Rollerblading and Translating 0.0

안녕하세요!

What a week!

We have had a lot of our investigators drop us, or stop meeting with us over the last few weeks but we have had a lot of success with finding new, prepared people.

On Wednesday, after district meeting, our district decided to sticker board for English. We have a board that asks "What is the hardest part about learning English?" and then there are boxes that say "Words, Grammar, and Pronunciation." We stand at a street corner and invite everyone to choose a category and put a sticker on the board. We then talk about our free English program and see who's interested.

It was VERY successful! Yay!  Sister Moyer and I got 9 numbers and we look forward to seeing them all come out to our English class!

On Thursday we had TEMPLE DAY!!! Woot! So we got to go across the river ~

The river divides our mission from the Seoul Mission so it's a big treat if we get to go there. We just aren't allowed to shop or buy food there :(

For P-Day we went bike riding with our zone! Except, we kinda got lost trying to find the bikeriding place so we ended up just walking around and taking selfies.

Those faces though....

We finally made it, but instead of biking I decided to go roller blading? Worst decision ever! I think I assumed it would be much easier than it actually was. I  started going but then I realized that everyone on bikes was way far ahead of me ㅠ ㅠ  so I tried to go faster and faster.

"It is not requisite for a man to [rollerblade] faster than he has strength."

I ended up falling and sprung my wrist – It wasn't that bad but I ended up taking my roller blades off and just walking the rest of the day.

We were so sore the next day, which made it hard the next couple of days. But today, this P-day, we are resting!

Last Sunday we had a new family move in. They are Polynesian and the husband is working on the American Base close by. They really wanted to delve into Korean culture so they decided to attend a Korean ward for the two years they will be here. They are so awesome!

However, that means that we missionaries can be a really big help to them by translating. I translated for the mother in Relief Society. That was the first time I have ever had to translate and it was so hard! Ahhh!

I can understand basically what everyone is saying in my head but translating that into English that makes sense was a lot more difficult than I had originally anticipated. But it'll definitely help me improve in English speaking skills and Korean listening skills!

After Relief Society, Sister Moyer and I went to help the 8 year old girl in primary. We will be co-teaching primary from now on. The Primary president says something in Korean and we say the same thing in English. It's actually really fun! And Primary Korean is a LOT easier to understand than . . . anything else. It's really refreshing ^^

I'm so grateful for this opportunity to serve in Korea.

They say that 10 years of experience is shoved into 18 months or 2 years and that is 100% true.

I love you all! <3

Have a wonderful week ~~~

- Sister Holdaway

Spring!

안녕하세요! 

Spring is here!

Spring in Korea is like . . . the best time of the year.

It kept us sane while we were busy trying to plan Zone Conference. We only had a week to plan and we were in charge

of the venue and a fun activity. So last Sunday we decided to check out Olympic park where they hosted the Olympics in 1988 ~

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​Note: That tall tower in the back? About to be the tallest building in Asia. 123 stories tall!

While Olympic Park was cool we decided on another park.

Zone Conference was an all-day activity with lots of training and being able to talk with other missionaries in our zone.

A few months ago our mission adopted what we call "The 7 Minute Workout" which is basically a full-body, cardio and strength workout that you only need to do for 7 minutes in the morning. So a part of Zone Conference, President Morrise challenged everyone to do the workout and see who has the most score. So, me being the competitive person I am, decided to do it. I didn't beat president but I did beat my scores in the past but I definitely paid for it . . . it's been about 5 days and I'm still sore. It was really fun though!

After Zone Conference was over the next thing we had to prep for was a ward music night, which was very successful! Most of our ward showed up to support it and a lot of non-members came as well! Very fun ~~

Lastly, even though I'm in Seongnam I also cover Songpa (where the mission office is) because they don't have sister missionaries. Just last week we received 2 new investigators in that area so we will be doing a lot of traveling there and back in the near future.

It's always hard work but it's always worth it <3

I love all of you!  Have a wonderful week!

 - Sister Holdaway

Tender Mercies

Hello everyone!

Sorry this will have to be a short one today ~~

This week was full of meetings and trainings.

Sister Moyer and I had to give 3 trainings on Thursday. One to District Leaders titled: "What is a Sister Missionary? What are her needs? And how can I appropriately address those needs as a District Leader?"

The next was to all the Sisters - it was just a getting to know you activity and going over good ol' modesty and cleaning the house.

Then - we had to give training in both Korean and English to the whole zone on following the spirit and the importance of the spirit in missionary work.

The rest of our week was watching CONFERENCE!

For those of you who don't know - Korea gets conference a week later than everyone. It's hard to wait a whole week but it was so amazing and came at exactly the right time.

On Thursday I hit my year mark on a mission!!! Wow! Time really flies.

A few days ago Sister Moyer and I were talking about “tender mercies” that we have seen on our missions. Tender mercies aren't big things to everyone else- but they're big to us.

It reminded me of a time in the MTC (a year ago 0-0) when I was feeling especially homesick. Specifically I was missing my mother’s smoothies. It was something so small and insignificant but that morning I turned to my companion and said "Man, what I would give to have my mom's smoothies again." That very same day for dinner - what happens to appear? None other than SMOOTHIES! The MTC NEVER serves smoothies. But that day someone decided "Why not serve smoothies to the missionaries?" little knowing how much it would mean to me.

Little things like that make me know that God is watching out for us and cares about the littlest tiniest things.

Sometimes we are so focused on seeing the big displays of miracles and the big answers to our prayers that we miss the answers to the little whisperings in our heart that no one but God can know.

I'm so grateful for this gospel. And I'm especially grateful to be able to hear the words of the living prophet and apostles. So uplifting!

Have a wonderful week! Enjoy spring!!

Love,

Sister Holdaway

A Day at the Park

Happy Easter, 부활절 - which literally translates to "Resurrection Day" in Korean!

So - Happy Resurrection Day!!

This week has probably been the most exhausting weeks on my mission but in a way those are the weeks when you feel like you did the most! We sure did a lot this week!

On Tuesday we went to the airport with President Morrise again and picked up the new missionaries! Fresh from the MTC!  It's always so fun to pick them up ~ mostly because of all the memories it brings me from my first day in country. There are now two people from Maryland in this mission! #MDReppin'

It's fun but it was a two hour trip there and back on the subway which makes for a very long day.

On Wednesday we has nothing to do ~ that sounds bad but usually our days are scheduled full with lessons and appointments so it was nice to take a little breather. The weather was wonderful so we decided to go out with Sister Moyer's guitar and do singing proselyting at a park. I have never been to any parks in this area so we wanted to check some out!

There me met a lot of cool people and got a few new potential investigators! 2 foreigners with a guitar singing in Korean will get people's attention.  That night we made kimbap with our Bishop and his wife! ​

Seriously - when I get home I'm making everyone Korean food!

That night was the first, of many, hard core rainstorms!

Our phone only got a little bit ruined.....

​On Thursday I had another appointment at the hospital . . . and another one on Friday (boring) [Family Note: She's doing fine -- just more unnecessary tests from her fainting spell a couple of weeks ago]. But going to Seoul for an hour there and back twice in a week give you a lot of opportunities to talk with people . . . and getting more Jamba Juice is a win.

Friday was Sister Moyer's Birthday!!!

Happy 22nd B-Day!

Saturday we went hiking with some English Class members to a famous Korean fortress called Namhan Sanseong (남한산성). Lot's of history, lots of scenery and a picnic at the top!

If anyone wants to know what Seoul looks like^^

​​Afterwards, we went to English class and celebrated Sister Moyer's birthday!

The next day, Sunday, was EASTER!!

The weather was rainy and grey but we still tried to make the best of it. After church we went around singing songs about the Resurrection to old grandmothers who sit at benches in parks. They were all so friendly and we were able to bear our testimony to them about Jesus Christ. It was the best!!

I hope everyone had a wonderful week! What a happy, hopeful message:

He is Risen. He Lives!

I love you all!

- Sister Holdaway ​

P.S.  --

Because this week was transfers we said goodbye to Elder Lim!

GOODBYE ELDER 임!

And we welcomed in Elder Preisler:

​Yep. Found this gem on my camera.

#elderselfies