Adventures, Moments, and Miracles

This week consisted of adventures, disappointments, inadequacies, happy moments, and miracles.

So pretty much a regular week in the life of a missionary.

An Adventure

Since I arrived in Korea, I really haven't done anything too terribly exciting on p-day. In fact, when it comes to fun things to do, 충주 is a lot like Cranberry. One can go out to eat or one can...go out to eat. The end.

But, this past p-day was different because a few miles outside of 충주, just down the street from where some of our members live, stands the Big. Golden. Statue. And after many weeks of merely staring at it from a distance, we finally decided to go and get a closer look.

Allegedly, it was once the tallest Buddha statue in Asia, until China went and built a taller one. Chinnnna...*shakes fist*

But oh, what a wonderful day we had! The weather was perfect, the fall leaves were beautiful, and the statue was just as enormous and golden as we dreamed it would be.

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Also, upon closer inspection, we discovered to our delight that our golden friend was sporting a twirly green goatee and a "Mona Lisa" smile.

(Also, is this stone dragon Mushu or is it Mushu. I love living in Asia.

The plaque in front of it says, "Whomever drinks this water will be pure in heart." But the water was full of drowned insects, so there was no way I was going to drink from it. More like, "Whomever drinks this water will get typhoid and die.")

 

Disappointments & Inadequacies

They happen. But I remember to keep calm and carry on. :)

Happy Moments

This week we went and had a special lunch with the sister I wrote about a couple of weeks ago, who came to church all on her own, with her twin babies strapped to her front and her back. It was such a sweet moment to sit and spend an hour eating lunch with her, as I've come to love and appreciate her and her little babies so much these past couple months. She thought it was hilarious when I sat down next to her infant son and began trying to teach her baby son Korean. "A foreigner! Teaching my baby Korean! Will wonders never cease!"

 

 

 

Another hilarious and happy moment? Trying to explain the concept of Veggie Tales to my companion.

Me: It's this children's television show in which they sing songs and tell Bible stories. Only with vegetables.

Companion: What the...

Me: No, no, no! I promise, it's awesome!

And finally...it's kimchi-making season! Which means our members have bestowed upon us pounds upon pounds of kimchi.

Honestly, this stuff weighs like fifty pounds each

A Miracle

We found a new investigator! Two actually, but the first one hasn't texted us back since the day we taught her, so we won't count her just yet.

But our other investigator, Sister Lee (not to be confused with my companion Sister Lee) is incredible and is so ready to hear the gospel. We found here one night when we stopped at her little burger restaurant for dinner. Just as we were about to leave, her and my companion started talking. We explained a bit about what we do and why and she was really impressed. She said that she would love it if we could stop by every week-night and help her with her English and share with her a little bit more about our message. An appointment. Every. Night. I don't know if you folks at home are keeping up with the number of appointments I've had since I've been here, but I can tell you now that we haven't had one every day. So exciting!

Anyway, when we met with her on Friday, she told us a lot about her previous religious history--she moved to 충주 about seventeen years ago and was earnestly searching for a church, but could never find one that didn't seem crazy, corrupt, or at war with all the other churches around it. In other words, there were too many churches and she was confused about which one she should join. Sound familiar? I just hope so much that now can be her time to finally hear the fullness of the gospel. She is so wonderful and happy and sweet. I love her already and I just want all good things for her. But I know that Heavenly Father will do things in His own timing. We just need to be humble, patient, understanding, and obedient. Which is far easier said than done, but I'm working on it.

And with all these miracles, I've been thinking a lot about how I can improve myself as a missionary in order to be worthy of the people the Lord keeps sending my way. I know I still have a lot of shortcoming--I don't talk to random people on the street nearly as much as I should, I get sassy with my companion sometimes, I often struggle to crawl out of bed at 6:30 every morning...But then I think about the people I'm here to teach and about how much I love them already and I decide I want to be better for them. I want to be more worthy of them. I pray every day that Heavenly Father will help me to become more worthy of these people because I know that He can and He will. If I try my hardest, He will take care of the rest. "For with God nothing shall be impossible." (Luke 1:37).

I love you.

Sister Abba