have you spent your time well?

Hello!! 잘지냈어요? (Translation: Have you spent your time well?)

First of all to Mom: Happy Birthday 2 days ago! And then to Dad: Happy Father's Day! I am hoping to send something off to both of you today. My promises have been very empty, I know. Love both of you.

So this week was another interesting one. Not quite as much happened as we might have hoped, but it was what it was. We went to Busan for another training meeting on Tuesday. It was a good meeting and I felt like I learned a lot of what I could be doing better as a trainer and a missionary. It's always good to learn that. On the train ride home my stomach was really having a fit. I wasn't looking forward to what could be a long train ride in a bathroom stall---and so it was. It was quite the trip. A little more turbulent than the standard airplane, but we survived.

We had a district proselyting activity in our area at Duryu Park. This is my all-time favorite place to proselyte. Since I have been in Korea this is the first place I have ever met Koreans who are not busy. They are just sitting around! (or exercising like mad). It is a missionary's dream come true. We got some interesting contacts, but it was generally pretty successful. It was Korean Memorial Day so there were more people there than normal. We visited a less active sister who lives nearby and we were actually able to find her and set up an appointment to come back. She had to cancel the appointment later, but I think it was quite a miracle that we actually met her anyway. We were grateful for that minor miracle.

We taught MiNe this week. She is so sweet to us, but I don't think her primary interest is in the church. We invited her to come to church with us and she said not this week but next week she will come. She is really afraid of rumors and hypocrites etc. etc. I think we need to get back to teaching both people AND lessons. Sometimes we get a little sidetracked on her concerns and we don't answer them with doctrine as much as advice. I think if we changed that around we would be able to get a lot further in helping her progress.

One really cool event did happen. The elders in 중리 met a sister by the local Home Plus. She came up to them and said "Hi brothers." She is a foreigner originally from, as chance would have it, Guam. She moved to SLC when she was 13 and many of her family members are members of the church. Many of her siblings served missions. Those siblings convinced her that every time she saw missionaries she had to say hello because missions are so hard and the missionaries really need the encouragement. Following that advice, she talked to the elders. She actually even went to our high school....pretty wild. She is 3 years older than I am. She is teaching English here in Korea. She described herself as not very religious but hesitantly gave them her number. I called her two days ago and she didn't answer. I called her yesterday and she said it was especially strange that I called that day.  She had set her alarm to go to the English speaking branch that very day. Apparently it had been a really long time since she had gone. She woke up to her alarm, convinced herself to sleep for 5 more minutes, but then overslept and missed church. I think she really was blown away I had called on the same day. She was really nice and open and we set up an appointment to meet this week. She seems like she really wants to make some changes in her life. I don't know why our lives are lining up quite like this, but I look forward to discovering more about the timing of what seems like a myriad of coincidences. Guam, SLC, West High, and now Daegu, South Korea. Really interesting. 

I know God knows our geographical, spiritual, mental, and physical locations. He is so mindful of them. Even when nothing makes apparent sense to us, there is a reason. As Elder Maxwell says, as we come to accept both the timing and His shaping of us, then we truly become happier people. I know that is true. I can't imagine that I would have had so many "coincidental" things in common with someone in my area. It is a miracle that I hope we will be able to cultivate.

This week is transfer calls. We'll see if we stay or go. I hope to stay, honestly. I really love my area and the ward members. Time will tell! Love to love you.

Love,

Julia