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.