Some say I got a lot of Seoul : From the mouth of babes....

Week 5!

GENERAL

So we got the opportunity to host this week!!! It was SO much FUN! It brought back so many memories! I am so glad we had that privilege! It was also SNOWING like real SNOW! They were the largest snow flakes I had ever seen in my whole life!! I did not even know how to act, and my coat does not have a hood... I really represented AZ well... it looked like I hadn't seen snow before, but seriously this snow was crazy and awesome!

Pre Hosting!!!

So the amazing chess board you see before you was created by Elder Megargel. A true engineer. It is quite awesome. If I weren't writing this blog I would try to recreate it :P

Impressive right!

UPLIFTING

This last Tuesday Elder Zwick and his wonderful wife spoke at the MTC devotional. It was definitely top 3 devotionals I have ever heard. Sister Zwick shared a video her grand daughter took of herself baring her testimony. It was one of the sweetest testimonies I have ever heard. She said something to this effect, "I am in kindergarten and it was really different just like the MTC is different for you guys, and even when we feel alone and like no one likes us it is okay because God likes us. Sometimes it is hard, but it is okay because God will bless us when we listen to him. My sister is on a mission right now and we miss her a lot but its okay cause she will come back and she is doing what Jesus would do. I hope I can be a missionary someday and it would be a great opporunity for me. Good luck."

Everyone... I pretty much just sat in my chair and cried and this was like minute 5.
This 5 year old was SO profound. Mission are not easy. Life itself isn't easy. and that is okay. Because our Heavenly Father loves us and takes us from where we are and helps us become something more than we could be on our own. Through Christ atonement we can become perfected in him, as we accept his grace. We have to be willing to humble ourselves to accept it though. Truly making a commitment to change.

Elder Zwick called up his son Scotty who has downsyndrom to come and bare his testimony. I had already been so moved by the spirit. I was already crying intermitantly throughout this whole talk, and I don't consider myself one to cry in public... This however, struck a chord. Someday I hope I can bare such a powerful and simple testimony. We could feel this man's love for the missionaries. We could feel his deep love for the Savior, and for the Savior's atonement. Sometimes, we all like to make this life and having faith way more difficult than it needs to be. When it comes down to the basics, it is very simple.

When we humble ourselves to repent we can be clean through Christ's atonement.
When we love God we keep his commandments. When we understand how much God loves us, we can love others no matter the circumstance, and invite them to partake in this joyful plan.

I know this to be true, and it is not as difficult as I have made it out to be in my mind in the past. The examples of Scotty and the Zwick's granddaughter are perfect examples of love and faith. Children may be said to be naive, but we are to have faith like unto little children for such is the kingdom of God(Matt 19:14). and from the mouth of babes is perfected praise(Matt 21:16) (3Nephi 26:16). I hope this week I can work on being more childlike. They hear correction so much easier than adults do, and I want to be teachable especially as I learn the Korean language and the language of the scriptures, and most importantly the language of the Spirit.

LOST IN TRANSLATION

So I am already pretty much a baby in Korean... or at least I talk like one.
So this one time, in the MTC, there was a teacher who asked us why we were learning Korean(all in Korean of course).

I was trying so hard to remember what I had learned on TALL(computer language program) that I starting just taking a stab in the dark.

I wanted to say, "I am learning Korean to preach to the Korean people."
instead I said, " I am learning Korean to oppress the Korean people"

I PROMISE that I really meant to say preach... however, my Korean teacher just about lost it laughing, and was like what are you trying to say!? it was pretty hilarious. The lesson to learn here is, when taking a shot in the dark do not be surprised when there is "collateral" damage... The true hilarity of this blunder though, is that oppress and preach are NOT even remotely pronounced the same... unlike the other mistake I made the other day with "to feel" and "to be greasy"
I will romanize what it sounds like
nookeeda vs nookeehada
We have fun. haha

ONCE UPON AN AUSSIE

So this one time I had this conversation with on of the Aussies in our branch,
Sister Aussie "I like that rangur's dress"
Sister Shaver "huh?"
Sister Aussie "I like that rangur's dress"
Sister Shaver "The red head? what did you call her?"
Sister Aussie " that's what we call red heads in Australia, Rangur' like orangutan."
Sister Shaver "I can't wait to email Sister Shaver(the red head one)"

Also, one of the Australian elders going to Indonesia is leaving Monday and someone asked if he was excited and he said it was mixed feelings. When asked why he said, "I'm not going to have any toilet paper..."
Count your blessing everyone....

PICTURES :)