Three's a Crowd

7/22-28Monday was quite the PDAY... Since 김 자매님 has joined our companionship, I have had a hard time adjusting to the new dynamic. Today we took forever trying to decide on a place to email. Here in Korea they have a bunch of 'PC lounges' which is where they have tons of computers and you only pay a dollar or two an hour to use them. In the Daejeon mission we were advised not to goto places like that because they are dimly lit and typically in scary places. However, some elders go in the mornings when hardly anyone is there so 김 자매님 wanted to give it a try. We ended up wasting over an hour just walking around some of the scariest street I've ever walked in Korea. It became very apparent that we should just stick with our usual spot at the city center.

By the time we finished emailing, we were starving! 윤 자매님 and I normally don't eat lunch before we email because then we are less tempted to stay longer than we are supposed to haha. But this week because of all the wasted time, it was 3PM and we still hadn't eaten anything- wah. 김 자매님 received a gift of $100 from her aunt before she met her first set of companions. Her aunt told her to treat us to a nice meal- so we went to Pizza Hut. I find it pretty hilarious that Pizza Hut here is more like a sit down restaurant and borderline fancy... It's Pizza Hut! haha anyway, we ate salad and pizza and had a good time together. When we finished eating, we had just enough PDAY time left to go shopping for the new missionary. She has yet to unpack so I am scared to see the amount of stuff she is going to have including all the extra stuff she picked up today.

We dropped off the groceries at home and quickly got back on a bus to head to our only appointment for the day. Unfortunately, it was cancelled literally 3 minutes after we got on the bus. Lame! Luckily we got a call from a struggling single adult in the ward immediately after the cancelation. She wanted to meet with us at the church- she seems lonely so I figured she just wanted someone to talk to. We were available, so it worked out. We talked for an hour. She was very sad and cried a lot. I didn't know what was wrong so I just gave her a big hug after and told her I loved her.

To end PDAY, we had our normal daily planning. It took a while to explain everything to 김 자매님 because we kept being interrupted with calls from investigators and leaders. Before we knew it, it was 10:30PM- time for bed. I was finishing up writing in my planner when 김 자매님 suddenly turned off all the lights... Rude. She wants so bad to be exactly obedient, which I respect (and I want to be that too) so I dropped what I was doing and went straight to my bed. Once there, the new missionary stressed the importance of exact obedience. I told her I was on the same page but she took it upon herself to scold me for retiring to bed late (...I wonder if I was even a whole minute late -___-). Not only that but she told me I was breaking rules by listening to music and other stuff. I kindly informed her of the different rules that are in the MTC and in the field. Bless her heart, she didn't believe me. To say the least I was getting annoyed. The last straw was her comment, "I'm sure you're trying to be a good missionary but I think you should really try harder to be exactly obedient." Was she implying that I was not being obedient? I was super shocked! I told her that is was not her place to interpret rules for me. I am a very obedient missionary but her idea of obedience is far stricter than what we are asked to be. I hope this doesn't become a bigger issue in the future... Not a super great end to my day.Tuesday morning I prayed super hard to have patience with 김 자매님, I really didn't want last nights disagreement to be a hinderance on the work we have to do. My prayer was answered! We completed our studies and even worked well as we planned the lessons we were teaching for the day. Our first lesson was with a potential investigator that was a 소개 (referral) from 이정숙S- my Korean mother. This ladies name is 박미현S, she is married and has an adorable 5 month old baby girl. The whole meeting consisted of socializing and introducing our church through the 'How to Begin Teaching' lesson. 이 자매님 is her nanny so she was there for the appointment- It went really well! She is now our newest investigator!!

Right after, we left to meet 김동은B and his mother 최윤정S. As soon as we arrived the 최 자매님 had kimchee Korean pancakes for us to eat- yum! As we ate she began apologizing profusely. Last night her husband got pretty drunk and called my first district leader, 저 장로님 (Elder Cho). The call lasted about an hour and mostly consisted of him cursing and accusing him of having bad intentions of letting us sister missionaries teach his son. After the phone call last night the mother asked her son what he thought, if he thought we had ill intentions. He strongly disagreed with his father and said that he really loves meeting with us. That really meant a lot because 김동은B is very soft spoken and is very loyal to his parents, so the fact he had an opinion AND voiced it was surprising to me. When she told us that, I melted a little. ^^ 김동은B is the best 15 year old kid I have ever met. He is brilliant and an angel! For example, last time we met I was explaining the meaning of a word and I used Justin Beiber in the sentence. He understood but changed the subject by talking about the respect he has for Justin's talent but not his life style now. I cannot help but smile when I teach him because he is just so pure!!Anyway, after the apology, our lesson began. The English was fun as usual. Consequently the vocabulary and conversation questions in the book revolved around health and the dangers of tobacco and alcohol. While I taught, my companions got caught up in a conversation with the mother. Even though we were all sitting around the same table, 김동은B and I were about to speak a little more freely about what we think of this topic, considering the situation that just occurred with his dad. Here in Korea, every man smokes and drinks. It is so rare for any man not to. Even in the mandated military time, a lot of guys that are against it, are forced to. Referring back to a little bit of the culture that I explained in Elder Erekson's training a few weeks ago, if someone older than you tells you to do something, you don't have a choice but to do it. 김동은B looked really sad when a question talked about peer pressure. I have full confidence in him that he will never do anything he strongly disagrees with even if his peers or seniors pressure or order him to. However, I think he knows how much stress and bullying that will cause in the future. I love this kid SO much. I keep him in my prayers on a daily basis. As our time was running out, we quickly taught the 10 commandments. We made it a fun visual lesson that both of them enjoyed. This family is so solid... maybe not the dad at the moment, but I have faith.

Wednesday seemed to be another waste. After a good district meeting, the missionaries in our ward stayed to make a new English flyer. We are redesigning the program so we need a better flyer. Me and 윤 자매님 were the only ones that seriously worked on it. The other missionaries were goofing off and having ping pong tournaments. It was annoying but we finished! When we did, it was time for dinner. Us sisters went home, mostly because I was tired of dealing with the elders. The elders are fun but today felt like another waste. I want to work while I'm here! Anyway, English class started at 7:30. Since students are on vacation for the next month or so, only one girl showed up to my class. Normally she is pretty shy but today was more comfortable and participated more! It was fun to teach her. I wanted to stay and talk to her more since she was opening up, but there was no time. Since tomorrow morning my companions and I were going to the Seoul temple, we needed to leave for the 부 (pronounced boo, shortened from 반부 which means the mission home) because that is where we were spending the night.

On our way, we had an interesting experience. We have to take two different subway lines to arrive, once in the second line there were seats open! I was so happy to be able to sit down, but don't worry it was ruined by a creep. As we sat, a man boarded the subway. I accidentally made eye contact with him... He came over and asked, "USA?" When I nodded yes we put his knuckles out for me to pound it. I though it was funny. Soon we got to talking and he took a seat next to me and my companions. In no time we was acting like a weirdo. 김 자매님 held up the Book of Mormon and asked him if he had ever heard about it. Before she finished her sentence he said that he reads it everyday. It was an odd response from a man that had never heard of our church 5 seconds before. Next he began talking all about how he went to a catholic school and how nuns taught him a lot. 김 자매님 said, "wow that's great!" ...or something like it in Korean ha. He then went on the tell us that he raped 4 of them. Uhhhhh..... WHAT?! In case you couldn't guess, that was our cue to leave. Immediately we all stood up and said, it was nice meeting you but we have to go now. The subway was approaching a stop so we stood as close to the doors as possible and the second they opened, we took a run for it. We had to run fast because we still needed to be on that same subway so we ran about ten cars down and reboarded before the doors closed again. CREEPY!! I'm just grateful that Seoul is such a crowded place and we weren't alone on the subway with him. Anyway, we got away and made it safely to the 부 just before 10:30PM. 

All hail to air conditioning.

When we arrived, we were greeted by both of the AP's and President and Sister Morrise. They had made us a snack of Korean pears, cinnamon rolls, and plenty of water to try and counteract the humidity- yum!! We ate pretty quickly and left to get ready for bed. The mission home is SO NICE! In our room we had our own AIR CONDITIONING unit!! I am 100% sure that is what heaven will feel like haha... but seriously if was amazing. Oh and there were normal beds to sleep in with fluffy pillows. I think it's pretty funny because I am is a very westernized country but still the normal things like a bed and AC are foreign here- or at least in the dinky missionary apartments haha. All in all, I slept SO well.
Thursday when we woke up, I was sad to have to get out of the bed knowing I would probably never sleep in it again haha. Dramatic? Nah... but I almost overreacted haha. We left the house with President and his wife at 7AM to head to the Seoul temple! It was only about an hour drive before we arrived! The temple was a lot smaller in person than what I expected from seeing pictures. Despite the size, it was still beautiful! It reminds me a lot of the Dallas, TX temple- which made me remember when I went there with Andrea, Jay, and Stacie Marks, miss them! They were the first people to introduce me to Korean markets and food. I love that family!

The temple was beautiful and so peaceful. I am very grateful for the opportunity to go now that I am in the Seoul South mission. When our session was over, we hopped on a subway to head home. It was so long but luckily no weirdos like last night haha. Once we arrived at our stop, we met the 신풍 자매님들 (Shinpoong Sisters) for a split. Sister Hendricks came with me and 김 자매님 as 윤 자매님 left with 한 자매님. Unfortunately all of our appointments cancelled so since I was senior for the day, it was up to me to make a plan. It was a fun day. We tried visiting less actives and 전도ed. Not a ton of success but we had some good conversations. We are just planting seed, so it was a good day. It ended with my favorite Korean dessert, 팥빙수! I love 팥빙수!!

Friday was a slow day. We had one appointment with a part-member couple. It is a 할머니 and 할아버지 (grandma and grandpa). The wife is 74 and still a solid member of the church. When we spoke to her at church last Sunday, she began to cry and asked us to please teach her husband. Her husband is the only member of the family that is not baptized. It was heartbreaking to she 유인순S cry, so we prepared a message and made our way to her house. Turns out, she told him we were coming and he split. So sad! She felt bad so she fed us lunch which gave us a good opportunity to get to know her a little better. We heard the story of when she met her husband for the first time, as well as her conversion story. She is a neat lady! Since we had prepared a cute message card to give her husband, we left it with her and shared a quick spiritual thought. It was a short but sweet lesson. 유 자매님 is uhh-dorable. Wait until you see pictures!

It was time to unsplit so 유 자매님 walked us to the bus stop to see us off. By the time we arrived back home, 윤 and 한 자매님 had been waiting about 30 minutes.. Whoops. It wasn't a big deal though because the rest of our day was scheduled to be our weekly planning time. This weeks planning went a lot better than last week. 윤 자매님 asked me to lead it because she is convinced I'll go senior next transfer. I don't want to be a senior companion but if I have to, I really hope my companion speaks the language because I'm still struggling. Anyway, for planning we are allotted a 3 hour block. I got us finished in 2. ^^ I was happy that we had extra time to go out and work today! After we ate a quick dinner, we were able to 전도. Every Friday is recycling day too, so on our way out we took out all of our trash (it was a lot since were received new furniture for the greenie). I will take a picture of this process one of these days but the Korean recycling system is pretty weird to me. They are pretty serious about organizing their trash... Not just a recycling bin like you see in America, but like 7 different bins for plastics, styrofoam, glass, paper, food ect. I think it's disgusting but they probably really benefit from it just because their country is so small- no room for landfills of wasted space. Bleh! After we organized the trash, we got to work. Not a lot of success but it felt good to work. It was a good way to end the day.

Saturday was alright. We had an appointment with a lady we met on a bus a few PDAY's ago. She lives pretty far but she insisted on meeting us instead of the elders in her area. It took over an hour by subway to arrive. She is in her 70's and the friend she brought along, was about the same. They both seem to be part of some Christian church but they didn't say which. I was skeptical about their intentions but we proceeded to teach the 1st lesson about the restoration of this gospel. I thought I did an okay job teaching about Joseph Smith because they looked pretty interested. Turns out, when I finished they said they couldn't understand a word... My companions retaught what I tried to teach as well as finished the lesson without anymore help from me. It's pretty discouraging being in a companionship with two fluent missionaries. Ever since 김 자매님 came, it's like I don't exist most of the time. I'm used to not understanding conversations around me but I at least had my companion to talk to.  After the lesson I didn't say a word on the way home... My companions were too busy laughing and enjoying themselves to notice. I really dislike the dynamic of three missionaries in one companionship. I initially thought I would have double the practice with Korean- unfortunately I have less the ever.

I'll stop whining now. Our day ended playing badminton with 서은영S and her son. They played against my two companions while I sat out- whose shocked? I sat on the bench and just read, trying not to act sad. Apparently it was pretty obvious because a complete stranger (a man about 45) came over to talk to me. He spoke pretty good English and asked me what I was reading. I showed him the cover of the Book of Mormon both in English and in Korean. He nodded and asked if I came to play badminton, I said yes and pointed to the court with my companions. He then very politely asked if I would play with him. It was an odd request but we played a short game on the court next to my companions. He laughed at me mostly and naturally I lost. After, he thanked me and told me that I looked "very gorgeous" haha. That may sound super awkward but here, Korean people are just genuinely nice as well as very blunt about their opinions. I'm staying humble but you wouldn't believe how many 할머니s (grandmas) stop me to tell me how pretty I am- they literally cut me off and grab my face or my arm if they can't reach my face haha. Speaking of which, on the bus ride home, the lady sitting behind me would not stop touching and taking about my hair- she loved how thin and smooth it was. Saying thank you to all these compliments is getting boring so instead, I just told her that I use conditioner. She laughed and said she should buy some haha. If was a funny ending to a semi downer day.

Sunday pretty standard. Church was great. Sacrament meeting was pretty cool because we got to hear from the Seoul temple president and his wife. The topic was the plan of salvation. They both focused on the purpose of this life. Specifically, they both used the following two scriptures from the Book of 

Mormon:Alma 33:32 which says, "For behold, this life is the time for men to prepare to meet God; yea, behold the day of this life is the day for men to perform their labors."Alma 42:4 "And thus we see, that there was a time granted unto man to repent, yea, a probationary time, a time to repent and serve God."

They did a great job. In Sunday school, the topic was similar but focused more on the creation of this world. The whole universe and everything inside it was created with much thought and love. After the lessons today, I was reminded of how precious our life's are and how grateful I am to have a Father in Heaven that cares so much! I feel so blessed!! After church, the ward had ate lunch together. Again, the Relief Society made a huge meal and fed the whole ward (I think it was in honor of having the Temple President and his wife in attendance). We ate delicious curry and took a bunch home with us- yum!Earlier this week while 전도ing we ran into a couple Pacific Islander's from New Zealand, Manu (Tongan) and Samantha (Neuayen). They are both college graduates teaching English at academies here. Today we set up a time to get together. I was so excited to socialize and potentially teach in English. They met us at the chapel and we semi showed them around. We had planned to introduce our basic beliefs but they have already seen and known Mormons in New Zealand- some of their families are even members! They didn't seem interested in our message so we just talked and religion came up naturally. It was a good conversation but not much came from it. We will invite them to church on Sunday though. The evening ended with a little 전도 and our studies. I love productive yet relaxing Sundays!

Every week seems to be filled with ups and downs. Missionary work is tough but also very rewarding. I am very grateful to be here serving The Lord. I know this church is true. And I know that the Book of Mormon is the fullness of the Gospel that we need in order to return to our Father in Heaven one day. I love you all. 사랑해요!  

Stressful Week

7/15-22... Roller coaster week!

Monday was another lazy PDAY. The elders from the zone went to Seoul to play basketball and most of the sisters went shopping. 윤 자매님 and I had no interest in either. Instead we cleaned the apartment, wrote letters, emailed, and ate delicious food. It was nice just having a chance to talk and get to know each other a little more. She really is such a genuine person, so innocent and an angel in everyone's eyes. People remind me ALL THE TIME how great she is. I wonder if they forget that we are literally together 24/7 so... I'm very aware haha. Anyway, it was a fun day together.

Our PDAY ended a little early due to an appointment we had previously scheduled. This was with a mother and her two daughters, 구지은S (6th grade) and 구도현S (4th grade). We taught them a few weeks ago, but the past two weeks they cancelled last minute; needless to say we were eager to see them again. The girls are so adorable and so smart! You can tell there is a sibling rivalry between them but that doesn't stop them from helping each other - it is so sweet to see. Today we decided to play a game for the English portion of our lesson. I chose a page from their books that we were using and told them to choose 10 vocabulary words. Next, 윤 자매님 and I prepared some cards that were labeled with one of the three topics: who, what, when. After randomly choosing one card from each category, they had to choose a vocabulary word and tell us a story. Typically we just free talk with other, but with kids it is like pulling teeth so we thought this would be fun- and it was! Even the mother participated, it was great. Once our 30 minutes were up we transitioned to our gospel message. After the prayer we began teaching the Restoration (1st lesson). In case you forgot, I don't know Korean, so I stumbled through the sections I prepared to talk about. After every sentence I completed, the youngest daughter would clap and flash me a reassuring smile. It was cute, but I feel so lame!! I just want to be able to teach, because I know the things I am teaching are true. I feel like as I stumble through it, it sounds like it’s the first time I'm relaying the message - so frustrating! But we did it and committed them to reading the Book of Mormon (we gave the kids the Books of Mormon story to read). Hopefully, they do! They are the cutest family and would fit right in with the awesome ward we have.

Tuesday was a really hard day. A lot of things went really well, but it was the little things that brought me down. Our only lesson for the day was with the mother and son; 김동은B and 최윤정S. They are seriously the best. All of our investigators are progressing and doing so great and these two especially - they are two of my favorites we teach. Like I've said before, the son is an angel and just absorbs information. I have no doubt that they will be baptized one day. The English portion was a lot of fun. 김동은B is practicing his pronunciation (because he thinks that awful plane crash in San Francisco was due to Koreans struggle with R and L pronunciation ha) so we are now reading 'Sherlock Holmes' out loud, together. Like I said, it was a lot of fun! Next was our gospel message. We began teaching the 4th lesson about commandments. When it came my turn to talk, I totally choked! I am trying a new way of building sentences in my mind, BUT today all it did was mess me up. I was 5 seconds away from tears before the mother gave me some encouragement and told me she was understanding. That was nice of her, but GOSH, I was so upset with myself. 윤 자매님 finished up while I sat there in embarrassment. When we left, I had a full-on break down. Of course I tried to hide it by staring at the ground, but I'm sure each person we passed on the street saw the alligator tears running down my cheeks as we walked by. I stayed a few paces behind my companion as I followed her to a members house. 남궁회종S had asked us to stop by and pick up food she wanted to give us. She is so thoughtful! When we arrived, my attempted to hide my blotchy face and red eyes failed. She insisted on making us a big bowl of 팥빙수. Of course it was delicious and I was very grateful. When we left, I couldn't help but cry again... It's embarrassing, but I was feeling so helpless and like such a failure. I know the language will come and I know I have to be patient, but it was seeming impossible. All I want to do is teach what I know and share my thoughts; I'll even settle for having a basic conversation- but I'm not there yet. All in all, I felt pretty defeated. To end this lovely evening, we met the elders at the church to share the food we had just received. We ended up cooking some ramen noodles and eating dinner together. It was funnish. They are pretty funny so it was nice to laugh after feeling so low.

Wednesday, I woke up still a little sad and discouraged. After our regular studies, we left for district meeting and on our way out, I received a letter from my father. He knows how hard of a time I am having with learning the language and this letter offered the advice and comfort I needed. Before district meeting, we are given 30 minutes to spiritually prepare- most people socialized or read their scriptures. I read my fathers letter over and over. Each time I read, I cried. I feel so blessed to have a father that puts so much time and effort into helping and supporting me. He reassured me that I am not here to learn Korean, rather I am here to share the gospel. Whether I do that through my smile, my broken Korean, or by serving- it doesn't matter. I could go on, but in short I'll say, my dad is the best! He and I think a lot alike so when it comes to advice, his is always exactly what I need. Thanks papa ^^

When our prep time was over, the meeting began. Since transfers happened, we have a new district leader, 김재겸 장로님 (you can call him Elder Kim). He is from the same hometown and ward as my companion, 윤 자매님. He is such a funny guy and a great missionary! I am happy he is here serving in the same ward as me. For training, he wanted to focus on our investigators. He asked every companionship to come up and talk about one investigator. This is the time when we can ask advice and get ideas of how to teach from the other missionaries. Along with that, we were asked to share a miracle that we saw this week. It was a good training- I learned a lot about how to approach different situations. When the meeting ended, the 신갈 missionaries left and the 곡반정 missionaries stayed. Since we had a few new missionaries, we needed to have meetings to fill them in on the structure for English class. I took charge and it was over quickly but THEN we needed to have another meeting together... Our ward had an activity planned for Saturday where the youth were performing songs and stuff. Us missionaries decided to do a skit. We decided on acting out the story about King Noah and Abinadi, found in Mosiah chapters 11-19 of the Book of Mormon. It took FOREVER but we wrote a script. But guess what? When we finished, it was time for dinner. We walked down the street and ate some delicious pork soup stuff then headed back to the chapel for English class. Goodbye Wednesday! I didn't like that we basically spent the whole day in the chapel, but it was mostly productive so oh well...

For English class I taught my regular class- we read half of the 8th chapter from 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory'. It went really well. Directly after, us missionaries left in an attempt to get home on time. Did that happen? No! 윤 자매님 and I just hopped on the closest bus, not taking too much time to check if it went directly to our destination. FAIL! Apparently, our destination would eventually be reached but in a very round about way... When we realized that, we were already an couple extra blocks away from our house. Oh well... We just decided to get off and walk. We walked fast and were barely late. It was annoying that we had to walk so far but 윤 자매님 and I laughed the whole way home. It ended up being a fun night.

Before we went to bed, we got a weird text from the AP's saying... "How big is your apartment? How many people can live there?" Uhh.. It is a decent size, but I don't think there is much room for another companionship to move in! Scared. I quickly forgot about the text and went straight to bed.

Thursday was CRAZY! During planning the night before, we realized that we had a very busy day ahead of us. Last week we found out that today was our zones scheduled day to attend the Seoul temple together. We were sad, but we chose to reschedule the awesome opportunity. Even though I was bummed, I felt so strongly that we shouldn't reschedule our appointment. Turns out, there was a reason for that... we saw so many miracles!!

Our day began when we met 정준녀S (the bishops wife), 남기환B, and 남해리S (brother and sister) for lunch. We went to a raw fish Korean restaurant that 정 자매님 said came highly recommended. It was pretty fancy so I trusted the food even though it was raw and most things had eyeballs haha. It was a new experience and I was happy to have four natives there to guide me haha. When lunch ended we had to meet our atheist investigator, 서은영S. The bishops wife came with us. Like always, we went to a cafe and ordered delicious drinks. After we socialized to practice English free talking, we moved onto our gospel message. Today it was about God's love and recognizing His love through the spirit. Since we have invited her to read and pray daily, we wanted to help her understand the feelings she may have, so she can better learn and find answers that she is seeking. I shared all of the ways I felt the spirit and the bishops wife shared her powerful conversion story. It was a great appointment and I'm glad we didn't miss it. We left her with the challenge of daily effort. Even though we have invited her to read and pray daily- we wanted to emphasize that that was the only way she can come to know an answer.

After the appointment, our cell phone rang... If you aren't already sitting, take a seat. President Morrise was on the phone. The temple session had just ended and he was calling to tell us, 윤 자매님 and I would no longer be the only two sisters serving in 곡반정 ward. In addition to us, he had sent his wife to bring 김천 자매님 to create a tri-panionship. A THREE-SOME! We were going to become a threesome!! When the information was relayed to me, I may have echoed the news in a louder-more shocked voice haha. Not only that, but we were only given an hour notice before we were asked to greet her at a bus station... Totally shocked! If you would prefer to stand up now, feel free- the big news is over haha. Also for future reference, I am not a fan of referring to three missionaries serving together a threesome or tripanionship. I think it sounds retarded and weird so I will just refer to it as a companionship, mmkay?

윤 자매님 and I hopped on a bus to meet up with Sister Kim and Morrise. Since President Morrise was planning to visit elders in our zone, Sister Morrise decide to join our newly formed companionship for the day. I was thrilled to have the unique opportunity to serve with her! When we finally met, we only had a short walk across a crosswalk to introduce ourselves. After stating my name, I quickly transitioned to talking about the investigator we were scheduled to meet in exactly 3 minutes. It was stressful! So many things were happening all at once!

We walked into the appointment just in time to meet 김선혜S in the youth center where we always meet. We gave her a little notice (basically as much as we had) of the extra missionaries that would be coming. Surprisingly, she was so excited! She walked in with a huge smile on her face saying, "ahh so many people!" The new greenie and Sister Morrise introduced themselves and 김선혜S was so happy to meet and get to know them. Once we got started, the English portion of the lesson was fun but the gospel portion was wayy better! Sit back down- this was a miracle lesson!

We began teaching the 4th lesson about commandments. I started by talking about the principle of obedience. Next I asked the greenie, 김 자매님 to talk about the commandment of prayer. She did an awesome job! As she taught, she bore testimony and shared experiences and asked everyone else to do the same. The spirit was unbelievably strong! I went on to share about the awful day I had just had. I told her that that night I pleaded to my Father in Heaven on my knees, asking for help and comfort. I explained the immediate feeling I felt, was similar to the feeling of a hug- as if my Father in Heaven wrapped His arms around me, telling me everything was going to be okay. 김선혜S began to cry. She told us that she envies other cultures because they hug others so freely and Korean culture doesn't hug (It is so rare and when I do give or receive hugs, it's as if I'm hugging a dead fish... very awkward). Through her tears she told me that she wanted to experience that feeling. Sister Morrise immediately stood up and gave her a big hug. It was so sweet to see. 김선혜S went on to tell us that the relationship she has with her parents, wasn't good. She always wanted to be openly loving with them but never felt like it was okay. As she said that she looked at Sister Morrise and said, "Can I call you mom?" It was heartbreaking and so sweet at the same time. I promised her that if she sincerely prays, she will able to feel that same spirit and love that I felt from my Heavenly Father. The lesson came to a close when it was time for 김선혜S to leave and pick up her son. Naturally we all gave her a hug goodbye and challenged her to pray. She accepted and was very grateful for the love we showed her. Such an awesome lesson!!

I know for a fact that I did not relay that story as well as it actually happened, so I'm sorry. Just talk my word for it that it was powerful. Next, on our agenda was a dinner appointment with 형 자매님, a part member (her husband is a non-member) and less active family (the wife and two kids). When we gave her a heads up on the two extra missionaries that would be coming and she asked us to delay our arrival. To fill our time, we decided to 전도 (proselyte). We rock, paper, scissored to see who would pair off. Turns out- 윤 자매님 and I cannot be separated haha. It was a successful hour! Collectively we shared short messages with over 50 people. The hour flew by!

When we finally started making our way to the 식사 (meal/appointment), I had the opportunity to talk with Sister Morrise one-on-one. I really feel like I can be myself around her. I was talking and joking freely as if we had known each other for a long time. She is so knowledgeable too so I feel like I was able to learn so much just in our short walk. I love her!!

The appointment was great! We helped prepare the food (including making homemade noodles!) and got to know the family. After we ate, we had previously asked the mother to read a talk from the Liahona (a church magazine) and to share a short lesson. As she did, she focused mostly on baring her testimony to her children. She admitted her shortcomings but told them she was going to try harder to be better for them. It was a very sweet lesson. Before we transition to playing the game we prepared, Sister Morrise took the opportunity to share a brief testimony about the blessing of families and she told the children that they were very lucky to have such a wonderful mother. 형 자매니 was very appreciative of the compliment as she blushes and mostly disagreed. To end the visit, we played a fun game that was similar to cranium. It was great!

We had to quickly make our way home but naturally had to stop by Baskin Robins because today was so eventful and it needed to be celebrated. We got a big pint-size bowl and chose five flavors to fill it. Once home, we planned quickly to give us an opportunity to eat our ice cream before President Morrise came to pick his wife up. Sadly he arrived faster than expected- but don't worry we invited him to come in and join us. I just want you to imagine the threesome of young sister missionaries, the mission president and his wife sitting on the floor around a tiny Korean table, eating ice cream at 10PM. That does not happen. President Morrise told us all about his day as we finished off the delicious ice cream. It was so great! I feel so blessed to have had that opportunity to be more personable with these two amazing leaders! Miracle day!!

Friday I woke up after having a weird dream. Since this whole week has been like a roller coaster, my head has been spinning with ideas of wanting to come home and give up. Of course I would never do that but the thoughts were still there. Anyway, so the dream was a stressful one. I had arrived in Salt Lake City airport and I was on the escalator to be reunited with my family (now that my mission was over). It was a happy reunion until I was told I had to go straight to the Stake Presidents office to be released as a missionary. At that moment I was so upset. I hadn't felt like I had been an effective missionary yet! The rest of the dream was we running away from being released. That may sounds super funny to imagine but I for sure was so stressed when I finally woke up. I'm pretty sure that was God reassuring me that I am meant to be here and that I will become an effective teacher one way or another. It may sound silly but that was the extra push I needed to realize that I am capable of fulfilling my calling as a missionary. It was a great start to my day. For morning exercise we decided to run. Since I have the best sense of direction, I led. Before I knew it I was in my own world just thinking and enjoying the scenery around me. I came to a stop light and when I turned around to find my companions, there were like little dying ants wayy behind me. Whoops! Since missionaries are supposed to stay within sight and sound, the rest of our run was me trying to jog and them trying to keep up or catch up haha. It was fun nevertheless.

Once we got ready and completed our studies, we left for an appointment with our catholic investigator, 김정원S. The appointment started a little late due to introducing the new missionary in our companionship. English was fun, the Artie we discussed was about marriage requiring work and it not being like a fairy tale. 김전원S is recently divorced so she unloaded advise about men on us haha. It was funny. When we transitioned to talking about the gospel, we totally went off topic from our previous lesson plan. That's always okay to do, but I felt petty lost. However, for some radon amongst all of the Korean I didn't understand, I felt like I should say something. When I began talking, I first apologized if what I was about to say was off topic. But I had though I understood that 김정원S's mother thought that individuals each have a light about them that portrays a God-like feeling. So I said that I believe that God is our central light and we, as His children, are like little mirrors that simply reflect that light as we strive to become like His. Apparently my though fit right in so I was pleased to find that out after the fact. Anyways, the lesson went well. Like always, she had a lot of questions about what she is reading about in the Book of Mormon so time was limited. Soon it was time to go. As we locked up the chapel we realized that we were going to be late for our next appointment. We quickly hiked up our skits and took off running towards the nearest bus station. Very ladylike- I know.

Once in the bus, we had about 35 minutes until we would arrive at our destination. 윤 자매님 was busy doing call backs to set up appointments for the coming week so that left me and 김 자매님 on our own so we decided to 전도. We started up a few pretty awesome conversations and gave out a few flyers. Once the bus got pretty full 김 자매님 turned to me and said, I feel like I should talk to the whole back of the bus. I was shocked to say the least. To me 전도 is awkward and weird. The idea of approaching and continue to talk to people that do not want to talk to you is so uncomfortable. I normally ask if I can introduce myself so that it is not a forced conversation. But as I have served with other missionaries, I have learned that everyone has their own style. As 김 자매님 looked at the crowd she asked me to stand next to her and just smile. That was easy enough, so I did. It was awkward for me but to my surprise, a number of people were listening and even asking questions! We handed out three Book of Mormon and 15 pamphlets! You know in the scriptures where so many prophets and disciples make their testimony known to the world? That is exactly what 김 자매님 did on that bus. She was scared and even began crying but I could feel the power as she testified to those people on the bus. It was an awesome experience. Our stop came faster than expected so we thanks the crowd for listening and got off the bus. 

We quickly walked to meet up with our next 약속 (promise/appointment). Our appointment was at the church with a less active single adult. We are working on creating a new English flyer and she is helping us. Her and 윤 자매님 drafted a first copy then decided it was time for dinner. We invited this member to join us and she did! We ate delicious food and were really about to get to know her. She is very shy but she opened up and talked to us- it was fun. When the time came to leave, I shared a short spiritual thought about sincere prayer. I using the scripture 1 Nephi 11:15, "...ask me in faith, believing that ye shall receive, with diligence in keeping my commandments, surely these things shall be made known unto you." Before sharing my short message, I wasn't totally sure what her needs were but while I spoke, it seemed to touch her. I hope the spirit touched her in the way she needed.

After, we went home to do our language study... Or should I say mine. I'm grateful to have two companions that are so good at English but boy do I feel like an idiot learning from them. I have a real issue with humility so I hope I get a handle on the language soon because I'm not sure how much more patience I have in me haha. Contradictory right?

Saturday was a fun day. We met our Atheist investigator, 서은영S and her son to play badminton. Turns out, I'm the worst badminton player in the whole world! It was fun but also embarrassing haha. After an hour of playing we stopped by a popular burger place for foreigners. It was so delicious! I like Korean food but boy did it make me miss American food! We had to head to our next appointment so we said our goodbyes and were off.

We quickly went to meet the son, 김동은B and his mother, 최윤정S again. Today we continued to talk about commandments with them. The one concern the mother had was that she had not yet received a strong confirmation that this was the one true church. I felt promoted to tell her about my fathers experience. I told her that when my father was introduced to the church, he did not receive a strong confirmation like she was expecting either. Instead he just felt that it was a good thing and that is was okay for him to move forward. As she nodded her head in agreement, I shared a scripture found in Moroni 7:11-13 which talks about good things being of God and evil things being of the Devil. I promised her that God would not lead her astray. She was very appreciative and also very curious to know what happened to my father. I went on to tell her that he got baptized and as he diligently worked to keep the commandments, he received the strong confirmation that he was where he needed to be. I told her that he later served a mission, like I am doing but in New Zealand and he is now raising his family in the same faith that he found happiness and peace. Our time was up so we concluded our appointment with a prayer. 최 자매님 volunteered. As she prayed she thank Heavenly Father for the courage and example of my father. She prayed to have that same strength and courage in order to move forward in her life. I was very touched and grateful that my fathers experience touched her so much. 

We had to hurry and get to the chapel to start preparing for the ward activity. We helped prepare the food, set up, and rehearsed the missionary skit. For the skit we decided to act out the story of King Noah and Abinadi found in Mosiah chapters 11-19 of the Book of Mormon. I was assigned to play King Noah. It was fun because King Noah was an evil king so all I did was demand food and command my 'priests' to kill people. One of those people was Abinadi played by Elder Sorensen. It was a pretty hilarious skit. I'll have to scan and send the script next week. The ward members really enjoyed it! Afterwards they kept coming up to me and imitating my line, "죽이라!" (Chooky rah) which means, "kill him!" I was so relieved they laughed and were so entertained because I stumbled through my other lines haha.

When all of the performances were over, the relief society served dinner. This ward is so unified and I love it! So much thought goes into each activity to plan for quality time spent together. I will be sad to leave this ward in the future. But for now, I'm soaking it all in. I love 곡반정!

Sunday was a pretty standard day. Everyday feels like a Sunday on a mission, the only difference being our church services. Sacrament was great. I sat by my Korean mother, 이정숙S, she is wonderful. We belt the Korean hymns together and always mess up the tune but don't care haha- she is awesome. Since it is standard for new missionaries to speak their first Sunday in a ward, 김 자매님 introduced herself. She was born in Busan, Korea but moved to Canada when she was 9. She graduated from the nursing program at BYU-Idaho and is 24 years old. This is her first area as a missionary and she is ALWAYS smiling. She will do great things in Korea. 

After church, we stopped by 안 자매님's house. She is so adorable! So far she is the shortest Korean I have met and she is so giving. When 윤 자매님 and I first arrived in this area she gave us so much food! But along with the food came a deal- she told us that when we finish the food and are ready to return the tupperware, that is the time we need to give her our request so that she can refill them with more delicious food. We rarely request anything because we are grateful for anything but still, she gives and gives and gives. I love her!

Once we finally arrived back at home we began our weekly planning session (since we missed it on Friday). Things went well for the most part. Typically 윤 자매님 can go through the list of things to do pretty fast but this time we had another opinion to consider and accommodate. I'll just start my saying, I am not the biggest fan of three missionaries serving together. I started getting defensive when the lesson schedule for our investigators was being disrupted. I felt strongly that things were where they needed to be but 김 자매님 had a few opposing opinions. I am still feeling very defensive and need to be better at being more open and welcoming to her- but I love these people! She wants to extend more commitments and I don't want to add to the pressure they already feel. I tried to explain that they are all progressing so the pace we have set is working, but she is pretty gung-ho since she is fresh out of the MTC. I know everything will work out but for the mean time I'm feeling some stress about the upcoming week.

All in all, this week was a roller coaster. My emotions were pretty unstable which is not like me. I hope this week I can keep things under control but we will see haha. Thank you to all those who write, love, and support me! I need you all!! 사랑해요!  

All of the sidewalks here are hand laid bricks. After it is laid, sand is then throwing on top for people walk to on, which packs the bricks into place creating the strongest sidewalks!

The best way to spend PDAY... Relaxing in a massage chair at Emart!

 감자탕 (pig bone soup)... Mmm so appetizing, right?

Our bishops wife treated us to a raw fish Korean restaurant. I have no idea what I ate but it was tasty

 Last course before we ate it.

 After we ate it.

Kimchee rice soup! The ingredients starting from the top fish eggs (orange) , cucumbers, yellow peppers, kimchee, kim (like a cousin of seaweed), vegetables, and rice. So yummy!

Worn out shoes...

Monday was the most uneventful PDAY yet- and I loved it!! The zone planned to go ice skating and I thought that sounded lame. Instead 윤 자매님 and I spent the morning cleaning the apartment and writing letters. After emailing, we ate some delicious 팥빙수, then hurried home for the best nap I have ever had. Missionary work is exhausting and that nap definitely helped me recharge for the week! To end the day we visited a partially less-active family. They were so nice!! My initial thought of the husband, when I met him at church, was he was a weirdy. I still think that, however, he is more normal than I expected. When I admitted this to 윤 자매님, I told her that I actually really like him, she started laughing pretty hard because she had that same thoughts! She is far too kind to ever admit anything like that but I am starting to rub off on her haha. Anyone that knows me, knows that my opinions are not typically kept to myself... sorry!

Tuesday started off with a lot of stress. 윤 자매님 asked if I would take lead in all of the lessons today. I immediately told her, "Uhh... I don't think that's a good idea." Let me tell you why, 1. I don't speak Korean, 2. When I do speak I sound like a 3 years old, 3. I have never practiced teaching the lessons that we planned to teach, and 4. When I speak I mostly get looks of 'awe, you're trying so hard' not, 'wow I'm touched by that thought...' STRESS! Despite my bad attitude, I prepared. The lessons weren't perfect, but that's why we invite the spirit right?

My kind of kid!

사랑해요!

Our first stop was to a part members house. The wife is a solid member and her husband has been labeled an 'eternal investigator' by our bishopric. We really want to start building a relationship of trust, so that later missionaries will have the opportunity to teach her husband. He was at work so we chatted with the mom and played with her kids. The kids brought out this cool magnet- lego-ish set. I built three cars with them until I started organizing all of the pieces by size and color. The boys thought it looked so cool- duh, so they followed my lead. In no time everything was organized and we were all pleased with our work. ^^ The mother was amazed and thanked me for setting a good example haha. Those kids are adorable! To end we gave her a miniature 'The family: a proclamation to the world' magnate that we made to hang on her refrigerator. She was grateful and we went on our way.

Next stop, a lesson with the son (김동은) and mother (최윤저) again. They are so great! Just as we planned, I took lead. It went alright. We taught the lesson about Jesus Christ's Gospel. I covered faith, baptism, and enduring to the end while 윤 자매님 spoke about repentance and the Holy Ghost in between. They both were engaged- asking questions and contributing their thoughts and comments. I taught a lot by reading scriptures which I think helped a lot. So overall- it was great. The mother expressed her concern that she has so much work to do because she is only on the 'first step' which is developing faith. It reminded me of a quote that my MTC teacher, K. Benson Tanner said, "It doesn't matter where you are on the path, it just matters that you're on the path." So true! When I had that thought it was comforting because I need to keep that same thought in mind when I get frustrated with the Korean language. It was a learning experience for everyone.

Our last stop for the day, Krispy Kreme! Last week a member offered to buy us some doughnuts and today we took her up on the offer. She ended up buying two dozen! She asked us to give a dozen to the elders... that was a bad idea putting me in charge if that exchange haha. Just kidding, we delivered them... eventually. She was so generous to buy us such delicious food. I am not ashamed to admit a couple were gone before our bus arrived and a few more before it started moving, once we boarded. 윤 자매님 was embarrassed because we were eating them right in front of the door where people exit the bus. She asked, "why didn't we sit second row?" in a cute embarrassed voice while a number of people stared as they passed us to got off the bus. They were just jealous and I told her not to be ashamed haha.

Wednesday was our first and last district meeting with Elder Erekson as DL. He transfers up north Thursday (7/11) to become a zone leader. His training was amazing! We talked about a couple points of how us foreigners can fit in, here in Korea. His perspective was very interesting. The first point addressed rank in Korean society. A good illustration can be seen as you congregate the following words:

I > I am                    난 > 난이다

You > You are          넌 > 넌이다

He > He is                그 > 그이다

In Korean, it is all the same- the only thing that changes is the honorific that you can add. Just like everything in Korea, it is stacked vertically, such as all the buildings, the people are no different. Everyone has a 'rank' or place where they fit into society. A higher 'rank' comes as you either get older or as you gain wealth/power/respect. Because everyone is addressed the same way, it has become important to dress well and uniquely in order to stand out. Us as missionaries stand out with our name tags and the Book of Mormon that is constantly in our hands. How people address you is not only based on age but also based on the level of respect that they have for you. Even if someone is older than you, if that person honorfies your title, that is a clear indicator of their respect for you. In church, for example, the men and women always honorfy the missionaries with '님' (자매님- Sister, 장로님- Elder) but most of the time, when addressing other members, they use plain titles (자매- Sister, 형제- Brother). In conclusion, we need to be respectful to earn respect. As we teach people older than us, it throws off the norm here that older people are more wise and knowledgeable. So to counteract that we have to be respectable for others to listen to our message as well as take it to heart.

Next point: In America we all have personal bubbles, right? "This land is your land, this land is my land- from California..." We are self sufficient and are clear about what is our and what is someone else's. Things are separate, that's how we feel the most comfortable. In Korean culture, if you are true friends with someone- EVERYTHING you have and they have is pooled and shared evenly. Of course Americans share, but not like Koreans. Therefore, as Americans we need to be aware of this idea. Not only with our companions but also with our investigators. Giving and sharing is an easy way to show your love and friendship for someone.

There were a lot of good points from the training but I'll spare you the details. Directly after we took some parting pictures and head to our next appointment with 김선혜S. We met her at the youth center again. She is so nice! Today we taught our message first, per her request. She loves English but is clearly more interested in the gospel portion. We taught her the lesson about Jesus Christ Gospel. I took lead again. This time around it was a little more brutal haha. She is patient with me so it was okay. 운 자매님 eventually saved me from drowning in my thoughts and words. By the end we invited her to come to church. She really wants to come and bring her son! We were excited but she told us her son likes to attend a different church with his friends. I suggested they bring his friends too. She laughed- even though I was mostly serious in that request haha. She promised to come soon.

English class was the last lesson on our agenda. We continue to read 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.' The kids enjoy it and this time we split into groups to act out chapter 8. This chapter is about Charlie opening his birthday present (a Wonka candy bar) and not finding a golden ticket. One of the kids in my group was so disappointed that Charlie doesn't have a ticket. He looked at me so seriously and said, "you lied to me!" Haha it was hilarious how sad he was. I told him, "just wait a few more chapters." He muttered an "okay" with a very sad voice. Poor kid haha.

Last on our list for today: Goodbyes. All of the Elders were leaving to spend the night at the mission home before transfers the next morning. It was actually really sad! We took a couple more pictures and headed home. Bittersweet way to end the day and our mini (3 week) transfer.

Thursday was another day for a split. Once again I stayed in 곡반정 and I was expected to take the lead in the lessons scheduled. I was very grateful that the two appointments were with women who were fluent in English. I prepared to teach mostly in Korean but it was comforting to know I would be able to use English if I needed to.

When we met up to split, we didn't have much time so 한다솜 자매님 (Sister Han) had to say a quick goodbye then come home to prepare. Our first appointment was a lunch (식사) at 배정희 자매님's (Sister Pay) house with our atheist investigator, 서은영S (Soh uhn yong). The food was delicious and the message went well. I invited 서 자매님 to begin reading the Book of Mormon from the beginning and as she does, also to pray to know if it is the word of God. I could tell she was feeling a lot of pressure. I told her to just take it a chapter or so at a time. Eventually she committed and we left. It was a fun appointment and I was proud for how I handled the lesson. I'm learning!!

After a day of study, we had one more appointment scheduled with 김정원S (Kim johng wahn). This is the catholic lady that deflected my baptismal invitation. She is also planning to study at UC-Riverside in the fall (leaving for California 8/26- my birthday! haha). Anyway, we also taught her about Jesus Christ’s Gospel. It was an awesome lesson and I spoke 90% of the time!! She loved the scriptures I share about faith. The idea of acting on a belief seemed to have finally clicked in her brain. I subtlety brought up the idea of following Jesus Christ example the way she follows her catholic saint, Margaret. She got excited and said, "Yeah!! And those saints followed Jesus so I'm indirectly following Him too!" I smiled and said, "Yeah, that's exactly right." She smiled and leaned back in her seat as if she was very pleased with her new found realization. As we continued she was really into it. By the end I invited her to continue reading the Book of Mormon (she is already in 1 Nephi 15!) but to also pray and ask if this is the word of God. She agreed. I also asked if she was available on Sundays to attend our church services. She isn't free but she was very grateful for the offer. I told her if anything ever fell through, we would love to she her there. It was a great lesson. As we walked away I was very pleased with how everything went.

On our way home I made a retarded mistake... Instead of waiting for a bus I knew went to our apartment, I thought I found one that was arriving earlier. Err!! I was wrong. I read the sign wrong- it had already picked passengers up at our destination and was instead heading north towards Seoul. Cool. With that said we got home at 10:30PM. Because I knew I would be getting home late I called Sister Han's companion, my district, and zones leaders to give them a heads up. I was told if it was after 10PM I needed to make the AP's aware. When the time came, I made that embarrassing call. They were understanding and gave me all the numbers to call for the police and such. Lastly they informed me that since we were expected home late, I was required to personally call President Morrise when we got home. -______- I all but ran home to get to my old planner where I had Presidents number written down. When I called I said something like this, "Hello President, this is Sister Sloan from 곡반정, 수원 area. I'm acting as senior today because I am on splits with 한다솜 자매님 (a greenie). I was in charge of putting us on the right bus to get home and I didn't do a very good job because we just got home." He laughed and said he thinks I'm funny. He was grateful to know see were home safe. It was a painless call but also embarrassing. I hope I never become senior or a trainer or anything. I always lead people the wrong direction! I mean most people understand because I'm reading and trying to understand Korean to get us around... but still. It was a damper on a pretty awesome day.

Friday was an easy morning of study before we unsplit. The sisters met us at our house where I prepared lunch for us to eat together. After we ate, 윤 자매님 and I cleaned up before we had our weekly planning session. Planning went well. We have so many goals and things to talk about- we ended up running out of time before we had to leave for a lesson. It was with 문혜정S (Moon hay johng), this is the lady we met while street boarding and who showed us that weird slide show last week. I really felt like she wasn't progressing so we planned to teach our lesson about Jesus Christ Gospel as well as set new exceptions. As we taught, it was tough. She was pretty argumentative. 윤 자매님 did a great job of using the scriptures to teach. Sister Moon has read the whole Book of Mormon and she believes that it is the word of God, so there wasn't much more for her to argue about. Anyway after struggling through that we asked her what she wanted to learn from us. She didn't have an answer so she essentially 'dropped' us, which means she doesn't want to meet with us anymore.  As she offered the closing prayer, she began to cry. It was really sad prayer and sad way to saying goodbye- we told her to call us if she had any questions but I don't know if she will.

On our way home we decided to visit a less active member, 헝수히 자매님 (Sister Hohng soo he). It was a short visit but we got to know her and her two kids. We said a quick message about faith. We gave her a copy for the hutch magazine, The Liahona. We shared Alma 37:38-41 where Alma and his family use the liahona-compass to guide them. Since it is contingent on faith, we bore testimony of the simple acts of trusting and acting on our faith. She was touched and committed to coming to church with her family next, next week when they would all be in town. I cannot wait to meet them all, they are an adorable family!

When we got home, 윤 자매님 and I finished our weekly planning in our sweats. It turns out we should never leave the house without umbrellas... When we left 헝 자매님'a house, it was pouring! We got soaked and changed the second we got home. This acid rain is really going to do a number on my clothes.

Saturday we were planning to take a field trip and picnic to some famous tombs here in 수원 with the mother and son investigators, 김동은B 최윤저S. Guess what? It was raining too hard so we just met for a picnic in the local library instead. It was fun talking with them but I was bummed. This dumb rain is the worst! It's on and off showers and thunder storms allllll day. It hasn't stopped for over a week and the forecast doesn't look any better. It's a major bummer. The rest of the day was mostly uneventful. Since missionaries were asked to stay in meeting houses to give anyone an opportunity to tour our buildings, we finished our studies at the church. Members including most of the youth were there playing ping pong and each in snacks. Naturally we joined until it was time to leave.

Sundays was a good day. Since there are some members of the ward as well as investigators that attend our meetings, that don't speak or understand Korean, they tried using a translating system today. I volunteered to try it out. I was finally able to understand everything haha! It was a great meeting talking all about the importance of families. Besides being able to understand, when I walked into the chapel this morning, I felt a strange level of comfort. I've always loved this ward but today I really felt like I belonged. Anyway, after sacrament meeting we had Sunday school and it was great. I was given the opportunity to bear my testimony of my love for my Savior Jesus Christ. If I didn't love him as much as I do, I would not be here on a mission, inviting others to build a stronger relationship with Him. I felt the spirit a lot- it was great. Last, we attended the Young Women's meeting. Being back in that kind of class reminded me of when I was in Young Women's. Julie Daley and Christine Hermansen were my laurel class teachers and boy did I miss them today. They made a huge difference in my life as I was struggling through the last months of my senior year of high school. Today in class we focused on the scripture found in Doctrine and Covenants 82:10 which reads, "I, the Lord, am bound when ye do what I say; but when ye do not what I say, ye have no promise." It sounds like an odd scripture to teach a lesson about but as the teacher went on she emphasizes the promises we have made and He has made with us. It reminded me of the two verses that my dad recently pointed out to me; the first scripture is found in Alma 12:34 where we are told we can claim mercy- it is already a blessing given to us, we just have to ask. The second scripture is in Mormon 5:19 where it talks about blessings that have been reserved for us. This all related because I know that God wants and has promised to bless us, all we have to is ask and be worthy of them. It was an awesome lesson. After church ended we had a new member meeting with 이윤지S and 이종혁B since they were baptized a few weeks ago. It was a fun lesson with their home teachers and their little sister. When that ended we wanted to go home for lunch but it was raining really hard... and yes, we forgot umbrellas again. Instead, the the new zone leaders, Elder Chow and Keetch, shared their roman noodles and grapes with us. Once the rain let up we went home to complete our studies. We ended the evening with 전도. The rain chased everyone away so we didn't have too much success but at least we were out working. We were soaked! But it was fun. Korean weather is bipolar but somehow I have really come to love being here.

Thank you all for your love and support. I have finally learned how to say that in Korean for my prayers haha. I love you all and I miss you too. Thank you to everyone that writes to me. It means so much!!

슬론 자매

High-tech!  Coordinating district meeting with Elders Erekson and Schofield on our wannabe-smart phone.

Goodbye to 손훈식 장로님

My "step-father" is leaving!! Goodbye to Elder Erekson too :(

Working out in this humidity makes me look like I'm working out 10x harder.  haha

Typical dinner! 김치찌개 (kimchee soup), 멸치 (similar to anchovies), and salad with pepper sauce!

Shower 전도! We are SOAKED if you can't tell 💧🌂☔🚿

최윤저S and 김동은B at our picnic in the local library

Tradish Korean family pic. Except I have a new DL... So Elder Erekson is no longer my mission "step-father"

The whole district after Elder Erekson's awesome training.

Last P-days delicious 팥빙수. It's shaved ice, red beans, fruit, nuts, and ice cream!! It's so yummy!!