Leanne's Mission Blog

DongHae district!

6.5 Blog Letter

· Leanne Noelle Chun <leanne.chun@myldsmail.net>

Aug 13 at 7:04 PM

My apologies for the short letter last week. Hopefully you could glean something good out of the pictures I sent. ^_^

Wow, the transfer goes by so fast! If I'm being completely honest, I'm trying not to think of the end of the transfer, when my beautiful companion Sister Calda will go home, having completed her missionary work, and I will (most likely) be left in DongHae, a giant area that I'm still learning, with a new companion... It can be a little overwhelming sometimes, but I'm taking steps to lessen the stress (i.e. Sister Calda is making me lead us around for the next couple of weeks while she's still here, to make sure that I know where all the important stuff is).

The good news is, I know how to find our house and the church. That's basically all I need, right? :)

Last week P Day we got to climb a mountain with the SokCho Sisters, Sister Kim and Sister You! Well, actually it was more of a glorified walk, and a lot of stair-climbing, but we ended up at some beautiful waterfalls, and it was fantastic. We took some weird pictures (an inevitability with Sister Chun), and then we went back down (one of my favorite parts) and ate some oily Jjajangmyun. *fistpump* Good P day.

We went on exchanges with the Gangreung Sisters. I was in DongHae with Sister Frint and Sister Calda went to Gangreung with Sister Seo. So much fun! We didn't get lost, so that was good, and we learned a lot. We called our recent convert and confused her a little bit: She's a grandma, which means I can't understand her very well, but it turned out okay. In the end, it was a pretty fun, pretty productive exchange. Love that girl! And Sister Chun is a 바보 and forgot to actually take pictures, so that's awkward. Maybe one day I'll remember to be a little more diligent in that regard...

I had the privilege of giving a talk yesterday in Sacrament. I was sweating bullets, but the members were just smiling up at me, so that was encouraging. Hopefully they understood at least a little bit of what I was trying to say in way-less-than-perfect Korean. :) I spoke about Jesus Christ's Atonement. Big topic, right? But I think it was okay. Things were a little clearer to me, at least, so that's good. The gist of the talk was how to apply His Atonement in our lives. Well, when you get thinking about it, applying the Atonement is basically just using the Atonement, which is to live the Gospel of Jesus Christ, especially continually repenting.

There are a bajillion General Conference talks that can explain the Atonement of Jesus Christ way better than I can, but one thing that was really prevelant in my mind as I studied in preparation for my talk was Elder Nelson's challenge issued this past General Conference. Remember what it was? To read everything in the standard works that Jesus Christ said or did. Basically, go to the Topical Guide and read every scripture reference listed. Since the Atonement itself is not the thing that gives us help and strength nor forgives our sins but rather Jesus Christ because He atoned for our sins, we should get to know Him, huh? I've decided to take up Elder Nelson's challenge. It' probably going to be slow going, but I would invite anyone and everyone to join with me in that venture. I'm excited for the peace and confidence that will come from knowing who my Savior is and He means to me personally.

I love you all! I hope you have a good week!

Love,

Sister Chun