Stories

Let's just get right to it then.

 

The Grumpy 문구 Lady

 

Do you remember what 문구s are? The craft stores that hold all your hopes and dreams? Well there's this giant 문구 here in 정읍 that is pretty much every missionaries promised land--notebooks, stickers, Japanese fountain pens everywhere you turn. It's paradise except for one tiny problem--the grumpy 문구 lady. Seriously it's like this woman was thought up by Tim Burton--dark, sunken-in eyes, pallid complexion, a frown that droops down to her collar. If life were a cartoon, there would be a rain cloud constantly over her head. I've never met someone so morose in my entire life--in fact her grumpiness would almost be comical if it weren't so terrifying. Some say it's because she hates Mormon missionaries, but on a recent encounter with her my companion and I decided she probably just hates everyone. But then, as we were walking home the other day we saw her waiting at the cross-walk. We 인사's politely and eventually started walking home with her. At first it was terrible, like seeing your least favorite teacher outside of school, but as we walked she told us more about her life and her job. She said she is astounded that missionaries aren't paid, that they live so comfortably making money before their mission and then just leave for a year and a half of unpaid service. She said that she's been working at that same 문구 for 16 years, ten hours almost every day (no wonder she's so sad). She can't understand how we can worry so little about money when it's all she thinks about--how she will live and what she will live on. It was a weird experience, because she was just as snarky and sarcastic as ever, and certainly has no interest in religion, but she showed to us a piece of her secret worried self. It wasn't much, but it's a good start.

 

An Actual Experience Looking for Less-Actives

 

"Do You Want to Come to Church Now?" (to the tune of "Do You Want to Build a Snowman?")

 

Hey, do you want to come to church now?

C'mon it's the Sabbath day.

We never see you anymore,

Come out the door,

It's like you've gone away!

You used to be a bishop

But now you're just

Some unknown inactive guy

Do you want to come to church now?

*really close to the door* You know, we're gonna get in somehow.

Okay, bye....

 

We like to make our search for less-actives musical. ^^

 

English Class

 

"Okay, so today we're going to practice pronunciation. Let's read this sentence together: 'Moses supposes his toeses are roses, but Moses supposes erroneously...'"

 

And then I started to tap dance. Not really, but it was so funny. Nobody understood it but me, but it was still worth it. I lived my dream.

 

A Baptismal Date

 

We have one! Our recent convert 박유진 referred us her friend, SungEun last month. We started teaching her a couple weeks ago and by our second lesson she had read the first seven chapters of the Book of Mormon! This week we met with her again and we talked about the Book of Mormon some more. I asked her if she liked it. She was like, "Yeah! It's fun!" I asked her if she wanted to know if it were true. If Nephi really was a person who lived, not just a story in a book. She said, "Yeah, but...how?" And this is where I got really excited because that's perhaps one of my favorite questions ever. So we flipped on back to Moroni 10:4-5 and read these wonderful words, "And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost. And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things." Best promise ever, right? So we asked our Sung Eun to pray about it. Then later in the lesson, when the subject of baptism came up, she simply said, "I think I'd like to be baptized." And we were like, "Hey we were thinking the same thing! How about the middle of August?" And so now she's going to pray about that too.

 

I just want to testify to each of you that the Book of Mormon is true! I know that it can soften our hearts and change lives. It isn't just a story, it's the truth and I know that when we ask God, we personally can understand that truth.

I love you!

 

아바 자매

Last Monday, we had Family Home Evening with a bunch of youth.  We played my favorite card game ever (Thanks, Sister Pappa), the Diamond Game!

We went with our investigator to the cutest cafe in the country and ate delicious waffles.  And, yes, we are those people who take pictures of food.  

 In other food news, later in the week we went to this "Italian" place with Grace, our Filipino member. The whole restaurant was divided into sections by pastel color. We were in the pink section.  The booths had giant pillows! The whole place reminded me of Madame Umbridge's office.

Sydney and Grace