Playing catch up

 *hi friends, its rachael. i havent had a chance to update tori's blog since elliot was born. i am going to try to do that now. bear with me as it might take a week or two. here are the latest from july.

 July 1st, 2013

HAPPY CANADA DAY!!!! <3
( So I may or may not have convinced all the Elders in my zone that on Canada day its tradition for everyone to buy Canadians Presents :P... we'll see if any of the believed me!) hahaha

BIG NEWS! Our mission officially split! I am no longer a Korean Seoul Missionary! I am now  a Korean Seoul SOUTH Missionary! I will meet my new President, ( Presidend Morrise) and his wife this THURSDAY! I'm super excited!! But with all the change, last week was hard having to say goodbye to President and Sister Christensen. They really have become a part of my family, but I'm grateful for the experinces and love that I have experinces under their direction and guidance. I know that Heavenly Fathers calls those people to lead and guide us at certian times in our lives for a specific purpose, I know without a doubt that Presidend Morrise is going to be exactly what this mission needs!!! <3

This week was good. Second week training, and my greeny is doing awesome! She is starting to rock at street contacting and is gaining more confidence each day with the language. ( I can't but feel bad for her haha, I remember how hard the language seems at first, I wish I could help comfort her more haha... But lets be serious, I've been in the field for 7 months now and I still feel the inadequacy of not speaking the language every single day haha :P) She's amazing tho, and you can tell her testimony is growing everyday.

Oh one more news worthy announcement! I GOT MY NEW APARTMENT!!! I had to view so many different places, and finally we got one! I will be moving in on the 15th! ( SOOOOO EXCITED!) haha mostly because it has air conditioning, and it has been SO hot lately. haha and its just supposed to be getting hotter. It will be nice to beable to sleep though the night without waking up sweating haha :P

This week I had a really cool experience that I wanted to quickly share!
We were teaching an investigator this past wednesday, and the Elders thought it would be helpful to come into our lesson unannounced. Hahah lets just say I was horrified! There I was, already stumbling over my korean with my greeny, when 2 advanced korean speaking missionaries and 1 native missionary walkin and take a seat.  SO AWKWARD!! imediatley I lost everything that I wanted to say, my lesson plan, my korean, my pride! haha. It was horrible. I even asked them to leave politley, but I think they enjoyed seeing me embarressed and insisted they would stay. It would have been nice if they helped me, but they just sat there... watching.. waiting for me to say something... Lets just say it was the longest hour of my entire life. hahah I wanted to crawl into a corner and run away. haha
BUT! Luckily there is a good end to this story. As I sat there, with 4 other missionaries eyes on me, I said a prayer to my Heavenly Father to help me focus on my investigator and what his needs were, to help me to feel the spirit, and block out the distraction of the missionaries. haha As the lesson wen't on I could hear the missionaries whispering to eachother, and I was just completly stumbling over my words. humiliated, and horrified, I took a deep breath and taught my lesson. Towards the end of the lesson I felt prompted to ask the elders to give my investigator a blessing, and they were able to explain to my investigator what a blessing was, and how it would help him. He expressed that he would like one, and after the blessing was given I asked him to pray for us. It was hands down THE MOST POWERFUL PRAYER I have ever felt. ( I say felt because I really had to idea what he was saying lol) The lesson ended, and all of the missionaries had felt the power of the spirit that was present in the lesson.
After the lesson, the Elders jokingly let me know that I needed to learn more Korean. But everyone of them were able to feel the spirit, and It was a huge reminder to me that the language that matters in this work is the language of the spirit.
I'm not good at korean, hahah and thats okay. I will keep working on it everyday for the rest of my life-  But this week God was able to teach everyone in that lesson something that I have learn't over and over again on my mission.
That the teacher isn't the missionary & the language isn't what converts. Those are the job of the spirit- and as long as we are worthy of the spirit we are qualified to be his missionaries.


I love being here, I love being a missionary. Its hard. Its challenging, and I will probably struggle with my inadequacies my entire mission haha. But I know my Savior loves me, I know that he has called me, and he will qualify me as I continue to press forward each day in faith that he will do what I cannot.

I am amazed with the amount of trust he puts in such an inadequate daughter of His. I love him.I trust him and I will follow him.

Love,
Sister Sulz

July 7, 2013

안녕하세요!!! <3
Things have been going really good lately! ( Somethings haven't worked out the way I wanted them to this week but I'm learning that as we just let go of our lives and let God lead everything turns out the way its supposed to!!!)
This morning my companion reminded me of something that Elder M Russel Ballard said in our search for happiness: " Many of our Missionaries begin their mission thinking they are going to repay Heavenly Father for His goodness towards them by serving Him for 18 months or two years. But before long they learn an important eternal truth: You can never do more for the Lord than He can do for you."
It really isn't fair how much we are blessed for the things that we do. I know I say that a lot, but I have been reminded time after time this week that God is watching over us and is in charge of this work.
As I let go of the things in my life and mission that I thought I wanted God has been able to show me something much much better. It's incredible to learn how to trust God more than yourself, and to truly do everything each day because you trust him completely 100%. I'm still learning, but I'm grateful for the lessons I'm learning each and everyday.

I love you, I love my Heavenly Father, and I love my Savior.

<3 Sister Sulz
( Yesterday we got stuck at the church without umbrellas... and it was pouring rain :P)

July 14, 2013

Hi! :)

This week was good! haha It RAINED ALOT! still rainny season so we spend a lot of time knocking on doors, or making phone calls. We were able to do a service project with our ward mission leader this week which was fun! Oh and we get our new apartment this week!! :) :) YAY!
I'm learning so much from training! Super good. haha I loved Dads e-mail about just sucking it up and working! :D made me happy.

The language is coming. FINALLY. haha I don't know if its coming anyfaster, but being with a companion who understands hardly anything seems to make me realize that I totally have the gift of tonges. super cool. I sitll can' understand everything, but I understand a WHOLE lot more than I used to, thats for sure!
This week I have a ton of projects I'm working on for korean study!! I feel like I'm in universtiy or something. Always studying.. I have this korean teaching test on Friday which I've been preparing for, and I speak in church again, so I need to translate my talk, and try to write some letters in Korean. Its crazy, but its helping me improve!!

Thanks for all the birthday stuff! And  I don't know the new address you can send packages too.. so I would just send it to the old address until I get a new one.. I have the address for letters, but its in korean.. so once I get the english one I will let you know! Hopefully next week :)

Love you all tons! Sorry there were no pictures this week..
Sister Sulz