Week 40 - Happy New Year

Well, So far the holidays haven't been that big around here. On Christmas we had dinner at a member’s house, but nothing more than that. Also New Year's Day would have been just as dull,  if it hadn't been for the ward hike they had. Our bishopric called us up the night before to inform us about it.  There wasn't that much time to prepare for it. Especially since we needed an investigator to come with us or we would not have been able to go. So we took an hour trying to find someone to go with us. At first it seemed that no one would be able to go with us, so we weren't going to go. But then we remembered that at the Christmas party one of the members brought a friend with them, who kind of hung around with us. We asked our member a little about their friend to see if they would be willing to go. At first they were a little hesitant, because they weren't thinking about (소개)-ing (introducing) their friend to us. But they asked anyways about how they felt about church and about the missionaries. So, they asked their friend about attending the hiking trip. It was a sad first reaction...” no, I already have plans.”  It was ok with us or at least me, since I thought that we weren't going to be able to get anyone to come in the first place. So we thanked our member for trying and said that it was alright. At that point they either felt guilty or sorry for us, so they tried again. And I guess they explained that without them we couldn't go to the activity, so afterwards they dropped their plans and decided to come. We were so happy. I'm grateful that they were willing to come and I hope that they really think of us as a friend so maybe they will be willing to meet with us in the future. That night we called the Mission President to get his okay, since the trip took us to 태백 (Tae Baek). It was so much fun; also it reminded me a lot of home. I took a lot of good pictures of the view. I never really realized how much I loved the mountains.

   The rest of this week was crazy. First of all, our investigator, the teenage kid, is over his cold or illness, but he is in the hospital right now. Awhile ago he had something happen to his back. Scary right?! But there seems to be more hope from him. Lately we've been thinking that he didn't want to really get baptized, and that the only reason he was, was because of his friend or because we are older than him so he has to show respect to us, you know that kind of thing. But that day, the one he was going to the hospital, we received a text from him saying something like, “ oh no, I'm in the hospital right now! What are we going to about the baptism? What should I do?” (this is a very rough translation)  Well I'm excited for him and I'm praying that he'll get better soon. Also 이두환 형제님 called us again, saying that he wanted to meet with us. I'm a little confused about what's going on with him.  It sounded like he just got back but the second time he told me he had just got back. weird... anyway, he had horrible timing. It was on the same day we went to 태백 (Tae Baek), which was a five hour bus ride, just to get to the mountain. So we weren’t able to meet with him. The worry is that after that we won't be able to get a hold of him.  Anyway we have just been meeting with three new people, but just for English.  They are good so far, since they are all fairly close in age, they ask a lot of questions about missionary work.

   It's been so great working with Elder Han. I think out of all my companions so far I've learned the most from him. This transfer has been great. I’ve really seen how missionary work can be not only spiritual but normal. I think that, that’s what was missing last transfer. We were doing missionary work but I didn't feel like I was a normal person with an amazing calling... but a robot that taught people to believe in Christ. Hey Mom, I just wanted to thank you for the package, it was great. But right now I'm a little confused about my card and how I can use it?! Well I will try and figure it out. I bought a new jacket this week, actually the day before the hike, which was a good thing. The one I had went missing, to who knows where. Now I know that I need to watch my things a little more closely. But the real problem was that I couldn't get cash out to pay for the new one, so now I owe the mission 18 dollars. Well there is still time to learn. So how have you been lately? Are the girls and Stephen being good?  Well I love you bunches and bunches.

Bye...