Homecoming

Is very bitter-sweet.

(No time to write more.  Sorry!)

What You Should Expect

Your brand new Jenessa has just gotten off the plane.  After the hugs, the laughing, and the tears, one question reigns supreme–“What do I do with her now?”  She is probably very different than the person you remember and you might have some misconceptions about who and what she is.  So here are some helpful tips on things that you might experience and should therefore expect.

 

1)  Your new Jenessa probably doesn’t know her name and is likely to not respond to it.  She has been referred to as “Ma-keuh-raen-deuh” (Markland) for a year and half and doesn’t really have any connection to her first name.

2)  Your new Jenessa smells.  Bad.  And the best part is that she is completely oblivious to it.  It’s not just her, but also everything she owns that has a certain…odor about it.  She has been living in a country where they eat fermented vegetables, spicy food, whole onions, and (here’s the kicker) whole cloves of plain garlic for almost a year and a half!  Yes, she most certainly smells.  But she can’t smell it herself .  (Though, rest assured that she still uses deoderant!)

3)  Your new Jenessa is overly affectionate with females.  She has spent the past six weeks with a Korean girl.  They have held hands almost anytime they were outside.  She does not find this weird, awkward, or in any way indicative of same-gender attraction.  However, you might.

4)  Your new Jenessa is weirded out at the thought of physical contact with men.  She hasn’t had any for a long time.  In Korea, men and women don’t even shake hands or give high-fives.  So she is even more squicked out at the thought of touching, let alone hugging, a guy.

5)  Your new Jenessa is just all-in-all awkward around guys, actually.  Male/female relationships in Korea are different than in America.  Eye contact might be a struggle.  Talking, too, will probably be difficult.

6)  Your new Jenessa doesn’t really know English.  She speaks English as if she were teaching an English class to a bunch of Koreans.  Which means that she might feel the need to act out certain words…that you already know.  She also sometimes speaks English as if it were Korean.  Or as if she were a Korean.  And then she sometimes isn’t aware that she isn’t speaking English at all.

7)  Your new Jenessa wants to eat American food, but probably won’t be able to handle it.  Be prepared for her to be sick.  A lot.

8)  Your new Jenessa will want to go up to strangers and start a conversation with them.  And then get their phone number and offer her number in return.  Just let her do this.  Unless you fear for her safety.

9)  Your new Jenessa is not aware of many safety concerns.  Korean women don’t have many of the same concerns as American women do when it comes to late nights/men/their safety/etc.  Be on the lookout for her engaging in activities that might not be so safe in America.

10)  Your new Jenessa is terrified of white people.  Particularly en masse.  Or anyone who is not Korean, really.  Korea is a very homogenous society.  People who aren’t Korean stick out.  And they make her terrified, extra awkward, and uncomfortable.  It will probably not be too uncommon for her to refer to anyone who is not Korean as “foreigner.”

11)  Your new Jenessa might seem a bit racist.  For the aforementioned reasons.  But there will probably be especially strong negative feelings for the Japanese.  Do not let her express these feelings impolitely.  Help her see that the Japanese are not just pillaging invaders.  But above all, don’t argue with her about Dokdo.

12)  Your new Jenessa will cry at random times and for random reasons.  She misses Korean, Koreans, and Korea.  She will go through withdrawals and feel many frustrations as she tries to reassimilate.  Don’t rush her.  Let her express these thoughts and emotions.  Encourage her to talk about Korea.  Ask her questions.  Engage her in conversation about Korea.

13)  Your new Jenessa will not want to ever be alone.  She hasn’t been for a long time, and being alone might induce momentary panic.

14)  Your new Jenessa will only ever want to watch church movies.  But don’t worry, because she is bringing back a nice selection with her.  Seriously, some of he ones made just for Korea are real tear-jerkers.

15)  Your new Jenessa won’t understand American politics, fashion, music, or pop-culture.  But she can, of course, share with you the Korean counterparts.

16)  Your new Jenessa will think that things that aren’t funny are funny.  She has a missionary sense of humor.

17)  Your new Jenessa will want everything planned and will be opposed to spontanaeity unless you can assure her that the change in plans has been “guided by the Spirit.”  She feels that we have schedules for a reason and must maximize our time.

18)  Your new Jenessa will want to roller skate.  Yeah, she still has dreams of being a roller derby star.

19)  Your new Jenessa will start talking about the gospel at strange times and will try and relate everything back to it.  Let her bear testimony.  Share yours with her.  Let her try and commit you to share it with your non-member friends.

20)  Your new Jenessa will love you even more than she did before she left.  Love her back and you will get along fine.

 

Wow, can you believe that the time is finally here?  That I finish my mission next week?  That is so, so sad and crazy to me.  SO many thoughts and emotions that I have to sort out.  But no time now.

 

So just a couple of other things really quickly.

 

This past week in our Book of Mormon stories English class, one of the Korean sisters made a translation error that was hilarious.  Especially since she didn’t realize it.  What happens is they read one of the pictures from the Book of Mormon stories book in English and then translate it into Korean.  Well, the word she wanted (“land”) and the word she used just have a tiny vowel sound difference in Korean.  She just mis-spoke, but what she said was, “The Lord promised to lead the people of Jared to the promised poop.”  AH, it was so funny!

In other funny news, last week, I was really happy, so I was doing this funny kind of walking thing down the street.  I don’t really know how to describe it.  I’ll show you when I get home.  So Sister Kim started trying to do it, too.  And then, this middle-aged woman across the street who was talking on the phone was watching us.  And then she started doing it, too!!!!!  It made me so happy!!

 

Other things that make me happy include the fact that one of our investigators commited to be baptized next month!!!  Yay!!!!  The gospel is so true and happy!  It has blessed my life so much!!!!  I’m so excited for her!!!!!!

 

And I’m excited, albeit saddened, to come home.  But I love you all and am eager to be back in Zion (see “Legacy” for the reference–oh, that’s something else.  Your new Jenessa can quote church movies like nobody’s business).  See you in ten!

“You Ate What?!”, Korean New Year, and the UN

This past week was not the best for missionary work.  Not a lot of people want to meet the week before a three-day national holiday.  Or talk to you on the street, etc.  So we found ways to make it fun for ourselves.  Such as the further exploration of Korean cuisine.

 

My companion was disgusted with me.  And the Elders.  Why?  Well… we ate something that I will probably never again have the opportunity to eat in my life.  Man’s best friend.

 

Yes, we ate Korean dog soup.

 

There are pictures.

 

Elder Campbell, who pounded his, said it tasted just like turkey.  I feel as though it tasted more like if a cow and a pig had a baby and then you didn’t trim as much fat off of it as you should before you cooked it.  Definitely edible, but not something that I would really want to  eat ever again.  The side dish of dog intestines/dog lungs was actually better than the main dish, in my opinion.

 

My blog is probably now going to get slammed by PETA or something.

Oh, well, you’re only in Korea once, right?

 

In non-food-related news, one of my members has started a campaign to make me as trunky as possible.  She gave me a present last week, “Because you’ll be needing this soon,” she said.  It was a book: “Raising the Happy Child.”  Thank you.

 

On Sunday, Sister Kim got to call home for the holiday.  So it’s official:  for every single holiday where Americans call home, I had an American companion.  For every one where Koreans call home I had a Korean companion.  Sigh.  Even though I know that I will be home soon, it was still hard to hear her talk to her family. But she made me talk to them, too.  So that was fun.

 

We didn’t have any invitations for the holiday ㅠㅠ, but we cooked a traditional meal for the senior office couple, which they really enjoyed.  We also went with them to the Busan Museum and the UN Memorial Cemetery for the fallen UN soldiers in the Korean war.  It was very touching and powerful and caused a great swell of patriotism to rise within me for America.  I have pictures of that, too, but no time to send them today.

 

Shoot, I gotta run–I have an English class to teach in an hour.  Sorry!

 

Love you all and look forward to renewing our accquaintance in two weeks and a day (my time)!

The spread:

Elder Cambell

My friend the post office security guard is over my shoulder looking at my pics–so no pic of me eating dog.  Sorry.

Three New Investigators and A Crazy in Disguise

Hello from Dynami Busan!  (That’s Busan’s slogan.  Every city in Korea has a one word English slogan–“Yes! Gumi,” “Smiling Geumjeong”–okay, so Guemjeong is an area in Busan, but the areas have slogans too.  I can’t remember what Jinnhae and Daegu’s slogans are, though.)  We had quite the week!  And quite the P-Day.  It started off with an hour-and-a-half-long yoga class with a recent convert.  It was very intense.  Shaking muscles, but the best I’ve felt in a long time.  Anyway, I digress. 

 

We were so busy last week.  Non-stop work.  I love being a busy missionary.  The highlights of the week were our three new investigators!  One who was a referral from  a Gumi member and the other two were a special treat.

 

On Saturday night, we got a phone call from a girl named GoDan.  She is Chinese but married to a Korean man.  Her Korean is limited and she has no English.  She said that she wanted to come to church and was bringing a friend.  She lived in the Yeonsan area–or so we thought.  She actually lives in Geumjeong and her friend lives in Gupo ward area, but the Yeonsan members aren’t letting them get away!

 

So we went to the Yeonson ward for the first time with them.  They stayed for all three blocks, we taught them a lesson (watched the restoration DVD in Korean) and then set up another appointment.  I’m so glad that we went to Yeonsan with them–that ward is so friendly and loving!  It was one of the best Sundays that I’ve ever had in Korea.  The testimonies were great and the ward was so kind.  And thanks to some inspiration that Sister Kim had earlier in the week–we actually had all of the pamphlets in Mandarin!  We had just randomly picked them up at the mision office earlier in the week.  Crazy, right?  (No, duh.  That’s just the way of the Lord.)

 

So that was miraculous and wonderful.

We then had an appointment with another new potential investigator who wanted to meet with us.  She had been given a pamphlet on the subway and was interested in meeting.

 

We met and it turned out that she was a missionary for one of the crazy churches here in Korea and just wanted to bash!  We, of course, did not engage.  We testified, invited her to actually learn for herself and then left.  It was scary though–the total lack of light in her eyes.  As in every time she looked at me I felt I was staring into black holes.  Way icky. 

 

It was funny.  We’d had such a great day and then it was like–boom! opposition in all things.  It seemed like the Adversary was just trying to throw something in our way to discourage us.  But it didn’t work.  It was like Abraham–we’d had the real deal earlier in the day–and then who was that crazy woman and where was her glory?  Definitely didn’t sweat over it.  Just felt bad for her.  And as we left, my companion turned to me and said ( in English):  “I am a disciple of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.  I have been called of Him to declare His word amongst His people.”  And then in Korean, she told me that she was getting stronger.  Before, when she had been attacked by a missionary from another church, she had cried.  But now, she was able to boldy testify and move on.

 

It’s funny to me, how often the trials that the Adversary tries to throw up in our path can just serve to make us stronger and an even better advocate for truth and light if we just let them.  The choice is always ours.

 

I hope that you all have a great week!  I will be home this month and in less than one more fast Sunday.

 

Oh!!!  And congratulations to the beautiful Bet-say and her mission call to Florida!!!!!!  That’s the best!!!!!!!

A Month From Today

One month from today your time, I will be arriving into the Seatac International Airport.  One month from yesterday my time, I will be leaving Korea on a plane for Tokyo and then on to America.  That is all very surreal. 

 

A month is really not much time at all.  It’s 1/18 of a mission and only a mere part of a lifetime and barely more than a fragment when compared to eternity.  It certainly doesn’t seem like very much time to become the missionary that I hoped I would become or to accomplish all the lofty goals that I had for my mission.  Time is such a precious resource, yet it is amazing to me how much of it I waste.  Not just as a missionary, but also in general.  If I hadn’t wasted any time on my mission, who would I be right now?  What greater miracles would I have witnessed?  What if I hadn’t wasted any time in my whole life?  What then?  But of course, we seldom feel like we are “wasting time” when we actually are.  And who is to say what is a “waste of time” anyway?  Wow, this is getting way too weirdly philosophical for me. 

 

So I’ll jump into a couple of funny stories instead.

 

Last week in Relief Society, we were talking about the Lorenzo Snow lesson.  I think the topic was baptism, but I honestly can’t remember, because we got waaaay off track.  Most delightfully so.  There’s this one somewhat elderly sister who is a convert.  And I don’t really know how we got on this topic, but she shared the following experience:

“Back in the old days, there were no baptismal fonts in all of Korea.  If you wanted to get baptized, you had to do it in a river, lake, or the ocean.  Well, the missionaries were baptizing a new convert in the ocean down near 해운대 and I was going along to watch.  They asked me to watch their clothes.  So I turned around and then they trekked off into the ocean–and the water was pretty shallow, so they had to go pretty far off–and then I just sat there watching their clothes.  They were so far out that I could barely see them.  Now, I don’t know if they were wearing baptismal clothes like they do today–I never saw any.  I just saw the pile of clothes that I was guarding.  And they were too far off to tell, but I think that they did it naked!  Is that how it used to be?  Did they used to only do baptisms naked?’

 

The Relief Society Sisters quickly assured her that they had probably changed into the white baptismal clothes and that she probably just couldn’t see it.  But, as I’m sure you can imagine, we were all just dying.  it was a lot funnier coming from her.  And a lot longer–about five minutes worth of story.  So funny.

 

I was going to share another “funny” story about one of our less-active Sisters, but I think that I will save that for another day.  It involves forgery, missionary work and lies.  I’m not sure if it’s more funny or sad.  But remind me to tell you about it some time.

 

And before I forget, happy birthday to the beautiful Tayler Thompson!  Sadly, I did not get her birthday card sent off in time.  Sorry!  I love you!  Hope you had a great birthday!

Oh! and also before I forget, two weeks from now I will be emailing late–on Tuesday instead of Monday, as the post office will be closed because of the Korean New Year.  Just a head’s-up, because I’m sure that you all wait with bated breath for the exact moment that Melina posts these blogs.  Haha.

 

Have a great week and see you in a month!

Geumjeong, Oncheon, Yeonsan – Oh, My!

Hello from Busan, which is oh-so-much warmer than Gumi!  And a whole lot dirtier, louder and bigger. 

 

Especially since we cover three areas.  That means:  three English classes, two weekly service activities, three area books, etc.  You get the idea.  Pretty intense for my last six weeks.

 

Yesterday after church, we were told that we had to go to choir practice (this is in Geumjeong).  There were more people at choir practice than typically attend sacrament meeting at Gumi (around 60)!  It was very surreal.  The church is gorgeous and Korean-sytle–we take off our shoes when we get in and everyone wears slippers.  It’s pretty awesome.

 

There was a whole lot more that I have jotted down to say, but my adorable companion hates (HATES!) emailing and thinks that it is a waste of time.  So, I will forbear from telling you about the most awkward/funniest teaching practice ever in a district meeting (it involves us teaching the APs–who were being a mother and daughter–about the law of chastity…oh shoot!), and instead, I will just close with this quote from our assistant zone leader, Elder Charles, who was in Gimcheon when I was in Gumi and transferred at the same time:

 

“Sister Markland, please do your best to not attract any more strange men.  But, if they absolutely can’t help themselves, at least try and teach them the gospel.” 

Words of wisdom to live by.

 Hope you all have a great week!  Hopefully I’ll be able to find more time for blog writing next week!  Love you all!

Last Transfer and…Everything

I had this really epic blog planned out, but I find that I have no time, so it probably won’t be as good as I (or you) had hoped.  Sorry about that.

 

Firstly, I got some epic letters today–my first of the transfer (as in last transfer)!  So, just a little shout out to Irene Smith, my aunt Sandy, Elder Robinson (who included he and his companion’s Christmas card photo), the Knights, and Joylyn and Kaylene.  Thank you all so much!  Responses will be forthcoming!

 

Well, I got transferred.  To Busan.  I am now in the Geumjeong ward, which is the biggest in the mission with the nicest building.  We also cover the Yeonsan Branch.  Very big area.  Lots of people.  And currently only one investigator.  So we have a lot of work ahead of us.

 

My new companion is an adorable Korean named Kim Sora.  She is super cute!  This is her fourth transfer.  I’m really excited to serve with her.

 

But…let’s not lie, I sobbed like a baby to be leaving my beloved Gumi and my beautiful Sister McKay.  But we had a great last week with lots of funny stories, appointments, and I received several gifts from members since I was leaving.  I love that ward.

Here were the things that I wanted to mention but now find that I have no time to elaborate on–I “felt up” a Presbyterian pastor on accident (he was trying to show me his prosthetic leg).  Our English-speaking-only investigator might have found his soul mate in the form of our less-active sister who attended his lesson as our member present (he even spoke Korean to her!)!  Ma asked me to be her bridesmaid if I can make it to her wedding in Korea.  Pizza School opened up in Gumi.  And one of our young-ish male investigators, in response to me saying, “I like your shoes” replied, “Sister Markland, I like your everything.”  Haha.  Why am I not this popular in America?  Sorry that I don’t have time to further flesh out these tales, but I must run.  Sorry.

 

Endure to the end – Busan Style!  Love it!

New Year’s Eve

What?  Are the Gumi Sisters just a couple of massive slobs?  Is that what you are asking after seeing those photos?  No!  Of course not!  We are clean!!!!  Swear it!  What are those photos, then? you are probably now asking yourself.  Well, therein lies the most epic story to come out of Gumi this past week.

Last Monday, New Year’s Eve, was our P-day, as per usual.  We slept most of the day.  (Haha.)  Stayed at home, wrote letters, napped, lounged in our pjs, etc.  We left the house around three, ran errands and then did missionary work until about 8:30ish when we made our frozen way home.  We opened our door to find no light when we came in.  “Huh, that’s weird” we thought, as our entry-way light is a motion sensor type of thing.  But nothing.  Sister mcKay got de-shoed first and went inside, only to discover the above pictures.  Well, she didn’t actually discover the pictures, as I took them later, but she discovered the contents of the photos.  You know what I mean.

“Sister Markland,” she called, “I think someone’s been in our house.”

So I come in and, sure enough, our house had been mildly ransacked!  Someone had gone through her luggage, both of our desks, our jewelery, our closets–some fiend pawed through my garments!–and had pretty much just molested our apartment.

The first thing we did was check to make sure said fiend was no longer in our apartment–he wasn’t.  Then we called the Andong Elders to tell them that we were home–and that we were going to be calling President because we’d been burglarized!  What, the what?!

So I called President Gilbert.  He told me to go ahead and call the police.  I interpreted that as call 정재환 and ask him for help.  I explained to him what had happened.  He called the police for us and then said that he was on his way to our house with our ward’s first counselor in tow.  During this whole time, I tried calling the landlord several times, but couldn’t get ahold of him.

Well, the police showed up before our Brothers, so I had to deal with that–my 1) fear of all police and 2) knowledge of Korean did not put me in good standing for talking with the police, who wanted to know what was missing, what had happened etc.  I told them that nothing was missing.  It didn’t seem as if the culprit had taken any jewelery, they hadn’t taken our DVD player or cameras or Sister McKay’s ipod, all of which were out and easily accessible.  It honestly didn’t seem like anything was missing.  They told us to sit in the bedroom as they made phone calls and took photos.  We were there with them for quite a while as they kept asking questions about crap.  Sister McKay and I had already decided to look on the positive side of things and were just glad that we were being allowed to party on new Year’s Eve with some men in our apartment.  Haha.  I’m kidding, mom, we never actually said that.  (Not that we didn’t think it ^^).

The police told us to stay put in the bedroom and to touch nothing.  Then they peaced.  We didn’t know what was up.  But our ward Brothers finally showed up and told us to come wait in the hall.  So we did.  We then tried some more to track down the landlord.  Then–the CSI came.  No joke.  Korea is a super safe place with not a lot of crime, so we apparently made the department’s night as they got to deal with a crime on New Year’s Eve–involving foreigners!  We were mighty glad that we could oblige their desire for some action.  So the CSI came and took more photos with better cameras, scanned the whole house with these black light thingies and even dusted for fingerprints!  Yes, I am aware that this was kind of a serious thing, but Sister McKay and I were sort of giddy from all the excitement.  During large portions of this, we were alternating phone calls with President and Sister Gilbert and the Andong Elders.

After a while, we were informed of how the intruder entered–the kitchen window.  We live on the third floor.  But apparently he had climbed in through the window–they could see the evidence of it.  So we called Sister Gilbert and let her know that’s what happened.  She then chewed us out for not locking our windows.  Honestly, it had never occured to either of us–this is Korea!  And we live on the third floor!  Oh, well, it was a lesson in common sense.

Well, the police finally left and our first counselor re-dedicated our house for us–but only after the two of them went over the whole house and criticized our furnishings and the lack of food in our fridge–and then they left, too.  We were told that we could pick up our stuff and reorganize everything.  That’s when we discovered that something was missing–out of our pearls, diamonds, cameras, ipod, DVD player, etc., the only thing that the thief took was the chain from my Young Women’s medallion.  Not the medallion, just the chain.  We decided it’s because he’s in love with me and just wanted a momento–we (meaning me, Sister McKay, and Sister Gilbert) are all okay with that.  It’s mostly amusing.  Actually, everything about this is funny.

As we were cleaning, we got a phone call from Andong at about 10:28PM (which is unusual because we are not allowed to make phone calls after 10:20P) but  Elder Struhs began by saying, “I have permission to call you.  This is an emergency.  Lock your doors and windows.”  So of course everyone in the whole mission got the phone call, but only President and Sister Gilbert, Andong, and we knew why.  Sister McKay and I were dying!  We were so stoked to be a “cautionary tale”!  Elder Struhs thought that is was pretty funny, too.

So after that, we heard some loud talking from outside, so I crept to the window to listen.  I could hear JaeHwan’s voice, but I couldn’t distinguish his words.  Shortly thereafter, however, we got a visit from our landlord.  Apparently our two Brethren had tracked him down and chewed him out.  He apologized and told us that he would be installing more CCTV cameras to cover the back of the building as well and that he would be installing bars, etc. (side note:  he stopped by last night to assure us that he has already purchased four cameras and will be installing them this week).  Then we got more phone calls from the police and had to call back and forth with President Gilbert and the police and JaeHwan, etc.  So, we were allowed to stay up until midnight on new Year’s Eve!  Yay!  Hooray for valid excuses to ring in the New Year!

Unfortunately, we had to wake up at five the next morning.  We wanted to die.  We hiked through the frozen cold–my eyelashes turned to ice because of my breath–and wound our way to the mountain.  And up to the base of the mountain.  Only to find no ward members.  We made some phone calls.  Turns out that we were not meeting at the mountain after all (there were a ton of other crazy Koreans there, however, to greet the New Year).  We were meeting down the mountain at a gazebo on a frozen lake.  We eventually made it there.

We sang hymns, prayed, talked about our desires for the ward and for ourselves, personally, for the coming year.  Then we knelt down in the snow and ice to offer up personal petitions to the Lord, before singing and praying again as a group.  We were blessed to be given a ride home.  We were SO grateful for that.

The rest of the week was pretty good.  Had a great District Meeting in Andong where we celebrated District Leader Struhs’ birthday, spent all day in Busan at our last training meeting together and pretty much just partied it up rockstar-style in Gumi.  We also taught some lessons and did our best to fulfill our purpose as missionaries.

The sad news?  That this will be our last week together in Gumi.  Transfer calls–for my last transfer–are this Thursday and one of us will surely be going.  President Gilbert has asked me twice, once via e-mail and once in person, what my thoughts are about staying in Gumi for my last transfer.  I’ve told him that I’ll be happy either way–it’s just what is best for him and the mission.  But no matter who stays or who goes, I’ll be losing Sister McKay, which breaks my heart.  I love her to freakin’ death and the thought of having a companion who’s not her for the next six weeks makes me want to throw up.  Or cry.  Or both.  I just pray that she gets an even more awesome companion for this next transfer.  Whatever happens, though, I will be happy knowing that is is the will of the Lord.  So stay or go, I don’t know, but it will be a great six weeks, regardless.

Hope you all have a great New Year!

And seriously, don’t worry about us.  We still sleep with the kitanas and I now sleep with a switchblade as well.  I pity the next fool who tries to break into our apartment!  Love you all!

P.S.  –  Here is a picture of the frozen lake:

27 Candles

Happy Birthday to us all!!!!  Aka Happy New Year!  Tomorrow marks my 27th birthday in Korean age.  I am NOT looking forward to telling people that I am 27.  I will be glad to get back to America and be 25 again.  I already feel old enough as it is!  Shoot!

How are we celebrating, you might ask?  We were informed by our ward yesterday at church that our presence is required at the base of the mountain at 6:30 AM tomorrow.  For a sunrise prayer meeting.  That’s kind of typical of Korean New Year’s celebrations.  Greet the sun at a mountain.  Sister McKay and I are most definitely NOT excited about leaving our house around 5:30 to trek through the darkened, snow covered, icy streets with the freezing wind whipping our noses and chapping our lips to get to said mountainside prayer meeting.  They might need to pray us back to life!  Just the prospect makes me shudder.  So early!  So cold!

But I’m sure it will be spiritual and uplifting and crap.

Not much else happened this week that is worthy of reporting.  Had some scandalous conversations with men who are more interested in the gospel of Markland and McKay than in the restored gospel of Chirst, slipped on ice, built a snowman, got into a snowball fight with a 45-year-old, froze, went to church, got rejected (a lot), taught a few lessons, got lost in the boonies, got a Christmas package with some hilarious letters from my mom’s seminary students, talked with the family on the phone, made some living scripture videos with the comp, cleaned our apartment, contemplated cleaning further, drank more hot chocolate than is healthy, and slept on the sometimes-too-hot-sometimes-too-cold floor.  So, all in all, it was a pretty typical week for us here in Korea.

The gospel moves forward and we are freezing.  But it is probably teaching us some valuable life lessons and we will one day look back on the frigid winter of 2012 as one of the happiest memories of our lives.  Or so we keep telling ourselves.

Not much else to report.  Hope you are all warm.  Enjoy your respective birthdays.  Kiss lots of people at midnight for me.  Haha.  (Just kidding, mom.)

***Melina Post: Christmas Photos!***

1.  jenessa and sister cutler at the mission christmas party

2.  andong elders (struhs and quist) with their present from the (lovely) gumi sisters!
3.  gift for the kimcheon elders (ahn young gyeun and charles)!

4.  jessa decking the halls on christmas eve!5.  with sister mckay on christmas eve!
6.  elders as santas!!7.  elders passing out the goods…

8.  “the elders as dead santas.  i dunno, either.  it was elder ahn’s idea.  he always wants us to take group photos where everyone pretends to be dead…”
9.  hot cocoa and a break from the snow!!