Chuseok! 추석!

안녕하세요 여러분 ~~

This week was actually really eventful! Because . . . it was Chuseok! This time last year I was serving with Sister Wright and we performed the infamous "Jerusalem will Fall" act.

This year I was pressured into sharing a talent~ Here it is, in all its glory . . .

So for this special holiday our mission had a 2 day conference. We had a lot of wonderful training and some fun activities! Some fun quotes I like from our very own President Morrise: "If you wait for the motivation to do it, it will never happen." "Just because you start slow doesn't mean you won't get far."

(There were more but I forgot to bring my notebook)

It was so wonderful to be gathered with all the missionaries in the Korea Seoul South Mission! If you have never been in a group of 150 full-time missionaries you are truly missing out on the biggest spiritual boost ever.

The highlights of the conference were the talent show, the proselyting activity at Olympic Park in Seoul, and the testimony meeting at the end.

The let 150 missionaries loose in Olympic Park with a Book of Mormon in our hands, a smile on our face, and a traditional Korean board game. It was probably the most creative way to proselyte ever. We asked a cute family if they knew how to play this game (윷놀이) and they were more than happy to help us play! We played a few rounds with the family and we introduced a little about who we were and what we were doing.

Here we are with the two little kids, so cute!

We also sang the Korean national anthem at the main gate

So if someone sees a video of a bunch of foreigners singing the Korean national anthem in Olympic Park I'm probably there too :)

Walking all around Seoul was fun but exhausting.

It was nice to sit back down and have a testimony meeting to wrap things up. President Morrise gets up and starts calling on people to give their testimony. "Oh, I shared a talent yesterday, he probably won't call on . . .” – "and then we will hear from Sister Holdaway." 아이고 ~~

I got up and I don't even remember what I said. I know I said something about how being desperate makes us closer to God. I just spoke whatever came into my heart, mostly because this wasn't planned ahead of time. Later, people came up to me and thanked me for sharing my testimony. I'm grateful for the promise "Open your mouth and it shall be filled."

It was a little heartbreaking leaving the conference that night. Everyone was saying "goodbye" and I'm not very good with goodbyes.

But it's not a goodbye yet! I'm still going hard, still going strong. I don't want a single moment of this amazing opportunity to go to waste!

I love what I'm doing, I love where I'm going!

And . . . I love you all!

Until next week,

Sister Holdaway

More pictures:

The bishop's wife gave me a traditional Korean dress called a Hanbok

My beautiful daughters! A family reunion! 

 

The MTC DISTRICT is back together for the last time!

My beautiful Seongnam! <3 <3

I Like Spicy Food!

 안녕하세요!

This week we actually had a bit of free time (which never happens) and we used to help Sister Tolley get used to the area, since we know for sure that I will leave and she'll have to take over the area. So we have walked and walked and walked all around our area mostly because 1) public transportation is expensive and 2) we can talk with people on our way to places. Not to mention the exercise benefits.

We were walking on our way to an appointment and I saw a cute puppy and of course I'm going to go up and pet that cute puppy. We also got to talk with the man who owned the puppy. We invited him to church; he came, and will be meeting with the Elders!

#Puppy전도 (Proselyting)

Because Choosuk is coming up (a big Korean Holiday) we weren't able to meet with a lot of investigators BUT we did meet 4 times with one of our most progressing investigators who is also my best friend! She is 19, speaks English fluently, and loves the Book of Mormon! I love meeting with her and she came to church for the first time last week! I don't think I've ever been so happy <3<3

With Choosuk coming up we are going to have 4 more sisters in our TINY 2-person house. 6 people over all. It will only be for 1 night but we are cleaning and today we will get breakfast foods for them! It will be so fun!

Speaking of cleaning - I have been comparing cleaning our house to repentance. As a missionary I can literally compare everything to the gospel....it's a talent:

Elder Holland said "People love receiving a remission of sins but aren't concerned enough about retaining it!"

It's easy to get our house clean once for interviews but the challenge is to keep it up.  Just like we have to pick up our clothes and do the dishes EVERY day we have to also remember to have "real-time" repentance and not wait till Pday (or Sunday) to clean it all up.

Just something I've been thinking about.

^^An excerpt from my letter to President.

I'm sorry my thoughts are so jumbled today.

On Saturday we went on a hike to Namhansanseong! We went with our ward and had a picnic at the top. If you notice, our ward is very ethnic. 2 Peruvians, a Samoan, a Tongan and us 4 American missionaries. I'm pretty sure half our ward is foreign! (that's a bit of an exaggeration)

This is what my companion drew of me. It's her "favorite picture ever" :)

Sugar ~~

A beautiful smoggy picture of Seoul! That tall building? That's the tallest building in North-East Asia, the Lotte Tower.

- Sister Holdaway 

Interviews with President!

안녕하세요!

This week President came to our house for interviews which meant a lot of cleaning! I was determined to make our house fit for royalty.

So after scrubbing and scrubbing our house looks beautiful! It wasn't super messy before but now we have everything scrubbed and shiny. It's amazing how much clean houses invite the spirit! (I can hear my mom saying I told you so)

Interviews, as always, were really good. President asked us to make goals that we could discuss at interviews. I was a little stressed about my goals because I felt like they were out of my control. But after talking with President he helped me how to make more realistic goals that are in my control. It made me feel ready to take on this next transfer with all that I have!

And now, for lack of time and lack of awesome things to share, I'll share some pictures!

We went to the temple this Thursday! These are the assistants to the president ~~

Face masks are really popular in Korea and this one is a special panda one :) Scary or cute?

Sister Tolley makes me lots of fun snacks!

Ward Barbeque Party ~~~

This is the first Monday of my last transfer and I love every moment I get to spend here!

Have a wonderful week!

사랑해요!

- Sister 홍다연

The Return of the Investigator

안녕하세요 여러분 ~~

This next Friday we have our mission president and his wife coming to our house to inspect it and interview us. So . . . we have had a LOT of cleaning to do. Not because we keep it messy but because, let’s just say, it used to be an Elder's house and so there has been years of deep cleaning left undone. Sister Tolley is really awesome and tackling the laundry room which I was way too sketched out to try to clean. So in our free time this week we have been working on cleaning it spick and span.

Maybe we'll take before and after pics. ^^

We also saw a lot of miracles! Because of our recent drop in investigators we were able to have time to visit some members that needed some attention and we were able to help and strengthen them. Part of President Morrise's interviews he has been asking everyone to make goals to work towards the end of their mission. One of mine was to learn how to cook good Korean food. SO, I've been asking around and have gotten good ideas from our members. This week I learned how to cook "Korean potato pancakes" and 갈국수 a soup with noodles in it (I don't know how to describe it better than that.

HOWEVER, we never gave up on our former investigators. We kept contacting them and showing our love. So, this Saturday, we met with 2 investigators that we haven't met with in a long time.One of them said that while she wasn't meeting with us many people came up to her and told her lies and rumors about our church. She said that she "knew better" and was happy when we ran into her on the street and invited her to meet with us again.

Our other investigator said that while she wasn't meeting with us she ran across a lot of anti-Mormon things online and because she was curious asked to meet us again so we could answer her questions. We answered all her questions and bore our testimonies again of the Book of Mormon and the power that it has to witness of truth. I asked her if she felt a difference between watching those videos on YouTube and reading the Book of Mormon. She nodded quickly and she felt much better and peaceful when she read it, like she knew it was the word of God.

I know that the adversary has a powerful influence but I know that God is greater. I'm grateful for the endless days and nights my district and I prayed especially for these investigators and that they would recognize truth and come back.

And they did!

We also had Zone Training this week and once again I thoroughly enjoyed sitting in the audience and not having to train anyone. 

Pics:

There's a part of our area that is just farms and mountains....it's the best.

My companion makes cute snacks for me <3 <3

​

Until next time!

 - Sister Holdaway

Boldness At It's Best!!!

안녕하세요! 

The weather this week has been that awkward in-between phase where I wake up pretty chilly in the morning so I put on a cardigan for the day but it always gets too hot during the day so I end up just sweating like crazy. 

The struggle. 

But a lot of awesome things happened this week. 

I've been working a lot on being more bold with love. Sometimes I find myself softening commitments in order to not "freak them out" but I have made a new resolve to not fear people more than God. 

As a result of this we have had more people drop us, and we have been dropping more people because they don't have true interest in our message but instead just want the free english we provide.

So, although we have lost some of our investigators our boldness has brought some amazing miracles! 

Last week, after exchanges with the Sister Training Leaders, we had to drop someone who basically told us she didn't believe anything we had been teaching her. It was pretty hard to take so we had to tell her we couldn't meet with her anymore but that she is welcome to come to our English Conversation Class. I was feeling especially down about it because I thought she had a lot of potential. However, I knew that we made the right choice and God would lead us to prepared people. 

As I was thinking about this, a lady came up to us excitedly and asked who we are and what we were doing. I proudly said that we were missionaries for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and that we teach about Christ's restored church. She smiled, gave us HER number and said that she has just moved here and wanted to join a church. We said we would contact her and be happy to explain about our church. 

That very next day, we were street-boarding with our Elders and another lady came up to me and asked to know more about our church. She was a pastor from another church but had seen the missionaries and have thought about what big sacrifices we are making. I explained why we were here and the message we were teaching. I gave her a Book of Mormon and promised that if she read this book she would know the truth of our message. 

Blessings and miracles are coming to SeongNam! As I'm working to be bolder in sharing my testimony to others I am seeing the effects. 

I feel like I could do missionary work for at least another year! (Although my body tells me otherwise). 

In other news ~ I'm really tired all the time so please don't look to closely at me in the upcoming pictures of myself. 

But first! KimBap 김밥 that reminds me of SpongeBob's pet Gary: 

Exchanges with Sister Northridge ~~ Always a 파티!~

I love you all! 

- Sister Holdaway 

I'm in the Choir Again!

안녕하세요!!!!

We have found more new investigators this week!

One of them is a Buddhist and this is the first time I've taught someone without a Christian background. It's the first time I've ever introduced the concept of a Savior, Jesus Christ, to someone for the first time. She asked, "Jesus? Who is Jesus?" And we were able to explain who Jesus Christ was, what he came to earth to do, and his influence on our lives today.

Recently, our Zone has been, instead of counting how many people we talk to, counting how many invitations we give to people on the street. This new way of thinking has been really helpful and pushed us to have meaningful conversations with people.

If you know me well, you'd know that my favorite part of this week was that I had the opportunity to since in the choir at Stake Conference this last Sunday.

Korean Choirs are the best!

We sang two songs, and the last song was "More Holiness Give Me." As I sang the song I thanked God for the opportunity I had to serve here in Korea. I'm not getting 'trunky' but I'm aware that I'm not going to be here forever. I teared up as I felt God's love for everyone in that congregation. Music transcends culture and language and reaches the hearts of everyone.

It's also been a long time since I've been in any sort of choir and I missed it so much! I had such a fun time preparing for it :)

Sorry, not a whole lot of information this week. And not a lot of pictures but . . .

This is 엄마 - Omma or our Korean Mom. <3 <3 <3

She took us to a buffet this week which was possibly the best food I've ever eaten.

I love you all and hope you have a good week!

- Sister Holdaway

I don't know what to title this . . .

안녕하십나까?

Sorry, I don't have a ton of time this week but there's a lot to cover!

This week was a bit bitter-sweet. We had some of our progressing investigators who were close to baptismal dates drop, or stop meeting, with us. Which is always heartbreaking for a missionary. 

But, we also were able to meet with a few new investigators!

One of them, I affectionately call 엄마, or mom, mostly because she hasn't told us her name but insists on her being our "Korean mom." We met her on the street and fell in love with us and took us to her home and fed us lots and lots and lots of food. Eating Korean food well shows your love for the Korean people. I pride myself in eating Korean food well – eating a lot and eating fast. It might seem weird, but it really helps you build a relationship with the Korean people.

She has invited us over many times and loves having us. She always gives us plenty of kimchi to take home. She really has treated us like her own children. One night, when we were over we started sharing a message with her about our church. As we were discussing religion she mentioned that the reason why she loves us so much is that her only daughter died when [her daughter] was in here 20's. So when she saw us it reminded her of her daughter and that meeting with us

has filled a hole in her heart. We are excited to share the plan of salvation with her in the near future.

We also met, through of serious of miracles, met a Chinese lady who was living alone and was in desperate need for some American friends that she could communicate with. She was excited when she met with us because she had someone she could talk to. 

It goes to show that there are so many people in this world who are lost or alone and as we reach out in love and share this gospel with them we can show them that with the gospel we never have to feel that way. We will always have the gospel. And that foundation can carry us through any trial, or loneliness.

Thursday was Zone Training. It was the first Zone Training in 7 months where I did not have to get up and train in front of everyone! It was the BEST.

Sister Tolley and I have been practicing some Children songs on the Ukulele that we sing on the street. It's been pretty successful so far - and it involves something we both love, music!

 ​

This Saturday was Korean Independence Day!  So all the flags were out!

Our neighborhood Shijang 시장

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I hope you all have a wonderful week! This last week it was raining like CRAZY but today it was a pretty nice day!

 ​

I love you all~!