Monday was a nice and relaxing PDAY. When I first started my mission I also thought that it was best to stay busy on preparation day, but instead I have come to love the opportunities we have to relax. Missionary life and it's related work is a nonstop process and it's by divine design that we have a six-hour block to take it easy and prepare for the rest of the week. Today we met the elders for lunch and then we ran back home to write letters, do laundry, and sleep. By 6PM our house was clean, Sister Bagley and I were well rested, and ready to find people on the streets to talk to. It was successful. By about 7:30PM we boarded a bus and a series of subways in order to make it to the mission home for the night. Tomorrow will be MLC; maybe we took advantage of the privilege of getting to sleeping at the mission home but anyway we miss beds so we feel validated ha. We made it safely by 9:30PM.
Upon arrival, no one was in sight. We ceased the opportunity to sneak into the office So we could check the mail. We were trying to be quiet but apparently failed because we were almost immediately caught red handed by President Morrise opening his office door. Inside we saw the office staff, assistants to the president, and his wife sitting around a table, in the middle of having a meeting. Their laughter followed my awkward comment of "....look, there's mail..." It was embarrassing. I quickly finished my desperate attempt to find a letter for us but to our disappointment there was nothing. After placing the stack back into it's slot, President Morrise threw me the keys to his house. We went as quickly as we could and went straight to planning then prepared for bed. Ironically the soft bed were hard to get used to... ㅋㅋ see what I did there? It is also hard to believe that I've been sleeping on hard mats called yohs for over a year. I'm excited to have a bed again but tonight it was difficult to get used to.
Tuesday started well. We exercised, ate breakfast with Sister Morrise, and studied until it was time for MLC. Sister Bagley dropped me off and she left with other STL junior companions. The meeting was awesome! The theme was "Teach People, Not Lessons" with a subtitle of "teach people more lessons." Haha... Cleaver. The AP's are 김재겸E and Elder Schofield, they are fantastic human beings!! I really respect them.
After the opening remarks, each zone had an opportunity to report on how each zone responded to the last training. It was way fun! I talked about the 20 minute-practice-lessons with members that the stake presidents requested missionaries start. I really feel like the relationships between 만수 (Mansu) ward members and the missionaries has grown tremendously as well as helped build them up as individuals and also as a whole ward. The smile of President Morrise's face after our zone report was quite rewarding. ^^ Incheon is the best~!
Next was a training on the PMG session of 'How to Begin Teaching.' The AP's gave us an example role play and after asked for people's thoughts. The funny thing is that they actually did a good job but for some reason, some of the missionaries thought it was supposed to be a bad example so they tore it to pieces. Thankfully, humble Elder Schofield didn't take it too hard by saying, "Well of course it wasn't perfect, how ineffective would that have been?" Haha he is too funny. I learned a lot! Great training.
The travel home was annoying because I chose to carry back two packages- one for Elder Knapp and another for 박동규E (Elder Park). It wasn't easy but it was fine. Once in Mansu the clock struck 7:30PM~ and we were asked to come to the church. For what you might ask? I'm still wondering why we even went but anyway an RM came back to visit and wanted to teach us Korean. It was useless and the kid was weird. On the way home Sister Bagley and I bought a pizza and ate as we planned... again ha.
Wednesday was a good morning! When Sister Bagley and I finished studying we left the house to drop something off at the church. On our way back home for lunch we were distracted by a street vendor selling Korean-grandma styled shirts. Maybe that sounds lame and ugly but in actuality I love them and the fabric they are made out of are PERFECT for summer. As we browsed for a few minutes the woman in charge came over to talk to us. We explained our purpose as missionaries and she ate it up. She apparently was a pastor at another church but she wanted to do something to help us with our missionary work. We walked away with a shirt and skirt each. Granted the skirt was pretty ugly grandma style but nonetheless, Koreans are so giving and we were grateful.
After a quick lunch we left to meet 정혜연S (HyayeYohn) at her AnyTime convenient store. Today we talked all about grandma pants and how much we all love them. She asked Sister Bagley and I to watch the shop as she ran upstairs to put hers on. As she did, so did we but in a not-so-subtle way under our skirts ha. We took a few funny pictures and shared a small spiritual message before her shop got picked up.
When we left we ate a quick dinner then met the 계산 (GayeSahn) sister missionaries at the subway station for an exchange. I brought Sister Telford to 만수 (Mansu) with me. I felt sorry dropping Sister Bagley off with Sister Watkins because I've never met a missionary as trunky as her. It's never fun serving with missionaries that are only focused on going home and giving no thought to their current companion, investigators, or missionary work in general. I'm sad that this sister has let so much distract her but I hope Sister Bagley can keep them busy if Sister Watkins doesn't do her part as senior.
The night with Sister Telford was short but anyway it was good. We talked to a bunch of people, including two super sweet grandmas. When I first arrived here I was always weirded out by how loving people were. PDA is not a thing in Korea but friends and family alike hold hands no matter age or gender. That still sounds strange but in actuality it is very sweet. Maybe it's better put like this, it is a way of engaging in a conversation with more than just words. Anyway, both grandmas that we ran into grabbed my hands. As we had great conversations both grandmas kept squeezing my hands, it was adorable. To end the evening Sister Telford had prepared to "pass off" to me. "Pass Off" is a program set up to help missionaries improve their teaching ability in Korean. In this program, missionaries study each of the three church pamphlets (The Restoration, Plan of Salvation, and Jesus Christ's Gospel) both in English and Korean. Then as STL for the Incheon zone, I quiz sister missionaries on vocabulary and grammar used so they can better teach straight from the pamphlets. I also test their reading ability, memorization of key verses, and finally their ability to teach principles that I choose at random. Sister Telford passed off the first pamphlet and did really well! It was a night well spent.
Thursday was a gloomy day! Yesterday finally felt like spring but today it was back to gray skies, rain, and wind. Absolutely no one was on the streets and our only appointment before the unsplit, cancelled. In an attempt to be effective, we came back home to do callbacks off of records. It was actually super successful! We were able to refer 3 people to different missionary sets in our zone. After the unsplit Sister Bagley and I hurried to 김미란S (Sister Kim)'s house for a practice lesson. It went okay. She was very sweet and cooked us a kimchee pancake as well as some delicious blueberry tea. Once we left, we quickly went to meet our member 이은성S (Sister Lee) so she could come with us to our miracle appointment with the 정 (Jeong) family. There was a misunderstanding and the father came home at 8PM as opposed to 8:30PM but it wasn't a problem because he just helped us teach his daughters English for 30 minutes before our gospel message began.
I started the lesson off with a prayer. We wanted to first get a feel for the families religious background; from what we gathered from 정현지S (HyonChe- our 15 year old investigator) her whole family was Christian at heart but not practicing at the moment. I decided to start the discussion by asked HyonChe what faith was. When she didn't give an answer that her father was satisfied with, he chimed in with a super long explanation of all he has learned about religion over the years. To sum it up for you, he likes our church. He knows that their is something different and special about this gospel and it's people but he hadn't found too much information out yet. He asked us what set us apart from other churches- we explained the role of prophets of old and today, the plan of salvation, the Book of Mormon, baptism by immersion, and the role of the spirit in knowing truth for yourself. It was a fantastic lesson! Our member really helped us out a lot! We are so grateful for her and the spirit she brought to the lesson. We challenged the family to prayer together each day before our next meeting, they happily accepted. To finish off the lesson I asked the father if he wouldn't mind, offering the closing prayer. He quickly deflected and asked his wife. As they went back and forth, I saw HyonChe out of the corner of my eye slowly flipping through the pamphlet to find the page explaining how to pray. The partially evil grin on her face as she peered at her father was hysterical. She raised her arm and said "기도할까요" (shall I pray). Everyone laughed and it was the sweetest prayer. This family is amazing!
Friday we had zone training. The leaders did a good job. When it came time for a role play, Sister Morrise walked in. I quickly volunteered Sister Bagley and I to teach Sister Morrise ^^ winners! It was a blast, we really love her. After the training I did some more pass off but this time it was with Sister Rose. She didn't do so well... I will have to meet her again next week so she can try again. The rest of the day was spent traveling back to our area, talking to people on the street, and weekly planning. Not too much to report.
Saturday was a sad morning. Sister Bagley and I woke up feeling a little under the weather. I was fine after I got going but Sister Bagley stayed in bed for an extra hour or so to trying counteract what was making her feel so sick. I called to cancel our farming plans and began to study. It was a strange Saturday, it just didn't feel complete without farming haha. Anyway after Sister Bagley felt a little better, she got ready, and studied a little before we left to meet our investigator, 김하나S (HahNah). She was so tired because she had stayed up all night studying for a midterm which she took this morning. Despite the fact that both her and Sister Bagley were fighting to keep their eyes open, the lesson went well. For the gospel portion, 정예림S (Sister Jeong) joined us as we shared a message about prayer and the Restoration video. After the video we were about out of time but HahNah had such great questions! She observed that in the video each church claimed to be the only true church (much like churches today) and she wanted to know how we find out which one really is. We challenged her to continue reading the Book of Mormon and praying. It was a good lesson.
After was a fun English class. Maybe everyone is getting sick because almost all of our students looked as if they wanted to keel over and die. Poor kids. Sister Bagley and I still tried to make it fun. After our spiritual thought we sent people off and greeted members for a ward activity. It was a 삼겹살 (meat) party haha- only in Korea. It was a blast and a nice relaxing night for my sick companion. The ward members went a little over board with taking care of her and Elder Knapp that was also sick. It was funny to watch especially because the members isolated the two of them in the corner most of the night haha. The only thing missing was the caution tape saying 'quarantine' haha.
Fast Sunday. Today's church meetings were a little different than normal because the auxiliary leaders prepared a two hour presentation for all members over 12. The presentation was all about member missionary work and the book, 'The Power of Everyday Missionaries' by Brother Clayton M. Christiansen. It was well executed but our poor 14 year old investigator was dying of hunger and boredom. Sister Bagley did a good job entertaining her. When sacrament meeting started, everyone seemed a little restless because we had all been sitting in our seats for over 2 hours now. Maybe that was a contributing factor to so many people getting up to bear their testimonies but it was one of the most powerful meetings I've attended yet! Our members are so strong!
When church ended, we saw 정현지S (HyonChe) as well as most of our members off. We didn't have too much time to spare because between church meetings we received a referral who asked us to come to her house by 4PM. Upon arrival, we quickly learned that she is purely interested in our gospel message! Booyah! It was awesome teaching her... Well actually she is a typical Korean grandmother who LOVES talking- her initial introduction took about 20 minutes, touching on just about every topic possible ha. She is sweet. We are excited to meet her again next week!!
By 6PM we arrived back home to break our fast and eat dinner. We ran out of rice yesterday so all we had left was eggs and sweet potatoes. It was a strange combination but it was fine. Sister Bagley, however was not satisfied and still starving haha. We called up our Korean mother, 이두례S (Sister Lee). She wasted no time inviting us over for dinner as well as a practice lesson- she is the best. While we ate, our usual 'food baby' joke came up again haha. This time it was directed towards Sister Bagley as Sister Lee asked if she was having twins hahahaha! It was awesome. Before leaving we taught her about prayer, washed the dishes, and received a bunch of kimchee. It was an evening well spent.
Our usual missionary coordinating meeting was cancelled due to our leader being in Seoul for other church meetings. So the rest of the night Sister Bagley and I tried to find people talk to, it was semi successful but we still managed to have a blast. I love my companion and this ward. After this transfer ends, I only have three transfers left... So Sister Bagley and I are hoping to stay together for at least one more if not the whole five months hehe! We now have 7 investigators and fantastic relationships with members. We are on fire~ Being a missionary is so much fun!!
Have a good week!!
I love you all!! 사랑해요! 보고싶어요! I miss you!
사랑하는,
슬론 자매
Sister Sloan
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| More murals. |
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| The farm owner haha |
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| Farming.. Also Brother Beck pretending to spank Elder Higham |
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| Sunday cutting radishes |
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| Member exchange on Sunday. |
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| Me and Sister Bagley. |
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| Trying to take the trash out via elevator. What you don't see is the other four bags of sorted recyclable garbage-plastics, cardboard, glass, oh and don't forget food trash...ew |
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| Look at the beautiful trees blooming. |
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| mission home beds |
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| Grandma pants |
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| grandma pants and our favorite less-active 정혜연S (Sister Jeong) |
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| grandma skirt |
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