May the Force be With you!!!!

 Elder Chisholm and Sister McKay....good friends in the MTC, and neighbors at home!!!

 Josh and his branch President, and wife, native Koreans.

 District!

 We think this is right before a lot of the native Koreans left for Korea about 4 weeks ago. Josh talked a lot about them and how helpful they were in teaching the language to those missionaries preparing to go to Korea. Josh loved them and said he couldn't wait to go and teach!!

 Last MTC pkg was a Star Wars box! Josh loves Star Wars and we have lots of fun family memories watching it. We figured it was fitting to send our little Korean Jedi Missionary off with some things that remind him of home. We also sent a coloring book, play dough, ADVIL  and treats for the 16 1/2 hr long plane ride!!!

Everyone was anxiously awaiting the airport phone call! It was so great to hear our missionaries voice!! Everyone got to talk to him for quite awhile and he sounded great. He bore his testimony in Korean and said lots of other cool things in Korean too. The best part about it was that he is SO excited to go, so happy, so ready and so anxious. It was fun to talk to him and to hear how good he is doing and how ready he is to GET ON WITH IT! He loved the MTC and learned so much, the Spirit was so strong there and I can tell he grew a lot in the last 11 1/2 weeks.

I, of course, did not sleep well, or do anything well, until I got this picture at 9:00 Tuesday morning. The email said " Missionary Arrival: Your missionary arrived safe, healthy and is in good hands."

Deep sigh of relief for mom!!!!

Now the real fun starts......we can't wait to hear how Korea is and how he's doing!!

"Well, there are a lot of things going through my head right now. It is crazy that in a few days I will be talking to people IN KOREA. It blows my mind that I can actually speak it! I feel so blessed that way. I have come to have a very firm testimony about a missionary calling. The Lord qualifies who He chooses. The biggest thing for me is that I just need to push myself to be better every single day. Something I have thought a lot about today is just finishing. Finishing this awesome MTC experience, finishing some of the relationships with people I may never see again.I look at it this way, if I finish this experience well, I will finish all my mission well. I am really excited to finish out strong and I am doing my best."

"We have sung Called to Serve EVERY SINGLE Tuesday... it is so old now Ha!Ha! But today was the last day of singing it and it really made me think of how great an experience this really has been. My testimony and closeness to the Savior has grown more than anything else. The Korean has been great but I just feel that Heavenly Father is shaping me to be what HE wants me to be and that is one of the greatest feelings in the world! I feel so blessed!"

Love

Elder Chisholm

He's almost there!!!!

Josh is plugging away at the MTC. This week marks 8 weeks of him being there. I really can't believe it. In some ways it's gone fast, and in some, I'm sure, especially to him, it's been forever. He has loved it and learned so much, but he is very excited to get to Korea. In his written letters these past few weeks he's told us about Korean missionaries that have been in the district with him and how much he's learned from them. He already loves them and is excited when he can communicate with them. His goal is to have learned 1000 words in Korean before he leaves on Oct 22. He sent us the alphabet and told us to try to study it. Well, we tried, but, we failed!!!!! We are glad he has the gift of tongues, because without it, we can see how truly difficult this language really is. We are proud of him for working so hard!!!! I try to send him interesting care pkgs each week, some of them are a Rise and Shine pkg, with cereal, pop tarts, muffins, drinks, fruit. A General Conference pkg, a BYU Rise and Shout pkg, lots and lots of cookies and rolls, and a cupcake a week that I promised him before he left! Of course,he  always gets letters and pictures from his siblings, he always writes them back and is so sweet in how he talks to them! Jon gives him a weekly "sports minute" and he is up to date and thrilled with BYU's new black football jerseys!!!! He says mail and pkgs make his week and break up the constant studying and monotony. Way to go Elder Chizzy!!!


" A mission isn't easy though and I knew it wouldn't be so this has been a great test for me. Heavenly Father definitely strengthens our weaknesses and I have no doubt that is what he is doing right now. One scripture that really helped me this week was Alma 37:37. It talks about prayer and how we should always counsel with the Lord. More than anything, here at the MTC, I have learned how to talk with Heavenly Father and that has been an amazing blessing! at times I just feel alone. But with that, I have learned a lot about the importance of prayer and everything like that which I am super grateful for. I have also learned a ton about patience and just not complaining and just going with the flow. Haha it allows me to avoid a lot of conflict and all of that stuff so its good. It's pretty cool that I am where I am at though, I wouldn't trade it for the world even if it is getting harder and harder to stay patient here:) only 3 weeks and 6 days and it is going to fly by:) 
I am happy with how I am doing and how I am progressing. The sacrament prayer on Sunday went so well and everyone said I did a really good job which made me happy:) I have gotten a lot closer to some of the Elder's in the other districts and the new districts just because for the most part, I actually like being around them a lot more. I played two of them in basketball so I have talked to them a lot about those games and stuff like that. It has been pretty fun getting to know them. I also really really like our new districts. They are way nice and they really want to work hard which makes me happy. Its cool to see where they are at now because 7 weeks ago, that is where I was at. I know that the Lord helps us everyday and allows us to learn more than we think we can learn. I can't wait to get there and to start teaching the Korean people. The language is insanely hard but ya know, I know the Lord is going to provide as long as I work hard. The gift of tongues is real as long as you work for it. I wish I could read the Book of Mormon in Korean. Haha it is so confusing. I can read it, I just have no idea what is going on
The Temple dedication was super good. I really really enjoyed it. When I went to the temple this morning, I thought about it and it was just a really neat experience. Elder Packer looked pretty beat up but he seemed to be in really good spirits and that was good to see. I can't wait for the Payson temple to be done either. That will be way cool to be able to come home and go to that temple! I can't wait for General conference for sure! Love you lots and miss you lots and I'll talk to you next week! 
Love,
Elder Chisholm "