First Week Training

8/19-25
Monday was the last PDAY before transfers. As such, the zone wanted to get together to say goodbyes to the few missionaries who were transferring out. I am transferring, but am staying in the same zone so I didn't care to much to attend. However, we felt obligated, so like last week we went to 수지 (Suji) to play basketball. Once again, only a few elders played while the rest of us watched and/or socialized. It was okay.

On the way home our Monday appointment cancelled! That is three weeks in a row. I'm totally bummed that I wouldn't be able to see that family again before I leave. Super sad. Despite the disappointment, it worked out for the best. 김천 (Sister Kim) is transferring as well and needed to take her things to her new area ASAP. She has had issues with receiving her visa since she was born in Busan, Korea- they wanted her to obtain an original birth certificate for the town she was born. Lame huh? Anyway, she was scheduled to do that tomorrow so tonight was the best time for us to help her move her things. We hopped in a taxi and drove to 분당 (Poon Dahng). It wasn't too far but was an $18 taxi ride! Woah! I've never spent more than $6 before ha.

Between helping Sister Kim pack and move, the day ended quickly. We had to hurry and get home so we dropped her things and left straight away. Instead of getting on a bus, Sister Kim was feeling lazy so she offered to pay for a taxi home. I wasn't complaining haha! I slept the whole ride back, it was awesome.

Tuesday was the day Sister Kim was scheduled to go to Busan. A member of our church that was working to get her visa approved was also assigned to escort her to Busan. This morning 윤 자매님(Sister Yoon) and I had to drop her off with the escort in Seoul. It was about an hour and half by subway to drop her off then another hour and a half back to our area. Once back we had to find a semi-quiet place to plan for the appointments we had scheduled.

윤현미 자매님 (Sister Yoon Hynme) and I decided to sit in a booth at the nearest Baskin Robins. Planning didn't take long which gave us time just to just talk and reflect on the time we had to serve together. It was a bittersweet conversation. Sister Yoon is the best companion I think I will ever have- everyone loves her, including me. She has been patient and loving regardless of my frustration with the language and adjusting to the missionary lifestyle. We have seen a lot of miracles together and had a lot of fun these last three months. I expressed my appreciation to her while holding back the tears that have been trying so hard to come out the passed few days. Luckily I stayed strong. We soon packed up in order to meet our first appointment for the day.

A single adult in the ward, 김슬기S wanted to take us to lunch before transfers to say goodbye. She is super shy but it has been a lot of fun getting to know her these passed few months. Pizza Hut was the restaurant of choice and it was yummy. Korean pizza is strange because they love putting sweet potato and pumpkin in the crust and also add them as a topping. It tastes just fine, but adds a weird consistency to each bite. Anyway, as we ate we were able to talk to this single adult about her college classes and the art she is working on. She is so talented! As a parting gift she made us bookmarks with traditional Korean masks drawn/painted on the front and her favorite scripture written on the back. I was so grateful to receive this gift because I know how shy and embarrassed she is about her art ability- she has never given or shown anything to anyone except us today. It meant a lot. I am really going to miss her.

Time got away from us, but we had to head to our next visit at the patriarch's home. Him and his wife 이영지S wanted us over for ice cream and to say thank you and goodbye before I left. They are the cutest retired couple in the whole world! The husband is a pretty important guy here in Korea. He served at the Seoul temple president starting in 1987 I think and was also the Seoul mission president at some point... I think haha. Anyway, they are an awesome couple. As we ate ice cream we talked all about our families and missionary work. I wasn't particularly close to them but I am still sad to have to say goodbye. Since we were already behind schedule we had to leave pretty quickly to meet with our only investigator appointment for the day.

Being our last appointment with the son and mother, 김동은B and 죄윤정S, I asked them to meet us at the Caffe Bene near their house- I wanted to treat them to my favorite 팥빙수 (shaved ice with toppings) as a goodbye. We had our normal 30/30 lesson like we always do. This week the English portion didn't take as long as usual so I used the extra time to just talk with 김동은B. As we talked, I told him how proud I was of him and how smart I think he is. I told him that he is lucky to have the mother he does and I can tell that she is very proud of him too. I ended by making him promise me that he would always be the kind, patient, and loving kid that he is. He promised he would do his best and that he would email me all the time to keep me up to date on his life. As we spoke, it was hard to look at him because he would look back at me with the saddest eyes I think I have her seen. He was on the verge of tears and I knew if he lost it, I would too. To avoid crying we both downed the rest of the 팥빙수 until it was time for the gospel lesson. After the gospel message, I expressed my love to 죄윤정S. She was very appreciative and told me that she would never forget me. She made me promise that I wouldn't forget her and her son- duh! I would never do that, I love this family too much to ever forget them. Our time together ended as 김동은B offered the closing prayer. His voice trembled as he asked Heavenly Father for the opportunity to see me again in the future. It was a very sweet prayer and when it was over, and we all opened our eyes, his eyes were red with tears. I wanted so badly to give him the biggest hug- I am really going to miss him a lot. We took one last picture before we walked our separate ways. You know that dramatic moment in movies as people walk away they keep turning around and smiling sadly? Well... That also happens in real life... It was really hard.

Our last appointment was with 남궁희정S and her adorable son. She wanted to make us food one last time. Unfortunately, she had her heart set on making 팥빙수 haha. I'm not complaining though because I love it! We spend the remainder of the evening snacking and socializing. Her son was so excited to see us when we arrived. He would not leave me alone when I was trying to talk to his mother. I am really going to miss him; especially at church because I could always count on his huge smile to greet me every time he ran up to me as I entered the chapel. Even though he probably won't remember me, I know I won't forget him or his family. They are all so happy all the time. It has always been hard for me to wrap my brain around how people can be like that- so many things annoy me or make me mad haha! Anyway, they are awesome examples to me and I'm working hard to become more positive and optimistic in all things. When it was time to go, her husband arrived. He offered to drive us home but we politely declined because he had just gotten home from what appeared to be a long day. 윤 자매님 (Sister Yoon) and I hurried to the elevator before they tried to offer again. Once to the first floor we failed- they had taken the other elevator and more forcefully told us they were taking us home haha. Ugh they are so awesome.

Once home, Sister Yoon and I received a call from Sister Kim. She informed us that she had a successful trip to Busan, but instead of coming back home, she would be staying at the 본부 (mission home) for the night. Even though I thought it was pretty selfish and rude for her to make that decision and then request that Sister Yoon could just pack the remainder of her things, I was somewhat excited. Sister Yoon and I had started this last transfer together and now we would be ending it the same way. After planning, packing, and cleaning we had a fun night. We took some silly pictures and ended the evening with face masks and pillow talk. I am really going to miss her.

Wednesday, TRANSFER DAY! It was a hectic morning loading all my my things into a taxi and then dropping it off at my new apartment in 신풍. When we arrived, Sister Hendricks and 한다솜S were there to help. We unloaded everything and dragged it up four flights of stairs to the apartment. Everyone helping was now sweating and a little bugged. I felt bad but it was inevitable. We then all made our way to the subway station in Seoul where everyone was scheduled to meet to be paired with their new companions and then head to their new areas. It was pretty anti-climactic when we arrived. People were calm and casually saying goodbye as they left for their new areas haha. I gave Sister Yoon a big hug before rounding up all the 신풍 (Sinpoong) missionaries to get on our subway that was about to arrive. The subway was packed which made for an uncomfortable hour of standing. It seemed to go by quickly though as I now had all control of the companionship cell phone- I spent a majority of the ride changing every setting haha.

Once back to the apartment 한 자매님 (Sister Han) and I began our daily studies. She filled me in on the area and the few appointments we had scheduled for the day. Everything just so happened to fall through until it was time for English class. Here, English class is pretty huge compared to my last area! All together I think thirty-ish people showed up. Since I replaced Sister Hendricks, I took over her advanced class of free talking. I wanted to spend some time getting to know all of my students but they quickly informed me about their normal routine haha. We got straight to talking. It was fun. It was a nice welcoming to the area, I felt like I fit right in. I'm really excited to get to work here! ^^

Thursday was my first full day serving in 신풍. We wasted no time getting to work. Today 한 자매님 started by foot walking to less active members houses so I could get a better feel for the area. Thankfully the humidity is calming down so the walk wasn't too bad. A couple times some grandpas would yell at me to walk in the shade haha. I like to keep that part of the sidewalk open for the grandma and grandpas that pull huge carts of things to sell on the street but they are more concerned about my 'foreign skin' they say haha.

Some of the members either weren't home or pretended they weren't there after they asked who we were haha. Silly people. Anyway it was a nice day and it gave me some quality time to talk with my companion. She is really quiet- in school most Koran kids are taught to be quiet in public. She took that to heart when she was in school and is now the quietest human being on the planet. It's not all bad though because she is ready to work hard to achieve the goals we set for this transfer.

To end the evening, a member 이상훈B invited the new missionaries for dinner. I don't think I mentioned that this ward previously only had 4 missionaries- after transfers there are now 6 (two sets of elders and us sister)! Only four of us went to dinner but it was pretty fun. Brother Lee is pretty hilarious. His English is amazing so I am able to talk freely which I have really missed. He is a 37, single, and a convert of 11 years. He still loves missionary work and spends all his free time with us. I have a lot of respect for him because he is such a genuine guy and still has a missionary spirit about him. I told him that this transfer I made a goal to find an investigator that can also be his girlfriend. He deserves an amazing girl and I'm keeping my eyes peeled haha.

When we finished eating, he asked us to each take a turn and bear our testimony. I was excited until he insisted that we only speak Korean. I complained and said, "But I have so much more to say..." He didn't care. Ugh I have a feeling he is really going to push me to learn Korean this transfer. I am secretly grateful because I need someone to push me. I bore my simple, four-sentence testimony and was feeling pretty lame because the other missionaries spoke for a lot longer than I did. Despite it's simplicity he dropped his fist on the table and said, "See! Who cares if it's short! That was powerful!" I just laughed but it made me feel a lot better about my ability to speak. He reminds me a lot of Brother Tanner (one of my MTC teachers) in that he motivates me to want to be better! It was a good way to end my first full day in this area.

Friday was another good day. Like usual we had our weekly planning session. Here I took my time to really understand what was going on in the area from my companion. She is very soft spoken so I asked her a million questions to make sure I understood everything. After a couple hours that may have felt like an interrogation, we moved on to setting goals for the week and the whole transfer. I have a really good feeling about this area!

After we ate lunch we left the house for the rest of the night determined to find some new investigators. I prayed pretty hard for me to be able to teach with the spirit as we left to meet a few potential investigators. I am happy to report that the spirit definitely took over and worked some awesome miracles. By the time we left the last appointment, we were able to add three more people to our teaching pool! This transfer is off to an awesome start!

Saturday was a crazy adventurous day! Since coming to this area, there are SO MANY less active members of the ward. It was pretty sad to see that more than half of the members don't attend church or have any contact with anyone at church. I am determined to change that! So today was the first day 한 자매님 (Sister Han) and I decided to start tackling the task of visiting ever member- active and less active.

We studied the map of the ward boundaries and set out to find four houses of active members. I will spare you the details and end by saying we only met one. It was like we were detectives find clues to where these specific members had moved. I think we spend a total of ₩10,000 on bus fair today.. That is in heard of. Despite the lack of success, we worked really hard and were more than exhausted by the time we arrived home for dinner.

After we ate and were semi re-energized, we had time to try visiting a less active that lives near by our apartment. On our way up to her apartment we bought come ice cream cones to share as we talked with her. Thankfully she was home and happy to see us. I was happy to end the evening feeling successful.

Sunday was an interesting day. Church was good. I gave a seven minute talk to introduce myself and bear my testimony. Most of what I said was understood, so that's a plus haha. After sacrament meeting (first hour) ended, we were introduced to a YSA (young single adult) couple. The boyfriend was inactive and his girlfriend was a nonmember. They asked my companion and I if we would start teaching them about the church. I was super surprised but also excited to have such an opportunity just fall into our laps. They wanted to attend Sunday school (scone hour) which gave 한 자매님 (Sister Han) and I time to prepare. The lesson went really well. Even though my Korean isn't great yet, I felt like I did okay and was proud to have taught half the lesson! We set a rerun appointment which means- we have a total of 4 new investigators this week! I'm pretty pumped to get to work on helping this area liven up from what it has been like the last year or so.

After church we had a series of meetings. One included a stake meeting in the 곡반정 building. You could say I was pretty eager to get there. The bus ride over was just like any other except as I stared out the window, I was close to crying because I was so happy to be going back to my last area. I haven't even been gone a whole week yet but still, I feel so sad to have left because that is where I feel the most at home. When we arrived a lot of the 곡반정 ward members were there waiting for the meeting to start. Immediately when we made eye contact, each person would light up and give me a hug or hand shake depending on the gender haha. I love love love this ward. Each member asked me, "can you come back now?" or "when are you coming back?" Haha I feel so loved. I especially melted when one of the men came up and said the ward missed seeing me today at church. He went on to say, that specifically the children were sad to not have me there. AWWW!!! It was so nice to hear that I was being missed as much as I was missing everyone in the ward. It was a good ending to my Sunday.

Welp, today is PDAY as well as my birthday! No huge plans for today yet, but later we are meeting the zone again. Maybe someone will bring a cake to celebrate! All morning I have had the song '22' by Taylor Swift stuck in my head.. Because I'm, 22!! OO! O! 🎶

Love you all ^^

Last night with my trainer

Sweet reunion with the women of my first ward.  I almost cried I was so happy to see them.

An Elder taking a Selfie

Sister Yoon is the best!  She got me two (get it, because I am 22) Nutella jars and bedazzled mustache hair braids for my birthday.  ^^

Also, the Elders signed a long strand of paper with hands cut out for the ends.  Since they can't hug me for my Birthday.  Aww!  That is Elder Anderson slapping himself with one of the hands.