My week

Family and Friends!!!

So I think it was last week that I said no news is good news sometimes, well it's true :). This week has been very eventful but not all of it is good news :( It's okay because I have some miracles to report and somehow those make everything else okay. 

So my week started off on Monday, although I will go back to last Sunday. I went on an exchange to a different area in my zone. Sister Goines and I were eating a sushi roll (korean style) like a taco, so cool! So I wanted to take a picture. So I took it and then thought I put my camera back in my pocket, well turns out it either slid out or well who knows. The point is I lost my camera on the bus. I realized it 10 minutes too late. No one has turned in to the bus company and we have tried posting flyers but nothing so far. I was really sad but honestly probably not as sad as I would have been had I not been on my mission. Heavenly Father comforted me and knew it would be okay.

Then back to last Sunday so one of the less active members we have been working with said she wants to know if the church is true and is going to really try and will learn about it and everything! I was excited huge miracle! She hasn't been to church in over 15 years. Her family is less active too except her dad, I think I told you about her coming to church last week but forgot to mention this other part lol. Well she came again Sunday and will be coming and praying, and reading, and doing her part. This past Sunday her dad thanked me for reactivating his daughter I told him it wasn't me and thank you for introducing me to her. We are great friends now. I'm so grateful to have been able to be Heavenly Fathers tool on this Earth to help that happen. Things like this make everything worth it. 

Also, on the exchange I found out Noble, someone I wrote about about a month ago. Sister Goines (everything seems to happen with her and i on exchange lol) and I found him on the subway and he asked a million questions etc. I told the story before but now the continuation. Sister Goines and her companion were teaching him but had to refer him elsewhere because he moved and he is male. Well it turns out he got BAPTIZED!!! about 2 weeks ago I believe. I was excited to hear that. It is one of those miracle stories you hear at conference, it's true they happen. Not only that Heavenly Father let me be part of one. So cool!!! Now he can go back to Africa and tell everyone in his village about the church and convert them all! Yes, he is that type of person. I'm so grateful to have been able to know him. 

Okay lastly,  transfer calls came!!! Drum roll...... I am moving to cangso zone kimpo ward/area! My new companion is Sister Fudge and she is American. I'm so excited. I'm so sad to leave my first/greeny area but suwon will always be my home in Korea. Saying bye to the members was hard but I know I will keep in touch and I know I have made life long friendships. 

I'm so grateful for this wonderful opportunity I have be here in Korea and serve the people here. I am so grateful for all of you and your examples to me. Thank you for being in my life. I love you all so much! Oh and next week is my birthday.... can you believe it!!!!! the 29th!!!! So excited!!!

Love Always,

Sister Tovar

First week of my favorite month

Family and Friends,

Wow it's March! I can't believe it. In a week I will have been on my mission for six months! That's crazy. Anyway, so this week...

Well this week hasn't been too eventful which is good :). Sometimes no news is good news. We did have our English party which was great! There are two students who this week we might be putting some pressure on to let us teach them lol in other words we will try to convince them. One of them is a cute mom with her little (he is about 4 or 5 maybe) he is super loud and has tons of energy but he is also super smart! He knows the whole English alphabet. Sometimes I look at the little kids we teach and think how much Korean they know and how I wish they could transfer their knowledge to me lol. Little by little though.

This week I think one of the biggest things I've learned is to appreciate where I am serving. I am serving in Suwon, shinpung (수원 신풍 ward). Every single day I get to walk by the Suwon wall, which looks like a small version of what I imagine the great wall would look like :). And it's long and huge! And I get to walk by ancient gates. It is truly the coolest thing ever. This past week there was a national holiday of sorts in Korea and so tons of people were out and about. Especially in a square (parkish area) across the street from the church. It is called hweasong hangun (sorry I'm not good at translating sounds lol) anyway there is a folk village there (old authentic building and people with old authentic clothes) so cool! Anyway, they perform old school sword fights and stuff so cool. And there is this creek in my area that runs perpendicular to the wall and where they cross is such a beautiful place. That is part of what I learned this week. To appreciate how lucky I am to be serving in this area. 

My companion actually is teaching me something, never apologize for sharing the gospel. I feel bad sometimes because we interupt people on their walks or take up their time and she has been telling me not to. We are sharing with them the most important news in the world. Our message is such a joyous and grand message everyone does need to hear it. So why apologize for sharing this. I remember hearing once in a fireside or talk, "Would you feel bad for giving someone $100, probably not so why do you feel bad for giving someone something that is worth so much more than that?" This is the best message we can share with people. I'm am so grateful for my brother in law who decided to share this with my family, because it is the most important thing in our lives. I am so grateful to be so fortunate as to have this opportunity to have this gospel and to share it. 

I hope you are all doing well. And I hope wherever you are the sun is shinning and you can feel it's warmth :). I love you all so much and am grateful to have you in my life. 

Love Always,

Sister Tovar (토바 자매)

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