I have been going on two exchanges every week (after this next week we will have been with each sister). I rose my hand and said, "Well the way I see it, as STL one of the only things we are asked to do is take care of the sisters by going on exchanges. I would feel guilty doing anything less than what was asked of me." Sister Morrise then read to us what the guidelines say regarding our calling- my thinking was correct but apparently it is standard to have a companionship of STL's (meaning exchanges would be done in half the time). She then followed that up by saying, "I don't want to discourage anyone from doing anything less than what they are capable of doing but in your case (looking at me) we all know Sister Sloan is always going at full speed no matter the task." I was taken back with that comment. I do feel like I work hard but not any harder than when I would expect all missionaries to be working. Anyway, I was flattered.

When the meeting ended Sister Mineer went directly to our appointment with 조재순S (Sister Cho). She was surprisingly happy to see us. After a pointless 30 minutes of teaching her granddaughter English we transitioned to our gospel message. Tonight's lesson did not go as planned but it was for the best. Once again she did not do her homework assignment so we got to the bottom of why she wanted to meet us. She very plainly said she didn't, she was simply meeting us for her granddaughter. I told her that of course we love serving, but why not make our 30 minutes of gospel study productive and uplifting? Sister Mineer and I told her that as missionaries, we are just wanting to increase people's faith in God. Her defensive attitude quickly warmed to being a little more open. It was cool to see. Hopefully this is will continue to be the start of her mind and heart being opened to accepting the gospel of Jesus Christ. To end the night we met up with the 가정 sister missionaries for an exchange. I went with 이소민S (Sister Lee) to 가정 (KahJeong) area. It was a late night, but it worked out because falling asleep was not hard.

Wednesday was a great morning! Sister Lee and I had an appointment first thing with 최정미S (Sister Choi). Tomorrow is Sister Lee's birthday and today happened to be Sister Choi's daughter's birthday. There were two cakes, but unfortunately her and her daughter had gotten in a fight the night before and things were still bad. Her daughter was yelling at her when we arrived. Sister Choi came and sat with us at her dinner table and took a deep breath. She said, "Everything is okay." Paused and said, "Well actually it isn't..." We could see the hurt and heartbreak in her eyes. After eating cake we got to talking about many things including motherhood, feelings of the spirit, baptism, and the atonement. After a yelling match between the two of them in another room, I felt prompted to sing "Where Can I Turn For Peace" with Sister Lee (이소민S). As we sang the spirit was immediately back and Sister Choi began to cry. I know that she knows what the spirit is. She's talking about just wanting a new life and to start over. I also felt prompted to tell her that preparing herself for baptism will be the new life and that actually baptism itself will be her new start she is longing for. She was touched. We were all feeling the spirit SO strong. When it came time to end with a prayer I was asked to offer it. As soon as we bowed our heads, her daughter burst out of her room yelling again. But Sister Lee and Sister Choi didn't flitch; their eyes remained closed, arms folded, and heads bowed. I was questioning whether to wait or not but obviously these two great women hadn't the slittiest worry. I prayed and when we left I gave Sister Choi a huge hug. I really do love her. I have had the opportunity to teach her twice now and she came to HyonChee's baptism service. I hope I can see her all the way through her conversion process.

Sister Lee and I made it to the zone proselyting activity where we had planned to unsplit. Sister Mineer and I didn't stay for too long before we hopped on a bus home. On the bus ride home Sister Mineer, Elders Berry, and Meeks filled me in on all the things that I had missed while I was gone. The morning that she and Sister Blickenstaff had together was hectic but what topped it off but to make it worse, a man had jumped off the balcony right outside of our front door to his death... We live on the fourteenth floor... Some weeks before I was tired of having so many extra chairs in our tiny house so I took them outside and apparently the man that jumped, first used our chair to stand on the balcony, and then processed to jump. None of the missionaries saw anything but they did see the aftermath of his body on the ground. How scary!! It was an eerie topic to hear about and even worse to come home to the csi teams and police getting everything taken care of...

We didn't stay home too long before leaving for an appointment. The less-active member that we normally visit every week had recently moved in with her boyfriend down in the Daejeon mission boundaries so we haven't been able to see her. We continue to text every night to remind her to pray but it was so nice to see her today! She took us to dinner and it was delicious! It was a loud restaurant so we ate quickly and then found a table outside in the restaurant's garden to chat. We eventually made our way around to the topic of patriarchal blessings. She wants to prepare to receive one but we have to help her be an actively faithful member first. The lesson was great and we all felt the spirit so strong. I hope that she will take this preparation seriously so that she can receive the extra guidance that she needs from God.

Thursday was zone training. Just before the meeting we had district leader council. There is an area in our zone where people are petitioning our church pretty hard and handing out a bunch of anti-Mormon material. Most of our time was spent trying to figure out the best solution. A good idea that 배성혜E (Elder Bay) had was to set up a booth with a sight that said, "Ask me what I'm doing!" Maybe it will be scary at first but at least people will have the opportunity to ask US what WE believe and come straight to the source. The other idea was by Elder Clawson; he said he has seriously been researching and contemplating whether or not we should ask President if we can dust off our feet to them. Pretty intense stuff but he was so serious! Anyway no final decision yet but it was a productive meeting.

Zone meeting was also productive. I was asked to give a training on how to better utilize and take advantage of our planners. Organization is more or less of an instinct for me so it was hard to put things into words. I used the conference talk, By Elder L. Tom Perry Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles titled, "Obedience through Our Faithfulness." I showed an example of how I use my planner, testified about the importance of planning, but focused mostly on being moldable and willing to change as the spirit directs. The zone leaders focused on being builders of wards and branches. It was good.

Directly after the meeting I was able to have Sister Telford pass off the second lesson. She is always so prepared, I really appreciate her and her hard work! Oh! But right before that there was cake... It was 이소민S (Sister Lee)'s birthday and her companion bought ice cream cake with Spider-Man on top. Sister Lee literally began to cry as Sister Blickenstaff walked towards her with the cake. It was a tender (but mostly hilarious) moment. Sister Mineer and I made our way back to Mansu and met with 조재순S (Sister Cho). First was time wasted teaching English. Today instead of repeating after us like she normally does all she kept yelling was "A" or "AyeGaye." Don't ask me why. The gospel lesson went well. We asked how her reading went and she had actually done it!! We are having her read Mosiah all the way through so today we discussed and answered questions about what she had read. It was good! Like Sister Cho had prepared dinner again so we are as fast as we could. It was good but we were late for our next appointment.

We hopped in a taxi and met up with 백용실B (Brother Beck) before heading up to 정현지S (HyonChee)'s house. Brother Beck wanted to answer all the questions that the parents had so he did that as Sister Mineer and I taught the two daughters about the Recent Convert Checklist. HyonChee decided that she was most interested in learning about tithing and baptisms for the dead. So that is what we will do. I love hanging out with this family! They have seriously become my dear friends. I love them.

Friday was an eventful morning. The routine was interrupted when we were invited to come to the church for a wedding. Brother So was getting married after only three months of his first wife passing away. It was a strange and tacky wedding but it made for an experience. He wife is definitely adorable but they are just so old. After the ceremony we all went to lunch. All the missionaries hurried so we could go back home for our weekly planning meeting. We finished just before dinner and before eating we had to meet up with the 부평 (BuPyong) sister missionaries for an exchange. We met at their house so I could do a cleanliness check of their house before bring Sister Holmes to 만수 (Mansu) with me. They were waiting for us with dinner served! How sweet are they! The evening was well spent talking to people on the street. Even though Sister Holmes is a new missionary she is not only ready to work but is not scared to do what she knows is expected of her. It was a fun night.

Saturday was a great morning! Sister Holmes and I met cute couple #2 and it was such a fantastic lesson!! Our English time was spent using a book that had small comic strips with empty speak bubbles, it was up to them to narrate and fill in the speak bubbles. It is a brilliant method because they are able to use the vocabulary that they already know and put it into sentences. I thought it was brilliant. After they would practice, they asked me and Sister Holmes to do it too so they could learn different idioms and expressions. We had a good time. When it came time for our gospel message we taught about the restoration of Jesus Christ's gospel. They are already awesome Christians so we told them that we just wanted to add to what they already know to be true. Specifically when we started talking about prophets and Joseph Smith. Brother Lee looked up James 1:5 in the Bible and began deeply reading it. He interrupted me and said, "It says ALL PEOPLE so that means I can become a prophet too!" I tried not to laugh as we went into details of the priesthood but he said, "No but I had a similar experience as Joseph Smith!" He proceeded to share an awesome dream that he had but I replied with a similar experience that I had too. He sat in amazement and said, "Wow! So you're a prophet too?" Haha I couldn't help but laugh that time; I had to clarify that no body in the room was a prophet haha. Eventually we wrapped things up with the feelings of the spirit and prayer. They are so open to learning! Initially they were just interested in English but clearly that are our perfect investigators that have interest in the gospel too! I was so grateful to be able to teach them with Sister Holmes, she is a great teacher.

Not long after the appointment we had another with 구혜연S (Amanda). She is leaving on vacation to England for a month so today we showed her the different temples and church that our church has there. She was excited to potentially make friends with other church members as she visited those sites haha. Amanda is adorable. After that appointment we had English class. We had a huge turn out today! It was SO loud but it was a blast. By the end, our companions showed up and we unsplit. It was a fun exchange. To end the evening Sister Mineer and I made our way to Seble's house to pick her and her family up to go to dinner with us. 이은성S (Sister Lee) and her husband 오광철B (Brother Oh) had invited us all over for a delicious meal together. Their whole family is pretty good at English so it was fun to encourage all of the kids to ask Seble and Abraham 'get to know you' questions. Also their three month old baby was being passed around. It was so cute to watch each kid, especially the boys just love this adorable little baby girl. It was a perfect meal and lesson that followed. On our way home we were running a little late and President Morrise was calling us... I totally forgot that it was transfer calls tonight!!

Here is the news: Sister Mineer and I will become a threesome! I will remain her trainer and STL but the addition will also be a STL. Her name is Sister Gapinski!! I love her!! We are both so excited! This transfer President Morrise organized everything so that all STL's are a companionships. Man it is going to be a blast!

Sunday was such a blessing. 정현지S (HyonChee) came by herself... I was disappointed but her family went to help their grandma so I couldn't be mad for long. I was with HyonChee for Young Women's class. A new family moved into the ward so after small introductions 이은성S (Sister Lee) proceeded with the lesson. Guess what it was about? The priesthood! Guess what HyonChee is receiving today? The gift of the Holy Ghost by the power of the priesthood! I have a huge testimony about the time of God in all things. He is amazingly brilliant about giving people what they need in the moment that they need it. Sister Lee shared a Mormon message where Elder Hales speaks about baptism and confirmations. He specifically said that once we have taken His name upon us through baptism and confirmation, we have the right to act in His name. What an amazing promise!! The video included many pictures of baptism and confirmation- seriously it was so perfect! HyonChee loved it too. Combined young men/young women's was a similar topic too and Sister Lee taught again. It was awesome. Last was sacrament meeting. When Bishop called HyonChee up to the front he sat her down, the elders assumed their positions around her, placed their hands on each and her head, and Bishop began the blessing. I wanted to cry. It was so beautiful. She looked so comfortable. I only wish her family could have seen her but I'll ask her to tell them about it later. I couldn't stop smiling. HyonChee is amazing. I love her so much!! After church we saw her and most members off. We ate lunch with a couple members before we too were on our way. I love church and Mansu SO MUCH! I cannot write about it enough. They are amazing members.

Sister Mineer and I finished our weekly planning, visited a few less-active members, and concluded our evening at our missionary coordination meeting. It felt good to report all of the lessons and hard work that we had done all week. I love missionary work. After arriving back at home and planning, Sister Mineer turned to me with tear-filled eyes and asked if she could talk to me about something. She proceeded to tell me that ever since that man jumped from our balcony, she has been having nightmares. She isn't able to sleep well and she keeps having the same dreams every night where her and Sister Blickenstaff are trying to convince him not to jump but in the end he always does. I think her seeing his dead body on the ground traumatized her- which is absolutely understandable! She asked for my help but I knew she didn't need me, she needed a blessing of comfort from God. We called the elders, President Morrise to get permission, elders again, and finally met them at the church. I know that the blessing was for Sister Mineer but when I saw these four boys again preforming a blessing in the Name of God, I was overcome with the spirit. How amazing is it that God trusts them to work in His name for and in behalf of His children. Like I learned from the young women's lesson today, once we have taken the steps to follow Jesus Christ's example, it is our right to act in His name. I love this church. I am so grateful for the restoration of Jesus Christ church. I know it is on the Earth again. Just as people from the times of the old were members of the Church of Jesus Christ, we are still number with them as Latter-Day Saints. We are The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. God has restored His priesthood and power for us to use in these, the latter-days. I know this is true. I know it through the spirit. 하나님의 성신을 통해 이것을 참된 다는 것을 알고 있습니다.

If you don't believe me, that's what prayer and scriptures are for. Whether your doubt or disbelief is small or big, I promise God will answer any question you ask Him if He hasn't already done so.

I love you all. I am so happy to be a missionary. I am so grateful for the spirit that I can feel on a regular basis. It is an amazing feeling to know that I am exactly where God needs me. Have a great week!!

Sister Sloan
슬론 자매

Dinner and lesson with HahYoun.

Attended a wedding today ~ they are both so old, but anyway it was good...but mostly funny.

The wedding.

Fun night at Sister Lee's house with her family and our Ethiopian investigator.

Mind Blown

5/26-6/1
Monday started early as Sister Mineer and I hopped on a few busses and subways to make our way to the 가정 and 답동 sister missionaries house for an exchange. Even though it wasn't PDAY we still still took time to email home. All six sisters went to the same PC방 (computer room) and then we swapped companionships. I brought Sister Bassett back to 만수 (Mansu) with me. We were in the MTC together and that automatically makes us friends of some sort. We had so much fun! I don't think we stopped talking all day!

Our first appointment together was with a semi-less active gossip queen of the ward, 오진수S (Sister Oh). The day before, I asked Sister Mineer to make an appointment with her to do a practice lesson but Sister Oh was so confused and invited another set of elders to come too. Instead of teaching anything, she took us to eat an early dinner. For me it was more like lunch since Sister Mineer and I spent all morning and into the afternoon traveling. It was an okay meal. The member is way good at English, but she wanted to spend her time talking about ward gossip to Elder Park. Us Americas got into our own conversation. It was enjoyable but less than productive haha.

Next was another 20 minute practice lesson with the bishops wife. Sister Bassett wanted to practice different proselyting approaches so we did. After the first try she gave some suggestions about how to use the Book of Mormon more. In our re-practice I tried. It took me about ten minutes, but I did get my point across. As I was teaching, bishop arrived home. He quickly changed from his suit and joined us. We talked some small things about the Book of Mormon and our current investigators. I love being in a ward where all of the members are so on board to help! I feel so blessed. We got to talking so long that bishop got hungry and asked if they could take us to dinner. The four of us got in the car and went to their favorite 갈국수 (noodle soup) restaurant. It was delicious but we weren't hungry haha. We cleared our bowls and I mostly listened at Sister Bassett talked with them. It is funny because I am interested in getting to know people, but I learned that I don't like to talk that much haha. It was a productive use of time so I was content just listening. I love Sister Bassett! She is so good at Korean and I am so grateful that she came and was able to help build a stronger relationship with our bishop and his family. They drove us home after. Sister Bassett and I talked the whole night away. I was tired, but it was fun talking so I'm not complaining.

Tuesday was a normal morning until we began to travel and exchange before Sister Bassett and Nebeker had an appointment. Once back with Sister Mineer, we had about three hours until our next exchange would begin. We went home for lunch and then head back out to prep Sister Mineer with directions of how to arrive at all of the scheduled appointments we had.

We met the 연수 (Younsu) sisters and I paired up with Sister Hammerl to serve in her area. Before having dinner at her home we spent a good amount of time finding people to talk to on the street. Sister Hammerl is filled with this renewed enthusiasm for missionary work. It was incredible to see! She is literally sleeping, breathing, and eating missionary work. Because of that, we had an awesome time together! By 7PM we went to an appointment with a woman Sister Bagley and I found when we were doing callbacks one night in Mansu. Her name is (Sunny) and her daughter 이연수 (Younsu- yes the same name as the town where she lives haha). This mother and daughter are incredible at English so Sister Hammerl started out the lesson in English. We read the story of Ammon from The Book of Mormon stories and they loved it. Sunny and her daughter are so prepare to hear the message about this gospel, it is incredible to see! The spirit was so strong throughout the entire lesson. By the end we ended up talking about prayer. The daughter is 11 years old and she already prays and has been praying on her own for years. I felt prompted to ask why and she said, "It is just my instinct." What kind of child says that haha? Her mother was previously apprehensive and reluctant to pray but when she heard that her daughter has and continues to do so, she decided she wanted to start too. To end the appointment we invited Sunny to pray. Her and her daughter did like a tag team prayer where they would take turns talking and then ended together in unison. It was adorable and so sincere! I love them.

Wednesday was a good morning. The night before I got ready for bed quickly and was sleeping before Sister Hammerl even got out of the shower. I slept so well! After the routine we ran a few errands before unsplitting for district meeting. I had previously tried so hard to have our exchange overlap a district meeting (because Elder Westbrook cares about training and Elder Berry doesn't). I was sad that it didn't work out. After 만수 all arrived for our meeting- guess how long it lasted? 20 minutes!! Normally they go for an hour and a half! It blew my mind and I was so sad. Instead of training Elder Berry was shockingly productive. We prepared for the zone proselyting activity that would be in our area. So while it wasn't training, I'm grateful it was something. For the proselyting activity we came up with four teams, they are as follows:

• Alpha- English survey/English class flyering
• Beta- sticker board, gospel survey
• Charley- free hugs
• Delta- taekwondo/street boarding

We chose a location where all four teams could semi be spread out but still in the same vicinity. It was the best activity that had happened thus far. As soon as the activity was over, all of the 만수 (Mansu) missionaries had to head to the church to meet a member. This member is so kind and takes us to eat fairly often. There were so many of us and Elder Godfrey was loud enough, that we (me and my companion) didn't have too much of a chance to talk with the member. I felt bad just eating and leaving but he was just grateful that all of us made time. The ward members here are AWESOME!

Thursday was the day that Summer began. Out of NOWHERE the humidity and heat kicked itself into high gear! Thankfully it was PDAY and temple day so we spent a good part of the day away from the heat. Today, the temple session was EXACTLY what I needed. Once it was over I took a seat next to my go-to Elder Pruner. He too is from California and we have an unspoken pact to stand together amongst all of the Utahans haha. Today I was feeling a little down. I was worrying about my family as well as some friends. I expressed this concern to the three missionaries sitting nearby (Elder Robinson, Pruner, and my companion). My mind and heart felt so burdened with wanted to help and be home with those I love. The reasons I came to serve can be numbered with the people whom I want to help- most of which include my family members and relatives. Amidst my soon-to-be-meltdown Elder Robinson shared some words of wisdom. He told me, "Just like in the scriptures, miracles aren't found in the absence of an example but in the presence." *insert mind-blown noise* that was exactly what I needed to hear. Maybe we came to serve the Korean people for 18-24 months but we are are here being conditioned to help our families, future families, and dear friends for the rest of forever! I love that and it was so motivating to keep working hard in order to learn all I could so I could fulfill my role as this magnificent plan that God himself created for us!

After an extra hour of praying, pondering, and talking- we were the last four missionaries out if the temple. I love the temple! Waiting outside for us were other good friends who were getting impatient and hungry. We made our way back into our mission boundaries and found a buffet that would satisfy everyone's tastebuds. Among those who came I made sure to sit next to my favorites- Elders Knapp, 오성택E (Elder Oh), Oscarmiller, and Nixon. Maybe I don't know them all super well but they are HILARIOUS! Even though we spent over two hours at the buffet, it was definitely PDAY time well spend.

Sister Mineer and I made our way home to meet our first appointment for the evening. It was with 조재순S (Grandma Cho). She is the grandma who doesn't care too much about our gospel message but will sit through it for her 7 year old granddaughter to practice English with foreigners. Just a side note: I initially thought this kind-of-investigator was a waste of time but in my heart I came to a conclusion that in fact it is good. We were called to Korea to testify about how this gospel blesses our lives. We then invite others to take it for a spin but if they choose not to, that is okay. This investigator maybe doesn't show interest right now but I feel that later on, our testimonies will be like a planted seed within her heart that she will eventually listen to. Anyway, the lesson was okay. We at least felt the spirit as we taught. We quickly made our way to 정현지S (HyonChee's) house for our final appointment before her baptism this weekend! We focused on families and our fabulous member 김소정S (Sister Kim) came with us. We taught about family home evening and they committed to hold one that coming Saturday together. They are so amazing! The lesson was perfect and the family just felt so open and happy. It was a great meeting.

Friday was such a good day! It started off a little weird when a man came to fix our refrigerator and he happened to be my age. In normal life, nothing would be wrong with that but having been living in this missionary bubble of rules and guidelines, I felt weird. While he worked Sister Mineer and I took our studies outside. It was fun. We stayed on our balcony and in case anyone doesn't know, I am 5'3" and she is 5'11". As we looked over the balcony I was able to see a beautifully gray sky but she was able to see a little higher over the balcony wall and enjoy a nice view of the city below. It was a hilarious realization. When the fridge was fixed we came back in and had our weekly planning meeting. It was a good meeting.

Earlier in the day we had texted our Ethiopian investigator, Seblewongel. We wanted to meet her but she never texted back to our diplomatic text which in fact implied no real need for a response. We didn't give her much of an option, we just said we would stop by around 5:30PM. We met our member, 이은성S (Sister Lee) and then arrived at Seble's. She told us that her phone is over on minutes and texts so she couldn't text us back but that she was expecting us. I was so grateful to hear that! Sister Lee talked all about baptism before the adorable baby started to cry. In order to maintain the reverence, Sister Lee scooped up the baby, grabbed the stroller and took her for a walk, giving us an opportunity to teach. It went so well!! She hasn't committed to baptism yet but she definitely has it in the forefront of her mind.

The meeting went a little late but we got out the door and into a taxi in order to make it to 이두례S (Momma Lee's) house for dinner. Before we arrived I was having the BEST conversation with the taxi driver man. We were cracking up about everything! I think he was delirious because he had been working for almost a full 24 hours straight! I felt bad for him but it was so much fun. He spoke zero percent of English and it amazed me how well we could communicate! Korean is a crazy language and sometimes I surprise myself with my ability to carry on conversations and what not with complete strangers. Once we arrived, I went to pay and he gave me back 100₩ aka 10¢ and yelled, "Discount!" Haha it was hilarious.

Momma Lee fed us so much food and was so happy to see us. Like always I ate wayyyy too much but I told her I was doing it for her because I loved her. I know I didn't have to but seriously, that's a thing here. The more you eat, the more your show your appreciation and love. It was a great way to end the day.

Saturday was another (and I think the last) combined mission tour. Quentin L. Cook from the quorum of the twelve apostles came to speak to both the Seoul and Seoul South missions. He and his wife are fantastic human beings! That are literally the most adorable and sincere people. I love them! I learned so much about love and charity. One scripture he shared was in Doctrine and Covenants 31:7. It says, "I will open the hearts of the people, and they will receive you. And I will establish a church by your hand." By my hand He (Jesus Christ) will go about establishing His church! I just need faith that The Lord will do his part. He went on to promise us that if we have more faith, we WILL see more success. Immediately I thought about our not-so-committed investigators... I need to have more faith in them that they are listening and yearning for the change that God can help bring into their lives! I learned so much, it was a phenomenal meeting.

We quickly ate at the nearby Costco food court before heading back home for our appointments. The trains and buses didn't line up super well so we ended up being about 20 minutes late for our appointment with 구혜연S (Amanda). She was fine and our member was on time and kept her company with her two crazy kids. The lesson was short but anyway it was good. After was English class but our other investigator, 김하나 (Chloe) was only available at 3PM, the same time! While Sister Mineer took lead in class, I took Chloe to the other room for our appointment. It was so much fun!! We are 동갑 or same age so it just felt like friends hanging out. When it came time for the gospel message, I was SO impressed! We gave her the talk called, "Protection from Pornography-A Christ-Focused Home by Linda S. Reeves. So I first want to start off by saying that I DID NOT know the title of that talk when I printed it off. I just read my notes and thought she would like it. When it came time to talk about it I was SO impressed with the questions she wrote and the parts that she marked as important. She continues to amaze me. We did have a semi-awkward conversation about pornography and the evil that it is but all in all, the spirt was there and it was great.

After English class and that appointment we made out way home for dinner. We ate quickly and were able to make a few items in preparation for HyonChee's baptism. It was a productively stressful evening.

Sunday was quite the day!! In the morning we had church. HyonChee came as always. Today it was my turn to be in Relief Society. It was so fun to be able to announce the baptismal service that would be held later that evening. So many women have been preparing the food and anxiously awaiting this baptism. I love this ward so much! For Sunday school HyonChee decided that she wanted to attend Gospel Principle's class instead of young men and young woman's class. It was impressive how much she learned and participated. She is so amazing! Sacrament meeting was also great.

When church ended, all of the missionaries came with us to meet a woman teaching free Korean to foreigners. This lady had previously flagged us down on the street to teach us about this free Korean class that apparently a number of foreigners attended. It seemed to be a possibly productive finding activity, so we went. It turns out that it was not exactly what we were expecting. There is a church here called 신천지. This church is essentially the scariest one I've ever come in contact with. There whole method is to plant people in different congregations with the objective of placing doubt in the members and bringing them to their church. When they are placing doubts they wait for the priest or some one to make a mistake and then teach people this leader or church cannot be trusted. Strange right? Well anyway, they were kind and tried to be really friendly with us but it didn't take long for us to realize who they were. We left quickly.

Next was baptismal preparation! Sister Bagley and her companion Sister Giles and Elder Meeks arrived so we could practice the musical number a few times before preforming. People started trickling in and they were all so excited to see Sister Bagley. I too was SO happy to see her again. When 현지S (HyonChee) arrived with her family, Sister Bagley and I pulled HyonChee aside to talk about what she would say for her testimony. She was so nervous, but when she began to speak I felt the spirit so strong. This is an amazing girl! I feel so blessed and privileged to have been a small part of finding, teaching, and baptizing her. I love her so much! We quickly got her dressed, took a few pictures, and began the meeting. The first speaker was our true and loyal, 이은성S (Sister Lee). She is always so fantastic. Next I spoke and bore my testimony all about the Atonement of Jesus Christ. I explained that she would become clean after baptism but it is through the Atonement that we can continually become clean. The last speakers were Sister Mineer and Sister Bagley. They are both so cute!

Before the actual baptism 오광철B (Brother Oh- Sister Lee's husband) brought HyonChee up to demonstrate how he would baptize her. Brother Oh tipped her backwards just a little and she squealed because she thought she was going to fall haha it was so cute. All four of us sister missionaries walked her to the font and anxiously waited and watched from the doorway where she entered the font. I held Sister Bagley's hand and I cannot tell you how happy we all where when the prayer was said and she was immersed in the water. Words cannot describe how happy I was. We got her dried off and dressed. Previously I had bought her a dress to wear for her baptism but she thinks she looks fat in it so she wore shorts and a t-shirt instead haha. Oh well. I made her promise to wear it next Sunday for when she will receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.

To finish the meeting HyonChee's parents were asked to come up to introduce themselves as well as congratulate their daughter. They are great people! Next was her little sister, she is 12 and had no idea what was going on haha. She mostly said embarrassing things about her sister haha. Lastly was HyonChee and her testimony. She is the sweetest girl. She starred at me the whole time as if asking for reassurance if what she was saying was okay. It was more than okay, it was beautiful! The service ended with a prayer and delicious food that the women of the ward had prepared. It was perfect! I tried to organize as much as I could but the members went above and beyond what was asked of them. They have been amazing throughout this whole process and I am so happy and grateful to help the church in this area thrive and grow.

Most everyone lingered for over an hour to congratulate HyonChee and to talk with her family. We eventually had to encourage people to leave by 9PM haha. When the church was cleaned and locked the four of us sisters went back to the house for a sleepover! As if it wasn't enough to see Sister Bagley but I was also about to talk with her allllll night. After our companions were fast asleep we continued to talk and talk and talk until 3AM... If this is the kind of reunion that happens from a few weeks of separation, I can only imagine what it will be like to see my family again. ^^ it was a great  and I and still on cloud nine after HyonChee's baptismal service.

I love you all. I'm sorry this is so late haha- I am well aware how busy missionary life is but this week I've started to fee like I've had doubt the amount of responsibilities and tasks to accomplish. I'm not complaining though, I love the fast paced schedule! It keeps be busy and totally focused on the work.

Have a great week!!
Sister Sloan