June 6 Email

Dearest family,

Oh! Move-call day! I have a new companion! She is Sister Crane and I already love her so much. She is the most lihai, just the most awesome missionary I have ever met. I am so excited to be serving with her! My first move-call here I got to go with her on companion exchanges and it was just an amazing experience, I am so excited for this opportunity because I really want to be just like her so I hope I can use this time wisely and learn all I can. She is from Salt Lake area, graduated from BYU in geography teaching and was teaching for a year before her mission. Loves the outdoors and I am so excited, we are planning to go hiking sometime in the next couple preparation days.

Last preparation day we had a couple baptismal interviews during the day so I was able to take pictures of the cutest girl in the world. Her mom just got baptized this sat and it was one of the most fabulous baptisms ever. Wow, this was cai ying xuan, and she was so great. So ready for baptism. She was an investigator when I first came, and we dropped her because she wasn't keeping any commitments. She wouldn't pray or read. Not even with us, she kept saying it was so weird and she didn't want to pray. But that is why her conversion was such a miracle. This transfer our zone leaders challenged us to drop in week C's every day for the first week. We didn't realize it was only for the first week so we were still working toward it the next week and decided to drop by and add ying xuan. She laughed about it but said we could meet with her. Well, over the next couple weeks we kept meeting with her and emphasized prayer and scripture study. I have such a strong testimony that is what you need to do to progress. You need to ask Heavenly Father about His church, you need to read the Book of Mormon to help you know it is true. You need to be doing those daily acts to keep strengthening your testimony. Everyone needs to, not just investigators. Everyone needs to be doing these things. Well, she had a problem with tea too, but she was so good, and wanted the blessings--so we would call her every morning (she usually drinks tea with breakfast) and then we would sing to her :) After a week she was totally fine and we weren't able to call her every day but she was totally fine. Her cute little meimei, her little girl has also been such a big help. Ying xuan told us how meimei would cuddle up next to her before bed and say, mommy we haven't prayed yet! :) So cute! It is amazing to see what change has taken place in her life. It's really exciting to see her with her little girl and see how she has become more patient and more loving--she is such a great mom and it is so amazing to she her change and growth. And, I loved last week when we visited her and our peike, our member helper, asked her how she liked prayer. She loves it. She says she is so used to it now! Wow, :)

Oh! Mom, you'll love this--we taught a japanese lady yesterday--there is a japanese lady in the singles ward who speaks english but she brought a friend to church yesterday. It was so great, we had the member translate from english to japanese :) but it was so fabulous and it reminded me of you and I thought about you and your mission. You were probably the most fabulous missionary.

To tell the ward....I think the biggest thing I can think of is, don't be afraid to share the gospel. Everyone needs it, not just to live a better life and to be happy, but to be able to go to the Celestial kingdom. In order for them to be able to live with their families forever they need to be baptized. The best missionary work is done through members. If you want to develop more courage, more of a desire to share the gospel follow preach my gospel. In the 1st chapter about our purpose it mentions the Atonement. The best thing you can do is learn more about the Atonement and gain a personal testimony of it's application to your life. Once you understand that, you will have a natural desire to share the gospel with others and allow them to also experience it. Take courage! :)

I love you all, have a wonderful week!

-Sister Ko