Hello from Pohang! Boy am I tired?! I probably worked harder this week that I ever have in my whole entire mission! Probably because I just realized that I ONLY HAVE 6 TRANSFERS LEFT! WHAT?! Time has gone by so fast!! And also, we don't have a single investigator in Pohang at the moment. Also, the reason why I am so exhausted is because pretty much every day this week from the time we left the house after language study until planning at night we were out on the streets talking to anyone and everyone. It was a holiday this week so it was impossible to make appointments...so we just jundoed and jundoed and jundoed. My feet hurt so bad from walking so much (and have I mentioned that my shoes have holes in them?). We still haven't found a single person who is interested in our message, but we'll find them soon. I lived through this as a trainee and I can do it again. I know there are people in Pohang who will listen, I just have to search high and low for them. The only problem is that this area is the second biggest in the mission, so I think it's going to take a lot of work and a lot of creativity to track down prepared people. But for some reason I have a feeling that this week we are going to find some of them.
I learned a lot of really great, really important lessons this week!
Being senior companion is rough not matter where you are or who you are, but it is especially hard in a huge, overwhelming area like Pohang. But it has made me rely on Heavenly Father and Christ's enabling power so much more and I have been seeing the little miracles and hint of God's hand in my life like never before. I hate to say that I needed to be compelled to be humble even as a missionary, but this new responsibility humbled me like dirt and made me realize that I was really taking God and all that He can do for granted.
The first experience happened on Tuesday. I had taken so much time on Monday night to map everything out for the next day, looked at the bus routes and schedule, find the stops for where we needed to be going, choose less active members to find and visit, etc. But we got on a bus on the next day and even though I had tried my hardest to organize everything, the bus number that was in the area book was wrong and we ended up at the end of the bus line at a shack of a bus stop in the middle of nowhere, about 30 minutes from the place we had planned to be. I felt so stupid and inadequate and like my poor companion couldn't trust me because her senior companion was such a dummy. So we waited forever for a bus that would take us back into town when I realized that I had forgotten the paper with the address we needed on my desk at home. I just wanted to cry and bang my head on the wall for being so stupid and disorganized. But my companion was so patient and when we were on the bus I just prayed and prayed that I would be able to figure everything out when I opened my bag one more time to see if I could find the address. I reached down and the first thing my fingers touched was that little slip of paper. And I had dumped out my bag three times at that little bus stop in the middle of nowhere just hoping to find that paper. Sure it was probably in there before, but I know that God helped me have clarity of mind to find what I needed and get where I needed to be going.
On Wednesday, we jundoed all day and we were exhausted. I had worked so hard all day and seen absolutely no success. When I wanted to crash I realized that I had forgotten about my English class message and I said a little prayer because it wasn't my intention to forget, I was just so busy with everything going on and forgot. I just said a little prayer in my heart and then felt that I needed to teach about the Plan of Salvation. And the spirit was so strong and my Korean came out so smooth it was so cool.
We also have a girl in our ward who is preparing to go on an mission and we have been meeting with her to prepare her to go. She is the cutest and I love her so much! We took her jundoing with us this week and she was so scared! It was so much fun to help her out and encourage her. I realized how much I really miss serving with Koreans!! I really hope my next companion is Korean! I just wish she could come to Pohang instead of Seoul! I would be so down to train if she was my trainee! Haha. It was just so humbling to realize how far I have come since I was also a trainee!
Anyway, I am out of time. But I love ya'll so much! Moral of the story: don't take God's hand for granted! Pray to Him! Tell Him how you're doing and He'll help you out! He'll send you great people, miracles, and even cute little Korean friends to help you survive it all!
사랑해요!
I you love!
Sister Johns
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