2nd Transfer, Week 1 In which Sister Westrup sings publically for the first time

Okay, so I'm a little behind in sharing Sister Westrup's letters.  But I'm catching up.

Dear Family,

 

As I mentioned last P-day, our district gathered for a meat buffet. It was a special occasion because of transfers. Our district didn't change too much. Just one Elder got transferred to another area in our district. So, nothing to exciting. The meat, however, was DELICIOUS! There's just tons of uncooked meat set out. You bring it to your table and then you cook it there. It's really more of an Elder activity I think. Sister Bush and I decided on the way home that Sisters just don't really go out to stuff their faces with as much meat as possible. Nevertheless, it was mighty tasty.

 

Every week on Wednesday night, we have an English class at the church. Sister Bush and I were in charge of giving the spiritual thought. Sister Bush is quite musical. As most people have come to find out by the excruciating pain in their ears that comes any time I try to belt out a tune, I cannot sing at all... This particular week, we had more people at English class than every before. They had no idea what they were in for. Sister Bush and I stood up to sing at the end of the class. My knees were shaking. And I felt like I was going to vomit. But just as with speaking Korean, I've found that whenever I open my mouth to share my message, Heavenly Father blesses me, and it's all ok. We sang I am a Child of God. One verse in English, one in Korean. I think it really touched people. It was a miracle! I sang in front of people! That night, we got a lunch invitation to meet with a lady whose been coming to English class for the past 10 years. She's been taught all the lessons, mulitiple times even! But she just won't get baptized. It was a miracle that she invited us! We're going to try our best to work with her, but not be overwhemling. (When we were singing I am a Child of God, she was mouthing all the words... in English) She's basically a member of the church already.

 

We've had to move back our baptismal dates again! It's so devastating! The sisters love us, and they keep all of their committments, EXCEPT coming to church. We've corraled one of the YSA into "fellowshipping" her. Really, we just want them to get married. But more than that, we just want her to come to church. I think they might invite us over this next week for dinner. That is perfect because we've only been teaching them at the church. If we can find out where they live, we'll just go pick them up before church. They'll have to come.

 

In other news, Sister Bush is a riot! I love her so much! We laugh all the time. Missionary work is so fun with her! When we go door knocking, she'll do the funniest things in between doors, and I have to try so hard not to laugh out loud as we share our message with people.

 

We also started a contest with some Elders in our district to see who could be done with Pass-off first. Pass-off is just a little program our mission has to memorize sentences for each lesson (or discussion if you're old school... Dad). This Elder is a transfer ahead of me. We discovered last week that we were in the same lesson, even though he's been here for two months longer than I have (because of the whole delayed in the MTC thing). So, me and my big mouth decided it would be a good idea to challenge him and see who could be done first. The loser has to buy the winner ice cream. I've been working like crazy trying to memorize sentences. I did 18 in one day last week. But he's still ahead... BOO!

 

This week we've focused more on reading the Book of Mormon with our investigators. There's something special when you read the Book of Mormon in a group setting. You can gain insights and feel the Spirit in a way that's so unique. It's hard to explain unless you try it for yourself. So, that's my challenge this week. Read the Book of Mormon with each other this week! Even if it's only a few verses. I know that when we read the Book of Mormon with those we love, our love for them will only continue to grow deeper and stronger, and our understanding of our divine identies will increase. Funny how those two things always correlate huh?

 

Today Sister Bush and I are going to do some shopping, and then get ice cream (this is beginning to not only become a pday tradition, but an every day tradition).

 

Alright family, I think that's it for today!

 

Love you!

웨스트럽 자매

The Greenie Transfer Email

So, we finally found a place to email without the dangers of evil security guards breathing down our necks. RIght now I'm seating in the comfort of a little cafe called cafe bene, sipping on citrus honey tea, trying (albeit unsucessfuly) not to listen to the jazz music playing.

This first transfer has been INCREDIBLE. I can't believe how blessed I've been with my trainer, our investigators, our district, and the ward members.

 

My trainer is such a good missionary. Even if we have to walk a little slower, or take buses instead of walking places, she is always doing missionary work. She's so positive and happy, people listen to her, even if they were stand offish at first. I'm trying to be more like her! But I still get a little nervous to take to people.

 

Our investigators are so golden! I know that may sound like a cliche thing that people say. But it's true! The Koo sisters that I've mentioned before had to have their baptismal dates pushed back a little bit. They weren't able to come to church because of the holidays. The little sister is exactly like Rachel, only Korean. She totally loves having time with the missionaries all to herself. The older sister is the BEST. I always get a little nervous teaching her, wondering when we'll teach something that will be hard, or that she just won't accept. But she always accepts everything. She asks questions, and when she prays, it's so beautiful. She has such faith. She lived in China for the past 10 years, so she's fluent in Chinese. I've been searching for a picture of the Hong Kong temple for the past couple weeks to show her. I finally found one and I'm so excited to show her! She lights up when we teach her. There's this spark of recognition, and I know that the truth of what we're teaching her, and the Spirit, speaks to her soul in way that nothing else in her life has before. She knows it's true. All of it.  When we taught her about modern day prophets this last week, she just kept nodding and saying, "This makes so much sense. If God had propehts in the Bible, of course he would have them today." She totally wants to get married in the temple. But she's had this boyfriend. My companion and I were scheming different ways to get rid of him, and then she told us during our last lesson that they had broken up the night before! Yes! We didn't even have to pray for it. Now we're picking out eligible members in the ward for her to marry. We also told her this at the last lesson, and she's all for it.

 

The members here are so great about helping out when we need it. Yesterday, we had the most delicious dinner appointment yet. The dad is a cook. And the food was just incredible! One of the sons got back from a mission in Pusan pretty recently, so he's always willing to help out with lessons (we've picked him out for the older Koo sister, although neither of them know it yet). Since I'm still a greenie, they all think my horrible Korean is adorable. And the dad's speciality, cheen bang, is my favorite food. He said he'd totally make some for us. I had no idea that's what he said until after the dinner when my companion was talking about it. She thought I had understood because I was nodding my head and saying yes to everything he was saying. That happens a lot around here.

 

In the MTC, the branch president's wife, Sister Shin, would always talk about how we would eventually have kim-chee for breakfast if we were dedicated missionaries. I haven't eaten kim-chee for breakfast, YET. But I'm beginning to crave it all hours of the day. And I think that the morning I eat kim-chee for breakfast won't be too far away.

 

I'm obessessed with the food here. It's SSOOOOOOO SOOOOOOO delicious. I don't even know if I can describe in words how fulfilling it is. We have another investigator (who came to church yesterday! yay!) that fed us the BEST meat. I stuffed my face. Koreans are so funny. They will never let you stop eating until all the food is gone.... I'm totally fine with that....

 

We have a couple other investigators. The one that came to church yesterday is great. She's a fun lady, in her mid-50's. But she lives alone. She asked us in the first lesson if she would have friends if she came to church. UM YES! of course you'll have friends. She really liked Relief Society. Who doesn't?! Relief Society is the best!

 

Well, we're meeting our zone for some sort of meat buffet soon. So I should probably get going. It's supposed to be really delicious. I'll take notes so I can describe it to the boys in full detail next email.

 

Christmas sounded fun! Crystelle and Russell's skit sounded hilarious! I knew I had to have at least one sibligh that wasn't lame and could do something creative at Christmas.

I'll keep Elder Carlson in my prayers. I don't know how hard it is to go home, but I know how hard it is to be in the hospital when you're a missionary.

Tell Aunt Geri I'm praying for her too! She sounds like she's just trooping through everything! Is there anything they want from Korea?

 

Ok, I really do have to be going now!

Love you!

웨스트럽 자매

Merry Chirstmas

So plans to email at the library failed. So this email will be a
little bit on the short side again. Sorry!

Things are going great here! We're still teaching the sisters. The
younger one, Sunny, came to church on Sunday. We've also started
teaching some other really great investigators this week. I feel
really good about them. I wish I could tell you more details, but
there's not enough time. I'll try and write a snail mail today.

The members here are fantastic. They tell me that I look like a
celebrity. (which is always really nice to hear) We've gotten a few
dinner appointments. I just LOVE Korean food. I can't get over how
much I love it. I've only tried one thing that was really disgusting.
My companion and I were in a store buying some grocercies and I
spotted this cheesy sausagey looking thing. So naturally I decided to
try it. Much to my dismay, IT WAS NOT CHEESE. Nor did it taste good. I
had to eat three oranges just to get the taste out of my mouth. It was
sick.

Before I left the MTC, Elder Christofferson spoke to us. He promised
that our afflictions would be swallowed up in the joy of Jesus Christ.
When he promised us this, I felt the truth of what he spoke, but I
wasn't quite sure how this could be accomplished. Now that I'm in
Korea, I understand a little bit better what he meant. Besides the
cold, my hip can sometimes hurt. I think that before my mission, I
easily would have given up walking most places because of the pain.
But somehow, it just doesn't seem to matter. When you think about
things from an eternal perspective, the pain lessens. There are so
many people here yearning to hear the gospel, and they don't even know
it! How can I just stop walking and talking with people? (actually, my
Korean stops me more than my leg does)

So, just something to think about during the Christmas season. Things
always get stressful and hard. But whatever afflictions we face WILL
be swallowed up in the joy of Jesus Christ if we allow ourselves to do
so.

Wellp. I better get going
사렁해요!!!!
우ㅐ 스트럽 자매

Greeting from Suwon

So, I don't have much time to write. We're using a computer at a bank,
and I think they want us to leave soon.

I feel like a life time has passed since my last email. I flew
Singapore air into Korea. It was probably the best international
flight of my life. They gave me a warm towel for my face before take
off, and socks for my feet.
When I got off the plane, no one was there! But I kept my cool and
Sister Furniss showed up a few mins later. We arrived in Daejeon
around 10 that night. I met Sister Bush. She is awesome! (All of the
Elders say she's the best missionary in the mission, and I'm inclined
to believe them) I spent the next day training with President and the
APs. We had lunch, and then we were off on a train to Suwon.
Here's the really cool part about Suwon: It's the golden area of the
mission right now. The Elders have been really successful here, and
the stake has just been pleading for sisters. So, Sister Bush and I
are opening the area for sisters. I think it might have been a little
stressful for Sister Bush to open a new area, and be training a
greenie. But it's all be fun stress, if that makes any sense. We
alreay have investigators! It's amazing. We taught on Saturday, and
committed these two sisters to be baptized, and they said yes! They
are the Koo sisters. Pray for them!
We're over two wards. The members are so welcoming. We had two dinner
appointments last night! It was crazy!
I LOVE Korean food! It's so incredibly good! I'm always hungry!!!!

I don't really have a ton of time to write, so that has to be about it
for this week, but I promise I'll send pictures next week. anywho. love you all! miss
you!!!

Westrup chaemae

Happy Thnksgiving

Dear Family!

This has been an incredible week! I don't know how I'm going to fit it all in this email!

So last Tuesday, after my new companion and I, Sister Bauer, wrote our emails, we trudged our way over the Health Clinic. Perhaps both of our favorite places in the MTC. (I hope you note the sarcastic tone in that last sentence)

The Doctor ended up telling Sister Bauer that she should go home. It was a pretty devastating day. We were all sad to see Sister Bauer leave. But luckily, she's lives just in Orem. And she just happened to be at the temple this morning during our session! It was such a coincidence! I know she'll be back out in the field in no time!

Last Tuesday night, Elder Christofferson came and spoke. One thing that he said in particular stuck out to me. He promished all the missionaries in attendance (remember, this is an apostolic promise from one of the Lord's most humble servants) that any afflication we experience on our mission would be swallowed up in the joy of Christ. Later that night, Sister Bauer got more and more sick. I did my best to try and serve her. I hope I did. It was hard that day with my leg. We do a lot of walking on P-days. So my leg gets pretty tired by the end of the night. But as I tried to serve Sister Bauer, I realized something. Yes, my leg and hip were still hurting, but somehow I didn't notice as much. And it really didn't matter as much. My afflication was swallowed up in the joy of Christ, it was swallowed up in the joy of serving someone else; just as the Savior would have done. The next morning I was searching for a scripture that might help Sister Bauer, and I came across Alma 31:38. It was heaven sent.

...

I will always remember the Thanksgiving I spent in the MTC as the best of my entire life. In the morning, Elder Nelson came to speak. His wife also spoke. They were beautiful talks. Elder Nelson spoke of praising God, and shouting Hallejuah, and what that truly means. After the morning devotional, we went to lunch. I espeically enjoyed the cranberry sauce, as I do every year. mmmm. it was good. Following lunch, we had a program about the Humanitarian program of the church. I wish I had all the statistics on hand of everything the church does to help those in need around the world, but unfortunately, I don't. Afterward, we made first aid injury kits that will be sent to the Sudan.

 

That night we got to watch 17 Miracles; the movie about the Willie and Martin hand cart companies. It was amazing! Cheesy in parts yes, but it absolutely strengthened my testimony of why I'm here, what I'm doing, and how I should be more diligent. So many pioneers of great faith, literally gave their lives for just the chance to attend the temple once, and be sealed to their families forever. I get to go to the temple once a week. I sit at the feet of prophets of God on a regular basis. How much more need do I have to be diligent when considering all that they would give up just to be in my place?

 

Since Sister Bauer left, I've been in class by myself. I wasn't sure originally how this was going to work out. Both of my normal teachers were out of town for Thanksgiving. That means I was alone with teachers I had barely met before. One of the teachers who subbed for me this last week was Brother Ball. He's from New Zealand AND HE IS AWESOME. He really taught me how to make the Great Apostasy more personal when teaching. I think missionaries glaze over that bit of the lesson too much. Without the darkness of the Great Apostasy, how can we teach of the miracle of the Restoration. We also talked about Lord of the Rings.... Naturally. Haha! I'm sad he'll only have taught me for that one week. Another teacher that subbed for a bit was Sister Judd. She's subbed for my district before. She served in Daejeon, and she is one of the most lovely people I've ever met. That is the only way I can really think to describe her. Love oozes from her pores. She has this instantly calming presence. I've learned much from her. I'm so glad I got to spend some time one on one with her.

 

Brother Tanner and Brother Kang (a native Korean, yikes!) will teach me the rest of the time I'm here.

 

I have another appointment with Dr. Jackson on Thursday. He'll give me permission or not to leave next Monday. Even though me leg and hip still hurt. I think he'll give the go- ahead.

 

But like I said earlier, it doesn't matter if my leg hurts every day for the rest of my mission. I know that any pain I experience will be lessened when I take the time to look outside myself and serve others...

 

I'd also like to add a special shout out to sister hurt's mom: thanks for reading my blog!!!! You're so sweet! I promise I haven't always been so grateful for this surgery and subsequent stay in the MTC as I came across in my letters. But I really am now! In being here, I've had these amazing experiences that I would have missed out on otherwise. But thank you for thinking so highly of me!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

 

I have only a minute left. I love you all! Hopefully the next time you hear from me will be at the airport. And my next email from Korea!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

-Westrup cha-mae

Week 12

Dear Family,

So begins my delay time. So far it's been really fun! My new companion, Bauer 자매님 and I have the room all to ourselves! That's a nice change from being with five other 자매님들. And since we don't really have a schedule for class, the teachers have come up with some really fun activities for us to do.

Last night, we planned an FHE activity for one of our investigators, and then we translated a hymn. So maybe that doesn't sound super exciting.... But those are defintely joys of missionary life.

 

I hope you got the pictures I sent! I think the one where I'm "watching" conference is my favorite. I would also like to say that that picture was not staged at all! I woke up from surgery and begged to watch conference. I don't know why that was my first thought upon waking up. I didn't realize that watching conference was not really a possiblity. But one of the incredibly nice nurses got out her laptop and set it up for us. After she did, I immediately fell asleep. Haha.

 

So a little bit about my new 동반자 (companion). She's from Orem. She went to UVU before her mission. There not really sure what's wrong with her right now, but she can't keep food down. Hopefully they find out what's wrong with her in these next couple weeks so she can go to Korea with me!

 

With all this time at the MTC, I'm basically a pro! So, if you know any missionaries coming in to the MTC, please send these tips their way:

1. As far as new books, and scriptues go, DON'T BUY THEM AT HOME. You can buy almost anything you want at the MTC bookstore, with a discount. So just wait to purchase anything new.

2. Stay away from the chicken in the cafeteria.... It doesn't agree with most people.

3. READ PREACH MY GOSPEL AS MUCH AS YOU POSSIBLY CAN!!!!!!!! I don't know how much I can stress this point. I'm so ashamed at how little I studied PMG before my mission. There isn't time in the MTC to do an in-depth study of 나의 복음을 전파하라 (PMG). So read as much of it as you can before you enter the MTC.

 

And just a side note to that last tip. PMG is probably my favorite book aside from the Book of Mormon. Every member, and I mean every member, should be studying from it's pages. It's an incredible resource. I can't believe I didn't take more advantage of it.

 

4. Pack lightly... My old companion ended up with 50 lbs of extra things at the end of our stay.

 

I think that's all the things I can think of right now regarding that.

I'm not sure exactly what the schedule will be for Thanksgiving. I know a service project should be involved. And I've heard rumours of an apostle coming.

 

Tell the boys to write me....

사랑합니다!!!!!!

-우ㅐ스트럽 자매

Week 11

Dear Family,

Well, it seems that I will be delayed. No worries. It was a little frustrating when I found out last week. It's hard to feel like you're fufilling your purpose as a missionary when you're stuck inside of the MTC for two weeks longer than you were supposed to be here. But I've been thinking a lot about the blessings that are coming with it. And there are sooo many. I'm starting to get really excited about staying longer. I'll pretty much reign over the younger district. I might even be able to convince them to pack for me when it's time to leave. Also, I'm going to have my teachers all to myself. Yup, that's right, one on one Korean tutoring. Who could ask for anything more? And I get to celebrate Thanksgiving. The more I write, the more excited I get. So, I should be leaving by December 5th. I'm not sure if I'll be traveling with other missionaries, or if I'll be by myself. I won't get my travel plans until the week before. And I'll get to call from the airport.

Since you called the MTC mom, President Sonne comitted me to telling you all the details of everything that's going on. Although I'm not sure what he meant by that. I do tell you everything every week.... SO you really don't have to call the MTC anymore. He said if you have any questions medically, you should call the MTC dr. Or Dr. Jackson... After my email last week, I saw Dr. Jackson. He took out my stiches and said that I'd be here at least another two weeks. We then decided that because of my back pain, a cortozone shot in my spine might be a good idea. And so, I made my way over to the other side of the Dr.'s office and Dr. Richie gave me the shot. It was probably the most painful thing I've ever experienced. Later my companion said that because of that shot, getting an epidural later in life should be a cinch. Sister Painter always looks on the bright side of things.

Other than those exciting events, life at the MTC is finally getting back to normal for me. I'm pushing through with Korean. I think my teachers are actually surprised at how well I speak Korean considering the circumstances.

SO I didn't have time to finish the letter last week and include pictures. BUT, it's in the mail box as I type this. SO have no fear, it should arrive by the end of the week. There's some pretty funny ones from surgery.

This computer is acting a little funny. SO i'll probably have to cut this email a little short. Mom, if you're getting tights,  I'll be layering a lot underneath them.

How are the kids? Why haven't the boys written me at all? FAIL. You didn't answer the questions I asked in my last email. How are things going with your hip mom?

We're hoping for an Apostle tonight at the devotional. We haven't had one in awhile. We're thinking it's due time for one.

Things really are going well. Despite the set backs, I know how much Heavenly Father loves me and is blessing me throughout this whole process. Earlier this week I read Elder Holland's talk from October Conference of 2008; "The Ministry of Angels". Heavenly Father's sent me a lot of angels while I've been in the MTC. (I reccomend reading the talk if you get the chance)

Love you all! I'll be home in only 15 more months. Isn't that so crazy!?

-westrup cha-mae