Hello from Coomi!
This week was insane and possibly one of the longest weeks of my mission!! It all started with transfer calls last week when I got called to be a trainer. Since we don't have transfer meetings anymore we can't all just camp out in Pusan until the trainees get there and we have to go back and forth between areas. It was way fun because Sister Clove and I are in the same zone so we were able to be temporary companions throughout the whole training ordeal.
I met Sister Clove at Daegu Station on Monday and then we headed back to Coomi and cleaned my apartment and shopped and got everything ready for a trainee to come...it seriously felt like I was baby-proofing the house or something. We were both so nervous that neither of us slept the entire night and we had to get up at 5:30 to take the train to Pusan, which is a little over 2 hours away from Coomi. We were so beat, but we were both so stressed that we couldn't sleep on the train. And when we got off of the train and went to get on the subway, it stared POURING buckets of rain. There was a huge typhoon, and, I kid you not, the second we stepped out into the open both of our umbrellas were completely annihilated by the wind and rain. And there was not an open taxi in site, so we just booked it to the mission home in the dumping rain. By the time we got there we both had string cheese man hair and we smelled like wet dogs. Sister George (the sister in the senior couple at the office) felt so sad for us and made us sit in front of the heater to dry off.
And that is only where the fiasco begins! President Barrow was sending the returning missionaries off to Seoul, but they missed their KTX because of traffic so poor President ended up being super late to the meeting. While we were waiting we had a really great discussion about becoming a good leader and about how to be a good trainer with all of the other trainers. It was really cool! Then President Barrow came, we ate lunch, which I can't even remember eating to be honest because I was so tired. But apparently I was making dumb jokes the entire time due to lack of sleep. #humiliation #stressprobs #onlysisterjohns. But Sister Clove said that she would still be my friend anyway. Thank goodness! Haha. But we had an awesome training meeting, then we headed back to Songin (Sister Clove's area). She was whitewash training in and the sisters who were there before weren't expecting to be whitewashed out so they left the house a total mess and there was no food. So we rushed to the store (but we didn't know where anything was because neither of us had served there before) and finding it was a hassle and a half. We grabbed groceries and cleaning supplies and then got to work. We scrubbed that house from top to bottom and it took hours! It was kind of nice though because it just felt so good to do that service for Sister Clove and her trainee. Especially since Sister Clove said she'd still be my friend even if I make stupid jokes when I'm tired. Hehe. We stayed up until like 2 a.m. cleaning (oops) and it was really fun to be companions again and really helpful because we were able to talk to each other a lot about not stressing. We also joked around like idiots like we used to in Pohang. It was so much fun.
We finally went to bed, but we had to be up to get on a train to Pusan at 4:30am, so basically we pulled an all-nighter. (Kids, don't ever do that as a missionary. It is a horrible idea!) We got to the mission home and we were both a discombobulated, sleep-deprived mess. I'm sure it was really funny for the other missionaries there...
We did the Jundo activity where each of the trainers jundo with each of the trainees and it was really fun, but I felt so inadequate because all of the other trainers are so great...and then there's me. Haha. #바보 Anyway, I was so exhausted and I almost melted down on the mission home couch. But that's another story for another day...But on the up side of things, we had the most delicious food for lunch!
Then we got assigned our trainees! They play all sorts of tricks on the trainers when they are assigning the trainees and I'll just say that there is a really embarrassing video of me and Sister Clove blindfolding each other and we're both so nervous about who our trainees will be that we both look like we're going to poop our pants. That will probably be shown at mission Christmas parties for the rest of forever for other missionaries to laugh at. But that is also another story for another day.
I really wanted to train a Korean because I love Koreans sooo much, but I got assigned to train Sister Workman, and I couldn't be happier!!! She is the best! She is so cute and so strong and so willing to work and to learn! I am so blessed! But honestly, all of the trainees this transfer are great!
We had a great week this week and saw some miracles at church on Sunday! I prayed so hard to be able to find investigators because I haven't had an investigator in almost two transfers now even though we jundo and work like maniacs!! I was going insane and I wanted Sister Workman to have a great training experience, so I prayed that we would have some people to teach. And out of nowhere a new non-member family came strolling in through the front door of church on Sunday! Yay!
There was only one problem. The mom had literally never even heard about God before and in gospel principles class our teacher didn't show up, but I'm the oldest missionary in the area and therefore the best at Korean so I had to teach the entire lesson with no prep. And our recent converts love deep doctrine and asking deep questions, so it turned into this insane discussion that I could barely follow. Lucky the bishop got some divine revelation to send a member in to help out and he got everything under control. Why is it the days that new people come that people decide to have debates about the essence of God?? Haha. I guess the church is the same wherever you go and there's always that one old lady who loves family history and that one guy who sits in the back and likes to go on deep doctrine tangents...
So the moral of the story is pray for this new family!! The girls went on foreign exchange to Sandy, Utah and they really love going to church. They are so cute!!
This is all just one big adventure and I am so terrified for it to be over, but the end is getting closer and closer and it freaks me out so bad!! This week I hit my 1 year mark and my 10 months in Korea mark! It's unreal! I am having an existential crisis for realsies! Skyping this morning was an identity crisis and a half! But it will all work out or something like that!
See y'all in 6 fast Sundays!
사랑해요!!
"I you love"
Sister Johns
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