JejuDo!

Dear everyone,

Yep. I'm really here on the magical island of Jeju. It is definitely a
welcome change, as far as the weather goes. The wind is actually
refreshing and the shade is nice relief. I can see why the people in
Daegu were raving about it. Honestly, I haven't seen much of the
island yet, but we have big plans for the next few P-days. This -P-day
we took it quite easy. Let's just say during my nap I had a dream
inside a dream. Enter missionary Inception...I guess air conditioning
(a very novel idea at missionary apartments) has a way of lulling us
right to sleep. It was nice.

This week was an eye opener. I guess I hadn't mentioned that Sister
Yoon has just finished receiving training, so, including her time with
me she just completed the 13th week of her mission.  She has been on
Jeju Do for all of her training and my guess is we will be companions
at least for this transfer and then she may be headed elsewhere. I
realized this week that I have rarely served with anyone who is
"older" than I am in the mission. I was trained, then I trained, then
I served with Sister Foy, who was in her 3rd transfer, then trained
Sister Wallace, then served with Sister Cutler who was in her 3rd
transfer and now I'm with Sister Yoon who is also in her 3rd transfer.
I love 3rd transfer missionaries. They still have a lot of fire and
are spreading their wings. That said, because they still feel "new"
they are really humble and willing to try new things. It's the best.

Sister Yoon is very quick to serve, as are most Koreans. I can barely
find ways to serve her, she's so often already done both of our tasks.
It's not something to complain about, but I'm trying to sneak a few
things in here and there as often as she'll let me. She also loves
Harry Potter and thinks I resemble Hermione. Not true, but fine by me.

It is strange to serve in a tourist town. Most of the people on the
street are visiting. It kind of causes me to feel like I'm on vacation
too--a feeling I am working at overcoming. Ha. I see probably 6 or 7
white people a day, which are record numbers. The shock value of
seeing me is wearing thin to people around here. And, while my ego has
taken a shot, it's certainly nice not to stand out quite so much.

We have been doing some less active searching and knocking on doors.
Right now we don't have any progressing investigators. There is one,
Sister Kang, who comes to church every week and has done so for about
7 years, but she doesn't want to make some of the lifestyle changes
getting baptized requires. Whenever the missionaries start teaching
her she stops coming to church...it's quite the phenomenon, but I hope
she will start progressing soon. She's got the coming to church thing
down. We also help out with sister investigators on the island in the
other ward--Seoguipo. There are only a handfull of members and the
elders can't teach sisters alone, so we help out occasionally. We have
one sister who has a slight mental disability, so teaching her takes a
long time and she doesn't always remember, but she comes to church
really well. Anyway, our focus is finding this transfer. I have to
believe that there are people ready to hear the gospel here.

There are about 50-55 active members in our ward. They are all good,
humble people. I am excited to work with them. The less active members
we were able to work with this week either told us the church is too
far away or they have no faith. This area is completely different than
any other I've served in, but I'm looking forward to receiving
inspiration about how to find people who are ready to hear the gospel
here.

Anyway, unfortunately there wasn't much to write about this time, but
I am grateful to be here and confident I'm here for a reason. I know
this is Christ's restored gospel. I feel the spirit as I read the
scriptures and when I am conscientious enough to allow for it, the
spirit guides my thoughts throughout the day. I am not a perfect
servant, but I know this is a perfect gospel through which we can
improve and become sanctified. I am so grateful for your examples and
love.

Dad--it's really inspiring to hear someone from a generation down
express her thanks to you for helping her family find the gospel. it
must have been really rewarding to get that letter. wow. sounds like
you're keeping at it quite well. i love you!

Mom-- thanks for the note. i'm sorry you're sick.  i hope you get
better soon. sounds like you're still bringing in the hits as far as
the meals go. i'm sure the missionaries love you. you're right, the
time is short, but it's such a blessed time, right?

Nick-- happy birthday this week!! we are getting old, but wiser too,
right? i hope you do something fun. i have a card ready to go in the
mail, but we didn't make it to the post office this week. soon. love
you.

Meg--hi there. i hope you and nick have a fun week! i love hearing from you.

Char--whoa, baby Adsero is on the way, isn't she? (still referring to
her solely as a niece. pulling for it, you know?) your hospital
episode sounds less than desirable. it can't be worse than korea, can
it? LOVED the self portraits. lincoln has a future in it. look out,
Andy Warhol. you and ladi will have great fun soon!

Matt-- hey, hope you get a day off soon. sounds like you are a
busy-working-man. hope the socks are the talk of the office. get some
rest if you can!

Ladi--NYC again? skunks galore. count me out. Tracy Aviary is scary
enough. i don't need real live stinky wildlife. ha. glad you got out
unscathed. hard to believe you're almost headed back to SLC. sounds
fun. thanks for the mail. tell the arrington's hello and
congratulations. i don't know much about Hannah's wedding, but you can
clue me in anytime.  LOVE YOU.

Bob-- sounds like you've been checking many things off your bucket
list this summer. good for you. i hope you've had fun and your
internship has gone well. sounds like you took it all in stride.

love you all, anyone who reads this. thank you for your love and support.

till next week,
Sister Julia Mecham