Oh. That's right. Me. :)
So first things first: my plane ride! I sat down in my seat and did not move from it until we landed. Since my flight was booked later than the others I sat kind of far from everyone else, but it was good because I was able to teach a short version of the first 2 discussions to the girl sitting next to me who had met a missionary on a plane before and really liked learning about religion. :) Magical. Already seeing miracles and the plan of our Heavenly Father for His children.
When we got off the plane we (eventually) got through customs. Everyone kind of just followed me. :P It helps I had been there twice before.
We got through customs and eventually met with our mission president after getting our baggage. We met the office elders, old office elders (Yang Hail was one of the old office elders! Wow so crazy to see him!) and new office elders.
We put our bags in the car then got on the subway and talked to people about the book of mormon for 2 hours on the way to the mission home. Because I was the only girl there I had 2 Elders as my companions hahahahaha. Elder Yates and Elder Lee make good companions, though I think Elder Lee was half asleep the whole time.
After we got off the subway one of the Korean Elders was talking to me and asking me questions in Korean, every time I answered he just went "Wooooowwwww" And kept saying "No way" under his breath. He was so shocked. Most of the Korean Elders just had this half-amazed-half-awestruck look on their faces the whole time. It was funny haha. Btw Korea is tripping cold right now. Its not been above 20 degrees the whole time I've been here and during the day it's been as low as 0 degrees. DEATH. Haha.
Yeah so we had dinner. President is a big fan of making puns in Korean. He was telling us all his rice puns while we ate. then I had an interview with the president. He showed me my area on the map, and also showed me a picture of my companion. My companion was the only one he had chosen by then because I was the only Sister there.
So the next day we got up and made cases the our copies of the Book of Mormon. Mine looks pretty dang awesome. I don't have a pic now but I'll show you all later. So yeah, then we had some training and stuff and then at lunch the elder's trainers all slowly wandered in. My trainer showed up a bit later and we said hi and stuff. It was kind of an odd way to do it haha totally anti-climactic. :P
Then we had some more training, then we went into a different room from the trainers and we all got more training and stuff then we went back to get our assignments. Many sarcastic comments were made about wondering who my trainer was. Haha most of them were made by me. Ah, her name is Bae Joon Shim. She's from a town in the Taejon mission, and she likes to be funny, but also get things done. She likes Konglish a lot. She kept saying how she was so lucky she got me as a companion because she "didn't have to teach me anything". It was pretty funny.
Well, the Mission president called up the trainers, then he called the trainees and we got our pictures with our trainers, then after everyone had their trainers we had some time to get to know each other, then we had a role play introducing our companions to members.
When President played a member he was so funny! They all took turns and stuff, so the Korean assistant who talked to me a lot seemed to try and compete with the president to be more funny. He lost, by a long shot haha. President is really funny. :D
So yeah, we finished our training and such and then we all got our stuff and left. We took the subway home then dropped my bags off, then we went to teach and help out at English class. There are 6 people in my new district, my and my trainer, Elder Lant (DL) and his greenie comp Elder Roylance, then the ZL's Elder Matthews and Elder Karlson. Elder Lant is funny. Ah Elder Matthews is from Australia.
The next day we saw the worldwide missionary broadcast. We had to stop partway through for an appointment with a lady who isn't an investgator, but her daughter is. She likes the sisters and thinks of them as daughters, so the plan is to be her friends until she is ready to hear the gospel. So we visited with her and looked at family pictures and such. Then she gave us food. It was kind of spicy, but my comp really can't eat spicy food, even though she's Korean. So she had a hard time, but endured :)
Then we went back and watched the rest of the broadcast. After that we had a lesson with a woman who was going to America. She's very receptive, but her sons are kind of noisy. We taught her part of the plan of Salvation but didn't have too much time so we went home.
The next day we had our weekly planning session for a few hours and such. Then we went to find some less actives, but I think they moved. That night we went sticker boarding- we got a board that said in English and Korean "Why do you want to learn English?" and there were different answers like "Mother said so" or "Work" then people would take a sticker and put it on their answers. It was a bunch of fun! I know missionary work can get discouraging if you do it a lot and always get regected, so it was nice to have so many people willing to put stickers on a board. Koreans really turn into little kids around stickers! Their eyes light up and they get so excited to use a little sticker. So cute. Once they put a sticker on we gave them a card for English class. It's super effective. ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
So the next day at English class only 2 people from the advanced class showed up because it was so cold. So basically I did nothing because the elders taught them. I tried to memorize some phrases, but it wasn't working out. I felt kind of useless. :P Then we cleaned the building for church the next day and set up the chairs. The Elders are super OCD about making sure they are in the right spot!
After that we tried to street contact, but since it was so cold no one was out. So we went to our appointment with a member early. We had dinner and shared a message. She really reminds me of Mom. She's a funny lady. She took us home in her car, too. I was so grateful. Its so cold outside!
Btw, if you brush your teeth and eat kimchi right after, it tastes really odd.
Sunday we had a meeting with the ward mission leader and discussed our investigators and PIs. It went well. At church the mission president came. While I was talking to my comp his wife came up and asked if I could translate for her, so I said sure! Then she clarified that she was speaking and needed someone to translate it into Korean so the members could understand. Needless to say I felt wholly unqualified but agreed to do it. After I gave my introduction she stood up to talk and I did my best to translate. It went pretty well. I messed up a bit reading the scriptures but overall it was a good first try. :) When we sat down she said "That's going in the history books. Never had a greenie translate their first sacrament meeting, and I've only ever had one other non-korean sister translate for me." So it was great.
After we had classes and such. In RS a lady taught about how she had a trial of faith because she wasn't happy, but how she was able to get revelation to just focus on the light and all would work out. She's had a great change of heart.
We had our meal after church and we sat with some member ladies who were fascinated while talking to me. It was very cute.
It was a thing by the end of church whenever a member asked how long I had been there I would respond "5 days" and they would attempt to clarify by asking "Not the area, how long have you been in Korea?" And I would repeat 5 days, and the cycle would continue until they figured it out and practically passed out. Then they would ask how I learned and such. Haha so funny :)
We also had a good lesson with a part member family after church. Well, not so much a lesson as a short message about prayer. The wife who is a member shared a great experience and I think her husband was touched. Though he's a bit of an introvert, so I think he doesn't like being around a lot of people, he still enjoyed it.
That's been about it! That is my week.
I've already learned a lot, and I've met a lot of cool people. Its awesome!
Oh yeah, I'm in 곡반정. Its in the suwon area :D
Sister Sierra Brooksby
Korea Seoul South Mission
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