Monday was the worst PDAY. It was Sister Tovar's first and we had to receive her foreigner card. Despite our efforts to arrive to the office early, the wait was insane. FOUR HOURS LATER of just sitting, her number was finally called. I was less than happy and my impatience showed when the lady helping us was sidetracked by flirting with ever coworker nearby. The whole process was annoying, but necessary. Eventually we were able to leave and head home. When we did, it just so happened to be pouring rain and the winds were crazily blowing in every direction. Our umbrellas didn't stand a chance and I was quite the ray of sunshine to be around ha. When we finally reached our house we got a call from the district- they were at the church playing games and guilt tripped us into coming. We only stayed for about an hour until PDAY was almost over and we had to email.
When we arrived at the normal PC room were we email, I was still not the happiest camper because I had been cold all day long and annoyed but several little things. After I logged onto my email I literally began to cry as I saw a long list of unread emails from my whole family, fellow missionaries, and several friends. All day I was struggling to find things to be happy about but in that moment I was overwhelmed with feeling loved from so many people that I miss. The rest of the day was a blur of no success. By the end of the day and after daily planning, I received a call from one of the zone leaders, Elder Keetch. He was asking for updates on a couple people we were teaching. In response, I was pretty ashamed to report the lack of progress every person was making. He picked up on the discouragement in my voice and let me express all of frustration. When I finished talking he stopped and said, "You're doing all you can Sister Sloan, you're doing well." Maybe that's a generic response that anyone would have said to me but the sincerity in Elder Keetch's voice made the difference. I was once again grateful for gentle reminder that I was doing just fine.
Tuesday was zone conference. From 10AM-4PM the whole zone was gathered for training by President Morrise, Sister Morrise, the zone leaders, and assistants. The theme was having a 'Full Purpose of Heart' as we serve and go about doing good. I love it. President gave us five steps in order to work in this capacity:
1. Change willingly,
2. Prepare spiritually,
3. Act in faith,
4. Expect blessings, and
5. Be tenacious like Teancum.
As always it was very entertaining and uplifting. I love being a missionary!!
When it came to an end. We helped clean up and were off, back to 신풍. Unfortunately traffic was awful!! It took over an hour when it normally takes about 30ish minutes. We made it back just in time for English class. Since this week is Thanksgiving, we aren't having class Thursday so it was game day. I was starving and my brain wasn't working so we ended up making tongue twisters to help them with their pronunciation. It was fun. At the end, Sister Tovar and I shared the spiritual message. It was short but fun as well. I love that I am able to speak more of what I would normally say! By 9:40PM we were finally home, finished with daily planning, and eating dinner. Gotta love rice, kimchee, and seaweed!
Wednesday was stressful. Can I just say that the typical life of a missionary is making a plan, praying for it, and trying so hard to execute it but failing 9 times out of 10... Today was like that. Sister Tovar and I were waiting at our bus stop patiently to head to an appointment. As we waiting our bus barreled by without even taking notice of me frantically trying to wave it down. -____- That bus doesn't come often so I had no choice but to flag a taxi down. I gave the address and maybe 20 minutes later we "arrived" in the wrong place. -___- Bless his heart for having NO idea were to go. He got out of the car, asked a few people, got back in and took us the correct place. Thankfully we weren't late but we got soaking wet because on the short walk from the taxi to our investigators apartment, the snow really picked up. Once inside, Soo greeted us and made me trade my wet socks for a pair of her sons, exgirlfriend's ha. Along with that she gave me house slippers and a huge cup of hot chocolate- she is so good to us. We ate lunch and taught her a lesson. It was a fantastic meeting.
When we left a few more things fell through and we head home to have our water filter fixed. Want to hear something funny? When Sister Yoon and I moved into our first house our water filter was installed fairly quickly and when it was, I drank that water like crazy. When the time came to change the filter, guess what? There were no filter inside to clean the water...So for the first four months in Korea I had been drinking unfiltered water. Nothing negative ever happened so when the filters in our current house were taking forever to install, I didn't care ha. 안재석S was the one who came to fix all the problems and he did it so quickly! It was awesome except for the fact that that meant Sister Tovar and I were back outside in the cold talking to people on the street that much faster ha. As we walked we had some success but maybe the best part was that I was able to pick up some warm boots and a hat to stay warm. The winter is fast approaching!
Thursday, HAPPY THANKSGIVING!! Our morning was normal, we got lost as we searched for less-active members houses. Even though that was a fail, by 2PM we arrived right on time to meet the elders and take the train to 평택. That is the most southern area of the Seoul South mission and also where an American base (Camp Humphrey) is located. The members on and off base so graciously hosted all of the missionaries in the 수원 (Suwon) zone. When we arrived at our assigned home, it was like I was back in an American home! There were rows and rows of American styled food, kids running around- screaming a language I could understand, and three families welcoming us with open arms. Brother and Sister Jenson (3 kids), Branch President and Sister Larson (3 kids), and Brother and Sister Fiscus hosted 8 missionaries! They are so generous!
After a huge meal, we shared a spiritual message and were dropped off at the local train station. There we had to wait for Sister Bassett and Goines to finish their Thanksgiving dinner because we were going on a split. As we waited, it began to snow. It was just a light snow which really set the mood for it to feel a lot like Christmas time. When the sisters arrived, I waved goodbye to Tovar as I left with Sister Goines. The night was essentially over so we walked home hoping to talk to a few people on our way. It was cold so we were only able to find a couple women. All in all, it was a great day! I am even more grateful that I will have the opportunity to be home with my family for next years holiday.
Friday was a lot of fun! Sister Goines and I get along really well so it made it easy to go throughout our day. First was studies, second was lunch with the 평택 elders (in honor of me coming to the "celestial kingdom" for the day ha), third was a less-active member visit, and last was having conversations with people on the street. Studies were productive, lunch was delicious, the less-active was hilarious, and the conversations were solid! We even received a number from someone that was interested in coming to church! Soon we found ourselves on a subway to 수원역 (Suwon Station) to unsplit. It seemed like the shortest split but I think it's because Sister Goines and I had too much fun together. After the unsplit was dinner and weekly planning. It was a good day.
Saturday was great but also full for unexpected changes and tweaks to our original plan. At 12PM there was a baptismal service for two little kids being held. It started a little late but it was good. Maybe the downside was the temperature of the water in the baptismal font... The little girl was dunked under the water but her foot came up so they had to do it again. She literally began to cry, she didn't want to go back under because it was so cold. Poor kids but the rest of the service was wonderful. Lunch was served after so we quickly ate and left.
We barely made it in time to make our appointment with Summer (서은효) who is a less-active member of our ward. She was baptized back in 1999 but went less-active after receiving an emotional wound from one of her seminary students. Today we spent time just talking and listening. She has many concerns and we were able to simply share our testimonies which really touched her heart. Before we left I asked if we could leave her home with a prayer but instead she asked for a blessing. I smiled and called the elders. They took FOREVER to arrive but they gave her a beautiful blessing. She was so grateful. I hope that same spirit that she felt will resonate with her to help her desires grow in wanting to come back to church.
When we left it was already time to meet an appointment for dinner. It was with the elders again with the same old man, 홍 현재님 (Brother Hong). He is as crazy as ever but a lesson was finally taught after we ate. It was strange once again because he would either compliment my "beauty" over and over or would go off quoting scriptures which he had memorized haha. It was very entertaining. When we left, time was short but Sister Tovar and I had to visit our investigator, Soo, before she left to New Zealand for a couple months. When we arrived we gave her the kimchee container she lent to us and a homemade Book of Mormon case we spent hours making. We told her that we thought she might want to take a good book with her for her vacation. She was very grateful and her husband was jealous haha. Even though we were full and had no time, Soo and her husband made sure to feed us plenty of KFC that they had left over from their dinner ha. It was tough to down everything but we wanted to show our gratitude. Over and over we tried to leave but they insisted that we wait for their son to make an appearance. He was busy with his video game (he is 25...) but I was praying that he would come out quickly so we could make it home on time. EVENTUALLY by 9PM he came out angry because he was loosing and annoyed by his parents request. Our small talk was worthless but I gave Soo a huge huge before we left. It was sad but I was also eager to get home before I had to call our mission president in case we arrived too late... Luckily we made it just before 10PM. It was a late night.
Sunday was a good day. Our morning appointment cancelled so we had extra study time before church. When we arrived at church it was fun to greet everyone. Normally people run in and ignore us because it is so cold and they just want to get inside but today the sun made a rare appearance so people took their time and even shook our hands. It was nice. It was fast and testimony meeting and of course it was great.
When church ended we had a correlation meeting then head straight to bishops house for a meal appointment. As we waited at the bus stop, guess who showed up? Bishop! I was secretly grateful because I wasn't exactly sure how to arrive at his home ha. Sister Tovar spoke to him while I had some conversations with people on the street and then on the bus. We were about an hour early for the appointment but we walked with him until I had an idea of where his house was. I told him that we would arrive at 7PM but in the meantime, we had work to do. He smiled and said goodbye. I'm glad we stayed out because we had some awesome conversations!! Sometime when we talk to people it is hard to bring up the church in a natural way but being with another foreigner people ALWAYS ask why we are here! Too easy!
When we finally arrived, food was DELICIOUS and it was literally the most fun I have ever had at a meal appointment with all the missionaries. Bishop has been a little apprehensive about talking with or working with us but after tonight we built some serious jung (like a relationship of trust)!! We laughed a lot and bishop was eager to teach and perfect our Korean. He even made the greenies role play different conversations. It was a hilarious night. Because so much good was coming from this appointment Elder Breckwoldt and I both hushed the greenies when they pointed out what time it was. Once we left, the bus took forever to arrive but it was so fun. When we arrived home it was about 10PM and our meal appointment was about 2 hours all together- due to a few new rules, I was obligated to call President Morrise. Normally I would be ashamed to report our tardiness and long meal but today I was so happy to report all of the positive things that happened. President Morrise was also pleased and thanked me for our hard work. It was a great ending to a not so productive week.
Have a great week! Sorry this is so late- You'll hear all about why next week. LOVE YOU ALL!!
Sister Sloan
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