October 26, 2015

Annyeong haseyo!

I'm so sorry, we had some things come up very suddenly and unexpectedly, so I have only a few minutes today. From now on we will be trying to do email in the mornings because we always run out of time when we try to do it at night, so you will probably be receiving my emails before you go to bed Sunday night.

I only have time to write about a few things, so I'll pick my very favorites. Each day is so packed full of stuff that happens, so this is a very small smidgen of my week.

On Sundays we take the sacrament to a very old, very sick woman in the hospital named Kang Kwinyeo. She is one of the sweetest, kindest people I have ever met. As we go to leave, she always says "사랑합니다, 선교사 (saranghamnida, seongyosa--I love you missionaries)." This is such an important part of why I'm here--the small acts of service that make a difference to people.

I won't go into detail on this one, but basically we met a man who could speak very little Korean and very little English. After nearly an hour of following him around trying to figure out what he wanted, we determined that he had a backpack full of stolen smart phones. Annnnd, it just got weirder from there. He was convinced that I could read his mind because I have blue eyes. Every time we tried to leave, he would yell "I'm a very important person!" It was definitely one for the books.

Old women here are the best. Multiple times this week, little old ladies bought us donuts or candy off of the street vendors.

On Sunday, I was asked to bless the sacrament--in Korean, of course--and gave another talk in sacrament meeting. It's weird, but the more jobs I have, the happier I feel. Blessing the sacrament in Korean was a very neat experience for me. It feels so good to be here serving these people in the Lord's way.

On Tuesday and Wednesday I will be on a companion exchange with Elder Hines, which I'm super excited about. He is from the Logan area and is interested in studying music. We have a lot in common, and always have a good time together.

In English class this week, try as I might to direct the lesson toward learning to express simple emotions, we ended up discussing racial slurs for a good 45 min. It was actually super fun. Teaching English class is another one of the highlights of each week.

Miracles, miracles, miracles, every day.

For p-day today, we spent the day as a district at Song Do beach (again, try to google this place--it's unreal). I will attach photos.

Thank you everyone who wrote. I cannot tell you the difference all your letters make to me. I wish I had the time to write long letters to each of you.

사랑합니다

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Lots of district lovin' at Song Do beach. I love my district and my companion.