Hawaii in Korea....June 18, 2017

 Luau!

 Two girls I teach English to at the Luau

JinHae...Beautiful!

Us with Sister Thompson!

Kennedy hair taking over the cute picture.
Love you! 

For Elder Sam Yiou's last night a member took us all up to a point to over look JinHae after a fireside we attended.

Sister Brady and I at the Luau!

Dinner at a members house

Sister Brady and I on evacuation day!

Our 72 hour kits and off to Busan!

At our mission conference!

Overlooking JinHae.

Mission Conference and Good bye to President and Sister Barrow

Hey everybody!!

I feel like I'm still standing here wondering how this week is already over. 

We've had such a busy week! So the highlights of this week have been that first we had an emergency evacuation practice! We got a call at 6:30am that said grab your passport and 72 hour kits and get to the mission home by 9:30. (We were supposed to have zone conference, so no one had plans anyways) It was quite the adventure of the morning. When we got the mission home, the whole mission was there! We had Mission Conference instead of Zone Conference and went over a bunch of safety information. We also said good bye to President and Sister Barrow as they will be leaving soon and our new mission president will be coming. It was a bitter sweet time!

This week we also put on a huge Hawaiian luau! We did it as a huge ward party and a way for the members to invite their friends and do ward missionary work. The whole night was just awesome! We ate Hawaiian food, taught Hawaiian luau dances to everyone and then had a talent portion. People in the ward sang, performed dances and the four of us missionaries learned a traditional Hawaiian dance to perform! (Shout out to Elder Sam Yiou, we couldn't have done it without our favorite and only Hawaiian missionary) The whole night was just perfect! I was so impressed with all of the members hard work in helping us put it on.

The biggest highlight of this week was our investigator accepted a baptismal date of July 9!! I don't think I can fully describe how much of a miracle this has been for us and here in Korea. My trainer has been here over a year and has never seen a baptism, kind of crazy. We are so excited for her. It has been amazing to see her grow and change in the gospel. It really changes lives if we are willing to let it.

I love you all!

Love,

Sister Stout

Karaoke, Sports and Bruises....June 12, 2017

 The old Korean buildings we went through, they're a set for tons of Korean comedies.

 Us with Diana (featuring Sister Oleson) at our Stake Sports Day.

A glass bridge across the ocean we walked across. We had to wear weird little booties to walk on it.

Dominating Sports Day!

Hey Hey!

Super super busy week! Another one for the books!

This week we had a stake sports day. Everyone came to Jinhae and we played all kinds of sports and had lunch. It was the most fun day ever, one thing I learned for sure is that I will never play Korean dodge ball again. It is unlike anything I've ever played in America! There is nothing scarier than a 50 year old Korean lady coming at you with fire in her eyes and a basketball all winded up. I went home with so many bruises I could've passed for having an abusive companion! I decided I think I'll stick with the little kid sports, group double dutch. 

The best part of the day was our investigator, Diana, came with us. She stayed the whole day and absolutely loved it. She got to know all of the members and made friends with so many people in our stake. The next day we taught her and were able to teach her how to pray. She's never prayed before, so teaching her was the coolest experience ever. After our lesson as we were leaving she said, "See you Sunday!" She beat us to the punch, we hadn't even gotten to reminding her about it yet. It's amazing how prepared she is and is soaking the gospel up like a sponge. 

We also were able to do a service activity with our investigator again this week. We went to another hospital and sang. The only difference was this time we let the Elders pick the songs, which put us singing in Korean and due to the lack of preparation time we had, it turned into the Elders having mics in their face while Sister Brady and I danced with the Grandmas and Grandpas there. It has become our favorite service activity! The down fall was after we went to our investigators restaurant for lunch and to teach her a lesson.....well she feel asleep in middle of our lesson. That was definitely the first time that's ever happened! We were reading in the Book of Mormon with her and because of the translation Koreans can't really understand the Book of Mormon. For some reason it's translated from English, to Chinese, then to Korean. There is so much lost between the translations and a large majority of people can't understand it. It has made me feel super thankful for the Book of Mormon this week. There is so much power that is behind each verse. I know the Book of Mormon is true and that is one of the coolest things to be able to share with people. 

Love everybody!

XOXO

Love, Sister Stout

안녕하세요! June 5, 2017

For FHE at a members house this week we were in charge of the game, so we played the flour game! They seemed to love it.

Oh here's this one too. Sister Brady said it's not allowed to go anywhere! So you can just look at it! She feel asleep on the bus and I couldn't help but take a pictures!

Our view from one of the members apartment decks when we were leaving our appointment.

I just think what people do to their dogs here is the funniest thing ever. Just a fun idea to do with the puppies...just kidding please don't.

Hello everybody!

With the amount of miracles we saw this week I feel like I could never type enough to do it all justice. It's so amazing to me to see how strongly the Lord's hand can be seen everyday in the work.

Highlights this week: We got two new investigators!! One of them is from the United States and attended church with us on Sunday. She seemed to really like it and everyone in the ward was really loving and welcoming to her. She even asked us if she could come again next week! 

Our other new investigator is quite the story. Sister Brady and I had a super busy day. We had back to back appointments and it was blazing hot outside. We hadn't eaten all day and it was about 4 in the afternoon, safe to say we were a hangry bunch. We stopped at a little cafe to get something to eat and headed to a park to do our studies. We sit down to do our studies and I realize I left the phone in the cafe. I was so mad at myself! We were exhausted, caked in sweat and now had to walk all of the way back to the cafe. I couldn't figure out how I left the phone, I could've sworn I had it. And I couldn't figure out how it took me so long to realize it was gone. We got to the cafe and there was the phone sitting on top of my Book of Mormon. We grabbed our stuff and started to walk back home, because we were out of  time to study. We were just a few yards down the street when a lady comes running up to us from behind yelling "Excuse me!" We turn around and she speaks really good English. She tells us that she saw us while she was on a bus and has been hoping she would run into us again. She says that she wants to learn more English and is interested in learning about God. Sister Brady and I look at each other thinking, well we are your girls! The next morning she called us, yes, SHE called US (we were beyond the moon excited) and asked if we could meet that day. The lesson went super and she explained to us that she's Buddhist but has always wondered about God. We were able to teach her about the Restoration and how to pray. It was a really cool lesson to be part of. 

Another huge miracle we saw this week came from my stupidity. (again) We have been asked to keep a $50 reserve fund at our house at all times in case something happens with North Korea. Well, thanks to all of my trainee jump start expenses, I haven't set aside my $50 reserve fund. (Don't worry Mom and Dad, I had money just not a special fund!) This week Sister Brady and I decided I really needed to get that set aside with our money for June. So when we got the money out of that bank, I tucked my reserve fund away, which was going to make us pretty tight this month. We decided as we recognized this was something that was really important and had faith that everything would work out and we would be able to make ends meet. As we went about our week the amount of miracles we've seen has been amazing. Monday, a member we were visiting sent us home with a big bag of yellow melons for our breakfasts. Tuesday, a member took us out to dinner at a fancy pizza restaurant and without us knowing bought us an extra pizza to feed us the next day. Wednesday, someone we were visiting sent us home with some frozen meat so we could cook it up later. Thursday, the Elders called us and told us to come outside. They had bought us a gallon of ice cream from Baskin Robins. (We definitely didn't need that one, but oh man did we love it in all of this heat!) And every time we've seen one of our investigators this week she's given us peppers. Then to top it all off Saturday a member we stopped to visit took us to a bakery to buy us some bread. Which turned into her throwing everything she liked at the bakery in the bag and sending it home with us. Watching all of the blessings come down on us this week has been incredible and that is just scratching the surface. I know the Lord truly knows each of our situations and will take care of us. When we take time to see His hand in our lives, it's amazing to see how it can be seen in everything we do. I know He loves each of us and is watching out for us. He is just waiting for us to turn to Him. I know when we trust in Him, He can help us through anything and everything.

Sending all of my love!

XOXO

Love, Sister Stout