Hello from rainy Bangeojin!
It has been raining here all week, but we're hopeful we'll see a sunny day sometime this week. Thanks for your letters this week. Dad, that's a really cool missionary experience you were able to have. I look forward to hearing what comes of it. I have learned a lot on my mission, but like you, one of the main things I have learned is that you really never know. Nick, I hope the exam went well and that you and Megan both are doing well!
So proselyting at bus stops in the rain was a little rough this week, but the rain certainly causes people to congregate under any structure. If anything a few more people at least "heard" our message because of proximity alone. Maybe Heavenly Father is trying to tell us it's time to knock doors. It's hard for me to feel that is the best way since I have only ever gotten in one time and maybe one person out of 30 even bother to answer the door. Most people have a symbol on their apartment door denoting what religion they belong to. There is quite the religious fervor here, but many people attend church for social purposes. We'll see. Inspiration sometimes comes from sheer force. If this rain keeps up it may be time to start knocking doors again. I learned in my last area that there is no right or wrong way to do find people. Of course there are those methods that seem to be more practical and effective, but really, the only way is to follow your feelings. One bad thing about the rain--people get good at boxing us out with their umbrellas. Ha.
Anyway, we lost our phone the other day on the bus. We didn't realize it was gone for a couple hours, but we called it from a payphone and a man answered who wanted to return it to us, but couldn't until the following day. We were worried about the battery and wanted to make sure we were communicating correctly etc. etc. We called our district leader (who completely fell through) and hoped for the best the next day. The next day it looked dismal after several unanswered phone calls to our phone, but it turns out he called every church member in our phone, or so it seemed. Somehow, someway one of our church members brought the phone back to our apartment unscathed before we left for the day. It was certainly a blessing. Even though the phone could certainly be replaced quite easily we were grateful Heavenly Father answered our prayers.
So I am sick for only the second time on my mission--the first being at the MTC. I have a cold and a few days ago was pretty miserable. In search of some consolation we went to....McDonald's for dinner. I will forever recall Dad's statement when we were all here in Korea: "Sometimes I just want a hamburger. I don't exactly crave this stuff." As hard as it may be to believe, I have begun to crave certain Korean food, but being sick I needed some home cooking. What better place to find that than McDonald's? Anyway, when we got off the bus, another foreigner began talking to us. It turns out he's from Uzbekistan. His name is Ota. He has lived in Korea for 4 and 1/2 years and works for Hyundai. He is learning Korean and English. He wanted to eat with us and ended up buying us Big Macs. Yes. Big Macs all around. We talked to him a bit about the church. He's never had religion before. He didn't seem completely interested in the gospel, but we'll probably meet with him later this week. It's just interesting to see how our paths are led. Who knows why we were supposed to meet him, exactly, or what will come of our interaction, but we had thought several times about getting off the bus earlier and eating somewhere else, but for some reason we didn't. Maybe Ota is the reason?
On the 15th of this month my mission will be halfway over. Crazy! It makes me wonder what exactly has happened since I've been here and how I want things to be different the day I go home. I'm grateful for the opportunity to reflect on these kinds of things and the motivation it provides to stay present in every moment possible, because they go fast. I feel I have learned a lot, it's just applying it that I haven't quite learned yet. That is a huge part of learning, so I hope I can really learn to apply the things I've learned these next 9 months.
I hope I have more to tell you this next week! Thanks for your love and notes! Happy birthday month, Megan!
Love,
Julia
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