Did you think to pray?

Miracles happen. They really do. In fact, I think that they are so frequent that we overlook them and just pass them off as "normal life". But, when you sit down at the end of the day and think about the ways that you've seen the hand of God in your life (and then think about the ways it was there and you DIDN'T see it) it's impossible not to see incredible blessings.

I usually go through day by day with hope and satisfaction in the work, but this last week things just built up and having almost an entire transfer of no investigators just came crashing down. I was just kinda sad that all of my hard work wasn't helping anyone come closer to Christ. Sis. Montgomery felt the same way, so we decided that was the end of the pity party and now we'd jsut pray to see our miracles and the fruits of our labors. MIRCACLES HAPPEN!Each of the little things that happened were little, standard cheesy missionary stories--things like getting on the wrong bus and finding a girl who said she's been thinking about God lately AND has a really good friend who's a member of the Church---or finding someone who was so excited about the Book of Mormon that she stole it out of our hands and begged us if she could take it before we even had the chance to offer it to her---but each of these little things happened---and they may sound small, and there's still work to be done, but it's changing people's lives. I just know that God graces each person with little miracles and then gives us the skills and inspiration to know how to turn them into big ones! It's amazing! Just gotta pray about it and then go to work with faith like a rock.

I had a really neat opportunity to go to a concert. It was a traditional Korean Orchestra, with traditional instruments. It was incredible---and I couldn't even decribe some of these instruments even if I tried. There wer various wind instruments made of clay or wood, and there were these large harplike instruments that lay horizontal and you pluck them like a harp or bow them like a violin (called a kayagum--no idea how it's spelled). Then there was this really cool one that had one string that you---I'm not sure how to describe it, but there's about 3 inches between that string and a stick and you squeeze the string towards the stick like you're squeezing vicegrips. Then you bow it. From far away it looks like those people who play the saw--and sounds kinda similar. So cool. I cried cause it was so beautiful and Korean and I love Korea and I love Koreans and I love beauty. The drums were cool too, but drums don't change much from culture to culture---it's a big empty contraption that makes sound resonate. I love it.

We also had the chance to do a special musical fireside in Jinju and we'll be heading to another one next weekend in Changwan. Those are fun because you get to see so many other missionaries and bear your testimony through song---and there's always good food :). Not to mention we got to stay the night with some other sisters and that's like a sleepover--only you go to bed at 10:30 and wake up at 6:30. It's just such a great experience to sing with other missionaries. There's real power in music.

Funny story: Elder Harris talked about FHE in our combined Priesthood/RS meeting. He said his family was really good at FHE when it was football season because it was just understood that FHE was during halftime of Monday Night Football. None of the Koreans really got it, but I thought it was funny. If people can make football a priority together every week (or any other TV show for that matter) they can certainly make family that important every week.

Love to all!

~R~