Sunday, October 13, 2013

In which.....

In which intestines are consumed.

On Tuesday, we added an extra friend to our companionship! Don't freak out, though, it wasn't a permanent thing. One of the young women in our ward, 김선영,(Sun-Youngis preparing to put in her mission papers soon and so we wanted to take her with us for an entire day so that she could see A Day in the Life of the Sister Missionaries! I think she really liked it and hopefully the whole experience made her more excited to serve a mission. To her good fortune, the day she was with us, another member in our ward decided to take us out to dinner. This doesn't normally happen, so it was an exciting time for everyone. Dinner was yummy and I was happy to be sitting in a warm restaurant with the soothing sounds of other people speaking a language I don't yet understand. However, after dinner, as we were waiting for the bus to take us to another appointment, 김선영 (Sun-Youngstarted typing something into her phone's translator. She then handed it to me and said, "This is what you just ate for dinner!"

곱창 - (n) The small intestine of cattle.

Oh, boy.

But actually, it was fine. I didn't know what it was while I was eating it and it tasted yummy to me, so all was well. Also, I hold firmly to Life Fact #54--"The tastiest food is always the food that is free."


In which old friends are reunited.

On Wednesday, my companion and I traveled to Daejeon for the Trainer & Trainee (TNT) Meeting. The TNT Meeting is when all the new missionaries and their respective trainers meet for the day and talk about how things have been as brand-new missionaries in the field. But do you know what else this means? I got to see all my old MTC friends again! Most importantly, I got to see my lovely, lovely Sister Pappa again.

My emotions were pretty much like,
YAYAYAYAYAY.

But honestly, I did not quite realize how much I would miss her till we were separated for an entire month. I'm glad to report that my dear Pappa is doing very well in 광주 with her new companion and I could not be happier for her. But still, I wish we could see each other more often.

Other than this bright spot of joy, the rest of the TNT Meeting was pretty...meh. Or as the Koreans will shrug their shoulders and say--그냥.(Just that)


In which a lesson goes from "okay" to "almost comically horrible".

Thursday, we met with Hannah again. We had planned to go over the Restoration with her and her kids and we even had a member and her young son there to help us, but our planned "first thirty minutes of English" turned into more like "first forty-five minutes of English." My companion handled things wonderfully though and simply asked Hannah if we could just watch the Restoration video with her, talk about it a little, and then end the lesson there. She agreed.

This is where things started to go awry. Firstly, her two kids clearly did not want to be there and looked tired and bored. Then, Hannah kept getting up and leaving to answer phone calls from work. Finally, as the video was just getting to the good part of the First Vision, the TV went crazy. I don't know, something happened with the color and everything turned all red and orange and then, just as the music was building, the volume all of a sudden went way too loud and everyone nearly jumped out of their seats.

Anyway, I was having the hardest time trying not to burst out laughing and I was just glad when our train wreck of a lesson finally came to a close.

Don't worry though. We're teaching her the Restoration again next week.


In which General Conference was the best thing ever.

Earl Count: 12!
Thanks Earl for being in the choir and representing the rest of the family for me. It's always nice to see a familiar face. (Sydney's Uncle Earl had quite a bit of TV coverage this conference)

I don't think I've ever watched General Conference as intently as I did this time. It was like when ABC Family has their Harry Potter Weekends, only better.

Though it's hard to write about just one, I really loved Elder Scott's talk this conference. I loved how he talked about God seeing our weaknesses differently than rebellion. On my mission thus far, I have realized that I have a ton of weaknesses. More than I'd like to think about. But like Elder Scott said, "When the Lord speaks of weaknesses, it is always with mercy."

I know that through God, our weaknesses can become strong. I'm still working on my weaknesses, but I am ever grateful for a loving and merciful God who understands that I'm doing my very best.

I love you all very much.
Sister Sydney
Sister Pappa and Sister Arvanitas, reunited
This picture was sent to an unused email account.  This is Sydney's Mission President and wife with all the missionaries who arrived with her and their trainers.  

Sydney and Sister Lee

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