Kenzie+Korea: The One with the Stinky Kimbab

Hello friends and fam!

Once again, there's a ton to write this week and not a lot of time, but I will do my best to fill you in on all of the details.

This week we...

Found an investigator!

Went on exchanges for the first time

Ate the most delicious thing I've had in Korea so far

Had my first Zone Conference

Met an amazing less-active sister

...and almost died from the stench of rotten week-old kimbab. But more about that later.

Let's start with our new investigator. Last week, Sister Kim Yeji and I were on our way to get some Baskin Robbins in honor of it being the 31st when we started talking to this sweet old lady. We sat with her on a bench for a good 25 minutes and talked about the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith and about how God and Jesus love us. She was really interested and seemed to already know a lot about the Book of Mormon. We set up an appointment to meet again on Tuesday. So Tuesday came along, but we had to go on exchanges with the STL's so Sister Kim Yeji had to go to 마산 for the day and I was with Sister Steward, one of the STLs who served in Jinhe with Sister Kim Yeji before I came. Luckily, her Korean is really great, so I wasn't worried about the lesson. We taught about The Book of Mormon and she said she had read the whole thing (still not sure about that...haha) and she seemed to know a lot. That was good. We taught her about the Restoration and she really seemed to like it, but then all of the sudden she just started talking and talking and didn't stop for like an hour. And there was no graceful way to leave. Korean grandmas are kind of like that. Once they start talking, they don't stop. Haha. She just kept going on and on and on about John the Revelator and Joseph Smith and a bunch of stuff that I couldn't understand. Haha. And at the end of the lesson she invited us back, but she wants a guy from her church to come too, so we're a little nervous that a Bible bash might go down. We are bringing one of the YSA members with us on Tuesday because we are a little scared. Haha. But other than that, we are excited because she really seemed to relate to our message.

Okay, now I must let you all know that if you are ever in Korea, you MUST and I mean MUST try 빙수. I don't even know what it is, but it is so good. It's like frozen ice milk (like heaven snow in your mouth) that is topped with different delicious things like redbean paste or choco powder...or my favorite yummy soybean powder and almonds. You put this yummy milk cream on it and pretty much just die of yummy happiness. We had it for dessert-dinner after we unexchanged and we have eaten it three more times since. Whoever said you couldn't get fat in Korea had no idea what they were talking about and has probably never been to Korea before!

On Friday we had Zone Conference. It was amazing! This transfer, our mission is reading the entire Book of Mormon together before the end of the transfer. The entire conference was about the Book of Mormon, it's amazing power, testimony of Jesus Christ, and importance to missionary work. I know that the Book of Mormon is God's word. Go read it. Now. I have learned so much and received so many blessings from reading it every day. We have to read about 4-6 chapters a day to finish in time and at first, that was really hard and boring (not going to lie! Haha), but now I can't get enough. Lately, I have been getting at least a day ahead every day! To all of you at home: It is summer and I know you have time on your hands. Go get a cheap copy of the Book of Mormon and underline: 1. Any reference to Christ or any of his names 2. Any Christ-like attributes (as listed in Preach My Gospel) you see in Christ or other people in the BOM 3. Any time the Lord speaks. That's what we have been doing and it has been amazing! My testimony of the Book of Mormon has been strengthened so much and I cannot deny that it is true. I have recognized God's hand in my life so much more since I started reading it and it has brought me closer to Christ in every way. So go read your scriptures!! You won't regret it! ;)

Last P-day we met up with the 마산 (Masan) missionaries and went out to eat. During lunch, this lady came to our table suddenly and said that she is a less-active member of the church and that she is really grateful for the sacrifices missionaries make and she paid for all of our food. Sister Kim Yeji and I got her number and set up a time to come by and visit so we could thank her. We met on Thursday and it was such a great experience. This sister served a mission on Temple Square and went to BYU so she speaks perfect English. She lives in the nicest house! It is two stories! She fed us pizza and we talked about her family and about how she loves art. She has a really pretty Klimt print on her wall and she really loves that I am an art history major. We talked about art for like forever. It was so nice! After chatting for a while and playing with her adorable baby, we shared a message about the Book of Mormon. The spirit was so strong. She told us she wasn't ready to come back to church, but she would really appreciate it if we could visit her whenever we have time. We are going to go back next week. I think the key with less-active members is love. Well, the key with everyone is love. We will just continue to pray for her, give her love, and pray to know how we can help strengthen her.

Okay, now the moment you've all been waiting for. The incident that will go down in history as the stinky kimbab nightmare. So, all week when we would come to the church to do various activities, like teaching lessons, English class, etc. Sister Kim Yeji and I kept noticing this weird smell upstairs. We thought it was the trash or something and that it would go away when the Elders took the trash out...but it didn't. Oh, it did not. It stayed and it lingered. And on Saturday it got about 10000000 times worse. On Saturday, we came to the church to prep for English class and we went upstairs to use the copying machine when the most ungodly stench punched us in our noses. Clean words can't even describe the smell. It smelled like straight up EWWW!!!! #%()U#_% We were dying. So we started looking for the culprit. We thought maybe one of the Primary/Nursery-aged kids pooped in a corner or something...or that some sort of animal died. After about 10 minutes of hunting, we found a roll of week-old kimbab baking in the heat of the windowsill. We don't know who left it there, but they need to repent because they almost killed two innocent sister missionaries with that smell. The kimbab was so gross! I was the only one brave enough to touch it, so I had to clean it up. It was oozing with week-old kimchi, tuna, ham, veggies, and sauce. Somehow by God's grace, we survived it and got rid of the smell before class started...miracles happen. Moral of the story: always refrigerate your kimbab, otherwise someone might die.

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

I hope everyone has a wonderful week. I would love to hear from all of y'all! Just send letters to the mission home. They pass them out at Zone Conference/transfers. Or just email me. Whatever is easiest for you. And I'll do my best to respond, but I can't make any promises. There is hardly any time for anything--especially writing letters--in missionary life. But that aside, I love you all even if I don't have time to respond to every email/letter. Just know that I love you and pray for y'all. And I mean that. It takes me about 35 years to finish my prayers at night and in the morning because I mean it when I say I'll pray for you! ;)

사랑합니다!!!

"I you love"

Johns 자매

The sweet YW president in the ward takes such good care of us! During ward council she noticed that I was a little sunburned so she bought us these cute parasols that everyone in Korea has. We had a few minutes before an appointment so we went by the ocean to look at the cool fishy boat and took some glamour shots. Lol. The only catch is that I'm a sweaty Sister Missionary, so there is no glamour here!