week 15

Aug 19, 2026 HEY HEY HEY! Welcome back! Word of the week is 사랑 (sahrahng) This means love! You might be wondering, why didn't she send her email? Did she forget? Is she okay? Well, no I did not forget, and I am okay! My prep day this week was moved to Wednesday because we are going to the Seoul temple! Sit back, relax, grab a snack, buckle up because... THERE IS SO MUCH THAT I WANT TO TELL YOU! This week was absolutely filled with miracles. I wish I could sit down with each of you personally and tell you every single one in detail. Here's a list of all I wish I could tell you more about: - my second exchange!! We saw so many miracles this day! - my 3rd exchange - the guy we met in the book store with his magnifying glass - the kids in the ice cream shop - my Korean dream - as I'm writing this I'm realizing I'm actually going to touch on all of these a little bit... First of all... transfer calls!! I will be staying here in Bundang for my second transfer! Both my companions are moving to new areas and I will not be in a trio anymore! My new comp is from the Philippines and I'm so excited to work with her!! But this means I will be leading out the area because I know my way around. Umm, I just got here a month ago haha not sure how much leading I will actually be able to do, but it will be fun! ALSO i hit 100 days of being a missionary this past week!! Alright I had people tell me that I would start dreaming in Korean but I didn't really believe them. And then it happened. Allow me to explain the dream: I was walking outside towards the subway and bus station (as we do daily) and stopped to pick up a leaf. I picked it up and said 석료 이예요?(is this a pomegranate?) And then i said 아니예요. 나뭇잎 이예요. (it's not. It's a tree leaf) The end. Cut. That was it. Alrightttt moving on, for those of you who don't know, I LOVE family history. I love Family Search. On my exchange I was talking with a sister who is half Dutch and half Irish. Seeing as how i have ancestors from both of those places, she downloaded Family Search and did relatives around me to see how we are related. This turned into us both in tears after finding a voice recording under her grandfather's memory tab. She played it. It was in Dutch so I didn't understand, but she did. It was her grandfather's voice, sharing his testimony about Jesus and his gratitude for his wife and family. He had passed when she was young and didn't remember him and had never heard his voice before. It was a miracle!! She didn't know she had access to that on her phone this whole time, and a few other stories as well. Now she is able to add stories and memories to her tree!! Next miracle was the kids at the ice cream shop! During that exchange we stopped at this little ice cream shop and we noticed their were a few scooters parked outside. We go in and there's 3 elementary, maybe middle school age kids hanging out. They asked where we are from and when we answered they thought it was so cool. I asked what their favorite colors were (my go-to phrase for anyone, no matter the age) and we talked with them a bit. Another friend joined them and he asked if we like chocolate. We said yes. The next thing we know this little boy is buying us a Korean chocolate snack and says "Present. For you. Friends." They told us to enjoy our time in Korea, and we left. They were the sweetest ever and I love them. Okay the guy in the book store!! We went to study in this book store the other day and this guy comes over to us with a book. He asks if we've ever read it or others by that author, in English. We said no, but that he was good at English and he said he's teaching himself! We told him he could ask us any questions while we were there. And what does he do? Starts asking us about the Book of Mormon. We taught him about it and answered his questions. He wanted an English copy but we didn't have one with us. I gave him my Korean one and he was so thankful. He doesn't have a phone so we told him we'd meet him there again the next day at 3. So the next day at 3 we show up to the book store, and what do we see? The same guy, just sitting at the table reading a book with his magnifying glass, like the day before. I think he needs glasses but doesn't have any, so he uses a magnifying glass to read. We sit down with him and what happens next? He pulls out the Book of Mormon I gave him yesterday out of his backpack. It's in this neat little plastic book case to protect it from getting bent or wet. He knew it was something precious! He takes it out of this case and it has new sticky notes, more than I had put in it when I marked verses in it the week before! He had studied it the night before and made notes and came with questions! On one sticky note, he wrote words used in the Bible and wanted to know if they were used in the Book of Mormon. I showed him how to use the index. We found all the words he wrote down in the index and the verses that it uses the words in! We gave him the English copy too! It was so cool. The elders are going to continue meeting with him, but we know where to find him! This week I have been in awe at HOW MUCH God loves His children. ALL of them. Jacob chapter 5 in the Book of Mormon is an allegory about an olive tree vineyard. The vineyard represents the world. And the trees represent all of His children, us!! After so much digging and grafting and transplanting and nourishing and fertilizing the vineyard and helping it grow good fruit, some trees or branches are still not producing fruit or are decaying. The master of the vineyard throws down his pruning and gardening tools and yells "What more can I do for my vineyard?" Not just once. 3 times. What an incredible image of His love for His children. He loves us so much, He is still asking what more He can do to help us. This is why we are taught to "seek and ye shall find, knock and it shall be opened unto you" and to pray! Because He loves us! He wants to help us! We just have to reach out to Him. He is always there. He loves that guy with the magnifying glass and He loves those kids in the ice cream store and He loves that person who passed you on the road and He loves YOU. I know He does!! Okay okay okay this was long! Thank you for reading! I'd love to hear from more of you! How are you all doing? Are the seasons changing yet? What have you been up to? AND as always, the link to my photos: https://photos.app.goo.gl/2mHSSBgq2RK6ajNR6 올슨 자매