April 14, 2014
Dear everyone!
This past week.... Well, let's just say it hasn't been one of the easier weeks of my mission. A lot of great things are still happening though!
Sister Yum and I are trucking along. It's 99% Korean, and it looks like things are going to stay that way. Sister Yum is totally opposite from my last companion, and it's been a little hard to make the switch. Sister Park and I spent 3 transfers together! We were the dream team! But Sister Yum is a great missionary. She's knows how to follow the Spirit, and I'm grateful that we get to teach together. This transfer, Sister Yum and I have actually been called to be the sister training leaders for our zone. That means that we work with the zone leaders to help and train the sisters in the ways the zone leaders can't. We'll be going on a lot of exchanges, and I'm so excited to be able to learn from all the wonderful sisters in our zone. I'm so grateful that we get to work more with them, and I'm really glad for more opportunities to help the other sisters.
This week, we watched General Conference, but since there were no other English-speaking sisters, I ended up watching it in Korean. To be honest, on Saturday, I was really disappointed. General Conference is like Christmas for a missionary, but it actually turned out okay. Last General Conference, I was still training and I barely caught parts of the opening and closing prayers. Forget understanding the talks. But THIS TIME I understood probably about 60% and I actually got a lot more out of it than I thought I would. By Sunday, I could understand about 75-80% and I was really getting a lot out of the talks. I'm still really really really excited to get copies of the talks in English BUT it was okay. Needless to say, I'm learning a lot of Korean...
I also learned something kind of profound...During the first session of General Conference, I was really struggling. I was really upset about my situation: Unless we're with other missionaries (which is really rare...), if I speak English, there are only two people who understand me: myself and Heavenly Father. And I was really really upset that I couldn't understand conference. But as I watched conference, Heavenly Father taught me something I needed to learn: Happiness is always a choice. No matter your situation or your challenges or anything, it is your choice to either seek out your blessings or to dwell on your challenges. Not matter what, you have the choice to be positive or negative. You have the choice to smile and be kind no matter what. As I thought about that as I watched conference, a peace came over me that only the Spirit can bring. I know that Heavenly Father gives us challenges to teach us and to help us grow. It's really hard sometimes to face those challenges, but as we face them with a bright smile and make the Savior and His gospel the foundation of our lives, we can have joy and peace that are stronger than anything the world can throw at us. Even in the hardest of time, we can have peace and know that because Christ overcame the world, we can overcome as well and, one day, we can be like Him. I'm so grateful for that knowledge, and I know that Christ lives.
I love you all so much!
Love,
Sister Bonney
Here's a picture from Sister Kim's baptism!!!! Love you all!
