The One Where She Ate Dog

Yes. It happened. Everyone who serves in Korea has to do it and I did it. I ate everyone's favorite furry friend. I know you're all judging me so hard right now, but you only Korea once, my friends, even if you are a vegetarian. But before I say anything more about that I have to write about all of the fun adventures that happened this week. 

On Tuesday, we cleaned the church and a member took us out to eat Sahmgey tang, which is basically just an entire chicken steamed in a big bowl of soup. It was surprisingly super yummy! Friday was Zone Conference and everyone in Daegu Zone went down to Pusan and we went on a hike in the mountains and learned about Lehi's Dream and how we can be better at inviting everyone to taste the fruit of the tree (Christ's gospel/the Atonement). It was so fun and there were a bunch of stops along the way where we listened to talks by President Barrow and some of the other missionaries. At the top of the mountain, we took pictures and ate Korean Pear, which is pretty much as close to the fruit from the tree of life as it gets. Sister Clove and I got to see each other again and it was the reunion of a lifetime. I also got to see some of my other friends and hike with them, which was so fun! After hiking we listened to the returning missionaries' testimonies and it was such a great meeting. On Saturday we found a new investigator!! Yayy! We were stickerboard jundoing downtown to advertise for our free English class and this lady stopped and started talking to me. She was super interested in me and the other missionaries because we know Korean. She was so interested in me because I have only been in Korea for 10 months (lol...only) and she said that out of all of the foreigners she knows who study Korean I am one of the best (lol...lies because hardly any foreigners in Korea speak Korean so really, it's not that big of a compliment) and she was so interested in how we learn to speak Korean so quickly. We got her number and she came to English Class and we started talking about missionaries, our purpose, what we do all day, and about God. She said she used to be Christian and believed in God when she was young, but she had a hard time finding Him again when she got older and more busy. I just told her "yeah, He's pretty hard to find. But we can help you find Him and help you follow Jesus Christ." She said she liked that idea, so we'll be teaching her English and about the gospel once a week. We went out and got spicy 떡볶이 and I felt sooo bad for my poor trainee, Sister Workman, because she has a hard time with spicy food and our investigator knows I love spicy food so we went to the spiciest restaurant in town! I really enjoyed it, but my poor companion!!! She is such a trooper! Also, on Sunday, Jung Bo-rahm came to church by herself again. She is still a little hesitant to start the missionary lessons, but she really just likes being at church with us. She has some friends from Utah who are on missions, so she is really interested in missionaries. It is also really cool because she said that even though the church is much bigger in America than in Korea, there is the same good feeling. Keep praying for her! I think we should be able to start the lessons and invite her to be baptized next week. She is ready! 

Okay, so back to eating dog. Like, I said I would like for y'all to hold your judgement for a second because A. everyone who serves in Korea has to at least try eating dog soup once B. I only ate one bite and that was enough C. This is all just a part of me getting rid of my list of "nevers."

Let me just tell y'all, before I came to Korea, I had a huge, long list of "nevers." Here are just a few of the things on it...

The second I got to BYU, I said I'd never serve a mission...lol. Here I am!

I said I'd never cut my hair short before I turned 30... In February, I cut off 8 inches, just for the heck of it.

I said I'd never go to Asia ever and that I had no desire to travel there. Guess, what it's my home now and I love this place to death.

I said I'd never gain weight. Just laughing at pre-mission me who said she'd be different than every single other sister out there who serves and gains the inevitable mission weight. I've gained like 20 pounds in Korea and I just don't even care. It will all come off, just like it did for my sister and my friends and 90% of girls who serve. I can't be bothered to stress about weight.

I said I'd never run a marathon, and that is the first thing I'm training for when I get home because if I can survive an 18 month mission, I sure as heck can survive a marathon.

I said I'd never eat dog, and guess what?! I did. And it wasn't that bad. A little fatty, and I generally don't really like meat, so it wasn't my favorite. But it wasn't bad.

Basically, the point of all of this is to say, that we shouldn't put limits on what we can and can't do and what we will and won't do. Because I promise you that God will pull some funny little tricks on you and you'll just end up surprising yourself. It's really amazing what each of us are capable of. Before my mission I stressed so much about dumb things. Like how much I weighed, what people thought of me, etc. Now I don't care. I can't be bothered! I gave up my 125-pounds-of-pure-muscle self to the great people of Korea because I love them and I know how important eating is in this culture. It was hard, but I can tell you all that I will never struggle from another eating disorder again after my mission and that is the best feeling in the world. I will be forever grateful to my Korean friends for that. I will also be so grateful to all of the people in this mission who love each other and accept each other for who everyone is without judging. I know that I am surrounded by friends even if I am a clumsy gooberhead! I love my mission and all of the things that I am learning that I really hope I can give back a little because I just feel like no matter how hard I try, I can never give as much as I take. I am learning who I really am and how to be myself while I am serving and living among the best, most adorable, kind, fun, loving people in the whole entire world! 

Anyway, this week was great. It scares the crap out of me that my mission is coming to an end! I love this work, I love Korea, and I love God! 

사랑해요!!

"I you love"

Sister Johns

요한들 자매

Pusan hike

lol of this stalker pic of everyone on the mountain. I just thought I'd include it. 

Dog soup

Sad face (don't worry, I repented!!)

Dog meat...ewww!! Haha. Honestly, it tasted exactly how you would expect a dog to taste...

The One with Lots of Miracles and Tongsuyook

안녕하세요 from 사랑하는 구미!!!

This week was so much fun and so much for my poor trainee to take in!!! Bless her heart!! Korea put her though the ringer this week, but she handled it like a champ! I'll explain more about that later. But first I'll share some miracles.

Yesterday we got to church early to get everything ready before the members got there and when we were practicing for Sister Workman to lead the music the oldest daughter of the family that came last Sunday (her name is Jung Bo-rahm in case you want to pray for her *hint*hint*) just walked into the chapel. I went up and said hi and it turns out that she came to church all by herself!! Her family was on vacation but she couldn't go because she's in her last year of high school and kids here have to go to school 6-7 days a week during their last year of high school. By a miracle, Sunday is her only day that she doesn't have school, after school academy, or study hall. So she took the 20 minute train ride all the way to Coomi to come to church. The family in the ward that brought her to church last week didn't even know she was coming, but she did! And she took her only day off to come to church! I want to give her English teacher in Sandy a big kiss on the cheek for being such a great influence on all of the kids who did foreign exchange with her!! So she came to church and during YW we basically taught her a member present lesson about prayer and God and invited her to be baptized. We also asked her if we could start teaching her the missionary lessons after church and she said she'd ask her mom. Please pray for her that we will be able to teach her the lessons and help her get baptized!

Some other miracles this week were that we were able to find a long-lost less active member while we were advertising for our English class, we found a new investigator with lots of potential when we were out proselyting on the street, and we started inviting people to be baptized on the streets as we proselyte. Some people think that we're crazy, but President Barrow has been encouraging us to be more bold in our teaching and finding. There is so much work to do and not enough time to do it!

Okay, so I'm sure all of you white folk back at home are wondering what Tongsuyook is. Tongsuyook is delicious. It is like sweet and sour pork, but 500 times yummier, probably full of fat that is bound to clog your arteries, and possibly the best part of Korean "Chinese" food behind Jajang myun and Jambong. It is heaven...but if you have to be forced to eat an entire platter of it (which feeds like 4-6 people) with just you and your companion, you just might get diabetes or have a heart attack...or both. And that is pretty much what happened to us this week.

We made an appointment to meet with a less-active at the school where she works. So we met her there and helped her with organizing some things and she gave us a tour of her vegetable garden and the class rooms and she had us speak English with her students. It was so much fun. She is the cutest lady and she is so sad because she has worked at that school for 20 years and she has to retire next year. 슬픔!!!! But after she decided to take us out to dinner for helping her. She originally wanted to take us to this really delicious Korea side dish restaurant, but Sister Workman has a really hard time with Korean food so I had to refuse the offer (sad...). So we decided to go get some Korean Chinese food. It was so fun and we had a great conversation, but she ordered us each a giant bowl of Jajangmyun (black noodles) and a HUGE platter of Tangsoouyook. And she wanted us to eat the whole thing. So we did. And I kid you not, we were like Scooby and Shaggy waddling all the way back to our house. In the words of Grammy Johns: tie my legs around my neck and roll me home because I am stuffed like a pig. Hahaha. I love Korea. 

Anyway, that's all of the time I have to tell you about this weeks adventures! 

사랑해요!!

"I you love!!"

Sister Johns

요한들 자매

We have to bury our foodtrash in Coomi.

Diggin up a hole...*you've got to go dig those holes*

Adventures in 왜관 

The Training One

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 

Pics from a few weeks ago when we got assigned our trainees. Please ignore what I look like. I literally hadn't slept in 3 days. 

Sister Workman my trainee

The One with the New Runner's High

Hello from Coomi! 

I made a breakthrough this week!

As you are all aware, before my mission I loved to exercise. I could have run all day and that would have made me the happiest girl alive. My favorite feeling in the world was that feeling of complete physical exhaustion after a long run or a hard workout. I'm pretty sure I was addicted to the "runner's high." When I first became a missionary, I really struggled with accepting that fact that I probably wouldn't have another "runner's high" for 18 months because any average person who has served a mission can tell you that no matter how hard to try to make it the same, exercise as a missionary and exercise as a normal person are very, very different. I really missed the feeling of just doing one more push up or running one more mile, then just collapsing after all sweaty and happy! But I have found a new runner's high on my mission that will have to do until I get home and I can spend an entire day at the gym! My new runner's high is long, hard, exhausting work. This week I was thinking back on the times that I have been happiest on my mission and those times were the days when I worked with all I have and gave the Lord all I've got, then crashed into bed, aching but satisfied. So I have decided that every single day when I go out, I will not go back into my apartment without giving away all of the Book of Mormons in my bag. I will talk to every single person on the street. I will love and serve the members and less actives and pour all of my heart into their well-being. And when we find investigators (and I know we will because they do exist in Coomi like they did in Jinhae and Pohang) I will give my whole heart to them too. I have faith that if I give God all that I have miracles will happen. So I can't slow down and just run 8 miles when I know I can run 10 or just talk to the people who seem nice or easy to talk to because I cannot judge who is prepared and who isn't. God is the only one who knows their potential. but I know mine and I can't just let myself fall below the bar. I can jump higher and higher so that my "bar" keeps getting higher and higher and I keep learning how to reach and raise it. I know I can do all things through Christ and if I trust Him it will all work out! If I don't give Him all I've got, then everything that I have given up to serve my mission, everything that I have put into the last 11 months, will be worthless. But I love god and I know that He will help me! Please pray for us to find new investigators and help this area! 

사랑해요!!!

"I you love"

Sister Johns

It's Buddha's Birthday, so all of the Buddhist temples are decorated so pretty!!

The lanterns all say "Happy Birthday Buddha!

The One in Ammoniah

Hello from 구미!

Okay, let's just start off by saying that this week wasn't exactly the best week of my mission...

Kim Yosul dropped us because she is busy with school and she wants to wait to be baptized until she has time to not go less active after baptism. So she said she'd call the sisters again "later." But I'll still be praying for her. So after that wonderful news we got on Tuesday, we are officially investigator-less. Ugh. And to make things worse, when we try and talk to people on the streets people just wave their hands in our faces, tell us to go away, or just ignore us as soon as we introduce ourselves as missionaries. People did that in my other areas, but nothing like it is here in Coomi. Sister Lee and I have basically decided that Coomi is Ammonihah and that we just have to keep working hard until we find Amuleck!! But the members warmed up to me a lot more once they realized that I can actually hold a decent conversation in Korean, so that was a miracle!

I don't have much time this week! Just pray for us because we're kind of having a hard time with the keeping going thing right now. But it's all good. I am just grateful for this trial of my faith because it will be for my good once I can see past the mean people on the streets and rejection.

사랑해요!!

"I you love"

Sister Johns

lol. i don't think they realized what this meant when they made it...lol #gottalovekorea 

We went exploring in a little town nearby with an American Military base. Yes. those are all crazy amo military car thingies...?? World domination much?

The One with Cherry Blossoms and General Conference

Hello from Coomi!! 

It's finally spring, which is great because it's warm, but terrible because summer here is, for lack of a better word, hellish.

This week was so great! It was just a big spiritual feast!

On Wednesday we met with Kim Yosul and it went really great, but she seems a little too afraid and hesitant to set a baptismal date. Just pray for her! I am worried about head conversion versus heart conversion with her. We were also walking down the street right after our appointment and this random American lady named Jennifer came up to us and was so nice! She said she would love to meet sometime! That was a miracle!

On Thursday, we had Zone Meeting and it was soo good! It was all about testifying of Christ. I was feeling super self-conscious about my testimony and sharing it with people on the street in Korean because I hadn't had a chance to share it in my native language in so long that I didn't even know what to say. And just as I was having that thought the Zone Leaders got up and announced that we were going to have a testimony meeting for the last 30 minutes of the meeting so I had a chance to share my testimony in English and that has made it so much easier for me to know what to say when I share it in Korean. God knows us so well! That was such a great experience.

Right after Zone Meeting we went to Elder and Sister Dustin's house with all of the Sisters in my zone to watch women's conference. That was so great!! Sister Dustin is sooo sweet! She made homemade bread, honey butter, and American food!!! It tasted like home!! I really needed that this week, as much as I adore Korean food. Sometimes you just need food made by a grandma!! :) Women's Conference was AMAZING!! I loved Sister Marriott's talk. It was like she was calling me to action as a missionary and as a person! I have been working sooo hard on developing charity on my mission and especially this transfer because President Barrow asked us to choose a Christ-like attribute to improve on. And Women's Conference was all about charity! I just felt so happy to be sitting on the most charitable senior couple in the world's couch and having the opportunity to hear women of God teach about how I can also love people more!

The rest of Conference was great! I wish I would have brought my notebook with me so I could share some insights with you, but I feel like I would just be preaching to the choir because y'all are all great and I should probably just be listening to your insights instead! It was just a spiritual feast and I got so many answers to questions I have.

Also, this week rain came and destroyed all of the beautiful cherry blossoms that only come once a year, but I was really lucky and a member and one of the less actives that she visit teaches took us to see them before they went away. Gosh, Korea is beautiful!!

사랑해요!!!

"I you love"

Sister Johns 

Conference!!! yay for fuzzy blankeys!! 

Some cherry blossom trees

Trees at day  

Trees at night 

pretty flowers in Daegu

Giant edible clovers from Sister Dustin's window garden!  

An alley cats chillin next door to our apartment 

I ate some meat and liked it!! Soo proud of myself! 

The One With a Miracle from 서울

안녕하세용!!!

This week was such a roller coaster! Sister Lee and I are sooo exhausted and so ready to just take a nap and then study some Korean!!

This week was so busy! We had to go down to Pusan because Sister Lee had an interview with President Barrow to follow up on an assignment he gave her. It felt soo good to go back down South for a little bit. It was so warm and there were actually people to talk to on the streets.Since we don't do transfer meetings anymore, I hadn't been to the mission home in like 3 transfers or more and it was really nice to go there again. And I got to say hi to President Barrow and have a quick interview/ It was so great! I really hope I get to serve in a big city with a subway station to jundo on at least once during my mission!!! That would be so nice! There would actually be people to talk to and I wouldn't have to chase people down the street! Serving in the country side isn't the easiest! Haha. Anyway, things are going really well in Coomi. We had a big miracle this week! Last week we were doing weekly planning and looking at our stats and just wanting to die because they sucked so bad. So we decided to fast and pray for a new investigator. And the next day we got a call from the Office Elders about a girl who just moved to our area from Seoul. We taught her with a member at church this Sunday and she is sooo prepared! She asked so many great questions and really wants to be baptized! I am so happy!! Also, it's super crazy because her hometown is Jinhae and she lived in the same neighborhood as me when I lived there! Also, she went to college in Pohang and now she is living in Coomi and studying to work for the government as a lawyer or something! There is no such thing as a coincidence when God is involved! I am so excited!! Please keep praying for her! Her name is Kim Yosul and we are meeting with her again this Wednesday and setting a baptismal date for April 24th. Please pray that it all works out and that she can be baptized on that day!

Other than that, we're just trying to love the grind. I am starting to see why I am serving in this area this transfer and how I can really help strengthen this ward. I learned so much in Pohang that I need to apply here! Everything in my mission has been so inspired!

Love y'all so much!!

사랑해요!!
"I you love"

Sister Johns