Hello everybody! ^^ ㅎㅎ
So many emails this week. Thank you!
It's nice to know you're all still doing well and summer lives on. We have
affectionately named all our Daegu summer alter-egos. Maybe some of you have
experienced them as well. They are as follows: Sweaty Betty, Smelly
Nelly, Moustache Maxine (i.e. sweat-stache), and, due to my obsession with 3
minute microwave curry, Curry Murray. As you can tell we are sweating it up out
here, but happily.
This week was a good one. I don't
know if we've ever more diligently accomplished the things that we planned to
do in weekly planning. The grand miracle was Christine. As I mentioned last
week she had already read a lot of the Book of Mormon in the short time she had
been in possession of it. She is a very very strong Catholic, but told us how
much she is enjoying the Book of Mormon. Last P-day was not fun. We had to get
our foreigner cards worked out, and a lot of other errands (buy a fan, buy new
bags now that backpacks are banned for sisters) that just weren't
fun. We didn't get home until P-day was essentially over and a very selfish
part of us was quite disappointed. We had planned to go to 계명대학교 (Keimyung University) because there was a big
"Children's Games' event and we thought it would be a good place to
proselyte. It is quite far from our home and we weren't sure if we wanted to go
for selfish reasons or if it was the spirit. As we looked over our planners and
thought about what might be a more productive activity we happened upon
Christine's name and decided that we should go visit her instead. Why look for
new people to teach when others are already willing to be taught? The answer
was clear. We went to her house/clothing store and she welcomed us warmly. She
had gotten all the way to Alma 33, marking the scriptures she likes all along
the way. She told us that it isn't just reading for fun, but that the Book of
Mormon really brings her joy and solidifies her testimony of Christ. Wow.
Apparently she only met with sister missionaries "by chance" two or
three times in about 2000 or 2001 and then they got transferred. They had only
given her a pamphlet, so when Sister McComber and Sister Baker gave her a Book
of Mormon she was very intrigued and happy. We were so excited to
hear that and promised her that if she keeps reading and prays about it she
will receive a divine witness. We didn't have a lot of time, but told her
we wanted to talk next time about our message a little more. We were able to go
back on Friday and by this time she had made it to 3 Nep. 18 and expressed the
same sentiments. We taught her the first lesson, all of which she practically
knew from the introduction to the Book of Mormon and from the pamphlets.
She said she hasn't really said a prayer about the Book of Mormon because she
wants to finish it first. With other investigators I think I would treat the
matter differently, but we are going to visit her tonight and I am willing to
guess she has finished it. If she hasn't prayed or finished it we will invite her
to do so--you don't have to read the whole thing to know it's true, but how
much we appreciate her diligence in reading it. It's incredible, really.
Anyway, during the first lesson, she still has a lot of qualms with our
differences in doctrine (prophets, trinity, method of prayer, etc), but I know
that the best way to answer people's concerns is through the Book of Mormon.
She didn't come to church this Sunday, but I am confident she will after she
receives an answer to her prayer. Granted, she did cross herself before
offering a prayer, but it was a very sincere prayer and I think I need to
take lessons from her in spirituality. I hope tonight will go well. I have
never seen anyone devour the Book of Mormon so eagerly.
We met with Sister P at a Mexican
restaurant this week. Yes, you read it correctly. A Mexican restaurant. In
Korea. I have never been happier to eat such a mediocre burrito. It has been a
year since I ate Mexican food, after all. Besides the food, she told us she
hadn't been smoking for 2 days. What a victory. It starts one thing at a time.
She wanted to know all the commandments so she could hang them on her wall and
look at them. We talked about commandments for a little while, but she being
the make-a-list-to-check-things-off kind of person, we told her that it's more
than a checklist and that as we understand the "why" behind the
commandments and the promised blessing for keeping them, how much easier they
are to keep. She expressed concern about really being able to come back to church
and we told her about the prodigal son and how as soon as the father could see
his son in the distance he ran to him, even though the son had been so
rebellious for so long. Heavenly Father is just waiting for us to show even the
slightest bit of humility and start walking back. He'll run. That's his promise
to us as well. She seemed comforted by that.
It is definitely rainy season. We
take some risks every once in a while and decide not to take an umbrella.
Generally we pay (usually literally) for that decision. A few days ago was no
exception. We had finished a visit with a less active couple when it began
pouring rain. We ran to a mart (every mart sells umbrellas) to buy a cheap
umbrella. Nothing cheap there, but my umbrellas had broken and it would be good
to invest in a nicer one, so I bought one. Sister Cutler and I shared this one
until we got to a mart with cheaper umbrellas. Sister Cutler went to buy a new
cheap one for herself (around 3 bucks) and as soon as she gave the lady the
money I noticed that everyone started putting their umbrellas away. It proved
once again that the fastest way to get it to stop raining around here
is to buy an umbrella and the surest
way to guarantee rain is to attempt to will it away by not packing an umbrella.
Heaven knows enduring the scolding from the 할머니들 (grandmas) when we come in sopping wet is just too much to
endure. Plus, your hair apparently falls out from acid rain if you don't lug
around an umbrella.
Also funny news, the other day we
decided to go to a new park in our area to try proselyting. On the map it just
looks like a regular park, so we thought it would be a good place to meet
people in an area we don't normally go to. We got there and Sister Cutler had
to go to the bathroom (a very regular occurrence around here), so we crossed
the street and looked at the park map to see where the bathrooms were. Well,
upon looking at the map we realized we had several options: one by the tennis
courts, one by the....chimpanzees....and one by the.....lions. Wha? We ran into
a free zoo. Wasn't what we were planning on, but since there was a public
bathroom we decided to go in and use it. Anyway, while I was waiting for Sister
Cutler outside the bathroom, there was this Korean man with his college aged
children, talking to the chimpanzee in English. "hey man....what you doing
in there?" I didn't know whether to be offended by this gesture, as an
implication that Americans are like monkeys and this was supposed to be an
insult to my intelligence--although I do feel that I should be in a cage
sometimes here with the amount of gawking and random feeding that goes on in my
direction. Or, maybe the man just assumed the monkey was bilingual--a much more
generous conclusion that I will gladly accept. That said, a many well-meaning
has been mistaken about appearances --since I've been here it's been supposed
I've been English, French (both understandable) Indian and Egyptian. Never been
quite so exotic in my life. Today we are off to the zoo since it's officially
P-Day.
Yesterday we also had plans to meet
with this Philippino lady, Marean. We had trouble knowing exactly where she
was, but we finally tracked her down and she was with 3 other Philippino woman
in the park. They were the best. They have all come here for work. They all
speak English quite well and were happy to talk to us. Linda and Marean have
been here for about 6 years off and on, Judith has been here for 3 months, and
Emmalou has been here for over 10 years off and on. They all have religion and
miss their families so much. Emmalou said that she envies us---she has come
here to work in a factory and we have come to "share the good word of
God." It was a time when I realized that even when it's hard, I know
how long I am here, I am doing something that brings me joy and I am doing
something with the intent of bringing others joy. They were just hilarious and
humble and sweet all at the same time. We gave them a copy of the Book of
Mormon and asked if we could meet with them again. I am grateful to be here and
to help people and pray for them in the middle of a park sometimes. I hope we
will be able to meet with them again.
They brightened my day even though
they are in a hard situation. I know that God sees all our efforts and even
though we don't always see it, our influence extends much further than we ever
know. It keeps me going to know that and to experience it from the light of
another kind person. Love you all. I know this work is good and true. Keep at
it! Love.
Julia
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