Letter from 2 December 2009

Hello!

December has come! Our apartment, from over the years of missionaries, I guess, somehow has two Christmas trees. I pulled one down this week--it was in a box on top of a cupboard above the washing machine--and set it up along with a snowman doorknob hanger and a stocking that says "Elder Miller." Merry Christmas!

I guess I wasn't too excited for December--I wasn't expecting anything too exciting for Christmas. Christmas isn't too big in Korea. We had a zone conference this past week, though, and the mission president's wife took some time sharing some of her favorite scripture passages about the Savior with us, and we sang a few hymns together...so simple, but hearing what she shared made me realize getting ready for Christmas was a time to remember Jesus Christ. In the mission we have, for the past few months, been reading the Book of Mormon looking specifically for references to Christ, His words, His attributes, and doctrines. But the last few days, more than studying about Him, trying to remember Him and focusing more on trying to love and serve like He did and taught us to do has helped me feel closer to HIm at this time of the year when we celebrate Him. And now the Christmas season is becoming special.

We visited Yang Boo soon again this week, the grandmother who lives in our same apartment complex. She's been attending church regularly, has read the whole Book of Mormon, but she gets a little flustered whenever we talk about baptism. This week she went, and she told Sister Park she wanted to fix her hair, show her how to do it (and Sister Park said, oh, I think she mentioned this last time...). She told her to take out her barette; Yang Boo soon got a bottle of styling wax out of her bathroom, put it in Sister Park's hair, told her and showed her how she needed to style it with her fingers so it would be taller and whispy--"THIS way. You need to do it THIS way"--and if she just cut it here and here, it would be right. She disappeared onto the viranda and rummaged around, and then appeared with something metal and long and pointed, which made Sister Park jump. She put the camp-style gas stove she uses on the floor and started heating it up over the flames--turned out to be a screw driver. We were both a little nervous about what she was going to do to Sister Park, until she explained it was because she didn't have a curling iron.

"Have you ever tried this before?" was Sister Park's response. It all turned out alright.

That night, we got a call from some of the Elders in Anyang ward. There was someone at the church for us, they said. It turns out it was someone who knew Sister Park's mother. This family went to Canada for a few years and met Sister Park's family there. They wanted to take us to dinner. We were eating and talking, and the mother of the family pulled out her cell phone, rummaged around for a phone number...and dialed up Sister Park's mom. Missionaries have lots of rules, one of which is that we call home twice a year, on Christmas and Mother's Day. So when Sister Park's-mother's-friend tried to hand her the phone, everyone else around the table started waving their hands and saying no, no. So she handed the phone to me. I got to talk to Sister Park's mom (who is very nice).

Maybe both of these stories are you-had-to-be-there kind of things. Hmm.

All my best, have a wonderful week!

With love,

Carrie

Letter from 26 November 2009

Hello, and Happy Thanksgiving!

We went to the Osan military base today for a Thanksgiving. The family who hosted us had lived there since August; before that they spent six years in Italy. Going to the base was such a strange sensation. I could understand all the chatterings (in English) that were going on around me. We walked into their house and they told us we could keep our shoes on. I started to eat my dinner and went to pick up my fork with my right hand, and thought it was the oddest thing in the world that it was on the left (I actually switched the fork with the knife and spoon before I realized that the place setting was actually correct, and I've just been eating with chopsticks for so long that I didn't remember that the fork really does go on the left).

Strange things.

Other news: we set a baptism date this week! Hooray! I've been in this area for over six months now--I don't know if I will still be here when Eu reem does get baptized. If I am or not, it's still happy!

So little email time today...sorry! Hope to share more adventures next week!

I send my love,

Carrie

Letter from 18 November 2009

Hello! Hello from Sanbon, Korea!

It's getting COLD! It's been almost one year since I've been in Korea, and things are coming full circle. Things were bare and cold when I got here. And it's getting chilly again! It reminds me, though, of what I've already experienced in Korea, and that's fun to look back on.

We had a neat experience this week. An appointment cancelled, and Sister Park and I took some dinner time to regroup a little bit. We looked at some rolls and picked a member in the area, called her up. She happened to be home. I hadn't seen her at church before, but we don't get to attend in that area very often. It turns out she hasn't really gone for five or ten years now, though her son still goes. She gave us fruit and dumplings and warm milk, and we talked for awhile. Before we left, she offered to say a closing prayer. I was grateful we happened to have time, happened to be near, and she happened to be home.

The other night, after a lesson with the family from North Korea, the member who had taught with us and her husband offered to drive us home--about 40 minutes, a long way. I was so grateful, though--not just that we were on time, but for how they chatted with us, told us how they met, what's important to them, about school and their missions. I'm so grateful for these people.

Have a great week!

--Carrie

Letter from 11 November 2009

Hello!!

It's been a good week (do I say that every week?). Thursday night we had dinner with a member who is a little less active. Towards the end of the visit we were sharing a message from the scriptures, encouraging her to read on her own. And then she said that, a few months ago, she wasn't reading or praying because things were hard. But then the missionaries started visiting--me and Sister Lee--and after that, she started thinking that because things were hard, she should probably be reading and praying. And so she's been doing it more often lately. I was just so grateful to hear that. That something we did mattered. And then she said I was a good missionary. I had been feeling a little down that day, and what she said turned it around. Goodness, we need each other to help each other. We helped her, and she certainly helped me.

On Saturday, there was an area (stake-wide) fun meeting with Robert Holley. He's an American who when he was younger served as a missionary in Korea, eventually moved back, married a Korean...he's a lawyer originally but works in broadcasting, did some English-learning stuff, I think, some acting...anyway, I guess he's kind of famous here.

Well, it turns out that the uncle of my new companion, Sister Park, lives in the area we cover. She got special permission to call him and invite him to the meeting. And he came! Missionaries have so many rules that it made it just a little awkward--first of all me (her companion) having to always be with her, and then, when he wanted to take us to dinner, because of a rule that sister missionaries can't meet alone with a man, a church sister came with us...a little strange, but we think he had a good experience.

At dinner we were talking. He showed us his hand--he's missing about half of three fingers. He was ten years old at the time of the Korean war, he said. He lost the fingers because of a hand grenade. He said there's still shrapnel (sp?) in his hand that has worked its way out over the years. One day a few years ago he was washing his face and all of a sudden something cut his face. It was a piece of that hand grenade that had been in one of his fingers for years.

On Tuesday we went and visited another member. She's newer in the church--she was baptized about three years ago, I think. We went and talked to her about the temple. She has never gone, not even seen it, I think. I'm so glad there's a temple close to here--it makes it so much easier (I imagine) to help people look towards the temple. We told her about how all people need to be baptized, though there are people who lived and died without that opportunity. So, because God is merciful and just, he has provided a way for all people to be able to follow Christ though baptism--that those who died without that knowledge will still be able to learn, and that we, in our bodies, can be baptized in behalf of them on earth, in the temple. We were explaining about it, showing pictures, and she said, it seems to be a very sacred place.

And timing worked out well--the bishop and his councilors meet at the church on Wednesdays (this was a Tuesday), and a group are going to the temple to do baptisms on Saturday. So she had an interview with the bishop last night, and is going.

And then, last night we met some new people. The elders had met the mom on the bus, they were interested in the English program, and we had some time last night, so we went to their house to meet them. A grandma, mom, and daughter. Sister Park was trying to place their accent and asked right away where they were from. Turns out...from North Korea. Right on the boarder with China (that's how they got here--went through China, and then Thailand, I think). They came about a year ago, though the girls older sister had come first. Three years before. She was fourteen and left on her own--her mom had no idea what happened to her, she explained. Ran away? Dead?

After some time, the grandma's sister sent them some money, and that's how they're here. The ten-year-old stood up and sang some songs for us, songs about Jesus she had learned. I had seen a documentary years ago about North Korea with a child standing and singing just like that. She sat down, and the mom talked about Kim Jeong Il--about how he didn't allow churches in North Korea. About how people didn't learn about Jesus Christ.

Well, I'm out of time! More next week!

With love,

Carrie

Letter from 4 November 2009

Hello!

Saturday was the baptism for the three sisters--So hyun, Do hyun, and Gi hyun. Their schedules are pretty crazy--they attend school plus private academies like most Korean students, so the only time during the week before the baptism we could meet them again was Friday--the day before. We taught one more lesson--told them about tything and fasting--then they had their baptism interviews, one at a time. While they were waiting for eachother, we wandered downstairs to see the baptismal font, talk about the service. Their mom was going to play the piano at the service (though it turned out she couldn't), so we went over to the library/missionary room to make some photocopies. As I was pulling up the...lid? cover? to copy the hymn, So hyun pointed to the copy machine, and said, "was this paid for with tything?" "Yep," I said. "You got it."

The service went well; Sister Buford--now Elizabeth--came with her boyfriend. She went home when the six-week period transfer ended last Thursday and when I got a new companion; she's now packing up her apartment and getting ready to move back to the US. She'll leave next week. It was funny to see someone who had been my mission compaion three days before in a knee-length skirt and high heels with a boy at her side. It was wonderful to see her, though, and I was so glad she could come.

On Tuesday we went to a member's house for a Halloween party she was putting on for a couple other moms and their young kids. They were obviously expecting us--when they opened the door for us, they were all lined up to greet us. Halloween isn't big in Korea; this member had lived in the US and thought it would be fun. And the party was a great success. There was a costume contest--the kids wore and were very satisfied with very simple things--a witches hat, or a mask, or a cape. And then we "Trick-or-Treated," with Sister Park and I standing in the bedroom and the kids coming to knock. Then the member had us read a few picture books in English to the kids--really simple things, they enjoyed it. As we did, I overheard the member telling one of her friends about the English/gospel program, and she wants to meet us later. Then we had lunch and jello and went on to our next appointment.

Out of time!

Have a great week,

Carrie

Letter from 21 Oct. 2009

Hello!!!!!

I finally have a little more time to write this week! Hooray!

Things have been pretty busy! Which is absolutely wonderful! Last Friday was Pak Na ra's baptism. Sister Buford was so anxious to make it an event to remember. We turned on the heater in the bathroom about two hours early. We got a gift--a plant with pretty flowers and a notebook and (can you picture Sister Buford in the store?) a pretty candle and almost a little plastic bear keychain with the date on its belly and a pretty green coordinating gift bag to put it all in.

We were at the church early to try to get photos worked out for the Sister Buford fireside that next day. The elders were there too, it turned out, trying to get the baptismal font filled up. The boiler wasn't working, so we put water on the stove and in the rice cooker to start heating up. It ended up really not making a difference, though--poor Pak Na ra. She was a good sport about it, though.

The ward mission leader also requested that Sister Buford and I do a musical number, so we practiced singing a hymn in harmony. And then, as people were getting ready for the service, one of the women of the ward asked--if I could play the piano, they could play "I Am a Child of God" on the ocarina.

Have you ever heard of an ocarina? They look kind of like little submarines--kind of like a recorder in submarine form. They kind of seem to be a trend here. I had never seen them before. There's a mid-week ocarina class at church, and a lot of the ward members are learning it. I thought it was just kind of a way-to-make-music-accessible kind of instrument--inexpensive, pretty simple--but then I saw a big banner at an arts center for an ocarina concert.

Anyway.

So I accompanied the ocarina choir for "I Am a Child of God." I don't play much piano. I played the right hand and the bottom note and it worked out okay. I don't think anyone knew the difference. (Right??)

That was Friday; Saturday was Sister Buford's fireside. She had a translator--who I sent a text message to confirm with that morning, then turned around and called her and asked if she could teach a lesson with us that same day. I didn't put together that they were the same people. Oops. She was gracious, though, and did both for us.

Sister Buford showed pictures from filming the movie, getting her makeup done, practicing action scenes, with famous Korean actors. She got to the last picture--at her baptism. Dressed in white.

And I thought, "*this* is real."

After did "sign," as the Koreans say, and took pictures with people. I think it was a success. We'll do it again this Sunday at a different ward.

Sunday was Pak Na ra's confirmation. I opened my eyes after the blessing and looked at Pak Na ra...and she was different. After church that day we hurried over to a different ward building for an appointment, and happened to run into Byun Shin jeong, who got baptized a couple months ago. She was there asking another member for help with her family history. And this week, we met and taught a lesson to Byun Shin jeong's mom. Pak Na ra, and then Byun Shin jeong and how much she loves the church, how she's been changing and growing...they're helping me start to get it. I feel like I am finally starting to get missionary work. That people change with the church. That there's a difference when they are baptized and confirmed. That we don't just need it, but that it makes people happier. And that it's possible! I feel like I am starting to light up inside. I am finally starting to understand. And if it took me this long and this much work to start to get it, well, then how much more precious that knowledge is.

Also on Sunday, there were five other girls who attended church--investigators. And Monday and Tuesday, we went out to Ansan to meet some member high school students friends. There are a group of four members--three boys and a girl--who attend the same high school. The girl--Jeong Ee sul-- did some street contacting with us and is a better missionary than us! What wonderful people. And last night, the bishop of another ward went to a hair salon with us to introduce us to someone another member had met and wanted to introduce to us (confused yet?). I just feel privlidged to work with these people, be around them, learn from these members and their testimonies.

I hope you all have a wonderful week! I love you dearly!

--Carrie

Letter from 15 October 2009

Hello hello! The leaves are changing, the weather is nice--a lovely time to be a missionary.

This week we were teaching a lesson to Hong Kyung sook. We were talking about the Ten Commandments, and I was explaining what we did on the sabbath day. Midway through what I was saying, my companion, Sister Buford, burst out laughing. When she started laughing, so did Hong Kyung sook, but the member teaching with us, O Mi jeong, was good enough to retain her composure as she calmly explained that the word I was looking for was "shee da."

It turns out the word I thought meant "to rest"--"shee ha da"--actually means, roughly, to piss. Sister Buford (who didn't originally learn Korean as a missionary), explained this to me later. As she did so, all the situations I've used this word in started flashing through my mind. Teaching investigators that we rest on the sabbath day. Talking to people on the bus about why we attend church. When we've visited members in their home and telling them they need a rest.

Goodness. At least someone finally told me.

Other news this week: we have a baptism tomorrow! Hooray! Pak Na ra is a high school student, her friend is a member and they started attending church together. We're excited!

Time's about up--I send my love.

All my best,

Carrie