Dear Mom, Dad, Elder Bonney, Elizabeth, Benjamin, Andrew, Eve, James, Miriam, Anna, Joseph, Rebekah, Abigail, Esther, Peter, and everybody else!!!
WE HAVE OUR TRAVEL PLANS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! All of us going to Busan are going together which is WONDERFUL because that means most of our district is staying together! AND I'M TRAVEL LEADER FOR OUR WHOLE GROUP!!! Honestly, I think it makes sense cause they'd have a hard time finding someone in our group who has flown more. SO SO SO SO STOKED FOR KOREA/HANGUK!!!! (Hanguk is the Korean pronunciation of Korea... Don't ask cause I don't know either.) Also, I get to call home from the airport!!! That will probably be around noon MD time (which means anytime after 10am???). PLEASE BE THERE CAUSE I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Anyways, other than travel plans, the days are pretty much the same now. Something exciting did happen yesterday though! I'm pretty sure I broke my finger! Yeah. It happened during volleyball. I play on the wildside. I've attached a picture and it's HUGE. And a lovely shade of purple but somehow my camera just couldn't capture the gore.
Sister Harris and I are a teaching powerhouse. Both our teachers are so impressed with how well we teach together, and our Korean is improving everyday. I'm so grateful for her as a companion! She's such an example to me. Everyday we grow stronger and closer, and it's kind of depressing to think that we only have maybe two weeks left together unless we work together in the field.
As far as Korean goes, my ability with the language fluctuates. Learning Korean has definitely been a challenging and humbling experience, but it's taught me that I can do hard things through the Lord and that I can't and shouldn't rely on myself when the Lord is so willing to help me and has asked me to rely on Him.
I've developed such a love for the New Testament this week! I studied 2 Timothy for several hours and that thing is like 4 pages. But it has so much! As members of the Church, I know that we are taught to spend a lot of time reading and studying the Book of Mormon and so I had never really studied the Bible, but this week I've gained so much. It contains words of the prophets, and it testifies of Christ. There is so much we can learn! If you haven't before, I invite you to take some time to study the New Testament.
HILARIOUS mistake of the week: Sister Johnson and Sister Wadsworth were going to share D&C 9:7-8 in their lesson, but they accidently shared Moroni 9:7-8. You can look that one up yourselves. NO ONE could have made a funnier mistake on purpose.
Some awesome quotes from our district:
Elder Hansen: Looks like Laman and Lemuel are arguing again. Better go dwell in my tent.
Elder Wilson: I'll go home to my family, but I'll never leave the mission field.
Elder Clark: I don't think anyone's read the whole Old Testament.
Elder Wilson: I'm pretty sure Pres. Monson just finished it for the first time last week.
Me: MTC food drives you to do things you never thought you'd do.
Elder Clark: Yeah. Like eat it.
And Elder Hansen tried to tell our investigator that "All people will die..." Instead, he said, "All people will kill..." Whoop! There it is!
As missionaries, we are called to spend all our time and efforts and thoughts on the gospel and serving others during our full-time missions. This week, I was struggling focusing on the work, but I learned something I felt was very powerful. It starts with a story: Two men meet on the street. One says to the other, "Good and evil are like two wolves fighting inside of me. Which one wins?" The other replies, "The one you feed."
No matter what our struggles or temptations are in life, we can overcome them through our faith in and love for Jesus Christ. Personally, I decided one wolf represented my love for Jesus Christ and this gospel and the other represented anything that could distract me from what I have promised the Lord I will do during this time. This applies to any struggle we have in this life. If your love for the Lord is greater than your love for anything else or your desire for anything else, you will never have to ask yourself twice if you are willing to be obedient. And obedience is the pathway to true and lasting happiness.
So many people, after hearing about the standards LDS members are asked to uphold, respond with expressions of disbelief and "Wow. You can't do ANYTHING," but commandments are only given for our benefit. They are expressions of His love for us because they provide for us. The Lord wants us to have lasting happiness and all the blessings He can give us, but we must give to Him first. He is completely unable to bless us unless we have done that which He has commanded us. Commandments aren't rules; they're conduits for His love and mercy. Mosiah 2:41 And as we keep them, He has promised us peace, comfort, joy, and more than we will ever have the capacity to hold in this life.
I know this is His gospel. I know that this is the Lord's work. I know that He lives. I know that He loves us. I know that if we trust the Lord, He will lift us. And if we truly trust the Lord, it really doesn't matter what we don't understand. I'm so grateful to be a missionary of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ, and I CANNOT WAIT TO GET TO KOREA! 10 DAYS!
I love you all so so so so so much!
Love,
Sister Sarah Bonney
PS James, Elder Wilson got your dearelder.com letter and HE LOVED IT! I'm sending pictures of everyone in our district so you can actually know who I'm talking about. :)
Pictures on this email: Your pictures!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Elizabeth's pirate man for me. And our roommates: Sisters Bussio, Segovia, Pope, Jackson, Harris, and ME!
