September 22, 2014

Oh man. What a week. It was kind of strange because it was Sis Sung's last one, so we had a lot of "lasts". On Tuesday we had to go down to Busan, which is kind of a hassle because it takes over an hour to get there. Probably closer to 2 hours... She had to have an "exit interview" with the mission president. We went a long way to get there for a 30 minute interview :P But it was fine. I got to take a nap on the bus :P We had our last district meeting of the transfer with the Fairhursts, which was great as usual :) For my birthday, they gave me some "Oh, Henry!" chocolates and told me that they predict my future husband will be named Henry. I was confused. :P You mean missions end?! haha.

 We met some good people this week, because they wanted to see Sis Sung before she left. It was weird though, because we were always saying goodbye, but that they'll se me the next week. Whiiiiiich turns out to be false! Thursday night was "transfer call night", and because we already knew Sis Sung is going home, we didn't expect a call. We expected that I would stay in Suseong and a new companion would come. But it turns out I got transferred to Gwangan, which is in Busan! There are not enough sisters because a lot of them are going home, and so 3 areas are closing to sisters, and one was Suseong. :( which is sad because we were meeting with some really good people.

Busan Skyline

Busan

Ah... But we are hoping that the Elders will be able to pick up with the ones who had the most potential. It was also sad because we had to call people and say "oh, just kidding! You won't be meeting anyone next week!" Some of them I was really sad to say goodbye to. Soooo, this turn of events meant that I had to prepare to move out too! So that night I packed up most of my stuff and the next day we went to the post office with our luggage (which was an adventure because of Sis Sung's sprained ankle) and sent it to our respective new places. And we did a lot of cleaning. Seriously, that apartment is beyond hope. It needs to be renovated. A lot of black dust comes in because Daegu has issues and our windows are always open :P So it gets dirty really fast. Anyways. I think the only thing that I'm NOT going to miss in Suseong is the apartment :P

Oh man. Let me tell you about Friday (my birthday!). Ha... We had two meal appointments. One was lunch at a buffet, and it was kind of pricey, so we felt obligated to eat more than usual.... So I was extremely full. But then we had dinner with the bishop. I was dying! It was so hard. I don't know how I managed to eat anymore after lunch. I think my stomach has been blessed with an insane eating capacity :P haha... but seriously. I didn't want to look at food all the next day. I ate some crackers, because that's all I could manage, because my stomach felt like it had a stone in it :P I'm still in recovery :P

Oh, fun side note. Last week Sis Sung asked a member from the Andong area to send us some apples, because that area is a big agriculture area and is famous for its apples. So we got a box of 10kg. Hahaha, it was pretty funny. I took some pictures of all the apples in our fridge. I'll send them next week, I don't have my camera cord today. I have a lot of pictures, because we did a lot of goodbye stuff and such. ah man. I'm going to miss some people a lot. Like the Fairhursts! :P

District Meeting with the Fairhursts

Anyways, so today we woke up at 5 to finish up cleaning and catch a bus, because Sis Sung had to get to Busan early for some departing missionary stuff. So I'm super tired now, but the meeting was fun. My new companion is Sis Bussio, who is American and has 2 transfers left on her mission. I'm pretty excited to serve with her in Gwangan, it will be an adventure! Haha. I'm excited to see things from a different area and learn things from different people. I can already tell that Sis Bussio's style is a lot different from Sis Sung's; lt will be awesome! :) 

As far as spiritual things go, I learned a lot this week. It's hard to express all the things I'm learning, because they are so varied and about different things, but one of the biggest lessons I am learning is about getting through tough times while still being happy. It's so easy to get discouraged sometimes, which is perhaps because that's what Satan would want and is trying to do... he doesn't want us to progress, I think. And so when we meet resistance, that's the time we have to push the hardest, because the most precious lessons will come from that and it means that something good is on it's way. And I'm really coming to see how God is there for us and answers our prayers. 

Something I have really struggled with is feeling inadequate, and I just get overwhelmed by these stupid thoughts that I'm just not a good teacher, I don't know enough, I'm not good enough, blah blah blllllaaaah, but when I really just humble myself and pray like "look, I've got all these weaknesses, could ya help me out a little here?! just make it stop!!!" (haha, not quite like that... :P) But when my heart and mind are prepared and in the right place, I always learn something, the thing I need, at that moment. Something I really liked was from Alma 32:12, which is a verse I never really thought much about before. But I found that if you substitute the descriptions of that people being "cast out" and their "poverty" to "weaknesses and trials" it becomes this: 

"I say unto you, it is well that ye have trials and weaknesses, that ye may be humble, and that ye may learn wisdom; for it is necessary that ye should learn wisdom; for it is because of your trials and weaknesses that ye are brought to a lowliness of heart; for ye are necessarily brought to be humble." -Modified Alma 32:12

I think that was my answer to "just make it stop!!!" Haha, God kind of just said "no." Hahaha. So weaknesses stink, but seriously it is good that we have them, they allow us to remember God, and through them we can learn wisdom, which is SO important. That's the whole point of living, really :P Gotta learn stuff.

So anyways. That's all I got for now. I'm in Gwangan; it was sad to say goodbye to Sis Sung. It feels so unreal! But I'm excited and glad to be with Sis Bussio :) I bet I'm going to learn a lot :D Yyyyaaaaaaay. 

Pictures from District Bowling!!!