hello, Sister Kwak!‏

Dear family--

You guessed it! Transfer week! My new companion is Korean...Sister Kwak...and she is super awesome. I just love her already! She is a lot quieter than me, but I think we will get along. She is learning English and just got thrown into to the fire with this area! We transferred on Wednesday and she has already been to dinner with two American families, Church, Korean class, and English class. Ah! She is a trooper. We both can understand where the other is at because language is a frustration for both of us now! I speak so much Korean with her, though. So that is awesome. And it will really help me! We made a goal to do every other day...english korean english korean... to help both of us. I am excited to see what we can do together here. It will be great!

This letter will be short, but I just wanted to share something I learned this week from my reading in Jesus the Christ. It is a wonderful book. This morning I was reading about Christ healing a woman on the Sabbath. The leaders of the synagog (of course) accuse Him of breaking the Sabbath. And the Savior patiently and perfectly shows His love for this woman. If animals are to be let out of their stalls on Sunday, shouldn't a "daughter of Abraham...be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath day?" Later, Elder Talmage writes that "whatever her ailment, whether wholly physical or in part mental and spiritual, she was FREED FROM HER BONDS." I love that though. No matter what is binding us down, be it physical sickness, sin and mistakes of the past, or trial and sadness, we can be freed through the atonement of Jesus Christ. Mom, I loved you letter this week, the He is our Advocate. He is there to lift us up and help us reach higher. He will always be there to release us from our sins, heal our wounds, and become like He is. 

This transfer is one of the many chances I have on my mission, and in life, to START AGAIN. to remember that faith is pointed towards the future.

I love you all! you make my day with your emails. go forward with FAITH! 

xoxo, Sister Bassett

cactapus?

Dear Family-

The cold stopped being jealous this week! yay! Spring is coming to my town, mom! Today I am not even wearing tights! yessss.

So, in an effort to learn Korean, my brain has gotten rid of all English words that I don't use regularly. Like cactus... Sister Goines and I were in the store last p-day looking at flowers (because I love the ranuncula that I have!), and I see all these cactus plants. They would be so easy to take care of, right? so I turn to her and say "Hey Sister Goines...wanna buy a cactapus?" she just starts laughing and me and is like "what?!" I didn't even notice! when she pointed out what I had said, we both got a good laugh. Welcome to Korea!

AND...transfer calls! We knew that someone was going to leave. And we were pretty sure that it would be Sister Goines. She was just so anxious all night. And we were the LAST ones to get our call. at like 10:35. It was crazy. BUT! guess what! I am staying here and getting a Korean companion! I am really happy and excited! this is my transfer to really learn Korean and feel comfortable with it. Because, ya know what? it took a long time to get here, but these last 6 months I have are going to be the BEST ever. It is just getting better and better. Good things keep on coming! (ps...Sister Goines is going up to the city with Sister Saunders!)

I am still loving reading in Jesus the Christ. I have a goal to finish it by Easter and it has been so good. And what is even better, I know that I am changing myself. Everyday, every decision, adds to my mighty change of heart. Situations that would have made me so upset or frustrated before...now I think about the Savior more and act differently. I am so grateful for Jesus Christ and how He can change us. I pray everyday that the things I am reading and experiencing will get inside of me and affect me for eternity. Because that is what we are building here... our eternities. 

I am looking forward the the change! It will be hard and I will sure miss Sister Goines, but we are both excited. It will be a fantastic transfer.

I love this work! I love being here in Korea. 

AND! shout-out to the best dad in the whole world! happy birthday, daddy! I love you pops!

xoxo, Sister Bassett

the cold is jealous.‏

Dearest Family-

They have this saying in Korean... 꽃샘추위. it literally means that the cold was jealous of the flowers, or spring. And that happened this week! It started to get warm, then this week it got freezing again. Like, it snowed yesterday. But, it is only supposed to last one week, so that is a plus!

and... ONE YEAR! can you believe that it has been a whole 365 days since I went into the MTC and started this adventure? I hardly can! The mission has been the most trying, strengthening, faith-building, miraculous, difficult, tearful, amazing, beautiful experience of my life. I am so grateful for it.

This week. It was awesome. Nothing huge happened, but it was just a great week. I just FEEL good. that "I am a missionary! and it is the best!" feeling happened a lot this week. I have had a really rough past little while...mostly my own fault...and really let it get to me. But ya know what? THIS is EXACTLY what I wanted. I am so happy to be here. And the more I learn of the Savior's atonement, the more I realize the joy it brings to my life. I have been reading "Jesus the Christ" (trying to finish it by Easter) and I love what I read this morning. He is talking about the parables Jesus taught in Matthew chapter 13. As I read them, EACH ONE applied so much to me, to those we are teaching, to life in general. I especially loved this quote about the parable of the merchant man and the pearl of great price- "the price of possession is one's all...if he willingly sacrifices ALL that he has, he shall find that HE HAS ENOUGH. the cost of the...pearl is not a fixed amount, alike for all; it is all one has. even the poorest may come into enduring possession; his all is a sufficient purchase price." I really love that. No matter how insignificant my contribution is, if it is my all, it is enough. Christ has promised us that.

We met a new investigator this week through a service project, so that was awesome. She has some English interest, and is really wanting to learn about the Book of Mormon. We will meet her on Friday! AND, from the same service project, we met an American from the base. And he came to church with us. and stayed the whole time. and went to dinner with us and a bunch of ward members afters...in total, probably spent like 7 hours with church members! he is really prepared. it is SO cool. 

I love you all. I am grateful for you. I know that God is preparing people for us to find and help, wherever we are in the world. 

Happy birthday Ally! make it a great week!

xoxo, Sister Bassett

안녕하세요!

hello family!

this week I bought a flower. a little pink ranuncula. Just a little bit of color for our home. it makes me so happy! so Ross can have his onion and I can look at my flower.

BYU Provo! that is still crazy to me. and so far removed. I am really happy! and grateful to Heavenly Father. I just have this knowing feeling that I need to be there, and I'm grateful for God's help in recognizing that and getting me there.

At English class on Wednesday, we have this 9 year old girl who comes with her dad. And this week, the dad brought his friend with his 6 year old daughter! The dads just sit in the back and the girls listen. So on Wednesday, I just sat with her and tried to teach colors (she is 4 years old American age) but she just wanted to chat! She talked to me...in Korean...for a good 30 or 40 minutes. About everything! it was adorable. Hopefully her twin sister will also come this next week!

also. We ordered 배달...Korean food delivery. But its not like in the states. They deliver ANYTHING you could want. really fast. and they find your house. even ours! It is hard to find because it is tucked behind this big motel and another building. So they called, I gave our address and a few directions, and BAM! 10 minutes later, 자짱면 (this really good noodle stuff with black bean sauce. sounds strange...its delicious.)and chicken and pickled raddish (YUM) shows up. They bring it in real dishes, not Styrofoam. And then, a few hours later they come and pick up your dirty dishes. it. is. awesome.

As missionaries, we are always offering to serve or help people..."ask the missionaries! they can help!" But this week, someone actually asked us! yipee! Our branch president is moving back to America, so on Thursday we spent a few hours with his wife...cleaning the house and helping them get ready. She is the sweetest lady and almost started crying when she said thank you! It was so good. I loved being in her home and doing just a little bit of service.

Part of being a missionary is figuring out how the Spirit works with us, and with others. I had an experience this week that reminded me how special the Spirit's guidance is. We had lunch with a sister in our ward. She is in her 60's, has no children, and her husband is not a member. After a delicious meal, she packed us a big bag of food to take home...true Korean style! For our "message" Sister Goines and I had decided to share in 1 Nephi 17:50-51 about Nephi building the ship...that if "God had commanded (him) to do ALL things, (he) could." so why not build a ship? After we shared it, she thanked us. But it wasn't what she needed. She started telling us about some challenges and struggles she was facing. Near the end of her talking, I still didn't know what exactly what she was talking about. So when she asked "what should I do?" I had no answer. BUT God did. The scripture 2 Nephi 32:3 came to mind...that the words of Christ will tell us everything that we should do. We turned to that scripture and read it together. I shared my own thoughts...that when I face a difficult situation, the words of Christ usually have an answer. THAT was what she needed. We could tell. It was a testimony builder for me that even if I don't know what people need, God does. That's why HE is in charge. not me.

I love you all! Heavenly Father is in charge of His missionary work and He is involved in each of our lives. 

all my love! Sister Bassett

아침 자녁 매일같이... in other words, "We Are Sowing"‏

Dearest Family-

We all have hard times. Everybody. During our difficult days, sometimes we need comfort. and other times we need a swift kick in the pants... I needed a swift kick in the pants. so thanks for that, Dad! Because, ya know, being a missionary is thee greatest thing that ever happened to me. And no matter what, we need the Savior. and He is ALWAYS there. I know that.

 We were singing in church on Sunday and God gave a heavenly message just for me during the opening hymn:

 "We are sowing, daily sowing, countless seeds of good and ill, scattered on the level lowland, cast upon the windy hill. Seeds that sink in rich brown furrows soft with heaven's gracious rain. Seeds that rest upon the surface of the dry, unyeilding plane...seeds by faithful souls remembered sown in tears of love and prayer...seeds that live and grow and flourish when the sowers hand is cold. By a whisper sow we blessings, by a breath we scatter strife. In our words and thoughts and actions lie the seeds of death and life. Thou who knowest all our weakness leave us not to sow alone, bid Thine angels guard the furrows where the precious grain is sown till the fields are crowed with glory filled with mellow ripened ears filled with fruit of life eternal from the seeds we sowed in tears."

Each of us are planting seeds everyday. And that is why I am here. To INVITE others to come unto Christ. Sometimes our seeds, no matter our effort, fall on "unyeilding" ground. But others will be nurtured by our love and prayers and someday bloom after we are gone. We don't always get the witness the fruit. We have such an influence on those around us. And those who are ready will respond. BUT, through it all, our Savior will never leave us. He is the light in our hearts and in our lives that can never go out. He will help us overcome our weaknesses and run to our aid throughout this life. And someday, we will see those seeds that were watched over and then "flourish" after our hands are cold. I feel like I am often, quite literally, sowing my seeds in tears. Angels are guarding the furrows...they are preparing the hearts of many and are round about us bearing us up. No amount of tears or sowing is ever wasted. 

(mom... here is a note for you!)

this week, after Mom's comment in her last email that my heart should be "filled with gratitude...no, overflowing with gratitude for the love dad and I have for you." And I am! so I finished the Book of Mormon again last week and was left with Mormon's letter to his son, Moroni. He says in Moroni 8:3 that he is "mindful always" and praying over Moroni. I feel that from you! I am so blessed and thankful. there is power in family prayers.

This week. We taught Sister Kim again. This time, we had to meet her at the different ward building, so just us to missionaries again. no member! But it went really well. She is reading the Book of Mormon and promised to pray about it this week. She doesn't know that it is God's word yet, but she wants to. and I know she can!

Korean side note... I am convinced that if you could read Korean alphabet, you could probably understand about half of the signs/billboards outside! ie: my shampoo and hairspray both say things like 설파이트 free. sound it out...sul-pa-ie-tuh. sulfate. Konglish! all the time!

and they are listening to Jackson 5 right now.

I love you all!

xoxo, Sister Bassett

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Dearest family---

Happy birthday to the most wonderful mom in the world! I cannot believe it. I feel like we were just barely all together...singing songs and having your birthday party. I hope it is a fantastic day! And, just for your birthday, here is all of your questions! what a novel!

1-Tell about something wonderful/inspiring you learned during your scripture study this week.

 A- Sister Goines and I had this goal to finish the Book of Mormon in one transfer. Did I tell you about that? The transfer ended about a week and a half ago...and I just finished Ether today...so I was a little late on that. But it has been so good! 

2-Do you ever talk with children? Do they love you? What is something interesting that children say or do in your country that they don’t do here?

A- YES! of course I talk to the kids! there are two little girls in my ward that I just LOVE... Sung-ah and Hae-rim...I am sending you pictures of them in your birthday card. I think they love us...I hope so! And there is this little boy in our English ward that sits with us every time we go to that sacrament meeting. He loves me to run my finger under the words as we sing and he tries to sing along. I can't think of anything they really do very different from in America, kids are just still kids! I love it when the little girls say 오빠 to all the boys in church. It means older brother. Every one that is older then them is older brother or sister. But that is the same for all people! like in restaurants. I say "언니" when I want their attention (older sister)

3-Tell me the names of anyone you have taught over the past month and how you felt as you were teaching them the Gospel…or even speaking briefly of the Gospel.

A- Sister Oh. She is so sweet. I wonder if our words are ever getting through to her, though. She is VERY interested in learning English and LOVES us...these two sweet american girls. When we read the Book of Mormon together, we can feel the Spirit, so I KNOW it is present, but she just ignores it. It is so hard to see, because I KNOW how the gospel can bless and change her life, but all we can do is offer it. Sister Kim. She is our current investigator who just loves to discuss the Bible with our member. She is very smart and very academic. then there is Sister Lee. she is so sweet. her mom met with missionaries when she was like 11 or 12, so when I called them from our former investigators list, I talked to the daughter, Sister Lee! She is so wonderful and already has the light of Christ in her so strongly. she can see that the gospel is something good, that we are different. It is awesome. There are so many others, as we talk on the subway or bus or one the phone, I can't name them all! This gospel is TRUE. that's how it feels. I have learned things here that I never knew before and could never have learned otherwise. 

4-Tell me about a specific attribute you’ve had grow over the past month or so. What has happened to make it grow? 

A- Maybe patience? The nature of missionary work makes it grow! allowing yourself and others to make mistakes, realizing what it means for people to have agency...all those things!

5-How has your heart been softened on your mission?

A-i'll think more about this one...Maybe the biggest way is just seeing HOW MUCH every person needs the gospel and HOW BLESSED I am to have it.

6-Take photos of you and the people who you meet in your country and send them to me soon! 

I will!

OK! so. this week...

You know you are a missionary when the highlight of your week is that a 17 year old inactive boy is home. There is this mom and son in our ward who just disappeared about a year or so ago. They were converts, STRONG converts, and then suddenly stopped coming. They wouldn't answer their phones, no one in the ward knows what happened, and no one ever saw them. just fell off the earth. the missionaries have been visiting the house nearly every week for who knows how long and never found them...it was always dark, nobody home. They even left notes that said asking whoever lived there to call if it wasn't the Sister we were looking for. THEN! about two weeks ago, a member SAW HER! on the street! she said hello and then hurried away. ahhh! so on Tuesday, Sister Goines and I went to deliver an invitation for our Valentine's day party. And low and behold! the DOOR WAS OPEN! we were so surprised. The son (a senior in high school) was just leaving the house. in fact, he has JUST GOTTEN HOME and was about to leave again. So we finally met him. It was so exciting! He seemed really happy that we had come, told us that maybe they would come to the party and that he would see us next time. But we met him! and it was so awesome. 

and the party turned out really well. The elders made a photo booth out of stuff from the church, Sister Goines and I made props for it and decorations, members brought snacks. The photo booth was awesome! we got hilarious pictures ^^ it is always so good for investigators/English class attenders to see our members as normal people...to do something fun together and feel the love for others that our gospel is intended to cultivate. We made s'mores and had a cake walk and lots of good conversations. I'll just send pictures, I can't tell about it!

Yesterday was real rough...we met with our investigator, Sister Kim, for another deep discussion. I can only understand about half of what is going on between her and our member. I tried my best to keep bringing it back to the Restoration, but that didn't work out so well. Sister Goines was on a split with a member upstairs because (good news!) Sister Lee came to church! We also gave her a Book of Mormon and she will try to read, starting in 1 Nephi. So she is awesome. It is just very difficult sometimes to work things out with members and everyone else when I can't always understand them. They expected something every different from the sister missionaries, but I'm not sure what they want me to do! we'll try and figure that out more this week.

another good news...do you remember Noble? the African guy that we referred to another area? they texted us this morning saying that he has a baptismal date for next month! wow!

up and down and all over the place this week. At the end of the day, the Church is still true. Christ is still our Savior. and all things will work together for our good.

사랑해요!

Sister Bassett

happy 설날! and I'm 23!‏

Dear Family--

I hope that everyone had a great week...and happy birthday! in Korea, everyone born in the same year is the same age. So, I'm 23! same as everyone born in 1992. I will never really tell anyone that I am 21, because by the time I come home, I'll be almost 22. crazy.

Highlights of the week-

New Year's conference! It is always amazing to see all the missionaries and feel their power and spirit and remember that I am a part of it! It astonishes me. I feel this great need to learn better Korean this transfer. Sure, I can talk to people and teach ok, but I want to SPEAK! and be able to communicate the feelings that God puts in my hearts. There has also been a lot of discussion lately in our mission about being happy, but not satisfied, in our work. I'll write more about that next week when I figure it out more!

(plus I got to wear my hanbok...)

Teaching a new investigator! her name is Sister Kim. have I talked about her? She just walked into our Humphry's branch (she is Korean) and now we are teaching her. She just wondered about this church building that only Americans ever attend. When she came, she sat in Primary for about 30 minutes...even though she couldn't understand the words, she was so surprised how HAPPY the kids were. Her questions are very difficult and sometimes I feel like she is about to start Bible bashing us. but she never does! It is so fun to teach her. We talked yesterday about everything from the restoration to the fall of Adam and why three kingdoms of glory to Book of Mormon and the Jaredites. It was so cool. So many questions and so much talking and testifying. I love that feeling...telling others what we know is true gives the Spirit a chance to reconfirm that truth in our own hearts. That also leads me to my next highlight---

Korean. Maybe this is a highlight, and lowpoint, every week. But I love it! learning it has taught me WAY MORE than just a foreign language. I was on exchanges this week with a 'greenie' and after I got done talking to this woman on the bus, she said "does it ever amaze you that you are actually speaking Korean?" and I thought YES! it does! and it should, right? I tell people on the street all the time that it is a blessing from Heavenly Father. And it is.

I had really yummy american food. it tasted like mom's chicken pot pie.

The REVOLUTION in our zone. it is going really well! One of the big focuses (maybe I've already told you) is setting up return appointments on the street. and this week we got TWO! that is kinda a big deal for me. Especially when we leave the house, praying and working for a street lesson, and God gives us one. We have met some really wonderful people this week. We are so excited. As the work continues to move forward and we see the hand of the Lord in our lives, I cannot help but feel so very grateful for the privilege to serve. Here. In Korea. I love this land and this people so much.

little girls in sacrament. They are adorable. I will try and send a picture next week of them in their hanboks. I love them! I can't understand them all the time, but they laugh and giggle and hug my legs just like kids back home.

I got Ally's package and pictures. Thanks! Elsie and Zola are so beautiful...I cannot believe how big they are!

ALSO>>>don't worry. I just got back. from eating something so crazy. guess what it was? dog. yep. I just ate it. Oh the things I have had here! and, actually, it wasn't bad!

I love you all. I am so happy to be here. Have a wonderful week! share the gospel! 

xoxo, Sister Bassett