The One Where She Learned What Missionary Work is All About

Hello friends and family!

There is so much to write always and never enough time!

This week was a fun one with lots of ups and downs, but I learned so much from the people around me including members, less-active members, random people on the street, and my fellow missionaries. Gosh! So much to share! Where to begin??

I'll start with funny story. Here in 진해 the ward members are really awesome and they love to feed the missionaries. So last Sunday, this sweet lady in the ward offered to feed us lunch on Tuesday. Just a few minutes later, the bishop's wife told us that the young women in the ward need some strengthening, so later that night we texted them and asked them if they would want to get some lunch with us at some point during the week. The girls responded that they were busy with school and Tuesday at lunch was the only time that would work. See the dilemma. We couldn't cancel, so we had to eat two lunches...yikes! We were praying that the YW would maybe just want ice cream or something small, but of course they wanted Chicken. And you don't know chicken until you've had chicken in Korea. I don't even know how to describe it...just think Panda Express on steroids. It was a real 사면 초가! Sister Kim Yeji and I just laughed and started joking that our lunch appointment with the members would be chicken and then we'd have to go eat chicken with the YW right after and that we'd eat so much chicken that we'd start throwing up chickens or eat so much chicken that we'd turn into chickens. And guess what? Heavenly Father has a real sense of humor because we had chicken (but it was homemade...thank goodness!) with the members and then we had to go eat chicken again. And somehow we managed to survive! Both appointments were really great and we had a really good discussion/lesson with the YW about being missionaries. On Sunday they both shared their testimonies about how they did missionary work this week. I was so proud! It was worth is to eat all that chicken...and did I mention that I hate meat? ;)

The next day was district meeting. It was soo good and I really learned what being a missionary is all about. We have a stake-wide English camp coming up and we have been working really hard to prepare for it and to improve our weekly English classes. We talked a lot about this and the Elders shared a really great story about English class and why we do it that applied to missionary work in general. So, a few transfers ago in one of the other zones, one of the areas had an English class that a TON of members attended, but there were little to no non-members/investigators there. The bishop of this ward really wanted to shut English class down because he felt that it was ineffective for missionary work. The missionaries didn't know what to do, so they called President Barrow (the mission president). President Barrow's response was really awesome. He said, "The sole purpose of English class is to serve others, not to teach the gospel." I really needed to hear that because I have felt like everything I do has been ineffective because we don't have any investigators to teach. But I realized that what everyone out there says really is true: missionary work is not about statistics, numbers, or quotas. It is about service and love. Every time I stop and talk with an old lady or help someone carry their groceries or teach English, etc. and the person doesn't want to hear about the gospel, I am not failing. I am giving a little bit of myself to that person, as Jesus did. When I do that I am being a disciple and representative of Jesus Christ: the definition of a missionary. If I never have high stats on my mission, if I never see a baptism, if I never have an investigator, but I have been working hard, serving everyone, talking to people, being obedient, and doing the very best I can I will not have failed as a missionary. I will have succeeded because I will have tried my best to be like Christ who was rejected over and over again. But I have faith that I will see miracles, I will find people who need the love and happiness of Christ's gospel and that I will get to be the person that brings the gospel to them. And I firmly believe that these people do exist in 진해 even if it seems like there is no one here who wants to hear our message. I just have to keep working hard and never give up because I love those people who I haven't met yet and they need this gospel, so I will try my best to ignore the miserable heat and humidity, my aching feet, my inability to speak Korean, the 5ish pounds I've gained, and all of the other things that drive me nuts and make me want to quit going. I am here to serve, so that's what I'll do. Missionary work is hard and I've never been more physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually exhausted or drained in my entire life, but I have also never been happier. I am not going to lie. Waking up every day and realizing that I have to keep going and not stop for 16 more months is so hard, but I have never been happier so it is so worth it. Missions are so worth it. Loving other people is so worth it.

After District Meeting, we went to McDonald's and I think for the first time in my adult life I actually ate a full McDonald's meal! There's a first time for everything! I am so proud of me! Basically, if you are a health nut or a germaphobe, never go on a mission, especially to Korea! As a missionary you are constantly having to eat tons of food...even food you don't want to eat! You just can't be picky! And in Korea everyone shares everything. All food is family style and you just dig in and double dip and it doesn't even matter. I love it! There's this Korean saying we learned at the MTC "even one bean should be split amongst friends." And it is so true here! Korea is the best!

On Friday, we met with a recent convert who was baptized and then never came to church again after. She is 16 and she really has no idea why she was baptized. We are working really hard to teach her and make her know that she is loved and welcomed always. I really love her! We also taught English to this really beautiful and kind lady who the missionaries have been teaching English to, but she has no interest in the gospel. According to 김 예지 자매님, she usually really dislikes the missionaries, but she really liked me and that was really surprising. I really loved her a lot. I couldn't imagine her every being a hard English student, even though she has been really difficult in the past. I think it is because I am really bad at Korean so she can relate when we are working on English. Even though she doesn't have a lot of interest in our lesson, I love serving her and I am so glad she didn't drop us this week like we thought she might. We also visited an old lady in the ward who is really lonely. She is SO funny. I just love her! She made us this really sick-nasty tomato juice stuff and told us stories about how when she was young, a British man tried to get her to marry him and how he offered her a huge diamond ring, but she said no. Haha. She also went on forever about how she loved foreign men. Lol. That was so funny!

I had to do math this week! Yes, I said math! Ick! Before one of our appointments, we got a call from a less active member who works at an English academy. She needed me to come translate and solve English math problems for her so she could be sure she was teaching her students the right thing. I just about died! It was super basic algebra, but I haven't done algebra since like 10th grade so I just couldn't get my brain to work! But somehow by the grace of God, I did it!

Well, that's all I have time for this week!!

사랑해요!

"I you love!"

Johns 자매

Our cute YW!