Monday. Today was a roller-coaster!! ..and yes that is foreshadowing. Today, I tried to plan a fun activity for just the sisters in the zone. There is a Cultural Korean museum in our zone where you can try on traditional (한복) Korean clothing and take pictures in different scenes. It sounded fun but soon after everyone's (late) arrival we were informed of the operating hours. Guess what? No Mondays! (we would have known had we had a smartphone..) They graciously gave us ten minutes to hurry through, but I was disappointed. We took some pictures then went our separate ways. Sister Mineer and I we not satisfied with our almost two hours of travel for nothing so we decided to have a walk around town. Guess what we found? A carnival! It was in town and there was a particular ride called 'Sundrop' that we may or may not have utilized to justify our traveling all the way to 답동 (Dapdong) area. President Morrise previously had opposed the idea of going to amusement parks so I'm not totally sure if this was or wasn't against the rules.. But it was AWESOME!!Sister Mineer and I made our way back just in time to meet up with 정현지S (HyonChee) to walk to the church together for her baptismal interview. Our walk together was fun. We reviewed what would be asked and she told me, "Yeah I know, it will be easy." I smiled and said, "Also for your baptism you are still comfortable bearing your testimony in front of everyone, right?" She smiled and confirmed. I was SO excited!! Elder Berry (our district leader) was waiting and got right to business. Sister Mineer, Elder Meeks, and I waited in the hall.
From the very beginning of the interview something just didn't feel right. I tried listening in and to me it seemed as if HyonChee just wasn't answering the questions. I hoped she was just being quiet but maybe half an hour later her and Elder Berry walked out; Elder Berry shaking his head saying, "Not this week." I was so confused but immediately put my arm around her shoulders as we started our walk home together. I tried asking what she thought and what happened, but she ignored me and squirmed out of my grip. I tried to change the subject but she just didn't want to talk, period. She walked half a step behind us as if she wanted nothing to do with us. My heart was broken. This sweet girl whom I have come to love with all my heart was totally ignoring us, wanting nothing to do with us. It wasn't long until we parted ways. I attempted to give her a hug but she stood motionless as I wrapped my arms around her. For a moment I didn't even recognize her as I watched her walk away. What changed?
I immediately called Elder Berry to get to the bottom of things. Apparently she was just not as committed as we had previously thought. Before the interview even began she said to Elder Berry, "We can just cancel it..." Elder Berry said, "Woah, wait a second we haven't even started yet.." As they proceeded he came to understand that she got the idea of everything but just didn't get the importance of it all, it hadn't sunk deep enough for her to feel it. From what I heard it sounded like Elder Berry handled it well. I cannot even describe the heartbreak I felt. We were supposed to quickly make our way to the mission home for the night but my motivation to hurry or walk fast... 없어 (did not exist). I cried for two hours straight as we switched from bus to subway, from 급행 (speed train) to normal trains. I kept my head down and Sister Mineer stood by me, just holding me with her arm around my shoulders. She is basically six feet tall and I was far from standing up straight, so maybe it looked funny but I was devastated and didn't care. Along the way we ran into a couple other sister companionships but I kept my distance while Sister Mineer talked to them.
I know that people have agency and that's not why I was upset. I was upset because I felt like this beautiful girl was ready to live, love, and reap the benefits the gospel had to offer. But instead I was maybe too nïeve, not committed enough, not obedient enough, not able to teach well enough, and the list goes on. On one hand I don't think anyone is to blame but on the other I feel like I should have done more or at least had been more aware of how HyonChee really felt.
We arrived at the mission home just after 10:30PM and went straight to bed. I couldn't sleep.
Tuesday was off to a strange start when I woke up feeling like there was a pit in my stomach reminding me of the realness of what had happened with 정현지S (HyonChee) the night before. I kept remember her emotionless face as she turned to walk away...
6:30AM came too quickly but we all got up to exercise. Upon our return we had two bathrooms and 10 girls to accommodate. I waited and as I did President Morrise pulled me into his dinning room to talk to me. We talked about a number of things but then he asked the inevitable question, "Are you okay?" Immediately following this question I turned my face downwards in attempt to hide the tears forming in my eyes. I was brief but recounted what had happened the night before. He too was sad. He quickly hopped to his feet and said, "Maybe I can't hug you but I can definitely shake your hand!" He stood tall in a pair of Levi's and a bottom up shirt as I too got on my feet but in a pair of spandex pants and an oversized Korean T-shirt. I felt underdressed and less than worthy of the praise he proceeded to give me.
As we stood he shook my hand. It is Korean style to shake with one hand, then to show your respect, your place your other hand on your arm which is extended. Depending on the amount of closeness of respect you want to show, you can place your hand further down your arm. With the most respect he could show, President shook my hand while grasping our handshake with his other hand. I was a tender moment as he looked at me with tears in his eyes too, telling me that I was doing great work. I appreciate him.
I quickly hopped in the shower and was dressed in no time. Today was zone conference and the zone gathered in 송파 (Songpa) for a hike! Sister Mineer and I prepared well and bought matching Korean-styled hiking gear. We stood out but were proud of it- WE have companionship unity haha. The hike consisted for three separate stops where we received training from President and Sister Morrise, the Office Couple Elder and Sister Grosebeck, and the Assistants to the President Elders Schofield and 김재겸E (Elder Kim). The whole training was about "faith, hope, charity and love with an eye single to the glory of God." It was fantastic!!
Sister Mineer and I stayed together at the front of the group for most of the hike with Elder Kim, my mission father. Also it was a blast because I was able to see Elders Pruner, Higham, and DeMille- they are the coolest. It was so much fun talking with them as well as super interesting to hear all about the ancient 산성리 fortress that we were hiking to. By the end we had sung a few hymns and had a testimony meeting as a zone 'High on a Mountain Top' haha. Get it? (It's a hymn ㅋㅋ) This was the BEST zone conference.To end the evening we gathered our things from the mission home, ate dinner at Pizza School, and began an exchange with 답동 (Dapdong) sisters. I brought Sister Nebeker, a greenie, to Mansu. On our way home We received a text from a strange number saying it was 정현지S (HyonChee) and her phone was taken away. She said she had a change of heart and wanted to be baptized. I was super skeptical but I set up an appointment to meet with her tomorrow. We got home about 11:30PM and were exhausted!!
Wednesday was back to the routine. By 4PM we found ourselves in 가정 area for another zone proselyting activity. This time sister missionaries were in charge so it was awesome! We had an English contest where Koreans would race in reading a verse of a song from the movie "Frozen" called, 'Let It Go.' It was a huge success! Koreans all love that movie so instead of reading we had a few groups of students that came over to sing- both boys and girls alike had no shame haha. So entertaining! After reading, or singing in some cases, they were asked to write their phone number down (to be later informed about our English class and 30/30 program) and take a popular treat called a chocopie. We received over 70 numbers in two hours! Huge success!
After the activity we unsplit with 답동 (Dapdong) sister just to exchange with 계산 (GaySan) sisters. I left with Sister Telford to serve in her area. It took just under two hours to travel back by subway. We ate dinner and then had about three hours to contact on the street and visit less active members. It was pretty successful because we were able to teach and testify on the street more than once! Blessing!
Also while I was out of 만수 (Mansu) area Sister Mineer, Sister Watkins, and our awesome member 이은성S (Sister Lee) met with 정현지S (HyonChee). All went well and she was able to resolve her concerns and rescheduled her baptismal date for next Saturday. I want to be excited but I'm still a little on edge. We'll see how things turn out, I have faith in her.
Thursday was a busy day! In 계산 (GaySan) they don't really have investigators so our whole day was spent finding less active members and proselyting. Again it was successful! The first success began by getting into a less active members home. She allowed us to sing her "I am a Child of God" and share a brief message. After the song her husband arrived home. I asked if he wanted us to sing again and he requested "How Firm A Foundation." As we sang, they sang along. These less active members still have a testimonies, but I was curious why they don't come out to church anymore. They said because of the bishop and stake president, they apparently don't like them. What a lame reason! It's like what Jeffrey R. Holland said,
“So be kind regarding human frailty--your own as well as that of those who serve with you in a Church led by volunteer, mortal men and women. Except in the case of His only perfect Begotten Son, imperfect people are all God has ever had to work with. That must be terribly frustrating to Him, but He deals with it. So should we. … So be patient and kind and forgiving.”
Both Sister Telford and I won the biggest prize on accident! 24 rolls of toilet paper each!! Haha the announcing lady had a microphone to her mouth as she asked about our nametags and church. I wonder how many contacts we can count? Haha just kidding but anyway she said that it is by the grace of God that we both won the biggest prize twice in a row haha. Just planting seeds, just planting seeds hehe.
We unsplit over dinner together and then head to our kinda sorta investigator appointment. After 30 minutes of English with the seven year old girl, the grandma served us dinner. Yay.. and stuff! We meet in this filthy auto bike shop so Sister Mineer and I were curious what 조재순S (Sister Cho) made for us. The grandpa and another worker joined us and they loved the food. Us on the other hand were already full and frankly a little grossed out by what we saw. We stomached enough and then proceeded with the lesson. Everyone left except the grandma. She didn't do her homework of reading the Book of Mormon introduction so we read together. This family literally does not care and the message we are sharing. I can tell when people want me to understand and when they are purposely using words beyond my vocabulary and understanding. Unfortunately, she was speaking in a way I could not understand and even her body language was sending conflicting ideas. Sister Mineer and I just taught and testified and closed. I'm super curious what we should do but for now we have two appointments set up for next week.
Friday we had a lunch and practice lesson appointment with 박미영S (Sister Park). It was a quick visit but we left well fed and practiced for the rest of the day. Before attempting to visit a few less-active members, we met Elders Meeks and Berry at the church to practice the song we still plan to sing at 현지 (HyonChee)'s baptism. Elder Meeks played guitar as Sister Mineer and I sang. We are not talented singers whatsoever but it sounded better than the last time we practiced.
Next was a failed attempt to visit a few less-actives and investigators. We did, however, run into Elders Park (박동규E) and Godfrey. They were on their way to buy fruit with the money Elder Park's sister gave to the missionaries- ₩70,000 (~$70)! They divided out ₩20,000 to us and Sister Mineer and I bought apples, bananas, grapes, (참회) melon, and tomatoes. Score!! To end the day, we went home and planned out the coming week. Sister Mineer and I always have such a fun time together. We concluded the evening with a prayer and some awesome face masks that an investigator gave us.
Saturday was fairly uneventful. We only had time for an hour and a half of study before traveling to the 12 Week Follow Up meeting at the mission office. We traveled with Elders Park (박동규E) and Godfrey by bus... It took FOREVER! We arrived after 2.5 hours and had 20 minutes to find lunch, eat, and be seated for the meeting. Stress! The actual meeting was mundane- I have trained four times now so I've been to this meeting a lot... The jokes are all the same, the topics, the agenda, ect. The spirit is always unique so at least that was good.
When the meeting concluded I had a question for President Morrise and it turned out that he had a couple things to say to me too; we both grabbed a chair and had a little chat. Earlier in the week President Morrise made me aware of how public my blog was and that a member of his family back in Utah pointed out something that I wrote that was the opposite of positive about a fellow missionary. You can imagine my embarrassment but anyway that was Tuesday and today is Saturday. Today he decided that he needed to remind me that he had the upmost confidence in me and he reiterated how proud he is of the work we [me and Sister Mineer] are doing. It felt good to hear that from him because honestly I haven't been able to shake the suggestions he recommended to me... mostly because I had no direct control of fixing them immediately but anyway that's that. I love President Morrise. I really feel so blessed to be able serve with him.
We then quickly hurried out of the mission office to eat dinner. A few other companionships joined us which made it fun. I spend most of my time with 오성택E (Elder Oh). He was one of the zone leaders I had when serving in 수원 (Suwon). He has one and a half transfers left until he goes home so he talked all about how we are such old missionaries haha (I have 2.5 transfers left). It wasn't 'trunky talk' but more like reminiscing on all of the dramatic changes that have happened to our original missions (his being Seoul and mine being Daejoen). Missionary time feels like hyperspeed some times! So much has changed!
Most of us had to travel home by subway so we made our way together. On our first subway there was a seat for all of us to sit by strangers to talk to; we seized the opportunity. After a few stops an old man boarded the subway. It is common courtesy to give your seat to people older than you and this man happened to walk right over and stare at my seat. I took the hint and sensed his reluctance. As he sat he pulled a mysterious item from his pockets that he was signaling for me to grab. I did and it was a necklace. Maybe it was worth American quarter... I showed my appreciation but then he took it upon himself to try putting it on me. I awkwardly dodged him for a few second as I tried to communicate to him that I would do it. Once wearing the necklace he kept commenting on the beauty of it. I tried to change the conversation in order to have a missionary conversation but as soon as I asked about his family, he responded with much excitement he exclaimed, "I'M SINGLE!" in English. That is code for: RED FLAG! He then began reaching for me (I assume he was reach for the necklace) and that is wen Elder Oh and his companion Elder Oscermiller decided it was time to help me out. Elder Oh instinctively threw his arm in the mans path of touching me and told him very sternly he was not allowed to touch me. I was grateful when both motioned for me to stand behind them- they are 6 foot and 6"5' aka the tallest elders we were with (maybe in the mission). I was anxious to change subways because I was a little creeped out as well as embarrassed that I wearing a necklace from this creep. EVERY missionary we were with would not stop complimenting it with an enormous amount of sarcasm... I ripped it off as fast as I could as soon as we were off the subway haha. The rest of our travel time was less than eventful in comparison... We got home just before 9PM. We planned and called it a night.
Sunday was AWESOME!!! Guess who came to church? 정현지S (HyonChee), Seblewongel (our Ethiopian investigator), her husband Abraham, and 3 month old baby! The ward was amazing as usual with everyone. People were loving towards HyonChee for rescheduling her baptism and welcoming to Seble and her family. I don't think they help their adorable baby at all during the three hours of church haha. Members and the missioanries alike really stepped up to the plate when it came to translating the meeting for them (their first language is Amharic- only spoken in Ethiopia, second English, third Korean- but only pleasantries). It was so cool to see. Sister Mineer took charge of Seble and her family while I stuck with HyonChee. I love her. In young women's class she conducted! Also in Sunday school she saved a seat for me because I was running all over trying to help Seble and other members ha. My heart melted when I walked in and saw HyonChee craning her neck to get my attention and then once our eyes met, she patted the seat next to her indicating it was saved for me. We were friends again and I love her.
During sacrament meeting she chose a seat in the back. We sat alone and during a quiet moment I showed her a letter that I wrote to her. I still have to translate it but before I could even tell her that she grabbed it and with a whisper she said, "I English very well." It was cute. We spent the next ten minutes translating it. It is as follows:
현지, 자매님에 대해 걱정스러워요. 자매님의 침례접견 후에 제가 너무 혼란했어요. 왜 침례식에 갑자기 취소했는지 공금했어요. 정견 후에 많이 슬폈어요. 울고 기도하는 것을 많이 했어요. 하나님과 함께 관계를 쌓는 것을 돕고싶어요. 하지만 때때로 어떻게 해야할지 잘몰라요. 의사소통이 잘되지 않기 대운이요. 침례식을 잘준비하기 위해 매일 기도랑 구절을 읽는 것을 해야해요. 언제 기도하고 읽을 때, 주님은 너를 위해 계획을 알수있어요. 아버지신 주님이 천국에 살고 계신 것을 알 수 있게 기도했봤요? 예수 그리스도 후기선도 교회가 주님의 참된 교회라는 것을 알게 해달라고 기도 해봤어요? 모세와 조셉 스미스 토마스 에스 몬슨 회장님이 하나님의 선지자라는 것을 알게 해달라고 기도 해봐요?
저는 이 모든 것과 주님이 참되 다는 것을 알고있어요. 하지만 현지는 스스로 알아야 한다는게 필요해요. 오늘 이더서 2장을 읽었어요. 여기에는 야헷인은 주님의 인도를 따라서 약속된 땅으로 갔어요. 그들이 기도하는 것을 잊었을 때 그들은 인도를 받지 않았어요. 하지만 그들이 기도했을때, 주님은 그들에게 대답했어요. 저는 비슷한 일을 자매님을 위해 할 수 있다는 것을 알고있습니다. 이 복음이 현지자매님을 축복할 것이 다 하지만 이게 찾기 위해 자매님은 열심히 보야합니다. 사랑해요!
사랑으로, 슬론 자매
In short, I shared what I had learned in my personal study during the week. I am reading in Ether where, through prayer mind revelation, the Jaradites are guided to a promised land. In the process Jared tells his brother to pray. He does. They receive guidance from God and follow. They end up on a beach for four years. After all this time God comes to them and to paraphrase God he says, "Hello~! You prayed and I got you this far but you forgot to continually pray. This isn't the promised land I told you about." Then the brother of Jared repents and prays again. This story reminded me of HyonChee because maybe she prayed came to know she wanted to be baptized but then maybe somewhere along the way she stopped reading the Book of Mormon or praying. She was maybe at a standstill like the Jaradites so after reiterating this story I told her that the only way that she'll be able to make a decision and be happy with it, is if she continually and diligently prays and reads the scriptures. I bore my testimony and invited her to act.
After translating and reading the letter together she then drew a picture of me being sad. Then next to it drew a happy face. She said, don't be the sad one. She makes me smile. I've said it before but I'll say it again, I love her!
When church ended, we ate dinner together- Seble, Abraham, HyonChee, and the ward. It was so awesome. A member gave Seble and her family a ride home while HyonChee went into her baptismal interview. This time was much fast and Elder Berry was impressed with the change in her countenance. All is well today and all this hard missionary work seems to be paying off. I love being here and being able to share this experience with so many people I have come to love.
How is everyone?
LOVE YOU
Sister Sloan
슬론 자매
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