Hello everyone! I have so much to say and so little time because I am getting transferred to 포항!!! Ahhhhh! What?! I will be serving there with Sister Morrison, the only other ginger in the mission. How perfect is that?! And she is my first American companion (and my first companion who can speak English!! Yay!) It is sooo sad to leave 진해 but I am excited for the change!
Also can you believe I have been a missionary for 6 months and I only have 1 year left?? Well, I sure can't! This missionary work goes by soo slow and sooooo fast at the same time. I can't even describe it!
Well, this week was insane. I'm sure you're all wondering what these "bathroom problems" are, so I guess I should probably explain. This week our bathroom just decided to break down. On Tuesday our shower was flooding and the shower head stopped working, so despite the fact that I swore to myself that I would never put myself through the trauma of going to the public bath ever again, we got permission from the APs to go until our landlord could fix the shower head. And I know that God lives because the public bath was closed this week (yay!), so we showered out of a bucket. It was actually kind of ironic that that happened because when my Stake President interviewed me before I submitted my mission papers he asked me all of these funny questions about learning a new language and eating weird food and living in a new culture. Then we looked me in the eye and asked "Sister Johns, could you shower out of a bucket?" And I said I could if the Lord needed me to. And that's what I did this week. I showered with freezing cold water out of a big bucket/bowl thingie we use for cooking. Haaha. God sure does have a sense of humor. But I did it! And it really wasn't so bad!
So after they fixed our shower and exactly two days later, our toilet would.not.flush. (Just so y'all know, nobody made any huge number 2 or anything. It just randomly stopped working) So we tried EVERYTHING. I plunged so hard that our plunger broke in half. And, yes, prior to doing that, I pulled the toilet chain like a reasonable human and nothing happened. We both really needed a bathroom because, you know, we're human, so we decided we needed to call someone for help. So we called the landlord, but because we have incredibly bad luck, he just happened to be in Seoul for the rest of the week. We were too mortified to call the Elders about our hopelessly clogged toilet, so we called the STLs who couldn't help us. So we had two options: swallow our pride and call the Office Elders or call Sister Barrow. So, thinking it would be the less embarrassing way out, we called Sister Barrow. But she couldn't help us, so she put PRESIDENT BARROW on the phone. So, there I was sitting on my floor, covered in toilet water and clinging desperately to what was left of my dignity as I explained to my mission president our toilet problems. Since he is in Pusan and can't just come right over and fix our toilet, he sent us back to square one: call the Elders. So I called them and they came and fixed my toilet (which was SO weird because there were Elders in our house...ew!!!). And that is the sad story of how Sister Johns lost her dignity.
Anyway...
Other than the bathroom problems and the tragic death of my spirit. This week was great. We got to meet with all of our investigators one more time and they are all doing really well. I love them all to death and it was so sad and so hard to leave them. We were all heartbroken when we had to say bye. Espeicially when I said bye to Hong Yeji! That was probably the hardest. I just love her to death. Before I left, we went to this super cool Korean tea house and book cafe and we taught her about the Book of Mormon and we talked about why we decided to become missionaries. Hong Yeji is super into her church, so I don't see her joining any time soon, but that is okay. I explained to her how happy this religion had made me. I told her about the time when I didn't believe in God and thought I was so stylish because I lived an existential mindset and how when I finally knew that God really does exist and speak to us through prophets and through personal revelation I was so much happier and finally felt at peace with my life. I shared my testimony and told her that I am not our to tear other religions down because they are also beautiful and they bring others to Christ. We also talked about how we aren't trying to convert people who don't want to be converted. We just want to share the spirit with others and little bits of this gospel that has blessed our lives so much. I told her that the gospel was like a super delicious blueberry smoothie that I wanted to share with everyone I meet. We talked about our missionary purpose and how through our visits I just want to help her come closer to Christ. Hong Yeji and I are going to write each other letters for the rest of my mission and I told her that I would share little messages with her to brighten week. I am so glad that I got to meet Hong Yeji and that through email and letters I will get to teach her for the rest of my mission.
Yesterday I gave my bye-bye talk at church and the spirit was so strong. I just feel so much love for the members of the Jinhae ward! Somehow, by a miracle, I was able to speak decent Korean for most of the talk. But then I saw all of the people I love crying (even the young men! It was so cute!) and I started to cry. After sacrament meeting I was just swarmed by hugs and love and plates and plates of rice. I really don't want to leave Jinhae, but I know I have to go. And Sister Markus from my MTC district is coming to replace me so it will all be okay! Jinhae is in great hands!
This missionary work is so hard, but so great. I am learning so much about love and patience and selflessness. But I still have so far to go!
사랑해요!!
I you love!
Sister Johns
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Lol apparently Dad has a sketchy bar in Jinhae that we found during jundo
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Love them!
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