Good afternoon! It's a bright and rather warm day in September. Already. I hope that all in the states are enjoying the last dregs of August. Another rainy season has come and gone, mostly, with much, much less than is normal. That being said, it's rained a fair bit, and there's massive flooding down South, so I guess it depends on where you're at. In any case, we're looking forward to a cool, blue autumn. May the sun shine and the cool winds blow wherever you are at. Love especially to all those starting school again now- fighting!
It's been quite an eventful week, and I wish that I could more adequately explain all that we do. Elder Ahn finished the pass-off program, which is a big deal. We had probably the worst lesson I have ever taught as a missionary ("I like coffee, but I know it's not healthy, cause when I drink it, I can't sleep that night. It's terrible. Actually, it's really delicious." -missionary teaching the word of wisdom), but that too passed. We had a fun mix up this week as well with the other elders. We were waiting outside one of the subway stations in our area at an exit I had never met someone at before, but that's what he requested. The person we were waiting for was met by elders down South, so we had never seen what he looked like, but they introduced him to us via phone, and we had set up that appointment. The time to meet arrived, and a very dapper gentleman that works down in Gangnam introduced himself to us, and said that he was there to meet missionaries. I asked him if he was the guy we were waiting for, and the name was a bit different, so I thought that that was awkward, and apologized for having the wrong name. We explained that since the other elders lived farther away, we would be meeting, and we started to make our way to eat and talk. He was kind and understanding, even after we found out he had traveled an hour and a half to meet with us, and we were different people than he had met originally. Anyway, as we were walking something just felt a little bit off, so I called the other elders in our area, and asked if they were meeting someone at Nowon exit 9 that night. They said they were, and said the name of the guy that we were going to eat with. It all ended up okay, he's incredible, we switched at the restaurant, and Elder Ahn and one of the other elders ate with him. Same station, same time, same exit, similar name~ just crazy. I street contacted with Elder Singer a bit, then we got a sudden call from the sisters that a family we have been teaching wanted to eat. Right then. We left right away, proselyted on accident to a ward member in the subway before we realized it was him, got a fake plant stuck on my shoe that when I pulled it off ripped my pant leg up to my knee, and had quite an adventure finding the son of the family we were visiting, who had no phone and was in one of the five or so PC rooms in the area. We eventually found him, ate spaghetti, left my bag, took a taxi to visit a less active member, who ended up not being there, talked with our bishop, who may or may not have noticed my uncommonly free pants, and took a taxi back home. It was a pretty crazy night.
On Saturday there was a ward party after a baptismal service with two more people being baptized, which meant that on Sunday there were three confirmations in church, including Brother Yun. Transfer calls were on Friday, and I will be staying in Sanggye, though I'll be with Elder Harrison, who I know well- I lived with him for a transfer or two, and have been in his same zone/district for most of my mission. This is actually his last transfer, so I'll be "killing" my first companion. Elder Jones is coming from Imun to be with Elder Ahn, I think the fourth missionary from Imun in five transfers to come to Sanggye. I'm switching apartments to the luxurious mountainside retreat, though it will now have six elders, as we're getting another set of elders in Sanggye. Elder Jones and Elder Ahn will stay in "the Byucksan," where we have been. It's not bad, but there are better. Says Elder Ahn on being confined there: "I will be devil, I will firework in my house." They'll get along great, and I'm excited as well. Elder Harrison is a great missionary. There's another large influx of missionaries this transfer, so our zone and our mission continues to grow.
Saturday we have a conference for 추석 (Chuseok), the Korean (originally Chinese) Thanksgiving/harvest festival. We're excited! One of the two biggest holidays of the year, go ahead and look it up, eat some pears, pay respect to ancestors, and give relatives beastly expensive gift boxes of dried mushrooms and ginseng sold by department stores. Perhaps we can avoid the latter, there are, as with Thanksgiving, many traditional elements of the holiday, but also those that are a bit more modern. In any case, we sure have a lot to be thankful for. I'm grateful very much for you and the opportunity to be here.
Love you!
Elder South
No comments:
Post a Comment