Wednesday, August 15, 2012

 Josh and his little "future missionary" brother
 Setting apart
 First Care Package!!!
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 Last "meal in the outside world!!!!"
 All 7 of our Chisholm kids right before Josh went into the MTC
 Stay strong sweet boy. I love you. I will miss you with all my heart but I know you are about to do the best thing ever so far in your life.
 Love you buddy.
 The two cute little hosts at the MTC that came and escorted Josh.
We are the Chisholm's. We have seven beautiful kids. Our oldest, Joshua, has chosen to serve a mission for our church. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. He will serve for two years in the Korea Seoul Mission where he will teach the Korean people about Jesus Christ. Both the Bible and The Book of Mormon are sacred books of scripture that testify to the divinity and teachings of our Savior. He will teach about Eternal families and how we can return to a loving Heavenly Father by living the Lord's teachings, serving others, making and keeping covenants and sacrificing our own will to the will of God. We are excited and happy for him to serve. We will miss him, but we have faith that our Heavenly Father will watch over him and all the thousands of missionaries serving in the world for our church at this time.
We will post letters that he sends and pictures of his experiences. His first letter said,

"I'm doing well, My companion is Elder Frazier from Georgia. I actually slept good in the MTC on the first night!! The Spirit is so strong here. I know this is where I'm supposed to be. I love you!!!"

Then, yesterday we received our first "real" letter.

I love the MTC! It is an amazing place with an amazing spirtit and a ton of amazing people! I love my companion and I love my two other roommates! Elder Payne and Elder Miller are two awesome Elder's and I feel like I totally lucked out on my companion and roommates.  Elder Payne was almost an olympic gymnast for Canada in this last olympics! He is soooo good at gymnastics and he is so insanely ripped! It is kind of ridiculous really how big he actually is. We always tease him about being Canadian and saying eh and stuff like that! haha it reminds me of you mom everytime he talks about Canada and stuff. Elder Miller is in the Air Force and is a really sarcastic, funny guy. He is originally from Hawaii and just loves making jokes and stuff like that. It just makes the day go by faster when you can laugh sometimes and he provides that all the time. Me and him probably get a long the best out of everyone. Elder Frazier is from just north of Atlanta and he is just a really nice kid that has a strong testimony and just loves life. We get along and work really well with each other I feel like which is good. He is the District Leader too so I get my mail first! Woohoo!
The Korean is seriously insane! Haha what everyone said about learning it is totally true in everyway. It is kind of insane because it just does not translate to English. Which makes it frustrating but yesterday especially was a really good day with it. I can say a short prayer that thanks heavenly father for my family, my companion, my teacher, and that says help the spirit to be with us and to help us recieve the gift of tongues. So that is really cool that I was able to memorize that with a limited amount of speaking ability because of my ulcer. But I really like learning the language and I feel like I am learning it at a fairly rapid pace which is a blessing that I am seriously grateful for.
My branch president's name is President Shin and he was born and raised in Korea so he knows a lot about the country which is really cool. He seems like a really neat person and he has taught us a lot already.
The food here is alright, haha I haven't been able to eat much because of my ulcer (He has an ulcer in his throat, but is being treated and it will hopefully heal soon) but from what I have eaten, it is totally fine. I am eating my fruit and veggies mom;) and I am trying to stay eating healthy. I think I am actually lost a little bit of weight since I haven't been able to eat much! The gym time is good and I love playing basketball. I am one of the better players so it is really fun:) Me and Elder Frazier and Elder Miller and Elder Payne all joined the choir because it is awesome!:) haha I couldn't even sing because of my ulcer but we might be able to sing for the General Authority that is coming tonight! Woot! And the song is Redeemer of Israel which reminded me of you mom and made me happy:) 

He is doing so well. We are so happy for him. I am thrilled he can already speak some of the language and most of all, that he can PRAY in Korean. What a blessing!

I am doing ok too. I can't say it's not hard on a missionary mom. It is. My heart aches for him, to see him, talk to him and laugh with him. This has been a hard week. There have been a few times where I just lay on his bed and cry. My sweet aunt told me that instead of counting down the days till he gets home, count the blessings up until he returns. I feel very  blessed to have a sweet missionary boy, 6 kids at home still who are safe, happy and good, a wonderful husband, and a testimony of our Savior.  We are blessed. Way to go Elder!!!!!!!!

2 comments:

  1. This is a wonderful blog. I love the pictures. Josh is an amazing young man and will be an amazing missionary. The Korean people will be so lucky to have him. He will learn and grow so much on this adventure. I feel so blessed to have sons serving missions together at this time. They are amazing.

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  2. This is such a great idea to put together for your son. Can't believe you have a missionary out! Time flies!
    He looks so happy!
    Such a rewarding thing as parents but am sure you miss him like crazy.
    Thanks for sharing!

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