Hello!!
This has and will be a week of change around here. Right now there are just 6 Korean speaking missionaries--four sisters and two elders. This week we will get twelve new missionaries--six sisters and six elders. Go sisters, right? One of the sisters is coming tonight. She is from Mongolia and apparently already speaks Korean. SYL (Speak Your Language) will be an absolute must with her, I suppose. We are excited. We made their beds for them today. It will be strange to be the "older" district, but it means that time is moving and progress (hopefully) is being made. They are starting a more intensive language training on August 1st that we will be subject to. Should be interesting.
I came here (the MTC) with a bit of a cold. This cold has somehow made its way around our district and now mutated just enough to get me sick again. It hasn't been too bad, but last night I was coughing a lot and decided a bathroom trip was in order. It was about 2 AM. I walked out the door, took one step into the bathroom and the fire alarm went off. It felt like it may have been my fault, but I just moseyed(sp?) back into my room, grabbed some shoes as we all sleepily shuffled out to the parking lot last night. It was quite the scene. Apparently it wasn't a drill. Everyone blamed me for pulling the alarm. I wish I would have thought of it sooner...anyway, we got back in the building about 2:35 and back to sleep we went.
We've been playing basketball a lot. Sister Brady, my companion, accuses me of using my elbows. She's about 5'8" and my elbows are at about gut height for her. I don't know. Maybe I do. Short people can get away with anything. It's all in good fun. I learned all I know from my father, king of the elbows. Maybe I learned a little from wearing that Karl Malone jersey all the time too--by osmosis or something. Needless to say, our companionship is better when we don't guard each other. Ha.
Korean is still hard, but still fun. It's essentially a puzzle or math equation, neither of which I'm really all that predisposed to be good at, but the beat goes on. Some of my favorite things I learned this week are "suffer much," a saying Koreans say as they depart from one another. It is supposedly a great honor to suffer...somewhat humorous, but I enjoy it. Also, in our TASK for the week (a meal with someone interested in the church), we learned how to say a funny popular Korean joke: Two people are eating, (in this case, my companion and I) one person dies (my companion), I will not know (because I will be too busy eating the delicious meal you prepared). I can't wait to learn more quirky jokes like these. Morbidity is a major plus in my book. Keep it coming, Korea.
Yesterday, we helped our third companion, Sister Richardson, take all her stuff to the bus headed to the airport. It was the first time that I realized one day I'm actually going to leave this place...reality set in a little bit. Sister Richardson was really fun to get to know and she will do well in Korea. She has the habit of courteously picking up trash wherever/whenever she sees it. It will be a little more challenging to do so in Korea. I am excited to go. We leave August 29th, which really isn't all that far away.
Although Korean is still hard it's getting better. I think it is especially fun to sing the hymns in Korean. They try to make words like "alleluia" phonetic in Hangul, but since they don't really have an "L" sound, it turns out like "arayrooya." Basically it just sounds like Scooby Doo is giving the hymns the ol' college try.
We got to go to the temple again today, which was nice. It was closed last month for cleaning. It's always good to be back there. I'm surprised at how much I can know/feel there.
I guess I'm short on words today. A few to each of you:
Mom: I don't know if Laura sent you an email about your letters to me--I hope it wasn't construed as offensive--I was under the impression you were writing frequent online updates and I didn't want you to have to write them twice if you were too busy. I have loved your letters and the amount of detail you put into them! I just didn't want to be the cause of excess work. Love you. Thank you for your thoughtfulness!
Dad: I love how your letters seem to cover all the bases--humor, spiritual insight and vigor for life. Thank you for writing in spite of your busy schedule. Here's to smothering the homebody-in-bed-by-10:30 right out of you, one red-eye island flight at a time.
Nick: I hope work and prep is still going well. Thanks for writing to me often, I love hearing from you!
Megan: I will write you later today! Here's to hoping zig-zag is not a solo affair this week.
Charlotte: Thank you for both your email and the pictures you sent this week. I love them!! Can't believe Bennett is already one year old. He is a dream boy in the cake pic. Good luck with the prep to move to Calgary. Tell Matt hello and kiss the boys for me. Also, DearElders come daily and they print them out and give them to us.
Matt: Hope work is going well. You look really happy (what's new?) in the pics Charlotte sent. I hope appearances are true. I hope you're enjoying work and are excited about the new project!
Laura: Baby time!!! Getting so so close. Are you done with work yet? Thank you for doing all the errands I ask you to do. You are a gem. I thought about you in a very specific way today (as vague as that sentence is). I'll try and write you later today.
Robert: Are you ready for school or what? How much more time at work? I hope things are going well and you've kept up the tradition of fairway lawns at the Mecham abode.
Love you all very much!
Sis. Julia Mecham
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