Hello everyone! Can you believe I have been living in Korea for a whole transfer after this week? How crazy is that! Time flies when you're serving a mission!
This week was a fun one, packed with adventures and embarrassing moments. And I am becoming more Korean every day. My companion jokes that my hair is gradually turning black every day. Haha. She is so fun and funny. We laugh and joke so much and I don't even know how because I can't speak Korean and she can't speak English. But we have so much fun. I am so blessed to have such a wonderful trainer.
Okay, so I'll start with last P-Day. We went shopping in 마산 and I got a ukulele! Yay! After P-Day was over, the former bishop (and one of my favorite people in the world), 박경섭 (Pak Kyoung Sop), took us and the Elders to a fancy Chinese restaurant. Bishop is the nicest. He treats us missionaries like we're his kids because his family has been in Provo learning English for the last two years, so he has been all by himself. It's so sad! And he just got released as bishop too, so we love to visit him and make sure he's not too lonely. The restaurant we ate at was so good! And let me just tell you something. Korean Chinese food and American Chinese food are two completely different things. So yummy!!! I can't even begin to tell you! And I ate a shrimp with it's head on! EW! Hehe. I am pretty much convinced I could eat anything these days and not die. Bring on Fear Factor. I could kick butt on that show! After dinner, we went down to the pier and there are all of these cute families camping out together and cooking food while they fished. It was pretty magical. They use starfish as bait to catch this special type of fish that is really delicious. And the starfish are coated in this stuff so they glow when you throw them in the water. We hung out at the pier and shared a message and threw glowing starfish in the ocean. It was a pretty unforgettable night. Korea is the best. I love this place more and more every day.
On Tuesday, we did service at the hospital. We stuffed envelopes with newsletters and shared funny stories. It was super humid. We were dying. Later that day, we taught our investigator, the really cute grandma. It went really well, but she was just having a really hard time connecting the Bible and the Book of Mormon. We just kept telling her over and over that they are equally as important as each other and that God expects us to study both equally because they support each other. But she invited us back and said she wanted to meet twice a week.
Random fun story: There is this super spicy ramen here in Korea that is allegedly so spicy that it is illegal in America. Every missionary who eats it poops their pants and cries because it is so spicy, but you have to eat it at least once during your mission. I kept telling Sister Kim Yeji that I wanted to try and she said I could because I am really good at eating spicy Korean food. In fact, I love it. So we bought the ramen even though the Elders kept telling me not to eat it because if I did I would die. So we ate it. And I LOVED it. It is SO good. And yes, it made my nose run and my eyes water, but I was totally fine. It was even less spicy to me than it was to my Korean companion. She was super shocked. She's going to take me to try Korea's spiciest 떡볶이 (my favorite Korean food...it's just the yummiest spicy red pepper paste soup with Korean rice cake in it...holy yum!). I am so excited!
Another funny story: A few weeks ago we were sticker-boarding for English class at the pier when this random lady came up and said that she and her husband were friends with the missionaries years ago and that they wanted to feed us dinner. So we got their number and contacted them. We set up an appointment to stop by, but it was her husband's number. We called like three times to confirm that his wife would be there and he said she would be. But I just had a feeling we should bring the Elders with us. It just kept nagging at me. But they were busy doing Zone Leader stuff and they had a lesson, so we didn't want to call them and interrupt. Plus, this guy said his wife would be there. So we knocked on the door and started to walk in, but Kim Yeji got a bad feeling and we both immediately knew that we needed to ask where his wife was. He said she was exercising and that she wouldn't be home for a while. We politely explained that we couldn't come in because of safety rules and he got super mad. We said that we could come back later or we could call our friends, the Elders, to come but he said that his house was "too small" for four missionaries. It was way creepy. So we just left as quickly as we could. And made sure that Sisters didn't try to contact him again. But now Sister Kim Yeji and I have a funny joke about the creepy grandpa randomly showing up everywhere and scaring us. When something like this happens, you just have to make something funny out of it. And we learned to follow the spirit, no matter what the circumstance is. And we also are so thankful for the missionaries rules and we want to keep being 100% obedient. Obedience is the key to happiness!
This week we had a conference for all of the Sisters at the mission home in Pusan! SO fun! We had an awesome meeting and were fed spiritually...but also literally because we all cooked a huge Korean lunch together and learned some new recipes! It was so fun! Then that night we taught the cute grandma again, but it didn't go very well. She is really set in her ways. I really don't blame her though. She is a grandma and they tend to be that way. And we are just happy that she goes to a church, loves the Bible, and loves God. We tried to explain that to her. We tried to explain to her that we only want to teach people that want to be taught and that we are not out to destroy other churches. We respect other religions and if she doesn't want us to meet with her we won't. But she keeps inviting us back and insisting we meet her preacher. It's weird. Lessons with her are rough. Like all old Korean ladies, they just talk and talk and talk and don't stop. She talked for 30 minutes straight. I almost fell asleep because I couldn't understand a word she was saying. My head hurt so bad. She just kept saying that the Bible was important and that we needed to read it more. Finally, I had had enough. The spirit wasn't there and my head was spinning and our mission scripture, 3 Nephi 5:13 just kept repeating in my head. She stopped talking for about three seconds and I could finally say something. We were teaching about repentance and faith and I had her turn to the story in the New Testament about Paul's conversion. Then we read about Alma the Younger's conversion in the Book of Mormon and we talked about repentance and conversion. I felt like I needed to tell her why I was on a mission. So I did. I shared with her 2 Timothy 1:7, 11. I told her that I am not out to destory other churchs, but I am also not in Korea to Bible bash with her preacher. I told her that I am in Korea to represent Christ as Paul did. I am still an imperfect kid. I miss my home. I miss my family. I don't understand what people are saying, I have to eat weird food, I don't ever have any time for myself. But I am a representative of Christ, so none of that matters. I told her that the entire reason why I am struggling through all of this here in Korea is because I love Jesus. Kim Yeji also shared her testimony and the spirit was finally back. We are going to meet again on Tuesday, but I think her preacher will be there. I am a little scared because I really don't want to Bible bash. That is against everything missionaries do. Ugh. But it will all work out.
Finally, last but definitely not least, we had a miracle this week! Remember the less-active sister we met with my second week here. The one with the son taking all of the big tests? She was at church on Sunday with her two kids! They loved it and the Young Women really welcomed her daughter. I was so happy! Keep praying for them!
Okay, well that's all I currently have time for!
I love y'all! Have a great week!
사랑해요!!!
I you love!
Sister Johns
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