I can't believe it's Thursday again. This past week has gone by really fast. Which is a shame...I wanted it to go slower. We had a Sister's Conference yesterday in Daejeon. It would be nice to still be there right now learning from the other sisters in the mission and from Sister Perriton and Sister Pierce. Sadly, nothing good lasts forever just like nothing bad lasts forever here on earth. Time will always keep going no matter how much we want to stop it.

This past week was nice--it only rained on Tuesday. And it didn't rain buckets, either. When we leave our apartment in the morning, I never know if we need umbrellas or not... I think the rainy season is almost over, though. Maybe. I don't actually know. The weather here is exciting, that's for certain. I love seeing everybody on the street with their umbrellas up. When people walk down the street, it's like a big chain of bobbing apples of different colors in a stream.

If you can't tell, I didn't really think about what I was going to tell you in this blog post. I apologize for the randomness... My mind is a mess anymore as I try to remember Korean and people's names. I've always been really bad at remembering names--and I'm not any better at remembering them in Korean. But that's okay. The wonderful thing about Korean is that you can refer to a person without using their names in a wonderfully respectful way by just calling males brother and females sister. I appreciate that.

I've almost been on my mission for four months. It doesn't seem like it's been all that long. At the same time, it feels like I've never been anything but a missionary. I suppose that's because we're kept so busy every day. There really isn't much time to think about home. Which is good. Though, I had a hard time not doing so yesterday on the train home from Daejeon--they showed movie previews for the new Harry Potter and the new Transformers movies... If you haven't seen them yet, you should go and watch them for me. :)

Things are going well here in Korea. My Korean is still abominable. I don't understand most things people say to me...but that's not a bad thing sometimes. When I walk down the street, little children often call me a foreigner, which I find amusing. Everyone here is really nice and honest--when we try to talk to people who have no interest, they've got no problem telling us they're not interested. I like talking to students. They find it funny when I start talking in Korean (especially since I generally just use high form) and are always very interested in what I'm saying. Sadly, they're generally not interested enough to want to hear more about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

I pray that all of you are doing well--as it takes about three weeks for me to receive letters, I have no idea what's going on in your life. Whatever's happening, know that it's happening for a reason. Growing hurts--ask any teenage boy who is going through a growth spurt. But it's worth it in the end. Hard work becomes easier the more we do it. I never thought I would be able to walk around as much as I do each day (exercise never has been my friend), but each day I do, I get stronger. And I also never thought I could sit on the floor as long as I do when we teach without my legs falling asleep. Granted, they sometimes still fall asleep, but it isn't as bad as I thought it would be. My legs are sore, but it's getting easier. Keep working.

To quote one of my favorite movies, "Never give up, never surrender!" Hard work pays off rich dividends.

I love you all! (And I would love to hear from you!)

Sister Erica Oates

6:30: Wake up, pray, exercise.
7:00: Start getting ready--shower. I feel like I'm walking through water most days, so I like taking showers--I feel less sticky afterward because I'm drenched in water, not sweat. Eat breakfast.
8:00: Personal study. This is one of my favorite times of the day. I can read in English and understand what I'm reading. Yay! I'm currently halfway through the Book of Mormon again and almost finished with the New Testament. When we have lessons scheduled for the day, I focus some of my time on studying what will help investigators.
9:00: Companion study. Sister Lee Se-ri and I start with a song (in Korean) and a prayer. Then we tell each other what we learned in personal study, review some missionary rules, and then read from the Book of Mormon. I read one verse in Korean and she corrects my pronunciation, and she reads one verse in English and I correct her pronunciation. Generally we read a page or so. Afterwards, we plan our lessons for the day (wherein I have the difficult task of deciding what I can actually say) and then study from Preach My Gospel together (time permitting).
10:00: Language study. I have a goal to read the Book of Mormon in Korean by the end of my mission, so I try and read at least one page aloud. I don't understand most of it. I also spend this time preparing for teaching (ie getting vocabulary I'll need) and working on learning new grammar/vocabulary. None of it sticks. But that's okay. Eventually I'll remember what I learn. Or my brain will explode >.<.
10:30: We leave the house with a prayer and a copy of the Book of Mormon/pamphlets/fliers. We usually contact people on the street for a half an hour to two hours, depending on when we have an appointment.
12:00-1:00 (ish): Lunch. Yay! Korean food is yummy. I had bear soup the other day for lunch. It was pretty tasty. I haven't really found anything I don't like.
1:00-2:00: An appointment. If we have one. Anyway, we start by teaching English for 30 minutes (which I'm not very helpful at, due to the fact that I can't speak Korean. But I can help with pronunciation.) Afterwards, we teach the gospel for 30 minutes. Or sometimes more. It depends. Many of our investigators like to give us food, too. In Korean culture, it is offensive if you don't eat what they give you--even if you're super full. So you have to eat it.
2:00-5:00: More appointments. If no appointments, we visit less-active members or do more contacting.
5:00-6:00: Dinner! Yummy!
6:00-9:00: More appointments or more contacting or more visiting, depending on circumstances. Sometimes we knock on doors. That's usually not very successful--especially when I talk. I'm hard to understand through doors, apparently. :)
9:00: Come home. Pray. Plan for tomorrow. Update the area book (a book where we keep records of what we taught investigators/members).
10:00: Get ready for bed. Brush, floss, change into PJs...
10:30: Pray and then go to bed.

We repeat basically the same schedule each day--though, sometimes things go awry when people cancel on us. :( It's not too bad, being a missionary. The work can be fun, even when the language is frustrating. I trip over my tongue all the time. Though, I have only actually tripped once, which is good (especially if you know how clumsy I am). There's a lot of shoe-taking off in Korea, which is nice during these hot summer months. I like having appointments to get out of the heat and humidity.

Things are going well here in Korea! I hope all of you are doing well. You're in my prayers. I encourage you to feed the missionaries. We run out of money sometimes and it's nice to not have to pay to eat. Plus you'll get blessings for helping the Lord's servants. If you have time, you should teach with the missionaries. It's exciting--and not really all that hard unless you're trying to speak a language you don't really know. If I can teach about Jesus Christ in Korean, you can teach about Him in English. I challenge you to open your mouth to someone and mention the gospel and how it has blessed your life if you're a member. If you're not...well, I encourage you to meet the missionaries. We're a little weird, true, but we like to make friends.

I promised that I was going to share a scripture this week. So here it goes. This is from the book of Alma in the Book of Mormon. Alma was a prophet who went on a mission to a city called Ammonihah with a man named Amulek. Nobody wanted to listen to them, really. In fact, the people in this city wanted to kill them. They thought that repentance was stupid, and didn't want to listen to anything that either man said. (I'm glad that people actually listen to me and generally don't want to kill me here in Korea.) Alma and Amulek kept trying. Some people listened--but most of the people were angry...

They were angry enough that they gathered together all the scriptures and those who had believed and then cast them into the fire. Amulek was really worried about this. I would be too. These were good people who were being killed. Who wants to see good people die? So he asked Alma why they couldn't call down the powers of heaven for help.

Alma 14:11--"But Alma said unto him: The Spirit constraineth me that I must not stretch forth mine hand; for behold the Lord receiveth them up unto himself, in glory; and he doth suffer that they may do this thing, or that the people may do this thing unto them, according to the hardness of their hearts, that the judgements which he shall exercise upon them in his wrath may be just; and that the blood of the innocent shall stand as a witness against them, yea, and cry mightily against them at the last day."

This seems pretty harsh, doesn't it? Why would God allow this to happen just so He can punish the wicked? God is all powerful--could He stop this from happening and just punish the people anyway?

Of course He could. The more important question is should He?

Heavenly Father gave unto all of us agency, which is the ability to choose. In order to have choices, we have to have different things to choose from--many of which are wrong, and contrary to what God would have us choose. Without right and wrong, our choices would never really be more significant than "do I want to wear green or pink?" We would never learn or grow because our choices would always be good.

God wants us to grow and change. There would be no reason for us to leave His presence to come to earth if all we ever did was good. It would make far more sense for us to just stay with Him forever.

It doesn't particularly seem fair. But life isn't fair. God never promised that life would be easy. Children never really appreciate what their parents have done for them until they have children of their own. We need tough experiences to grow and progress.

A particular sentence of this verse had never really stuck out to me until my district meeting last week. Elder Barzee emphasized this phrase "he doth suffer that they may do this thing unto them" while sharing his thoughts. Suffer is a very important word in this instance. The Lord took upon Him the sins of the world during the Atonement. He suffered more than any of us can ever comprehend. He felt all of our griefs and sorrows so that by turning to Him and following His commmandments, we can return to our Father's presence. He understands every paper-cut, jammed thumb, or sense of grief when our loved ones die. He "suffer[ed] that they [might] do [that] thing." Christ experienced the intense pain of the women and children tossed into the fire.

He felt the anguish of the parents of the students at Virginia Tech who were killed. He felt the pain of all those who died on 9/11. He felt the pain of those who are killed or injured in car accidents. He has suffered for everything.

And He still lets bad things happen. It would have been infinitely easier and far less painful for Him if He jumped in like a super hero every time something bad was about to happen and caused it to not happen. He could make us always happy and ensure we do the best thing all the time.

But He doesn't. We wouldn't grow. He won't take our agency. Suffering is a necessary part of life, as harsh as that seems.

Christ learned obedience through suffering, as we learn in Hebrews 5:8: "Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered." In order for us to be like Him, we have to learn obedience the same way.

It's really easy to follow a law that you already do naturally. However, sometimes it's hard to follow rules that you don't understand. For example...let's say that a parent tells his 3-year-old to not drink from the bottle under the sink. The 3-year-old doesn't know why...so when Daddy leaves, he opens the sink and pulls out the bottle of vinegar. It looks vaguely like a bottle of soda, so he opens it and then starts to drink it. Obviously after a few swallows (if even that many), he's going to realize that vinegar in large quantitites really doesn't taste very good. He has now learned to be obedient to that rule of his father.

Doing the right thing isn't always easy, especially since life is hard. People aren't going to give us pretty blue ribbons when we choose to be obedient or we are going through tough times. Life isn't going to be all puppies and kittens. And bad things will inevitably happen to everyone--regardless of religious creed or background.

The Savior knows how you feel. He has suffered all you have and more. His arms are stretched out to help you. Reach out and cast your burdens at His feet. He will help you. The burden won't disappear, but it will be easier to bear because someone will be helping you. The world won't be as dark.

I hope you all have a great week! Next week, I'll be giving you a typical day in the life of Sister Oates.

I've now been in Korea for two weeks. Wow. I'm not sure where the time went. Of course, it's also felt like the longest two weeks of my entire life. I can scarcely remember being back in America anymore. Isn't it funny how relative time is?

So, monsoon season is upon us. It poured rain on Tuesday. Literally poured. I don't think I've ever seen it rain so heavily before. Of course, I am from Utah, so that makes sense, eh? We had district meeting, and the river we go over was just swollen with water. The roads were basically rivers. I was glad I wasn't driving...though, our bus driver was a little crazy.

Things are going pretty well. We've got a baptism scheduled for this Saturday. Sister Kim was going to be baptized last week, but her mother wasn't able to drop by and sign the necessary form...so fingers are crossed for this Saturday. Sister Noh is going to be baptized probably the end of this month, too, which is uber exciting. I can't wait.

Everyone here is very helpful--it's a little frustrating at times when people finish my sentences for me, though. But that's okay. I gave a talk in Primary. They actually listened to me--which is amazing. The Primary in Seongjeong is very energetic and hardly ever listen to anyone. I help Sister Lee teach. I can't say very much (and I understand even less), but we do a lot of English teaching. I can do that. Mostly. I can't explain things in Korean yet. But it will come, so there's no sense in me worrying.

Things are going well. I wanted to share a scripture this week, but I forgot to write it down before we left our apartment...so you'll get to read it next week! Hooray! It's a good one, I promise. Even for people who don't particularly like scriptures.

So, for a spiritual thought, I'd like to quote one of my MTC teacher's mothers. Sister Lebaron's mother said "If the Lord put you to it, He can pull you through it". That's very true. I didn't think I could ever live in Korea and get to the point where I can understand one or two sentences people say...but I've started to be able to. I didn't think I would be able to share the gospel. But I've been able to. The Lord knows what it is we can do, and He does a remarkable job of helping us stretch to be that person. It hurts a lot.

C.S. Lewis gave an interesting parable about how the Lord helps change us. He said that we're like a house. And maybe something breaks in the kitchen and we need a plumber, so we call the Lord. He comes and fixes the sink. And then He fixes a few other things. And before we know it, He's knocking down walls and we're not sure what in the world is going on. It hurts a lot, and it's confusing and even a little scary...but when He's finally done, we see the palace we are now as compared to the house we were.

I don't think I've shared that one before...

Anyway, I encourage each of you to pray to be strengthened through whatever it is you're doing. The Lord will help you. I know He will because He's helped me, even though I sometimes even doubt He's there. His arms are stretched out to us and He will support us if we turn to Him.

Have a wonderful week!

Hello, one and all! I'm currently in Korea. I'm serving in Gwangjou. My companion is Lee Se Ri. She's from around Seoul and is very nice. I don't understand anything anyone is saying. At all. Which is frustrating. The members here are really nice, and their children are adorable, but I have no idea what's going on most of the time.

Korean food is yummy. I make it a special point to eat kimchi at every meal. I'm not sure if I like it or not, actually... I think I do. I really love all of the other Korean foods. A lot of it is spicy...but not as spicy as everyone told me it was going to be (I guess the Hunan province just has spicier food or something). We have three new investigators who are interested in learning about the church and learning English, which is really exciting. I can't remember anyone's name, though. Oh well. It'll come in time. I can't remember any new vocabulary very well either. Which is okay. I'm supposed to be patient or something until things start to make sense. I hope they do soon.

Brother Erickson, if you're reading this right now, the buses in Gwangju aren't really that crazy. They're fun to ride. Relaxing, even. I haven't seen any buses playing chicken yet like I did every day in China. The 할아 머 니s are a lot of fun (I wonder if that will show up or not...I probably spelled it wrong, too) Unfortunately, most people don't really want to hear what I have to say. We talk to a lot of people, but most are unwilling to listen. Which is okay, I guess. It'd be nice if people listened. They look at me like I'm an alien or something when I speak Korean. Not that I speak it very well.

The plane ride was long. We had quite a fun adventure getting to Korea (we missed our connecting flight), but we obviously made it eventually. Because I'm here. Right now. In Korea! Yay!

Erm...a quick spiritual thought: The church is true. The Book of Mormon testifies of Christ. I was reading in Mosiah this morning, going over King Benjamin's address. Because God gives us everything, the only real way to show our gratitude to Him is through service to others. He gives us so many blessings if we're faithful and try our best. So, I encourage you to go out of your way and do something nice for someone else this week. It can be as simple as calling them to make sure they're doing well or just smiling and saying hello to your neighbors.