Happy Birthday to Me!

8/26-9/1

월요일 (Monday), happy 22nd birthday to me!! I was in such a good mood today- all smiles, all day. I was so grateful to have my birthday on a PDAY so I could hear from and talk with my close friends and family. After email, my companion and I left to meet most of the zone for another activity at the 수지 (Suji) church building. We arrived last so we walked in on a group of sweaty elders playing basketball and the sisters just watching from the sidelines. As soon as I walked in I had quite the welcome of everyone screaming "Happy Birthday!!!" It wasn't even close to being in unison but I loved it. The game was put on hold as a few companionships left the room. Apparently people didn't coordinate very well because three companionships each brought in a cake for me haha. They all had candles lit as they sang me the happy birthday song half in English and half in Korean. It was sweet of everyone!! As we all sat to dig in, a few of the elders kept repeating, "Thank you for having a birthday!" with mouths full of cake. It was pretty funny; this group of missionaries is an entertaining group.

After cake, the basketball game resumed. 윤현미 자매님 (Sister Yoon) quickly ushered me over to a box with my name on it. My first birthday present! She was so eager to have me open it that she pulled back the first flap of the box and said, "Look inside!" I smiled as I discovered two Nutella jars, a set of bedazzled hair ties, and a pile of letters. Among the letters from people in the zone, was an accordion-folded 5 foot long strand of paper with paper hands on either end. As I stretched it to see what it was, I soon discovered that it was a giant "hug" from all the elders (since elders can't hug sisters). It was adorable. I gave Sister Yoon a big hug- she is seriously the best. I love her so much!

Time flew by even after the basketball game ended. Most everyone grabbed a chair and sat in a circle and just talked. The elders are hilarious. I kept requesting that someone sing me the Taylor Swift song, "22." Unfortunately, everyone has been on their missions too long so they don't know it yet.. wah! Anyway, it was an awesome PDAY. When it was time to leave, 한 자매님 (Sister Han) and I changed back into missionary clothes and went to our dinner appointment. We arrived just as the elders from our district were walking up. The relief society president had invited us all to dinner for pizza- yum! 한 자매님 had bought a cake earlier in the morning (before emailing) and had been carrying it all day. She didn't open it with the zone... because we already had three ha. So she decided to save it for the dinner appointment. The family wasn't aware of the special occasion but they were informed quickly, don't worry. :) It was a lot of fun.

We left later than we were expecting which made us late for the FHE we were having at the church. When we finally arrived we discovered that 이상훈B (Brother Lee) and one of our investigators, ESTEE (no idea what it stands for but she prefers it over her Korean name) waiting for us. Apparently they were planning to just celebrate my birthday so they didn't get started until we arrived. I felt bad but it ended up being a lot of fun. Guess what, Brother Lee brought more cake! AND along with that, he had downloaded the Taylor Swift song and had been practicing all day haha. When it came time for the performance, it was H-I-L-A-R-I-O-U-S! For some reason Koreans love karaoke and Brother Lee is no exception. Despite his total lack of talent, he sang it as loud as he could haha. It was awesome. I recorded it so hopefully it can be on YouTube or Vine soon! It was the perfect end to the day. I was still all smiles even after I was in bed for the night.

It's hard to believe that I am already 22 years old... Thinking about this caused me to reflect on where I was last year for my birthday, and the birthday before that... This is my forth birthday AFTER high school. Boy, things have surely changed since then. I'm pretty grateful for all I've learned over the years. Being here in Korea is surreal but I am learning so much about myself and working hard to become the person God needs me to be.

화요일 (Tuesday) was a busy day. The morning consisted of three less-active member visits until it was time for a couple of appointments with investigators. The first appointment being with 이도경S (senior in high school who wants to become a flight attendant). Last week we taught her about the word or wisdom and really focused on not drinking black tea and alcohol- since those are things she struggles with. I am very proud to report that she kept her promise! It was cute because it was somewhat debated between her and Sister Han if the tea she liked was green or black. By the end of that lesson she prayed to close and specifically asked Heavenly Father to make the tea she loved green haha. It was cute and she told us that she would try and find the ingredient list before she drinking it again. Since she was never able to find the ingredients, she didn't drink it even though she said she saw it everywhere and it was teasing her. She's the best! This week we wanted to spend time discussing the concept of God and prayer again with her. The lesson was a little rushed and cut short because our next appointment was scheduled too close- that's my fault dang it. Anyways, it was an okay lesson.

We arrived pretty late to our next and final appointment with 김소연S. She is 27 years old and has about a year left of school before she graduates with a degree in biology. She is really smart and has literally done everything! For example, she started traveling the world when she was 20! Every year or so since then she has done a pretty elaborate backpacking trip by herself in various parts of the world- she's awesome. Anyway, since this was my first time meeting her, I wanted to spend more of the time getting to know her and seeing what she remembers from the past missionaries that have taught her. She first claimed to be Atheist and also couldn't recount much of what was taught. Dang it. I specifically asked her what she thinks of God or the concept of a higher deity. She said, "I feel like there is more evidence that there isn't a god (referring to all the evil in the world)." Than thinking about her major being science related- I asked if she had ever looked for any evidence. She responded, "Do I have to?" Uhh, yeah!! Haha it was a puzzling moment for me but I continued asking questions. Soon it was time to leave and I told her that the best way to learn would be to set a goal of what she wants to accomplish from learning from us. She didn't know of anything yet so I will follow up when we meet next week. I'm excited to teach her because we are basically starting from scratch- should be an interesting experience for all involved.

수요일 (Wednesday) was an okay day. We started with our first district meeting since transfers occurred. Not only did I join the mix but the ward received an additional set of elders! That's a total of 6 missionaries as opposed to 4. For lunch we normally go out to a restaurant but today was different because we were asked to attend a funeral of a family member in the ward. It was interesting attending my first Korean funeral. When we arrived we were taken to a mantel covered in pictures of the man that passed- we paid our respects by taking turns laying a flower in the center of all the pictures. Then we stood there for a solid two minutes. After about 30 seconds of just standing and starring at the pictures I started to feel pretty awkward... All the Americans were looking around like, 'what do we do next?' Haha bless our hearts. We were eventual escorted to a table of food where we ate lunch together. We didn't stay very long because our meeting was scheduled to start soon.

Once we were back at the chapel and the meeting started I started missing 곡반정 a lot... I miss my old district and the leaders there because for some reason this was the most unproductive meeting yet. Oh well, I guess I just have some elders to whip into shape. ^^ After the meeting we left together to sign up at the local civic center to be service volunteers. It took forever but we had time to kill before our next appointment.

On our way to the appointment it was cancelled. Bleh! Instead we got ahold of 이상훈B (Brother Lee) to determine what kind of book we should buy for the new class Sister Han and I would teach at English class. We met him at a near buy book store and made a decision pretty quickly. The rest of the time he was lecturing us about not wasting our time as missionaries haha. Hijole! He is a really awesome guy and is still so involved in missionary work- I admire him but that lecture was annoying ha.

English class was good. The new class Sister Han and I are teaching is for kids 8-13. We bought a simple story book to begin reading with them. Even though it was simple, it was too difficult for the three little girls that came. After reading the first page, we worked on phonics and the alphabet. They all know the song however they had trouble identifying the individual letters- hmm I'll have to be more creative with games to help them learn. Overall though it went well. I'm excited to help these girls and hopefully more students that will come in the future.

목요일 (Thursday) was a slow morning. We had a few errands to run so we decided we would proselyte on our way. Turns out it was pouring rain- we still did everything we needed but we didn't run into a single person to talk to. Eventually we began to make our way toward the members house who had just became the new Young Women's president. We hung out with her (이은해S), her son, 강인경S and her daughter who were over for a play date. We shared our testimonies of becoming strengthened through The Lord and offered our time and services to help them better magnify their callings- hopefully this means we can teach the Young Women one Sunday!

Last on our list of things for the day was of course, dinner! 이영구B invited the missionaries to come by his restaurant tonight. In the past, when we are invited to members restaurants they are indoor... sounds pretty standard right haha? Well apparently everyone forgot to mention his restaurant was more like a stand on the side of a road. It was good but I was just caught off guard. He served us a lot of fried who-knows-what and giant 만두 (similar to dumplings). I felt gross after but it's impolite to leave anything left over... even though the elders did most of the work, I still had to do my part. Bleh! It was very generous though so I am grateful!

Once home, we completed our daily planning then as I was preparing for bed the phone would not stop ringing. Six different missionaries were calling to request me to make them a workout plan... I'm not sure who people think I am and how much free time they think I have. You know how gossip works? Well let me tell you, somehow the simple fact that I like CrossFit evolved into the idea that I'm in fantastic shape and a certified trainer where I trained athletes in an elite gym haha. Bless everyone's heart, I was flattered but honestly, I am in no position to give anything but personal opinions and suggestions. BUT seriously it was mostly annoying because I was given a laundry list of things that people want and some even said they would be expecting a plan in a week... Rude. Ain't nobody got time for that!

금요일 (Friday) was a pretty lax day. After studying and planning out our week, 한 자매님 (Sister Han) and I heard a knock at our door- it was a 택배 (home delivery) for our new map!! You know the feeling you get when you hold the newest iPhone in your hand and you get to explore and look through everything? Well a sneak peak into missionary life- that's what it's like when you get a brand new map for the area you are in. Seriously though its an awesome map. Anyway, we wasted no time hanging it up on our wall.

After leaving the house for the day, we had planned to spend a majority of our time proselyting before our appointment at 7PM. Seeing as it was Friday afternoon, we didn't have a ton of success but we were able to hand out a lot of English flyers to students. Once at our appointment, we quickly got down to business. And by that I mean we had a game or two prepared and it was a lot of fun. This was an appointment with a mother and two daughters (김승지S-11 and 김승현S- 9). The mother doesn't technically join our lessons but she sits near by and makes comments throughout the whole lesson- so we know she's listening. After the English games, it was time to teach about prayer. These two little girls are so smart! They already pray really well but today we wanted to explain why and how we pray to receive comfort, guidance, or help from our Father in Heaven. It went really well.

When I first entered the mission field, I had a tough time adjusting to the hard work we put in every single day of the week. Weekends don't exist for missionaries and it was difficult seeing the whole world carry on like normal without me. But tonight, I didn't feel like that at all. On our walk home, 한다솜 자매님 (Sister Han) and I were able to enjoy each others company and just talk. Typically Sister Han doesn't have much to say but tonight I felt like she really started opening up to me. I would say it was a pretty good way to spend my Friday night.

토요일 (Saturday) seemed to start earlier than normal- even though it didn't. It was hard to get up and ready for the day. It was a strange morning because instead of studying until lunch time, we had an appointment first thing with 이도경S (high school senior). Today we focused mostly on the feelings of the spirit. I tried to explain the idea of God to her but mostly failed. The only thing I could do to save myself was to testify- hopefully I didn't sound as retarded as I remember. As we ended I asked to her sincerely pray to know what kind of goal she wants to set. Hopefully next week she'll have something for us to begin working towards!

We came back home for lunch and studies then quickly left again to visit a few less-active members and an investigator. The evening ended with a 식사 (pronounced sheek sah- meal appointment) with the elders at the home of 돈경화S. She was so generous with the amount of food she gave us! Her whole family was a lot of fun to talk to and spend time with. Time apparently flew by because we stayed for 2.5 hours! Whoops haha. When we finally left we had to go straight home. Even though we missed out on some prime proselyting time, I was grateful to be able to lay down soon after such a big meal- it is needless to say I wasted no time falling asleep. PS, happy birthday to my older brother and sister!! How does it feel to be 23!!?

일요일 (Sunday) started off as an awesome day. Since it was the first Sunday of the month, it was fast and testimony meeting. I was happy to fast and pretty excited to bear my testimony in sacrament. When it came time for testimonies in the meeting, I wasted no time getting up to the stand. I took my Korean Book of Mormon, my faith, and no notes. I shared the scripture 2 Nephi 28:32 which says "...I will be merciful unto them, saith the Lord God, if they will repent and come unto me; for mine arm is lengthened out all the day long, saith the Lord God of Hosts." I bore my testimony that I knew this was a promise to us because I know God loves us. It was short but I was proud of myself for being able to do that. After the meeting a lot of people said they enjoyed what I said. But  in actuality everyone lied to me because I later found out that I didn't make a whole lot of sense... This is where the day took a turn for the worst. I had really thought that I was getting better at speaking Korean. I was happy with the courage I had to speak with people. But today my confidence was shot and I felt like throwing in the towel. On top of the mood I was in, the bishop of the ward had apparently announced that the missionaries volunteered to plan a number of activities for the coming week- all I could think was, 'Wow, thanks for asking if we had time or were even available.' Ugh, I tried to suck it up but when Sister Han and I went home to complete our studies, all I could do was cry.

I locked myself in the other room and just pleaded with my Father in Heaven for something... anything to comfort me. Nothing came immediately because then the phone buzzed. It was Elder Benson (the district leader) asking if I would give the spiritual thought at the dinner appointment the missionaries had in a few hours. I said yes and started preparing. Instead of feeling comforted, I was humbled yet again. I took a deep breath as I sighed and said, "Sister Han... I need your help." We planned the thought together and headed out the door.

The dinner was delicious as usual and also a lot of fun. This family has two sons that are extremely talented. One has paintings hung all around the house that are unreal and the other came out with his guitar to play us a few songs. It was pretty cool. When it came time for the thought- don't hold your breath because it was awful. I said exactly what I had practiced but somehow I was yet again misunderstood. Why? Why is this so hard? I felt like I had been working even harder at studying and I was literally getting worse... My companion re-said everything that I tried to say and then we left their house with a word of prayer. I was annoyed and told the elders that I was getting on a bus to the airport haha. It's probably a good thing I don't know how to get there because I very well could have been on my way home by the time the night ended. So instead of the airport I just went back home with my companion. We were pretty quiet the rest of the night. Just before it was time to turn off the lights for bed, the phone rang. It was 이상훈B (the single adult that is always with the missionaries) from the ward. He was calling to make sure I was okay and to offer some words of consolation. That was literally an answer to the prayer I offered earlier. Typically on days like this I miss talking to my parents and getting reassurance from them but since I can't call them, this was the next best thing The Lord could do for me. I am so grateful for everything The Lord does for me. To so say the least, the day ended the same way it started.

Reflecting on that phone call I received last night really made me excited to be an effective instrument in the Lords hand. Maybe Brother Lee doesn't know how meaningful that phone call was but The Lord did- I always want to be worthy of His guidance to help those around me that need help even if I'm not aware. Anyway, today is PDAY again and I'm getting this email off late- sorry. It was a busy day but you'll hear all about it next week. I love you all! Have a great week ^^

사랑합니다!
슬론 자매  

Preparing my own Kimchee