Jan 28th Email to Family

Today will be a bit shorter--I tried to download (successful, but then the computer froze) and attach (not successful) photos to send. I think I will have to print and mail them. Goodness, with such sparce computer use over the last few months, I've forgotten how computers don't always cooperate.

This week was 설날--lunar new years, the biggest holiday of the year. Three days. Slow for missionary work. The first day was Sunday (in Songnam ward this week)--church and a lesson, then spent the rest of the day cleaning the building. Monday we spent cleaning our apartment, and the Songnam bishop invited us to dinner. Tuesday we had a missionary meeting in the morning and an activity in the afternoon, where we played some traditional Korean games.

One of the games is a bit like hacky sack, only the "ball" is small and (in this case) plastic with a bell on it, then it has streamers. It was interesting to see the Koreans do it verses the Americans. The Americans with hackey sack tried out their creative moves, while the Koreans who were good at it were like precise machines--one leg, very exact.

There was also a human Yoot Nori game. Yoot Nori is kind of like Sorry--you try to get your pieces around the board and back home. Instead of dice, there are four sticks you throw in the air. Each stick has a flat and a rounded side, and you count according to which side is up. In the human Yoot Nori game, they wrapped missionaries in giant pieces of brown felt and had them roll around on the ground with their eyes closed. Quite memorable.

Also a game (I can't remember the name) where you hold one foot and hop, trying to knock each other down. They had a Sister's tournament first for the six of us there (though I just couldn't bring myself to do it in a skirt in front of everyone), then the forty or so Elders all went at each other. The mission president joined in.

Two other dinner appointments this week, too. The first with an older woman. Her son and daughter in law attend Songnam ward, and they encouraged her to listen to the missionary lessons and get baptized. Her daughter in law, Sister Kang, is a good mother, and a mother to us, too. She came with her kids to the dinner appointment. We ate out of the same serving dishes, Korean style. There was a fish dish, and she would pick off bits with her chopsticks, inspect them for bones, and put them in her kids' rice bowls. The second time Sister Romney went for the wrong part of the fish, she started doing it for us, too. Like a mother bird.

I love you all; Happy New Year.

--Carrie

First say to yourself would be; and then do what you have to do.

Hello, hello! Here's the news from the week:

I bought an electronic English-Korean dictionary. It has Japanese and Chinese characters, too. We bought it on the way back from the grocery store, where I had bought a mop, which I had to ask Sister Romney to hold so I could use two hands (polite!) to had my debit card to the salesman ("...Sister Romney, would you mind holding my mop?"). The best part of it, which I discovered later that day, is that it has recorded pronunciation for not just Korean, not just English, but for thirteen languages. If I need to know how to say "socks" in Russian, I am set.

Other news. We did a companion exchange with the other sisters in our apartment on Monday. I went with Sister Hunt to Sugey and Boondong. We had three lessons. For the second one, we met the woman and a member at the subway station. The member was a woman in her seventies neatly dressed all in purple, up to her hat. The investigator found us--in her forties, perhaps; navy blue lace tights, a short gray bubble dress, a billowing black sweater and bright blue nails. Her English name is Regina, and as she drove the four of us to her apartment (which was huge and well decorated), I thought about what an interesting mix of people we were. The gospel really can bridge differences.

That evening, we met with a woman and her young daughter. Her husband was on business in New Jersey. We asked her about going to church, but she wasn't sure about it--she didn't want to rock the boat with her husband and her husband's family. Things like that are hard to hear. We were teaching with a member, who suggested that since things are more and more modern, women can be more independant about deciding things like that.

In our district meeting this week, I asked for opinions about how to involve the whole family. It's hard when we just teach a woman during the day, when the husband isn't ever home. And it can be hard for her to go to church on the weekend when he actually is home--it seems like Sunday is precious family time for a lot of people. The Church can be something that makes families stronger. The gospel makes people better from the inside out, as I heard someone say it once, and so the effects of that include being a better family member. I've been thinking about how to help people with the Church that way--something that unites and strengthens rather than divides. In the meeting, we talked a little about involving the whole family from the beginning. A challenge!

There are six of us in the district, six of us at this meeting. One of the missionaries is Korean. Part way through he asked me where my ancestors were from. Aparently thoughts were rolling around in his mind during the whole thing, because after, he asked everyone the same thing. We were all of European descent. "So why do you all look so different?" He asked. I guess it was a valid question. There is less variation among Koreans. I thought about Punnit (sp??) squares the rest of the day.

--Carrie

Hello Day-by-Day! There's always a small happiness.

15 Jan 2009

Another fast week--that's the best kind! It started out a little hard--in a combined district meeting with a bunch of other missionaries, we talked about setting goals. So Sister Romney and I, during our weekly planning meeting, set goals, by gum. It took us an hour. I maybe cried. We got frustrated with each other. We now, though, have a very lovely paper posted on our wall with some goals for this transfer (6-week period).

Church was good again this week. I really enjoy church. I enjoy talking to the members, and I enjoy recognizing faces. And we had an investigator come to sacrament meeting! We met Sae Woan on the subway--I gave her a flyer about the Book of Mormon. She's "gospel interest only" (the only one right now), so we don't do English practice with her, just teach the gospel lessons.

We met her after church with a member from the ward--Son Ja. Son Ja is one of the first people I met here--Sister Romney visited her apartment maybe my first week. She wears black-rimmed glasses and has a huge smile. The first time I saw her at church, she was wearing a han bok--a traditional Korean dress--and when Sister Romney asked her why, she said there was no reason, just for fun.

When we visited them, her and her husband weren't feeling well, but she sat down at her kitchen table with us and scraped the last of some 유자차--syrupy, lemon herbal tea--out of a jar to give to us. We (mostly her and Sister Romney) talked and I shared a scripture that I love--2 Nephi 2:25 that says, "men are that they might have joy."

I've shared this same scripture with that investigator who came on Sunday, Sae Woan. We did the second lesson with her this week--talking about the Plan of Salvation. She isn't so sure about things like resurrection and judgement--she says she likes life the way it is here, now. She doesn't want it to change. I believe, though, that through the gospel, things just get better and better. "Happy" can become "happier."

We've been doing the second lesson with a lot of people this week. We also try to include the commandments as we go along. Teaching the commandments is scary to me. This week I taught the Word of Wisdom to the women we met on the street and her daughters--the Lee sisters. When we asked them to live it, she just said that well, her daughters already kept it because they were young, but as for her, she liked her coffee. I haven't yet had an experience like the sisters we share an appartment with: an investigator's husband just gave her a brand new expensive cappicino (sp?) maker. She was so excited to show it to the missionaries. They were planning to teach the Word of Wisdom the next day.

The next lesson with her and the Lee sisters, though, went really well. They had all prayed on their own, and they had all read the passage of scripture we asked them to read.

We had other good lessons this week--there isn't time or space to write about them all (which is probably good). We met with a woman who has been meeting with the missionaries for months--Gyoo Ewl. She wants to be baptized, but her husband isn't okay with her attending church. So we meet with her weekly, and she continues to study and pray on her own. Sister Romney and I prepared alot, thinking and praying about things we could do to help her. We ended up encouraging her to keep the commandments she can keep, and continue with the things she can do. There was such a peaceful feeling during the lesson.

We are also meeting with a new family. There are two families (sisters with their husbands and children) living in the same giant apartment. It is fun to see how they live together--they take care of each other's children, they talk and laugh together. We're doing English practice with the two older children, and the daughter told me about how she's dating a boy living in Incheon--they chat online, and he plays games on the computer with her little brother. He's coming to Seoul today. During our gospel lessons, her brother always laughs when we pray. And they give us oranges.

Time to go. I love you all so much!!

--Carrie

You will make a good businessman. You know how to spend and how to save.

8 Jan 2009

Hello!

Wow, this week went fast.

First, a couple items of business. On Christmas, I promised to email my address for Google Earth purposes. I'm not quite sure how to translate it, though. Until I get something more exact, try searching for Kyongwondae University. You might have to try some spelling variations--Kyungonedae University, maybe. And maybe if you Googled that and found an address, you could search for it. We live very close to it.

Second, I will email strait to Brad, too, but I need Brad's email address.

Okey doke. This week. Still no snow, though I hear there's lots at home. It snowed once and melted within the day, but it's looking like winter in Seoul isn't too snowy. I'm relieved. I am terrified of walking on ice, and I was nervous about having to do that. And when there's snow, there's ice.

Our "teaching pool" had shrunk the last couple of weeks, but it's getting built back up. There's the mom we met on the street--we do the English program with her daughters. She always gives us treats and then feeds us dinner when we meet with them. This week it was a piece of cake and a sliced bananna for each of us.

I have learned to eat tangerines--I've always been squeemish about fruit texture, but I eat tangerines all the time now. We usually have lots around the apartment that people have given us, and when someone at an appointment handed me a peeled one and said, "eat!" there wasn't really a way out of it. I can do strawberries now, too.

But the bananna was just too much. I ate one and a half of the slices with some of the cake. When the mom later kind of looked at me and looked at my plate, all I was thinking was, "I ate one and a half slices of that bananna, the first time in my life that I have eaten a bananna on my own free will. This is a monumental moment. Can't you appreciate that?" Sister Romney ate a few more slices when the mom's back was turned (like a few weeks ago, when she couldn't handle the bowl of gensing root and passed some over to me).

Things are going well with the gospel lessons with this family. Our first meeting, when we pulled out the Book of Mormon, she kind of pulled away and said if you teach my daughters, that's fine, but I'm not interested. But she's been listening, and they've been praying on their own. And at the end of the lesson, Sister Romney asked one of the daughters. She wasn't too sure about that, and the mom started saying, "you know how, open with 'Dear Heavenly Father'..." and the other daughter started added, "end with 'in the name of Jesus Christ...'." It was really neat.

We met again with our Buddhist family this week. During English time with the daughter, she told us about some of the old rules for Korean wives. They would go live with their husband's family. But if they didn't have a son, they could kick her out. Or if she didn't take care of her husband's parents, or if she stole, or if she got sick. She would have to leave. And then we talked a little about how sometimes changes are good. We had persimmon tea and strawberries.

The mom has read almost a hundred pages into the Book of Mormon. She wants to know how she can help her family. We have also started meeting with a university student majoring in English. At our second appointment, after we explained how if we read the scriptures and pray daily we can learn little by little, get answers, understand the gospel bit by bit. And at the end of the lesson she prayed that she could also learn and understand this way.

Heading out. Today Sister Romney and I are going to attempt dak boki for lunch. (I don't think it's one you can mess up too easily). It's made with thick glutenous (sp?) rice noodly things--dak (kind of the equivilant of pasta here)--and a spicy sauce. Someone gave the other sisters a bag of dried anchovies this week--we'll use them to flavor the sauce.

Lots of love!!

--Carrie

Thank you for I love you with a heart

02 Jan 2009

Hello!

Goodness, a lot happens in two weeks, I don't know what I should write about!

Happy New Years, first of all. I am now 23 Korean age. Age is according to what year you were born, so 1987-ers are in their 23rd year.

New Years, was our preparation day (but email places were closed--so emailing today). Some elders came by to put more insulation around our windows. The one has construction experience, I was relieved to find out (so we weren't just being girly by him coming to do it). He ended up taking off a set of windows that had been badly installed and refitting them--so the six of us (there are four sisters in the house) kind of spent the day together. Lots of tasty treats got baked and eaten. There was some guitar playing, and letter writing.

Sister Romney gave me the Christmas present she had forgotten about--a gongi set. Gongi (sp?) is kind of like jacks. You have five little...balls. You throw one up and try to grab one off the ground and then catch the one you threw. We're meeting with a Buddhist family--we practice English with the daughter, who is about nine. She loves gongi and showed us how to play. She says everyone knows how to do it because they played when they were little. Her mom and dad are both good at it, she says.

At our first visit with them, we gave a copy of the Family Proclaimation to the parents, who were both home. It turns out that was quite a coincidence--usually, when one gets home, the other leaves for work (the mom's a nurse and works odd shifts). Since, we have been able to teach gospel messages twice to the mom and daughter (and baby brother), but I'm just praying we can meet them all together--and more often. Both parents seemed to have some interest that first night.

Christmas was wonderful. It's really not a big holiday here, but the ward did have a Christmas party on Christmas Eve. There was a big dinner, and when we walked in to where tables were set up, Sister Romney were directed over to where the mission president and his wife and visiting daughter were sitting. After we sat down, feeling brave, I ventured over to another table where three ladies were sitting and tried to ask them what their names meant (they all mean something! like 샛별--Morning Star--or 민선--highest jewel. I love Korean names!). I had NO idea what they were saying for 90% of our conversation, but we smiled alot. And laughed. I still don't know about their names.

Sister Romney and I did a skit with the elders, and later there was a slide show. While waiting for some technical difficulities to get resolved, the brother who stood up and did the impromptu solo the other week sang a Christmas carole in (Korean) sign language. As I watched him sign in his white gloves, and looked around me, I thought about how I wouldn't be anywhere else in the world at that moment.

We also had our mission Christmas conference since I last wrote. The word came down that the sisters were borrowing hanbok--traditional clothing--for the conference. Sister Romney and I talked to someone in our ward, and a few days before the conference we went over to her apartment to pick them up. She showed us how to dress and did our hair (well, she did half and then had our companion do half, so it turned out a bit lop-sided), and we took pictures. And then she fed us.

We ended up with a dinner appointment that night, too. We are fed so often by members, and they so often send us on our way with things. The other day we looked someone up in the ward directory and visited her unannounced. It turns out she's been inactive awhile, and wasn't that happy to see us. But she let us in, and let us talk together, and gave us barley tea and fruit and sent us with two apples a peice and an entire bulk bag of frozen cream cheese that she had. Again, I just feel like I receive more love and gifts than I ever offer. I have had calm assurances, though, that God knows exactly how much I can (or can't, as the case may be) do right now, and that it's still the right place for me to be.

A few more experiences from the last two weeks. We met with a husband and wife in their car parts store. The husband had been meeting with the elders for about a year, practicing English and hearing the lessons. The elders finally decided to stop meeting with him, but he thought his wife might like to. She really wasn't interested in the church, and during a few moments of them hurrying around the shop and us waiting, I kept thinking things like...I'm in Korea...in a car shop...in Korea.... After talking about some things we probably won't be meeting again.

On Tuesday, we were at a bus stop, and I went up and bowed to a woman and introduced myself. I thought she said she wasn't interested, so I just gave her a flyer for the English program. We taped one up on a pole, too, as we waited. She looked at the flyer I handed her, and at the one on the pole, and came back to talk to me. We ended up meeting with her and her two daughters later that night. "A Korean first," as Sister Romney calls them.

It is often hard to connect to people through language, culture, fear...but this week one of the other sisters and I had a moment and I just wanted to do anything for her; and then talking to the daughters of the woman we met on the street, I wanted to really know them and everything about them. In the MTC, the lesson I seemed to be learning over and over was that everything is better with love. With charity. When you love someone, it doesn't matter so much what they do or don't do. And I started to feel that again this week. And I am very grateful. Hopefully, now, it will keep growing.

Have a wonderful week!

Carrie