First Week in Area! Sun Cheon!

Hi Family and everyone!

I just want to tell you all-Korea is AWESOME!!! I've never learned so
much in just a couple days in my life!!

After spending a few days at the mission home in Daejeon (we took a
bus from Seoul, about 2 hours, with President and Sister Furniss and
Elders Warner and Campbell), the Transfer Board was unvieled and we
recieved our assignments!

Oh before that, I have to tell you, what Koreans sleep on is called a
Yo, kind of like a futon. Other than their yo, they use only a
blanket, which they fold up each morning and place at the end of the
bed. (I'll send you my SD card with pictures...later :) I want to get
more on it first!)

We also went through immigration and making us legal to be here-just
as easy as getting my fingerprints scanned and filling out a little
paperwork. The customs too were super simple. Traveling out of the
county isn't as complex as I'd first supposed :)

SO! We got assigned our areas and our trainers Thursday morning! It
was awesome and sad to see our Dongki (our MTC group) split, but we
know we are going to grow so much here.
My new companion's name is Won Min Ji! She's super nice, and she's a
native Korean, which will help me so much with the language! I can
also ask her lots of questions and she smiles and laughs with me, and
helps me understand different things (like that the water here is all
not purified, so each apartment has a purifier, and that Koreans
recycle as much as they can! We take old food or leftover food and put
it in plastic bag, then into the freezer. I'm learning so much!

Our area is called Sun Cheon ("Soon-chuhn") and it's waaaaaay down at
the bottom of our mission in Daejeon. It's really pretty here, and the
people are super nice! Our first appointment was with an investigator
name XXXX (Mom, for securtity reasons, maybe don't post her
name on the mission blog, just in case) she's 48 and lives in an
apartment all by herself. She has two sons, one serving in the Korean
army and one in the Phillipenes.
We met her on Friday for lunch at her apartment. She was very motherly
about helping me with the new food; it was actualy really funny. I was
really REALLY trying hard to use chopsticks most of the time, even
100% if I could. But she noticed that sometimes I struggled. So she
motioned to the spoon. You can use the spoon," my companion translated
for me. But I really REALLY wanted to be a Korean and use chopsticks
well, and I knew I could do that only by practicing. So I tried again.
The converstation continued, and she looked over again to see that I
was chopsticking. She motioned to the spoon. A little sheepishly, I
picked up the silver spoon and ate my rice and kimchee.
Later, Won Ja mae nim told me that it's more common for Koreans to use
a spoon with their rice, so I was trying to be...not Korean by using
chopsticks... kekeke ;) (kekeke is how they laugh! Won Ja mae nim
taught me, and we say it sometimes...kekekeke ;D )

We spent a lot of that time together teaching English...then I brought
my photo album out for her to see! I asked her about her family and
pictures, so away she went to get them. Towards the end of the
appointment, there were pictures EVERYWHERE  :D:D:D
We shared a simple message about the Book of Mormon and she committed
to read the introduction and pray to know if what we taught is true.
She has such a good heart. We are totally rooting for her!

Our other appointment got cancelled for that night, with two other
male investigators. They like to learn English, so with all our
appointments, we teach 30 minutes of English and 30 minutes of a
Gospel message. So far, we've had just the one appointment come
together with XXX XXX XXXX. It was really really great. OH! Did I
tell you? I'd mentioned sometime in the meal we ate that I loved
Kimchee and Kam Ja (potatoes; they love sweet potatoes! They put it in
their bread too--oooh sooo yummy!!!).
after the closing prayer, she got up and began loading a tupperware
full of Kimchee and a bag of potatoes. It was so much food! We left
feeling so happy.

I really chongmal love Korea and these amazing people here. I know
there will be lots of people that are not interested in our message,
and that makes me sad, but I know there one or two will be! And like
XXX XXXX (I think you could use this name on the blog, just
Sister Hong), they are willing to listen, and so kind.

I love you all and I'm praying for you! We are safe and sound here in
Korea, and the work is coming. Jundo is the best! We're going to Ka Ka
Ho Ho tonight :) (door to door)

Families can be together forever through the restored Gospel of Jesus
Christ. I know the Book of Mormon will bless us as we read it and
apply it and learn from it. I am so so SO so thankful to be a
missionary for Him. I love these people. I love my companion. We are
going to see miracles here!

PS the language is coming great! I'm learning how to get out of my
shell-I know more than I think I do :) And one of our branch members
(of the 40-45 here) said "You've only been in SunCheon 3 days? It's a
miracle!"