I love Korea!

Jan 25

This week was really fun! I went on exchanges with Sister Evans and we had a lot of fun being together again, even if we do live in the same house and it was only 24 hours! We met with an adorable 9 year old girl named Min So. We teach her English for 30 min. and then share about the gospel for 30 min. They have no religion in their family, so we decided to talk about Heavenly Father. We sang 'I am a Child of God', and taught very simply that she was a daughter of God and that He loved her. She asked a lot of questions, like "where is God?" "Why can't I see him?" "I already have a dad at the office. how can I have two dads?" She paid attention pretty well (considering she is 9) and at the end, she asked for a pen and wrote "I AM A CHILD OF GOD" in big letters. Then she looked at us and said, "I never knew that before. It's pretty cool." It was such a simple lesson to such an innocent little girl, and the spirit was SO strong! Oh my goodness, It was amazing helping her recognize for the first time that God really did love her, and we could feel His love for her so strongly. 

We also met the wonderful recent convert, Choi Sung Eem, and her son Pak Jee Hyun. (I will send a picture of the meal we ate later.) They are seriously amazing. They have the strongest testimonies ever, and are trying so hard to draw closer to God. She was telling us more about her conversion, and what first sparked her interest in the church. She said that she had a business meeting in Salt Lake, and visited Temple Square while there. She had no clue about our church, but was really impressed by how beautiful the temple was, and surprised when she couldn't go in. As she was walking around the grounds, she saw a young family with two or three little girls and one boy. They boy was running around and being super loud, but the parents didn't seem to care. She was shocked, because in Korea they really want to make sure to act proper, especially in public areas. But the parents were letting their kids act like kids! She came back and found missionaries to learn more, simply out of curiousity. At sacrament meeting, she was shocked to see little children running around, playing, drawing pictures etc. while the parents tried to keep them quiet and pay attention. She said when she saw that she felt like our church must be true, because we are all about being real and trying to improve our selves and families, and not just about fake worship and false perfection. It was really cool, and made me realize even more the impact of our example on others. That family will never know how their example changed her life. And it wasn't their perfection that impacted her, it was their humanity! I think that sometimes we think in this life we feel like we just aren't good enough. We aren't smart enough, pretty enough, our house is too messy, whatever it may be. But it simply isn't true. God has placed us exactly where we need to be so we can be in a position to do the most good with our specific gifts and personalities. (see Dec. Ensign) It's very likely those parents were thinking "oh man, how do other parents keep their children quiet? We are at the temple. People are staring. What can we do?" Her life is changed forever, and she will influence others for generations to come, clear across the world!

So many wonderful things this week and so little time to share. But I just want you all to know that I know that this is the TRUE Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. He is mindful of us, He loves us, and is guiding us back to Him! I love you all, have a great week!

-Sister Shanelle Seegmiller :)