Hello!
The weather is warming up fast here. Spring brought yellow and white forcithia bushes, cherry blossoms and magnolia trees all over, and now as they are leafing out there are bright pink and purple flowered bushes blooming all over the city. It is getting hot faster this year than normal, though, and the monsoon season is reportedly coming early--maybe the beginning of June. And after monsoon season, Sister Bang tells me, is when summer--hot and humid, from what I hear--officially starts.
The warm weather makes me think of all sorts of happy memories--summer has good associations, with school letting out, family vacations, and also thinking about this time last year making arrangements, going to interviews, really getting ready to go on a mission.
Also, I caught a cold this week, and oddly, that has brought up unexpected memories, too. Like the comfort of going to the doctor's office with my mom when I was little. And also, all of a sudden Korea smells like it did when I first came--I had a cold when I came...the two must be connected. Interesting, the things that bring up memories.
And interesting, too, that I have a few memories to look back on in Korea, as a missionary. All of a sudden I'm towards the middle of my mission, not the beginning! I still feel like I'm just figuring things out, though!
People are becoming more important, too. We are still meeting with Nam Gi Yeon. We sing pop songs with sad lyrics together when we do English practice. When we do gospel lessons, she summarizes bit by bit the things she's read in the Book of Mormon, and asks questions about the House of Israel and Moses. Yesterday when we met, she asked for help reading some letters from nearly 30 years ago. When she was a school girl, her and a friend met two foreigners on the subway--one from France, one from Switzerland. They were traveling the world, and the one from Switzerland send her some postcards, a couple of letters. And then they lost touch, but she kept the letters.
And we meet three times a week with Kim Mi Yeong, but just twice this week because Monday was Children's Day--a "red day," so kids had it off from school, adults off from work. It was fun to see families out and about together. It's just a day to make kids happy.
Kim Mi Yeong asks about how to actually use the atonement. She wants to know if God lives, about Jesus Christ. As we meet, I try, I hope she sees that with prayer, with reading in the scriptures, attending church--as she searches out and learns, she will come to know. She will come to feel God's existance, and Christ's love. That's how all of us do it.
I am seeing more and more that knowing things, that the Church, the gospel, is a process, not a somewhere where you arrive, and then you're set. We have a whole lifetime--for a reason, I think. We need time. It's step by step, and each step comes with greater joy, with a greater ability to feel peace. And that's why it matters.
I love you all, and I hope you have a wonderful week.
--Carrie
The weather is warming up fast here. Spring brought yellow and white forcithia bushes, cherry blossoms and magnolia trees all over, and now as they are leafing out there are bright pink and purple flowered bushes blooming all over the city. It is getting hot faster this year than normal, though, and the monsoon season is reportedly coming early--maybe the beginning of June. And after monsoon season, Sister Bang tells me, is when summer--hot and humid, from what I hear--officially starts.
The warm weather makes me think of all sorts of happy memories--summer has good associations, with school letting out, family vacations, and also thinking about this time last year making arrangements, going to interviews, really getting ready to go on a mission.
Also, I caught a cold this week, and oddly, that has brought up unexpected memories, too. Like the comfort of going to the doctor's office with my mom when I was little. And also, all of a sudden Korea smells like it did when I first came--I had a cold when I came...the two must be connected. Interesting, the things that bring up memories.
And interesting, too, that I have a few memories to look back on in Korea, as a missionary. All of a sudden I'm towards the middle of my mission, not the beginning! I still feel like I'm just figuring things out, though!
People are becoming more important, too. We are still meeting with Nam Gi Yeon. We sing pop songs with sad lyrics together when we do English practice. When we do gospel lessons, she summarizes bit by bit the things she's read in the Book of Mormon, and asks questions about the House of Israel and Moses. Yesterday when we met, she asked for help reading some letters from nearly 30 years ago. When she was a school girl, her and a friend met two foreigners on the subway--one from France, one from Switzerland. They were traveling the world, and the one from Switzerland send her some postcards, a couple of letters. And then they lost touch, but she kept the letters.
And we meet three times a week with Kim Mi Yeong, but just twice this week because Monday was Children's Day--a "red day," so kids had it off from school, adults off from work. It was fun to see families out and about together. It's just a day to make kids happy.
Kim Mi Yeong asks about how to actually use the atonement. She wants to know if God lives, about Jesus Christ. As we meet, I try, I hope she sees that with prayer, with reading in the scriptures, attending church--as she searches out and learns, she will come to know. She will come to feel God's existance, and Christ's love. That's how all of us do it.
I am seeing more and more that knowing things, that the Church, the gospel, is a process, not a somewhere where you arrive, and then you're set. We have a whole lifetime--for a reason, I think. We need time. It's step by step, and each step comes with greater joy, with a greater ability to feel peace. And that's why it matters.
I love you all, and I hope you have a wonderful week.
--Carrie
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