Day in the Life [생활에 있는 일]: The Physics of Arm Wrestling

6/16-22
Monday was a fun day! We were planning to meet up with a number of missionaries to go shopping together but it ended up just being the three of us. I wasn't disappointed though, we had a good time together. I really need to stop looking for clothes, because I will ALWAYS find way too many things that I like haha. Before we called it a day we grabbed a bite to eat at a cute like restaurant called 밥버거 (Rice Burger). It was so delicious! But that was dinner #1.... Next we head to our Bishop's house (김우식B) to meet with his wife, 이현자S (Sister Lee), for a 20 minute practice lesson. Instead of teaching and leaving she decided she wanted to feed us too. Dinner #2.... I had to eat all of my food and even some of Sister Gapinski's because we were all dying! It was a good appointment though. We are trying to find ways to serve our bishop so we made a plan to come back at the end of the week to make their family a delicious dinner.

To end the day, we taught our cute couple investigators, 심하정S (Sister Shim) and 이지웅B (Brother Lee). They are always so much fun!! Right off the bat, Sister Shim asked if we had eaten. Typically I would politely welcome food, but with them I felt comfortable saying that we were stuffed. Despite my answer she let a whinny squeal saying, "No~! You must enjoys my french fries." Haha so that is what we did. Koreans are so giving and tonight my stomach really felt the immense generosity that just a few had showed us tonight haha.

After eating, we somehow got to talking about arm wrestling. Sister Shim challenged me and I gladly accepted. She was shockingly strong!! She won with both arms! We were confused, because she had told us that she cannot do a single push up, but she happened to beat all three of us athletic sister missionaries in a simple arm wrestling match... I then challenged her to show us a push up. It was HILARIOUS! She really can't do it. Something about the physics of tonight made zero sense. It was so much fun though. I really feel like we have become super good friends. It feels like we are meeting up to eat, play games, and enjoy a nice gospel discussion. This is the most natural we have ever felt with any investigator and we love them. Tonight's gospel discussion was all about Joseph Smith and proper priesthood authority. They have so many awesome questions! They are so fun to teach. It was a good night. Before we left, we assigned them a few conference talks to read and challenged Sister Shim to come workout with us in the mornings. She was excited, we hope she comes!

Tuesday was a crazy day!! I have come to love the days were we leave the house early and don't come back until late. Today was one of those. First we a had a lunch appointment with 김정은S (Sister Kim). Her family doesn't have much money but she is always so giving! When we arrived there were a couple other woman from the ward there. 박미영S (Sister Park) left not long after we arrived but 이미영S (Sister Lee) stayed for the whole thing. I love Sister Lee! She served her mission here and was companions with a number if Americans, which means the foreigners introduced her to the language of sarcasm- to which she is now fluent. We laughed as we ate and when it came time for the practice lesson, I asked Sister Mineer to take it away. I love that she is so willing and eager to do whatever is asked of her. She is going to learn SO much, SO fast if she keeps going at the speed she is. She did great, we ended with a prayer, and were off.

Attempting to visit the same less-active members was a fail. One came home as we were writing a note and she, 금경화S (Sister Kum) was less than excited to see us. Sister Kum has cancer and I feel sad for her but I am at a loss of how we can help her. We delivered a bag of cookies and said goodbye. Before heading to our next appointment we went to drop a note off to 정차연S (ChahYoun), 김미란S (Sister Kim)'s daughter. We figured the mother would be at work and the daughter at school but to our surprise the mother came home from work to eat lunch with a couple other church members. We met so many members already and it was only 2PM by that time. We joined them for some fruit, a spiritual message, and we again were off. We had to quickly walk to our relief society president's house for another practice lesson. We decided to practice and role play a lesson before she joined us with an investigator. All went well and we hopped in her car to greet our investigator 조재순S (Sister Cho).

This was the beginning for a very awkward appointment. Even though we had confirmed the appointment earlier that morning, one of her friends were there and I think she was pretty embarrassed to know us. She went as far as to not even look at us, it was so weird. I asked her quietly if we could teach her and she said, "Not today." Her nephew, another investigator of ours, was there so she recommended that we just teach him. We did all we could but she left and was no where to be seen. It was really strange. Our member felt uncomfortable and she too was asked if she could leave- and like that we found ourselves alone with this 35ish year old man wanting to listen about our gospel and a 7 year old girl who was anxiously awaiting the opportunity to look miserable as I would attempt to teach her English. You could say we were in quite a pickle but it all worked out for the best. I played with the girl as Sister Mineer and Sister Gapinski taught 최준민B (Brother Choi).

To end the evening we decided to walk home. On the way, we passed by a huge shoe store where a few rain boots caught my companion's eyes. They both are in desperate need for rain boots seeing as monsoon season is fast approaching. As they browsed, I did too. I found some super cute knock-off Birkenstocks. Somehow I was able to convince the shop owner to sell them to me for half price. I think he was charmed by the fact that we all were speaking Korean haha. It works right? We were in and out in no time. As we continued on our walk home we decided to stop in at a Caffe Bene for some 팥빙수 (ice flakes with red beans). Today is Sister Gapinski's one year mark in country and that is a good enough reason to celebrate! Quality time was spent talking to people in the street too but anyway those are the fun things worth mentioning.

Wednesday was such a fun morning! On our way out the door to exercise, we received a call, it was our investigator 심하정S (Sister Shim). She lives two buildings away from us and this morning she was calling to say she was ready to exercise. We picked her up and showed her what we did- a few laps and a CrossFit exercise routine. She literally looked like she was about to die... It's good for her though. It really felt like I had a mini CrossFit class again. It was a fantastic way to start the day.

After getting ready for the day, we were able to welcome President and Sister Morrise into our humble abode. This transfer for interviews, President and his wife were interested in seeing all of the missionary's homes. It was our turn today and President's reaction to the size of our tiny apartment was hilarious. Of all the houses in Incheon, ours in by far the smallest yet we were the only companion that was asked to become a threesome. I don't mind the crowdedness but it's true, our house is a little crammed at the moment. As we proceeded with interviews, President Morrise and I wheeled a couple chairs to our changing room. He propped his briefcase on top of my suitcase and against a small folded pile of the exercise clothes I had worn that morning... I didn't say anything though haha. We had a good interview. Once President interviewed everyone, we took a picture, and walked them to the elder's house.

When we arrived back home we completed our studies, ate lunch, and left to meet our zone for a proselyting activity. We ran into President and Sister Morrise as we head out of our apartment and they offered us a ride. We took them up on the offer real quick! I really miss the convenience and comfort of a car! The ride was nice and the activity was average. As STL, sister missionaries do pass-off with me so today Sister Nebeker asked if she could. She did so well, but after she taught she broke down. She is struggling with a lot of things back home and all I could do was hold her as she cried. Something she said broken my heart- "I have been studying and preparing to teach about how this gospel can bless families but little do people know, my family needs it just as much at the next." Poor girl. Keep her in your prayers.

After we got Sister Nebeker on her feet, we wrapped up the activity and began an exchange. I brought Sister Mineer and Sister Bassett with me to 만수 (Mansu). After dinner we head to an investigator appointment. Sister Shim and her husband, Brother Lee, prepared a small dinner for us when we arrived. They are the sweetest. We had some fun then got straight to their gospel questions. Today there weren't as many as usual but still we stayed for over an hour. I seriously LOVE them. Today they continued to bribe me to stay and live with them instead of head back to America haha. We are up to free rent, a laptop, and a cell phone. Mom and dad, whatta you got? ^^

Thursday morning we met Sister Shim again for exercise. She tried to get out of running but we hardly gave her a choice haha. I promise nothing is cuter than to hear a Korean girl whine. Maybe it used to be annoying but it is cute now. We worked her hard before letting her go back to sleep.

Our day began with an appointment with 김하나S (HahNah). She was almost an hour late but it went well. We discussed a little about her baptismal date and she decided to push it back a little. We committed her to continue praying about it so we will see. Since things ran a little late we had to immediately catch a bus in order to meet our companions to exchange back. It was nice to see Sister Gapinski again. I love Sister Bassett and we had a blast talking about everything but there is just something about getting back with your companion.. Sounds stupid now that I wrote it but there it is.

We quickly walked to our next appointment. 조재숨S (Sister Cho) cancelled our appointment with her but we never heard back from her nephew, 최준민B (Brother Choi), so we showed up and I'm not entirely sure if it was the right thing. When Sister Cho saw us walking in she immediately flipped out! She was yelling and telling us that she cancelled. I tried explaining that we weren't there for her but instead for her nephew. She then yelled at him saying, "I told you not to reply to them!" Rude. He hadn't but he stood up for us and said he wanted to meet us. When she finally stormed out we said a prayer to invite the spirit as we taught. We taught the second lesson all about the Plan of Salvation. He was super accepting and super on board about how to learn about how he can better fulfill his purpose here on Earth. He brought up the Ten Commandments so I showed him a fun way to remember it- he was excited and said that we wanted to study it later haha. This man is so golden. Before we left we even got to talking about the word of wisdom. He told us that sometimes his friends call and invite him to drink. Even though he never wants to be respects the culture and does what he is told- but get this he said the following to us, "I always feel bad because The Bible teaches us that our bodies are temples and I don't want to destroy the temple that God has given me." I was speechless. Before we left we received his permission to refer him to the elders near his home. It will be super sad to see him go but I know it's only right to let the elders teach and baptize him.

To end the evening we met up with 이두례S (Momma Lee) to teach our recent convert 정현지S (HyonChee) about the priesthood and auxiliary positions. It was a good lesson. HyonChee is the best and her little sister sat in too. We committed her to coming to church with us on Sunday- we'll see what happens!

Friday morning we held our weekly planning session which seemed to eat up a majority of the day. I know it is a productive meeting but sometimes I really get sick of sitting inside talking about missionary work when I know I could be outside doing it. We were able to accomplish a lot though so it wasn't all bad. When time was up we packed up and met our district at the church for a delayed district meeting. Between interviews with President Morrise on Wednesday and a Elder Berry loosing all form of motivation to do anything, we rescheduled our meeting from 3:30-5. It was okay. I honestly am so disappointed with the first impression that Sister Mineer has had with district meetings... I had awesome experiences early on in my mission which really set the bar pretty high and frankly, our district is pathetic. Sigh. We keep brainstorming ways of how to help it improve but we'll see what we can actually control.

To end the evening we went to the bishops house. we had previously asked if we could serve him by making him and his family dinner. We bought some meat and made them hamburgers and fries. It was a greasy American meal that I'm not totally sure they enjoyed but anyway, we loved it haha. The family was very appreciative so at least we won points there.

Saturday was an interesting day. Nothing seemed to work out the way that we had previously anticipated but anyway it was a fun day. The first noteworthy thing that happened was English class. It was alright... Hardly anyone showed up but me, Elder Berry, and Sister Gapinski were assigned to teach the intermediate table. It was just... 근냥, nothing special. Afterwards the elders were on their way to help a member move his office to a different floor in the same building- this member happens to be my favorite, 백용실B (Brother Beck), so we tagged along to help too. It was all finished after about 30 minutes and after everything was in its place, he announced that we would give us missionaries a special deal. He works as a custom foot-soling person so he sat us down and made custom soles for each missionary. Brother Beck is so kind! Before we left, he and his wife took us to dinner. The sisters went with his wife, 유경숙S (Sister You) and as we braced ourself to run to her car in the pouring rain, we ducked in a real-estate office and picked up a new investigator. Sister You really is an awesome missionary but every time she is with us, she always creates the most awkward missionary moments but hey, at least she helps. I love her.

Dinner went well and we ended the evening with a few hours on the streets trying to find some less-active members as well as people to talk to. It proved to be productive on the street but the less-actives were not happy to see us. Oh well.

Sunday was awesome! 정현지S (HyonChee) and her little sister, 정호경S (HoKyong) came to church together! They are just like any set of siblings, always bickering so it was my job to keep them from killing each other and to at least pay attention to some of the meetings. I didn't know how much I actually helped but anyway it was a good day at church. After the meetings, the relief society served the ward lunch and it was delicious! Just as the meal ended it began to pour rain outside. Most people walked to church today leaving everyone stranded at the church without any umbrellas until further notice haha. It wasn't all bad though. I talked with Momma Lee and taught her how to use DeadElder.com to talk to her daughter, as well as a few other members about attending our investigator appointment for the week. I seriously LOVE this ward. Even though I have only been here for just under 5 months, I really feel like this is the place I'll miss the most. In the last two areas where I served I was able to build strong relationships, but in 만수 (Mansu) ward I feel like I am totally myself and the members love it. I love it!!

After lunch we traveled with our ward mission leader to proselyte with him and his kids. It wasn't all that productive but it was super fun. Sister Gapinski and I split off and did our own thing, it was a blast. I really like her. When we all met back together we went to our separate homes for dinner. Before our missionary coordinating meeting at 8PM we talked to people on the street and dropped off a birthday present as our our investigator's house. Oh, it was also Elder Berry's birthday too. After the meeting 박동규E (Elder Park) brought out ice cream that we all ate together. It was yummy.

All in all it didn't feel like a very busy week. We had an investigator drop us and we referred one to the 연수 (Younsu) elders. Our number are getting smaller BUT I asked Sister Mineer to be senior this week. I know she'll keep us busy and we are setting out to find a bunch if new investigators. ^^ Pray for us! Have a great week.

Love you~
Sister Sloan
슬론 자매