Hello to you, family!
I love hearing from you. Thank you!
Well, as mentioned, I was transfered last week. We actuallyl cover two wards: Jin Hae and Pung Ho. It is kind of a challenge because we go to the respective wards every other week. Sister Lee is a really good missionary and I am learning a lot from her. As for the why and how of the transfer: I think Sister Brady was having a hard time in her situation and that President thought her personality might work better with Sister Oaks. I'm hoping it's been as good of a change for her as it has been for me.
Sister Lee actually speaks English quite well. She is virtually a Korean/English dictionary. The other day she came up with "paprika" from her memory bank of vocabulary. She is a convert of three years and a very genuinely happy person. She has the unique ability to make anyone feel comfortable, regardless of language barrier or anything else. She said she is happy when people can feel of her love. She is so good at helping people feel her love that it's no wonder she is always happy. I am learning a lot from her about Korean, keeping things simple, loving people, being optimistic, thinking of others first, and sincere prayer. Last transfer kind of shook her a little bit so we are working to get to a place of renewed energy and faith. We are working at working in unity. She gives me a lot of opportunities to say things, but I don't always say it quite right or explain it enough. I can imagine that it is difficult to not want to do all the work when you are a native speaker of a language, but Sister Lee patiently helps me and I am very appreciative. She has really gained the trust of the members. She has been here for 4 transfers and will likely leave next transfer, leaving me and another very young missionary (maybe even another foreigner like me) to be in this area. If I think about that too much I get overwhelmed, but I know that Heavenly Father will help me know how to do whatever He needs me to do.
We still do have an occasionaly misunderstanding, like this morning while we were cleaning she asked if I had a towel we could use to scrub the floor with. I suggested we use mine since I was going to wash it later anyway. She said "are you sure?" and I wondered why it was such a big deal and agreed it would be fine. The next thing I know she is cutting my towel into small sections...okay, so my towel is now a rag, or several rags, rather. There are things like this, but they make me laugh.
This week we got to teach lessons! This is new for me. We teach an 88 year old lady named Jang Jeong Ae. She is the mother of a member. She is very sweet and funny although she has a hard time remembering very much. Sister Lee was massaging Sister Jang Jeong Ae's feet and asked her "Why are your feet so small, Sister Jang Jeong Ae?" and Sister Jang Jeong Ae replied, "Because I am so small." Touche. Anyway, when we talked to her about baptism and asked her why she wants to be baptized she said "Because I'm God's daughter and I want to follow Him." That kind of response was a break through for her. We will see.
We are also working with some junior high students. We taught them the first lesson on Saturday and then all four of the girls came to church on Sunday. Two of them were really bored, so they left early, but the other two are interested and want to learn. We asked them how they know God exists and they said through their feelings. It is a challenge to work with young people because so many of their parents forbid them from getting baptized, but we are hopeful about at least two of the girls.
Another girl we're working with who did not come to church this week is a 16 year old girl. She is very stressed because of school, but has some gospel interest. We are working on helping the youth befriend her.
Yesterday we read The Book of Mormon with a recent convert named Brother Darshana, who is here for work. He is from Sri Lanka and is maybe in his late twenties or early thirties. Because of work he is not always able to go to church. Anyway, it was pretty much my job, because he speaks English (sort of), and less Korean than I do. After reading part of Alma 32 in Sri Lankan, English, Korean, and following along to our respective languages he offered the closing prayer. He said a very humble prayer about how he was grateful that Heavenly Father had sent someone to help him understand The Book of Mormon, because he was worried that after last transfer there wouldn't be anyone to help him. It was one of the first times on my mission where I really fet like I was able to do something, really. It is easy to get bogged down, but I was grateful for this man's humble prayer. It made me feel needed and I really needed some sort of affirmation.
I am learning and teaching and happy. Slow and steady wins the race. Anyway, that's all for now. Love you all!
Love,
Julia
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