hello from 평택!‏

Hi! ah. we made it. yes. I am in the country! SO different from my last area. I mean...the subway station is outside! there are tractors! haha so awesome.

 

I said goodbye to so many members of Bongcheon ward this week. and cried so many tears. Especially saying goodbye to Sister Pak.  She is so lovely. Sister Morrise came to serve with us for one day, and she just assumed Sister Pak had been a member forever! so wonderful. We got to go out to lunch with her and her husband. I wouldn't trade my time sharing the gospel with her for anything.

 

we also went to dinner with an older couple in our ward. Their son was converted through meeting the missionaries at English class! he went on to serve a mission and moved to Provo for BYU. when his parents came to visit, seperately, they both got baptized! so they are converts of about 5 and 3 1/2 years. so...we went to this tofu restaurant and I (choked down) ate like 20 pounds of tofu. when we were walking back, she just held my hand and talked to me in Korean, saying that if people see us missionaries walking and talking with a Korean grandma, they will think we are a good church. so it is a really good idea :) love her!

 

I also tried real sushi. like a chunk of raw fish on top of rice with wasabi. it was pretty good! crazy spicey. i could breath really good afterward :)

 

my companion is wonderful. Sister Goines. she is from Fresno California. cool huh, mom! We had training in 송파 and then a THREE HOUR subway trip to 평택. we laughed so much. and lugged her huge suitcases. and had to transfer 3 times. and at one of the stations, I forgot about the huge stairwell, so we had to carry them down! that was an adventure.

 

and then we are here! we went to church 2 times yesterday...our english branch from the base and our Korean ward. Not gonna lie, understanding EVERYTHING at church was really weird. one of the families reminds me SO much of the Hemmings! the parents looke like Travis and Angela and they have two little girls about the same years apart as Ali and Rori. and the wife ACTS like Angela (so smiley and happy and loving...and an RM)! it is so funny. like watching their family 15 years ago! or Ali in like 7 years? our Korean ward. LOVE them already. they haven't had sister missionaries for 15 years, so they are really happy! and so are we! we are going to light this place on fire! so excited. My companion is awesome and just ready to work. I feel like we have really similar goals and vision, so it will be all sorts of wonderful. and I will start going on exchanges soon as sister training leader, so I'm getting ready for that! any advice? the wards are already taking care of us! we got like 10 pounds of kimchi at church yesterday. and had dinner at a family-from-the-base's house. meatloaf and mashed potatoes and icecream. it was heavenly. such a good birthday dinner.

 

speaking of that! best ever! thanks for all the love and birthday wishes.

 

because of the new area...we are emailing in a PC room. it is kinda...yeah. full of gamers? and people smoking? yep. Ross, I feel ya!

 

I just LOVE being a missionary! It feels so good. I love you all. I miss you. BUT I am praying for you all and so grateful for your support. Our Savior lives. I know it.

 

xoxo, Sister Bassett

leaves and letter man's jackets

Dear Family-

autumn has arrived! and I love it here just like I love it at home! but, good news! the leaves are HUGE. like bigger than my face. and they have walls just covered in vines, painting the streets red and yellow. it is beautiful. and all the students at Seoul National University are sporting their letter man's jackets. for stuff like 'math and statistics' or 'engineering' or 'music department.' it is kind of awesome. and it is cold! good thing for lots of scarves ^^

wow. this week was so GREAT! we had a rockin' Halloween party on Saturday night! seriously, it was good! kind of crazy and scattered, but everyone had a good time. We had lots of members there and so many of our English class students...some great fellowshipping went on! Sister Fudge and I made tons of little spiders and other decorations, games (cake walk and ring toss and the like), and then the ward did dinner. SUCCESS! Bishop gave his stamp of approval. The missionaries always have one, but they haven't done it with the ward. just with English class. It was really good to mix the two groups. and a wonderful note to leave Bongcheon on. because....

I am getting TRANSFERRED! so sad! I have loved these past 6 months (can you believe how the time has flown?) in this area. I have grown so much. It was in this area that I learned to love kimchi and ride the bus and navigate the subway. I learned to laugh at myself more, to love others more, and to rely on the Savior more. I truly LOVE my ward. SO MANY tears! yesterday at church I just cried and cried as I sat next to Sister Pak. and her adorable son and husband, who, by the way, came to the Halloween party and comes to church like every week! AND they both went to Gospel Principles yesterday! yes! I love them so. 봉천 has become home.

I am leaving for Pyeong Tek. to be a trainer. It will be an adventure! because guess what? I am training AND opening the area for sisters AND being sister training leader. what?! yeah. lots of prayers! but I know how much God helps His missionaries, so it will be fine. more than fine! it will be a MIRACLE!

speaking of miracles, yesterday we taught a great lesson. the only one all week! we have this week sister in our ward who is mentally handicapped and her friend is as well. so we started teaching her friends yesterday. She wants to be baptized. We taught very simply, and that was the best part. She kept asking how to pray, so we taught her. "when do I need to pray?" "every morning, and night. and we pray before we eat." "ok. I will pray. every morning. every night. before I eat." she has a simple and childlike faith...just like we all should. We introduced the Book of Mormon and had to tell her again and again that she didn't need to read the whole thing. She is lovely! 

and a personal miracle for me was that I actually could explain things to her! I felt like I was saying the right thing. the language is still so frustrating to me...possibly the hardest thing! but I live for the tiny moments when I feel the Spirit working through me and I know in my heart that I am a successful missionary. My Korean is still so poor, but it is coming. slowly. the Lord is letting me study Korean and patience! ^^ 

for the whole month of October we only taught 7 lessons. and getting letters from my other missionary friends, who don't have enough time to teach all the lessons they have investigators for...so different here! I thought that a lot...why we are sent to where we are. and I still don't have a great answer, I know that we are servants of God, where HE needs us to be. and this month, Sister Fudge and I talked to more that 260 people! 260 children of God. and that is amazing to me.

I love you all so much! I am grateful everyday for you. Be examples of the believers! I know that our Savior lives and loves us. God is real. Heaven will be in our hearts if we allow it.

have a great week!

Love, Sister Bassett

one more week

Dearest Family-

I felt like I was in America last week emailing at President's house! we had a Sister's Conference, so we had to email there. Today I'm back home at Cafe Justin emailing on the borrowed computer. 

It is starting to get cold here. Gar and Ross...I got my awesome winter coat at a flea market near our house. It is so way too big on me! whatever. it's warm. and like 18 American dollars. The afternoons are beautiful. crisp air, just like fall should be! and the leaves are starting to change colors. 

We have fewer investigators than we would like (read We have zero investigators meeting at the moment) so we have been able to do a lot of street conversations! President has asked that we have "conversations" and not "contacts". It has been super good! And we've spent lots of time English flyer-ing. We just stand at the subway exit and pass out little papers for our English class. It always generates good conversations! and tons of people get to see two smiling foreigners. so that's awesome. I accidentally gave fliers to 2 other 외국인 (foreigners) this week! funny and awkward. especially when one looks at you, so confused, and says "thank you?" so i just laugh and say "oh...hi!" We are having a big Halloween party in our English class this Saturday which we are really excited about. Our whole ward is in on it! Our bishopric told us that the missionaries always have a Halloween party, but it has never been like a ward event. WHAT? how can we do it without them? seriously...our bishopric is the best. I will cry if I ever have to leave them! which might be soon. because transfers calls are this saturday. yikes. This little spot of the city is my home! anyway. so yay Halloween! it should be great.

in other news...we found TWO less-actives this week! and they BOTH said we could come again and visit! (fist pump) there are, sadly, so many lost members of the Church here. More than active members by a long shot. so we try our best to focus on a few. our ward is awesome about being friends with them.

I still love being a missionary! I feel like I am still such a young little missionary. but it is not the case! life moves by so quickly.

I love you all. I pray for you and think about your lives. I am grateful for your testimonies that have built mine. In a small way, each of you is sharing your light here in Korea because I took it with me.

xoxo, Sister Bassett

Sister’s Conference! SO fun!

Conference and Crosswalks

Dearest Family-

Hey! sorry about last week. 

So...Conference was so wonderful! we got to watch it all together as a zone. in English. So that was great! I loved how much putting God first was emphasized. It seemed like one talk after another was about the first great commandment of loving God with all our heart...with all we are. 

What have we even done lately...had some delicious Korean food with investigators and members. talked to tons of people to try and find new investigators. We do a lot of street contacting here. talking to people at crosswalks. on the subway. anywhere we are going. it is starting to be a lot of fun! crazy, I know, but it is! who would have thought that I could enjoy talking to random strangers so much? I have learned to talk about anything! their beautiful necklace or cute shoes, their little kids (and talking about my nieces and nephew), about learning Korean. and mostly about serving here as missionaries to teach about Jesus Christ. we don't knock doors very often, just lots of 'conversations' is what we call them. and it really gives my Korean a workout. 

There is still so much that I don't understand and can't say! a few days ago, we were talking to two old grandmas, who turned out to be Jehovah's Witnesses. I thought I understood their question, so I started answering. about where we were from and what we are doing....the usual. then she started giving me a really confused look. when she said her question again, I had totally misunderstood. and I still didn't know what she was talking about! so...we did an awkward laugh and started talking about something else. story of my life! so fun. it always gives Sister Fudge and I something to laugh about. about a week and a half ago, Sister Fudge and I were walking down the street and talking about what a GOOD day it had been! no lessons. no golden contacts. but we had talked to so many people. and it feels good! missionary good.

It is starting to get cold here! any sister coming to this mission, bring boots you can wear everyday in the winter! Mom, I got an awesome winter coat at this flea market for like $20. already worn, but whatever! i needed something really warm that I could wear everyday.

I love you all so much!

Sister Bassett

시간 많이 없어요‏

Hi! I hardly have anytime.

Just wanted to let you know that I love you! I think you are all the best. Thanks for you prayers and support and letters and love. It means so much to me!

being a missionary is the greatest blessing. I can't imagine any place I would rather be!

xoxo, Sister Bassett

this week!‏

Dear Family-

Sister P was confirmed on Sunday. It was a beautiful end to a week filled with small personal miracles. AND her husband, Brother K, has expressed some interest in the Church! We will begin teaching him this week, or maybe next? I am so happy. The ward is fellowshipping them so well. It makes my heart swell with joy and gratitude to think about her.

One thing that our mission is focusing on it having 'conversations' not just contacts. And this week, while looking up things the Bible Dictionary, I came across the word conversation. It means "behavior, way of life, or conduct." WOW! being an example of the believers, as Joshua says, in CONVERSATION has a whole new meaning. It's not just about TALKING to people, it is about becoming someone. Who we are and how we live is our 'conversation' to the world. 

this week I had the blessing of being in the just the right place at the right time. nothing huge...we didn't meet any new investigators or anything like that, but just little acts of service and feeling RIGHT about where we were. first we took a picture of us in our 한복s to the guy who sold them to us. and his wife was there! we had a nice little conversation ^^ she is a member of another church. we talked to a few other people, then helped a woman coming home from a trip to China. Her bags were so heavy! she happened to live just behind the church, the street we were taking to go home! another good conversation and being able to just help somebody out.

our ward is getting the spirit of missionary work in them...certain members. I can feel it! and it is awesome. They are reading this book called "Wonderful Ward Missionaries" in English (i think) and it is so great. We took one of our investigators, Lena, to a RS activity and she was SO included. and the three of us are going to dinner at a Sister's house on Tuesday night! (Note from Sister Bassett’s mom…I think the book they are reading is The Power of Everyday Missionaries by Clayton Christensen…a GREAT book for us all to read!)

I love you all. This week I have had SO many answers to prayers. Heaven can come VERY close to our earth...as close as we will let it. I KNOW our Father in Heaven lives and loves us. Jesus Christ is our Savior. We WILL find answers as we read the Book of Mormon. 

have a wonderful week! especially you sisters coming home from the cruise!

xoxo, Sister Bassett

Love making these!! Vegetable pancakes…mmmmmm…delicious!

Sister P

Dearest Family-

Last Monday we hiked 관악산... Gwanak Mountain. not sure how high it is, but it was pretty long! So fun. I love nature and have missed it living in this big city! our whole Zone went together. The Koreans get all dressed up when they go hiking...seriously. Like special pants and backpacks and walking poles. it is a big deal. so having about 18 foreigners in t-shirts and sweatpants was hilarious to them! 

Our English class. Still one of my favorite things, but we have this older lady to comes now and makes it a little difficult. and hilarious. Elder Westbrook is always laughing his head off or so frustrated. She just kinda yells out words...if we are speaking in Korean, she yells any words she knows in English. and if we are speaking English, any words she knows in Korean! haha good times!

This week was full of meetings again. We got to attend the temple on Thursday. SO GOOD! Ross will love the Seoul temple when he gets to go. It was a beautiful day outside and even more beautiful inside. And I got to do the family name that Landon found. Thanks Lanny! It made me all teary-eyed when I looked at his name on the card. no matter where we are in the world or what is going on, the temple is truly a place of refuge. It is the house of God. and you can feel it.We always get to have a testimony meeting before we go in...I am amazed by the missionaries I get to serve with! It is so powerful.

Then Friday was Zone Conference. I love President Morrise! really. everyone does. He read pieces of people's letters from our mission to show the miracles. As a whole, we are working MIRACLES here in Korea! sometimes it is hard to see that from where I am at...just walking around and trying to talk to people and teach. but from that vantage point, we really are making a difference. 

so, the best for last! on Tuesday, we went over the baptismal interview questions with Sister P. She is truly prepared. It has been the greatest blessing to be the missionaries that got to teach and learn with her. It was a beautiful experience...holy in so many way...to get to watch her testimony grow and her faith strengthen. on Sunday after her baptism, a member of our bishopric said to me "she has prepared well for baptism...she won't be going in-active! this is what missionary work is all about, right? this, right here!" and he was right. Her cousins and aunt came up for the baptism. and her cousin got to baptize her. Sister Fudge and I sang "Come Thou Fount" right after her aunt bore her testimony. Sister P just had tears running down her face. She is a special soul and everyone can feel it. Her husband also came to church and the baptism. a beautiful family! that night, we texted her and asked her to write down how she felt after her baptism. "Bassett and Fudge missionaries....good good good and good!" was her response. the warmth and light emanating  from her was tangible. 

That is why I am out here! to invite people to come to Christ. I'm not perfect, but I know the way. We all do. The gospel has given us that blessing...we know the way to peace and joy and safety and confidence and guidance and all other good things. The light in Sister Pak has inspired me. I KNOW you will be blessed as you share the gospel. I feel like Sister Pak was a miracle for me. ah. I am just grateful that the Lord let me be here and know her and share the gospel with such an amazing person. and it's not over! the temple is now the next goal. 

I love you all. I love being a missionary. I love Korea. I love all of you!

xoxo, Sister Bassett