Last week of February

Family and Friends!

I can't believe next week it will be March already, time really flies. News from this week, well it was an interesting week. The investigators that I told you about last time, well the one whose mom did my job for me, his sister/her daughter passed away this past week. They are doing okay, we will be meeting with all of them tonight. I am excited to share with them one of my favorite things about this gospel, families can be together forever. It is more proof of Heavenly Father's sincere love for us. 

We went to a Relief Society party last night and that was super fun! They played two truths and a lie and it was hilarious!! (I had a member help me with translation :)) I love the women in my ward they are so amazing and such great lights. It's not easy to be a member anywhere but I know it's not easy in Korea. Many of them also have husbands that are non members or less active but they come every week and are super active and have great testimonies. They are great! They help motivate us to work harder. Oh and at the end they gave us ALL the left overs from the party which was a potluck! So cool! Our fridge is not packed with amazing food! I'm not sure what I will do when I go back home and I can't have homemade kimchi by a Korean :(.... :)

This past month I've been studying hope and it's interesting until yesterday I didn't realize how much I have been relying on hope and using it. There is always hope for a brighter day. I love Ether 12:4 "Wherefore, whoso believeth in God might with surety hope for a better world, yea, even a place at the right hand of God, which hope cometh of faith, maketh an anchor to the souls of men, which would make them sure and steadfast, always abounding in good works, being led to glorify God."  We have the hope of eternal families, of being with our Heavenly Father again. Right now I rely on hope so much, hope to find people that want to be found and hope to know how to help people. This work is all about hope. 

I hope you are all doing great! I am so grateful for this gospel and for all of you. Know you are never alone and you are being watched out for. 

Love Always,

Sister Tovar

P.S. I had curry at a members house yesterday!! How cool is that!

February 16, 2014

Family and Friends!! 

I'm sorry it's been a long time since I have written. A lot has happened in the last few weeks :). I have a new companion, 이윤지 자매님!!! She is a native Korean but went to school at BYU- Hawaii so her English is awesome!!  I got to spend Valentines day with my entire zone at zone conference! So much fun! 

We have five investigators we are working right now and they are amazing!! I think I've mentioned them before they are all college students and great people! Four of them are super close friends and we meet with them all together. We invited them to be baptized last week and they said yes if they believe in it or when they believe in it! Such a miracle from where they were at originally. Three out of the four are are not Christian and don't even really know who or what God is so it's super cool teaching them. One of them whose mom I believe I have mentioned before her name is 김은희 자매님 she is the sweetest! She always makes us food to eat! She is also super cool and is a dance coach! Our fifth investigator is actually a return investigator that my companion's sister taught years before when she was serving in this same ward! Crazy right? 

I gave a talk this Sunday! It was a full 12 minutes long! And in all Korean! lol I was so proud of myself, but I have to confess I only read my talk I did not free talk too much of it. I was so nervous but everyone has said they understood it so that's good I think? 

This week I am very excited because I get to go to the temple! 

Something that I have to relearn every day is that it's not up to me to convert anyone, only the Holy Ghost can do that. I do play a major role though because I have to be a clean enough vessel the Holy Ghost can work through me. I have to become humble enough to ask for help and no I can do nothing alone, I have to be submissive enough to listen to the guidance I'm given, and I have to be charitable enough to love everyone. I have to be worthy to have the spirit because if I'm not then they won't feel the spirit when I'm with them. Thankfully none of this means I have to be perfect in any of it :) Heavenly Father accepts our offering even if it is small, as long as it's our best. Missions are hard but they are rewarding in so many ways! My only hope is to share the joy that I have in my life because of this Gospel and the love of my Heavenly Father. 

I hope you are all doing well! As a wise fish once said, "Just keep swimming." :). "When life get's too tough to stand, kneel." We are never alone and for that I am so grateful!! I love you all so much and am grateful to have you in my life!

Love Always,

Sister Tovar

January 20, 2014

Dear Family and Friends,

Im sorry I wasn't able to write an email today but here is an update and a little about what Korea is like =) Korea is amazing!! I think what has touched me the most are the people! They are so kind! And they are so giving. All they want to do is give and share their culture with you.  They love foreigners and I am not exaggerating when I write that. I am currently serving in shin pung area is suwon its a bit weird to write the English pronunciation because we are taught not to do that.  By the time you get this in the states I will be done  being a greeny =).  Im so excited!! Another thing Korean's love English and America, not sure why we aren't that cool, kidding, kind of.  Food, everyone wants to know about the food….. well I haven't starved yet =) Yes, the rumor is true, Koreans eat kimchi with pretty much everything! And now I do too =)  What can I say when in Rome ……. That was my saying for my fist month. I've tried things I wouldn't have before. But as a missionary in Korea if they offer it and its not against the word of wisdom you eat with a smile and say you love it. And when you are at a meal at someones house if they offer you more you take it even when you are full, there is always room. =) The food is super healthy though. I've eaten more healthy here than I ever have. The fruit is delicious! And that's dessert here in the winter.

The weather is super cold!! Oh the language, well the language is super hard! I make so many mistakes! I can't understand or be understood and I don't know enough words =( But I think that's normal since I am trying to learn a new language that is nothing like my native language. The sentence structure is completely different. It is subject object verb instead of how we write/speak which is subject verb object. And the characters are so hard. It's a phonetic alphabet so that's nice but still hard. Right now I can pronounce things and read them but I have no idea what I'm reading =) So much more to write, it will have to be tomorrow =) Bedtime.

January 21, 2014

Im learning so much being on my mission, its impossible to write it all down. I think the thing I've learned and continue to learn is to trust in the Lord with everything. Many people say missions show you or help you see your weaknesses and shortcomings, I wouldn't disagree with that but for me my mission has helped me to see myself through His eyes a bit more. He has and does show me my strengths, my talents, the reasons a few of them  of why He wanted me as a missionary. He has helped me see what I can endure, how much I can be pushed- with this He has helped me see how strong I am. Of course none of these are me alone, but with Him by my side. Alone I would never survive if this was a mission for me, or without my Savior's help I would have gone home in the MTC. Something I have learned here that I hope to take home with me is, (my friend Aurora (who is in Japan serving her mission) put it very well in her weekly email, although she was talking about being tired physically I'm referring to all of it. "I think anywhere besides on a mission I would have quit, but now, I don't have that luxury. I don't have the time, it's the Lord's time and He helps me do what I need to do."

No we can't quit because we are here to keep going. I trust and love my Savior and Heavenly Father with everything I am. My life is in His hands and I will do His will. Because as I do this I know I will have the greatest joy I can imagine. He has never and will never let me down! His blessings are all around has all we must do is open our eyes to them. Even simple things like noticing the beautiful full moon with the starts around it, are gifts from Him and messages that He is aware of us.

Love, Sister Tovar

Last week as a greeny!!!

                                                                                                                                    January 26, 2104

Friends and Family,

 

So I thought I would giving you all a break from me last week but decided I really want to share some things with everyone this week :). This week has been great, some good things some bad but well that is a mission right? We have three new investigators and I love them!! They are around my age two are 23 Korean age and one is 25 Korean age, they are all in college and great friends. We meet them twice week usually except this week we can't meet them because of Chinese New Year!!! They also come to English class twice a week. I know that right now they meeting with us mainly for English purposes but I also know Heavenly Father can change that :). As has been my usual I am copying and pasting some of my letter to my mission president. I have learned a lot this past week and I really want to share it with everyone.

 

"This week I'm still in Mosiah for my personal study and it has been great I've learned and relarned a few things. I was rereading my partriarchal blessing the other day and noticed more that it says I need to sincerely pray and it mentions it a few times so I think that is something I want to focus my study on in the next couple of weeks. How to sincerely pray. I was reading in Mosiah 22:4 and Gideon is talking to King Limhi and when he talks to him he does so with reverence, and humility, and so much respect that I knew how much love and how much he respected King Limhi. It made me think how much more respectful I need to be when I say prayers to the King of Kinds to my Heavenly Father. Not only how much more respectful but how much more humble I need to be and humbling I can make that experience. I think sometimes I get into the habit of it and just forget without any,disrespect meant, who I'm talking to and what an incredible opportunity, gift, and blessing it is to be able to pray. He is God and He is not only letting us talk to Him He want us to. That is something I will be working on is how to make my prayers really be a showing (lack of a better word) how much I love, and respect my Heavenly Father.

My miracle for the week is that my testimony of the Book of Mormon and of Joseph Smith grew, and that I do have a testimony that by reading the Book of Mormon you can gain a testimony about Joseph Smith. I was reading Mosiah 17:11 and the following will be an exerpt from my journal:

How could it have been possible that anyone would know the thoughts of a man without having help from God? But then how could Joseph Smith make up the whole Book of Mormon? It would have taken years of concentration and a very educated person for it flow as it does. Two years is what it took him and only a few months of actually having the time to translate it within those two years. He cold not have written the book, there is no way. Not even with the help of the best authors and at his age, it just isn't possible.
My testimony is that I know the Book of Mormon to be the word of God, I know that it could not have been written by man, I know that the stories are real, I know that everything contained in it is meant for every person that lives and will live. I know that God answers prayers, I know and I could not deny what I know. I not only know and have this testimony in my heart but also in my mind because it just simply makes sense."

 

I'm quoting myself lol how strange. Anyway, Korea is incredible the people are amazing the food well. I have a story well short story to tell everyone. On Saturday one of the less active sisters took us out to a seafood restaurant and I ate not one, not two, but three bowls of squid, crab, muscle, huge shrimp, and more. My personal prayer to bless the food included me asking Heavenly Father to please help me taste none of it and be able to eat all of it. I know he answers prayers :). Missions are truly adventurous. Lastly, HAPPY 설날 to everyone!!!!

Love Always,

Sister Tovar

Second week of 2014

Dear Family and Friends,

 

Okay so again this week I'm out of time as is normal I guess for everyone. 

This week has been good. So first a miracle! This week Sister Goines and I were on exchange on the way home from the Zone Meeting when we met Noble. So on our way home Sister Goines and I were catching up and I was telling how we keep hearing about the awesome stories and I've had some neat stories to but we always long for them. Well we were on the train and said hi to this guy and he said he back and we introduced ourselves and he had heard about us and actually wanted to know more! It was so cool. He is from Africa I believe and he had seen church members before but never talked to them and had heard things but wanted to know what we actually believed. We said we would love to clear things up for him, thank you for asking lol. Well, we ended up pretty much teaching him the first discussion on the train and bearing testimony and he loved it and said I want to know more and I want to go to your church I will come Sunday!! Such a cool experience! I was so happy :).

 

During personal study I read Mosiah chapter 5 and I loved verse 13. Actually as I was sharing it during personal study it came alive even more. I loves that it says, " 13 For how aknoweth a man the master whom he has not served, and who is a stranger unto him, and is far from the thoughts and intents of his heart?" One of my favorite stories people tell is the one about two men standing outside of an office after they both died. The first goes in, there is a man standing inside he says to the man who just walked in. Tell me about your life, the other man responds and he tells him what he's done. The man inside the office then asks another question okay tell about Jesus Christ, the other man who walked in to the office tells him about bible and the stories he's read. The man asking the questions says no no tell me what you know about Jesus Christ, the other man tries again he says he was kind, and he healed people and etc. The man asking the questions says okay thank you and let him walk out. He called the next man into the office. The man walked in saw the man doing the questioning and fell to the floor. He said, "My Lord, my Savior." The knowledge we gain about the Savior is great and we need it to improve but what's more important is when we apply it and we get to know Him personally. Being on my mission serving the people of Korea I have been able to feel love for them that goes beyond my understanding. I care for them so much. The more you serve people the more you love them and the more you serve, love, and know your Savior. That's what I've learned a lot on my mission and this scripture Mosiah 5:13 really helped sum up. I love it.

 

Thank you to all of you for your support, and kindess. Thank you for you example to me and everything you teach me. This week I get to go to the temple! I'm so excited. I hope everyone is doing well! Good luck on all your goals for the week and the year!!

 

Sincerely,

Sister Tovar