July 28

Hi! so, honestly not much has been happening :P It was good to hear from my parents :) And Sis Sung and the Elders in my area really liked the picture of our cat Meg that my dad sent; they thought it was really artistic :P Hahaha. Good job Dad. :P

Anyways, so a transfer is usually 6 weeks, though this one is 7, so it's almost over!!!! AAAAHH! It's crazy :P This week was really uneventful. We had almost no appointments... baaah. but this coming week has a lot planned, so hopefully that will be good! Our apartment is super old, like over 20 years, and so they are trying to update the piping systems and hot water boilers and whatever, and so that means that for about 3 days we won't have hot water. So our options are to just take really cold showers, or go to bath houses, where crazy Korean grandmas will probably be really fascinated in a naked white person. :P So, next week's email has potential to be extremely entertaining, depending on what we choose. :P

So, this last week. Hm. There was a Stake Primary activity, and about 30 or 40 kids came, they were all so cute! I wish my Korean was as good as theirs :P As missionaries, we got to help with some of the activities. We had this obstacle course set up in a room and we blind folded them, and told them to follow the "Spirit/Holy Ghost", which was the Elders whispering, while someone else was "Satan" and shouted at them different directions and tempted them with candy and money :P Hahah, it was pretty funny to watch. Hm. The only other thing I can think of was yesterday, Sunday. It was pretty eventful, I guess. One really cute thing was a girl in the American military ward came up to us, she's like 6 or 7, and she had made a name tag and a picture Book of Mormon (with like 4 pictures in it that she drew) and told us she was a missionary, and wanted to sit with us during Sacrament meeting. It was SO CUTE! Though she looked really bored during the meeting :P it can only get so entertaining for children :P

Dudi. Too bad she went back to Mongolia :(

After church, the Fairhursts (the older couple missionaries in my area) had a lunch for ward members, and we went with Dudi, who came to church. :) The food was so yummy! I ate too much. Like, I didn't eat dinner or breakfast this morning, because it was that much :P Hahha. Anyways. The cool thing was - a few weeks ago, the Fairhursts had routinely seen someone on the military base, and felt like they should talk to him. When they finally did, they found out that he was actually a member, but had been inactive for 10+ years, and wanted to go back to church, but hadn't because he felt guilty. He and his wife (a SUPER friendly and awesome Korean woman) were there, and so we got to talk to them a bit. While we were talking with his wife, her English name is Becky, she asked us about the church and the restoration, so we explained it to her, and it was a really cool experience. She was so open to it, and loved our answers. She had a question about why there were so many churches, but every time she asked other churches, they always just said that theirs was the right one and she should join them. This woman hasn't really had religion in her life, and didn't even really know what the Bible was, but she said that our answer was really good and probably the right one. So she said God had sent us to her. I was really surprised by her quick acceptance of it, so we are really excited to see her again. During that conversation I really felt the Spirit; it was a really good experience after such an uneventful week. 

  8 ...so great were the confusion and strife among the different denominations, that it was impossible for a person young as I was, and so unacquainted with men and things, to come to any certain conclusion who was right and who was wrong.

  10 In the midst of this war of words and tumult of opinions, I often said to myself: What is to be done? Who of all these parties are right; or, are they all wrong together? If any one of them be right, which is it, and how shall I know it?

 11 While I was laboring under the extreme difficulties caused by the contests of these parties of religionists, I was one day reading the Epistle of James, first chapter and fifth verse, which reads: If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.

 12 Never did any passage of scripture come with more power to the heart of man than this did at this time to mine. It seemed to enter with great force into every feeling of my heart. I reflected on it again and again, knowing that if any person needed wisdom from God, I did; for how to act I did not know, and unless I could get more wisdom than I then had, I would never know; for the teachers of religion of the different sects understood the same passages of scripture so differently as to destroy all confidence in settling the question by an appeal to the Bible.

 13 At length I came to the conclusion that I must either remain in darkness and confusion, or else I must do as James directs, that is, ask of God. I at length came to the determination to “ask of God,” concluding that if he gave wisdom to them that lacked wisdom, and would give liberally, and not upbraid, I might venture.         Joseph Smith History, exerpt

 

I've been getting better at Korean, at least better at understanding people if they use words I know :P Hahah. I don't care so much if I'm really slow at talking, I just want to understand!! So I'm glad that there has been a little improvement :P

July 21

This weeks has been... up and down? :P I think I had my first breakdown, haha, but my companion was pretty impressed, because she says new missionaries usually have it during their second week, and i'm on my 4th or so now :P So, yay? Haha. But I'm doing good now, I think it was just a lot of pent up stress that wasn't getting out, so I had 2 days of slightly strange emotions :P and the unfortunate part of that is that one of those days was my first interview with the new mission president... so I started crying during my interview. Haha, so now he probably thinks I'm a kinda emotional and having a hard time with missionary work. I mean, it is difficult, but not to the crying point like that :P Bah. Whatever. 

 

I think several things were getting to me. I think one of them was I was thinking missionary work in Korea would be a bit more like it is in America, where they have quite a number of short appointments, like 30 minutes or 1 hour, in one day. However in Korea, that's impossible. You are LUCKY if you have 3 appointments in a day (and they are LOONG), and it happens rather frequently that you don't have any that day, or appointments get cancelled. So I felt like we weren't doing ANYTHING, but that's just missionary work in Korea; it's slow. The other things bothering me were having no clue what people are saying, and not being able to participate in discussions. I was thinking, I'm supposed to be a MISSIONARY, but I'm not really able to contribute to this discussion beyond saying whatever my companion asks me to say. I know it takes time to learn the language, but I wasn't really feeling much like I was doing or contributing much, which was frustrating. And if I'm not speaking, how am I supposed to practice and learn? 

 

I was just stressed with the language, with teaching, with being "spiritual enough" or whatever, etc. And it just kind of built up, I just want to do SO MUCH! My mission is only so long, so I don't want to have to wait until later to be able to do this. But I let it out, and now I feel good :P :) I feel back on track and am able to focus better on what I need to be doing. I saw a video that I really liked, you should watch it. Choose You This Day

It's super good. The part that goes something like "I might not be able to do much this day, but I'll do what I can"  has been going through my head all week. I honestly can't do that much yet. But I'm doing my best to do what I can as best I can, so that I know that I tried my best, and I know the Lord will help me learn and progress till I am able to do more. 

 

I studied Ether 12:27 a LOT this week, like, I spent my whole personal study time on it for 2 days! I learned a lot from it, and looking up all the cross-references at the bottom of the page. Some of the major things I learned from it is we really NEED weaknesses, and we should be grateful that we have them. Without weakness, we would not need the Atonement, and we would also not progress, which would kind of defeat the purpose of living. So God GIVES us weaknesses, because it is through them that we learn to rely on the Lord, be humble, and progress. We should be grateful for weakness, because then that allows us to see Christ's help and all He does for us and strength in our lives as He helps us with the Atonement. 

 27 And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them.

 

Anyways, this past week was really bad, as far as meeting with people goes. They either cancelled, or had no time, so not much has happened. Though we did have some meals with members, which was great. There was this one family that I am just in love with from the Korean ward. They were SO nice, and the food was SO good, and they didn't stuff it down our throats :P Because in their eagerness to feed, sometimes Koreans do that :P We have an appointment this coming week that my companion warned me about, so I put in my planner to wear a loose fitting skirt that day :P 

 

On Sunday, we attended the American military branch the whole time, because we taught the "Sharing Time" part of Primary. Teaching all those little kids was soooo cuuuuute! It reminded me of my time in primary :P And it also gave me a lot of respect for those teachers who put up with so much :P I would need to develop more patience for that :P We've had some fun this week learning some Hawaiian/Polynesian skills, because we are planning a Luau for both our wards to get together (something they don't really do) as wells as to invite investigators. So we have been practicing a few things, like... poia? poio? Something. I don't know what it's called, but you know those fire things that they throw around sometimes? It's those, but less dangerous :P Haha, it's just a cushy ball at the end. Which is good, because I would be soooo dead by now. But I've gotten a few tricks with them down, it's fun. 

 

Today was Elder Choi and Elder Hall's birthday, so we went to the American Military base and had some great pizza and TACO BELL! Haha. We had fun hanging out and playing some ping pong and Foosball. That's really about it. Just trying to work hard, do what I need to, learn, teach, etc. And not die or stress out in the process :P I can't believe there is so little time left in this transfer!!!!! aaaaaaaaaaaaaaah. It's kind of strange. I'm so new to being a missionary, so the end seems SOOO far, but some people I know are leaving to go back home soon, like my companion, Sis Sung. She'll finish training me, and then go home. o.O crazy! It's hard for me to even comprehend the end, because I still have so much time left :P

July 14 - Cat Cafe

Things are going pretty good. I'm slowly progressing with the language and so now I can generally understand what people are talking about, but not really what they are saying. And even with that, my understanding is better than my speaking. :P Haha, so really not that good. But I know that with time I'll get it. Just gotta be patient. .... :P

Being here has been sooooooooo amusing. Last PDay after emailing, we went to the 반월당 (Banwoldang?) which is kind of the downtown area for shopping. It its kind of like a Pedestrian zone in Europe, but more Asian (duh) and cars still drive through it (because even though it it teeming with people, it is still a "road"). Anyways. We went there, and to the aforementioned "Cat Cafe". It was perhaps one of the most hilarious moments of my life. It was just this small cafe with about 15 cats running around. It was nice and clean, and all you could buy is a drink, because I don't think anyone wants to eat cat hair. I'll send some pictures of it. It was so funny to have a cat just come up and chill on our table. That such a place EXISTS and is pretty common in Korea was just hilarious to me. :P :D

 

Another really amusing thing about being in Korea is being an obvious foreigner. Some people just STARE, like they've never seen a white person before (usually young kids, or really old people), and some try to speak English, like saying "hello" as they pass by. Other times I can tell people are trying to not stare, but will occasionally glance, like "what in the world is a foreigner doing here?" Haha. Which is actually kind of weird though, because there are a lot of native English speakers here to teach English, so it's not exactly novel. Maybe it's my skirt and nametag :P But there have been some funny moments. One time a young boy was following his mother into a bathroom as we were coming out, and he stared at me as we walked by, and behind us we heard him saying "외국인!!!" (foreigner!!!) and he skipped after his mom and practically made a song out of it. "Wehgookeeeeeeein! wehgoooookeeein!!" Hahah. Romanizing Korean is funny... :P anyways. It was HILARIOUS. 

Another time, we passed an older lady who knew a little English, and she called me "charming." Another time, there was another older lady, and she stopped us to say that I look pretty, and I understand that much, so I said thank you, and she was so surprised, and Sis Sung told me she was saying "oooh, she speaks my language???" We talked a little, and as we left, she told Sis. Sung to take good care of me. Hahha. Another time, we were walking and we passed some old grandmas sitting on a... deck? of sorts. They have them all over the place. It's just a deck on ground level, that old grandmas like to congregate at to talk and spend time. You take off your shoes to sit on them and such. Anyways, we were passing by, and started talking a bit with them and they invited us to sit down. They were really fascinated in me and talked about that for a bit :P It is just really amusing. Sis Sung gets a big laugh out of it every time, because she understands what they are saying. :P

Annnnyways. A big thing I have experienced this week is FOOOD. There is too much food in my life. Having appointments is so hard because they want to feed you sooooo much and they keep telling you to eat, and if you don't it's rude! The first truly big meal I had was on Tuesday. We went to a restaurant with a woman who was baptized recently, and it was super yummy. You get slabs of raw pork, and in the table is a hot plate, so you cook it, cut it up, and eat it with various things. Super tasty. But plate after PLATE of it came out, I was sooooo stuffed with meat! And then "dessert" came, which was a HUGE bowl of cold noodles. aaaaaaaah. I was dying. My skirt felt so tight by the end of it, and when we got home, I immediately unzipped it a bit so I could actually breathe :P. So for the next couple of days I wasn't ever truly hungry. But we still had meal appointments with other members.... and they made us eat a whole ton again. It's really yummy stuff, but I just always feel like dying afterwards! :P My stomach has only recently been getting back to normal because we haven't had meal appointments the last few days. 

As far as missionary work stuff goes, some cool stuff has been going on, at least in my opinion. I told you a bit about Dudi last time, and we met with her on Saturday again and taught her about the Holy Ghost. I love teaching in English, I can participate so much more :P. Annnnnnnd, we invited her to be baptized! Because I'm getting trained, I get to do that. I was literally sooo terrified, but it was fine. She seems genuinely interested in it, and said she wants to learn more before definitely saying yes, but that would be something she would probably like to do. YEEEEAH! I hope we can answer the questions she has and that she progresses. 

Another interesting experience was yesterday. On Sunday, we do some proselyting with the Elders. We went to the Banwoldang to see if more people wanted to join our English class or listen to our message. While walking to the spot, we passed by this girl sitting on the curb, who stood out because she is Caucasian. We said hello as we passed, and I kind of felt like I should stop, but we kept walking. As we walked passed, I kind of felt like "ah man." Soon, Sis Sung asked me if it would be weird to stop and talk to someone sitting like that, and I said no. And she said "ah man. I kind of felt like we should stop to talk to her." "ah man. me too." ..... we kind of frowned at each other like "dang it." Bah. But we were long past here, and so we just did our thing, talked with people who were interested in learning English, but it ended early because we ran out of stickers (people would put a sticker on a board we have about what is hard for them about English). But still, that had taken an hour or an hour and a half. On the way back, I was hoping she would still be there, but I thought that would be ridiculous, it had been far too long. Both of us had a prayer in our hearts for a second chance to just feel a prompting and to act on it, because we felt so stupid for ignoring it. But you know what? She was still there! We were both like, we don't care if this is weird, we are going to talk to her!! Haha. So we did. 

Turns out she is from South Africa, and was there so long because she was lost. She's fairly new in Korea as a teacher, and was waiting for her brother to pick her up. We weren't talking to her long at all before he showed up. She suggested that we exchange phone numbers so we could meet up/hang out or something, but she couldn't remember her Korean number, so we got her brother's number. Stupidly we didn't give her ours, so I'm paranoid now thinking the number we got was wrong and we'll never hear from her again, but however it turns out, it was a really good and cool experience for me. I learned a lot from it. I kind of know now what it feels like to be prompted to talk to someone, and how it feels to not act on it (which stinks). But I also got to see how we get second chances, and God knows the intents of our hearts. I would have been glad for a second chance with talking to anyone, but it was still HER that we got to talk to, which is what I really wanted, because I felt so stupid. And you know, it could have been that we felt like we should talk with her because she just needed help, and we could have helped her get home a lot sooner, or it could be that she would be interested in the Gospel, who knows. It's kind of hard to explain, but I definitely learned a lot, even if we never hear from her again. 

Annnyways. Not much else has been going on, I think. I'm just trying to keep moving forward. Which is perhaps so hard because it is SOOOO HOT AND HUMID, but it's fine. I'll have great tan lines. :P 

July 6 - Week Number 2

Ah, craziness that I've made it almost 2 weeks now! It has felt like forever and also like no time at all :P

Soo, in the past week not tooooo much has happened. We had some lunch and dinner appointments with Korean members, which was fun, though I really had no idea what was going on :P It was super yummy, but they just try to feed you so much. You kind of have to go in with a game plan, like, make sure you don't sit next to the member if you can, or else they will keep putting food on your plate, or be sure to eat your rice reeeeallly slowly, or else they will give you more, or just mess around with your food with your chopsticks so it looks like you are eating. Hahaha. Because seriously, they have this thing with eating tons of food and especially love making guests eat it. And it is rude if you don't. :P The food here is different, but it's not like OH MY GOODNESS THAT'S SO WEIRD different, just.... Asian? Haha. Though I've heard tale of some weird stuff you can find. Sis Sung was telling me about a fish you can eat, basically while it is still alive. Gross.  

Interesting...

Another amusing thing I saw

I met a few of the current investigators, though we only really taught one lesson :P That was with Dudi, which isn't her real name, we just call her that because she is from Mongolia and has a CRAZY LONG and impossible to say name. Since she is from Mongolia, we teach her in English, though she can speak Korean pretty well, because that's what she is studying at the university here. She is from a non-Christian background, which is really interesting to gear lessons towards. She says she believes in all religions, though she seems to lean towards Mongolian shamanism beliefs. Super interesting. The lesson that we taught with her was about Christ, and why we need Him. It was really interesting to see her reaction, she was so interested in it, she thought it was really interesting, and she seemed to be really touched by what we had to say. At the end, we taught her to pray and asked her to end the meeting with one, and so she did in Mongolian. I had no idea what she said, but it was really cool to see someone make that step. That night she sent us a text saying something along the lines of "thanks for this evening, I feel really different,"  which was SO COOL! Haha. That just gave me a greater idea of what missionary work is like, especially when it is to someone with a non-Christian background. 

One of the other people we met was this super old lady, who was mostly just interesting in learning English, because we do that for individuals sometimes (service, ya know). She really didn't care for our small spiritual thought saying "I'm too old and too lazy". It was just pretty amusing to meet with her. I walked in and she was basically saying in Korean stuff like "Foreigner. Pretty. She's really thin. She is from America? Why is she thin? Americans are usually fat. Has she eaten? Do you need food?" Hahhahaa, it was really just amusing. 

Hmm. Other things from this week... There was a 4th of July activity with the American ward, which was pretty fun. It was a chili cook-off, which reminded me of Olathe :P Last night there was a dinner at the Korean bishop's house with a bunch of the members, it was super fun and yummy, though again, I didn't really know what people were saying :P

I think my biggest frustration this week has been my inability to talk and understand. I WANT to so bad, but I usually sit there with a confused look. So I usually feel kind of useless when we are doing stuff, because my companion does all the talking and sometimes translates for me. Sometimes I kind of don't feel like a missionary because I just sit there. I'm just so slow of speech and it's not cool :P So I feel like that one part in Exodus 4 really applies to me at the moment. Because Moses is all: 

 "And Moses said unto the Lord, O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither heretofore, nor since thou hast spoken unto thy servant: but I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue." 

Sounds like me. :P Haha. And the Lord basically just responds with

 "who made your mouth?! I did... Now therefore go, and I will be with thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt say." 

So yeah. I know all that, I know that I just need to go and do and trust that the Lord will help me know what to say and learn/speak Korean, it's just not easy. I want to be able to teach so badly. Something I have been thinking though is I have definitely been sent to Korea for a reason. English or any other Latin based speaking mission would have been too easy, honestly. I don't want to seem like I'm flattering myself or anything, but I think I could be a fairly good teacher if it were like that. But that's not the point. I'm definitely feeling humble and being humbled, and I think I will learn so much more because it is so hard, in the long run. Just at the moment, it's easy to be envious of people in English speaking missions, because that would be so much easier :P Haha... But I am super glad to be here. I haven't experienced all that much yet, but I kind of have a sense for how much further I have to go, I know I have a LOT to learn, and also a lot to DO. I feel like there's a definite reason that I am here. It's kind of weird, but I hope to understand that more someday. Aaaaanyways. That's pretty much all I have for this week. I'm going to send some pictures now :)

Another picture of Daegu

 

More pictures of Daegu

And more of Daegu

The picture below from the city was specifically for the cat part, because there are CAT CAFES here. Like. it's a cafe, with cats in it. I really want to go to one.

June 30 - Arrived in Korea

Man oh man. Just craziness. Um. FIRST OFF, I gotta say that I'm so excited to have a nephew!!! Little Camden McGlothin was born the day I flew to Korea.

So I guess the last time I emailed was at the MTC... Leaving there was great!! It was definitely time after 2 months :P Hahaha... I loved it, but seriously. We all got ants in our pants. So, unfortunately, Sister Stratton couldn't come, she still didn't have her passport or visa, so she was temporarily reassigned to Salt Lake City Central until then. I'm hoping she will really enjoy it. It was super hard to say goodbye though. We all got really close, we've all grown a lot together, so we had a huge crying fest the night before Sister Hill and I left. 

Anyways. Travelling was great! Though we did have to wake up at 3am (3 hours of sleep is not enough, by the way. just so you know). And our plane did get cancelled.... Hahha. But we were able to get rerouted though Seattle, and THANK GOODNESS, because otherwise they would have had to send us back to the MTC!!! Both of us were just like "plleeeeeaaase, noooooo". But yeah. Travelling went fine. The long flight to Tokyo was super not fun, to be honest. I wasn't feeling all that well, and I was SOOO tired and achy. Sitting for so long wasn't cool. But we landed, and LO AND BEHOLD there was a Japanese Delta agent waiting for us to help us get around. Which was extremely good, because the way she took us was INSANE. I would have had no idea that that was what I was supposed to do. Take a certain bus, go to this obscure desk, etc. And don't get me started about those spraying toilets without toilet paper! I don't remember the flight from Tokyo to Busan. I was sleeping. Haha. Once we got through customs, we were greeted by our mission president and his wife, the Gilberts. They are actually gone now, we only barely got to meet them before the new mission president and his wife came, the Barrows. 

So that next day we got our trainers! My trainer is Sister Sung; she is native Korean and super nice. She likes art and reading, which is great! She is suuuuuper good at English, which is very helpful. But also not. Because we end up speaking a lot of English. 

My PDay is Monday. I'm in 대구 (Daegu, I think) in the 수성 area. The language is okay. Honestly, for a beginner, I'm not all that bad, but what I really struggle with is understanding people. I want to go talk to people, and I'm not nervous about it because of my slow, broken Korean, but because I will probably have no idea what they are saying. Bah. I really want to be able to just talk with people! 

Our apartment is on the 12th floor of a kind of ghetto building, haha. It's not bad, just kind of funny. We sleep on the floor on mats. When I arrived, the AC was broken, but we have since had it fixed. Koreans don't really like AC that much though, and it's only in our bedroom, so I'm usually in some state of hot-ness. :P 

The bathroom is kind of interesting. Everything in it is tiled, and so there's no real designated "shower" place. It's kind of just the whole bathroom.; there's a drain in the floor. So you have to hide your towel in the cupboard.  

My first couple of days were actually pretty terrible. I was jet-lagged, and then I got a really bad cold. I was just so exhausted and felt so sick and achy, that I will admit, I started to cry. I just couldn't help it! I felt so miserable. But now I am much better. Just my first 4 days were not fun. I was basically a zombie, and Sis Sung was probably worried that she got an awful, boring, depressed, personality-void companion. Now I feel much better. It was just really good that we didn't have much going on by way of appointments during those first days. Though I did meet with a few members. In Daegu, there is an American military ward as well as a Korean ward, so we go to both! Super cool. 

So I had dinner with a Korean member one night, we sat on the floor, ate good Korean food (no idea what it was). I'm actually pretty good with chopsticks. The other dinner was with some Americans, and we (duh) had American food, which was nice. 

Being here has been great. It's definitely Asian. :P Hm. There are several things I have noticed, such as... roads. I think it was Sis. Sung who was telling me that roads are a means for people as well as cars to get around, so there is no sidewalk unless it is a major road, which you obviously can't walk on. But otherwise. Yeah. Sure. Walk in the middle of the street. I have to throw out my childhood of "be careful, don't go in the street! Look both ways!" Because you honestly don't look both ways. Haha. You just walk and play chicken with oncoming cars. I'm told that if you look at the car, it gives them the right of way. It's like you saying, "I see you, and you can go." Drivers here are also REALLY bad, so it's not exactly the most relaxing game ever :P Haha. 

Anyways. Another thing I have noticed about Koreans (my companion, members, even random old ladies on the street) is they are very touchy. I hold hands with my companion all the time, and when I talked with members on Sunday, they would grab my hands, touch my hair, pull me into a side hug, etc. It's super cute, I love it. The way Sis Sung explained it is that they see everyone as family, even strangers. One time, we stopped to talk to an old grandma on the street (in Korean, you literally call them grandma), and she was like "oooh foreigner" grabs my hands, etc. Super sweet. I really had no idea what she was saying to me because she had an accent and it was Korean. Sis Sung just tapped my shoulder or back every time I should just nod and say yes. Hahha. Though apparently she was saying I should find a Korean husband, bwuahahhaa. They are always so blunt. Speaking of grandmas. They are everywhere, and super funny. They have a particular fashion and look, you just KNOW a grandma when you see one. They basically run the country, haha (Sis Sung's words). They are so blunt and so tough.

There is so much I could tell you about, probably, but I think I got most everything of importance. Being here has been crazy. I can't wait until I have really progressed in the language and such and to teach! I think we actually have a teaching appointment tonight. Eep! I'm still getting used to this whole being-a-missionary-thing. But I'm really grateful to be here.
Every night, Sis. Sung asks me 3 questions: What miracles have you seen today? What was fun today? What Christlike quality/attribute have you seen in your companion today? And we talk about our answers and stuff. It's super cool. I particularly like that first question. Often we think miracles have to be huge experiences, but I have had a miracle every day. It could be little things like, I understood what someone said to me, or I spoke a little Korean accurately, or I was able to share my testimony with a member, or I spoke to a stranger, even if it lasted 2 seconds and they gave me a weird look. Seriously though, there are so many instances in which we receive help from God, which is a miracle. I haven't even been here a week, but I know God is helping us, because I've seen how He has helped me these past few days.

June 12 - Hey! Check us out!

Something I am learning is that not only does ones faith get tried, but so does patience, which gives us the opportunity to show God that we do have faith, that we trust Him. 

I love my companions so much. Something we were talking about just yesterday was how important it is that companions get along, because if they don't, you are miserable and you hate it, and your investigators also suffer from that lack of unity. We are very different people, and we easily could have not got along and ended up not liking each other, but because we have always been focused on making sure we are unified, we are great friends. I love them, and am going to miss them when we have to leave. Even when sometimes they try my patience :P But it's all good, we have so much fun together.

Sister Hill asked Sister Stratton to bleach her roots today... I didn't participate because I didn't want to be responsible for the destruction of Sis Hill's hair :P So I just sat and took pictures.

We were in the bookstore getting a few things, and the cashier was talking with these two sisters and holding things up, and Sister Hill, without realizing how funny it sounds said "That cashier needs to stop flirting with those Sisters and check us out!" I started cracking up, and then she realized what she said. We had a good laugh over it. 

 

This week has been pretty good, though it has been dawning on us how little time we have left!!!!! AAAAHhHH!! We are trying hard to absorb as much information as we can before we go to Korea, but it's hard, because there's so much to learn! It's making me a little nervous, I feel like I'll get to Korea and try to talk to someone and have no idea what they said, and I'll just respond with something like "Through the Book of Mormon, you can be happy" when they really asked something else :P It'll happen, but that's okay. I am really excited to get going, even though I know it will be hard. It's crazy! I leave June 23rd!! Next week starting Sunday is our last weeeeek!!! aaah!! It feels like we have been here for FOREVER, so in that sense I am ready to be gone NOW, but also at the same time, I'm thinking "wait, what?! I just got here! I can't speak Korean yet!" Haha, but it'll be fine. I'll just have to study my brains out and trust that God will help me, because I am going to NEED it :P haha. 

I love our teachers so much, they are so great, we always have so much fun learning and practicing. Yesterday, 24 new missionaries going to Korea came in, so we are super excited about that. I even recognized one of the sisters from my mission prep class from BYUI! So that was cool. We are excited, and it is kind of fun to be the "top dogs" here, because the group above us just left on Monday. It makes us realize how much we HAVE actually learned. 

Sooo, last Tuesday's devotional was cool because Quentin L Cook came, so that makes 7 Apostles that we have seen. 

The prophet better come before we leave, but it looks like we'll just barely miss him; it's rumors, of course, but there's a big conference coming up soon for all the Mission presidents, and there's a special devotional, but we are leaving TWO DAYS before that. So blah. but I still can't complain. We have learned a lot and have been so blessed to hear so many good things from the Apostles. What I really learned from Elder Cook was that we should not worry about not being good enough or feeling inadequate, because this is the Lord's work, and He will help us achieve all that He wants us to. That really helped me, because I had been really freaking out that day about the language and not being able to say/understand anything. It'll be fine, I know that. It's just a little scary :P ETERNAL SALVATION IS ON THE LINE!! Hahaha, so I'll do my best.

^^   <---   that's an Asian happy face.


 Me with some of the sisters who just left on Monday, I miss them so much! They were awesome.

Photo-bomb

June 5 - "When we die, we will go to England"

Things here this week have overall been going well. I had a pretty annoying cold the beginning of the week, and I'm almost over it now. I still feel tired and a little congested, but much better than before. I actually went to the health clinic that the MTC has because we at first were worried it might be strep. It wasn't, but they did take a good sized plug of wax out of my ear :P  I didn't even know it was there. :P As far as things happening this past week, there hasn't been too much, though we have had a few interesting language mess-ups. Both were in role-playing during class, not a lesson with our "investigators"/teachers. Both involved Sister Hill, haha, she has a gift for saying things wrong that still make sense in Korean. She was role-playing, and her investigator asked how to feel the Spirit, so she wanted to use Doctrine & Covenants 9:8. Her companion was a Korean, so Sis Hill had her flip to that scripture, but somehow Sis Hill ended up flipping it to Moroni 9:8. Um. That verse is talking about a war and terrible atrocities, and says
"And the husbands and fathers of those women and children they have slain; 
and they feed the women upon the flesh of their husbands, 
and the children upon the flesh of their fathers; 
and no water, save a little, do they give unto them." 

So the teacher who was playing the investigator just starts to kind of laugh, and Sis Hill's companion is like, what did you just give him to read, that doesn't sound right! And Sis Hill hadn't caught on yet, and was just like, (nodding) "yeah." Hahhahaha. It was pretty great.  

 

The other was I was practicing teaching with Sis Hill, so she was my investigator, and I asked her where she thought people go after death, or what happens after death, and she wanted to say "We will go to heaven" but she ended up saying "we will go to England." It was pretty good stuff. 

 

Honestly, not too much has been happening beyond the usual. It's crazy that we have so little time left at the MTC! We are kind of freaking out about it. We really need to step it up and try hard to use our time wisely here, accomplish our goals, push ourselves, etc. so that we are ready to go to Korea. It's kind of scary :P I am excited though. It'll be great. I know I have a lot to work on, but I'm glad for this opportunity to learn and grow. I have already learned so much, but I have a looong ways to go! One of my favorite verses this week is Ether 12:27. 

 

27 And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them.

 

I know Christ will help me overcome my weaknesses as I come unto Him.

May 29

Sooo.. Last Thursday night was eventful. 10:30 is bedtime, and so about 10:28 we were all crawling in bed, super tired, and then the fire alarm in our residence goes off. We were all like, "are you serious???....." So the whole building of girls in their PJs go outside. All the Korean sisters live on the top 4th floor (it's cool 'cuz we are the only people on that floor), so as we descended to the exit, we could smell something nasty, it didn't smell quite like smoke, but definitely a little strange. For about 30 minutes we were outside just waiting for the alarm to stop going off and for the security people to figure stuff out and let us back in. Finally around 11:10 we were let into our building, and on the way past I asked the security guard what it was. On the 1st floor there are microwaves, and vending machines with frozen foods you can make, like burritos and hot pockets, etc. Apparently someone burnt a burrito. So our whole building smelled like burnt burrito. For two reasons I think that was ridiculous. First off, it's against the rules to use the microwaves after 10:15, and second. How. do. you. manage. to. burn. a. BURRITO? It is still totally beyond my understanding :P So needless to say, we were all tired the next day, because we still have to wake up at the normal time. Makes for a great story, but now no one wants to use the microwave on the first floor (there is one on the 3rd still), because every time you use it it starts to smell like the burrito. Gross. 

On Tuesday's devotional, Elder Nelson came! Crazy. Honestly, the prophet himself better be coming soon (and I had better be here) because they are going to run out of Apostles soon :P It has been really cool to hear from so many. He said a lot of good things.

In the news of our Korean-language mess-ups, Sister Hill during a lesson was trying to tell our investigator to write down the questions she has, and we will answer them. But she mixed up the word for answer with another word, and ended up saying "Your questions frustrate us." Bahahhaha, I was like, Sister, no, that means to frustrate!! Hahaha, good times. Our teachers must get such a kick out of us. Speaking of Sister Hill, the other day she got a box of candy from her parents, and she likes some weird candies, like flavored licorice and candy I've never heard of. Well, that day some native Koreans came in and she wanted to share with them, so she kept offering it to them, and I kept trying to tell her to stop it because they obviously didn't like it, but they kept taking it. I later explained to her that Koreans as a culture find it extremely rude to turn down food that is offered to them, it's like saying you don't want to be friends, so they kept taking it because they didn't want to be rude. We got a good laugh over it later; those poor Koreans :P

As time goes on, I am getting extremely excited to go to Korea. It's slowly becoming more real. Whenever natives come, or we learn some cultural thing or even some of the history, I just get really excited and terrified to go there. It is going to be so hard to understand them, but with my German experience, I know I will eventually get to a good point where I can understand most of what they say, though that might take 2 or 3 months... maybe 4 :P Just last night we got our Korean name badges, so it has "Sister Broyles" all spelled out in Korean, it's so cool! Sounding it out, my name is now "buh roh eel suh" (suh because you can't just have a 1 letter syllable, it has to have at least 1 consonant and 1 vowel). IT'S SO COOL! That got my excitement up to the next level. Also my terror ;) Hahha, I'm kidding, but it does make me nervous to think that we have less than a month left before we go to Korea. AHHHH. 

Last week on Friday, we have "TRC", which is teaching resource center, and real members volunteer to come and get taught by the missionaries; so Korean return missionaries or Korean students at BYU come and we practice teaching members, instead of investigators. So last time, this Korean guy came, who was friends with both of our teachers. We were pretty excited, and had a great time talking to him, and then we started with our lesson. He really opened up to us about some insecurities and struggles he has been having, and we were all able to relate and share some personal experiences, and testify that we all have received strength to overcome our problems through Christ. Then Sister Hill had him read Ether 12:27. When we started turning to it, he was like "oh yeah, Ether 12, I know that scripture" sort of thing. But when he started reading aloud, he only made it a sentence or two into the verse before he started crying. He was really touched by the verse, and it took him a moment to be able to choke the rest of it out. 

 "And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness.

I give unto men weakness that they may be humble;

and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me;

for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me,

then will I make weak things become strong unto them."  Ether 12:27

 

It was really cool to see how we can be led and guided to be able to help others; that experience made all of us really excited to be able to help and teach people in Korea, though we have definitely learned that it is not us who are doing the teaching, it is the Spirit that teaches, we just have to be sure that we teach with it, so that we can say what the Lord would have us say. He knows the people we are talking to much better than we ever will, so He knows what they need to hear, and if we are "listening," we will know what to say.

Basically, I am loving this so much, some days it is a little daunting, but I know we can do it. I have had so much fun with my teachers and my companions, they are all awesome. I'm so excited to go to Korea! It's crazy to think how much time has passed already, I though I arrived at the MTC just 2 weeks ago!?!!? Haha, we are in the last stretch of our MTC time, and I'm trying my best to focus and learn as much as I can while it is still easy :P Hahha. I bought some earplugs today so I can focus more during study time. It's also crazy to think on how much I've already changed, and it has only been 5 weeks. We are definitely being refined here, definitely becoming better people. I feel more like a missionary now, more ready to share what I know and feel.