Letter from 25 March 2009

Hello!

It was a good week. Things are picking up again in our area. We have been meeting with an aunt (Shin Dong oon) and her neice (Hyun jong) and nephew (Soo hyun) who will be going to Fiji soon for the neice and nephew to study there (they can go to an English language school). While there, they will live with friends--members of the Church. The friends told them about the missionaries--they could learn about the Chruch and also do some English practice. So we have been meeting with them for maybe a couple of months, and they want to get baptized. We meet with them in their big, new apartment. We sit on the floor, and Shin Dong oon gives us oranges or milk. During English time, Hyun jong tells me about her boyfriend who lives in Incheon and taking pictures with her friends. A couple weeks ago she gave me a book about learning Korean.

Also, Sing Dong oon gave us the name of another student who will be going with them--Bom ee. The whole group of them--all four--came to church on Sunday, and meeting with Bom ee is really neat. She's in middle school, and her mom sews church choir robes from home. She asks good questions, and reads the Book of Mormon, and has prayed. And there is just such a neat feeling when we meet with her.

We always teach about the church in Korean, so I can't always understand investigators well, or talk to them a lot. But we do English practice with her, too, and in Korean and English, she is just bright and smiley. I enjoy our visits.

And Korean is getting better. I feel like I am starting to be able to connect with people some through Korean. And that is making missionary work a lot more exciting--when people have feelings and personailites and names and concerns and ideas and things they love. I'm really grateful for every bit I can understand--though it's still very little.

I "passed off" this week with one of the zone leaders--I had to learn a ton of vocabulary, learn all of the lessons in Korean (we only did the first two at the MTC), learn scripture references. I wasn't excited about passing it all off, but the zone leader used it as a teaching experience, and I went away encouraged about things. And after, Sister Bang and I stopped at a mart to get a treat to celebrate. I got a snack, from the picture it looked like it was chocolate with a nut in the middle, little balls. I opened the bag and as a fish smell came out, I asked her what it was.

"It's squid flavor," she said.

"How do you say 'squid' in Korean?" I asked.

She pointed to the huge writing on the bag.

Squid and peanut. It was actually pretty good.

Outside the sky is light with stars

12 March 2009

Hello!

Sunday Sister Bang and I split and went to two different wards--I went to Seongnam church by our house, and she went to Songpa church. Between the two, we had six new people at church! The most I've had in one week! It was great.

We don't have many investigators lately, but we have some really good ones. After church, Pak Yong mi, my companion church, went with me to Songpa. At Songpa, three investigators stayed after sacrament meeting to see a baptisimal service. And one, Min Un bi, stayed after that for the kim bap lunch they had.

The women at Songpa were putting together a dance for a Relief Society get-together that will be this Saturday, and after some cajoling (sp?), the investigator--Un bi--and Sister Bang and I were all of a sudden all learning the dances to "Beautiful Girl" and "Nobody but You"--two pop songs that are popular right now. It was a lot of fun, and it was good to see Un bi has fun at the church. I think we will be performing the dances with the ward on Saturday night.

During the week we had one really long walking day. We had just one appointment that night, so we went all over Songpa trying to visit some members who don't come out to church as often. We visited six different houses (another record for one day), only one person was home. Then our appointment cancelled. Church members are so, so kind to us, feeding us dinner, etc--I figured it was a day of earning their kindness.

Yesterday we met with Yoo Jung and her daughters. She lives with her four daughters, husband, and parents in a great big apartment. She's the only member of the church among them, but hasn't come to church in a long time. We do some English with three of the daughters then teach a gospel lesson once or twice a week. The daughters love singing church songs, and last night we brought a new one to sing with them (in English, "Families Can Be Together Forever"). Sister Bang and I told them we'd sing it once so they could start to learn it. As we were singing, Yoo Jung started singing, too. She knew all the words.

It was really neat.

I hope you all have a wonderful week!

Much love,

Carrie

Letter from 4 March 2009

Hello!

A quick one:)

This Sunday we had a baptism--the mother of the members of the ward. I got asked to give a talk on baptism and the Holy Ghost, which took a bit of preparation, but went all right. The service was after sacrament meeting. When sacrament meeting ended, all at the same time I was trying to say hello to one member and follow Sister Bong who was hurrying me to get Kim Jae rae dressed and ready and then Jae rae's daughter in law handed me a set of scriptures I was supposed to write a nice note and sign it (I don't actually really do that well in Korean)...but it all came together and she got baptized and it was wonderful.

A lot of investigators have dropped us lately, so we've spent a lot of time looking up addresses in the stake directory and walking and looking for their houses to try to visit them. Slow going. And Sister Bong has a hole in her shoe so her feet get wet when it rains.

This week we met again with a woman who wants to do the English program--but turns out isn't too interested in the gospel message. We met her with a member from the ward. The member bore her testimony of why she knows this gospel is true, why she lives this way...and, as Sister Bong explained to me after, the investigator just told her she was wrong to think that way. This went on for a half hour.

The member was absolutely wonderful, though, and she bought us ho dok--all of us, including the investigator--as we waited for the bus. She has a huge smile and likes red, and I don't think I will forget how as we waited, her smiling at me, waiving me over to the ho dok stand--"you must be hungry!"

With love,

Carrie