Sister Corinne Bauer

Sister Corinne Bauer

Thursday, November 24, 2011

Home

Sister Bauer is home for the holiday(s). We all hope she'll be on the mend soon because she is rearing to go to Korea to be with her peeps. Happy Thanksgiving!

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Tuesday, November 22, 2011 9:49 AM

hi everyone!

man, I love you all so very much. i cannot believe how much love is accumulating in my life. through my time at the mtc i have gained so many of the best friends i have ever had, and i have really felt the support of the other best friends i have ever had back at home.

i have a bit of news that seems appropriate to share seeing as i love you all so much! my stay at the mtc has been extended for at least another 2 weeks, this has been a bit of a struggle for me as i just want to be in korea, but i am learning to love it. i have been sick for about the past month with some mysterious stomach hurting illness that can't seem to be fixed. This is a problem as it is not allowing me to eat much in the way of food and is not allowing me to keep much of the food i do eat. Those things combined make me quite a tired and sick feeling, yet exceedingly happy, missionary. Last tuesday as i met with Dr. Brown, who is quickly becoming a good friend, I was given quite a shock. As we sat in the room, he told me, "Sister Bauer, i think you need to go home and get better," it really threw me, but for the first time in my entire life i came up with an immediate and quite assertive answer and insisted that he let me stay at the mtc with sister westrup who has also been delayed. lucky for me, he agreed. So, I have two weeks more here at the MTC to get better, if not I will be going home.

I was quite distraught over that news, and really upset. it was especially hard because it is unknown what will happen. i am learning though that god has a plan for me, i am never forgotten. I love being a missionary so very much, i love that i have the opportunity to share something so important with the world. But i don't know what is coming next. I am doing my very best to rely on the lord, to remember that he knows me and knows my name. I know that i was meant to be here at the MTC, I know i was meant to meet the people i have met, and to be learning korean and about the gospel. I know that whatever gods plan is for me it is a good one. i know that whereever i end up and whether I serve in the capacity of a full time missionary or not I will be led to those who need to hear the gospel from me. Jesus is my shepherd, he will not leave me alone. Thank you everyone for the support you offer me. I promise you that i will always do what heavenly father wants me to do, no matter how hard.

Yesterday morning, my whole district left, except for sister westrup and I. it was a hard day saying goodbye to sis dub as my companion, and the other sisters, andreceiving a new and equally amazing companion, sis dub 2. it is kind of funny because both of my companions have had w last names and the first name of Rebekah! it must be meant to be. i love my new companion, we have a room all to ourselves both for class and for sleeping for the next two weeks.

My MTC district has been so completely supportive of me. Every single one of them has made an impact on my life that I will never forget, and hopefully I have made an impact on them as well. i know my heavenly father loves me. i know he knows me and that he has a plan for me. I know that everything happens for a reason and that the hard part is that we don't get to know the reason until after. i don't know what will happen, but i know that god knows, and that is all i need to know.

i love you all so very much. i pray for you daily and keep you in my heart. i know the church is true. i know that Jesus Christ is my savior, i know that he is your savior. i know that he knows and loves me, that he understands when no one else can understand. i know that he is with me and each of us always, that when we cry he yearns to hold our hands. that when we smile he smiles with us. He has felt everything each of us has felt, on an individual and personal level. He is my best friend, and he can be yours as well. when we need solace it can be found in him.

i love you, dear friends,

sister corinne bauer

(please forgive the many lower cased things... the shift button has selective hearing)

Friday, November 18, 2011

Update

Corinne called Sean at work yesterday. The hope is that she will be better in 2 weeks so that she can then be sent to Korea with another sister who is recovering from hip surgery, but if she isn't better, there is the possibility that she will be sent home. This mission has been such a tremendous blessing to Corinne and also to our family in these few short months, and my heart and hers are both set on her being able to go to Korea as planned. Therefore, I am working to accept the Lord's will. I do believe he knows our hearts, and that his plan for Corinne, whatever it may be, is full of unconditional love and infinite mercy. He has showered us with His love, and even if the answer isn't what my heart desires right now, I trust in his reasoning as his vision stretches into eternity, and mine often does not. Accepting His will is difficult, but it shouldn't be. Please, if you are so inclined, pray for us to be able to accept the Lord's will for Corinne without doubt or bitterness. What I read in 1st Nephi this morning gave me great comfort: "But behold, I, Nephi, will show unto you that the tender mercies of the Lord are over all those whom he hath chosen, because of their faith, to make them mighty even unto the power of deliverance." Fasting, prayer, and temple attendance are all great remedies for the trials we face in the world; they bring a powerful balm of comfort to my troubled soul. Thank you for your love and concern for Corinne and our family. We are all so very blessed, no matter the outcome of this trial. "Press forward...with steadfast faith in Christ."

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Delay

Just a quick update. Sister Corinne will not be going to Korea for 2 more weeks; she has been having tummy issues and they want to make sure she is ok before sending her overseas. Please keep her in your thoughts and prayers, :). Otherwise, she is doing fantastic.

Thank you!
Sean and Heidi Bauer

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Tuesday, November 15, 2011 9:45 AM

Hiya!

My dear and much kind family and friends, much love unto you and all your peeps. I am here at the MTC on Tuesday the 15th of November and life is good. I went to the temple this morning and had an embarrassing experience that I will now share: I was quite tired this morning and have been for many mornings in a row, this caused me to be somewhat sleepy upon entering the endowment session. My sleepiness only seemed to grow as I continued through the meeting, and I may or may not have occassionally drifted off, every 3 or 4 minutes... I thought that I was doing a pretty good job of hiding it though, until I found myself waking up to my companions hand on my arm... oops! Moral of the story: Even missionaries, get tired and do embarrassing things.

This past week has been quite good, although, as I sit here at the computer attempting to compose a half decent work of missionary email literature, I cannot seem to think of a single thing that happenned. Of course things did happen, but I just am not such a rememberer of things. We have been here so long that things are kind of blending together, but it is so good. I had a biscuit and gravy at the temple this morning and it was glorious to behold, and also to injest.

My sisters and elders here at the MTC are quickly becoming some of the best friends I have (don't worry best friends at home, I still love you with an overwhelming love). They are each so amazing and unique that I can hardly breathe for the love I feel for them, really, these people are some of the best I've seen. Someday you all will meet them all (?) and it will be a miraculous day.

As part of our weekly planning, us missionaries do something called companionship inventory, this is something that sisters totally love (or at least I do...) and the elders (again, in my experience) generally hate to death. Basically it is an opportunity to share our love and strenghten our relationship and unity through sharing goals, things we like about one another, and things we need to improve on. It is a really cool experience because we are learning how to lift one another but also to give criticism without being hurtful. In the end we just love each other and that is what is important.

Well, my dearest folks at home, my words are running out. I love you all though and am so proud of each of you! Stay golden :)

Love,
Sister Bauer of MTCton

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

Tuesday, November 8, 2011 2:38 PM

Hi everyone!
Here I am, a missionary with 2 weeks left at the MTC! It is so great! Things have been really busy and crazy but for the most part I have been having a blast! I did initiatories today at the temple and it was super awesome! I also was lucky enough to see mom and grandma at the temple last week! Sister Markland, Sister Foy, and Sister Painter were with me, I was on an exchange with sister Painter which was why Sis dub wasn't with me. don't worry, she is still my companion! Oh mom! Would you mind doing me a favor and getting a poppy in some form for elder robinson? He wants one for the 11th of November, being an army guy and all... If you got one for me by friday it would totally make my life!

Life is good at the MTC, I have been a bit sick but things will be better soon I am sure! I can't wait to go to Korea! I am having trouble thinking of anything interesting to tell you all about, the problem with the MTC is that life is pretty similar from day to day. Learning Korean is pretty intense stuff but I find myself falling in love with the language and with language in general as I lear the little details that make Korean Korean. I got a letter from Aunt Maryanne today and she told me that one of the elder's going to Thailand is my cousin! That was awesome and suprising because we see the Thai missionaries every single day and I had no idea! hopefully I will be able to find out which one it is and introduce myself soon!

Sister Becky! My friend Sister Foy who is also going to Korea is from your mission! She is from Tennessee! So if you meet any Foy's, they are the best, I am completely sure of it.

I am starting to get a little sad to be leaving all of the friends I have made so far, but I know that I will maintain my friendships with them forever, that's what I do. I have never so quickly come to love so many people so much, it is amazing to me. When the illusive "they" say that you always make forever friends, "they" are not lying. I love these people, they are my peeps. I don't know how I have turned so ghetto but it has happened. Sister Markland was speaking Korean Ghetto style the other day and it almost killed me, she cracks me up. Not phony in the least.

I love my zone and district so much! There are now 18 sisters and 7 elders! 7 of them are from Korea and will be leaving with us on the 21 of November, it is all very exciting. We are a group of individuals for sure but we make a perfect team. My District- 1. Sister painter, she is a nursing student and really smart and passionate 2. Sister Westrup, an Art history major who always makes me feel better when I am discouraged, she had hip surgery a couple weeks ago but is doing really well now! 4. Sister Milius, She is super intelligent and thinks deep thoughts, she is also very good, unlike myself, and she makes me want to be more pure... except that I kind of super like my sarcastic side 4. Sister Barber, she is a convert of 6 years, she is super sweet and will change lives in Korea, I know it. 5. Sister Markland, is awesome, in love with professor snape, and is always up to hijinx. Love. 6. Sister Foy is an elementary ed major, she is kind and sweet and hilarious, and when neither of us can sleep we party it up quietly in the hall together. 7. Sisters Evans is a Canadian French Immersion teacher, she is super fun and a little bit crazy. 8. Sister Rovelsky is so awesome, she is always smiling and saying things like to' up, which sounds super funny coming from her tiny self. 9. Sister Washburn, my companion, she is an amazing story teller and will do great things in the world, I cannot wait to see what she will do! 10. Me, the best. 11. Elder Greer, he is from Thailand but was adopted from an orphanage when he was 4, there is a sweet picture of him in puffy pants at the orphanage which makes me want to die of cuteness. 12. Elder Robinson is from Lehi and went to Westpoint! He will return to Westpoint as soon as he gets off his mission and will become an army guy! He also has a dimple that came from hitting his face on a corner as a child! I love my district so much! We all get along really well which is great because we have to do exchanges like daily! I love getting to know each of them, they make my life.

Well homeslices, I totally love you all. I miss you so much but man, I am so glad to be here! I cannot wait to be in the wild first world country of Korea, it's going to be epic, I have no doubt. It is so much fun even just anticipating my future in Korea, I can't believe it will really happen, but It will!!! I am so excited I can hardly breathe! I love you all so much!
I was going to type some korean for you but the onscreen keyboard wouldn't come up and my skills are quite limited... But much love!
Love,
Sister Bauer

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Tuesday, October 25, 2011 10:07 AM

Holy wow... I cannot believe that it is already my 8th week at the MTC!!! It is crazy go nuts! The new district got here tuesday and they are super aweseom! We have 18 people total in our zone and branch now, it is so small but we all love each other! Sister Westrup had her surgery on friday and My companion Sis dub went with her, we were seperated all day and it felt crazy! Meanwhile I was with sis Westrup's companion, sister painter, and it was awesome! We taught double our usual load so we got plenty done, which was terrific!

Sister Becky, this is a shout out! Happy Birthday! I have a card and everything for you but I didn't have your address until yesterday I got your letter! I love you and your birthday celebration from me will be in the mail today! I love you!
I started the Book of Mormon when I arrived at the MTC and Sunday I finished it! Yesterday I restarted and I hope to finish again by the time I leave the MTC! My goal is to finish it every transfer for my whole mission which will hopefully leave me quite the scriprorian. I really do love the book of mormon and I love reading from it. Last Friday in class we read the book of mormon together, it was really great as it always is. Midway through my teacher, Brother Ball (from Newzealand), decided to read with an "american" accent, it was awful and we were all dying laughing. Then we each tried to read in a New zealander accent, everyone failed except for elder greer and ME!!!!!!!!! Thank you Flight of the Concords for familiarizing me with what a New Zealander should sound like, even Brother ball was impressed. It was super fun. And worry not, we still felt the spirit.

Our investigator, portrayed by brother ball, was baptized monday! It was a very complicated situation because we scheduled his interview for sunday when we couldn't meet with him. so when we met with him monday night we didn't know if he had already been baptized, failed the interview, or would be baptized in our appointment. He solved the proble though by saying, " I was baptized today, weren't you there?" and we of course said that we were. Teaching fake investigators can be exceedingly complicated when it wants to be!

I have been running like the wind recently and waking up early to go to the special sisters only exercise class! Can you believe it? I hardly can! Saturday night I pumped out a 2 mile run, it was super sweet and by the end of my time at the MTC I would love to be able to run 4 or 5. It is going to happen, I just know it. Sister Rovelsky and I are planning on training for a Marathon together when we get back and eventually and iron man, crazy, I know, but we can do it! I have decided that as a missionary I want to be the best I can be in every way, not just spiritually, so soon I will be of the speedy sort. Not while I walk though... I still mosey... But I love the world and I don't like to miss it in my haste.

Recently my tummy has been feeling yucky a lot so I have tried to limit the milk in my diet and it really seems to be helping, plus, the rice milk here is bomb! I am doing so well, it is great! I cannot believe that we leave the MTC in less than a month! It is so crazy, sometimes I can't wait (most times), but sometimes it makes me want to throw up. I just really want to be in korea, teaching, learning, and eating! Also buying stationary :). THe MTC though is super fun and I will really miss my teachers and the other missionaries. It will be especially hard to seperate from my companion, but I know that my other companions will be just as important to me and that I will love them as well.

I have loved the ease and frequency of receiving mail while in the MTC, it will be hard to not get mail as often in Korea, but I can do it, and it will be a party. I really hard party, but a party all the same. Being a missionary is awesome! Everything is amplified, the spirit is strong, happiness is ever present, and laughter never ceases. We really all love each other so much and it is awesome to see how we are becoming a family. They always say that you make lifelong friends on your missions and I can already see that it is true, In this short time i have met so many people that my life would be incomplete without. It is really awesome. It is also awesome to bring the gospel into the lives of those we teach. In the TRC we teach members as members, it is difficult because we have to find new things to teach to people who often know more about the gospel than we do, as we follow the spirit we find what they need and it is really beautiful. All of the people we teach in TRC are returned missionaries, at least so far, but no one has a perfect knowledge of the gospel so we can all be helped by its messages.

I love you all so much! I love writing to you and hearing from you! Thank you for everything!

Love,

Your Missionary

Sister Corinne Bauer

Tuesday, October 18, 2011 10:00 AM

To folks:

So the most exciting thing ever happened today! Just as I sat down to start my email a half an hour ago the fire alarm went off and 2500 missionaries crossed the street evacuating the MTC! It was super fun, we thought it might be real at first but then we noticed that the lawn mowers and weed wackers were still mowing lawns and wacking weeds. It was very exciting but also quite cold so my fingers are now a little frozen like and hard to type with! It is so fun to be a missionary, suprises every day!

We were able to do sealings in the temple this morning! It was awesome! Our whole class (elder greer, elder robinson, elder lee, me, sis dub, sis rovelsky and sis evans) were able to do it together! It was really a cool experience and it was especially cool because it was elder lee's last pday with us before he leaves for korea on wednesday! He was supposed to leave last monday but the church legal system was still trying to figure out if he would be drafted upon arriving in korea. We still don't know for sure but if he is he will have a couple of days to leave korea and will finish his mission somewhere else! It is really cool because our whole class is going to seoul, except for elder robinson who is going to vancouver, but we will be able to write him which will be really fun!

The new district comes in on wednesday! 4 sisters and 2 elders will be coming and it will be so awesome! That means our zone and branch will consist of 18 people, still pretty small actually but really great! We are really excited to meet them and to pretend to be really good at korean so they will be impressed with us. Actually, on your first day in the MTC it doesn't take much korean to impress you so we are pretty lucky! Only 5 weeks left at the MTC! The 12th week hardly counts because we will leave on monday most likely! It is crazy because we know that our return dates are february 28th of 2013! That is not so far away so we will really need to work hard in the field! In the fireside on sunday President Hacking of the MTC District Presidency talked to us (he also sat in on our district meeting and sacrament, and suprisingly turned out to be sis dub's cousin!) He reminded us that we will be "somebody's" missionary, that is crazy to think about and is a blessing and responsibility that we are lucky to have.

Last Tuesday night sister Julie B. Beck spoke to us! It was such a great talk and it was so cool to see her even from across the auditorium! Some of the sisters from the other class in our district got to shake her hand! She talked about how more than baptism we need to teach our investigators with eternal covenants in mind.

Yesterday Sister dub and I were teaching a lesson to our teacher brother ball as our investigator, and it was crazy. He asked us some questions we didn't know how to answer in korean so we brokenly tried to answer them and then I said, "shall we pray?" completely out of nowhere because I was so lost:), we were all ready to bust up laughing but we withheld the urge and kept our composure. But then sis dub accidentally called him to immediate repentance right then in front of us, basically she said, "Will you repent now, here, with us?" anyway, none of us could take it any longer and for two minutes straight we all laughed with out any hope of stopping, tears were leaking from brother ball's eyes and I felt like I might pee my pants. finally brother ball said, "Let's pray," and we prayed, and laughed our way all the way back to class. When brother ball returned he of course pretended like he had no idea what was going on because he is never supposed to admit to being our investigator.

Colds have been going around like crazy! Sis dub has been sick for like a week, but she always works so hard, it is amazing! One of the sisters in our district found out she has a tear in the cartilage of her hip and will most likely have to have surgery! It is crazy and we are all praying for her but she seems to be doing really well, and will be able to stay at the MTC, though she may have to leave for korea a little bit after us depending on her recovery. Otherwise though things are awesome.

I gave a talk on sunday in korean!!! It went really well actually and I was pretty excited about it! Sister Foy also spoke and she did a really good job as well. I am really having a blast for the most part but a really hard blast :). I am learning tons and I cannot wait to go to korea! Though, I am sure when we are ready to leave I will think I need more time at the MTC! It is so awesome here, but I can't wait for some bi bim bop!!! Being a missionary is great, I can tell that the people in my district will be my best friends forever and I love it!

You are all awesome and I am so excited every time I get a letter from any of you!

I love you,

Sister Corinne Bauer

Tuesday, October 4, 2011 10:51 AM

Family and stuff,
Last Week
Hiya folks! I'm a missionary... suprise! (rebekizzle style) learning korean is tough but man , it is great! I have heard tale that it is the second hardest language in the MTC, second only to finnish. So you know, I'm a genius. As I wrote this email out on paper first I watched a curious encounter amongst birds. These two cute little finches walked diagnally toward one another then knd of danced around as if to say hello but then walked away seperately without acknowledging that anything had happened. These are the kinds of things you notice on pday when you are so used to always being busy and are suddently confronted with free time.

My dear companion has come up with a list of ways you know you are a missionary: 1. you always talk as if you are praying (I need thy help) 2. your spirit overcomes your body and you run into things without knowing and drool in your sleed (I would never do that but she does :)) 3.you laugh about everything 4. you get so excited that you want to cry about mud pudding with worms. 5. you forget what things like cell phones, google, and facebook even are.

We have time every day for tall (technology assisted langauge learning) which sis dub (w) and I abouid like the plague. we do this by going to choir and we reward ourselves when we actually use tall by watching mormon messages and I am a mormon clips! So cool, you should watch them!
Sister washburn is the best story teller ever. She has made up stories that play like movies in my head as she tells them. We tell stories every pday and i know all kinds of things that I can hold over her head later.

We heard from russel M nelson on tuesday adn it was great! on sunday we heard from a guy who told about using drinking fountains at church to spray kids in the face and then related himself to satan! Awesome!

This week!!!

This past week has been intense! lots of hard work and sadly illness which is now mostly gone. Funny story: friday before class i was feeling so sick and we were walking to class, I started to cry. Then my teacher, brother anderson, yelled boo to scare me, saw that I was crying and asked me waht was wrong. Anyway he got the elders to give me a blessing and I returned to bed for three or four hours and woke up much improved!
The older district leaves in a week and so do the native koreans that got here only like a week ago! Sisters Knapp and Gonparev though are headed to seoul so I will see them agian.

I only have 8 weeks left here, only 8 weeks left with sis dub as my companion! She is already one of my best friends and heros. How lucky I am. I love being a missionary, i never thought i would but I do!

Conference was amazing, as a missionary everything becomes applicable. we learned so much but there was a lot of sitting without couches or snacking! President Monson must have given all of his talks directly to me, sorry everyone else!@

Sunday's fireside we heard from Chad lewis, he is from orem and played football, he was an awesome speaker.

Sis dub and i call ourselves eachothers strange disabilities, but we love acho other so it is okay! in one week we will be the only korean district and a week after that we will get new missionaries who will laughably think that our korean is great!
We had a very discouraging lesson on wednesday when we tried to explain the preexistance, bro anderson acting as our investiagator said that he thought satans plan was better when we asked him. we finally were able to convince him that jesus had it right when he asked us to explain a word which we did not understand... it ended up meaning agency and we explained, as soon as that crisis was averted I accidentally told him that we can become like god. He being methodist got super upset and said that wasnt possible. We told him to pray about it and the lesson was over. The next lesson with him went very well, we just found out his expectations and answered his questions. He told us that he loves his family and the book of mormon but that he knows they will hate him if he joins the church and god will if he doesn't. we didn't have an answer to that so we told him to ask god.
Our investigator for brother ball is super easy (bro ball goes easy on us, praise the lord) we were able to commit him to keep the word of wisdom even though he has qualms about green tea that we couldn't resolve.

As a missionary I have been able to see my own talents grow and strehgthen. It said they wouid in my patriarchal blessing and now i am watching it come true! Everyone here is very appreciative of talents.

There is an elder that is friendswith sis dub from before and now is my friend. He is going to chile, leaves next week and is an awesome missionary. I know that skyler and forrest would both be awesome like him and even better if (and when) they serve missions and even in regular life.

the elders in my class are awesome! Elder Robinson went to west point and was in the army he got special permission to leave for a mission! Elder greer is adopted from thailand, he lived in an orphanage there until he was 4 and he is awesome, always singing, and a great example.

Sister gonparev calls me sister baby, because of my quilts and stuffed animals. I love it! She is from Mongolia! the other day i asked her if since i am sister baby she is sister grandma, she happened to be drinking at the time and spewed water all over the table! It was so funny. she is only 21.

I will write more about my friends here in my letter for I am running short on time! I love you guys so much! You make me proud to be a missionary, I can't wait to be home, but more than that I cannot wait to be in Korea!!!! It is coming soon and so sweet!!!!!

Love you,
Sister Corinne Bauer
MTC Mailbox 161
Kor-Seo 1121
2005 N 900 E
Provo UTah 84604
(especially for becky!
and aubree, i sent you mail to your parents... i hope you got it)

Tuesday, September 20, 2011 10:07 AM

Week Two

Tuesday, September 20, 2011 10:07 AM

Hi!
My dear Family and Friends!!!
I love being a missionary! I know that so far I am only at the MTC and am only teaching fake investigators, but still it feels good! Sister Washburn and I are really learning to work together synergetically as we strive to feel the spirit and work to meet the needs of our two investigators. We teach two lessons in Korean everyday, and it seems stressful but once we are in the lesson we find it easy to do what needs to be done and to help our investigators feel the spirit! It is so wonderful to be here feeling the spirit all of the time. We find ourselves singing hymns almost always and for the most part we are never unhappy. We just had a native Korean move into our room with us and another will be moving in tonight! It was so exciting, and despite the still large language barrier we are able to really help and love this sister. It will be awesome to see how having her in our district will improve the language skills of a ll of us.
I was so excited to get packages and letters this week! It is so awesome to be able to feel the love of all of you from home while I am here at the mtc. It is so weird to me that the MTC is in provo, it feels like a secret land that exists in a different world. Whenever I have opportunity to be outside the gates, I am suprised to think how close I am to home!

Sister Washburn, is so awesome! She is nice to everyone, and impossible not to love! She is five foot nine and super thin so we make a really good team and a visually interesting pair. We have so much fun laughing together. We spend our Pdays telling eachother stories about our lives and learning more about one another. We are both very similar and very different. We even harmonize together. I don{t know if I told you last week, but in title at least I am senior companion, and at six weeks we will trade. It is nice to be able to always have one person make the final decision when we are feeling indecisive, except that that person is me.

The other companionship in our room is composed of Sisters Evans and Rovelsky. They are both really awesome and we all get along very well. Sister Evans is from Canada and she is a French teacher! Sister Rovelsky is from Ohio and her dad through up on Mitt Romney while serving his mission. She also believes in the illuminati and it is so funny to hear her passionately talking about JZ and Beyonce forming a secret combination. I love them both so much. I am sure that as I get to know the other two sisters who moved in yesterday and today I will love them just as much! They will only be here for three weeks though, but maybe I will see them in Korea!

We have two teachers now, and two schedulre class time each day. One of the teachers Brother Ball is from New Zealand and he sounds like Jermaine. I think of Flight of the Conchords like every day. He is really awesome and a great teacher. He is also now acting as one of our investigators but when he does he never breaks character. He also pretends like he has no idea what we taught our investigator in class. It is really funny because he is not a very good liar, so even if we couldn{t see him when we taught him we would still know.

Our other teacher, Brother Anderson is also really awesome. He started out as our first investigator and we didn{t know that he would be our teacher. It was really funny though because he was supposed to be korean but he is obviously a caucasian man. Still, every time we went in to teach a lesson with him I found myself believing that he was korean. It was so funny though because in our last lesson with him sister WAchburn called him sister and we found out that we had been calling him the wrong name the whole time. It was so funny! Now he teaches us once a day and he acts as a new investigator as well. The original investigator he acted as got baptized, or at least that is what they tell us.

Last tuesday elder Russel M. Ballard and his wife spoke to us in the devotional! It was really awesome. There is something special about being in the same room as a general authority. I loved it so much! On sunday President wilkins and his wife spoke to us, I didn{t know who they were before, but I do now! They were both so personable and I want his wife to be my best friend. She had a laugh that melted me! I learned about saying things melt me from Sister Wachburn.

The temple today was really awesome, I felt the spirit so strongly. I love my heavenly father and I can feel his love for me. I am so excited to be a missionary and to be able to share his love with the world. I know that my savior loves me, I also know that he loves each of us. I know that his atonement was both infinite and intimate, and that through his atonement he is with us every single second, because I know that he experienced everything we experience. Every action we take, he is there with, feeling what we feel and suffering the pains of repentance and the joys of our love, even when we don{t realize that he is there. He loves us so very much and I am so very grateful to him.

I love you all and I am so happy that I know you. You are all amazing, expect letters soon!
Love,
Sister Corinne BAuer

Thursday, September 15, 2011

Week one: done!

Madre and Padre, brothers, and my future devoted blog readers,
This letter is mostly to you mom and dad, and of course skyler and forrest! I cannot believe that I have already been here a week. The first few days seemed to take for ever but now the first week is almost over and it seems like I just got here yesterday! My Korean teacher is awesome! His name is brother ball and he is from new Zealand which reminds me of course of flight of the concords but also makes me think that I will speak korean with an New Zealandish accent! In class our teacher speaks only Korean except when we have coaching time. It has been a really awesome experience learning the language and we all seem to be picking it up really quickly. We learned the alphabet and can now read, all be it slowly!!! My companion is named Sister Washburn and she is the best! We are almost always laughing which is awesome but we also get a lot done. We have already taught 4 lessons in Korean!!!! It is kind of stressful but we have been very successful and our investigator (he is really a volunteer who is definitely american but I almost believe he is really Korean everytime, he was actually in my companions ward) is really sweet. We also have two other sisters in our room, Sister Rovelsky and Sister Evans, they are so awesome and the 4 of us are all going to seoul! We are the seoul sisters! In our district there are three elders and 10 sisters, and in our zone there are an additional 4 elders and 6 sisters. It is pretty unusual for a district or zone to have more sisters than elders and even more unusual that the elders are so vastly outnumbered. Our branch president is President Shinn, he and is wife are Korean and they are so amazing! I already love them and especially their smiles. The MTC president sat by Washburn Chamae neem (I dont know how to type in characters yet) and I during lunch yesterday and it was super awesome, he is so kind.
The food at the MTC is really great! We have been able to try a bunch of different things but the desserts and chocolate milk is the best! I will write more about the food in my paper letter when i do not have a timer counting down each and every second. We have gym five days a week and it is really fun, there is a lot to do and plenty of time to try everything.
Sunday was the most wonderful day, the spirit was so strong, which was good because I really needed the lift. Some people were even getting emotional about exercise, which was ridiculous! I am so grateful to have made it to pday!!!
I was able to go to the temple today which was really great although I had to wake up extra early! I am so glad we got to go and eat in the temple cafeteria which was really nice as well. We can now pray, bare our testimonies, and read Korean which seems so amazing to me. We also can say a lot of random things that we bring up whenever we can.
I thought I would let you guys know that I forgot to end my disney movie club account, so if you could help me with that as soon as the next letter from them comes that would be awesome! My membership number will be in the letter and I think you will just be able to reset the username and password and log in as a new user because my account was reset!
Sorry for that tangent but I thought that should be taken care of promptly!
Make sure that Javi gets his stuff at some point and if you see him tell him to write me! I welcome letters from anyone!!! I love getting them, they really brighten my days and remind me that I haven{t always lived at the mtc. I hope that everything is going terrifically for everyone! I love you all so much and I miss you! I know that I am doing the right thing and that our whole family will be blessed because of it. Make sure to let sandy, grandma, sarah, and other family members know my address so that I can begin writing wthem as well! I am so glad to be here at the MTC and so grateful that I have the support of all of you at home. Tell Jed that his picture is already inspiring me and the other sisters in my room.
I am so excited to hear from all of you soon and I will be emailing next week and writing letters later today. I love you all so very much!
I have like three more minutes so I will just say that I am so happy here and glad that I made this decision, I cannot believe that I am actually learning Korean and that eventually I will almost only speak it! It is such an amazing experience to see the growth we are all experiencing! The four of us in our room are all so close already we definitely couldnt have been luckier! I am sorry about the lack of capitalization and apostrophes, the keyboard is being psycho! I love you so much, the days will quickly pass before we are together again, I know it.
Love,
sister bauer
(mom, I think you can still call me corinne, or you might think you are talking to yourself)