Monday was a spectacular day! It was Mother's Day in America so I was able to Skype my family. They all looked so great!! It was a huge teaser though because the rest of the day all I wanted to do was call them again. I still have 3.5 more months here in Korea so I won't be home THAT soon, but anyway I am SO excited to see them when I do complete my time here.
Lunch was waiting for us when we arrived at 이현자S (Sister Lee)'s house. She is the bishop's wife as well as the Young Women President. Her sense of humor is funny, but she also scares me haha.. I put on a brave face and lunch was actually really fun. Two other ward members came and they were mad at Sister Lee for making us waste our PDAY time at her house. We didn't mind but it was nice to have them shoeing us out the door so we could have a fun day. We went straight to 주안역 (Juan Station) where there is an underground shopping center. I was on the hunt for a dress that 현지S could wear for her baptism. I found a cute dress and a pair of matching shoes. Maybe it cost a pretty little penny but I don't care, our HyonChee will only be baptized once! After all, what would Cover Girl say? (She's worth it! ㅋ)
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| Sister You and Brother Beck |
"What is this for?" "Her baptism."
"Oh, she'll wear it to be baptized?"
"No, not for the actual baptism, just on the day."
"So what dress will she wear to be baptized?"
"We have another dress for that.."
"Is this dress a gift from the ward?"
"No, a gift from me."
"That's nice but why?" "I want to help make her baptism special."
"After the baptism shall we return it?"
"No, she can keep it and wear it to church."
"Is she supposed to always wear a dress?" (To church she wear pants because she doesn't own dresses or skirts)
"Uh... yes we should always look our best for church."
Man! It felt like an interrogation! I did NOT mean it to be such a big deal, just a quiet gift but I failed. To end this ordeal her parents felt so grateful and were in awe of their beautiful daughter. We took a picture or two before leaving them to their evening. I just love that family. They will all be phenomenal leaders in the church someday.
Tuesday, we did the routine. Studied, ate lunch, and were out the door. We had a practice lesson with a member, 김보희S (Sister Kim) before we met our investigator for our scheduled appointment. The practice lesson was okay, but mostly Sister DeBuse and I learned what she shouldn't teach in our next appointment with 김하나S (HahNah). Once in the real lesson, we focused on the spirit and attempted to help her identify it. We are getting closer but still not an 'ahha' moment from her yet.
By 6PM we unsplit and Sister Mineer and I were on our way to a potential investigator appointment. So, this potential investigator was a referral from a member, 최응규B (Brother Choi). He is a strange individual- divorced, a little crazy, and 58. The referral he gave us was a seven year old girl... How creepy does that sound? A man almost 60 referring a 7 year old girl? I was very skeptical. On our way, I was in the middle of texting this man to receive his address but instead the phone battery decided to die! It was awful but eventually I remembered that we had another potential investigator that lived near by who had the elders phone number. Thankfully she was at her shop working and let me use her phone. Both sets of elders came to save us and it turned out just fine. Brother Choi walked us all to this motorcycle shop where we met the seven year old girl and her grandparents. When they introduced themselves it all made sense. Brother Choi wasn't referring the seven year old, instead he was being sneaking in referring her grandparents and using the seven year olds interest in English to lure the family in haha. I wish he would have filled us in on the plan but oh well, I understood and explained how our Family English Program worked (30 minutes of teaching English and 30 minutes of teaching about the Gospel). It went well and we set up an appointment to meet with them twice a week for the next six weeks! Another stressfully productive day behind us.
Wednesday was district meeting. Ever since I was called to be a Sister Training Leader, President Morrise has approached MLC a little differently by preparing an outline of what should be covered in future district and zone training meetings for the month. Some district leaders take the suggestions and expand on them but Elder Berry literally just reads the printout to us and then says, "Well, that's all the paper says so it looks like we're done, any questions?" No commitment, no testimony, no nothing. It's pretty disappointing. The opposite of an edifying district meeting, we all left together to meet the zone for a proselyting activity. When the activity ended, Sister Mineer and I were planning to split and exchange with the 가정 (KahJeong) sister missionaries. It was a lame activity so Sister Blickenstaff and I left early and traveled back to her area. It was her birthday so we were able to have two dinners (one with a member and the other with an investigator) as well as three cakes haha. It was a blast!
Thursday was an awesome morning! This transfer 답동 (DapDong) area was opened for sister missionaries and those sisters share a house with 가정 (KahJeong) sisters. As a four-person house, exercise in the morning is way fun! They live on the 30th floor so what does that mean? Lots of stairs! Our warm up was running down the stairs and to a nearby park. After a few laps, stretching, and exercising, we ran back AND up the 30 flights of stairs. I was the first to finish but man was a breathing heavy! I have maintained a solid 55kilo (~121 lbs) weight by running and doing small CrossFit stuff everyday but dang!! Those stairs were hard.
After, we did the routine. By 11:30AM Sister Blickenstaff and I were at a part member families house to meet the non-member wife to go bowling with her friends. It was so fun! These three little Asian mothers were so good at bowling!! They just laughed at me and Sister Blickenstaff as we consistently got gutter-balls. Eventually they started showing us some techniques to help and it worked! By the last game the women started a bet. Two good bowlers against us missionaries and one good bowler- all Sister Blickenstaff and I needed to do was account for ONE person. Did we do it? No :( haha we had a good time together though. After lunch together we left to find a few more potential investigator's houses. No one was home so we left notes on the door before heading back to unsplit. I love Sister Blickenstaff! We have so much in common and ALWAYS have a fun time together. She reminds me a lot of Sister Bagley.
Once back with Sister Mineer it looked as if she was going to burst into tears as she recounted all that her and Sister Lee had done, or tried to do. It was obvious that things didn't go quite as they planned because she quickly handed the phone back to me and unloaded all of the things that needed to be fixed. I feel so sorry for having to put young missionaries though so many exchanges. For me it is fun and I learn a lot but for greenies it is so stressful and overwhelming. We got everything fixed and headed to the two appointments we had scheduled for the evening.
First was our seven year old referral who is not even old enough to be an investigator but anyway we taught her English. When the 30 minutes were up we called the grandparents over for the gospel message. They are SO not interested. The grandfather couldn't even sit through two minutes of us talking. Thankfully the grandmother did and accepted a Book of Mormon. Her interest level is about the same as her husbands but I am grateful for her being polite and respectful towards us. We aren't too sure how to proceed but anyway it was a simple yet good lesson.
Next was our family appointment! 현지S (HyonChee) texted us saying that she had a bunch of homework to complete and asked if our gospel message could be just an hour as opposed one and a half. When we arrived we got straight to business. We taught the last few commandments of the Law of Chastity and the Word of Wisdom. A good 20 minutes into the lesson the father arrived home from work. When we saw us teaching he immediately said, "Why did you start without me?!" Of course we felt bad but also that statement made me smile. This family is so prepared. I cannot wait to see them at the temple someday.
During the lesson HyonChee turned to us and asked if either Sister Mineer or I had ever broken or not followed all of the commandments that we have taught her. Her question of curiosity was followed by an uncomfortable silence which clearly illustrated the imperfect choices that we had both made in our lives. Amid the awkwardness I repositioned myself so I was sitting taller on my knees. I flipped to the back of the chastity pamphlet and read, "God has made it possible for you to repent and become clean again... Through the Atonement of Jesus Christ and true repentance, you can be forgiven and feel peace." I bore my testimony of the realness of the Atonement of Jesus Christ. After, the member (김소정S) proceeded to tell a story from her own life. As she did, I zoned out. My mind wandered to the stupidity of my life and it didn't take long for me totally change my demeanor and forget what I so powerfully had just testified about... HyonChee noticed. She was across the room and was trying to ask what was wrong. Was I tired, bored, ect. I said I was ashamed. She immediately sent her little sister to grab her phone so she could text me something. She said, "Sloan, maybe those things were bad but if you repented, God must forgive you!" She is a phenomenal human being. And she is right. I am forgiven and worth of the spirit so all is well.
Friday felt less productive than normal. Weekly planning went well. It is hard staying inside for so long so Sister Mineer and I took a 20 minute break to go grab some delicious ice cream to split up the time. The weather is so nice nowadays! Today was the first time that I felt hot. Summer is coming quickly but this time I am making a conscience effort to enjoy what spring we have left. After planning we met Elder Berry and Meeks at the church. Elder Meeks is so good at guitar and we decided to use him in a musical number for HyonChee's baptism next week. We sort of practiced a few times but we mostly just figured out how to put words to it and then called it good.
Saturday was busy! Our appointment with 구혜연S (Amanda) went well. 김미란S (Sister Kim) joined us and we taught all about faith and invited her to be baptized again. With success we invited her to HyonChee baptism and she was actually pretty excited to see one! I hope it will help her recognize that it isn't as scary as she thinks it is. Next was English class. Today is Stake Conference so the members that bring our class to life, were absent. Three students came so Sister Mineer and I stayed stayed Amanda to teach her at the intermediate table. It was hilarious! She mostly just made fun of Mongolian... Don't ask me why.
When we cleaned up English class we ate dinner with the elders then traveled to Stake Conference. It was a fantastic session! Our area seventy, President Ringwood came and spoke. The focus was about member missionary work again and specifically holding on to those whom we already have. The video that they showed off of LDS.org about a ward in Florida was so good! I'm so grateful that we went. As we left the chapel 백용실B and his daughter 백하영S gave us a ride home. I love them!! They went from arguing about HaYong being fat and needing a diet to singing a medley of church songs. It was so entertaining.
Sunday started off a little disappointing. HyonChee texted the night before at about 11Pm saying that she couldn't make it to Stake Conference because she would be traveling to her grandfathers house for his 60th birthday. Of course family is important but this was the Sunday before her baptism! Satan is a sneaky devil and I hate him. The ride we had previously scheduled to take HyonChee, took us instead. 이두례S (Sister Lee) and her daughter 김소정S (Sister Kim) are such genuine people. I am grateful to have become such close friends with them. They were both so curious to know all about our investigators and how they could help- they must have been listening last night hehe. Once we arrived the members quickly rushed us to sit by a non-member woman that came. She came with 서B (Brother Soh) who is 68. His wife died a few months ago from cancer and this woman we brought was his new girlfriend who he intended to marry the coming Saturday..... Uhh.... What?? It was strange but we made friends with his his girlfriend and received her phone number.
During the meeting there were many speakers, including President Morrise and Ringwood. I love President Morrise's example of only speaking Korean! His Korean has improved so much since coming back to Korea. He speaking in a way and used words that old people use but that because that's what he learned when he served here forever ago. Anyway, President Spoke about tasting of the fruit of life. He used the right about of humor and sincerity to really move us all. I really love him.
As we were leaving the church again, 백용실S (Brother Beck) made sure to get us in his car with his wife (유경숙S) and daughter (하영S) so we could come over for lunch. I was attempting to fast but they wouldn't hear of it. haha. It was a delicious meal and soo much fun. I cannot even begin to tell you how much I love this family. I say that a lot but seriously, they are my favorite!! They even told me that they are looking to move but won't leave 만수 (Mansu) because I am here. I know that it was a joke but hey I'll take it!
After lunch, we went home to complete our studies and then walked about an hour to our dinner appointment with a family whom I refer to as 'cute couple.' They are newlyweds and I seriously envy them. They are THE cutest!! I told them that every time I see them together, all I want to do is get married too. They just laughed and gazed into each other's eye. JEALOUS! Anyway, we had a great discussion about their missions and the missionary work they are doing now. 이세리S (Sister Lee) and 임큰솔B (Brother Lim) are such awesome members!! Do you know what makes them even better? They served us brownies for dessert!!!! I felt like I took a huge bite out of America when I sink my teeth into that doughy-chocolately-goodness. Seriously, it was unbelievably delicious.
To end the evening and our week we had our missionary coordinating meeting. 오광철B (Brother Oh) and his wife 이은성 (Sister Lee) came. It was a great meeting. He was proud of all of our hard work. To conclude we made a program for HyonChee's baptismal service. I AM SO EXCITED!!!
This week was a great week. I swear I'm not getting trunky or itching to get home but after Skype on Monday and hanging out with 'cute couple' on Sunday, focusing again might be a process haha. Any tips? I love you all!!!
Have. Great week ^^
Sister Sloan
슬론 자매
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