Sister O'Bryan in Korea

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

2010-12-28T08:50:00.000-08:00

Dear Family,

It was really nice to talk to all of you on Christmas. Sorry I'm not as exciting as you probably think I am and apparantely I have gained a British accent. (Although I'm still not sure where that came from). I also got some goodies that mom sent through a kid in our ward so I made my companion an almost authentic American chicken-stuffing casserole. She was amazed. We then got 6 inches of snow so after our snow fight with some members I showed her how to make snow angels. All in all a pretty fun Christmas.

This week I have been thinking a lot about New Years Resolutions! Since 2010 is almost over and 2011 is about to start I spent some time with my companion and went over some things we want to accomplish next year (and in our lives in general).

Here are a few things I was thinking of:

Always help pay for a missionary (there's a lady in our ward who talked about how she helped pay for her husband's younger brother to go on a mission and during that time how it was one of the most spiritual times in her family's life.. I want that. Even though I can't always be a missionary I'm still too selfish to let everyone else have all the fun).
Join a book club
Create a Korean drama watching club where people can come to my house and I will make rice/ a main dish, they can bring side dishes and we will spend time watching Korean dramas
Listen to the Book of Mormon in Korean
Do family history for a couple hours 3 times a month
learn how to quilt
take voice lessons
baptize Natasha (you can't avoid it Natasha, it will happen eventually)
Go to the temple every month

It was really fun, so I thought I would encourage you to write down some of your goals and send them this way. Or you can examine some of the goals you set for this year and see what you were able to accomplish, that is also fun.

Anyway, I hope you all have a great holiday season, love you lots.

Rebecca O'Bryan

Daejeon PO Box 38

Daejeon-si

Chungcheong bukdo 300-600

South Korea

Policemen and news crews

2010-12-28T08:45:00.001-08:00

Dear Family

Remember last week how I said that we reported a sex offender on the bus? Well it turns out that Korea is a lot smaller than I had once imagined. About a week earlier there was an incident on a bus, except it was a lot worse with the bus driver being the sex offender and it created a buzz in the news scene. So after we met with some undercover policemen and gave our story some news crews started to call us. There are three main News companies in South Korea: MBC, KBS, and SBS, we were on two of the three and then on some local one. But since we didn’t really want to be recognized we had our faces blurred and voices changed. All of our members still knew it was us though—I guess it kind of gives it away with how tall my companion is as well as the fact that it was two girls, wearing dresses, one Korean and one American… you don’t see that very often. Things that I learned from that experience: even the News is business. They have to make money so even an incident that wasn’t very big, like us being on a bus and reporting a creepy man, can become news.

Last Saturday our branch had its branch Christmas party which was a lot of fun. We brought an investigator with us and I think she really enjoyed it. Mostly she loved all the kids. She just graduated from High School and is the youngest of two daughters so probably doesn’t see kids very often. But in our branch there are LOTS of little kids… running around… adorable chaos… She was so cute, she looked at all the kids then looked over at me and asked “can I touch them?” I gave her free leave. In our branch it really is just like a family, everyone’s kids are everyone else’s kids and they run around like bandits and anyone might run up to you at any moment and plop themselves down on your lap or try to take whatever neat trinket is in your hands.

Not a lot else has been happening, except that yesterday we had some more baptisms. A couple of little boys who are the kids of members, but their parents wanted us to teach them the lessons anyway, so we did. They are not “convert baptisms” but they are still way cute and I love them, Juhyuck (강주혁)and Hyundo (김현도).

I love you lots, I’ll hear from you in a couple of days. I have no idea about what is happening though, who is calling, what time you are calling… so… feel free to call and let me know. Otherwise I will probably just be sitting in my apartment waiting….

--
Sister O'Bryan
Daejeon PO Box 38
Daejeon-si
Chungcheong bukdo 300-600
South Korea

It's a very Merry Christmas

2010-12-28T08:44:00.000-08:00

Dear family,

With the arrival of our first snow—albeit small, the $3 purchase of classic Christmas carols, and the 2 ft Christmas tree we salvaged from the closet of “missionaries now long past”—it looks like this Christmas is shaping up to be one of the best yet. My companion never celebrated Christmas before; it’s not really a Korean holiday, so she had a hay day decorating our small tree with random ornaments including disco Santa, one eyed reindeer, those furry Christmas tree wreath things and the like. We even scrounged up some blinking Christmas lights that seem surprisingly well coordinated with our Frank Sinatra/Louis Armstrong. I never really considered myself a Christmas junky, but being the only one to experience real Christmases with trees, caroling, fat men in red suits, having endured hours of TV specials, mindlessly propagated cartoons, turkey, fruit cake, chocolate oranges and all the other things you can’t find in Korea I feel somewhat obligated to bring in Christmas cheer.

Reason number 205 of why I love my companion, Sister Jung Ji Yun: she is brave. We were riding the bus to one of our appointments the other day when we saw a Pilipino girl in front of us get up yelling at the man next to her “I told you! Don’t touch me!” We were a little perturbed, but there are a lot of older Korean men who buy wives from the Philippines or Mongolia so we thought maybe she was just having a spat with her husband. But then this creepy man starts coming back towards us on the bus. So my companion and I look at each other and head to the front of the bus to sit next the Pilipino lady. Turns out the man was some completely random fellow who sat down next to her, pulled down his pants and tried to touch her. Oh for creepy. He soon came back up to the front of the bus and just acted like he was crazy. The Pilipino was scared so she quickly got off the bus, but my companion laid the smack down. Actually she was surprisingly more polite than I think I would have been. She said “Why did you do that? That’s really horrible to try and take advantage of people who are weaker than you and can’t defend themselves because they can’t speak Korean. Why would you do that?” He started speaking badly and then my companion called the police on him. She gave them our bus number, informed them of the situation and thankfully there was a camera on the bus. The other man I think felt really afraid so then he called the police to say that he had done nothing, but then got off of the bus. When we arrived at our destination we talked with the police, but without the witness of the Pilipino lady they could do nothing, just get all the other evidence. They told us if we happened to see her again to give them a call.

It was a little bit frustrating. How were we going to see that lady again? We prayed that night that we could find her and the next morning as we were rushing to catch another bus we saw her. It was completely random as she doesn’t live in our city and was just transferring so we only had about 3 minutes to exchange phone numbers, but it was still pretty miraculous. Yeah for the law!

Other exciting news:

I gave a talk in church. You’d be surprised how nerve racking it is to give a 15 minute talk in another language, but I think I did okay. I also had to randomly give a special musical number at a fireside with about 20 minutes of practice and for the last month I have become the temporary ward director since the lady who actually has the calling has a huge test so she wasn’t able to come to church. I think when I get back I will be content with a nice calling like… Relief Society greeter… or ward librarian. How pleasant.

I also decided what I want for Christmas/next year. If you could send letters to my companion, she doesn't get any because no one in her family is a member and all her friends before her mission basically dropped her once she became a missionary. Sad day, huh? Anyway, just like a letter, she can read English (or what she can't read I will help her out with, so no worries).

I love you lots.

Also... My phone number: 010-9697-2426. I don't know how you want to do the Christmas phone call, but whoever is in charge probably knows how to call Korea by now so I'll just leave the rest up to you and let me know. I can call to set up the call a couple days before Christmas, you just need to tell me what time works for all of you (and then translate it into Korean time so I know). Thanks ^^
--
Sister O'Bryan
Daejeon PO Box 38
Daejeon-si
Chungcheong bukdo 300-600
South Korea

It's coming--not the war--CHRISTMAS

2010-12-28T08:43:00.001-08:00

Dear Family,

Jon said something that I guess I didn't mention in my last email. So North Korea attacked South Korea a week or so ago, some islands up north. It was kind of big news, but since we are missionaries we didn't really get to see too much of it. But then when I asked people about it they basically said it was kind of big a deal because there were civilians who died as well, but at the same time Korea has never really not been in war, the war with North Korea never technically ended-- that's why every boy has to go to military service. Also it doesn't really effect me, I'm not that close, maybe like three or four hours away from the place where it happened, in America that is close, but in Korea it's not. It had something to do with the big G20 summit in Seoul where the top 20 biggest nation's leaders came and talked, I think there was something about rice and then after the attack America said they would help us out. How does it effect me? Not at all. It does probably mean though that Dad's original plans of coming to pick me up and then trying to drive through North Korea to China are probably a lot less likely though...

I realized today that it is December, which means that soon it will be Christmas. I taught our English class last week about Advent calendars and with my companion we have also been doing one that our mission president's wife gave us with scriptures and then suggestions of songs we sing for companionship study. In Korea Christmas is not really a big event, so I haven't seen any real decorations or anything. No worries, I still have every intention of Christmas carolling and bringing Christmas spirit!

It also means that in a couple of weeks you can call me! I know usually you have nothing to say, I'm a weird missionary who's life has nothing relate able or interesting, however, I thought maybe if I gave you fore notice then you could prepare something cool to tell me or you can think of a question you want to ask (although you can also do that every week when you email me).

Don't worry about sending me anything, I've been here for a year and if I've lived without it this long I can survive the last three months (shipping is so expensive, why did I ever ask you to send me anything...) If you still feel an innate desire to show your appreciation for me through some sort of monetary donation-- feel free to send to Mama and she can put it in my bank account ^^.

Something I would really love, I think I mentioned this before, but your conversion stories. How did you come to know the church was true?

--
Sister O'Bryan
Daejeon PO Box 38
Daejeon-si
Chungcheong bukdo 300-600
South Korea

It's so cold my bones are frozen

2010-12-28T08:40:00.000-08:00

Family,

Another week and things are going pretty well, it's too cold for us to go do anything exciting or fun, so instead we just went to the public bath houses and had old grandmas scrub us clean. I always feel so clean afterwards, probably one of the few things that I won't be able to get when I go back to America (which is WAY in the future so no need to keep telling me about it....)

This past week we met with some of my favorite dental technician investigators and played a really fun game. You take a bunch of post it notes, write famous people's names on them and then put them on everyone's forehead without them seeing. This way everyone can see who everyone else is, but not themselves, then they have to ask questions to figure out who they are. It's great for learning English, or just if you need a fun game. I also made them draw turkeys with their hands as an outline on a piece of paper and write things they were thankful for-- I told them it was an American tradition. I mostly said that because I couldn't really think of anything else that we do besides eating massive amounts of food and watching football-- two things they couldn't do. Plus they don't really know the difference so instead of just thinking I was weird they just thought I was American. It works out great.

On Sunday something cool happened. We got to church and there were two people just standing outside. We unlocked the building where we have church and they came in and we started to talk to them. I guess the girl had come once before with another friend and so decided to come again with her.. boyfriend? They stayed for all three meetings and were nice... except I thought there was something a little funny with them, we asked them where they went to school and other things and thought it was odd that they were in High School but neither of them could really spell. I just chalked it up to them being from really far out in the country, but I guess it turns out the school they go to is for people with mental disablities. Oh well, if they want to come to church, I'm not going to stop them....

I hope that you all have a great week! I love you all.
--
Sister O'Bryan
Daejeon PO Box 38
Daejeon-si
Chungcheong bukdo 300-600
South Korea

Under the weather, but not out of the race

2010-12-28T08:39:00.000-08:00

Dear Family,

I've been feeling a little sick this past week, first off with my eye then I just got a plain old cold. Ugh, but not bad enough to keep me from doing missionary work, just enough to make it a little uncomfortable. And then I remembered that one saying. It was an apostle. Or a prophet? It was someone important who said that most of the work done in the church is by people who feel sick or tired and just get out there and do it anyway. People who feel like there's something stuck in their eye so it's hard to concentrate during Zone Conference. People who think they are going to have a mental breakdown. People who have fevers and sore throats and aching backs, arthritis, chronic pain, fake teeth and running noses.

It's the people who have broken hearts and who have lost children and wondered how they could continue. The ones who struggled and fought to go to church, but whose children hardly ever say thank you or even appreciate the sacrifice. The people who are a little too forward or outspoken.

Jesus said: "They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick"

And what was Jesus' advice to all of us sick people? Follow me. Love one another. Feed my sheep. Serve one another.

So they keep going. They find the medicine they desperately need- not jut to help with their physical and emotional pain, but to cure their spiritual diseases and bring a happiness and peace that relieves the aching soul.

They are the ones I have seen here in Seosan, the ones I saw even back in America who at the end of the day Jesus can look at and say "Be of good comfort; thy faith hath made thee whole."

Last week at our Halloween party we had a blast, but it was exhausting so I am glad I don't have to do it next year. We also got transfer calls so my beloved companion is leaving. Sad day. However, I am getting back another beloved companion-- Sister Jeong Ji Yeon! We served together in a threesome in Jeonju a while back, she's the one who used to be a model, does yoga and is a vegetarian. I'm pretty excited.

Not a lot else in the way of news. I hope you all have a great week, love you lots.

--
Sister O'Bryan
Daejeon PO Box 38
Daejeon-si
Chungcheong bukdo 300-600
South Korea

Turtles

2010-12-28T08:38:00.001-08:00

Dear Family,

This week we went to a baptism of our elders. It is a mother and father who have taken 10 years to get baptized. How did they first meet the missionaries? About 10 years ago the wife was really depressed, so much that she wanted to kill herself. So she went to the balcony of her apartment intending to throw herself over, but when she looked down she saw two missionaries in white shirts. She recognized that they were servants of God and suddenly all of her desire to kill herself vanished.

Then throughout the years she met Mormons and realized there was something different about them, they had a light about them that she thought was so amazing. However about a year ago when she started to start meeting with the missionaries she was really confused. She was attending two churches, ours and another, and every time she would go to the other church they would say bad things about us that made her really confused as to which church she should go to. Suddenly one night she had a dream and in it there was a bright beam of light above her head. She woke up and mostly forgot about it, but that day someone called and invited her to our Branch District Conference where a member of the seventy was speaking. She said it was suddenly like there were all these pieces of a puzzle that the missionaries had been giving her over the years and they suddenly came together. Afterwards she went up and said "I want to be baptized".

Miraculous, huh? So sometimes it takes a while, but our good example is always worth it.

I also read a traditional Korean folk story about a boy named Turtle and his friend-- Stone. Stone was very rich and Turtle was very poor. Then one day Turtle's parents died and he was inconsolable. Feeling sorry for his friend, Stone asked his father if he could come stay with them, but he refussed saying they already had enough mouths to feed. Stone thought about it for a long time and then came up with a plan. He took his father's chopsticks and rice bowl and hid them in his back yard. Then he went to Turtle:

"Turtle, you have to do what I tell you do. I hid my dad's chopsticks and rice bowl in the backyard and you have to go find them."

"Why?"

"Because I will tell my father that you found them by sniffing them out and he will be so impressed that I have a friend with such a good sense of smell that he will let you come live with us."

So they did like Stone suggested and it worked out just like how he thought. But of course everyone in the town heard about Turtle and his amazing sense of smell, so the word got out and the king heard about it. The king had lost his royal seal and so he called for Turtle. He told him if he could not find it he would kill him-- Turtle was way scared and not certain what he could do.

Anyway, the day came that he was supposed to go find the royal seal in the royal treasury and as soon as turtle went inside he heard a knock on the door. When he opened the door there was a theif who said that he had stolen the royal seal without realizing how important it was and that if he was caught he would be killed, but instead he wanted to give it to Turtle as long as Turtle didn't turn him in.

So Turtle took the royal seal and gave it to the king who was really happy and gave him lots of rewards. As it always does, the word spread even farther until the king of China heard about it. He called for Turtle to come and told him that his daughter had lost her ring and he needed Turtle to find it. He would give Turtle a month to figure out the smell and then let him go find the ring (or something like that) So Turtle said the he was going to fast, only drinking water, until then. Except secretly in Turtle's belongings there was a huge stash of meat, so everyone else when they saw him was so surprised that he could live off of nothing but water for a month. The day for the ring to be found came and Turtle went into the princesses room. As soon as he went in there was a knock on the door.

Surprisingly enough, the ring had been stolen as well, but the theif thought Turtle had super powers, because he hadn't eaten for a month and was still alive, that he confessed his crime and gave him the ring.

Wow, lucky Turtle had been saved again! He received lots of riches and glory and headed back to Korea. When he came back to Korea though he was attacked by a theif who came up to him and said "Give me all of your money! Also, I am going to kill you unless you can solve my riddle. I have a stone, can you tell me what is underneath of it?"

Turtle was really surprised and more than a little terrified, but he had no idea what the answer to the question was. So he told the theif he had no idea the answer. This is where I got really confussed, for some reason he didn't kill him... And the answer was that there was a turtle under the stone and then they all laughed about how the stone was going to kill the turtle-- haha..?
Anyway, whatever happened, Turtle learned a good lesson from it so when he went home he told everyone that because of nose bleeds he no longer could smell things out and so to stop asking him and he lived happily ever after with his friend Stone.

Oh how I love Korea.
--
Sister O'Bryan
Daejeon PO Box 38
Daejeon-si
Chungcheong bukdo 300-600
South Korea

Happy (late) Halloween!

2010-12-28T08:37:00.000-08:00

Hello family,

So this week all the sisters in the mission met together and had a Sister's Conference, which was pretty fun, we got to watch the General Relief Society broadcast ate American food (it was weird to eat home made rolls and pasta salad) and other nice things.

Then on Sunday since we had no appointments, it was Halloween and my companion had never celebrated it before we dressed up and went reverse trick-or-treating to all the families in our branch. We gave them candy, sang a song and took a picture, I'll send some next week when I get them from my companion. I think she enjoyed it and we got to visit a lot of less actives that always say they are too busy for us to come and teach a message but were suprisingly nice when we showed up looking like fools and bearing candy. It's surprising what a black wig and a guitar can do.

Today we went to visit a huge Buddha so I don't have a lot of time, but I thought I would share a few thoughts that have been running through my head lately.

We have an investigator who doesn't really have a lot of interest in religion because he thinks that mostly ministers and preachers try to take away people's freedom of choice by forcing them to come to church and telling them they will be damned if they don't. So he really loved the Plan of Salvation learning about free agency as being one of the main reasons we came to earth. However, when we gave him the pamphlet for the Restoration and it talked about apostacy he again put up a wall. Basically it says that an apostacy is when people refuse the prophets and that it results in unhappiness.

His question: why does it result in unhappiness. I know lots of people who don't go to church who are happy. So I thought about and was thinking about how the reason that we have prophets is to provide us protection. Really when refuse their words or consider them as only "wise men" then we are missing out on that protection, it is like when you turn off the lights before bed and try and get back to your bed, you almost always stumble on something or have to shuffle your way back. They provide that guidance that we need. I then came upon an article in the June 2006 Liahona by Elder Eyring talking about prophets and loved it.

This past week at Sisters Conference we watched President Monson and I talked about how much I love him. Because my companion was less active for a lot of her life she didn't really know much about President Hinckley so on the bus ride back I spent a good hour just talking about his stories and how much I love him. It's always such a testimony strenghtener to see the prophet speak and to see him with his family. I wish I could take part of that feeling and share it with everyone. Maybe if I had a small portable TV with General Conference on it....

Anyway, I love you all, have a great week.
--
Sister O'Bryan
Daejeon PO Box 38
Daejeon-si
Chungcheong bukdo 300-600
South Korea

It's all about the small victories

2010-12-28T08:35:00.000-08:00

Dear Family,

Another week in Korea.

After finishing the Old Testament I started the New this week and I realized that although the Old Testament is a beast, because I read it I am able to understand Jesus a lot more. Jesus is not only perfect, he's really witty. I would recommend the New Testament to anyone.

Last week we invited one of our investigators over to our ward mission leader's house for Family Home Evening. When I became a senior I decided that one of the things I missed most about being a missionary is not having FHE more often. So since then almost every week I've tried to set up FHE with a member and either an investigator or a less active family. I think technically we are supposed to wait until we are invited, but most of the people in Seosan are converts and so they don't really know how to do FHE or don't do it consistently so they don't mind us inviting ourselves over.

Last week we played a fun game which involves dice, socks, a hat, chopsticks, and lots of pieces of candy. I took a video of it, but unfortunately gmail wont let me attach it, so you'll just have to wait until I get back to see the full thing, but I attached some pictures. Basically you start with a pair of dice and the beginning person rolls, every one after them has to try to get that number. Until someone does roll that number the person puts on the hat, the socks, and tries to eat pieces of candy from a dish with chopsticks. It wasn't as challenging as you might think because they are Korean so amazing with chopsticks, but it still made me laugh until my sides hurt. We then compared eating with socks on your hands to having sin and how it's so much easier to get rid of the socks/guilt and repent. (Yes, I made that up on the spot). One of the resolutions I have made as a missionary is to always have fun FHEs for the rest of my life.

The other picture is of my companion. We were walking to an appointment when we happened to come across a festival and since our appointment canceled we stopped there to have dinner. I love Korea, check out the hanging toilet paper in the background-- it's brilliant!
--
Sister O'Bryan
Daejeon PO Box 38
Daejeon-si
Chungcheong bukdo 300-600
South Korea

Blessings of Obedience

2010-12-28T08:33:00.000-08:00

Dear Family,

This week was a mixture of frustrations and miracles, we got to hear from one of the seventy, Elder Choi. He spoke in General Conference a year or so ago and gave the talk about "Loud Boys". During the mission tour he talked a lot about obedience, using those loud boys as an example. He said before he gave that talk he had to meet with them to ask if it was okay to use their story. While meeting he mentioned that it would be nice if they could come to Utah to see him give the talk. The next day one of them called him:

"We've talked about it and decided we will be there, we just need you to say it is okay, please say we can come"

Elder Choi thought about it. He loved them very much, but also knew that they didn't really have the money, they all are in their early 30s and have families and jobs and would have to drop everything to come to Utah for a week, not to mention the expense of the plane ticket. So he talked to his wife and told them no. They were disappointed, but because he said not they were obedient and didn't go.

He also told a funny story about his son, Sunbeam (I love Korean names). In Korea there are three things every boy has to do: mission, school, military service. Usually by the time you are done with all these you are about 28 and that's when most people decide to think about getting married because it's hard to do the other things if you have a family. Sunbeam had been home from his mission for a year or two and was going to school, but had no plans for marriage in the near future. His father, however, had different ideas. It just so happens that among the loud boys one of them is the bishop in their home ward. So Elder Choi gave him a call and told him to talk to his son. The bishop called Sunbeam up and in an interview told him he needed to think about getting married and that in two weeks he was to come back to his office with a name of a girl. That weekend Sunbeam spent one entire Saturday going to the temple, from the earliest session to the last one. He said that he started with a lot of names, but each session it would get fewer and fewer. A few weeks later he met with his bishop again and the bishop said "Have you thought about so and so*?" Sunbeam was a little surprised because it turns out the girl he mentioned had actually purposed to him a year earlier, but at that time he was not interested in marriage. So 6 weeks later they were married.

He also talked about obedience in his own life. Or rather his wife did. She told us a story about when he was 16, he was a recent convert at the time and was asked by the Stake President to give a talk at Stake Conference about preparing to serve a mission. He declined saying that he didn't think he would be able to, frankly he wasn't planning on serving a mission. His dream was to be a general in the army and the training that it required would make it impossible to serve a mission. However, after refusing he felt so bad that he prayed and thought about it a lot. He then forsook his dream and decided to serve a mission.

After his mission he got married and picked up a new dream, to be a successful business man. He went about getting more and more fame and climbing the social ladder and as his wife said "we were about to be REALLY rich". But then he got a call from the President of the North Asian presidency asking him to be in charge of the church offices in Korea (I can't remember the real name of the job). He came to talk to his wife. Taking the office would mean that he would make a LOT less money and his ambition in life to be a big business man he would have to give up. At first his wife asked him

"What language did you talk in?"

"English"

"He's Japanese, your Korean and you were speaking in English? There must have been a misunderstanding, call him back"

Anyway, after talking they decided that better than his ambition to be a great business man was his ambition to follow the Lord so they accepted the calling and never looked back. What a great example.

Hope you are all doing well, I love you lots.

--
Sister O'Bryan
Daejeon PO Box 38
Daejeon-si
Chungcheong bukdo 300-600
South Korea

I let my companion cut my hair, she did a pretty good job, huh? She was excited for a new experience--- it reminded me a lot of when I let Josh cut my hair, except maybe because she's a missionary it actually turned out good from the first time.

The people you meet

2010-12-28T08:31:00.000-08:00

Dear Family,

Have I ever told you how great it is to be a missionary? You can really feel how much God loves his children, you get to have new experiences everyday, and you meet ALL kinds of people. For example, we received a referral from our Elders the other day of a lady they met while street contacting. She seemed somewhat interested (or interesting), but because her husband was rarely home they could not go to meet her and instead just referred her to us. We called her up and she immediately agreed to meet and asked how soon she could see us. We were, of course, excited, and went to go find her. Flash forward three and a half hours later... so she was a little crazy, and may be writing her own bible based on supernatural out of body experiences she has and a few other things not really fit to tell you about/I didn't really understand... but she's still a daughter of God.....

Then you have really pure hearted 14 year old who you teach every Saturday who you absolutely love. If you were as sweet and as obedient and pure as she was you know that your mother would have been eternally grateful. Except she doesn't have parents and attends another church. Every week she talks about how much she wants to come to your church, but she can't because every week she has to prepare the rice as her pastor is sick and she is the only one who can do it. She also talks about how much she wants to get baptized and become a missionary one day. Let's just say I've never prayed so hard for another church's pastor in all of my life.

This past week in General Conference I really loved how much you could really feel the apostles and the prophet's love. I love the words that they speak, but there's something more, there's the spirit in which they say it. When they speak it's as if they are standing next to me and I can feel it more than I can hear it. One of my favorite's was President Monson's story about the family who celebrated Thanksgiving with nothing more than an old jack rabbit and a lot of thanks. It's good to be reminded of the blessings we have received. Whenever I feel down and out I just pull out a piece of paper and start listing my blessings, it's one of the best medicines I have found.

With one of our investigators after teaching about the plan of Salvation we gave her the assignment of drawing what she imagined the Celestial, Terrestrial, and Telestial kingdoms to be like. (Sorry I have those in the wrong order, in Korean it is simply the Sun Kingdom, Moon Kingdom, and Star kingdom, so much easier). So I attached the drawings my companion and I made (mine is the shabby one-- I'm not really good at drawing so I tried to make up for it with all the colors). It was really fun.

This week's challenge: Draw what you think the degrees of heaven will look like and send me your pictures.

--
Sister O'Bryan
Daejeon PO Box 38
Daejeon-si
Chungcheong bukdo 300-600
South Korea

p.s. the other picture says "Kentucky Hot Dogs" I almost peed my skirt from laughter, who knew Kentucky was so famous for their hot dogs?

Scripture Power

2010-12-28T08:30:00.001-08:00

Dear family,

I hope that you all enjoyed General Conference. Hopefully I will too. In Korea we watch it a week later so next week I will go to watch it, usually they have it in English as well, but since I am in a branch I wasn't sure. When I asked our wonderful ward missionary leader his reply was, "where would you watch it in English? I don't think they have it. That's okay, you don't really need it in English, right?" Heheheh. . . if only he were joking.

Anyway, on to happier things, this past week in church we focused a lot about the blessing of the scriptures and then during testimony meeting after everyone shared their testimonies and things that they did to help them with their scripture study they announced that there will be a new translation of the Bible in Korean. Yeah! Although it's not published by the church (due to copyright laws we can't make a translation for another 20 years or so) it will be nice. In Korean there are two different words for baptism by immersion and sprinkling and in the current edition it all says sprinkling (so it is John the Sprinkler instead of John the Baptist). In the new edition that will be changed. yeah! Closer and closer to the truth.

It made me think about how much the scriptures mean to me. I remember before my mission that I had a hard time staying awake at night to read for 15 minutes and I wondered how people could study for hours. Then for the first couple weeks or so at the MTC when suddenly I had an hour of study time it became the most precious time of the day. It was the time when I didn't have to think about anything else, when I could just read and read and feel the great spirit of the scriptures.

In my patriarchal blessing it tells me to make sure to read the scriptures and especially on the words of modern prophets (or something like that). For a long time I just took it to be something that every one's blessing says and didn't pay a lot of attention to it, but as I have spent more time studying the scriptures I have realized how much they mean to me. On my mission I have also gained a huge appreciation of the Engisn. A quirk I have developed is that every time I get it I can't put it down. It's like a spiritual addiction, and then suddenly when I finish I realize I am crying. It kind of made my companion worried and she thought I was having a really hard time, but I just look at her through my tears and said "it's just so GOOD".

I'm not suggesting that you should be as weird and obsessive as I am, but I do hope that each of you can look to the scriptures to find peace and direction and that spiritual boost that you need to get you through the day. I love you all, I love the scriptures and I know the Lord speaks to us through them.

As promised, the story of how Korea began (I can't remember names, sorry)

LONG LONG ago there was a bear and a tiger. They both really really wanted to be humans, so they went to the god of the earth and asked him how they could change. The god of the heavens and earth told them if they stayed in a cave for some exorbitant amount of time (30 years?) that they could have their hearts desires. So they both when in a cave and ate only garlic and leaves for a really long time. Except the tiger didn't make it, he left. The bear was the only one that could make it and then after the time was up the bear miraculous changed into a beautiful woman. She was so gorgeous that the son of the god of heavens and earth decided to take her for his wife. They had a baby and that baby is the first king/man of Korea (Dankun).

Funny huh? I love Korea. picture: I got new glasses!
--
Sister O'Bryan
Daejeon PO Box 38
Daejeon-si
Chungcheong bukdo 300-600
South Korea

And the answer is...

2010-12-28T08:26:00.000-08:00

Dear family,

Another transfer has come and gone, but it's okay, because it turns out that I will be staying another 6 weeks with my wonderful companion Sister Lee Kyung Ran. I know I shouldn't be biased, but she's probably my favorite yet-- one day I will convince her to come to the United States and you can all meet her. Or you can come to Korea (take me with you)!

I have been learning a lot of stories about Korea, thanks to my companion and her amazing ability at telling folk stories. One of my favorite of late is about a girl called Shim Cheong.

Long long ago in a little city in Korea there was a very beautiful girl who was also very loving to her blind father. When she was a baby her mother died and her father took her from woman to woman in order to get fed since he was very poor. As the girl grew she became even more and more beautiful and more and more loyal to her father. One day she met a travelling monk. He told her that if she gave 3000 pounds of rice to Buddha then her father could regain his sight. When she heard this she was both very happy and very sad. She wanted her father to have his sight, but also was very poor and had no one of getting such an exorbitant amount of rice. While she was pondering about this she heard about some sailors in a nearby town. In those days when sailors went out to ocean they always took a beautiful virgin, because when the waves came they would throw her overboard and appease the sea god.

As you can imagine, finding such a woman was a bit difficult, so for anyone who would give them a beautiful virgin they gave 3000 pounds of rice. Shim Chungi heard about this and for her father's sake volunteered. Without telling her father she went and obtained the rice, gave it to Buddha and went off to sea. When the storms came the sailors threw her over into the sea. However, the sea god heard about Shim Chung and felt very sorry for her. Out of pity (and maybe a little in awe over her extreme loyalty to her father) her he sent her back up to the sea surface in a big lotus.

At the same time that Shim Chungi came up to the surface there was a prince on the beach (why was he on the beach? I have no idea.. Riding his horse? taking a leisurely stroll, who knows, he's a prince, he can do what he wants). The prince looked out, saw the beautiful girl emerging from this huge lotus and-- of course, fell in love with her. He took her for his wife.

Shim Chungi was happy to be alive and happier to be a princess, but she still wondered about her father. So she devised a plan. She held a HUGE feast and invited every blind man in the kingdom. Her father, at the time, still did not have his sight back. (rotten, lying monk) and was wondering the country frantically searching for his lovely daughter. All this wondering however, also made him very hungry, so when he heard about this feast he decided to take a break from his search and stop by to grab something to eat.

The feast day came and as all the blind Koreans came shuffling in (what a sight that would have been-- too bad they couldn't see it... hehehe) she saw her father. She was so happy to see that he was still alive that she called out his name. Upon hearing his father's voice the man was SO surprised that *pop* his eyes popped open and he could see her.

They all lived happily ever after and the rest is history.

Next week if you remind me I will tell you about how the first Korean was born-- that one is also one of my favorites. Oh golly, how do Koreans think of such funny stories?

On the spiritual side of things, lately I have been reading through the Bible. I have to admit, while reading the Bible I often wonder how people could last so long without the Book of Mormon, but occasionally I'll find a verse that my heart really likes.

This past week while reading through Psalms I came across

Pslams 30:5 "Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning."

It's funny how life works in cycles like that, sometimes you are sad, sometimes you are happy, but the happy times always make the sad times worth it. As a missionary sometimes people write me really weird things. Probably the worst is when people tell me about really hard times they are having, with school, with work, with love, whatever it may be, and then they don't mention it again (it's like watching a movie, getting to the climax and then leaving). Or not hearing from you at all and relying solely on second hand information where I can get it. Seriously it is frustrating, I may be a million miles away, but I still love and care about all of you so I worry about you sometimes. Anyway, so sometimes the only thing I can do is to pray for you. Maybe it's because I'm a missionary, but I pray for all of you every day (believe or not as you will). And it's oh so reassuring to hear good news from you.

Things that have happened on my mission thus far (re-cap):

Marriages: 1
Babies: 2.5
Random travel abroad/vacation: >2
Graduations: 1

Anyway, the reason for this long windedness is that even though I don't always hear from all of you, I still know that you will be okay, because I either I'm just naive or I have some sort of faith. So even if you don't know what the future holds, I know that you'll be okay (I'd just like to hear about it from time to time).

Love you lots!

Pictures:

This morning we decided to climb a nearby mountain, it was way pretty.
This is what I look like in the morning--- kind of scary
Just sitting on a bridge in Daecheon
Sister Lee-- this is why I love her
We were in the middle of nowhere, but hey it was pretty

Sister O'Bryan
Daejeon PO Box 38
Daejeon-si
Chungcheong bukdo 300-600
South Korea

Thanksgiving!

2010-09-22T22:08:00.001-07:00

Dear family,

So this week is one of the biggest holidays in Korea, called 추석 it's like the Korean version of Thanksgiving, a celebration of the harvesting season. It means that everyone went to their hometown, so the big cities emptied out and everyone is on the road. Thankfully I don't have to travel on the road from Seoul to Busan, so I don't have to worry about the 6 hour long traffic jams, but it also means that for three days I have no appointments and can't really find anyone on the street and am forbidden to knock on people's doors. Yeah for three days of updating records!

I also am on a split and have no time for email, so sorry you all get shafted again on the email train. Have a great week though, even though you probably wont be celebrating it, have a great Chusook and eat lots of food.

Love you all

Birthdays and beaches

2010-09-22T21:47:00.000-07:00

Dear family,

Yesterday a lot of us as missionaries got together and went to the beach. Although we couldn't swim we built sandcastles, played frisbee, ran to a lighthouse, ate raw fish and all the other things that correspond with it. But it also means I have no real time to write you an email, so I thought I would shoot you some pictures to let you know I am alive and tell you a quick story.

Last night after the beach we had to run to get to our appointment because we had set to have FHE with our ward mission leader and one of our recent converts. Except then everything seemed to go wrong, we couldn't pick him up, the WML was really angry, my legs were really hurting because they got a little sunburned, etc. I was more than a little concerned, but somehow it all worked out and we ended up having a pretty good time. Then as we were driving home our cute little recent convert looked at our WML and asked "Do you have FHE every week?" This boy is adorable, maybe 13 and the sweetest spirit ever. He has one older sister, but she already has 5 and 6 year old sons, so our convert acts more like he is a father than like a 13 year old boy. However, he has the sweetest spirit. Then when our WML said that yes they did, our convert looked at him again and asked timidly "Can I come next week too?"

Some people say that missionaries are like angels. I don't know about that, but I know that as a missionary I have definitely had the opportunity to see angels.

I love you all, have a great week.
--
Sister O'Bryan
Daejeon PO Box 38
Daejeon-si
Chungcheong bukdo 300-600
South Korea

The Second Coming...or just a typhoon.

2010-09-13T06:36:00.000-07:00

Dear family,

Exciting things that happened last week:

On Monday my companion and I made skirts, it was pretty fun. One of our recent converts works at a "made by hand" store so you go and pay to have them show you how to use a sewing machine and then make a skirt. I actually already know how to use a sewing machine and couldn't really understand most of the instruction (I'm not too up on my fabric, stitching, and mechanic vocabulary yet). However, it was still worth it.
On Wednesday my companion had her birthday. We are born in the same year, which is a pretty big deal in Korea, it makes us automatic friends, also since our birthdays are only 11 days apart that makes us super great friends. Yeah! Also it means that the members get to throw lots of birthday parties. (We'll see about mine, since it's on Sunday and we're having a baptism there probably wont be anything else, but I'm okay with that. Yeah for baptisms!)
We had a typhoon! It was at night and I woke up to a lot of crashing and I could feel our apartment shaking. However, I was really tired so more than anything it was annoying. The exact thoughts that went through my head, "Wow, that's loud. I wonder if I should get up and do something.... too tired..."

The next morning we had no water or electricity. I must admit it was more annoying than anything so we went out to go to the public bath house, but the one near our house didn't have any electricity or water either. As we were walking we noticed that things looked a little different. A lot of trees were blown over and a lot of apartment complexes had the glass blown out. One container box (like a railroad car box, but people use them as buildings...) had fallen over on a car, and school had let out early because they didn't have any water or electricity either. Then later that day we went to help one of our members put the roof back on her house.

It wasn't as bad as they have in like the Philippines, but it was still the worst that anyone in Seosan had ever seen. I'm not sure if buildings are just built better than the Philippines or what, but basically everything in the city was back in working order a couple days later. The country folk had a lot of crops that were in trouble, but besides that it wasn't too bad. Also I think it was sent from God, it helped us talk to people, it's a great conversation starter "did you see the typhoon?!" and when we talk to people they say they have never prayed so hard in their life as the night that it came... hehe, perfect...

I was reading this morning in 1st Samuel and I came upon one of my favorite scriptural heroes: David. He is such a stud, not only is he great at the harp, but he's beautiful, and soooo manly. I mean, he killed a bear and a lion with his bare hands and slew Goliath with a sling. I really like when he first goes to bring food to his brothers and they are really scared, but then he says to him: "Why are you afraid? This guy is a Philistine, but we have the living God" what faith, what strength, sigh. If only we could all look at our problems that way, really they are nothing considering we have the living God on our side.

It looks like Heidi's wedding was beautiful, congratulations!

Love you lots.

Sister O'Bryan

Daejeon PO Box 38

Daejeon-si

Chungcheong bukdo 300-600

South Korea

Rebecca's Observations on hat sizes: or what to wear

2010-08-29T22:03:00.000-07:00

Dear Family,

Reason number 233 on why I love Korea: You can wake up to go to the public bathhouse at 5:30 AM and there are already grandmas awake sitting outside on their stools chitchatting.

Not to put any unnecessary pressure on you, but for those of you where were interested in sending me a birthday present (September 12th), but had no idea what to send, I compiled a short list of suggestions:

money
church pictures (Christ, Joseph Smith, women...)
The Joseph Smith play soundtrack
Mo-tab
Those tide pens
money....

This birthday is the first time I get to skip a year. Because in Korean age I have been 23 since the Chinese Calendar New Year (February 14th) then I guess I never really get to be 22, except for a couple of months when I go home. To be quite honest, I'm always a little confused on my age and usually just settle with something around the beginning of the 20s...

A while ago one of my previous companions wrote home to her family expressing some of her concerns on the difficulty of mission life: the heat, the lack of investigators, learning a new area, and a concourse of various other difficulties. In reply she did not receive condolences but instead a chastisement from her father who told her if she was going to complain it would be better not to write at all.

"You knew it would be hard," he wrote, "so why are you complaining."

At first I thought it was a little harsh, but then she explained that he often expresses his love like that. While she was growing up he was always the sharpest with his family, stating that faith was something that could not be wavering and that although he had faith and if he was righteous he would make it to the celestial kingdom, it would mean nothing if he was there alone. For that reason he wanted to make sure that his children always made the right decisions.

It reminded me of an anecdote about Dr. Kim Ho Jik, the founder of the church in Korea. One of his young students wrote in his book that one day when he was a young student he went into Dr. Kim's office to accept a church calling from him. The student felt inadequate, but knew he could not outright say "no" so instead he said "this hat is too big for my head." Dr. Kim looked sternly at him and then said "you had better make your head grow to fit fast."

Sometimes I feel similar inadequacies, but as I give my weaknesses to the Lord and let Him stretch me I find that there is no need to complain, there may be pain and hardship, but I become fit to take it. I become more of what God would have me be and I become more qualified for the blessings He would give me.

So when we feel beat up and picked on by the Lord, like the butt of some cosmic joke, sometimes we just need to realize that He is molding us so that we can fit the hat.

Love you all.

Sister O'Bryan

Daejeon PO Box 38

Daejeon-si

Chungcheong bukdo 300-600

South Korea

Moral of the story: Always throw away your fingernail clippings

2010-08-23T01:05:00.000-07:00

Dear family,

Life is good, I've been going outside a lot to exercise in the mornings and after my knee scabbed over it's been a lot better. There's something really refreshing about running at 6:30 in the morning. One of my favorite things is the fact that in the park where we run there is a bench that is permanently occupied by about 5 old grandmas. They kind of stretch, but mostly they just sit and chatter and yell things at me as I run laps, things like:

"Oh, you exercise so well"

"Slow down, don't work so hard!"

"Wow, you're so pretty" (this one I know is a blatant lie, if you saw what I looked like when I first rolled off my mattress in the morning you would know)

The other day while we were out working hard we walked past a small park where some middle aged women and their children were having a picnic. We went up to talk to them and as we were sharing the gospel one of their boys (maybe 9 or 10) came up to me and just starred. He beckoned to his sister and then reach up and poked me. I tried to talk to him, but still unphased he just kept saying "foreigner, foreigner" and poking me to see what kind of material I was made out of. It was one of those moments when I wanted to say "I'm not an animal, I'm a human being!" But knowing that the reference would be cast on deaf ears I refrained and offered to let him touch my hair. Usually that's what they really want anyway, to see my non-brown eyes and see if my not-permed hair feels different from theirs. Oh how I love little kids.

This past week we went out to visit a girl in Danjin. It's a nearby city and while we were on the bus my companion told me some traditional Korean fairytales. One that I particularly liked I thought I would share:

The Punk Kid, the Monk, and his fingernails:

Once upon a time, there was a teenage royal kid who lived in his palace-like home somewhere in the midst of Korea. He was really bratty, never really listened to his parents, didn't study, and was just an all around punk of a kid. One day a monk came by his house. Usually monks will bang their little drums, pronounce blessings on your house and then ask for money. However, this punk of a kid just kicked him out and made fun of him, so intead of a blessing the monk put a curse on him. A few days later the punk kid cut his fingernails, but being a bit of a brat and a slob he just left them on the ground. The next morning he woke up and next to him was a copy of himself. He and this replica argued for a little while and then his parents came and found him. Not knowing which one was real they kicked out the real kid and sent him on his way. Crying and not knowing what to do he went on his way until he found the monk. The monk asked him if he was sorry for what he did. The boy apologized and said that in the future he would always throw away his fingernails instead of just leaving them on the ground. So the monk went back with him to the parents house, mumbled his magic words and the replica boy turned back into a fingernail which the punk kid quickly disposed of.

My companion said after hearing this story she always made sure to very carefully dispose of her fingernails. hehehe.

Anyway, the girl that we went to visit in Danjin is so great. She's been meeting wih missionaries for a while, but because of school this last week was our last time. It was interesting though, because she really has began opening her heart. She reads the Liahona and the Book of Mormon and then basically told us a story and bore her testimony of how something that she read and was told by one of the previous missionaries really helped her out last week. She was having a hard time with her job and everything else and wanted to know how she was going to make it, but then she remembered that Sister Cho had told her that God knows us perfectly and would never give us any trial that we can't overcome and that we can always pray to him for help. So she did. I love her, I hope next school vacation to continue to meet with her.

I hope all is well this week, I love you all, feel free to keep me up dated with your life.
--
Sister O'Bryan
Daejeon PO Box 38
Daejeon-si
Chungcheong bukdo 300-600
South Korea

Nothing like coming back to the country

2010-08-23T01:02:00.000-07:00

Dear family,

How does one begin to describe Seosan? My current area is larger than the Seoul West Mission, but population wise it is probably about 1 city block worth of people. Every week for service we spend a day farming (I haven't yet, but that is what I have been informed). We ride buses a lot-- not city buses like I am used to, but the kind that are more similar to greyhound buses. It gives me plenty of time to study Korean, which is good because:

My companion doesn't speak English
My ambitious ward missionary leader informed me that in order to reach our 3 month baptism goal of 100 I need to speak better Korean (Koreans can be very blunt)

I'd been warned about our Ward Mission leader and even heard stories about him months ago when I served in a neighboring city. He's not known for his good relationship with missionaries, but I figured if he has the desire to baptize 100 people I might as well go along. So I told him 100 people is about 25 families. Currently our branch has about 12 active families so if every family refers another family and the missionaries find 1 new family a week to match, we can do it. He stared me down to see if I was serious. But I believe in miracles so I didn't blink. If he can find a way to motivate the families in our ward to give us referrals I can work hard enough to find a family a week of new investigators.

I think he approves of me because he commented on how we just need to have faith like Parley P. Pratt. I informed him that I am related to Parley P. Pratt (I 'm not actually sure if I am, but I figure since we are both white then somewhere down the line we are connected). He looked surprised and then said that he had thought as much because I looked just like the picture in "Preach My Gospel"(It's actually a picture of Dan Jones preaching in Wales, but I didn't have the heart to correct him).

Needless to say- I'm excited to be serving in Seosan.

Other exciting things:

For Green Day (August 14h) I decided to kiss the earth-- or at least the pavement, with my knee and hand (see the pictures attached)
We made cookies with our recent convert the other day which was way fun (I messed up the recipe and left out about 1/2 cup of sugar, but I didn't tell them because:

Koreans aren't big on sweet things so it was okay to taste like bread
They had never made cookies before so they didn't really know the difference

We went to visit Yeosan which is known for apples (see picture attached)

Spiritual highlight of the week:

This is an activity that I like to do when we visit families sometimes. First, close your eyes and think about your role model. Someone who you really admire and who you would do anything for. Picture in your mind their face and what it is exactly about them that you love. Why do you like this person? The person that I always choose is someone who is really close and who can understand me, who always gives me the best advice and is always willing to give up anything for me. Now open your eyes.

At this point I usually go around and have everyone share what it is that they really like about the person. Then I explain that there is one person who has all of these attributes and more-- that person is Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is not only perfect, but he loves and understands us perfectly. He is not just our role model, but he is our brother who took on every care, every worry, every thing for us.

Maybe for FHE or something you can try this activity with some friends, it's really fun and always helps people to realize what Christ can really mean to them.

Love you all,

Sister O'Bryan

Daejeon PO Box 38

Daejeon-si

Chungcheong bukdo 300-600

South Korea

Christlike attributes

2010-08-23T01:00:00.000-07:00

Dear family,

Last Saturday the missionaries in my zone got together and did a special musical fireside centered around Christ and his life. Althought it was a bit hectic with the planning and getting everything to finally fall into place, it was really amazing. Our mission president, President Furniss was even able to come down from Daejeon and he cried during it. It was really nice to spend some time pondering on Christ's importance in our lives and how much he did in his own life. While we were teaching Moon Un Sook's family the other day we spent some time talking about when Christ came to visit the Nephites and looked at references in the Book of Mormon. Then as we were ending Sister Nam talked about how she has a list of Christ-like attributes in her Book of Mormon and marks scriptures that help her with them. We all went around and chose one to work on during the week. The mother, Moon Un Sook, chose patience and as we were leaving Dong Oak was asking to go to a friends house and as we were walking away we could hear him yelling "Patience, patience!"

I thought it was interesting so I thought I would challenge all of you to do similarly. Go to the Preach my Gospel assessment: http://www.lds.org/languages/additionalmanuals/preachgospel/PreachMyGospel___00_00_Complete__36617_eng_000.pdf,

p. 140 in the attribute assessment and then chose an attribute to work on for the next couple of weeks. Then send me an email and let me know how things are going.

Also, just got a phone call, I'm headed back up North to become Senior in Susan... oh golly, we'll see how that works out.

I love you all.

--
Sister O'Bryan
Daejeon PO Box 38
Daejeon-si
Chungcheong bukdo 300-600
South Korea

Just another great week in Korea

2010-08-23T00:57:00.000-07:00

Family,

I don't have a lot of new stories to share with you of my own, except being chased by a crazy drunk man on a bike, seeing a Korean zoo, being volunteered for a special musical number in a special musical fireside, and teaching fun lessons in Korean, nothing new has really happened this week.

So instead I just thought I would share this fun story and some pictures. This is called Seoul Temple Promise by Steve Cale:

"The temple in Seoul Korea has a promise of temporal protection attached to it. I know of no other temple in the world for which temple attendance will protect the country from war.

I'm a Korean linguist for the U.S. Air Force. I've been stationed in Korea for 12 of the last 22 years. I served my mission in Sendai, Japan and then returned home to Idaho and married my wife Lauri. I joined the Air Force in 1982 and was sent to the Defense Language Institute in Monterey California to learn Korean. I was then assigned to Osan Air Base and arrived in Korea in 1984. I am an Intelligence professional.

On December 14, 1985, my wife and I were privileged to attend the dedication of the Seoul Temple. The day was very cold and the wind was blowing very strong, but as we waited in the parking lot of the temple for our session, we were kept warm by the many friends surrounding us. We entered the temple and took our seats. President Gordon B. Hinckley who was a counselor in the First Presidency at the time, was to dedicate the temple. In his remarks before the dedicatory prayer, he made a comment that was so startling, that I committed it to memory. He said, “If you will use this temple, you need not fear an invasion from the north.”

What a great promise! I also remember the remark, because during my mission, I had the opportunity to work with Elder Kikuchi of the Seventy. He was also at the dedication and afterwards as we were talking, he remarked how neat that promise was. My family left Korea in 1986 and returned in 1988 for a second tour. We stayed that time until 1991. The Saints in Korea had been attending the temple regularly and I feel this is why the 1988 Olympic Games were held without incident even though the North Koreans had threatened to disrupt them.

In 1993, my family and I returned yet again to Korea and at that time, tensions were increasing over the possible development by the North Koreans of nuclear weapons. In 1994, it actually appeared that we might go to war with North Korea over this issue. Even though I had heard a prophet of the Lord declare that we would be protected, I began to doubt the promise. I wondered if perhaps I had misunderstood President Hinckley's words that day.

That summer, many of us were invited to Seoul to a training session with Elder Boyd Packer and Elder Henry B. Eyring. The chapel in Shindang was filled with church leaders both Korean and American. Elder Eyring spoke first and then Elder Packer stood up to speak. He let us know that “training” was not the only reason that he and Elder Eyring had come to Korea. He told us that President Hinckley was concerned for the safety of the saints in Korea.

Therefore, the day before, President Packer and Elder Eyring had gone up the the Demilitarized Zone, the border between north and south Korea, and had performed a priesthood ordinance which placed guardian angels at that border. He told us that because of our faithfulness in attending the temple, we would be protected.

I don't know if I was more surprised to hear that there were actually guardian angels at the border, or that there was a priesthood ordinance to put them there. One Korean stake president, asked Elder Packer, “How long will they be

there?”

His answer was, “As long as they are needed and you are faithful in your temple attendance.”

Now I knew we were safe for I had heard the promise twice.

In 1996, President Hinckley came to Korea on his way to Hong Kong to dedicate the temple there. He held a regional conference in Seoul which we attended. During his remarks at this conference, he made reference to the temple promise, and said he was going to change it. He told us that we now needed to attend the temple faithfully, and also appreciate it. He told us that we were all being protected by the Lord because we had done as we were told. This was the third time I had heard the promise and the second time from President Hinckley's own mouth.

I know that this promise is true. I have seen events happen in conjunction with my job, in which many times the experts have been confused as to why the North Koreans did not attack. I know it is because they cannot.

As a member of the U.S. Air Force, part of my job is to help protect the Republic of Korea from attack. I feel as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ Of Latter Day Saints, I can do more to protect South Korea by attending the temple. As long as the saints in Korea attend the temple they are protected. I have been so blessed to not only witness the prophet of the Lord proclaim this great promise, but also have been here to see the fulfillment of those words."

Cool,huh?

I love you all, the church is true.
--
Sister O'Bryan
Daejeon PO Box 38
Daejeon-si
Chungcheong bukdo 300-600
South Korea

And then the weather got warmer

2010-07-24T21:12:00.001-07:00

Dear family,

In Korea they have what are called the 40 hottest days of summer, and then it gets progressively hotter and hotter, they are

초박- Cho Back- begins July 19
중박- Joong Back- begins July 29
말박- Mar Back- Begins August 8

In other words, I thought it was hot before, but I had no idea. It's an interesting experience to have sweat constantly streaming down your face and to be a permanent shade of pink, but it's worth it. Also, Korea has cicadas and this is the year that they are out and about.

This week has been good, the usual, visiting members and less actives and investigators and wondering the streets in the rain with our large umbrellas talking to people at bus stops.

This morning with my companion we talked together about testimony. How a testimony is something that you can't just have, but that you have to constantly nourish and care for. I think it's because I was thinking about prophets and apostles and how they got to be that way, so stalwart and so strong and unwavering. But really the secret to success, to happiness, is not in the miracles and the grand occurences, but in the everyday things we do to remember who we are, remind ourselves of what is imporant and try to follow Christ.

One thing that I really liked to do before my mission was to go to the church website, lds.org and watch the various videos they have online. It was like a small spiritual snack whenever I felt down or unmotivated. So of course keep reading your scriptures, praying, all the other things you already do, but the challenge for this week is to take a look at LDS. org and let me know one thing that you really enjoy from it.

Also, what's up with everyone? Things I know (you can fill in the rest and send it to me):

Anna is going to Russia in the fall
Sara had twins (but I don't know how they are now, are they healthy? Still in the hospital? Are there more pictures? How are Sara/Ethan/Elise/Brett?)
Heidi is getting married.. in August?
Jon- graduated? In California? Getting his PhD?
Susan- moved? Visiting in Utah?
Lealani- In New York
Daddy/Natasha/Kentucky family- still in Kentucky... 열심히 waiting for me to finish so they can come visit Asia...
Josh- has a new job.. considering going to Cali? Katie?
Mom- doing well, I think...
Louis- taking classes in Utah, organizing brilliant math groups, working? preparing for college?

If there is anything else happening in anyone's life, feel free to let me know. I kind of have no access to that sort of information except through you, my lovely family.

Sister O'Bryan

Daejeon PO Box 38

Daejeon-si

Chungcheong bukdo 300-600

South Korea

Words from a Nephite

2010-07-15T14:46:00.000-07:00

Dear family,

This past week my companion, Sister Copeland, returned home. (Technically she is staying with her mom's family in Gwangju for a few weeks and then headed back to Atlanta, but for all practical purposes she has returned). Which means I got a new companion, Sister Nam (남윤회)! She went to BYU for a few years before her mission as well and her home is up in Seoul right next to the temple, neat huh? We also have a new face, Elder Stephenson, who came to Korea last week. But I haven't really seen him because he has been in the hospital with an ulcer. Getting an endoscopy is not fun in America, but in Korea where they don't really use anesthetics, it's really not fun. Poor kid.

Last week we met with Moon Un Sook (문은숙 )and her children. A few weeks ago we gave the children the Book of Mormon story books to read and they have since read the entire thing. It was funny because as we began teaching the daughter, You Me (오유미) looked at me and asked "Are you a Nephite?" I was a little taken aback and began to try to explain that I was actually European when she said "You're skin is white. The Nephites had white skin. Am I a Lamanite?" Then she asked how you say that in English. It's hard to explain that usually that kind of thing is not really kosher in America, but she and her brother just kept going back and forth making fun of each other's skin color and then she looked at me and said "How do you say you have red skin, because your face is really red!" Oh... kids.

One of the other Elders who finished his mission came by with his parents to see the traditional folk village in Jeonju and later stopped by while we were having English class. It was really weird to see Americans. I guess I see myself every day in the mirror and I see Elders, but it's different, because they know Korean. But these fresh-off-the-plane foreigners from Springville, Utah just seemed so out of place. In Korea when you are not Korean people usually point at you and talk about you-- because most foreigners don't understand Korean. I'm used to it because I've been here for a while, and usually I just talk back in Korean and they get really shocked. It's the funniest with little kids because they will point and tug at their mom's shirts saying "mom, look at the weird foreigner" so then I will say hi and they will get big eyes and look at their mom and say "they speak Korean!"

Other things I will probably have to become re-accustom to when I get back to the US:

Being politically correct (things like calling people fat, asking your age, job, salary, telling people to remove the unsightly moles on their face, and other socially acceptable things in Korea are a little rude in America)
Eating with a fork/ eating only from my own plate
Not recycling everything/ throwing my food in the regular trashcan/ not having to buy special trash bags
Having to bum rides from people (since there aren't any good bus systems or taxis)
Being normal, no one calling me beautiful and patting my back the first time we meet

This weeks challenge is from the Lord. I was reading an article from the July Liahona by Elder Oaks which talked about sharing the gospel. He mentioned the fact that most people view Mormons as being shy about their religion and kind of defensive, like we expect people to reject it. But really, this is the best thing I have to offer other people. I don't have money, I can't solve all their problems myself, I can't give them candy or food or shelter, but I have the gospel and it has helped me more than anything in my life to overcome trials, to feel happiness, to meet other people, the feel fulfilled. It's the only thing I have. It's the best I have. So let's share it.

D&C 19: 37

" 37 And ^aspeak freely to all; yea, preach, exhort, declare the ^btruth, even with a loud voice, with a sound of rejoicing, crying—Hosanna, hosanna, blessed be the name of the Lord God! "

Sister O'Bryan

Daejeon PO Box 38

Daejeon-si

Chungcheong bukdo 300-600

South Korea

The humidity as thick as my sweat

2010-07-04T23:46:00.000-07:00

Dear family,

We received a new mission president this week which is pretty exciting, he seems really humbled at the opportunity and a little bit overwhelmed, but I suppose that's to be expected.

This week I wanted to share a couple of conversion stories from people in our wards, I thought they were pretty amazing so I thought you might as well.

Joebell is one of our members from the Phillipines. Two years ago, before she came to Korea to get married, she lived and worked in Hong Kong for a period of time. One day while she was on her way to cast her vote for the Philipine presidential elections she was stopped by an Elder. He asked her if she had some time where they could talk. She informed him that no, she was very busy and in fact had to rush before the election place closed. She continued to keep walking, but he followed her, begging for just 5 minutes, 4 minutes, 3 minutes. She kept thinking about how annoying this kid was who wouldn't stop following her and then she looked back and realized that he was crying. She was so touched that she stopped and asked him for his phone number, she said she had no time but would call him later. He said in order for him to give her his phone number he would have to get hers in return. She quickly responded that she didn't have one. Being very persistent he said that she must at least have an address that he could come visit her at. He then started to tell her what she later realized were the first five articles of faith. She was really touched and intrigued so finally admitted that she did have a phone number and gave it to him.

Three days later he finally called her. By this time she says she had almost completely forgotten who he was, but from that ponit forward they started to meet and the missionaries would call her every day, two or more times every day. After about a week they would call at night and ask if they could sing her a song. She was baptized in a month.

I thought it was intense, I have never been quite as forward as that Elder or as persistent, but since then now every now and then my companion and I will call people and sing to them at night, members and investigators. It's actually really fun.

Another member in our ward told us about how when he was in High School he was walking home from school one day when these two boys in bikes and suits pulled up and asked him in a really disrespectful manner (in pan-mal) where he was going. He told them and then they literally threw a Book of Mormon at him, commanded him to read it, and rode off. He was really offended, but also really intrigued so he started to read it. He took it with him everywhere and read it on the bus and at school and all his friends were really interested to know what it was. He didn't really even know what it was, but later he ended up meeting with a different set of missionaries. They were really surprised to find out that he had already read the entire thing and had a testimony of it.

I have not yet instituted the Book of Mormon throwing into my proselyting approach...

For the Fourth of July at our English class we all celebrated by having human wheelbarrow races, guessing the 50 states contest (the most they could get was 20, most of them were actually cities, not states), water balloon throwing contest, and s'mores making. It was fun. What were some of the things you did to celebrate this year?

Love you all.
--
Sister O'Bryan
Daejeon PO Box 38
Daejeon-si
Chungcheong bukdo 300-600
South Korea

A Promise

2010-07-04T23:44:00.000-07:00

Dear Family,

Last Saturday I was teaching a lady and I began to really think about promises. She is brilliant, three degrees, does research on the side, knows three languages, studied in Switzerland for 10 years, and is currently doing social research that is published in all sorts of science journals and on the weekends goes into the country and gives medical care to old farmers. She is very accomplished, but she also lives at home alone with just her dog and her turtle (I swear if I don't have children and I get to be that old I will just adopt or something). She mentioned that about 20 years ago she got a copy of the Book of Mormon while her brother was taking the discussions and at the same read the entire thing. So while we were discussing it she asked why God would give it to us. Although she couldn't remember all of it, she did remember that it was veyr similar to the Bible in a lot of ways and so she wanted to know why we couldn't just have the Bible. We began to explain to her why we need the Book of Mormon and then promised to come back next week and discuss more about the priesthood.

The next morning while I was reading in Doctrine & Covenants I came across D&C 3:19 which basically says that the Book of Mormon was brought to forth in order to fulfill God's promises to his children:

"And for this very purpose are these plates preserved, which contain these records that the promises of the Lord might be fulfilled, which he made to his people; "

I thought a lot about that, how important it is to God that he fulfills his promises. I thought about how he says that we are his promise generation, we are the "coming for of His church out of the wilderness-- clear as the moon, and fair as the sun, and terrible as an army with banners" (D&C 5:14). We are a generation that has to make promises and keep promises and that has had many promises given to us.

While teaching another lesson last night I noticed that bit about "clear as the moon, and fair as the sun". On Sunday nights we teach a group of older people who work at a furniture store. They have a lot of desire to learn English and listen to our gospel message with varying degrees of interest. We brought a member with us to teach and there was this very remarkable difference that I noticed- he shone. He is not rich, in fact he recently quite his job as a business man so that he can spend more time studying and currently he is a janitor at a school while he has to support his family and fulfill his many callings. He is not rich, he is not amazingly educated, he doesn't own his own furniture store, but in the midst of those people his countenance shone and his happiness was visible.

I thought a lot about some of the other blessings the Lord has given me personally and how I have seen them fulfilled. I flipped back through my journal and found some of the things that I wrote from the blessing I received when I was set apart to be a missionary and made a short list of promises I have seen fulfilled:

Gift of tongues--although it is not how I had imagined, I can now speak Korean. This was one thing that took a lot more effort than I had ever imagined (aren't gifts supposed to be free?), however, I have realized that although I do not speak like a native Korean I can carry on a conversation and every day I am able to memorize more grammer forms and vocubularly than I ever did before my mission. Things just begin to make sense and I can understand the majority of things spoken to me.
Patience with members-- I didn't understand this one at the time, why would I need patience with members who I didn't think were progressing? Wouldn't I be working just with investigators? Oh how much I needed to learn.
Safety-- Korea isn't actually dangerous by any means, so it's not a big worry, however, I have feel protected nonetheless.

This week's challenge-- tell me some promises that you have seen fulfilled in your life.

Sister O'Bryan

Daejeon PO Box 38

Daejeon-si

Chungcheong bukdo 300-600

South Korea

It's going to be another hot day

2010-06-20T21:09:00.001-07:00

Dear family,

It was another good week in Korea. In the World Cup we lost against Argentina, but if we can beat Nigeria then we will still advance to the next bracket. Plus, Argentina is predicted to win the entire thing, so I guess it was somewhat expected.

Interesting story of the week:

We have been meeting with a lady and her two children for the past couple of months. When we met her she was introduced to us through a member in one of our wards and thought she was a less active who just happened to attend another church. So since then we asked her if we could teach her and her kids. Then randomly we found out last week that she was never actually baptized and the first time that she had met the member who introduced her was when we all met together for the first time. It made me laugh a lot. What a trooper, here we were teaching her like she was just a less active and yet she really had no idea, but let us keep coming over anyway. She probably just figured that we were two foreigners and so forgave our misunderstanding. It's good though because her children are really progressing, reading for the Book of Mormon story book and praying about our message.

Also, last week while we were walking an older man came up to us and starting talking in fluent English. He looked older (mid 80s?), kind of grubby and was pulling a large trash cart (you don't really see those in America, but image Fiddler on the Roof style cart and now imagine it filled with trash). Apparently he had been baptized in the 1970s and had since stopped coming to church, but he was really nice and was a teacher for 25 years. (In Korea that's pretty much the most prestigious thing you can do, like being a doctor in America). Currently he teaches English and German conversation classes and said that he cleans on the side for pocket money and to help some Phillipine family (I'm not sure what that's supposed to mean). So we got all of his information and gave it to our Elders so that they can find him. I guess it just goes to show that you can never judge a book by its cover.

This week's challenge: Tell me about a time in your life when have had a "never judge a book by its cover" experience.

Love you all, (watch the world cup)

--
Sister O'Bryan
Daejeon PO Box 38
Daejeon-si
Chungcheong bukdo 300-600
South Korea

Families are forever: that's a really long time

2010-06-15T15:53:00.000-07:00

Dear family,

For those of you who have been living under a rock or in a country where people don't care that much (America) the past week and the upcoming ones are something we like to call the World Cup. How do I know since I do not own a computer, television, or radio? Because I have eyes and ears in my head. Last Saturday Greece placed Korea and it was amazing. I was coming home after an appointment and was reminded because everyone had glowing red devil headbands and red t-shirts and every parking lot turned into a tailgate party with fireworks and huge trucks with TV screens on them while people gathered around. Then while we were in our apartment preparing for bed we could feel the excitement and every time that Korea made a goal there was a loud thunder-like cheer from every apartment and every parking lot in Korea. It made me want to be a soccer fan.

Today was moving day. Unfortunately the lease was up on our amazing apartment (known through out the mission as the "mansion" and so we had to move to a not as nice place. I know that you probably don't really care about the details of it, but it was interesting-- so I included pictures. We lived on the 17th floor so they took this huge ladder attached to a truck and then shoved everything in a basket and put it on this lift. I love Koreans--- sometimes they are just ingenious. Sometimes it is just funny.

This weeks thought is again from Elder Ballard, but from his most recent talk at General Conference. (Random fact: he once went on a really long car ride with Dad and gave him advice for his computer company.)

" I hope you are listening and see a pattern and hear a steady, consistent message that in these last days it is essential even critical that parents and children listen to and learn from one another. These are not just ethereal concepts about which I have been speaking. They are the essence, the center, of God's plan for our eternal happiness and peace."

I thought about that a lot-- the importance of learning from parents and children. I see this a lot because as a missionary you see a LOT of people (especially when you have to talk to 140 new people every week). I thought of one family who we have been working with lately. The mother is from the Philippines and while there even served a mission, her family was one of the first families that were church members on her island. However, since being in Korea she has become less active because her husband doesn't always let her go to church. I guess the way he does things is that when he is home his entire family has to be home as well so she can't leave the house after about 8pm and on Sundays if he doesn't wake up then he doesn't always let her go to church. Since we have been working with them we have gotten him to be more lenient and so now she comes even if he doesn't. He is also a member and a few weeks ago baptized his daughter.

I thought about how the father has changed because of the love he has for his children and I thought a lot about how Mama and Daddy have had a huge influence on me. My companion and I were talking about this the other day and she said that once she had graduated from college she asked her mom what her biggest concern was when she was going through High School. Her mother replied that her biggest fear was that one of her kids would get pregnant or get someone else pregnant. My companion thought that was weird because the only thing she remembered her mom emphasizing was money, her mother had never really mentioned anything that would have made her not get pregnant. It's interesting how the things we think we are emphasizing and that are important don't always come across that way. So question of the week:

What have you learned from your parents?
What have you learned from you children (where that applies)?
What do you hope they have learned from you?

Sister O'Bryan

Daejeon PO Box 38

Daejeon-si

Chungcheong bukdo 300-600

South Korea

Weathering It

2010-06-01T15:49:00.000-07:00

Dear family,

The weather is nice and the old people are out. In the park next to our library there is a flock of old people relaxing and enjoy the wonderful weather. In Korea there are not many nursing homes, actually I have never seen one or heard of someone who lived in one. However there are LOTS of old people. They usually roam the streets or when it is nice outside they conglamurate in areas like parks and play Chinese checkers or just sit on the benches and gossip. It is amazing. I have never seen so many people over the age of 70 all in one area. They are probably more full of life than I am and even though they are completely bent over with age and osteoporosis don't be fooled, it still hurts when they "pat" your back and tell you that you are pretty.

I'm glad that the weather finally warmed up and decided to behave itself, however it also means that summer is coming. I have heard a lot about it from various people and have received many warnings about how I need to "prepare myself". The humidity is suppossedly horrid and chances are I will want to die, my laundry will never dry and if I don't leave the windows open on my apartment then everything will grow mold and smell horrible. However, until then I am not worried. It's really nice when we walk around finding people's houses and new investigators so for now I am enjoying it.

Last week we had a ward cooking battle in Junju ward. It was a lot of work and preparation, but it ended up being a lot of fun. Everyone put a lot of thought and effort into it and so we ate delicious food and played lots of fun games, like pie eating, eating onion rings off a string, egg passing relays and competitive bobbing for apples. Here's a secret of life, if you want to get a Korean really involved in an activity make it competitive, they will do anything to win.

Something I have been thinking about lately:

"The invitation to repent is rarely a voice of chastisement but rather a loving appeal to turn around and to “re-turn” toward God.14 It is the beckoning of a loving Father and His Only Begotten Son to be more than we are, to reach up to a higher way of life, to change, and to feel the happiness of keeping the commandments. Being disciples of Christ, we rejoice in the blessing of repenting and the joy of being forgiven. They become part of us, shaping the way we think and feel."

-Neil A. Andersen Oct 2009

This week one of the less actives that we were working with finally came out to church with her two young sons. I was ecstatic. It is hard to come back out when it has been so long and you feel like no one knows you and that they are all judging you. I am so glad that I have never gone less active because dang it's hard to come back. The most dissapointing thing though was when we were talking to a member, in hopes that they would befriend her because their children are similar age and all that she said was they she didn't really like her and they had known each other when they were younger. It was surprising to me. I was reminded of the story of the prodigal son, the father who welcomes his son back with open arms and the brother who stands seething outside. God is willing to forgive us and others and let us progress and grow, so why can't we?

Challenge of the week: Forgive.

I love you all.

--
Sister O'Bryan
Daejeon PO Box 38
Daejeon-si
Chungcheong bukdo 300-600
South Korea

Because what we are on the outside will get old in this lifetime, but what we are like on the inside will never get old. Just wiser and better, if we do it right.

Mama

Elections--you can count on it

2010-05-27T08:43:00.000-07:00

Dear family,

It is election season in Korea. This means everyone has their campaign trucks and is out on the street corners blaring loud music and dancing with their paid grandmas. It's probably one of the funniest things I have ever seen. Unlike in the USA instead of just two political parties there are somewhere around 30 and so there are a lot of street corners with dancing grandmas and people shouting through megaphones, other people dressed up in funny costumes passing out cards and shaking everyone's hand.

We also have transfers today, but I am staying with one of my companions so will probably be here in Junju for a long time (at least the next 12 weeks if not longer). The other day while we were visiting a less active member I came across what is now probably one of my favorite books ever. Because this is Korea and everyone wants to learn English it was of course in English and is called "The Story of the Little Mole Who Knew it Was None of His Business". It's this little mole and if I tell you any more than that it would ruin the story. So go to your nearest library and see if you can find a copy. It's so popular here in Korea that they even have a musical about it.

Spiritual enlightenment of the week- this past week I have been rereading last October's General Conference (because we STILL haven't received the one from May here in Korea...) and I was reminded of why I love our church. We have living apostles and a living prophet to lead and guide our church, how amazing is that?

Every time I read over General Conference I am reminded of that and I find something really neat that I didn't notice before. This morning I was finishing up the General Relief Society meeting and I read a talk from Sister Barbara Thomas (Thompson? I don't know). She talks about "Minding the Gap" and although I can't remember all of the talk there is one part that just made me laugh a lot. She talked about how at one point one of her coworkers asked her how she could still be so active in a church that put so much emphasis on marriage and family when she was single. She replied that the reason was that it is true- she could be just as single and just as childless outside of the church but wouldn't have the happiness of being a member. I hope that I am never her, however, if I never get married or have children or even if I do I hope that I can continue on as faithfully and strongly as she has.

Challenge of the week: Who is someone in your life who you really admire? Why? What are you going to do to be more like that person?

Another neat thing, my P-day is being switched to Monday. That means that I will be able to email you all again in... four days. Pretty cool. So if you act quickly you can finish the challenge of the week and reply before my next email!!! How exciting is THAT?!

I love you all.

Sister Rebecca O'Bryan

An apostle of the Lord and other things

2010-05-20T08:01:00.000-07:00

Dear family,

We got to hear from Elder Christopherson last Sunday at Stake conference. It was a pretty big deal for everyone, they prepared for months and they were just beaming when he complimented them on their food and the choir (which I was in) and everything else. I think it kind of sounded like the kind of talk you could give anywhere and it was somewhat generic, but the spirit he brought with him when he spoke was tremendous. I guess it's like the scriptures, it's not so much that you receive a new revelation every time that you read, but the spirit and peace that you get from consistently reading them can really help you through your day.

I don't have a lot of time this week, we went to the public bath house which took a little more time than we thought. However, I would recommend to anyone, I got scrubbed so clean that I literally sqeeked when I had water rubbed on me. Also it was pretty cheap ($4) unless you wanted an old grandma to rub you down and give you a massage, that cost an extra $15. I don't know why we don't have more of them in America, they are amazing, out door pools, indoor pools, hot pools, freezing cold pools, dry saunas, wet saunas, massage water pressure baths and everything. Maybe it's because everyone is naked. (No worries the women and the men are in seperate buildings).

Anyway, I love you all, think happy thoughts and scrub really well.

--
Sister O'Bryan
Daejeon PO Box 38
Daejeon-si
Chungcheong bukdo 300-600
South Korea

Beatboxing door knocking and family reflections

2010-05-12T19:55:00.001-07:00

Dear Family,

After the phone call with everyone this week I thought a lot about things, family, life, Korea. The more that I am here the more I realize that I really like Korea. It is different in some ways, but in a lot of ways it has become my home. My companions and I were playing a game of "would you rather" and Sister Jung asked "Would you rather go your entire life only eating Korean food or American food?" I thought about it for a long time. If I never could eat American food it means no bread, which is a big deal because I discovered that I really love bread and that Koreans just don't know how to make it. Could I really go the rest of my life without eating bread? But then again, could I really go the rest of my life without eating kimchi or rice wrapped in kim or car-guk-su? In the end it doesn't really matter because I know that I can eat both, but it was interesting to think about.

I was also thinking a lot about family. While at district meeting the other day I was listening to one of the Elders give a training and my mind started to wonder. I love missionary work, I love missionaries and I love the Elders in my area, but sometimes they can say things that are a little inconsiderate. So while I was sitting there feeling slightly ticked off I suddenly got a thought "what if that was Jonny?" or even "What if that was Louis?" I realized that no matter what they would have said I wouldn't have cared because they are missionaries and I would be proud of all that they had to go through and their determination to be there. Suddenly every Elder in the room became my brother, not like the over arching thought of "we are all children of God" but like my actual brothers. I could see Louis slouching in the chair next to me and Jonny giving a presentation about faith in finding people and Josh flicking paper wads at his companion. And suddenly I realized that's what it's like. That's what God sees us as, his family. We are not just like little paper dolls that he plays with, but literally his children that he knows by name. It was one of those moments where the things that you testify about every day becomes real and it sinks even deeper into your heart.

Then last night we were teaching a girl. Her name is Han Jung Yun and she is brilliant. She is 12 years old, but doesn't go to any afterschool program and yet she wins awards all the time and is almost fluent at English. So while we were teaching we pulled out the "Family: A Proclamation" and started discussing how the gospel helps our families. The first question we asked her was "How important is family?" She sat and thought about it for a minute. Then she responded "It's like air. You have to have air to breath and to survive. That is how important family is." Then her mom told us about how last summer when the daughter went to Canada to learn English the mother didn't eat kimchi for two months. Because the daughter couldn't eat kimchi the mother decided to commiserate with her by not eating any herself. If you understood how important kimchi is to a Korean you would be really touched. Koreans eat kimchi with every meal. Kimchi is as or more important than rice. As an American I'm not sure if you understand that statement, but just imagine how much you drink water, or how often you brush your teeth and then imagine stopping for two months.

Other things:

I am going to a cooking hog-won today. Hog-wons are like the staple of Korean education, EVERY child goes to at least two or three, they are like after school programs (ballet, basketball, art, piano, accordian), but then imagine that with the intensity of army boot camp from the time you are 6 and you have Korean education. Our bishop's wife runs a cooking hog-won and so I get to go today
I am going to see if I can't get some plastic surgery. Korea is known for it's plastic surgery which is amazing cheap and wonderful because everyone does it. My companion is getting a mole removed so I am going to see if I can't get a couple freckles taken off or this weird chicken pox scar filled in. Nothing too dramatic, no worries. We'll see....

Challenge of the week, reread The Family Proclamation and try something new with your own family.

Also, where is Roman? Is he still alive?
--
Sister O'Bryan
Daejeon PO Box 38
Daejeon-si
Chungcheong bukdo 300-600
South Korea

Try and keep on trying until that which seems difficult becomes possible- and that which seems only possible becomes habit and a real part of you.

-Elder Uchtdorf

Mother's Day and other things

2010-05-06T15:10:00.000-07:00

Dear Family,

This week I have been thinking a lot about prayer. We have two investigators who have finally started to progress, this means that they are reading the Book of Mormon assignments that we leave them and they are actually interested when we start out lessons and ask questions that you can tell are really from their hearts. Also at the end of the lessons this week we asked if they would pray and they did. It was the first time for both of them, one of them is a lady who says she has been Catholic for years, but yet this was really the first time that she prayed. The other is a little girl who has no religion and so she really didn't know much about it except from the times we have prayed with her before. There is something really neat about being with someone the first time they pray, I always feel so privelaged, it is like they are opening up this communication with their father in heaven who has been wanting to talk to them for so long and I get to be there when it happens. I love it.

I have also been thinking about the Mother's Day call that is coming up in a few days. I talked to mom this morning and she said that on Mother's Day she will try to have people at her house and call from there at about 6pm MST which will be Monday morning for me. As not everyone can come to Mama's house I thought that maybe the rest of the crew could try to do a conference call a little bit earlier, maybe like half an hour before, which would be 5:30PM MST. Any earlier than that and my companion will be talking to her family. If that doesn't work... well.. I'm not really sure. I just know that last time the huge conference call had some issues so I thought with fewer people it might be a little more successful and I would just try to have two calls.

Also, in preparation, if you could find your favorite scripture or a recent testimony building experience to share, that would be great. I love to hear your voices and your questions, but

I only get to hear from you twice a year so I'd like to make the most of it, if you know what I mean.

The first picture I attached is from a birthday party I attended. It was so intense. This little girl was turning one and that is one of the biggest birthdays in Korea so they had a HUGE birthday party. The second is a picture of some of the things we ate. I am always amazed because just when I think I have eaten everything there is some other animal or vegetable that I am served.

The third picture is me at a Buddhist temple jumping off the steps. They had HUGE Buddhas there and other things and then off across this gully was where all the monks live. I thought it was funny because there was this big gate that said "Temple Square training center" and it made me laugh a lot.

Another thing I love about Korea-- the random holidays and festivals. Yesterday was children's day so school was out and one of the wards I serve in went on a picnic in the mountains. So of course we went with them. The mountains in Korea are just as beautiful as the ones in Utah, just with more ancient ruins scattered about, and it was a lot of fun to picnic Korean style and play kick ball and what not. Koreans are really competitive-- always, so it was a really intense game of kick ball with the bishop egging everyone on and lots of yelling and running, things you usually don't do much of as a missionary.

I hope all is well in your neck of the woods, the church is true, God loves you, I love you.
--
Sister O'Bryan
Daejeon PO Box 38
Daejeon-si
Chungcheong bukdo 300-600
South Korea

Short message of the week

2010-04-29T07:43:00.000-07:00

Family,

Sorry for the short email, but I love you all and this week was really good. I got to go to a baby's first birthday which was... extravagant and we heard some really inspirational messages at zone conference. I really have no time, but here is a thought to think about this week:

D&C 128:22

Brethren, shall we not go on in so great a cause? Go forward, and not backward. Courage, brethren, and on, on to the victory! Let your hearts rejoice, and be exceedingly glad. Let the earth break forth into singing!
--
Sister O'Bryan
Daejeon PO Box 38
Daejeon-si
Chungcheong bukdo 300-600
South Korea

Week 2 in Jungju

2010-04-21T21:45:00.000-07:00

Dear family,

Jungju is good and I love my two companions. Sister Copeland is from Georgia and used to be a college radio DJ as well as a social marketer, neat, huh? Sister Jung is from Incheon and has only been a member for a year, she doesn't know a lot about the church, but she knows it is true and has the kind of fire testimony that is contagious.

The church for one of our wards is absolutely humungous. 4 stories. You have to use an elevator to get from the chapel to your Sunday School class, we also get to hear from Elder Christopherson in a couple weeks as he is coming to our Stake Conference. I am not certain why he is coming, our Stake Presidency isn't changing, but I get to sing in the choir and he will speak in English, so I am pretty excited.
This past week I got to have acupuncture! Well, kind of. Sister Copeland had an aching back so while we were at a member's house she mentioned it. They quickly pulled out this needle, grabbed her hand and stabbed her pinky. It's supposed to get out all of the bad blood so they squeezed and out came the blood like a water gun. They were going to do it to all of her fingers, but she only let them do a few. Then the member took these band aids with small needles attached and stuck them in between her fingers. After watching her I should have known better than to reveal my health ailments, but I casually mentioned a cold sore on my lips and also got the needle band aids stuck in my palm. Before I thought accupuncture sounded kind of neat, but now I am more of the opinion that it is just painful. Plus I still have the cold sore....

This past week I have been reading Heleman 5. "Why has it taken me an entire week to read one chapter?" you may be wondering. Have you ever read that chapter? It is so craze! Not only is it packed with spiritual wisdom, Nephi advising his sons and admonishing them to trust in God, but also the most amazing thing happens in this chapter. Here they are, two missionaries just like me, except they are baptizing thousands, and then they get thrown in prison. Not just like taken to prison, but an entire army has to come to get them. Then while they are in prison there is this amazing heavenly visit with fire and angels and mists of darkness. Before my mission I probably just would have skimmed over this chapter, but now I read and I wonder... can that happen to me?

I'm not so certain I want to be thrown into jail, that's a little intense, but I do like the part where the less active Nephite informs all of the other Lamanites how to get out of the mist. A lot of the work in Jungju is to less actives. There are a LOT of less active members in Korea and so we spent a lot of time visiting them and loving them and encouraging them to re-activation. Sometimes we don't always see the fruits of our labors. You can't count baptisms or member lessons, and sometimes they still don't come out to church so it's not an immediate result effort. Instead you just have to hope that one day the messages and love that you share will sink into their hearts and while they are out there in the midsts of darkness that come with worldly pursuits that they will remember how they can get out. They will remember what they felt and they will return. And they will. I have faith.

Wishing you all well.

Challenge of the week-- do your visiting/home teaching. Set a goal. Do it so other people don't have to do it for you.

Sister O'Bryan
Daejeon PO Box 38
Daejeon-si
Chungcheong bukdo 300-600
South Korea

News from 전주

2010-04-15T11:41:00.000-07:00

Dear family,

With the begginning of a new transfer I am in a new city, Junju! I have two new companions and I have a feeling this will be another great transfer.

Miracle of the week: David. I told you a little about him last week, but we met with him again and he is the definition of golden. He came to General Conference and liked the morning session so much he decided to stay for the afternoon session as well. When President Monson spoke he looked at me and said that it was a prophet of God and that he was really powerful. It's true! And afterwards we were able to teach him the first lesson. Then last night, as the last chance I was able to meet with him, we taught him again. He is so pure and he knows what we teach is true because it is all centered around Christ and he loves Christ. We asked him to talk a little about what he feels about God and Christ and he bore one of the strongest testimonies I have ever heard in my life. When he was at General Conference one of the quorum of the seventies was also at our ward and when he shook his hand he said "this is good. You have such strong faith. One day you will be a very strong leader of the church in Kenya". People are out there, people are waiting for the truth, people want to hear it and we can help them.

He reminded me of one of my favorite scriptures:

2 Nephi25: 26

And we ^atalk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we ^bprophesy of Christ, and we write according to our prophecies, that our ^cchildren may know to what source they may look for a ^dremission of their sins.

This week's challenge, talk a little bit more of Christ. There is power in your testimonies of Christ because it is truth. Christ lived for us. Christ died for us. He did this because he loves us and I know that is true.

I love you all. I included pictures, one of David, one of my old district, one of some sisters which has my new companions in it, but they aren't standing next to me so I will send a better picture next week.
--
Sister O'Bryan
Daejeon PO Box 38
Daejeon-si
Chungcheong bukdo 300-600
South Korea

"For because of the word which he has imparted unto me, behold, many have been bor of God, and have tasted as I have tasted, and have seen eye to eye as I have seen; therefore they do know of these things of which I have spoken, as I do know; and the knowledge which I have is of God."
-Alma 36:26

More Mission Fun

2010-04-14T09:57:00.000-07:00

Dear Family,

I can never remember what I have or haven't told you from my scripture study so if you get repeats, well, just think of it as a sign or something.

I have been reading a lot in Alma lately. This might be because it is a very large book. We have a recent convertthat we visit from time to time who is also reading in Alma. She runs a small restuarant which, coincidentally enough, is also her house (not that unusual) and so when we went in to eat we saw her Book of Mormon on her table. It was all marked up with post it notes sticking out of almost every page. I was so impressed. So I asked her what they all meant. She is so pure. Instead of having some really great filing system or complicated method she just honestly said that one color was for complicated scriptures and another was for ones she liked. We asked her what her favorite scriptures were that she had read this week and she all the war ones, because they were really exciting. Also every time that we visit she takes my hands in hers and warms them up. I keep expecting the weather to be warmer so I don't always wear gloves and my hands are really cold when we drop by so she scolds me and then spends a few minutes warming them up on her face and in her hands.

That's why I love the gospel, because it is so applicable to everyone, no matter where they are in their spiritual journey. We also met some Kenyans yesterday. They are these two just very hunble, open men who met missionaries in Busan and so wanted to meet us here in Chenon. Since there are no Elders in our area we get the privelage of teaching them. We brought them with us to our Korean class (we teach foreigners- aka. Americans as a service project). They just accepted everything that we taught, gospel, Korean, everything. It was the weirdest feeling to be teaching the gospel in my native tongue-- it felt a little awkward, but it was still really great. When I gave one of them a Book of Mormon he took it and said "It's so beautiful, thank you!" then I suggested that he read the Introduction before he comes to General Conference on Saturday and I think he misunderstood me because he said that he would try to finish the entire book by that time, but he wasn't sure if he had much time. I didn't correct him, because I figure if he is willing to do it then who am I to sop his spiritual progression?

Other exciting things from this week:

We made tofu with the Relief Society last Saturday. Now when I go home if I can find all the ingredients I can make it myself. It was a lot simpler than I thought, but since it was also in Korean I am not sure if I understood everything...
I found this neat Jesus mural while running the other morning
It's becoming spring and all the trees and bushes are full of flowers! It's gorgeous.

I love you all,

Sister O'Bryan

Week.. next.. in 천안

2010-04-01T08:56:00.000-07:00

Dear Beloved Family,

Thank you for all your responses to what the spirit is in your life, that was really uplifting and just what I needed. I know I am a missionary so I should be this ball of bliss, happiness, and endless spirituality, but it really does help when I can hear from you so thank you. Speaking of, if anyone can clue me in to what is happening with Heidi that would be great. Or Jon, I haven't heard from him in a while, I might just have the wrong email for them... Anyway, if they are still alive just let me know.

This week I have been thinking a lot about miracles and covenants.

I was thinking about the importance of making personal covenants in our lives. There are covenants that we all make and that are uniform, baptism, temple covenants, marriage (most people anyway). But I think that we shouldn't be limited to only these-- I think that the Lord is willing to make promises to us personally if we are willing to put the time into asking him and to keep our end of the bargain. While reading in Alma 53 I read about the stripling warriors and their parents. It is interesting that they both made covenants-- one to be peaceful and not touch weapons, the other to fight to the death. Completely different covenants, but the important thing is that they sought the Lord's will and then they promised to do their part if He would help. I think we can make these kind of promises with the Lod in our own lives.

Like I mentioned last week, a lot of times the only thing holding God back is us. I got the idea one time from a religion teacher who went over the gifts of the spirit with us in Moroni and then he said that he spent an entire month one time praying every day that he could have the gift of healing. Then one day someone called him and he was able to give a priesthood blessing at like 2 AM. I am not entirely certain how the whole blessing qualification system works, but I do know that God tells us that if we ask then we can receive. So maybe you have experience with this? If you would feel okay sharing them with me, I would love to hear about them.

I know that when we look for opportunities to take the Lord up on what he has promised us then we will find them. I know that the Lord will bless us and I know that we wont regret the time that it takes to do these things.

Love you lots,

Sister O'Bryan

Weekly highlights:

*After church I got to see someone give bee acupunture. One of our less active member's has a problem with his bones, I am not entirely certain what it is. Anyway, another member told him that her nephew (maybe cousin? I still have a hard time with the relations) had the same problem, but then they did this thing with bees and it fixed it. So she brought this plastic box filled with LIVE honey bees to church. I saw it, but didn't think too much about it until after sacrament meeting when she started to pull them out one by one, break off their little stingers and stick them in a circular pattern in his ankle. I'm not sure how good the pictures are (or if they have a virus on them because these public computers are always a little sketch) but I'm sure you can imagine even if you can't see the pictures. It made me think of something that Mama would try. I'm still not sure if it worked or not, but I don't think it is something I am up for trying.

*We got to visit with a potential investigator (past investigator) who had a baby so I included a picture, she is pretty cute. She doesn't technically have a name yet, something about waiting a few months or a mother-in-law- I'm not sure on the specifics, but we call her Michelle.

*The other picture is from a member's house when we went to eat dinner, she had these great glasses, if you can't tell what they are in the shape of, don't expect me to tell you, but I thought it was way funny.

Conferences and what not

2010-03-28T13:25:00.001-07:00

Dear family,

This week was Zone Conference. For those of you who don't know what that is, we have it every month and we get to hear inspirational messages from our mission president, other missionary leaders, and this time we heard about staying healthy physically and emotionally when the senior couples over the Northeast Asia missions came and gave presentations about washing your hands, good posture, depression, and anxiety, the most pertinent things to missionaries.

It was also a really spiritually packed meeting and we talked a lot about conversion. What does it take for someone to be converted? A lot of times it requires them to feel the spirit and not just to feel it, but to recognize that they feel it. One sister was talking about when she was in the MTC and she helped someone get baptized through the TRC (teaching resource center). There was a Korean man who would come every Saturday to help her practice her Korean and he was not a member. Although she was a brand new missionary and she didn't really know how to teach all of the topics, she knew how to love and how to show him love. Every week she would talk about the spirit and she would tell him that the good feeling he felt after they taught was the spirit. He didn't really seem to be changing much, but then one day he came up to her in the cafeteria and told her he wanted to be baptized. He said that he had been changing his mind, like a flower (don't you love Koreans), and that although he didn't really understand much of what she taught he always felt good and he wanted to be baptized so that he could continue to feel that sunshine and that he wanted to spend the rest of his life going after that sunshine. For this sister the spirit was the sunshine.

For a lot of Koreans they say that they know they feel the spirit because they get hot ears, or for others their throat starts to swell up. No matter what physiological reaction we feel, I know that God has let us all feel his spirit in our lives before. I think it is important to feel that spirit, which we often do through reading scriptures, prayer, hearing other's testimonies, serving, etc. However,I think it is also important to be able to recognize that feeling and to recognize how we can really obtain it. This week's challenge is for you to send me one time when you have really felt the spirit and what it feels like to you. This week I want you to actually do the challenge and send me an email.

So what does it feel like for me? It feels warm, it is like a blanket-- on my heart. It is this peace that is able to take the fears, insecurities, worries, and cluttering thoughts away from my heart and allows me to just enjoy. It is an empowering feeling that softly urges me to do things better. I know when I am feeling the spirit because I start to get ideas in my head of how I can help other people. It's kind of weird, but suddenly I will just think "so and so really would appreciate a chocolate bar" or "you should tell your family about zone conference" or similar things. It's great, but a lot of times if I don't write the thoughts down then I forget them later, so one way that I have been able to show God that I appreciate the times when he lets me feel the spirit is I always carry around a small notebook so I can write down that inspiration when I get it. But that's just me. How about you?

I think a lot of you don't really know why I decided to serve a mission. I don't have an amazing story like a lot of people that I know (it's not in my patriarchal blessing, I didn't get this sudden urge while blessing macoroni), but I will tell you my story anyway. I have mostly always wanted to serve a mission. I think it had something to do with the fact that when I was in primary the teachers would always ask "and who is going to go on a mission?" and all the boys would raise their hands. I didn't want to be left out, so I did too.

But I don't know if it was really a thought that seemed like it could happen until maybe I was in High School and Jonny went on a mission. I remember going to General Conference when Preach My Gospel came out and hearing the apostles talk about it. Uncle Paul was visiting from California while we lived in Spanish Fork and after the talks he said "I think you should go on a mission. If you do, I will pay for it." It was weird, but when he said that I knew it. I knew I would go on a mission. He didn't end up paying for it (maybe I should have taken him up on the offer...) and he probably doesn't even remember it, but I just had this feeling that I would go.

In college I wasn't sure, because everyone always said that marriage was so important and I shouldn't pass up the opportunity to get married for a mission. So I made a deal with the Lord. I told him that I would date and I would do all I could to try to get married, but that if I wasn't married by the time it came to turn in my papers that I was going on a mission. Sometimes I am not the best at getting really clear distinct answers to my prayers, but I figured that I trusted God enough that if I was trying to do the right thing and I was doing the wrong thing he would let me know. Also, as I went to BYU I met a LOT of returned sister missionaries. There was always something different about them-- it wasn't just that they had waited longer to get married. They had a different confidence, assurance, knowledge, friendliness, this light that I really wanted. So I guess my decision was a bit selfish and stubborn, it was something that I really wanted and so I decided to do it. It reminds me of the sons of Mosiah who go to their dad and plead to go on missions, as it says in Mosiah 28:3:

Now they were desirous that salvation should be declared to every creature, for they could not ^abear that any human ^bsoul should ^cperish; yea, even the very thoughts that any soul should endure ^dendless torment did cause them to quake and ^etremble.

I may not be as spiritual as they were, but I am at least as persistent so Heavenly Father couldn't really help but send me on a mission. I always feel like those people in the scriptures who may or may not have been meant to have great things, but because they were so naggy Heavenly Father just decided to give it to them anyway. But maybe that's the way it is supposed to be. Heavenly Father offers us all so much, he gave us all such eternal potential and the scriptures are just jammed packed with blessings that are there for the taking. We just have to ask and be willing to endure some trials and we can have them.

This one in Acts 2:16 is one of my favorites:

And it shall come to pass in the ^alast days, saith God, I will ^bpour out of my ^cSpirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall ^dprophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall ^edream dreams:

Isn't that so cool? So I decided that if God was brazen enough to make the promise then I was going to take him up on it and I am so thankful that I did. In the MTC my teacher told us a few times that it doesn't matter as much why you went on a mission as it does why you stay. Maybe my reasons were selfish, but since coming I have learned so much about the importance of prayer and the scriptures and all the little things in life. I have felt the spirit every day, even on the hard ones when I thought I would rather die, he was there to comfort me when I asked. I know that God is there for all of you. I know that He loves all of his children. I know he loves the Koreans and that because there was a chance that I could learn Korean and because there was a chance I could help at least one of his children that he decided to invest so much in sending me here-- even if that one was just me.

I also know that this email is too long, so I hope to hear from all of you soon.

Love,

Sister O'Bryan

How to 전도 (street proselyte):

2010-03-18T08:40:00.000-07:00

Gather up your proselyting materials. Make sure to write your phone number on everything, place it all in your Book of Mormon. Materials usually include

lots of flyers with your ad/short message
church pamphlets
pass along cards

pray for guidance to find those who are ready and receptive and anyone that the Lord wants you to
Talk to everyone, some of the places we find people most often are

street corners
bus stops
peple walking the same direction
subways
on the bus, in the taxi

Remember your main goals

build a relationship of trust
teach a street lesson 길토론
make a return appointment
get their phone number
testify
give your phone number
get a referral 소개

Although you may not understand everything, they appropriate response is NOT to always smile and nod, that is how you propogate false doctrine. Be prepared for their response which usually include:

jumping away/ seeming very scared, I don't know why, we look really nice.
non-responsive (pretending they have a phone call, but you know they don't, listening to their music, etc)
smiling at your foreign face then turning sour when they see you are a missionary
telling you they are busy, attend church
ask you if you are the church that doesn't believe in Christ
pat your arm, call you beautiful and tell you to keep up the good work
excitement about your English program

To remember:

When approaching I usually siddle up next to them and say "I'm a missionary!" in a really excited voice
When handing things, like flyers, use both hands
wear warm clothes, otherwise you may freeze to death
Remember the words of my companion "I love mean people, it means Satan is working hard to keep us from those who really need us"

More from up North

2010-03-18T08:29:00.000-07:00

Dear family,

Life has been really wonderful, I love being a missionary, if I haven't told you before I thought I would tell you now.

Some things I have been thinking about lately:

Trials and hardship.

It is interesting how God gives us trials, sometimes we think it is because he wants us to do well, to come out of life being what we think of as perfection or to gain lots of confidence or scriptural knowledge or baptize thousands on our missions or other such thoughts of perfection. But I think we have to make the most of what we are given in the now it's not so much about the destination as it is about the journey. God knows that we are not perfect, but he also knows how much we can grow from our trials, even when we don't realize that we are growing. He knows how much what we do today effects what we become tomorrow. My district leader gave us this quote to think about (he's French Canadian so it is originally in French):

"Les fleurs de demain sont dans les semances d'aujourd'hui" or "The flowers of tomorrow are in the seeds of today".

I was thinking about, about how life is lived in the now, not the then or the maybes or the some days. We don't always know our potential or think that what we have is important, but when we realize that not only is it all we have, but it is wonderful and it is all that God wants from us, then it is easier to give it all and let God fill in the rest. That's one reason why I think I have trials, to see now in the eternal perspective.

As it says in D&C 122:7

And if thou shouldst be cast into the ^apit, or into the hands of murderers, and the sentence of death passed upon thee; if thou be cast into the ^bdeep; if the billowing surge conspire against thee; if fierce winds become thine enemy; if the heavens gather blackness, and all the elements combine to ^chedge up the way; and above all, if the very jaws of ^dhell shall gape open the mouth wide after thee, know thou, my son, that all these things shall give thee ^eexperience, and shall be for thy good.

When I read this passage I decided to give it a try and I started to think about some of the hardest times of my life and then just list all of the things that I felt I had learned and gained from those times. It was amazing. My challenge to you this week is to pick one of the hardest times of your life and list at least 10 things that you learned from it. Then you can either email it to me or paste it in your journal or whateve you want to.

Other things:

The church is still true in Korea. Korea is not the U.S., but once you get over that then you can see a lot of the wonderful things. We had some extra time before one of our appointments this week and so we asked the member we were teaching to tell us about her conversion story. It was really amazing to hear about how hard it was for her and how her family was really against her decision to be baptized. In Korea they don't really have anything besides their families a lot of times and they live at home until they are married, so when her brother asked her to choose between her family and the church it was a hard decision, but she chose the church. Eventually her family came to terms and although they didn't agree with the decision they lived with it and have seen how much of a difference it has made in her life. It's amazing, but not unique, I think in everyone's lives they have to have their own conversion story.

It snowed yesterday. It's beautiful, except when you have to walk around in it a lot.

Heidi is engaged?!!! How do I miss these things? I guess that's what happens when you live half the world away. Congradulations!

If any of you have any other life changing events, please feel free to fill me in.

Love,

Sister O'Bryan

Pictures!!

2010-03-13T18:37:00.000-08:00

Week 1 in Cheneon

2010-03-11T08:20:00.000-08:00

Dear family,

Last week we had transfers so now I am up in almost the most Northern part of the mission. Except for the fact that we added a huge area that was part of the Seoul West mission called Suwan, so I guess technically it's not the most northern part anymore, only the most northern part for sisters. I went from a tiny apartment to one that is better than most of the members that I have visited. It is so nice and so spacious. Then on Friday we found out that they were removing the Elders from our wards and putting in another set of sisters to live with us. Yeah for Sister Stehmeier and Sister Reese. I was in the MTC with Sister Reese. While we were cleaning out one of the rooms for the other sister's to have a study room we found this neat Korean kit. It's all these plastic bell shaped things that you attach to your back and then suck all the air out of them and it's supposed to help your back relieve stress or something. We haven't really tried it yet, but there's a picture of my companion, 안나연 taking a look at it.

We have been mostly spending this week showing the new sisters their area and introducing them to their investigators, recent converts and what not. We don't have many progressing investigators, but we have a lot of former investigators that we are trying to make our investigators. People here are really intense about their religion. We taught a lesson with a member the other day to some women who are kind of the leaders of this church and they meet with us every week. They have a lot of techinical concerns with various doctrine, but they believe the Book of Mormon. The problem is they are such scholars they skip over the little things, like prayer, and they think the Book of Mormon is too easy for their sophisticated selves. I didn't really understand most of the two hour long conversation, except they had a hang up on baptism for the dead, God having a physical body/the holy ghost and who knows what else. But we showed "The Restoration" and I bore my simple testimony and we will see them again next week I am certain. One thing they do that I really get a kick out of is they also say "amen" when you are talking and they agree with something that you have said. It reminds me of a mix of a Baptist revival and some really creepy movie, because it's not in the rowdy black Southern Baptist way with lots of passion but this quiet eerie voice. My companion says it's even more eery for a Korean. When the member was giving the opening prayer they kept saying "amen" and since my Korean isn't very good I was really confussed because I didn't think the prayer had finished yet and I had to keep looking up to make sure.

We also visited a man and woman who recently had a baby (last Saturday). They are really nice and we brought them 미역국 (mi yuck goook) which is a seawood soup that is traditionally eaten on birthdays and for a month after a woman gives birth. Women also usually stay at home in basic isolation for a month after they give birth, I guess it's a lot worse for Korean women after they have a baby or something because my companion said that they are so sick that they can't leave. However, the mother of the woman isn't around (maybe dead, I didn't catch that part) and they aren't on good terms with the mother-in-law. The couple have been seeing the missionaries for a long time and even had a baptismal date, however, the man has a problem drinking and so it fell through. They are also really poor because he can't keep a job and so they borrowed money from a priest who then came back later and told them it was time to pay up and they had to help him build his new church, which means they couldn't come to our church for a while. They have a lot of desire to learn about the gospel still though so I am hoping for the best.

I was reading this morning in Alma 31:5 I came across a scripture that I really love.

And now, as the preaching of the word had a great tendency to lead the people to do that which was just—yea, it had had more powerful effect upon the minds of the people than the sword, or anything else, which had happened unto them—therefore Alma thought it was expedient that they should try the virtue of the word of God.

I was thinking about scripture fighting and how really it doesn't work just to Bible bash, it hasn't worked with the two older women investigators and I can't imagine that it is too effective elsewhere. I think what Alma is talking about here is bearing our pure and simple testimony and being a good example to all those around us. For me it is easy to stick to the basics because really that's all that I know how to say in Korean. However, my challenge to you all this week is to share your simple testimony with one person.

I love you all,

Sister Rebecca O'Bryan

Transfers, only upward arrows

2010-03-04T08:29:00.000-08:00

Dear family,

So I am moving to 전언. It apparently has the biggest ward in the mission and the biggest apartment, it used to be a four man house but now it is just two sisters. I haven't seen it yet however because I am at the mission office meeting my new companion and what not.

And yet it's a very sad transfer because I had to leave all 12 of our progressing investigators. Last night I met for the last time with our progressing family, the two little girls are absolutely amazing. We gave them a story book of the Book of Mormon and asked them to read a chapter a week (two page spread of comics basically), but they ended up reading half of it last week! By themselves! Who does that! The saddest part is that we originally started meeting them because they had a lot of English interest and although they are starting to realize the importance of the gospel I am not sure if they will continue to meet with the missionaries now that I am leaving. The sister that is replacing me is from Mongolia and doesn't really know much English.

But I know that the Lord will take care of them. I prayed a lot after hearing about the transfer situation and I feel a lot of peace about everything. Maybe they will drop, most likely the Elders will teach them, and they are always in the Lord's hands.

I have no time to tell you more exciting things, but if anyone knows how I can contact Sam while he is in Korea, that would be great. I know he is only here for like another week and I only have one more p-day, but still that would be neat to possibly meet him for lunch, show him a little bit of Korea.

Love you all,

Sister O'Bryan

Week 12 in Gwangju

2010-02-25T08:42:00.000-08:00

Dear familly,

Today is raining, you all know what that means. Because Koreans are deathly afraid of the rain they scatter like rats or else everyone goes out to buy an umbrella. The umbrellas can only do so much though because really when it rains it pours. However, it is still beautiful and we made traditional Korean cake, went ice skating and other things since so many of the missionaries in our area will be going home next week.

I am really excited because our family is really starting to progress, the mother came out to church last week and the two girls love to read from the Book of Mormon children's book that we gave them. It is still a challenge to get the entire family together at once, but we are working on it.

At Zone Conference yesterday something that really hit me was about happiness. President Perriton was talking about the plan of salvation and how God's purpose is to bring us back to him and give us glory. So what is glory? The more I thought about it the more I realized that really it has a lot to do with happiness. If Heavenly Father wanted more wealth, more planets, more knowledge, he wouldn't have had to create us, but when we do the right things, make the right choices and really progress in life than he receives a lot of happiness from our happiness. So now when I read I have been trying to replace the word "glory" with the word "happiness".

Not much other news, I'm too soaking wet to really feel up to typing much more, but I hope that you are all doing wonderful.

Love you all,

Sister O'Bryan

Another installment of Korean Church History

2010-02-22T08:17:00.000-08:00

1952
Ross Covington, a chaplain for the U.S. Army, arrived in Korea. English classes were establish and the students were taught from the English Book of Mormon because there was no other text. Dr. 김호직 attended the English classes and was a great help in translating and instructing the classes.

1954
Elder Harlold B. Lee of the Council of the Twelve made a tour of Korea and investigated the possibility of opening Korea as an independent, full-time mission.

1955
President Joseph Fielding Smith visited Korea with LTC Robert Slover, who arranged for him the honorary rank of brigadier general. Prior to his visit, he request that Colonol Vernon John Tipton, the Army's entomologist stationed in Japan-Korea, make a study of the living conditions in Korea and make a recommendation to President Smith whether or not Korea was ready for the introduction of missionaries. Brother Tipton made his study and in a 30-minute presentation concluded that Korea was too hazardous for missionaries and that the not be sent to Korea. President Smith thanked Brother Tipton, and the next day, Tuesday, August 2, 1955, he dedicated the land of Korea for the preaching of the gospel.

1956
The first full-time missionaries entered Korea, coming from Japan. Prior to their arrival, missionaries were unable to come to Korea because the Church was not legally recognized by the Korean government. Dr. 김호직 personally sponsored their entrance thereby allowing their entry. At this time there were about 64 members of the Church on record.

1957
The first printing and translation of Church materials began. Missionaries were still coming from the Northern Far East Mission (Japan) to serve in Korea.

1958
During this year all the missionaries, except one, contracted hepatitis. President Paul C. Andrus of the Northern Far East Mission came to Korea, concerned about the elders' health. A meeting was held with the purpose of taking the elders out of Korea back to Japan. During the meeting each of the elders rose and spoke individually, expressing his attitude toward the work in Korea, and his desire to remain in Korea. President Andrus returned to Japan alone.

1959
Dr. 김호직 died of a stroke. Dr. Spencer J. Palmer wrote of Dr. 김호직 "He is probably the most distinguished and influential leader of Oriental ancestry thus converted in East Asia. More than any other single man he was the father and prime moving force in the establishment of the Korea Mission."

Week 11 in Gwangju

2010-02-22T08:16:00.000-08:00

Dear family,

We will have a baptism this Sunday and then hopefully next Sunday as well. I am really excited. This Sunday is a young girl named 이지은 (Lee Jee Un) who is 15 (So 13 American age) and her aunt who she will live with is a member/returned missionary. Next week is a great woman who we are teaching English and the gospel to named 임성진. We are also looking to make 2 more baptismal dates this week with some of our investigators and if I stay here next transfer then I should be able to see them get baptized.

This week I was reading in Mosiah and I came across Mosiah 7:33 which says "But if ye will turn to the Lord with full purpose of heart, and put your trust in him, and serve him with all diligence of mind, if ye do this, he will, according to his own will and pleasure, deliver you out of bondage."

I was thinking about what that means, turn to the Lord. While I was thinking on this I had thought about the poem about two paths in a wood. Often times in our lives we have the things that we want to do, we have our own paths and sometimes we think that they are what are best. But as we learn to trust the Lord and to really turn, not have one foot on both paths, but to turn our bodies to look whole heartedly towards God and towards his path, then we can receive deliverance from bondage. I was thinking also about Joseph who was sold as a slave into Egypt by his brothers and how he dealt with his bondage. Although he was still a slave, he made the most of it and in that way was delivered. Later when he was in prison he was literally delivered, but no matter what situation he was in, he was able to make the most of it as he turned to the Lord.

Chinese New Year was wonderful, we ate delicious food and played fun games. I think I will have to get a copy of the Chinese chess game that they played, it is WAY weird and the rules are so incomprehensible that I think it is right up the alley for some of the boys in our family.

Love you all lots, thank you for your letters and packages and most of all your love.

Sister O'Bryan

"History of the Church in Korea"

2010-02-11T12:12:00.000-08:00

(This is Becca and her "mission twin" Sister Erickson)

1945:
Brother Russ Robinson, a sergeant in the United States Army, landed in Incheon. He was the first member of the Church known to have arrived in Korea.

1950
With the outbreak of the Korean War, thousands of United Nations troops came to Korea. Among those troops were many members of the Church.

1951
Dr. 김호직 attended Cornell University where he met Oliver Wayman, a member of the church. He learned about the gospel and was baptized. To quote from Brother Wayman's recollection:
"Shortly after Brother 김호직's arrival he was assigned to my office, which we shared.

During the time that we shared an office, we would occassionally take breaks from our studying or writing and discuss various topics. One day he asked me if I had any literature on the beliefs of my church. My response was affirmative.

Knowing that he was a devout and studious Presbyterian, I gave him a copy of Dr. Talmage's Articles of Faith. Within a week he had read the book and asked for more. He told me it was the best book on the gospel he had ever read and that he believed it thorougly. I gave him a copy of the Book of Mormon, which he read in a very short time. He accepted it as the word of God along with the Bible, but said that the Book of Mormon was much easier to understand and more complete. We encouraged him to attend our services and he agreed.

On the day I was leaving Cornell, I met him in the corridor. I felt impelled to ask Dr. 김호직 if he knew why he had left his hom, family, and a good position in Korea to come to the US..

His answer was that he had come to get a doctorate in nutrition from the most presitigious school in that field. I reminded him that he already had a doctorate in nutrition and that it seemed odd that he would leave his home and his family at such a critical time. He then responded that he needed the newer knowledge of nutrion that would be availabe at Cornell for the benefit of his people.

The Spirit was so strong that I felt as though I was transformed and stood beside myself above the floor. At no other time in my life have I been moved upon by the spirit as I was at that time.

I then bore my testimony of the gospel and told him that the Lord had moved upon him to come to America at the opportunity presented to him, in order that he might recieve the gospel and take it back to his people in preparation for a great missionary work to be done there. He had received the gospel but had been unwilling to accept it through repentance and baptism but wanted to carry the truths he had learned to the Presbyterian Church for its reform. This, I informed him, would not work and that if he refused to do the work the Lord had for him to do, another would be raised up in his place. That was the last time that we saw each other."

Brother 김호직 read the Book of Mormon again and through the Spirit, came to know of its truth. He was baptized on July 29, 1951, in the Susquehanna River near were Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery had been baptized. As brother 김호직 came up out of the water, he reported that the inspired testimony of Brother Wayman was sustained by a voice saying to him, "Feed my sheep, feed my sheep."

In September 1951 Dr. 김호직 returned home to Korea.

How to use a public bathroom:

2010-02-11T12:09:00.000-08:00

-You can usually find bathrooms in most public areas, shopping centers, nice apartment complexes, hospitals, member's homes, but the thing you always have to check for is toilet paper, this is a real commodity
-Once you have found a sufficient bathroom then you have lots of choices of where you can relieve yourself. The three most common are listed below with their advantages:
*Squatter- they say that squatting helps your digestive system and if you haven't had enough kimchi this may be necessary. Also the flush handle is on the floor so you can just push it with your foot and not have to worry about germs
*Sitter- normal U.S. style toilet, if you are looking for something familiar you can always go for this
*Bidet- this has all the bells and whistles and sometimes even makes fun noises. You have to be careful though because there are usually a lot of buttons on it and if you hit the wrong one then the water may go the opposite direction that you wanted (if you get what I mean)

-Once you have relieved yourself you approach the sink. Most places have sinks, some just have a faucet out of the wall with a drain in the floor. Most also have soap, but most Koreans will not wash their hands. There is a quite ingenious system though of soap on a stick that I like best.

Week 10 in Gwangju

2010-02-11T09:38:00.000-08:00

Dear family,

This week was great, we got to hear from Elder Hallstrum (I am not certain on the spelling) at a mission conference. The attached picture is all of the sisters in the mission. Well, except for the ones whose heads were cut off. It was spiritually enriching and also I got to meet Sister Erickson who knew Jon before the mission. I guess they went to Bermuda or somewhere that starts with a B. It's funny how everyone seems to be interconnected, especially in Korea.

We have a lot of great investigators and we just made one who has English interest who owns a nail art shop. The first time that we met she showed us all of her amazing artwork and I think maybe one P-day we might go in and get our nails done. My vote is that we get pictures of God, Jesus, the Book of Mormon, Joseph Smith, and a temple, so that way we can do the testimony glove, except with our fingers. If you don't know what the testimony glove is you can probably look it up on Lds.org.

This morning as I was reading from Jacob 4 I thought a lot about records. Jacob is talking about how difficult it is to write because of the hardness of the plates and so he has to be very selective with what he writes. Because of this he is very specific in his purpose and very direct in the fact that it is for the benefit of his children and that they may know about Christ. I thought about how in our day it is a lot easier to write and to keep records- think about this email for example. Although I have limited time I can type pretty fast and so if I wanted to I could write quite a bit. But even with all of that it doesn't mean that our writings should be without purpose. I think that we still need to make and keep records of things that are most important to us, about the gospel about our testimonies and then we also need to share them. Maybe for our great great grandchildren, but also with those around us, our sisters (hint hint), our neighbors, our friends, whomever. So challenge of the week is to write down your testimony- in your journal, a Book of Mormon, a letter, it doesn't really matter- and then share it with someone.

I love you all and I love the gospel. I know that the Lord works through mysterious ways and that His ways are not ours. I know that He loves all of us and that the best way to show our love to Him is to show our love to others.

Sister O'Bryan

p.s. thank you for your letters and Sara/Susan, the package was AMAZING. I've already made probably 50 cookies with the chocolate chips that you sent and people love them. The pictures are also a great help.

Week 9 in Gwangju

2010-02-05T09:25:00.000-08:00

Dear family,

Korea is great, Solar, the Chines New Year's, is coming up. It is a three day holiday from Feb. 13-15 and is one of the biggest things that happens in Korea, once I actually experience it then I should be able to tell you more about it, but for the time being you'll just have to look up more about it on the internet.

We have some great investigators and made three new ones yesterday who are studying English in order to be flight attendants in the Middle East. Random. But they are really fun and have some interest in the gospel so I am hopefull. We are still working with our family and the daughters are great, but it is really hard to get both of the parents there at once, if you have any suggestions, let me know.

This month's Liahona talks a lot about Christ, both in Old Testament times as well as how we can look to him and find strength in him for our day. It reminded me of a scripture that we often share with our members in Alma 7:11-12 which says:

"And he shall go forth, suffering pains and affliction and temptations of every kind; and this that the word might be fulfilled which saith tht he will take upon him the pains and the sicknesses of his people.
And he will take upon him death, that he may loose the bands of death which bind his people; and he will take upon him their infirmities that his bowels may be filled with mercy, according to the flesh, that he may know according to the flesh how to succor his people according to their infirmities."

I love this scripture, but one day when we were explaining it the member basically looked at me and said "so what?" In other words, what does it mean to me. I thought about that a lot, we can share scriptures which mean a lot to us, but just saying the scripture doesn't mean that the meaning is also transferred. When we have scriptures we have to apply them to our lives, we have to find out what they mean for us. After thinking about it I realized that the reason I love this scripture so much is because often times in my life I feel like I am suffering or going through some pain and I wonder who would really understand. Who can I really talk to who understands me? There are lots of people who can listen and give me sympathy, but who can really understand and give me exactly what I need? This scripture provides that answer, it is Christ. He knows me because he has felt my pain and so much more. He knows me because he is my brother and he loves me and was willing to die for me then and is willing to live, to show me miracles, to answer my prayers, to do any number of things now. Question of the week: What is Christ willing to do for you?

I love you all and hope you are having a great week.

Sister O'Bryan

How to ride a bus:

2010-01-31T09:05:00.000-08:00

-Make sure that you buy a bus card before hand. It is not necessarily cheaper, it still costs $1 per ride, however, it allows you to make transfers for free if they are within an hour of the initial tap-on. There are all sorts of fun bus cards you can buy and usually you attach them to your wallet, cell phone, coin purse, or they can just be like a credit card so you can slide them into your wallet. (see picture)
-Before you get on the bus it is a good idea to know where you are going, the "bus maps" don't have a picture of the city, it is just one line with all the names of the bus stops on that particular line, so if you don't know where you are going exactly, you're pretty much out of luck
-Once you've found which buses will take you to your destination then you look at the electronic board with all the buses and how far away they are. This is really cool and probably my favorite part of the bus system, it automatically updates due to some supernatural forces and while standing at the bus stop you can usually do a lot of proselyting
-Once your bus arrives you have to run to make sure to get to the doors before the bus driver departs
-Scan your bus card
-Find a seat, if you can, or just stand. Usually during the day the bus isn't too busy, but if you get on at just the right time you may feel like a sardine with the large amount of people that are squished next to
-Hold on! The bus drivers are on a time schedule and it doesn't matter who has to get on or off, they have to be at the right stop at the right time. In fact, the way they navigate their bus it would seem like you are more on a motorcycle than a huge bus with 50 other people. They have made turns and passed cars that I would never be brave enough to do if I were driving. Sometimes we even run red lights, but that's not that unusual here
-Once you have reached your destination you can get off, hopefully, and thank your lucky stars your are still alive

Week...8? in Gwangju

2010-01-30T22:21:00.001-08:00

Dear family,

I was reading in 2 Nephi this morning and I was reminded about the purprose of life and all the important things. It was really great because in this chapter Lehi is dieing and he gives one of his last speeches to his son, so in other words these are the words of a man on his death bed to the most beloved people in his life and have a lot of meaning for us as well. He talks about how there must be an opposition in all things. Boy have I seen that, this week I have seen a lot of miracles, but I have also felt a lot of opposition, not huge things like breaking my leg or going into doubts of depression, but things that are small and nag on my brain, miscommunications, frustrations, things that seem big at the time, but I am always able to get through them. For as Lehi reminds us "because of Christ we have become free forever". What freedom is it that Christ offers us, freedom to choose between liberty and eternal life or captivity and death.

In this chapter Lehi bears his testimony "there is a God, and he hath created all things, both the heavens and the earth, and all things that in them are." I love this happy statement and would love to add my own that I know that God lives, I know that he is ever aware of us, in our trials and in our happiness. He wants always to offer us freedom of liberty and eternal life. We can be happy, we can have freedom and happiness and that is one of the best messages that we can offer to the world.

We have seen a lot of miracles lately, small and great. To name a few:
*On Sunday we usually have to choose a ward to go to since we cover two. This Sunday we went to our 농성 ward as we thought we would have one of our investigators coming, but she was a no show. Instead of staying for all the meetings, Sister 정 felt like we should go to the other ward so we found a ride and went over. When we arrived we talked to some members and found out that one of them had brought her neice with her to church. Her neice is 15 and after going to Young Womens and making a friend there and feeling the spirit she met with us and one of the first things she said was that she wanted to get baptized! So we have been meeting with her and in a few weeks she will be baptized.
*Every day I am able to feel the spirit testify the truth of the message that we share with everyone. I love teaching, especially with Sister 정 and Sister 조 who is one of the senior missionaries. They are really amazing teachers and have such great teaching skills and such love for the people that we teach.

I hope this email finds you all well. Also, about the package, really thank you for your thoughts, I realized that it's really expensive and so don't feel any pressure to send a package, but I do LOVE paper letters. There is nothing like the feeling you get when you have a paper letter waiting you in the PO box, especially when it is from family and has pictures.

I love you all,

Sister Rebecca O'Bryan

Second transfer in Gwangju

2010-01-20T23:10:00.000-08:00

Dear family,

Thank you so much for all of your emails. I didn't mean to guilt you into writting me and I really do appreciate all that you have done in remembering me so far.

This week was transfers, or for me, not transfers. I love the wards I am in and we have a baptismal date for a few weeks so I am really glad that I am able to stay here for a little longer. For my companion this will be here 7th transfer here with only 2 left after this one. Maybe she will set a record and be in this area for over a year. I suppose we will see.

Did I mention that we have a baptismal date for February? It's basically the most exciting thing so far. The girl,Sister 임선진 is 30 and originally starting meeting with us because she has a friend who is a member and told her about our English/gospel program. We usually talk about whatever she wants to for 30 minutes in English and then teach her about the gospel in Korean. I feel so much love for her and although she is 30 she doesn't seem like it. Last Saturday she set a baptismal date for February and then on Sunday when she came to church it was like magic. I probably seem like a bad missionary since this is the first time that I was actually able to get an investigator to church (it's like pulling teeth, they'll read, pray, keep the word of wisdom, but getting them to wake up to come to church at 9am is so hard). However, when she came it was really amazing. I was a little worried because a lot of times people at church refer to all sorts of things which an investigator would have no idea about, however, she ate everything up and was smiling the entire time, saying that she really just felt a good warm feeling. I love being a missionary because I get to have experiences like that where I can really see the spirit working in people's hearts and it becomes so tangible.

Other things I love about Korea:
Ice cream, they are so creative. My favorite ones I have decided are the ones shaped like fish filled with bean paste and vanilla ice cream and the ones shaped like corn with real corn and chocolate and vanilla ice cream on the inside. Really, where do they come up with these things?

This week's challenge, bring a friend to church. Think about someone you know, pray about them, and invite them to church. It may not be that easy, but if you can get them to come, I promise it will be all that you ever imagined and more.

I love you all, have a great week.

Sister O'Bryan

How to Shower in Korea

2010-01-18T10:29:00.000-08:00

*After you've recovered from the shock of the lack of shower space-- you enter the bathroom making sure to shield your feet from the somewhat moldy floor with the sandals that are a permanet accessory. Actually any time you enter the bathroom you have to make sure to wear these, even when you are visiting a friends house
*turn on the faucet for your shower, it is best to let it warm up and then you can change it so it doesn't scald your flesh
*make sure the drain, located under the sink, is clear otherwise you will flood your bathroom
*hang up your towel on the convenient nail sticking out of the wall
*show
*Rejoice in making it through another day

Week 6 in Gwangju

2010-01-13T19:26:00.001-08:00

Dear Family,

Things are going great, but time it seems is increasingly limited. There are so many things to do, especially on P-day. Today we have a district activity since it the last P-day for one of our elders and we will be going to Outback Steakhouse (yes they have those in Korea, although how similar to American ones I have yet to be able to attest) and then going to a museum. Then we are teaching Korean to our of recent converts and that basically takes up the entire day.

Side note: February 9th we are having a mission tour here one of the 70 will come and see the Daejeon Mission and we will get together as a mission and be spiritually enriched and what not. It should be great.

I was reading through an old Ensign (August 2007) the other day and came across an article entitled "It started with a pamphlet" which is about the people in the wards that I am in! I know all of them and they are so amazing, so it was really random that I found the article. If I could put in links I would put in a link to the article online, however, since I can only do email, that is not feasible.

This week was great and I thought a lot about Moroni 8:16 which says "perfect love casteth out all fear." A lot of times I feel fear, not big fears like for my life, but small things like-- "should I really talk to that person at this bus stop? They look so busy and maybe they will start talking and I wont be able to understand them." I think sometimes we all have those small fears, but as our love for others increases through learning more about the gospel and what God expects and hopes for us, then I think those small fears and the large ones will begin to dissappear. Challenge of the week: overcome your fears of sharing the gospel and tell me about it.

We found a family to teach, but they are only on the first lesson, so I am still praying a lot that they will continue to accept our message and to progress. Keep praying!

I love you all,

Sister Rebecca O'Bryan

p.s. the pictures are what our typical lunch is like when we eat at home. It's kimchi fried with rice and tuna and wrapped in seaweed with some other side dishes. Mmmm...

How to teach English Class

2010-01-11T16:36:00.000-08:00

*Make sure to distribute plenty of flyers with your name, number, and direction to the class. Plenty = 140 or more/week
*The night of get there a little early to set up (set up= pull out chairs... stand next to the door)
*Welcome everyone once they get there. Ages and English ability may vary greatly, but they are there to learn and to build jeong, so speak plenty of English
*Sing something in English, the funnest songs are ones with lots of weird long words, like the star-spangled banner
*Once everyone has completely given up on the song, open with a prayer
*Ask a "question of the day" something thought provoking, like "what is your favorite sport to play?" or "what is your favorite family tradition?"
*Take a short culture break and explain something unique to the U.S.-- last week I talked about the KKK
*Game Time! Koreans are fiercely competetive so antyhing that involves scoring works great. Usually we play jeopardy, pictionary, or hangman
*At any point feel fre to throw in random English words- i.e. coniferous, decidious, preternatural
*Make sure beforehand to look up idioms in your translator and share them- i.e. break a leg, story of my life
*End with a prayer and wish everyone a great night

Week 5 in Gwangju

2010-01-07T17:01:00.001-08:00

Dear family,

Thank you for your prayers. Although we haven't found a family yet, there were two families at our English class last week that were brought by a member so we are hoping to make them our investigators very soon.

I was thinking that since my blog isn't very frequented and since these letters are supposed to be mainly spiritual, I would send my cultural tid bits to Anna to post on a RaNdOm day during the week. That way you can look forward to something in the week. Also, I thought a fun "how to" format would be most enticing and helpful. That way when you actually visit Korea you'll have all sorts of useful advice and by the end of my mission you will all be able to be a missionary in Korea.

This week was exciting though because I got to go on a split with my MTC companion. Yes, that means that there were two missionaries who barely speak Korean wondering around Gwangju trying to find out where they were goin. However, God is a god of miracles and we not only survived but spent 8 hours outside proselyting and contacted 117 people. Yes I was half frozen, couldn't move my fingers, and my smile was literally frozen to my face, however, on the inside I was toasty and warm with the spirit.

Another miracle that happened this week, just a small miracle, but one that I was thankful for. We went to visit a lady and her daughter in our ward. The daughter is leaving to Utah for school in a few days so we made a note for her and some brownies. We went to go deliver it, but they weren't home and since they are insanely rich they live in an apartment complex where you can't even get in unless you have a secret code/someone lets you in. This means we couldn't even leave the note on the door or anything. We were trying to decide if we should wait creepily outside for someone to come along or if our time would be better spent going to our next appointment. I said a silent prayer that we would know what to do and at the very moment some small children came running up, opened the door to go inside and we were able to leave the note and the brownies. I know it doesn't seem big, but even the small things count.

While reading in 4 Nephi this week I thought a lot about peace. I think that it's great that after Christ appears to the Nephites that all the people of the land, Nephites and Lamanites alike, become a peaceful people. It mentions in 4 Ne 1:15-16:

"And it came to pass that there was no contention in the land because of the love of God which did dwell in the hearts of the people... and surely there could not be a happier people among all the people who had been created by the hand of God."

So what does it take to have world peace? It takes a change of heart, it takes the love of God dwelling in the hearts of the people. Although that's a lot of my purpose as a missionary, that doesn't mean I am the only one who can have the fun of sharing the gospel. This weeks challenge is for all of you to think of one way that you can have "the love of God dwlling in your heart". It could be something like writting down a scripture and putting it on your mirror, finding an act of service for your neighbor, whatever you what really. Then drop me a sentence, maybe two, and let me know.

Also, for those of you who are wondering what Rebecca's dream package would consist of, I have made a list.

Rebecca's dream package (which is shipped in a convenient flat rate box which I have been told doesn't ship based on weight):
*cinnamon
*vanilla
*oats
*recipes
*nutmeg
*peanut butter
*pictures of family
*fine tipped sharpies
*thin black gloves that are't bulky but still somehow make my hands really warm
*chocolate chips

I hope that you are all doing well. I love you and I appreciate your emails and prayers.

Love,

Sister Rebecca O'Bryan

Week 4 in Gwangju

2009-12-31T21:01:00.001-08:00

Dear Family,

There is an interesting tradition in Korea about age. When a child is born they are 1 year old. Then instead of changing ages on their birthday everyone born in the year changes dates on New Years (which is why I am now 22 years old soon to be 23, such a short lived 21st and 22nd year...). It is useful in a lot of ways because it is just one big birthday bash, but I know this is short notice for you to get me a birthday present. No worries, I have plenty of food, lots of kimchi and clothes and what not. What I really want for my birthday is to be able to find, teach, and baptize a family. Family= mom, dad, child(s). So what I would like to ask is that for the next week or two all of you pray for me that I will be able to find a family, I believe that if you believe and I believe and we pray then it will happen. Plus, for those of you who are feeling bad because you haven't written me yet, sent pictures/ might be dead for all I know, it is okay, this is the time to redeem yourselves.

Also, I was reading this week in the las part of Heleman and the beginning part of 3rd Nephi and I noticed an interesting pattern. I mean, of course there is the bit about everyone killing each other and the pride cycle, but I especially like when the Nephites are humbled and decide to pray and use that as their main tactic of war. It really works miracles. In 3 Nephi 4:10 it is talking about how the Gadianton robbers are coming to attack the Nephites and they see them praying and they think it is because they are afraid, so they get really excited, but then:
"But in this this thing they were disappointed for the Nephites did not fear them; but they did fear their God and did supplicate him for protection; therefore when the armies of Giddianhi did rush upon them they were prepared to meet them; yea in the strength of the Lord they did receive them."

We can be like the Nephites and when hard times come upon us we can meet them in the strength of the Lord. I know I made it sound like it's really rough here, but in actuallity it's not that bad. I love Korea, I love the people and the language isn't so bad. I really can understand a lot of it and every day it gets better and better. The Lord is looking out for me and with his help all things are possible (even talking to people in Korean and sharing the gospel).

I must be off, but if any of you happen to have a recorder (nothing big, just something I can take to church so I can practise listening later.) I tried to buy one here, but the cheapest was like $70! They don't have anything old school, because this is Korea and they only have super advanced technology. Really I don't need anything digital that also takes pictures, plays music and communicates with extraterristrial life. Just something simple-- and if you have a flat rate box you can toss in something delicious (i.e. nutmeg, cinnamon, other American spices that you can't find here... OR CHOCOLATE CHIPS... mmmm). Check my blog if you need my address. Check with Anna if you don't know about my blog.

I love you all.

Sister Rebecca O'Bryan

Even More MTC Pictures

2009-12-26T09:45:00.000-08:00

More MTC Pictures

2009-12-26T09:04:00.000-08:00

MTC Pictures

2009-12-25T09:57:00.001-08:00

More Gwangju pictures

2009-12-24T09:44:00.000-08:00

Week 3 in Gwangju

2009-12-24T09:35:00.001-08:00

Family,
It would seem that this week was a week of eating weird foods. I had dried squid, which was like really salty jerky. I was wondering what was making our apartment smell funny so I rummaged through our cupboards and found the culprit. It wasn't bad, but neither me nor my companion have much of a liking for it, so after trying some it got tossed. Then later when we were teaching our Philippino family we got to eat chicken feet. I guess it wasn't very weird for my companion, but I definitely hadn't eaten it before. I also got to eat mugwort.. mmmm. Then today since our zone leader is leaving for Maryland after this week we ate live octupus for his last p-day. I only had one small tentacle, something about squirming suckers makes me uneasy. We played with them for a while, then washed it and cut it up. It tasted like... well.. octupus- kind of rubby and flavorless.
Since I will talk to you all soon I don't know if I need to include too much more, but here is a spiritual thought I found in Preach My Gospel that I really liked, it is a quote from President Brigham Young:
"There is neither man or woman in this church who is not on a mission. That mission will last as long as they live, and it is to do good, to promote righteousness, to teach the principles of truth, and to prevail upon themselves and everybody around them to live those principles that they may obtain eternal life."
In other words, everyone is a missionary! Yeah! Working with members does wonders for missionarywork, I assure you. In the wards I am serving in right now every member is a missionary and it is great, I hope that all of you are also missionaries.
Funny story:This week in teaching English I got to explain the difference between "go" and "come" or at least I tried to. In Korea there is only "to go" or "to be from" so it was fun. Also, since I am American I stand out. When I approach older ladies especially I get lots of comments about how beautiful I am. Always. In the subway I approached a lady and after I shared the message that I was a missionary and asked if I could come teach her she smiled and patted my arm then asked if I was out proselyting. I said yes and she handed me some doke (gelatinous rice bread) and then turned and walked off. Not really as random as it would be in America, but still really funny.
I also really like the apple trucks, they go around and are a bit of mix between ice cream trucks and what I imagine the taliban to be. They have loud speakers through which they blare their enticements, but it sounds like a middle eastern prayer call and if you didn't speak Korean it would seem very scary.
I look forward to talking to you all very soon. I love you lots.
Sister Rebecca O'Bryan

Becca in Korea

2009-12-16T22:20:00.000-08:00

Week 2 in Gwangju

2009-12-16T22:19:00.001-08:00

Dear family,

Being a missionary is great. My companion, Sister Jeong, is a wonderful trainer and although I have to ask a lot of questions because I am American and she is Korean, she works really hard in her limited English to answer all of my questions and concerns. In Korea there is something called Jeong, which is a type of friendship, except closer. If you can build jeong then you can basically get people to do anything, come to church, read scriptures, etc. Sister Jeong explained that it goes back to when Korea was mostly a farming country and farmers would go to the surrounding farms in order to help out their neighbors in farming and then they would of course talk about their families, lives, and feed each other. Sister Jeong, like her name would denote, is a master at building jeong. Usually it consists of being very friendly, showing pictures of family, and eating. A lot. I think I will probably gain 30 pounds on my mission.

For Christmas I am allowed to have a family phone call of 40 minutes or less and since our phones can't call internationally I will need you to call me. The phone number is 010-2779-9048, I don't know the country code and since my companion has never had to call she thinks it is either 40 or 48... you can look it up because you all have the internet. Anyway, so I am allowed to have one prelimanary call to set up a good time to call on Christmas. Whoever wants to do that can, probably Dad or Josh since they know how to do all that neat technology. Times that work best for me, in Korea, are in the morning (8am-10:30am) or later at night (after 9pm).

We have been meeting a lot of great investigators this week and they are really progressing, reading the Book of Mormon, praying and things like that. Almost all of our lessons though are split lessons, 30 minutes English 30 minutes Korean. I never learned how to teach English and so when I found out that suddenly I have to teach all of these lessons by myself and come up with games, vocabularly, etc, it was a bit daunting. Thankfully, I know English.

Also, my speech has slowed down a lot. In order to be understood in English I have to talk VERY slowly and since I know so little Korean that is also very slow. When I return I will probably sound like a robot.

Korean Things:
-There are these ladies who sell yogurt drinks that wear these yellow outfits and walk around with their cute little carts. So funny.
-Bus drivers are a little crazy. Actually, every driver is. I think that they must not have any traffic laws because red lights are basically just yield signs, crosswalks mean nothing, and bus drivers manuever their buses like they are motorcycles.However, it is not bad, just different. Also, no one wears seatbelts. The other day we got a ride home from a member family and they piled five of us in the back seat, a 100 day old baby, 2 year old, two missionaries, and a mother and when I went to put on my seatbelt they explained that they are necessary unless you are sitting in the front. I think they must think the same of child car seats.
-We eat lots of vegetables and fruit. The members feed us as if we have never seen food before and of course we have to eat everything they put in front of us or else we may offend them. Since it is all delicious, I have no problem with this. Surprisingly, even though I have eaten at lots of different member's houses, there always seems to be some new side dish they serve.

Christmas time is a time of miracles-- Christ was born miracles and his entire life was spent performing miracles. Also the Lord tells us that through faith we can perform many miracles. As my teacher at the MTC said, the greatest miracle is the changing of the human heart. God can control the elements, he can control the weather and the earth, but he gave us all our wills and when we choose to make right choices then we become miracles ourselves. Since we are approaching Christmas time, I thought it might be neat everyone sent me a story about miracles.

I love you all, sorry that my English has gone down hill, the lack of email time and trying to learn Korean has done that to me I think.

Sister Rebecca O'Bryan

Rebecca and her companion

2009-12-10T10:43:00.001-08:00

Land of the morning calm and the excited greeny

2009-12-10T10:41:00.002-08:00

Dear family,

The plane ride was wonderful and I got to sit next to a man from China who was very curious about the gospel. If you can believe it, he still wasn't ready to be baptized even after our 12 hour plane ride together. However, he was still interested in learning more so I gave him the Mormon.org URL since there aren't any missionaries in China where he lives. (aka, he doesn't live in Hong Kong).

At the airport I was picked up by my wonderful mission president and his wife, President and Sister Perriton. Sister Kelley and I then stayed at the President's house for two nights where we received a lot of training about all the fun things we get to do and we even went down to a bus station in Daejeon and jundoed (proselyted). It was wonderful. Korea is a lot different than pretty much all of America. There is a lot of city, a lot. It reminds me of San Francisco, except for more buildings and Koreans. Also there are more street vendors. Actually, it kind of reminds me of some of the European cities we traveled to last fall, except with less neat architecture. In fact, I can't really think of much to compare it to.

My trainer, Sister Jung, is Korean, and is from Souel. She is absolutely wonderful and I love her. She doesn't speak much English, but she speaks more English than I speak Korean, so with our forces combined we have been able to get around and basically understand each other. I still have a long way to go before I will be carrying on many conversations with Koreans. I smile a lot and introduce us "Anyunhaseo! We are missionaries from the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints! I know the Book of Mormon is true!" and then at this point Sister Jung takes over because I can't really understand their response. Just about everyone is nice though and most of them are interested because I am a foreigner. Believe it or not, there are almost no white people here. The only ones I have seen are the other missionaries. So usually Sister Jung will say something about the church, ask them about their religious background, I will keep smiling, and then she will mention the fact that I just came from migook (America) a couple of days ago. Then we will give them a pamphlet, maybe a Book of Mormon, get their number if we can, and tell them about our free English class.

Tonight we are going to teach our English class and meet with the ward mission leaders from one of our wards (we have two). I am quite excited. It is mostly a blur, but a very happy blur and if nothing else I am super excited to be a missionary in Korea telling people about the church (even if it is only through my smile).

We ate at a neat Korean restuarant yesterday that had heated floors and on open pit like thing where they grilled our steak. I got to eat dunbuggee (pickled silk worm cacoons) and lots of kimchee, rice, and other splendid Korean dishes.

My trainer is wonderful, we have two baptisms lined up for within the next couple weeks, a few more that we are going to commit soon and she is just amazing with the people. Sure I have only known her for about 6 hours, but I can tell that she is amazing and if I can be half the missionary she is then I wil be a success.

Mail from the U.S. to Korea only takes 10 days, so feel free to send anything you like this direction, or if you prefer giving me money, you can give it to Anna who can put it in my account and then I can just withdraw it here. Again, you don't have to, but if you feel so inclined, feel free. I love you all.

-Sister Rebecca O'Bryan

Safe and sound in Korea

2009-12-10T10:41:00.001-08:00

Dear family,

After a long, but wonderful flight, I made it to Korea. I am sorry I didn't get to call you dad, my companion forgot her calling card and there was only enough money on mine to make two phone calls so I called mom and let my companion call her family. I figured you would be alright with is since I will be calling around Christmas time as well.

I love you all and I love Korea. My mission president and his wife are very nice and Korea is not as foreign as I had thought it would be. They have very nice heated floors which keep you warm at night and tonight I get to proselyte.

Love you all,

Sister Rebecca O'Bryan

Last week and then I'm in Korea

2009-12-10T10:39:00.000-08:00

Dear Family,

Time has flown past and now I am about to go to KOREA! I received my flight plans and it looks like my schedule will be similar to:
Dec. 7
4AM- leave the MTC
7AM- leave SLC
8-11AM (California time)- be in the LAX airport. I will probably make a short phone call to both Mom and Dad during this time, so if you have a preference during these hours that you want me to call, somehow let me know before then.
11AM-5pm Dec. 8- FLY TO KOREA
Dec 8- Dec 10 (Korean time)-I will be in the Mission President's home and get oriented to Korea until I am assigned a companion. I will also be sending emails to Mom and Dad to let them know that I made it alive and love Korea.

So what has the past week held for me? All sorts of excitement. Last Tuesday we heard from Elder Oaks who spoke with his wife and then on Thanksgiving morning we heard from Elder Jeffrey R. Holland and his wife and did service for the rest of the day. There really is no better place to be than the MTC during the holidays (except maybe with family or in Korea on a mission).

I leave in less than a week, so if you were inclined to mail me anything it needs to get here by this Saturday. No pressure, just a reminder.

I know you are very curious as to what apostles of the Lord had to say when they came to speak to missionaries, so I will share some of my favorites. They spoke a lot about what we can do to be better missionaries and Jeffrey R. Holland spent time answering questions that missionaries had asked earlier. I really loved when he was talking about us at the MTC and he said that he would hope we would all feel a little bit homesick. That homesickness, he reminded us, is what makes all the other holidays when we get back so great. That homesickness is also what God feels over us. As his children, God wants us to return to him and while we are here on this earth he feels that same desire to see us again and to have us with him in his Heavenly home. That analogy really clicked in my mind and I felt a great need to share with others his love and how they can return to him. I have such a great love for the Korean people already and I can only imagine what it will be like when I actually get there.

A couple of Saturdays ago while we were teaching in the TRC my companion and I got a referral from the man who came in for us to teach. We called up his friend who is from China and it was amazing. The first thing that happened after we introduced ourselves was he got excited and said he had been waiting for us to call. I guess he has already been meeting with some missionaries and he loves the Book of Mormon, but he has difficulty understanding it in Chinese because the translation is a little odd and the English version is of course in older English so he wanted to speak with some missionaries who speak Mandarin Chinese and he wanted to know how he too could come and volunteer at the TRC. So we got him in contact with some Chinese native speaking missionaries who will be helping to teach him.

I love being a missionary and seeing the Lord's hand in everything. I love serving others and I love you all. Tell me your plans for service this Christmas season.

Love,

Sister Rebecca O'Bryan

Week 9 in the MTC

2009-11-24T09:42:00.001-08:00

Dear family,

The MTC is school good, as always. I love being here and there are only two more weeks for me to enjoy it, so I am trying to soak it all in. On December 7th I should be leaving on a plane for KOREA! Yes, I know, most of you probably think it is far past time, ready to kick me out of the country and all of that. But it still seems so surreal. To think, by this time in two weeks I will be speaking in Korean 24/7 and trying to understand when people talk back to me. I will be telling people about the gospel and eating kimchee for every meal and using chopsticks and all sorts of fun things.

This also means that if you wanted to send me anything before you have to pay for it to go international, now is the time. Thank you for everything you have sent so far, I really enjoy receiving things and knowing that people are still alive, that sort of thing. By no means feel obligated to send me anything, however, if you would like ideas, things that I enjoy include:
-pictures!
-those microfiber towels look really useful/compact
-shirts (usually size Medium, anything that is longer than cap-sleeve, high neck, machine washable, cute ^^)
-undershirts
-small snacks (chocolate, hazelnuts, skittles, peanut M&Ms, pretty much anything)
-True to the Faith book

Forecast of events for the next couple of weeks:
-Thursday: Thanksgiving! Elder Holland is coming to speak and we will have a fun filled day of service projects and sack meals!
-Friday: receive flight plans (find out how early I have to wake up to catch my plane)
-Next Tuesday: last P-day and last chance to check email and things like unto it until I reach Korea, so if you have anything important to say to me before I leave, tell me before then.
-Monday Dec. 7- KOREA here I come!

I love the Gospel and my Korean is improving every day. We have a native Korean sister that is kind of our companion and so we get to escort her around. She doesn't speak any English and so it has been helping our Korean improve as we take her around, explain what is happening, ask about her life, etc. I had to give her an orientation of the MTC all in Korean and it convinced me that I need to purchase a translator as soon as I get to Korea.

In the spirit of Thanksgiving, I would love to hear what you are all thankfull for. My list includes:
*All of you! I love having the support of my family and knowing that you love me and that I can always count on you
*The restored gospel which gives me peace, confidence, joy, guidance
*The opportunity to learn Korean and just in general, can you imagine if you finished with school and just decided that you had had enough learning. How boring would that be!
*Office supplies- there is just something so wonderful about being able to use colored pencils and tape in your everyday life
*fresh fruit- nothing better than peeling an orange to wake you up and start your day.

And the best way to show that you are really thankful is to give. This thanksgiving I would challenge all of you to think of something you can do for others, do it, and then tell me about it.

I love you all,

Sister Rebecca O'Bryan

Week 8 in the MTC...not that I'm counting

2009-11-17T12:52:00.001-08:00

Dear family,

News from the MTC. The food is the same as always (a little risky, but you can find things if you look for them). And the spirit is just as wonderful and permeating as ever. We were able to hear from a lot of great powerhouse speakers this week, including Elder Oak's wife- Kristen Oaks who talked about testimony. She was so fun and is so knowledgable. She talked a lot about how when we bear our testimonies we can keep it simple and let people know the core things we believe, that God is our loving Heavenly Father, that Christ is his son and that through him we can repent, that Joseph Smith was a prophet for our day and that he restored temples and the Book of Mormon, and that we have a prophet on the earth today to guide us. She then gave us these cute little "testimony gloves" that have pictures on each of the fingers of Christ, God, Joseph Smith, Thomas S. Monson, and the temple. So fun!

Then Sunday night we heard from Sheri L. Dew who talked about becoming a greater seeker of knowledge. I love that concept of continual growth, it seems the more I learn that instead of satiating my thirst I just want to learn more. She talked about how if we are to fulfill our missions, not just as missionaries, but in life, that there are three things she would suggest we all learn:
1. Who we are- D&C 138; we are God's children and he has a purpose for us
2. What the Savior did for us when he atoned and what He is willing to do for us now - She talked specifically about how she has felt the comforting and healing power of the atonement in her life and the promise that Christ makes in Luke 4:18 when he says that he has come to healt the broken hearted.
3. How the Lord speaks to and guides us- there are a lot of things that can distract us in life, but if we learn to heed what the Lord wants us to do then we can be guided in our lives.

I have realized while in the MTC that my sense of time has been somewhat diminished. Last Wednesday I was helping to host new missionaries (again) as they came into the MTC and I realized that it was Veterans day. Then on Friday we all realized that it was Friday the 13th, but we didn't realize until about 9PM at which point my companion, Sister Kelley, exclaimed "make sure not to pull any pranks, just because it is Friday the 13th." We had to remind her that that traditional is actually for April Fool's day. Who knows what I will be like in a year and a half when I come back from Korea.

I love my companions and they are a constant source of joy. One of my companions, Sister West, is a little bit hard of hearing and so although she can hear what people say when they are talking directly to her, she often has a hard time picking up on things around her, like if something is happening in the hallway or if someone whispers something under her breath. I think this contributes to the fact that most people think she has no sense of humor, when really she just can't hear them. However, the other day we were all laughing and I realized that there was no way that they were laughing at the same thing I was, so we went around and said what it was that we were laughing at and when it came to her she simple said, "I'm so used to not hearing things that I've learned just to laugh when everyone else does." It made us laugh so more, but the more I think about it, the more I realize what an eduring quality that is. Imagine if you could laugh at any time, you could lighten any mood.

Just a thought that my Branch President left us with this week:
"Let obedience be our quest. When obedience ceases to be an irratant then we know we have made a true change of heart." I think there's actually more to it than that, but I can't remember all of it. I just know that I realized the more that we align our will with God's then the more we are able to become truely free to be ourselves.

I love you all,

Sister Rebecca O'Bryan

Week...7? in the MTC

2009-11-10T12:04:00.001-08:00

Dear Family,

Life is going well here. The weather is getting cooler, but my excitement is not. It's exciting to think that in only four more weeks I will be headed to Korea. There are definitely times when it seems like the MTC is my life, always has been and always will be, but then you get those moments when you realize that you are here only as a preparation for something grander.

Fun story from this week:
While we were teaching about Knowledge to our district this week our Branch President's counselor, Brother Shin made a comment. He was reading from a scripture in D&C that discussed how when we obtain knowledge from God we are able to better understand the way to salvation and to receive joy. As an Asian, he explained, he and his wife are very serious people and the only thing that makes them laugh is when someone farts. For some reason everyone in my district looked at me and started to laugh. I suppose the O'Bryan curse is really more of a blessing, because at least if I can't speak Korean I can make them laugh and win my way into their hearts.

The more I do it, the more I love to plan. I have always like to carry around a planner with me and schedule things, but I am learning now more how to combine my goals, like my life/spiritual goals into my plans and not just to get things done, but to really accomplish things so that I feel like I am progressing in all areas. There is more of the Why behind the What.

Our new districts are great. We have five Sisters and seven Elders who came in last Wednesday which tripled our numbers. I think we are the only zone in the MTC that is almost half and half with our Sister to Elder ratio. I am alright with that. They are all very nice and wonderful and spunky. A few of the girls have already graduated from college and had careers that they put on hold in order to go on missions. One was a teacher and the other worked as an IT analyst in Washington DC for the Federal Reserve. Neat, eh?

While reading in 2 Nephi 25 I came across verse 26 which says:
"We talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophecy of Christ, and we write according to our prophecies that our children may know to what source they may look for a remission of sins."

Previously we had had a fireside by Richard Heaton who discussed the importance of remembering your purpose as a missionary. He explained that we do not share the gospel for the sole purpose of baptizing people, but for the joy that comes when they realize that they can receive a remission of their sins because of Jesus Christ and his atonement. Putting it into that perspective really helped me to realize that it is all about love. God put us here on this earth so that we could become better, so that we can return to him, but in order to do that we had to have the Atonement. We had to have Christ and because we do there is no end to the potential happiness we may feel. Doesn't that just give you hope?

I hope that we can all speak of Christ, write of Christ, rejoice in Christ and that it exudes from us in a way that people cannot help but notice.

Challenge for the week, write down how have you seen the Atonement of Jesus Christ work in your life? How have you changed because of that knowledge? I'd love to hear your answers.

I love you all, I hope you are doing well.

Love,

Sister Rebecca O'Bryan

Week 6 in the MTC

2009-11-03T13:11:00.001-08:00

Dear family,

It has been exciting, as always. Last week we got to hear from L. Tom Perry who spoke with his wife. I love everyone who comes to speak, but hearing from an apostle is always a special privelage.

I learned a lot more about Korean culture this week, some interesting things include:
*The two biggest Korean holidays are both 3 days each, Chusok- which is the Korean thanksgiving and happens in late September. During this holiday everything gives everyone presents and then eats really well. Sole-all (not spelled quite like that, but nothing translates exactly) which is in February and is the New Year. During this time everyone goes back to their traditional home and pays respect to their grandparents. The Grandmothers and mothers control the purse strings in every family so the more respect you pay to them the better your present it.

This week is exciting because we get a new district of Elders and Sisters-- 12! That means that our Sacrament meeting will go from 6 people to 18. This past Sunday was interesting, during testimony meeting not only did everyone bear their testimony, but we even had a musical number and we still ended 15 minutes early. It's interesting to think that I have passed my halfway mark and I only have a little over a month left in the MTC.

One of the new elders is from Uzbekistan, but he has a Korean name and says that the language spoken in the home is Korean. So it will probably be difficult to speak to him, we're not sure if we will need to talk in Korean or Russian (neither of which we really know how to speak). Maybe Natasha can send me some phrases so I can help him get around.

It is interesting because most of Korean comes from Chinese characters and the symbol for Virtue means having your actions, heart, and eyes in 100% accordance.

I have been thinking a lot this week about trusting God. How much do we really trust that he hears our prayers and that he will provide for us? A story was told in mission conference by a man who used to be a mission president in the Canary Islands. He retold a story about one Christmas when he and some missionaries made cookies and then went around caroling at various member's houses. On the way back they had some extra cookies so stopped by a lady's house, her name was Claudia. Claudia had been baptized a year earlier and was a stalwart member, but had gotten a divorce at the same time that she joined the church and her children were all grown and had recently moved to the Peninsula (Spain). As they came to the door they noticed that her table was set with a nice dinner, she was dressed up, and it looked like she was preparing for a party. They told her that they would just sing and leave as they didn't want to intrude, but she insisted that they stay. She then explained that the Christmas before had been spent completely alone and was quite sad, so she had prayed a week before to God to have company on Christmas. "Lord," she had bargained, "I will provide the party if you will provide the guests" so she went out, got her hair done, prepared a five course meal, and here were her guests. I thought it was really neat.

For those who remember Peachie Jones, I saw her at the temple last week. I guess she is going to law school at BYU and I don't really know much else, but it was neat seeing her since I haven't in AGES.

I love you all, thank you for your love and support.

Love,

Sister Rebecca O'Bryan

Week 5 in the MTC

2009-10-30T13:36:00.001-07:00

Dear family,

Life in the MTC is still great, the Korean missionaries and our older district are all now safely in Korea which means that there are only about 5 1/2 weeks left for me. It is exciting to think that I will be there so soon, however, I have a lot of Korean left to learn.

Culture things I learned this week:
-you are only considered to be someone's "friend" if you were born in the same year as them. Other wise they call you their older/younger brother or sister. This also means that you are automatic friends with anyone born in the same year as you. It's a big deal.
-The literal translation to say that you are full is to say that your stomach is singing
-There is an idiom that you use to say that you really enjoy the food, literally translated it is "If there were two people eating and one died I wouldn't even know" meaning that the food is so good you wouldn't even notice if someone right next to you died.

One of my companions, while we were in the Referral Center, received a chat from a nice woman in Detroit Michigan and after speaking to her for a little while we were able to call her. She is a nice lady and is allowing us to continue to call her and tell her more about the church and hopefully the missionaries in her area will call her and come over. It is frustrating because we call her and set up lesson plans and she keeps commitments, but the missionaries in her area still haven't contacted her. Sometimes I wish there were better forms of communication. It is very exciting though to share the gospel with people who have real needs. In the MTC you teach a lot, but usually just to fellow missionaries or volunteers so you don't often get to assess peoples' needs or follow up with them.

This week our teachers are beginning to speak only Korean to us during class and it is exciting to see how much we really do know how to say. We are also expected to teach in Korean this week up until we reach Korea (where the teaching will continue, I'm certain). Although my phrases are simple, I am always suprised by how much I can say. The Lord really is helping me to learn Korean and the more I trust in him the more he helps me.

Relief Society at the MTC is unlike anywhere else I have ever been. Since there are not as many sisters are there are Elders, all the sisters join together (probably about 200) and it is in a large gymnasium. We get to hear from Sisters on the General Relief Society, Young Women's, and Primary boards every week. We also start out with a special music number that people have to audition for and then a conversion story from a sister serving a mission who is a recent convert. This past week's lesson was given by Sister Vicki Matsumori (she spoke in General Conference) and she included a story about her son when he was on a mission. Because her son served in the Bronx in New York and her husband often visted there on business trips she was able to meet her son once for lunch on his mission (of course after talking to the mission president). They had arranged to meet him outside of an apartment building after one of his teaching appointments and while they were waiting they got out their cameras to take pictures. At this point some men came out and chased Sister Matsumori and her husband and they ran into a local shop. She later found out that there was a drug dealing going down and they thought she was from the DEA. Anyway, after this traumatizing experience she went back and met her son and as he came around the corner she said she could a visible bubble of protection around him. I think it's probably because the Lord wanted her to know, as a mother, that her son was safe as he went about doing His work. I thought it was a neat story. I'm sure I wont need any bubble in Korea, but even still it is neat.

In a large group meeting this week we talked about goal setting. While discussing this topic they mentioned that some of the keys to acheiving your goals include:
-writing them down
-keep track and evaluate your goals to see where you can improve
-when setting new goals look at how you did on your old goals and set acheivable goals that cause you to stretch
I would love to hear from you guys as to what some of your goals are and what you plan on doing to accomplish them. I love talking about planning and goal setting, even before I entered the MTC.

Thank you for all your support and love, I love you all,

Sister Rebecca O'Bryan

Week 4 in the MTC

2009-10-20T11:53:00.000-07:00

Dear family,

MTC life is going well. I am learning Korean more and more every day and even though it takes me a while, I can hold a conversation, pray, teach how to pray, testify, read, and all sorts of neat things all in Korean.

Our older district, along with our Koreans, are leaving next Monday which means that we will become the "old" district. I was also made the coordinating sister for our Zone which means that I will have the responsibility of helping new sisters as they arrive into the MTC so that they can get accustom to everything. I get to explain rules, make them feel comfortable and show them around the place. It's pretty neat, I also get to go to meetings with President Smith and the other MTC Presidency and their wives.

Funny Korean-American things:
-The Korean missionaries were giving us "Korean" names this week and then asked for us to give them "American" names. One elder, Elder Chung, said that he wanted something really regal. In Korean it is very common for children to be named after really meaningful things. For example, my teacher's name means "Doctrine & Covenants" and his brother's name translates into "Pearl of Great Price". One of the sister's names means "morning star" and things like that. Anyway, so this Elder wanted an American name that signified regality and nobility so we were thinking of things like Jefferson, Washington, and the such and suddenly he exlaims: "Something with 'the' in it, like 'The Arthur'". He could really understand when we all started to laugh, but I think "The Arthur" is probably a fitting name.
-Some things just don't translate, like I was saying last week, the sentence structure is so different from English that it is really hard to get straight in your head. Take for example this sentence:
"I would like to share a scripture with you about faith", directly translated you have to say
"I faith about passage to share want."
It becomes more confussing the more prepositions, tenses, and grammar forms that you add. The way my teacher explained it is that it is like an onion-- there are just a lot of layers.
-We learned a really fun song last night when we were full of energy. It is a really cute little kids song about a mountain rabbit. Dirrectly translated it is something like:
"Mountain rabbit, rabbit
Where are you? Where are you?
Hop, hop, hop, hop
Mountain rabbit, where are you?"

But with the hand motions, jumping around, and singing it was really fun. I guess it is kind of like the nursery rhymes we sing (Little Miss Tuffet, The Itsy Bitsy Spider).

I love learning about the Korean culture. On Sunday our Branch President told us the story of the church in Korea. He mentioned that Christianity had initially gone into Eastern Asia in the 1800s and that since then about 1% of China/Japan are Christian while 50% of Koreans are Christian. A lot of this is the humility of the people and how open they are to others. Because of the Korean war and the amazing poverty, starvation, and conditions that existed during that time, it really humbled a lot of people.

As for Korea and the LDS church, ni 1927 the first Korean was baptized in Hawaii. Korea was dedicated for missionary work in 1955 by Joseph Fielding Smith and in 1984 the Seoul Temple was dedicated. Since then the Seoul temple has become the most used temple in the world. There is more work done here per person with a reccommend than in all of the world, probably because the Koreans are so good at keeping really good genealogical records and they care so much about their ancestors.

I got to go with my companion, Sister West, to the doctor this past week. She has been having abdominal pains and so they had her get an ultrasound at an imaging center in Provo. It was really exciting because we got to leave the MTC in this big van and I really LOVE doctor's offices (when I'm not the patient). On our way back to the MTC we drove with some Elders who were Italian and who had just gotten out of a surgery so were kind of loopy. People say the most interesting things when they are under the influence of medication and we ended up laughing all the way back to the MTC.

I don't have a lot of time, so if you wrote me an email or letter, thank you very much, I'm not sure how many I will be able to get back to.

I would really love if you would find one of your favorite scriptures and send it to me with a reason of why it is your favorite and how it has helped you in your life.

I love you all,

Sister Rebecca O'Bryan

Week 3 in the MTC

2009-10-13T11:09:00.001-07:00

Hello family,

I love going to the referral center because we get chat with so many diverse people and create lesson plans for real people (if they decide to come back). For example, we chatted with a man in the United Arab Emirates who did not have access to missionaries or a church (the closest was 100 miles away) but he could get on the computer. Interesting. Unfortunately he did not come back when he said he would.

Everyday I realize more and more that Korean is just a different language. Things don't really translate, because it's just a different mindset, a different way of life. For example, you can't say "I have this apple" you have to say "this apple exists". Also, it is all about being humble and honorifying other things/people. You can honorify ANYTHING and so it could take three times as long to say something in Korean than in English (depending also on how fast you speak).

With the arrival of the Korean Sisters I realize how loud and expressive Americans are as well as how large I am. Not tall, we are about the same height, but they are just so petite and dainty. They seem to like us because we are so friendly, but it's probably just because we say hello every two seconds (one of the few things they can understand that we have learned). They help us out a lot in trying to learn the language and it also humbles me because it shows that I have a long ways to go before I can even carry out a normal conversation.

The same Wednesday that our Koreans came in there was a missionary from Indian. I guess he is the first Elder to ever be called from India, or something like that. Isn't it exciting how the work is progressing in the world? It reminded me of the talk in General Conference by Brent H Nielson missionary work and how he prayed for missionary work to be open in some part of Russia (is that right?) and then his son was sent there later in life. Maybe my kids will go to North Korea! (Or Louis might, or Anna... you never know!)

I love my MTC teachers, they are great and sometimes after a long day of class we can get a little giggly. I think it is something about trying to think in Korean and then you get really confussed. For example, we were learning to ask about people and say things like "Do you know anyone who has recently ______*insert life event here*___?" So like, people who have lost a loved one, had the birth of a child, etc. My companion, Sister Kelley was trying to ask how to say baby and said:
"What is a baby?"
the teacher gave us this weird look like this "well... when a man loves a woman" and we all started to laugh because he thought we didn't know what a baby was in general.

Korean food and American food are different, but not as much as you might think. As in, there is definte traditional Korean food, but they have many American things. The other day we got breakfast and the Korean sisters chose bagels, we asked if they had used a toaster before and they said they had, but they couldn't get it to fit. So we showed them that they had to cut the bagel in half. One of the cute little sisters, Sister Ahn (one of them, there are two that are twins) was on the verge of tears because she was trying to get hers to cut and it just ended up breaking. So my companion Sister Kelley was able to cut it in half, toast it, and save the day.

I wonder how some missionaries could only be in the MTC for three weeks. I just barely figured out how to get my schedule to work out and how to organize everything. I mean, this past Sunday was the first time I had a chance to even go to choir. (The previous Sundays were fast Sunday and General Conference and then on Tuesday we got to usher for the devotional). Also, I think I probably need another year or two at the MTC just to get Korean under my belt. It's odd to think that in only 8 more weeks we will be shipped out to Korea.

I am excited to go to Korea though, with the arrival of the Korean Elders and Sisters I realized that they know all about fashion. They have these huge rimmed glasses, tailored shiny suits, skinny sparkly ties, cute stationary, cute skirts and are overall just stylish. They are also very respectful, I hope that is something I can pick up more on so that I don't accidentally offend anyone when I get to Korea.

We all have a work to do. Challenge for the week, pray to find out what your work is to do and who around you needs help. Then reach out and try to help them. Let me know how it turns out.

With much love,

Sister Rebecca O'Bryan

Second week in the MTC

2009-10-07T10:31:00.001-07:00

Dear family,

I forgot to tell you but, I have my MTC mailbox number:
Sister Rebecca O'Bryan
MTC Mailbox #149
KOR-DAE 1207
2005 N 900 E
Provo, UT 84604

Also, you can send me mail through dearelder.com. This means that you don't have to actually write and use a stamp, just get online, and it will send the typed up letter directly to my MTC mailbox. It's fast. Just an idea if you aren't the pen and paper type of person.

Since I last wrote one elder went home because of family problems so now our zone has become 10 people instead of 11. Yes, that means I go to church and there are 10 people (well, and the branch presidency). However, today we get KOREANS which is exciting. Real, live, Korean speaking, breathing, and eating KOREANS. They will leave with our older district in three weeks and then in three more after that then my district gets our own. So maybe this isn't as exciting to you as it is to me, but it means that I will get a lot of improvement on my Korean and maybe a little culture too. I love my teachers, but they aren't actually Korean so sometimes their messages conflict. Let's just hope what I do know is sufficient to talk to them (although they most likely know English).

For those of you who lived in Spanish Fork, I see Amanda Barber a lot, she was in our ward and is leaving today to serve in Baltimore Maryland.

Fun story, so we go to the Referral Center every week and make calls to people who have called in for Books of Mormon or Bibles and then we invite them to learn more and have the missionaries come visit them. One of my companions, Sister Kelley, got a fellow who wanted us to call him directly back in a few minutes so we got his phone number and called back and were able to teach him a little about the restoration and to send some missionaries out to him. It was fun. I think because I had a job where I talked to people over the phone I am more comfortable talking to random people than my companions so I ended up doing most of it, but it was still a great experience. It is interesting to be in a threesome because every time that we try to teach it ends up being me and Sister Kelley teaching. Sister West, bless her soul, is a wonderful and intelligent soul who freezes every time she has to talk.

I was sick with a cold at the end of last week, but I think I've recovered. Thankfully enough no one else in my district or zone got sick. It wasn't too bad either, I just couldn't concentrate or breath or talk or anything, but I learned a lot of Korean.

General Conference was amazing this weekend, I hope you thought so as well. It is different when you listen to it as a missionary (even though I don't have any real investigators).

In our Tuesday devotional we heard from Stephen Nadauld who talked a lot about "teaching by the way" which basically just means to talk to and teach all those you come in contact with. My challenge for you this week is to talk to everyone you see, those in the grocery store, those you don't usually sit next to in church, just everyone and get to know them sincerely.

I hope you are all well, I love you all,

Sister Rebecca O'Bryan

I'm a missionary now!

2009-09-29T16:04:00.000-07:00

Hello family,

It's amazing how little time you have to do things here at the MTC. You get a lot accomplished (i.e. I have already learned to pray, bear testimony, read, and sing in Korean) but it seems that all those other things seem to dissipitate.

It is amazing being here at the MTC, I can feel the Lord's love more than I thought possible. The first day, in trepidation, I met my new companion and low and behold, there are actually two of them. There are currently 11 missionaries in the MTC who will be going to Korea and 5 of them came in at the same time that I did. This means that there is a threesome of elders and a threesome of sisters.

My companions are Sister West from Emmet Idaho and Sister Kelley from La Canada (which I'm told is near Los Angeles). They are both really neat people, Sister West studied Chinese for a year previously and so she picked up on the pronunciation and everything else really quick and is much like a tutor for Sister Kelley and I. It is nice to have three people trying to learn it because when you forget something then they can remind you.

I suppose they are cutting back on the missionaries that they send to Korea because my teachers talked about the fact that there were 70 missionaries who came in at the same time they did, but now there are only 6 of us. Something about a redistribution of missionaires churchwide. I'm not sure, but I'm glad I'm going to Korea.

On Sunday my branch president (who served with my mission President, President Perriton) told all the sisters all about Korea. For an hour he and his wife just talked about all the wonderful things about Korea. For example, since Koreans are smaller it may be difficult to find the right sized clothing, but you can pretty much find anything if you know the right place to look. Also, if you are smaller than you can find anything because Korea is the fashion mecca for all of Asia and so they have all sorts of great fashion.

Koreans are also some of the most friendly people in the world and some of the most honest as well. Branch President Carlson let us know that when he lived there with his two daughters he never once feared for their safety. Also, there are no guns in Korea and since I am a foreigner then they will show special respect towards me (it's just their culture).

Interesting tid bit that I learned from my branch president's wife: it is custom when you are in a public bathroom to knock on the stall to see if someone is inside. If there is someone inside, you knock back, otherwise they will attempt to come in. Yikes!

They also have really good shoe repair and dry cleaning (always a plus) which is really fast, honest, and reliable.

If any of you guys want really discounted scriptures inscribed with your name, send me some money and I'll buy you some because at the MTC bookstore missionaries get a pretty decent discount on everything. I'm not sure the exact price, but if you are interested, let me know.

I don't think I will be gaining the MTC pounds. My companions go to morning gym which is where the gym is open up for an extra half hour from 6-6:30 AM just for sisters and an instructor teaches things like step aerobics, yoga, toning/stretching, and other miscellaneous fun work outs. I also am on the 4th floor of the residence halls and the 5th floor of the class rooms. This means that my buns burn every day, every day. Especially if one of my companions forgets something and we have to make an extra journey.

I have four teachers, which I suppose is a little unusual, usually you just have two in the MTC, but I find that each knows a little bit more and so I get to learn a lot.

I love learning Korean because for one of the first times it requiresme to really try. It is not like in school where I can go home and study or like many topics in school where I just breezed by. I have a very limited amount of time and God expects me to use all of it and to do so effectively.

As I apply myself I experience real brain struggle (it's like my brain is burning). However, I also get to feel how magnificient it is when things finally "click" and I know it is God helping me. The gift of tongues is real, but like the gift of prayer or anything else God gives us-- it requires our effort. After ALL we can do (and He means it) then He will help us.

Challenge for the week:
Boyd K. Packer said:
"true doctrine, understood, changes attitudes and behavior. The study of the doctrines of the gospel will improve behavior quicker than a study of behavior will improve behavior."

How have your gospel studies changed you lately? How do you see this change in your life? Respond (preferably through snail mail since my email time is extremely limited).

If someone gets this, please call mom and tell her to check her email, because I know she doesn't do that too frequently.

I love you all,

Sister Rebecca O'Bryan

Farewell Dear Friends

2009-09-22T15:00:00.000-07:00

I have been called to serve in Daejeon, South Korea and tomorrow at 1:15PM I report to the MTC in Provo, UT. If you would like to be able to write to me, feel free:

Sister Rebecca O'Bryan
Daejeon South Korea Mission
2005 North 900 East
Provo, UT 84604

in Korea

Sister Rebecca O'Bryan
Daejeon South Korea Mission
Daejeon Po Box 38
Daejeon-si
chungcheong-bukdo 300-600
South Korea