Just hear those Korean grandmas selling corn ring ting tinglin too

Another crazy Christmas-y week! I think a quote from one of the AP's sums it up pretty well. Our investigator 문서현 is progressing very well. She's accepted everything! The law of chastity, word of wisdom, tithing, fasting -- all the things that are roadblocks for a lot of people. She did relapse once and drink coffee though, so we texted Elder Miller about what protocol is for that -- if her baptism would be delayed or what. His reply was 'there's no rule really, if they have a broken heart, they're good'. It was such an interesting way to phrase it. A broken heart and a contrite spirit. Nothing more, nothing less, because in those two gifts is encompassed anything we could ever give of ourselves. If we have a broken heart, we're good. 

I've been thinking a lot about why the Lord requires a broken heart. In the words of a returned missionary, we are the only church that believes in a God that mourns with us. I don't think God likes seeing us sad. In my head it makes sense I guess -- He gives us hard things so that we can grow, and learn how to be happy. All the stuff I learned in Primary but hasn't sunk into my heart until my mission. The same as any other person, I have been sad and mourned. It was on my mission that I think I really saw and experienced broken hearts. Why would God require that of anyone? 

For one, it forced me to realize that I truly do need him every hour. Every breath, every step -- if He is not there I just fall. With this investigator I've realized of how little importance I am in the conversion process. If I do things right, my words are not my words, my thoughts are hopefully not my thoughts. It's so interesting to realize that God can do His own work and just chooses to involve us so we can learn. 

For another, it has helped me realize that God really does want me to be happy. It's kind of counterintuitive, and it's something we study almost every day as missionaries so that we can teach it -- but because of broken hearts we can feel a lot more easily. I have been so happy this past month. I didn't even know that I could feel that level of joy over that amount of time! God is so merciful. 

I must mention one more time -- the Christmas choir. I have seen so many miracles through it. I 

sat in the audience during rehearsal and was so grateful I did, because when I was in the choir I couldn't see it as clearly -- but missionary faces are SO BRIGHT ! They shine so brightly. It's amazing to watch these tired, hardworking, but nonetheless brave and testifying missionaries put their all into a simple song. 

 

One funny bit cause it was just so funny: We went over to President's house for a zone meeting for Christmas and it was really amazing, we sang carols and ate Christmas food and watched parts of the Christmas broadcast, and it was great. At the end my companion and I made a joke to Sister Sonksen about staying overnight....and she said yes. So we slept at the mission home and ate breakfast with the Sonksens. 

Miracles happen, people.

 

xoxo

벨자매

The Peace of Christmas

Click here to view on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cf0or10KgUU

Our beautiful investigator making...

...delicious seaweed soup!

Our cute little less-active girl wrote a talk...then locked herself in her room because she was so shy! It talks about the miracles she's seen in her life

Our powerhouse new district! This is our amazing zone leader who calls us all the time and is never NOT on the phone. He's always calling members or investigators or less-actives. Crazy hard worker. 

Sister Rowberry and I had this idea to make advent calendars for the members and put scriptures and ideas for sharing the gospel in it. The zone leaders loved it so much they had us come to church early so they could help :) Took some time but it was worth it!

"You're transferring"...drops phone.....

Beautiful autumn view from our apartment

That's how our stern and serious Korean AP decided to open up our transfer calls. "Sister Bell... you are transferring." Bear in mind I have gotten a new companion EVERY SINGLE TRANSFER. And that I love Sanggye almost more than my home ward. And that really, I had forgotten about transfer calls because the likelihood of me transferring seemed very, very low given the tiny number of sisters remaining in our mission.  So I dropped the phone and kind of just put my head in my hands. 

"....to the elders' house." And that was how I found out our stern and serious Korean AP has a sense of humor.

My companion and I are (together) leaving our huge gorgeous mansion house with a waterfall view for a two man elder house but it's still Sanggye so I'm happy! Sanggye is like a dream some days. I can't believe I'm lucky enough to serve here.

Merry Christmas with Sister Rowberry

This week was our first big Christmas concert! We're touring 6 wards in Korea (sounds fancy huh). Honestly when I first heard about the program I thought it might just be ward choir on steroids. But it's actually super well put together. We have some genius violinists that do this arrangement of Carol of the Bells. And a cellist that does O Come O Come Emmanuel. And three concert pianists. But my favorite one is this violin/piano duet. It's this gangly, goofy elder who looks like he's never touched a violin in his life. But he picks it up and it just turns into magic. It's gorgeous. So many people were crying.

These are the elders I do "O Holy Night With"-they're so funny!

I've fallen in love with Christmas all over again this year. It's so wonderful. Even in Korea where it's not really a big deal you can still feel a special Christmas spirit. People are just kinder. And there's a sense of anticipation -- not for presents, 'cause I know I'm not getting anything too special this year -- just a sense of something amazing coming. 

So I don't know how many times I've mentioned our gorgeous investigator. She's so miraculous that I'm afraid that if I talk about her too much I'll jinx it. She's a member referral who was so inspired by how she saw members live that she wanted to know more. She's come to church every week. And she now has a baptismal date for January the first! What a way to start off the year! She chose it herself. One of my favorite moments from that lesson was when we were explaining the sacrament and how it relates to baptism and she said 'oh that's what it means! I didn't know, but every time I've taken it I've just had the most special feeling.' She also wants to feel the Holy Ghost all the time because she can tell something is different about our members.  She's a great example to me!

We also had this referral we met for the first time who brought a friend and honestly I think they might be undercover missionaries from another church beacuse their questions are so intense. Like, 'so is Lehi talked about in the Bible at all?' and 'how has your religion helped you overcome hard times?' and stuff like that. It's really awesome. 

We also met with two adorable little girls! They are the daughters of a less active. Sometimes they never even see their mom for literally days because she is so busy, and their dad lives somewhere else. They are so alone. We had them do an activity where they write down miracles in their lives and they wrote 'the missionaries coming over is a miracle' and 'I saw my sister on the street and I had prayed to see her because I was alone.' God is so merciful because I know He's watching over them even if Sister Rowberry and I can't be there all the time. Consider the lilies of the field. 

If you haven't seen the new Christmas video go watch it! It's on christmas.lds.org. It's really inspiring.

Love you all! Have a fantastic week.

xoxo 

벨자매

Mailing address: 

서울시 종로구 자하문로 152 1동

서울 선교부

With President Sonksen

With Sister Sonksen

All the sisters from my MTC district minus Sister Coates

We made Advent calendars with referral suggestions

In front of the mission home

Video announcement of our Christmas concerts!