Monday, March 27, 2017

Miracles Upon Miracles!

Flight Plans!!

 My district with President and Sister Facer

Sister Holyoak and I

We have to keep entertained somehow!




After 9 solid weeks at the MTC I have a firm testimony of hand sanitizer and excessively washing your hands. I am proud to say after 9 weeks here I haven't even gotten a cold! When I first got here everyone said to just plan on getting sick multiple times and that everyone is always sick. My first thought was HECK no! I can proudly say I met my MTC goal of not getting sick, to all of my future missionary friends, it is possible!

This week has been a roller coaster of emotions, from seeing insane miracles, to leaving to Korea next week. It started out with a Devotional with Lexie Walker who came and sang to us. The choir sang back up with her and that was awesome. I had no idea who she was, but she's 15 and a professional singer. You all will have to look her up, she's amazing! 

We took a trip into the real life world. Sister Holyoak had to get some pills for her knee and it was the most eventful thing ever. The thought of actually leaving the MTC in a week seems fake! Sometimes I forget I'm actually going to be serving in Korea, it feels like the MTC is my mission.

I've had all kinds of things I thought I knew were facts questioned this week, starting with animal sounds. I was telling what I thought was a clever joke, but then none of the natives laughed. (That's not just because I'm bad at telling jokes) They all looked confused and said, "Cows doing say moo, they say meh." First, whaat!? I've been spending time this week relearning my animal sounds. Who knew animals in other countries made different sounds!? Teasing them has become my new favorite hobby at the MTC, or only hobby. They're the greatest people alive! We always share American candy with them and they'll share random Korean candy with us. Sister Hwang loves chocolate! She won't eat any other candy, she said "No thank you I like chocolate." She also loves hugs, so it's safe to say we are getting along really well! 

We got our flight itineraries this week! We will be leaving the MTC at 6:20. From Salt Lake we fly to Seattle, then we have a four hour layover in Tokyo. I'm so excited! Sister Choi says she will show us her favorite more authentic things to eat in the airport. After that we are off to Korea! I'm so thankful for the time I've had at the MTC, but I'm so excited to be able to get out and start serving! We sang our "bye bye song" in Sacrament on Sunday. It was so sad, we all cried like children. Each week we all prepare talks then they choose three people to come up and speak. I managed to not speak once during my nine week stay here, I take great pride in that!

Every day we have an hour of gym time. We have gym time with most of the same missionaries every week so we get to know them pretty well. I was playing four square (that's right, throwing it back to Elementary School days, except MTC four square is some intense stuff) and there is an Elder I was talking to that knows my new mission president. He was telling us all about how awesome they are and we were just having the general missionary talk about where we were going and how the language was coming. I left to go play volleyball with some of our natives and people in our zone. This Elder came sprinting over to grab the four square ball that had rolled onto the other side of the volleyball net and didn't see the string to the net. He sprinted into it and it threw him onto his back. I've never seen anything more scary in my life. He hit his head so hard. As we all started to realize what had happened the people in charge came running over. He was unresponsive for so long I honestly thought he was gone. He started seizing and had so much blood coming out of his ears. As people were doing their best to help him while we waited for what seemed like forever for the EMTs and ambulance, the feeling in that gym was unlike anything I've ever felt in my life. Looking around, every missionary in that gym had dropped to their knees. The faith of every person in that room was being exercised in behalf of that Elder. The feeling was undescribable. I know we weren't along in that room, there were angels all around that Elder. Not only was I 100% sure I would never see that Elder again, I didn't think he would ever be the same. Less than two days later I was in absolute shock to see that Elder in the Cafeteria. Not only was he back and ready to serve, you couldn't tell anything had happened. He was completely fine except for bruising he said he had from the rope to the volleyball net. 
I know we weren't alone in that gym. There were angels all around us watching over that Elder. The Lord has people he needs him to serve, and with the Lord on our side anything is possible. He can make the impossible possible. He can lift us through trials and carry us when we don't have the strength to walk. I know He is always watching over each of us. 
I send my love.
Love, 
Sister Stout

Luke 18:27


Hello Hello Mom and Dad!!


I'm so excited to go to Korea, a little nervous, but mostly excited. I'm mainly excited to not eat MTC food anymore. I am so tired of cafeteria food! It'll be so much fun! We've been learning a lot more about the culture this week and it makes me so excited!

So I got a fun Dear Elder from Mason this week addressed to Sister Logan Stout!! I thought it was so funny!! I took a picture to send to you! It was the best! 

Sister Choi approved of my picture that Nan gave you. The one that says Return with Honor on it? She says we got it right! It really does mean Return with Honor!! Tell Nan I'm so proud of her! Also I heard a cool rumor this week, and I don't know how accurate it is but it's been floating around our zone. Sister Hwang and Choi told us it. They said that when President Hinckley dedicated the Seoul temple he blessed it and the people that North Korea would never invade South Korea as long as the members kept their covenants and attending the temple. Since then everytime something has happened or North Korea threatened, they randomly ended up not or things got in the way. Isn't that cool? They were telling us about the power and protection the Seoul temple has brought to the members in Korea. 

This week has been a heart tugging week! I'll tell you about it in my group email because I'm too lazy to type it twice and it's a long story! There have been all kinds of miracles at the MTC this week. I love and miss you all! Have the best week!
Love,
Your favorite Daughter

Monday, March 20, 2017

안양하세오!

My District and our Native Sisters


This is me and some of the ducks that live at the MTC. I love the MTC ducks!

Us outside at lunch the other day!

This is me and Sister Choi (left) and Sister Hwang (right). Sister Choi will be coming with me to Busan!!!


Another classic week at the good old MTC. As much as I just love the food, I'm definitely excited to leave to Korea! The time is going so fast. It really is like being in your own little spiritual bubble world. We have been able to have class outside a bunch this week thanks to this amazing weather. It's my favorite thing ever. We always eat our lunch outside and this week we had a little friend! We saw a deer in the bushes by where we were eating. It was such a random, but fun piece of home!

We got our new missionaries this week! We got two native Sisters, nine native Elders, and 1 English Elder. Pooooor Elder... But they're seriously awesome! They make me so excited to go to Korea! I got to go with the other STL and our Zone Leaders to go pick them up and seeing their faces was just the greatest. They were so excited to be at the MTC and have the sweetest spirit about them. Sister Hwang and Sister Choi are my favorite people ever! It's one giant joke watching us try to communicate. Between their broken English, our broken Korean it becomes one big game of charades! They're all so helpful and patient with us learning Korean. During their first gym time we had an intense game of volleyball, it was their first time ever playing! I may be able to teach about the Restoration of the Gospel, but I can't explain how to rotate in Korean to save my life! They made us a deal that if we would teach them to play volleyball they would help us with our Korean! 

The next day things got intense! Elder Dahl, Elder Bond, Sister Alder and I had to do new missionary orientation and give them a tour of the MTC! It was a royal disaster! Thankfully, most of them know a little English, but I didn't know that at the time. Everything we said we would say with hand actions and trying to make sure they were understanding! It was a fun mix between English, Korean and charades. Same as before, I can testify of the Gospel, but once it comes down to explaining where you get your hair cut, sack lunches, and all the exciting details of the MTC I'm a goner! We found out later that some of them are actually fluent in English so I'm sure they just thought it was hilarious! 

We started a beautiful thing called Skype TRC this week. We skype members from Korea and teach them 45 minute lessons once a week. We get to know them, then teach them as the spirit directs. My companions had me sit in the middle, so I felt like it was a huge screen of my face then both of them cut off on the side. They put me there because they say if I were to get a bloody nose I would bleed sunshine and happiness. That's the reputation I've gotten at the MTC. (I'm still trying to decide if that's a good or bad thing!) So during our lesson I did my job, I sat and smiled. In our review she said we seemed really happy to be there, had good eye contact and that she loved how much we smiled. Mission accomplished! 

We got to practice proselyting outside with our Native Korean Elders this week. It was the most intimidating thing ever, but I loved it! We would be the missionaries for ten minutes, then would switch to being the investigators while they taught us. And to make it more intense we had to teach alone without our companion. Our Korean Elders are awesome and were so patient with our shaky Korean! I was also shocked at how much I got out of what they said when they taught. It was such a cool experience. My favorite part was when I went up to one of the Elders and asked what he was doing to start the conversation, he pointed to a picture of Joseph Smith in his PMG and said reading about Spider-Man the super hero. We both broke character laughing, it was the greatest! After we went inside and had a testimony meeting. The spirit was so strong. It's amazing how much the spirit can touch you even when you don't know ever word being said, or even most of the words. I can't even begin to describe how cool that experience was being in there with all of those amazing missionaries. 

That next night we decided to practice our proselyting with our native Sisters in our residence hall! They get so excited when we ask them to practice things like this with them. It's so cute! As Sister Akagi and I were talking to Sister Choi, Sister Akagi tried to compliment her shoes. When she did Sister Choi looked horrified! It took us almost 5 minutes to get the message across that Sister Akagi had just swore at her in Korean! Apparently the word shoe sounds really similar to a really bad word, but no one warned us of this!!

This week we had a substitute teacher come in to teach us, Sister Kim, we love when she gets to teach us! She came in and told us to ask any question we wanted about her to get to know her really well. She opened up and told us all kinds of things about her life. After she said now I'm going to leave and you have 7 minutes to plan a 15 minutes to help bring me closer to Christ. The pressure was on!! We quick brainstormed what could help her best, threw together a lesson and she came back. When it was my turn to talk about what I had prepared and thought to go over, I felt like nothing I had prepared to share was right. It was a feeling unlike I had ever felt. I decided to just role with it and say what I felt needed to be said. Vocabulary words came to me I had studied but knew I didn't have memorized. It was amazing. I shared a scripture with her and before I knew it, I was in tears and so was she. The rest of our lesson went a completely different route and it was amazing. After she talked to us about the importance of being a missionary everywhere you go and always. You don't have to be in the field to be a missionary, you can be a missionary in the MTC. You don't have to be a full time missionary to be a missionary. You should always be a missionary where ever you are. If you have a desire to serve, then do it. Stop waiting for the next step, or something else to happen. There is no better time than now. She shared something with us she had been told on her mission, that in the next life everyone you knew who didn't have the gospel will you you didn't share it with them. They'll know you were too afraid or whatever it may be to share the truth with them. I know the gospel can bring us so much happiness and lift us through any trial. It's amazing to see how much more God can make out of you than you could ever make yourself. 
I love you all!
사랑합니다!!
Stout 자매

Monday, March 13, 2017

사랑합니다

 This is Sister Earnshaw. She is THE best annnd left me for Korea this morning!!
This is us with our teachers! Brother Reynolds is on the left, then Brother Lees on the right. They're both RMs from Korea.


This is just a fun mix of people from our zone!
This is us setting up the flags in front of the MTC building for service. It's our favorite service job, way better than pulling hair out of the drains!

 This is me pulling Sister Pearce around in our flag cart during service, her face says it all.

Featuring our best temple selfie




The MTC is a magical place. I feel like I say that so often, but it really is! We got our Korean name tags this week. It's so insane, I can't believe it. We are also officially the Senior District. We had to say good bye to our Senior District this morning and it was the worst thing ever. They're absolutely amazing and have taken such good care of us. 

This week's weather has given us life! It's been the best. We got to have class outside and even a surprise fire drill, but none of us were complaining. It was a week of matching in our district. We had Floral Wednesday, messy bun Thursday, and french braid Friday. We may have gone a little over board, but hey you have to embrace it. 

During class this week I had a magical bag of jelly beans by my desk and grabbed one, I quickly came to find out it was coffee flavored. Not just your average coffee flavored, it was sooo strong. Within a minute, my super sniffer companion Sister Holyoak, asked why it smelled like coffee. Everyone agreed and our teachers were asking the same question. I had to confess it may have been my jelly bean and we all about died laughing. I understand putting this situation into words is difficult, it may be a "you have to be there" thing, but I think it was the greatest! We all got a bathroom break to let the coffee smell die down, then had a 2 minute refresher on the Word of Wisdom, which I got to help teach! Our teachers are seriously angels from above. We learned a bunch of new prayer structures this week too! Everything sounds so similar to me, after we got done praying we got informed we were praying to our Dear Heavenly Dirt Spirit. It's a good thing that what really counts is that we tried and Heavenly Father knows what is in our hearts!

Sister Akagi and I were memorizing the baptismal questions this week during gym time while we were riding the exercise bikes and this adorable lady that works there came up to us. She's from Korea and is here to learn English, it was the best! She helped us with our pronunciation and answered culture questions we had. When we recited the baptismal questions to her, she said YES she would be baptized!! Officially our first committed baptism, the fact she's already a member is only a minor set back. She told us how impressed she was with our Korean and how well we could read so that's been a huge confidence boost!

We get a new investigator this week, we also start a beautiful thing called Skype TRC. We Skype members from Korea and teach them lessons once a week. I'm so nervous that I won't know anything that they're saying. I joked with my cute companions that now I can just slide out of the camera space and no one will even know I was there. It's a win win situation. Our in person investigator is named Sister Yoon. She is from Seoul and is attending BYU. I'm super excited to teach her!

I learned a lot this week about faith. Not just having faith and exercising faith in Christ, but having the faith to not have our prayers answered. The question has been asked a lot, Do you have the faith to not be healed? There are so many times in the scriptures where their prayers weren't answered in the way they had hoped. Sometimes our prayers aren't answered the way we had hoped or asked for, but they are always answered in the best way possible. Christ knows exactly what will help us grow the most and make us the best person possible. Do you have the faith to trust in his plan? Do you have the faith to not be healed? When our faith is tested is when we are able to grow the most. I know that through Christ we can do anything and he will carry us through it all. He never leaves us alone in any trial we face, even when if feels like it isn't going the way we want it to. When we make the decision to let Him take over, that is when we can grow beyond belief. 
I send my love!
Love, Stout 자매

Monday, March 6, 2017

On Wednesday's We Wear Polka Dots!

I can't even begin to describe how much I love the MTC!! This has been a week of trend setting and hard work. My district decided since we are all Sisters that we needed to get some trends going, so now every Wednesday we all match, yup we're that district. And I'm totally proud to be part of it! 

We've grown so much in our teaching this week. It's incredible how far we have come. Not to mention our Korean mistakes in lessons always keep us laughing. My adorable companion Sister Akagi was explaining to our investigator that after Jesus Christ died the apostles were killed, but she accidentally told him that Jesus Christ killed the apostles. Our investigator looked SO confused then kept saying, really? And we kept saying yes confidentally, until about the third time when we realized something must be off. The next day in our lesson with our other investigator she made sure to say, Jesus Christ did NOT kill his apostles. That investigator looked equally as confused, and it was THE BEST. I don't know if we're ever going to stop laughing about it! Later in that lesson I was teaching about how God calls prophets. Our investigator asked if God would call him to be a prophet through his smart phone. I didn't know how to back myself out of that one! I think I just said no, definitely not the best way to handle that one, but my vocab is pretty limited. 

This week has been crazy at the MTC, we got 300 new missionaries on Wednesday! It's amazing to see all of the people here giving their time to the Lord, I absolutely LOVE it. Not to mention on of them was Madi Peck and her bedroom is right across the hallway from mine in our residence. I get to see her all the time and it's the best. It's the perfect little piece of home I needed. 

Fast Sunday's in the MTC are officially my favorite thing in the whole world. I don't think I've ever been to a sacrament meeting where the spirit was so strong. The whole day was just incredible. I got released as Sister District Training Leader and called to be the Zone Sister Training Leader. I'm so excited for the opportunity I have to serve the amazing missionaries in my zone. It's crazy to me because once our Senior District leaves next week *tears* we will only have 3 Elders. We won't even have enough Elders to pass the Sacrament, we're all hoping that our new group of missionaries that come next week will have more Elders. I've been so blessed to be surrounded by so many amazing Sisters. They help me become a better missionary everyday and I am so excited to be able to serve each of them. Well excited and nervous, the Sister whose place I'm taking did such a good job, I have big shoes to fill. I hope that I can make all of the missionaries fill as loved and welcomed as they all did for me. 

I've learned so much this week about the importance of Charity. Developing Charity really is the most crucial step, not just to missionary work, but in life. Without Charity it doesn't matter how amazing we are, or how well we know the gospel, or how often we attend the temple. When we focus on developing charity we are able to come to know our Savior so much more. He will guide us through it all. We were watching a broadcast from Elder Bednar this week called "How to recognize the Spirit" And he said, Quit worrying about it! If you're doing your best and what you're doing is in line with God's teachings, then press forward. God will guide your foot steps. He can't lead and direct you if you're not moving. I'm so thankful for my Savior. I know that He lives and that He loves each of us. He will lift us through all of our trials and make us more than we could ever imagine.
Lots of Love, 
Sister Stout
This is all of the Sisters that came in the same week as I did. I absolutely love them!

Sister Holyoak took this lovely picture after a long day of class and we were trying to put together sentences!

On Wednesday's we wear Polka Dots!