Lost and Found

Hello Family!

 

It has been a VERY GOOD week. I really feel like I am improving. I know the church history now and I'm better with the mandarin tours. I passed off English tours so now I can take the lead when I take them! It was so good. And I even got a free meal at the Lyon House because I passed and it made me feel like home. It has been way too long since I have been able to have a real meal. I usually live off of almonds and protein bars because there is no time to cook.

 

 This really has been such a wonderful week. I've been able to meet and talk to many people! This week I got my first two real investigators. One lives in the states and one is from IRELAND!!!  I love meeting people from all over the world. On Wednesday I just knew that I was going to get my first investigator. I kept praying and praying. I had talked to so many people. I offered to teach them more about the gospel. I think I was turned down like 25 times... Then finally at the end of the night.. I decided to go on chat (mormon.org)- which I usually don't trust because people just like to prank us but that is how I met my wonderful Irish investigator!!!   We've got a lot in common and things are going wonderful. 

 

Sister Weng and I have an investigator from China that we have been teaching real face-to-face lessons to. She had a baptismal date set for this month but moves she moves back to China in September and is scared to be baptized because she joined a communist group in China and she had to swear not to join any other group or she will go to jail. It is very stressful for her because she wants to be baptized so badly!  We will continue praying for her. 
 

Oh and Aunt Jamie! I love your letter and I have a letter I've been meaning to send you! But I forgot to tell you about that couple in your ward boundaries! I talked to them on the phone last week and told them about you! I can't believe how small of a world we live in. Keep my updated on their progress please!
 

 My Mandarin is improving and I am feeling much better about teaching. Prayers really do work! I'm so much more confident now and I actually make sense when I speak. My Mandarin is coming along so well because for the past week when we are at home, Sister Weng, Sister Yu and Sister Lee (two new roommates) only speak Mandarin.  It is really helping! When I'm done emailing you I am going to Deseret Book to buy an English-mandarin learning book. My roommates think I'm so weird! It's great though because I know how to say a lot more and the Mandarin people always think it sounds beautiful. They think I'm fluent but when they try to talk to me I get nervous so I just smile and say Ni Hau (Hello in Chinese). And it is awkward.

 

Asian Face Masks! (My roomies are trying to make me more authentic) 

I hope everyone who can serve a mission really thinks about the blessings that can come from missionary work. It is amazing to see people being touched by the spirit every day. Even if you don't make a drastic change in their life, just putting a smile on someone's face is such an amazing service we can all do. When the Savior was in the Garden of Gethsemane he suffered for all of our sins and he felt all of our pains and sorrows. He knows heartache and suffering better than any of us.  When we can lift a burden from someone it is like lifting the weight off Christ's shoulders.  One thing about my mission that I love just as much as missionary work is the opportunity to perform the errand of angels by the little things like putting a smile on someone's face. I have been thinking about that a lot lately. The other day I had the incredible opportunity of feeling that joy.  A very old lady walked up to me and Sister Weng on Wednesday and tearfully said she needed help finding her blanket that had been passed down through her family for many generations. She was in her lately 80's or early 90's and was so worried that she walked all the way to Temple Square by herself with her walker to find it. She could barely stand, let alone walk, so I ran and got her a wheelchair (you know I like doing that sort of thing) and the three of us went to all of the lost-and-founds to search for it. This poor woman was certain she left it somewhere at Temple Square and had walked here everyday for a week so she could find it. After looking everywhere, our last stop was the Conference Center.  We went straight to the lost and found and there it was! She grabbed us by the necks and sobbed in our faces because she was so happy. I have never been so happy in my entire life either. She kept saying how much she loved us and how happy we made her. I decided that even if I never have an investigator who gets baptized or if I never have a miraculous experience it doesn't matter. Seeing things like this make me so happy. I hope that all of you will try to go out of your way to serve others every now and then. I truly believe that experience made me more happy than it made the elderly woman!


So all of us sister's like to joke around and say next time we see Elder Perry were going to give him a hard time or tug him on the arm because he has been walking around the square in the morning and decided that we need to be there an hour earlier! It's not all that bad but we have to wake up earlier than usual so we're trying to get used to it and we are tired!

 

You want us to wake up at WHAT time?!

 

I saw Christie and Trevor yesterday and I almost cried. It made me so happy to see my girl. I wanted to just be myself so bad and start screaming when I saw her but I was trying so hard to have manners.

 

I also saw Radean Pobst the other day! That was cool too!

 

Oh and I found Rulon's future wife. She is a sister here from England who is the prettiest girl I have ever seen. And she has a beautiful soft accent. It will be great.
 

Yesterday I had exchanges because Sister Weng had a meeting so I got to be in the Beehive House for a few hours. It was fun! I was able to learn a few facts before I am transferred there so now I'm all prepared!

On Wednesday we got to go to the Brighton Beehive Camp in the afternoon.  We hiked up the mountain, took turns on a zip line, climbed ropes, and did some team-building activities.  It was fun and a nice break!

At Brighton Beehive Camp: Me and Sister Weng

with Sister Kennach from American Samoa

On the bus to camp (our shirts say "The World

is our Mission")

Two of my MTC friends, Sister Snow from Lehi,

Utah (left) and Sister Sherrat from Los Angeles,

California (right)

We survived!

So far, this work is the hardest but most rewarding thing I have ever done.  We learn in the scriptures that God is going to give us hardships.  In order for us to meet our full potential he gives us trials and challenges to not only humble us but to make us stronger and more knowledgeable so we can be worthy of the things we want the most.  At this time what I want most is for others to feel that I am a true representative of Jesus Christ.  I have learned that just because I am set apart as a missionary doesn't mean that I will automatically have the spirit with me. It is something I have to work for.  Yesterday I was really struggling so I prayed and then felt a warmth come over me and these words came to my mind, "Sister Park, I know you are afraid but you need to have faith."  It sounds crazy I know, but it happened.  Faith is so important.  It's not just having a desire; it is also having hope and we must trust God that he will really help us (John 14:18- actually just read all of John 14).  So later that morning I decided to open up my Bible to Matthew chapter 10.  That chapter, especially verses 11-20 helped me so much.  The verses that stood out most to me were 16-20.  You should read them!


In my mission, sadly, I have many negative encounters.  But it's worth it because I also get to see miracles all the time.  I have been talking to a lady with terminal illnesses and drug addictions and every time we talk her voice brightens up and I can tell she is smiling the whole time!  To be able to make someone laugh and smile may be the only thing I accomplish on this mission but it is so worth it to me!  I am doing the Lord's work and I know he will grant me the desires of my heart if I have faith.




It has been a very good week. EVERYONE, Thanks so much for writing to me! I LOVE the letters! They really keep me going! Thanks so much to all of you for sending me birthday cards/packages. You are all so thoughtful! Grandma and Grandpa, I wish you were still my roommates! Shout outs to Sterling and Tonya! I can't thank you enough for those birthday packages. I got them this week and I just feel so loved! Everyone is jealous. Everyone else, I appreciate the letters. Mom, your last letter made me cry. Dang you! All my grandparents, the Udalls, Merrills, GiGi, my parents, everyone thanks so much for everything. You are all the best!

Until next Friday!

Sister Macy Park