Hello family!!
I am here in Korea, believe it or not. Most days I still can't believe it. The other day I had a dream that I lost my passport and had to go home. Even my subconsious can't believe I'm here.
The entire initiation process was really fun. We hadn't been all that courageous at the airports and were a little down on ourselves, but when we saw the Gilberts there to pick us up, their enthusiasm for the work and gratitude for us was so apparent that discouragement melted away. We went to the mission home and quickly went to sleep. The next morning we had interviews with President Glibert. He is a powerhouse and along with Sister Glibert they are unstoppable, honestly. We did some bank paper work and got our accounts figured out and then came back to eat. We got ready to go down to the subway and contact with our trainers. We still weren't sure who our trainers would be, but there were two options: Sister Li (from the Seoul area, extremely charismatic and smiley, been here for 2 transfers serving in Busan) and Sister Oaks (from Colorao Springs, a little more somber, but obviously knows the language pretty well, been in country 9 months, serving in Daegu). Initially I was with Sister Li and Sister Brady was with Sister Oaks. It is Busan mission tradition to run from the mission home to the subway station. I ignorantly wore some ineffective shoes and also left my quadruple combination in my bag. It was a slower run than anticipated with all the set backs. Sister Li, although she didn't speak a lot of English, would grab part of my bag and help me run. She was so sweet. We got on the subway and I was under the impression that we needed to do missionary work (right?) so I just started talking to someone. It was awkward, but when I speak in Korean I am pretty oblivious to the idea that things are awkward. Sister Li thought I knew I was supposed to stick with her. We were in the same car, but after she was done contacting someone she came and said 'you can stay with me." Ha. She was proud of me. She smiles and talks with people really naturally. People like her, even when she has a nametag on. It was really incredible to be part of her interaction with others. By the time we went to dinner we had three contacts. Dinner was good, although I dropped a piece of tofu straight into my sweet rice water. The chopstick skills aren't quite up to par yet. Lots of laughing, anyway. The Gilberts came and contacted with us too, even though Sister Gilbert had a migraine. I wouldn't have even known it unless President Gilbert had told us she did. She knows about four words in Korean, but she communicates much more than that. It is inspiring. Sometimes I forget about that.
The next day we took care of some more business etc. Then we went to contact on the subway again. I was with Sister Oaks this time. We didn't get any contacts and both of us struggled to talk conversationally with one another. Anyway, it still went okay. Later that day we found out that we would be companions and it was time to go. The office missionaries drove us to the train station and we were off to Daegu. (Didn't we take the train from Daegu to Seoul last summer?) Anyway, my bags were both just under 50 pounds. We were quite the sight. She didn't know where the elevator was near our subway stop so we hauled everything up about six flights of stairs. Most people are nice to us even though they are a little leary of the nametags.
Anyway, this week has been pretty good. The ward we're in is doing really well. They had a ward goal of 14 baptisms this year and they have already met that goal! We are in the Sawng Shin Ward/Area. In Korea, food is a really important part of the culture. As a result, we stay at appointments way too long (usually with members) trying to get out so we can do some more work. I don't know this culture well, but I'm pretty sure white handbook trumps all. We're working on it. There are some really strong new converts we've met with this week.
On the long bus ride to meet one of them out in the country, we didn't really contact people. It's hard when I can't understand what people are saying back to me. Susan Johnsen, in a Young Women's lesson a long time ago, told us that we need to get over our selfish shyness if we are to help anyone. I haven't forgotten that, but I have forgotten to act on it sometimes. On the way back from our lunch appointment the bus really started to fill up. A girl who was maybe about 15 sat next to me. I had said "An yong ha say o" to her as she sat down and was trying to figure out what else to say. After a minute of silence she said to me in English, "excuse me, where are you from?" It was a wake up call. Heavenly Father has people who want to talk to me, even if they aren't interested in the church. I talked to her and invited her to learn more. I gave her a pass along card and we got her information. We will contact her later today. It was really quite motivating. The busses are crazy here, by the way. If anyone has ever played the Crazy Taxi video game, it's like that, but on a bus.
We also teach English class as a venue for potential investigators. Unfortunately there are a wide variety of attenders. Kids from about 5 to middle aged woman of about 50. There were twelve people at class. I was kind of wondering i it would be a good use of time. The littlest kids are actually the best at English (some of them were born in the US). One of the little girls brought her pet hamster to class in its cage. As class was going and Elder Babcock was teaching this diverse audience about the concept of the idiom "figment of my imagination" (way over the heads of most class members) and teaching them extremely useful words like "whimple," the little girl got the hamster out. One of the high school agedd boys who is not a member of the church came over and was trying to hold it and get it back in the cage. The hamster bit himwhile eeryone else was reciting an English tongue twister and he freaked out...then someone else said "I smell smoke." The other high school boy was missing and we discovered he'd been smoking in the church bathroom. This series of events made me laugh harder than I have since I got here. Seriously laughed to tears. It was good therapy. Hopefully the Gilberts are revamping the English class program. We need to find people, not save hamsters, reactivate smoke detectors and play musical chairs with middle aged women. I hope we can focus better.
We have a few investigators, but we need to make sure they are progressing and find some more. I am excited to do these things. So cool.
Yesterday I shared my introdcutory testimony at church. It was very simple, but the little kids told me I was a good speaker because I didn't use long sentences. That's all I have, kids. Glad you like it. Ha. People were gracious to me.
The church is true. I hope we can share it better. Love all of you so much. Thank you for your letters, Grandma, Megan, Mom and Dad! Until next week!
Love,
Julia
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