THE FIRST ONE

Family!!! Friends!!!

I am so excited to be writing you right now!! I expect you all to write me and tell me everything! I really do want to hear everything! Even the dumb details like what you ate for lunch and what you got on your bio quiz!! I am so glad to hear y'all are doing well! Congrats, Aubs! I am SOO proud of you! Being in the top 10% is no easy task at Boyd! I can't even contain my excitement! If I were home I'd take you to Liberty Burger and get a giant milkshake! Dad, go do that for me!! Mom!! I miss you so much and I love hearing from you!! And Dad too! And Kayleigh!! I just love you all! More than I can express via email! :)

Okay, so I'm sure everyone has been wondering how my first week at the MTC was...and if not bear with me cause I'm going to give you all of the details.

Let's start at the very beginning! So I left Kayleigh and Kendl and Marcy and Lauren at the MTC entrance and I was shaking from head to toe. I was so nervous! What was my companion going to be like? What about my district?! I felt like I might have a heart attack! But when I walked into the registration room and this darling lady pinned my tag on, I knew that I was exactly where I was supposed to be and I haven't looked back since. I know I am here and I have been called and set apart by Heavenly Father to help bring happiness to the people of South Korea in whatever way I can. This mission is not about me. And that little second when I felt so at peace was a really special moment for me. Okay, so then my host helped me lug my SUPER heavy bags up the stairs to the top floor of our residence! I felt so bad for her!! Haha. I offered to help, but she wouldn't let me because it was my first day! All of the classes, residences, etc. for the Korean missionaries/branch are on the top floor, so they call us the Celestial Branch. Oh, and also we're the best, so there's that too! Haha. After that, I met my companion, Sister Cooper. I LOVE HER TO DEATH!!! She is such a blessing! She is from Murray and she's 19. She's the first sister to serve a mission in her family so we help each other out a lot. She is so sweet, humble, loving and kind. We kind of just get each other even if we have different personalities and interests. She is such a blessing! Our first day was LONG! We had a seminar on loving the people we serve, where we practiced teaching in a group setting. It was really cool. 

Since my first day, I've pretty much gotten used to the MTC. The MTC is pretty much the weirdest place I've ever been. Why?? Well, I sit in the same classroom every single day and strain my brain trying to learn 한국말 (Korean...pronounced Hahn-gu-mar), I have to wake up at the buttcrack of dawn every day, I am stuck with the same people 24/7, and the most exciting part of my day is when I get to leave the classroom to go to the cafeteria to eat some of the most gosh-awful food I've ever had in my life. lol...I'm just being dramatic but MTC food is nasty/way sketchy! Lol. But aside all of that, I somehow LOVE it here. I have never once been tempted to jump the fence and run to my old apartment! I think that even if they left the front gate open and told me that I could leave and go get real, healthy food, and work out for as long as I want every day and wake up at 9:00 a.m., I would choose to stay. That's why this place is the weirdest place ever.

Being here is a roller coaster. 한국말 is SOOOOO hard! I can't even explain it to you in clean words! Haha! Learning 한국말 is like doing math and I'm pretty sure I'm the slowest in my class. But I must say that I am pretty decent at pronunciation and saying things correctly. The grammar and sentence structure are just so backwards! Instead of saying "I teach lessons" you say "I lessons teach." C'est bizarre!!! That being said, I have learned SO much in one week! I can pray without any help and Sister Cooper and I have taught four lessons to an investigator ALL IN 한국말!! I can't say that the lessons weren't a train wreck, but he hasn't dropped us yet, so I guess we're getting somewhere. And I can say, read, and write lots of words like Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ, Love, Atonement, Food, Family, etc (I would type some for you but I don't have any time!!). Sometimes I get really discouraged. Mostly when I'm tired, but I know that if I work hard and I am diligent in my studies, I WILL learn this crazy language! I know that Heavenly Father qualifies those He calls. I know that I will get 한국말 down. It may be hard, but Heavenly Father trusts me to learn this language and knows I can do it. I just have to stop being a perfectionist. Heavenly Father expects obedience and love, not perfection.

I love my district and my teachers--Goodwin 자매님 and Gardener 자매님! There are five other sisters in my district and we all room together, which is fun but very crowded. In our district, there's Cooper 자매님 and me, Tanner 자매님 and Markus 자매님, and Hall 자매님 and Anderton 자매님 (Jah-meh-nim). Then there's Elder Orondorf and Elder Aurich, Elder Hiatt and Elder Ulrich (can't remember how to spell Elder in Korean, but it sounds kind of like chong-no-nim). My district is really fun. Orondorff and I are the oldest, so I kind of feel like everyone's mom. Lol. But it's okay, it's kind of fun. All of us are heading to Pusan except for Tanner, Hiatt, and Ulrich. (Which is sad because I really love them!). I really love the other Korean-speaking missionaries so much! Our branch really is Celestial. 

Here are a few great moments from this week:

The other day, Cooper 자매님 and I were planning to teach Jason, and we were looking in our Korean scriptures for a verse to share. We found John 3:16 and were able to read it! We were so excited that we jumped out of our seats and ran down the hall yelling "Goodwin 자매님!! Goodwin 자매님!!! We read a verse!!!" She was very excited for us!

I am getting much better at conjugating and I memorized my first phrase this week, "Brother, will you read this pamphlet?" Haha. It's not much, but it's something!

Some Korean natives joined our district this week! We exchange English lessons for Korean lessons. They are so sweet. And I really love teaching English! It really confirmed the desire I have to go teach English in Russia after I get home (and learn Russian...haha).

Sunday!! Sunday was great! The first counselor in the MTC presidency spoke to us, then we watched Elder Bednar's "The Character of Christ." I want to invite anyone who's reading this to go watch that talk! It is life changing! 

Well, I'm running out of time! I will include more details in my hand-written letter tonight!

I you love!!

Bises,

Johns 자매 (jah-meh)

p.s.- To everyone reading this! If you have time, please write me! I don't care who you are or how I know you! Getting a letter or a Dear Elder really brightens my day. Learning Korean is discouraging and I need all of the happy moments I can get!!

I Love my Cooper!!!

When we went out for our temple walk, it felt like the part in Frozen when Anna sings "For the first time in forever." Haha. I even sang "tell the guards to open up the gates *the gates*" when our Zone leaders were scanning us out! haha.

The sisters!

Celestial Branch

Our classroom

Pusan bound!

Comp selfie

Typical map pic

The District