a little alone time

Good morning!

It's hard to believe that there has already been snow in SLC and cold
temperatures all around. It is colder here now too. I wear a coat and
scarff usually, but no snow yet. It was great to hear from all of you.
Mom and Dad sound busy, as usual, but I'm glad you'll get the closest
thing you ever get to "time off" in a few days. Enjoy it!

This week was full of surprises, as every missionary week seems to be.
Some, however, were a little too exciting for me...more on that in a
minute.

On Tuesday we had two appointments with potential investigators. The
first lady, Sister Heo, had met with missionaries about 3 or 4 years
ago and told them not to call back. After seeing her record we just
called her anyway and she willingly met with us. It was a challenge to
find her office, but after several phone calls and a lot of trial and
error we made it. She was really really nice to us and seemed
intrigued by the message of the Restoration. She asked us who Jesus
Christ was and we told her He is God's son. Then she asked us who
Mormon was and we told her he was an ancient American prophet. Looks
like there were a few loop holes from her previous meetings with
missionaries--she thought we thought Mormon was God. So, we cleared
that up and promised her she can know how to feel the spirit and
recognize truth for herself. She said she really wants to know how to
do that. She laughed every time I promised her something, but we
didn't stop promising her blessings. We must just be that cute. I will
promise more next time too. Ha.  She says she is Christian, but she
hates church. We will be working through that one when we meet this
Friday. Anyway, with people who hate church and people who tell them
what to do, it seems a testimony of the Book of Mormon is really the
way to go. I think we'll focus on that. It was a good lesson and she
prayed to close it. She asked to know the truth about prophets and our
message.

Next, we met with Gap, a lady from Thailand who is married to a
Canadian English teacher here. We had met her at the bus stop. She is
really good at English, but has little understanding about
Christianity. She has a lot of Buddhist ideals, but has never really
thought about religion or the meaning of life. She said if she makes
plans or thinks about the future too much then she usually gets hurt.
It was an interesting conversation and I think we could have been more
bold in explaining that this gospel is what she needs to overcome
those fears and find hope in the future. It wasn't a great
lesson---it's a lot tougher in English, easier to get sidetracked--and
she said she doesn't want to learn more. That was disappointing, but
Sister Baker and I took from it that we need to be better about being
bold and focused.

We went to Busan for zone conference on Tuesday night. Wednesday we
went to Daegu with the Daegu and Shilla zones and had our zone
conference. It was a really good meeting focusing primarily on
conversion and the first great commandment and what focusing on those
things does to our attitude and the results of our work. I was
grateful for a time to be more introspective. It was good to see three
former companions as well-- Sister Culter, Sister Yoon, and Sister
Yeon. I love them.

On Saturday President and Sister Gilbert flew to Jeju for branch
conference in Seoguipo, the other branch on the island. We were
participating in the musical number at the baptism so we planned to
get a ride up with them. Before that though, we had some extra time in
our area where we had planned to visit a few less active members.
Sister Baker has never visited these less active members before,
although in previous transfers here I have visited them A LOT. We
didn't really talk about where they lived, but expected she would just
kind of follow my lead. Anyway, we sat separately on the bus as usual
so we could talk to people along the way. Sister Baker sat near the
front and I, toward the middle/back. I realized our stop was coming up
so I got up and pushed the button for the driver to stop. A side note:
Korea bus rides are not the leisurely UTA 20mph rides I was accustomed
to in Utah. The door is usually flung open and the driver slows down
to about 5 mph so you can jump out. There is usually a small interim
of time (1-2 sec.) where you can actually get off the bus. There is
this buzzer on the door that warns you when it's about to close (i.e.
smash you), so you have to get off quickly or else it's a bit of a
walk and a stop later than you were hoping for. Anyway, I was standing
by the door and was yelling to Sister Baker that this was our stop. I
thought she had heard me, and I tried to shuffle all my luggage
(guitar, umbrella, purse, proselyting materials) all out the bus door
before the final buzzer sounded. In essence, I panicked. So, I was
surprised and bewildered when I found myself on the sidewalk...alone.
I started walking to the next bus stop assuming that Sister Baker had
heard all the commotion and would get off at the next stop so we could
meet up. It was kind of an anxious time as I was walking through the
rain and trying to spot her umbrella down the street. I got to the
next bus stop and she wasn't there. The next one. Same thing. I
figured I would keep walking the bus route because she would
eventually notice and probably borrow someone's phone and call me or
turn around a meet up with me. Well, with each passing bus stop my
anxiety grew, but eventually the elders in our area called and told me
she had called them and she was now about 10 or 11 bus stops from
me... she had forgotten that she knew our number and called the
elders, whose numbers she had recorded in the back of her planner.
Anyway, after another bus ride to meet up and 45 minutes total and no
visits to less active members (although, in the irrationality of the
moment I did for a split second figure I should visit the members
alone... WHAT??), we met back up. It was all too exciting and we were
both sopping wet and laughing, grateful we had met again. Maybe it was
divine intervention because at the bus stop where Sister Baker had
been waiting for me she met a Catholic lady from the states who wants
to meet and talk about religion again this week. Who knows. I was too
out of my mind to feel like I could talk to anyone. I always think
about alone time because it's some of my favorite time and we don't
have much as missionaries. Sister Baker and I had been talking about
that recently and she was talking about how she missed it. Her
birthday is this week and when I got off the bus the first thing I
told her was that I wanted to give her an early birthday gift of a
little alone time. I guess a heart attack isn't that great of a gift.
Anyway, we learned we need to communicate better and not get off the
bus if our companion isn't with us.

Spiritually, I thought I could do missionary work alone a lot in my
mission, but I have learned of the strength that comes from someone
being committed to the same purpose and goal right beside me the whole
way. It was a good reminder. The baptism went well in Seoguipo and it
was encouraging to see a sweet  15 year old girl make the commitment
to try to live a better life. She seemed happy about it.

Anyway, I will keep going this week and try not to get sent home early
from unintentional infringement of missionary rules. Love you all!

Sister Julia Mecham