The One with the Learning Curve

Hello from 진해!!

Wow. A lot happened this week and I don't have a lot of time to write.

This week I...

1. Ate squid, fish head soup with clams, and fish hotdog

2. Had an amazing lesson with a less active sister

3. Did a sticker board/English class jundo by the sea!

4. Bought two new pairs of shoes and an outfit (oops)

Okay, let's start with the weird foods. We had a lot of meal appointments this week. The first was with the bishop's wife, who I love with all of my heart! (Kayleigh: she is like a Korean Soeur Bertrand). She made me the yummiest pesto pasta (which is really rare and hard to make in Korea!)...and this traditional Korean soup that had little fish--yes, the whole thing---in it. It kind of tasted like PetsMart smells, but somehow I really liked it. I guess the Gift of Tongues applies to more than just languages. Haha. The next day we had a lunch appointment with this really cute and lonely old lady in the ward and she fed us squishy squid pasta. Not gonna lie, it was weird...but kind of good? Haha. The Elders were dying. I offered to eat their squid, but they were too nice--or maybe they just didn't want to lose their mancard.

The next thing was a miracle. In Korea there are sooo many less active members. And most of them hate the missionaries. I have experience this first hand, as yesterday someone slammed their door in my face and swore at us! Wahoo! You've gotta love missionary work! Haha. However, last Monday one of the less actives saw a text we send to her and asked to meet with us. So we trekked to the other side of Jinhe for the lesson. She served a mission and speaks very good English. She explained to us that she really loves the gospel and Jesus Christ, but she is the only member in her family and that is hard. She was also had some really hard experiences in the past, so going to church was hard for her. And her son is currently preparing to take college entry exams, which are incredibly difficult in Korea and you can only take them once. If you fail, there's nothing you can do about it. She has been praying really hard for her son and she started feeling like she needed to go to church again. Then she got our text, which she felt was an answer from God that it was time to come back. So after her son's big exam, she said she'll be at church. We're praying so hard for her! I got to bear my testimony and the spirit was so strong. It was then that my desire to teach people about the gospel grew so much. I really hope we find investigators soon.

In Korea, a lot of people really want to learn English and it is a great way to find people to teach so the other night we went to this beautiful spot by the ocean and did an English class jundo. It was so fun and I got to hang out with a bunch of cute Korean babies.

Also, today we went shopping and I just couldn't help myself. I was made for Korean fashion. It's all like the stuff from TheWhitePepper and their heels are so cute. I may or may not be sending a pair of heels home for after my mission...lol. :) I really love my companion because she loves to shop too. ;) Even if I speak hardly any Korean and she speaks hardly any English we somehow manage to have so much fun. She is so patient with me!

But I am keeping on keeping on here in Korea. It has been really hard lately because we still don't have any investigators to teach. We would really appreciate prayers. Jinhe is lovely and the ward is wonderful, but it is kind of a small town (kind of like Liege maybe?) so finding people to teach is really hard, especially considering that fact that I don't speak or understand any Korean. It has been a real trial of my faith. Sometimes I feel like nobody out there wants to hear our message. Sometimes I wonder what I'm doing here. It's not easy being a missionary, but I just keep going on the little faith I have left. I just keep walking and taking buses and struggling to talk to people (and probably embarrassing my sweet companion because of it). It's hard, but somehow I am still so happy. I really love Korea. I really love our ward. I am very grateful for this experience and I don't want to give up just yet. We will find someone. I just can't be afraid to talk. That's the hardest part.

Okay, well I love you all! I wish I had more time to write more details, but I'm all out of time. 

사랑해요

"I you love!"

Johns 자매

Ps: RM's: please send me finding ideas!!! We desperately need investigators!! 

Apparently, these pretty things are super common and "not special" according 
to the Koreans...I beg to differ!

 진해 루!!!

The ocean!!

Jinhe!

This is what Korea looks like at night! So shiny!!

Fancy purple bus!  

 I ate meat like a champ! #soproud

식사 with the Elders

The yummiest thing that exists in Korea

the other yummiest things

My district gave me choco pie in order to celebrate my "mission birth." I love them!

 Casual train track photo shoot in Korea. nbd.

So tired after 전도(jundo)

Today we went to the most delicious (and inexpensive) buffet! Mostly, it had kind of American-ish food so I was dying of excitement. And they had ice cream. 김 예지 자매님 and I ate SO much...hehe. We have a new motto. I'll translate it for you: eat like men then shop like women.

The First One in Korea

Hello from KOREA!!!!

Wow. The last few days have felt so long! So much has happened! Okay, I want to share all of the details because coming to Korea has been the biggest adventure of my life thus far! As a very wise woman once said: let's start at the very beginning, that's a very good place to start (*read in Julie Andrews voice*)...

On the morning we left for Korea, the sisters and I woke up bright and early at 2:45 a.m.--the literal buttcrack of dawn. We boarded a bus that dropped us and about 35 other missionaries going to Orlando off at the FrontRunner station. Yes. The FrontRunner station. 2 hours, three heavy suitcases, and a train switch later, we made it safely to the Salt Lake airport. Wow. That was an adventure! I felt like we were a bunch of cows smashed like sardines in a cattle car. There was so much luggage everywhere and commuters literally had to climb and crawl over people's luggage. It was a pretty odd and funny experience. We took a flight to Seattle that was late because of fog so we had a three second layover before we had to get on yet another airplane. This airplane was going to take us to Seoul. Yay! I got to sit next to Cooper 자매님 and Hall 자매님 and we got to listen to classical music.

What's worse than being stuck on a plane for 14 hours? Being sick and stuck on a plane for 14 hours. As we traveled throughout the day, I just kept feeling worse and worse and when we got on our flight to Seoul, I just wanted to die. I felt so, so sick. I drugged myself with Benadryl so I could sleep, but I felt so bad for everyone around me because I was just a gross, sad germ. When we landed in Seoul, I was so depressed and nervous that I would get worse. I just prayed and prayed that I would feel better. Our flight to Pusan was delayed a little so we got to walk around the airport, which was basically just a giant mall. It was SO cool.

After we finished our flight to Pusan, we went through the simplest and most efficient customs screening I've ever been through, grabbed our bags, exited the terminal, and met President and Sister Barrow. Oh! That was so exciting! The office elders drove us to the mission home and that is all a blur because I was so exhausted, but I do remember being so amazed at the huge city and all of the flashing neon lights. Korea is a neat place.

When we got to the mission home, President and Sister Barrow welcomed us, fed us some super yummy snacks and sent us to bed. I don't think I've ever slept better in my entire life!

The next morning we woke up and had a delicious breakfast all together, had interviews with President, finished some technical business, ate our first Korean lunch (so delicious!), and then we got to meet the trainers! We played some fun games together so President and Sister Barrow could see how everyone worked together then we went out onto the streets to 전도 (proselyte). I started off with Sister 박 and she was very helpful to me. She is a Korean native, so she taught me some really useful phrases and she helped me with pronunciation a lot. She spoke really good English too. After that, I went with Sister Beazer. She is American, which was really comforting because I was really discouraged. After I went with Sister Beazer I got to go with Sister Kwon (can't remember how to spell her real Korean name). She is from Seoul and she speaks excellent English. I was so discouraged by the time I got to her that I almost cried. I told her that I felt like a horrible missionary and that I was scared to Jundo and that I felt really awful at the language. She gave me a really excellent pep talk and we clicked really well. I really like her a lot. After jundoing with Sister Kwon, I went with Sister Chow who is Korean but she grew up in L.A. so she had to learn Korean at the MTC. She is really sweet and we ran into a less active member and shared a message with him. We jundoed to the restaurant where we were going to eat dinner. We ate some super delicious bibimbap and jundoed back home. This time was our last time and I went with 김예지 자매님 (my trainer!). She speaks very little English, so were were super creative with communication. We got along so well and joked the whole way home. At one point on the way home, there was no one around so I pretended to jundo to a dog tied to a fence. I used high form and everything. That made 김예지 자매님 laugh so hard. Then a few houses down from the mission home, we found another dog stuck on top of a fence. We decided that he was a misguided soul that needed the gospel. We offered him a Book of Mormon, but he kind of just stared at us blankly. Weird. Some people just aren't ready for our message (hehe). 

After jundo, we had a short testimony meeting and went to bed. Cooper 자매님 and I both woke up at 4 a.m. and couldn't sleep so we got up and talked to each other about how nervous we were to get our trainers. We had a really good conversation and comforted each other a lot. It was then that I realized how much I was going to miss her. She really is so great! We had such a great friendship and companionship! I am so grateful that I got such a great first companion so I could learn how to be a good companion/how to have a good companionship.

Later that morning, we were assigned to our trainers. I was so nervous when Sister Kim YeJi was assigned to be my trainer because she doesn't speak much English, but once we started talking to each other I realized what a blessing she is. Not only is she super patient with me, but she is also the nicest person in the world.

Then it was time to leave the mission home. It was time for the real deal to start. So Sister Kim and I trekked across Pusan with my super heavy luggage and she was just so sweet. She refused to let me push the really heavy bag and also took the small one. I have already started making a list of things that she does in my journal in case I ever train one day. She is celestial.

We got to my first area, 진해 (Jinhe), and I had a few minutes to unpack before area meeting...apparently DM(District Meeting) and AM(Area Meeting) were moved because everyone wanted to meet me. I felt so popular. Haha. Our apartment is so nice! It is really small and cute! Our area is really awesome. There are two other Elders that serve in the area with us. They are super nice. After that we got kimchi and ice cream and went home to call members, investigators, etc. so I could introduce myself. Speaking and understanding Korean over the phone is impossible. 

The next morning we woke up and Sister Kim took me to this really nice track to run. It was so funny to be the one awkward white person running around the track.

Later that day, we had DM and we jundoed with some of the sisters in our district. Sister Koyle and Sister Steward. They are so nice! The are both STLs and both used to be companions with Sister Kim. I really hope there's not a trend there. I can't go back to STL prison...haha. On Friday night we had a dinner appointment with the 1st counselor in the bishopric. If you look up Jinhe on google you'll find lots of beautiful pictures of the cherry blossom festival in the spring (sadly, it's too hot and humid for blossoms right now). Anywho, in all of the pictures you'll see this really beautiful wooden bridge thing. Yep. The 1st counselor lives across the street from that. Dinner was so much fun. Pretty much the entire young men's group and 1/3 of the ward was there. I had no idea what anyone was saying and I just felt like the awkward foreign exchange student who sits in the corner and says a few awfully pronounced memorized phrases--probably because that is exactly who I was. Lol. We ate bibimbap with raw fish and caviar (yum...and I mean it. It was so good!). I really love this area because we have a guitar!! Yay! We sang some primary songs for the family and I had to share my testimony of the Book of Mormon. I was so nervous, but I think it went okay because everyone seemed to understand it. I just loved that the Korean kids got such a kick out of the fact that I have hair on my arms. Haha...definitely going to go home and shave. Lol. But it really was so fun. And you know it's been a good day when you go to bed with incurable kimchi breath and caviar in your teeth. No matter how many times you brush, it's still there. Lol.

On Saturday we had a stake service activity and the whole zone was there. And guess who is in my zone??? Amende 자매님!!! My "Seoul Sista" from the MTC. We were SO excited to see each other!!! Also, here in Korea when you do a service activity you get to clean the hiking trail that leads to a famous and very beautiful Buddhist temple. Yep. You heard that right! It felt like P-Day! It was so cool and the forest is so gorgeous!

After service we had a super long meeting with the stake missionary guys and I literally understood nothing. But Amende and I were in the same boat and there was kimbap (my fav!) so I was cool with it. On Saturday night, we taught English class, which was SO MUCH FUN!!! I love teaching English. It is so humbling. Plus, it helps the members know how I feel all of the time. Haha. After English class we had another dinner appointment with the former bishop of the ward. He is probably the sweetest human I have ever met. His entire family lives in Orem, Utah so he gets really lonely so he loves it when the missionaries come. His family sent him Jelly Bellies and we all ate them together. It was so funny to see the Koreans' reactions to some of the flavors. I love these people to death!

Sunday was rough. I literally understood nothing. But my testimony went okay, so that was good. I really love our ward. They are all so fun. Every Sunday after church we all eat together. It is so much fun! They also do family home evening together every Sunday night. And even the adults get so into the games. It is SO much fun! Koreans are hilarious! I love them so much! It is so funny because everyone stares at me like I'm an alien or something. Haha. I'll probably come home with a big head because everyone that passes by always says "OH!!! So pretty!!!" But the ward mission leader will keep me in check because he already told me I was funny looking and that my Korean sucks. You've gotta love Koreans! Haha. They are so honest! It kills me! I just love it!

Today we got my foreigner card and now we are going to go to one of these big rooms where people from all over the city come and play boardgames. I am so excited! 

Well, sorry for the longest letter ever! In short, it's really rough not speaking or understanding ANYTHING and the work is really, really, really slow in our area. We currently have zero investigators and hardly and PI's. Also, nobody understands me when we jundo and if they do they look at my like I'm crazy and walk away. People are really unperceptive to the gospel here. But we have been praying to find people who are prepared for us. Please pray for us too. There's nothing worse than being an unbusy missionary!!

Okay, well I love y'all so much!!!

사랑해요!!!

I you love!

잔스 자매

Sister Johns

Welcome To Busan South Korea

Sister Johns & Sister Kim Yeji, Sister Johns 1st companion/trainer

Sister Johns and her Mission President and wife, Brother & Sister Barrows

All the New Missionaries and their Trainers

New Missionaries and their Trainers

We made it!

The Last One from the MTC

안녕하세요!!!!

I am so happy to say that this is the last letter I will be sending from the MTC! Sing Praises!!

Fine, I'll admit it. I'll miss this place. I have had such an amazing experience here and I have been forever changed. I have learned and grown so much over the past 9 weeks. When I think about how much I grow up each semester at school and compare it to these few months here I am just amazed. The MTC not only puts you on the language-learning fast track, but it also accelerates the rate at which you become a big kid. Goodbye pull-ups cause I'm a big girl now and I have what I need to not pee my dress when I get to Korea...maybe.

I think my favorite thing that I learned here at the MTC is why I believe what I believe. Before I was a missionary, I believed that the gospel was true and I was obedient and followed the gospel because it blessed my life and because I always had and nothing bad ever came of it. I only saw good results. However, at the MTC, I was taught to find out for myself if the things I had been taught all of my life were true. Now I can say that I certainly know that this is Christ's gospel. The other day, Goodwin 자매님 instructed us to study the Articles of Faith and contemplate why we believe each one is true. After reading, studying, and praying about this, I know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God and that I truly believe and support the 13 Articles of Faith. These are some of the best places to go to find out what the LDS church is all about. Another really amazing experience happened at our last Tuesday devotional. The entire devotional was themed around Joseph Smith's First Vision and testimony. For the closing song we sang "Joseph Smith's First Prayer" and as I sang those lyrics I've heard about 100 times, I actually listened to what they were saying and asked God, "Do I actually believe this? And if I don't, Heavenly Father, please help me to know if this is the truth." At that moment I felt God's power as the Holy Ghost testified to my mind and my heart (D&C 8:2-3) that Joseph Smith truly was and is God's prophet. What a special experience!

I am so ready to go to Korea. I am so ready to share my testimony of my Savior, Jesus Christ, and hopefully bring some sunshine in to people's lives. I may not be anywhere near to perfect when it comes to speaking Korean, teaching, or sharing the gospel, but I will open my mouth and I will do my best to love everyone I meet.

Okay, now the fun stuff! The 4th of July was so much fun! Our entire branch wore red, white, and blue and we listened to 'Merica music during studies. That night, we had a devotional and afterward we got to go outside and watch the Stadium of Fire fireworks from the parking lot. Some of the sisters had glow sticks and poppers. It felt like the 4th of July scene from The Sandlot. I am going to miss my home country a lot. I guess I didn't realize it until it hit me that this would be my last 4th of July celebration for quite a while. 

Grammy Johns would be so proud of me. During the devotional we didn't sing any patriotic songs because they wanted to focus on Jesus Christ and make sure that all of the international missionaries felt comfortable and at home at the MTC. I thought that was really cool, but I was so sad because we didn't get to sing the National Anthem on the 4th of July. The Southerner in me wasn't going to let that slide. You know that scene in Elf when Zooey Deschanel get up and starts singing "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" and everyone joins in. I attempted to do that same thing. I really hate to be that person and it makes me cringe how missionaries sing like the MoTab wherever they go, but it was my last Independence Day for a while, so I just went for it. It was pretty cool, but I felt so goofy. Oh well.

It was so much fun to stay out a little later than usual, but it bit us all in the butt on Sunday, We were all so sleepy. I fell asleep in the Sunday devotional! But it was easy to fall asleep because the speaker was Jenny Oaks-Baker and she and her family played all of these beautiful songs. There was no way I was staying awake during that!

Well, I think that's all I have for this week! I can't believe the time has come for me to leave. Actually, I can because I feel like I've been at the MTC for ages. But it's okay because I was here for this long for a reason. Sometimes God doesn't make any sense until you look back later and think "how the heck did I miss that?!" He always knows what's best.

It was so great to hear from so many people this week! Sorry I have been bad about writing back lately. I have just been so busy trying to prepare to leave. I promise I will do my best to be better about responding to mail.

사랑합니다!!!

"I you love"

Johns 자매 

We got to clean the temple last P-Day and we had to wear dresses, but they also wanted us to wear tennis shoes. It was a rockin look. Cleaning the temple was so cool. While the Elders were scrubbing lockers with a toothbrush, we got to clean all of the crystal on the sconces and chandeliers in the Sealing Rooms. SO cool. All of us Sisters talked about weddings and rings and dreses and songs and silly girly things like that. But how can you not when you're at the temple?! After we were done, the temple workers took us all down into the bride's room and we all turned into squealy 12-year-olds for a second. We sang "Matchmaker" from Fiddler on the Roof (so dorky) and I pretended to be a bride and danced around with the silk flowers from the vanity and a Kleenex veil. Pretty sure I've gone crazy.

Matching on the 4th 

We're pals

"Happy Birthday America"

More American than Apple Pie

 Lady Liberty: complete with a bun full of glow sticks

The whole district

The whole zone

My two blondes

The One Where Sister Johns Got Over Herself

Okay, so I have nothing to exciting to write about this week. All I can say is I ONLY HAVE 11 DAYS LEFT IN THIS PLACE!!! Hooray!!! Korea, here I come!

In all actuality, the last twoish weeks have been pretty awful. But what I didn't realize until now is that I was the only one making them awful. The thing about the MTC is that your life, schedule, etc. are the exact same thing day after day, so the only thing different about now and when I first got here is my attitude. And the last few weeks I had a terrible attitude. I was sick of unhealthy cafeteria food, sick of not having enough time to work out, sick of waking up early, sick of being stuck with the same people constantly, sick of being in Provo and missing my friends, and sick of myslef to be honest. On Sunday, the Sacrement/Releif Society/etc. theme was Enduring to the End. President and Sister Perriton gave the most amazing talks and it was just what I needed. I really love how direct President Perriton is. He just says it like it is without sugar coating anything. I really love people like that. I also got released as STL. Thank goodness! Haha. Usually MTC STLs get released a few days before they leave, but I got realeased like 2 weeks early. I'm pretty sure it is because I was the worst STL that ever existed. Oops. But I tried my best and gave it my all (which pretty much sucked half of my soul out of me) so that's all that matters. Some people (like me) just suck at being leaders, but that's okay. The Lord only requires us to be His followers. Everything else is just an extra opportunity to learn and grow. And if all I am is an obedient regular old missionary who gets the job done and loves the people, I'm perfectly happy with that. Plus, I don't have to go to a thousand meetings on Sundays! Yay!! We also had the most amazing devotional on Sunday night. The speaker was Brother Steven B. Allen. He spoke to us on my first or second week here and at the time he delivered a message that was exactly what I (and every other newbie missionary) needed to hear. On Sunday, he have a talk on Enduring to the End that was exactly what I (and every other burned out missionary) needed to hear. It was really wonderful. After Sunday, I decided that I needed to make a serious attitude adjustment. I decided to make 후회없이 (no regrets) my mantra for the next little bit and possibly for the rest of my mission. I made it a point to be more focused and postive and to not let any goals slip by unaccomplished. I have been much happier since.

We get our travel plans on Friday! I can't wait to have my ticket to Korea in my hands. I am so ready. Even if I speak zero 한국말 and understand even less, I am just ready for the coach to throw me in the water and let me learn how to swim. I am so ready for a new setting, challenge, and growing experience.

A fun little tidbit from this week:
The other night there was a thunderstorm, and we were all sick of being inside all day. Lucky for me, the sisters in my district also love the rain and we all went outside in our PJ's and danced in the rain. It was super fun and really great to cut loose for a second. It's so easy to get uptight here when in actuality the MTC is really just a big playground where we learn how to be real missionaries. The best advice I could give to anyone is to not take the MTC too serisouly. It will lead you to compare yourself to others and that will drive you crazy. The MTC is a playground. I can't emphasize that enough. Enjoy that before you go into the real world and you are accountable for yourself, your companion, and other people's eternal salvation!

And that's all I have to say about that.

I love y'all so much!

Bises,

사랑합니다!!
"I you love!!"

Johns 자매

Picture with our mission president in training! He and his wife were the coolest humans! They started the church in Benin in their apartment! Now there is a whole mission there! We learned so much from them!

Crazy kids