Sunday, December 31, 2017

HAPPY NEW YEAR!


The MCM leader bought me peanut butter for Christmas!

The bird took my name tag off! 

The Ocean New Years Morning.
Bird Park last P-day...Christmas





Hey everybody!

Happy New Years and Happy Birthday!!!! In Korea everyone turns a year older on New Years, not their actual birthday. Birthdays are actually not even that big of a deal here, but woah is New Years a party. So heres for turning 21 before even turning 20!πŸŽ‰πŸŽ‰

I dont know how I keep ending up with like no email time, sorry family. But Christmas week has been a busy one. We spent our Christmas Pday at this huge bird park! Its seriously like a bird version of sea world. We spent like 6 hours there and were still not ready to go, plus met Santa and his pet parrot, whose going to be giving Rudolph a run for his money. This place had everything, snakes, (Elder Paul saw his first real life snake-ha New Zealanders) alligators, huge fish, sharks, penguins, dogs to play with, turtles, parrots, all the kinds of birds that look like parrots, ostriches, ducks and just everything inbetween. I mean when growing up you always thought you were going to go somewhere more exotic with lots of cool animals on your mission, but then you go to Korea, where the only free roaming animals are cats, bird parks is where its at.

We did soo much this week. Starting with I got to skype my family, obviously making this week the best ever. Since the wifi at our church was out we had to skype at a cafe, yes that was kindof lame. But hey, thanks to all the people in the cafe if helped me avoid tears. Ha thats one way to do it. 

This week our RC was in the hospital, so we spent a whole lot of time there. And the thing that shocked me was how hopping the hospitals here are. There are so many hospitals and literally theyre the place to be, so many people. In Korea they dont really have doctors offices, just hospitals, and everyone goes to the hospital for everything. You have a cold- go to the hospital. You have an excessively stuffy nose- go to the hospital. You stubbed your toe- go to the hospital. You get the point, aka there are so many people there! We decided if we just proscelyte in the hospital instead on the street, there will be more people and they cant ignore us as easy.πŸ‘Œ

This morning we were able to get special permission to get up insanely early and take a bus with our investigator and the Elders and their investigators (our investigators are living together) and go to the beach to watch the new year sunrise. Its a huge thing to do here. Everyone does it! It was absolutely beautiful and so much fun. But ignore how warm it lopks in the pictures because it was actually freezing! Another fun different new years thing, here instead of a ball drop type thing, they do a big bell ring at midnight. We were talking about the ball drop in English class and tryingto explain it out loud made me realize...well its kindof weird. Haha.

We also got to do exchanges this week with our 방어진 sisters. (Bangojen i don't know, spelling is something like that!) I was able to go to 방어진 with Sister Coon and learn all kinds of great things from her. We got a last minute phone call from this well known kindof crazy member in the ward saying he wanted to take us and the Elders to sing to the branch president in the hospital because he got random nose surgery no one knew about. (Mmm maybe supposed to be a secret? Oops) So we went with them thinking it would be a short little thing, until we're driving...driving....driving. Finally we get there, get out and realize he took us to another area! (He's not a fan of rulesπŸ˜‚) We sang super quick, get back in the car and he says "I buy you American Pizza!" Types Costco into his phone and off we went...going into another area of the zone. The whole time we were driving i was thinking, hmmm safe to say Im fired! We got to Costco, and ate so much pizza I was sick. (Dear family and friends, please dont ever make missionaries eat more food than they can/ ever want to!) Going to Costco was fun though, its literally like stepping into a mini pocket of America. Smells the exact same! Anyways great first exchange of the transfer...and possibly the last. ;) 

As for the rest of the week we spent meeting investigators and actually met a couple new investigators, all in their 20s and one of them seems super golden. Its been a week of more miracles in our cute little corner of κ²½μ£Ό, thats for sure! Gotta love Christmas miracles.

Love and miss you all♡

Love


Sister Stout

Monday, December 25, 2017

Christmas 2017









Hey everybody!

MERRY CHRISTMASπŸŽ„πŸŽ„

Today the Wi-Fi at the church went out so we ended up with no email time, so if I didnt email you back, sorry, next week! 

Christmas miracles just keep on going, this has been another fantastic week. If feels like they just always get better and better. 

Best thing ever this week. So Sister Oh wants to learn all kinds of American slang so we've been teaching her. Well Elder Lee made her a set of flash cards full of popular American slang (and not so) and boy has she been studying them. We were getting ready to leave the house and head an appointment and we kneel down, pray, get ready to leave and she says, "Lets blow this popsicle stand!" After i got control over laughing, I was like....hmmm.... probably dont say that in America! She also likes to write down all of the slang she hears me say, which lets just say isnt the best. The other night we sat down getting ready to go to bed, she pulls out her planner and says she has some English questions. Well, she had written down all the slang i had said that day and wanted to know what it all meant, the difference between oh crap and oh crud, when to use which... it makes you really think about what you say when you know someone is writing it all down!

This week was full of Christmas activities!! We had a Christmas party in Busan, where our district performed (and nailed) a dance to a remix of a Christmas snowman song. We may have less friends now because of it but it was totally worth it. We also finished caroling to all the members houses this week and planning our ward Christmas party. The ward Christmas party, thankfully, went good and we liced! We put together a skit of the differences between America's Christmas, Korea's and New Zealand's. (Because that's where Elder Paul is from) Then at the end tied it together to Christ and the reason for the season. And Santa made an appearance at the party too, aka autimatic huge success. 
Even cooler than Santa though, biggest miracle. The branch here is pretty small and our building is just the second floor of this office type building. Which means, everyone knows everyone and everyone knows if someone new comes. Well that night this man was walking by and was drawn to the church. He came in walked around a bit, then walked up to the Elders and said, I want to learn about your church, there something special here. The Elders are going to start teaching him next week and it was such a cool miracle to be able to see. Christmas time is such a cool time to be a missionary.

I hope you all have a great Christmas and remember the reason for the season. 

Sending loveπŸ’•
Sister Stout

Sunday, December 17, 2017

Merry Christmas! December 18, 2017



All sharing obviously the best candy ever. This doesn't exist in Korea, Sister 
Oh tried it for the first time, we were all super excited. (Thanks Erin Foster:))

Sister Oh bought me this duck gummy because she knew I loved ducks. And I got this cute picture in the mail from Weston, from feeding the ducks. Good times.


Missing our train after MLCM, calls for a picture. Joys of getting lost.


Our Christmas Card!

Our Christmas proselyting activity in the downtown area of Pohang with our district!!

Our investigator 이미진


Hey everybody:)

Merry Christmas! I hope everyone is staying warm. It is literally so cold. I never realized how cold it could be without snow. I definitely decided it should be against the law for it to be so cold and there not be lights or snow. If it's going to be cold, you may as well be able to build a snowman.

So much has happened this week! Woah. Christmas miracles are real.

First, a mini throw back to last week. So Saturday a sweet older couple in the ward took us, the Elders and the youth out to lunch after seminary. It was good, everything was fun. We were sitting in a little side room. In Korea they have rooms off to the side that close off and you sit on the floor with low tables. It's like having a private room. We were eating there and then the older couple had to leave early. They got up to leave, left, closed the sliding door and right as they closed the door both of the Elders go "Ahhhhhh" straightening their legs out under the table (the pain of sitting crossed legged is real!) And Sister Oh flings her arm out and tips over the pitcher of water! Everything turned into a wreck in 10 seconds. It was like flaws of the missionaries coming out the second the authority left. The Youth all looked at us, and it just turned into a 5 minute laughing session, like not the normal haha funny, but the hard to breath and you can't seem to stop. 

Well, Heavenly Father decided to whip us into shape this week, probably because of that. Or Satan is tripping us, maybe a mix of both. But that's been the joke all week. "Hmm well if we hadn't done that, maybe we wouldn't have missed our train...*as we stand there and watch it drive by us*" Haha. This past week Sister Oh and I have been running from appointment to appointment with our heads cut off. I don't know how, but we can't seem to catch a break or find time to hmm I don't know, eat dinner. Haha. But hey thats the best way to have it! 

So Christmas isn't really a thing in Korea. I mean it is, but it's not a holiday, there are no lights or trees and it's just kindof a normal day. Pretty much only church members really celebrate it. Anyways, so we decided we needed to get in the Christmas spirit! We have been making Christmas tree shaped banana bread, with a wrapped up Book of Mormon to give their friends and a Christmas card we made to all the members and then caroling to them. It has been so fun! Definitely getting us all into the Christmas Spirit. And our members are seriously gems. All of them had names and a plan of who they were going to share the Book of Mormon with. They amaze me.

As a District we deicded to share the Light the World challenge with, well the world. This week has been so awesome. We met with our District in Pohang and got permission to use a window in the downtown area. And there we're asking people to write the name of someone they love on a sticky note and are building a huge Christmas tree out of them. Then we talk to them about how they can show love this Christmas and all that fun stuff. The Pohang missionaries (they're cool.) wrote out 3000 Christmas invitation card to come to church that we're handing out like candy. We aren't done with it yet, but hopefully will be this next week. Holy cow. Doing it, I don't know if I've ever been colder in my life. Wind blows you to the core!! But it's been a super fun project.

This week one of our investigators told us she wants to get baptized. She has a lot to work on to help her get there, but it has been so cool to watch her change and see the way the atonement is changing her. It has been a huge testimony builder, being able to grow with her and see how the atonement and Christ's love has no limits. 

Love you all and hope you have a Merry Christmas
XOXO  Love, Sister Stout

Monday, December 11, 2017

December 11, 2017

A less active took us all to dinner. And Elder Lee's legs were hurting and so the lady brought him out a little stool to sit on so he didn't have to sit cross legged and it was SO funny. They brought him out baby chopsticks too. The struggle was real!

A failed picture we tried to take on the bus. (Just for you, it's blurry)

We had FHE at a members house and played the flour game. It was so fun, their kids loved it!


Hello Family!

Ah what a week. As always, too much to type and no time.

Transfer calls came. Sister Oh and I will be staying in Gyeongju and STLing. We are super excited we get to stay together another transfer. But plot twist, they broke up the fantastic four early and Elder Schimbeck got transfered out of Gyeongju. We were super sad, but he's going to go do great things other places! 

We have a less active we visit every week named Gulmira and she's from Khazakstan. We are helping her learn Korean and just help her live more comfortabely in Korea. She's absolutely adorable and has the cutest little girl. Their family is just so cute. So when we teach her we have to use a translater. Anywho, she's been needing a job. But because she can't speak Korean, it's hard, she doesn't have a car, so it has to be close, and she has to be home by 5 to take care of her little girl when she gets home from preschool. AKA their are so many restrictions. We've just been praying like crazy for us to be able to help her find a job, and the Elders have been trying to help her husband find one too. Because they don't know Korean, they can't really just call places, and reading the newspaper to find new jobs is hard, so we've been helping them after our appointments. When we met with Gulmira a couple weeks ago we promised her if she kept our commitments and came to church, that the Lord would provide and she would find a job. We've been praying like crazy for everything to work out. Last week the Elders found her husband, Slava, a job!! And this week we were able to find Gulmira a job that fits perfectly with all of her restrictions. It was such a cool testimony builder to us all that the Lord will always provide when we put Him first. I'm so thankful for this time I have to be an instrument in the Lord's hands. Serving a mission has been the best decision I've ever made and there is no where else I'd rather be. To any of my cute friends, if you're thinking about serving a mission or aren't sure, my advice to you is to do it. You won't regret it I promise.❤

Merry Christmas Season everyone!

Love,
Sister Stout

Monday, December 4, 2017

Hello Hello!


This picture looks all lame, but it was soo high up and we were sitting on the ledge of the rock. We obviously need to work on our angles.

Sister Oh is soo scared of heights, so she was freaking out that I was touching her up high.

This is the monk from the story! He took the one picture, and the other I took from above before he called us over to come talk to him.

And the last one was the best day every. Ignore my face, but we woke up that morning, got ready, and then Sister Oh was like, woah it happened. And I was like...what? "You look like a Korean." YES nailed it!! 


Hey everybody!!

I don't have a ton of time, but wanted to share the coolest miracle we saw this week. So on P-day we went hiking with the Elders. My sweet companion was a trooper, because she seriously hates hiking so much. She didn't say anything about it until we got there and started hiking, but she did great. So one miracle, she made it there and back alive! She was convinced she would die up there. The hike we went on was a Buddhist hike, so the whole way up there are different statues you can stop at, and it's super cool. Anyways so we made it to the top (again, that was one miracle) And there was a cool Buddhist statue that we missed, so we were trying to find it. Finally we saw it down below, but couldn't figure out how to get down to it. All of a sudden this monk appears at the statue and is yelling at us to come down and tells us how to get there. We all start running down to meet up with this monk.

(Random back story, Sister Oh and I have been studying Polygamy. Why? I don't know. She's been a member of the church for 6 years, so she doesn't know a lot of the history so I've been teaching her some. But one thing we were talking about last week, was she didn't know that Brigham Young and some other prophets excersized Polygamy. So we have been talking about that and researching it. Fun stuff. Except we kept thinking, this doesn't seem like what we should be spending out time on studying. I just shrugged it off and felt like it was important for her to know!)

We get down to this monk and start talking to him, and he realized who we are and says, hey I've been to your church! And we were like..what? "I've been to your church in Salt Lake!" .....what? He was in Utah over 10 years ago and went to General Conference in Salt Lake and toured Temple Square, but had never talked with the missionaries before, and he had tons of questions about our church and beliefs. It was SO cool. So we sat up on a ledge up in the mountain, over looking the valley, next to this huge Buddha, teaching him about our church and answering all his questions. (It was so beautiful, like out of a movie.) One of his major questions being about Polygamy, and it was all stuff I wouldn't know if we hadn't been studying the history of it. He invited us to come to his house that following Friday, so we were able to meet with him again. It was such a huge testimony builder to me of how the Lord always puts people we need to meet in our path and everything is his plan. Everything is always his plan!!

Now, forwarding to that Friday, we went with the Elders to his house. He lived like up in middle of nowhere. So we went and were able to talk with him, and finish answering some of his questions. And he wanted to tell us about our future. I didn't know that Monks did this, but apparently they read your palm and depending on your birthday, will tell you about your future. Mistake. So he did me first, and for some reason he liked picking on me because he just kept coming back to me and adding to my future, except I don't know if he had anything good to say about my future! To sum it all up, he said I'm going to have a hard time keeping a boyfriend, won't get married before I'm 30, and if I do it'll end badly. When I finally get married my first born child will have a lot of health issues and my husband will work far away from home and I'll only see him on the weekends. That I have a weak heart, and I get my energy from the sun, so in order to keep my heart healthy I need to live somewhere warm. That I am always happy and my heart has no room for anger. That I shouldn't study nursing, it doesn't fit me, that I need to study counseling, because he says he thinks I like to talk a lot and have a strong mind. He kept saying, "You had a boyfriend and you never listening to anything he said did you? Because you are strong minded and like to do what you want. " And I was like whhhat??? It was really embarrassing and also really funny. I also learned, I never want to be a monk because it would be so lonely and their bathrooms are like little outhouses in the woods. (If you ever visit a monk's house, don't ask them to use their bathroom.) The Church is true!

I love you all!
Love,
Sister Stout